Page 3 of Somewhere down the Ley Line
As he moved toward the source of the light, a second blast hit, but this one seemed to go inward rather than out. It pulled at him like a vortex, and he fell forward onto his knees. Several figures collapsed, then it dimmed to a dull glow.
Around him, the commotion slowly died down as the last guests fled. An eerie silence descended. The twinkling lights the mages had summoned earlier flickered wildly, casting erratic shadows across the scene.
At the centre of it all was the ley line. It had turned into a gaping, jagged crack as wide as a horse cart. Blue light poured out of it, pulsating as if alive. Nearby, several figures lay motionless on the ground, unnervingly still.
Felix’s heart pounded in his throat as he approached them, his axe gripped in his hand. Each step brought him closer to the unsettling light and the prone bodies near its edge. When he reached one of them, he hesitated. He prodded the body with the toe of his boot. No response.
He took a steadying breath and crouched down, rolling the figure over. The sight made his stomach turn. It was a mage, or what was left of him. The man’s face was ashen, the colour of stone. His mouth hung frozen in a silent scream, and his eyeballs had turned black. As if all life had been drained out of him, and he would disintegrate into ashes at any moment.
Felix shuddered and got to his feet. He was alone on the terrace. Everyone else had fled. Why was he still here? He caught a flicker of movement from the corner of his eye.
On the edge of the fractured ley line, a young woman slowly rose. She stood half-crouched, hands outstretched, staring at them in wide-eyed horror. Shimmering blue light radiated off her. Streaks of it ran up her arms, criss-crossed her hands, and were even visible on her neck. She appeared frozen in place, but the light seemed to dance and bounce around her. Felix took a cautious step in her direction, his grip tightening on the axe.
“Don’t move!” he called, feeling immediately foolish. She did not show any sign of wanting to move, or of having noticed him at all. Was she some kind of mage, too? He approached her slowly. He had been in plenty of fights, but never against a magic user.
What the fuck are you doing?A voice in his head yelled at him.Let the mages deal with their mess.
Whatever his mind was shouting at him, though, his feet would not move away. He took another hesitant step towards her.
Her head lifted a fraction. When her eyes met his, he startled at the sharp core of bright blue in their centre, but equally at her haunted expression. Haunted and terrified. Maybe she was as unwillingly caught up in this as he was?
The strange light continued to gather and pulse along the lines on her skin. Felix lowered his hands and tried to appear as unthreatening as possible. She reminded him of a panicked animal – frozen with fear but ready to lash out if cornered.
“Who are you?”
She jerked her head up at the sound of his voice and locked eyes with him again. Her lips parted as though she wanted to respond, but no words came. Her gaze dropped back to her glowing hands, and she wrapped her arms around herself. As a silent sob wracked her body, the light surrounding her intensified, growing so brightly Felix had to squint.
She squeezed her eyes shut as light and force erupted from her, radiating outwards, flooding the terrace. It knocked Felix off his feet and flung him to the ground as if he were a discarded rag doll. When it passed, he slowly got up, his head pounding as if he’d been drinking all night. The woman stood in the same spot, arms still wrapped around herself, staring at him with wide, horrified eyes. The light that had blazed so fiercely moments before receded to a faint, pulsing glow.
A sharp voice rang out some distance behind him.
“Kill her now, quickly!”
Felix turned his head to see who was speaking. It was one of the mages, a man in red robes. He was standing in the doorway to the ballroom, clasping a short rod. It emitted an odd glow, which formed a shield-like shape in front of him as he barked his order again.
“Do it!”
Felix glanced back at the woman. Her panicked eyes darted between him and the mage, then fell on the axe in his hands. She recoiled, her voice a hoarse whisper.
“Please don’t…”
The lights swirled once more as she backed away.
Damn it.How to deal with explosive magical ladies had not been part of the guard instruction protocol for the night. But he was not about to murder some terrified girl in cold blood. Even if she glowed with wild, erratic magic.
“No,” he snapped over his shoulder. “Aren’t you a mage? Help her!”
He turned back to face the woman, then lowered his axe, inwardly cursing himself because he absolutely did not know what he was doing.
“I won’t hurt you. Look.” He let the axe drop the last few inches to the ground. The clattering of metal on stone made her flinch, but she was no longer backing away from him. He held his arms out at his sides and lowered into a slight crouch.
“You fool! She’ll kill us all!” the mage shouted.
The woman took a trembling breath, her voice a whisper. “I don’t know what’s happening to me,” she breathed. Silent tears streaked her face, glistening in the faint light emanating from her skin.
Felix looked around, and his eyes fell on the cracked ground behind her, where brilliant blue tendrils of light continued to spill out, like smoke from a chimney.
“Get away from there,” he said as calmly as he could. “The light. Step away from it.” He extended a hand toward her.
