Page 167 of A Tower of Half-Truths
The walls shook and glass jars rattled as the demon landed on the floor. It retracted its wings and raised one of its great paws. At the end of it were obsidian claws almost as severe-looking as its fangs. It swiped at Alain’s ward. The magic fractured for a split second before repairing itself.
“Oh, shit!” Ellice cried.
“Focus on the door, not the beast!” Neldren snapped.
“What do you think I’m trying to do?”
With a roar, the demon swiped at Alain’s ward again. The force of it, combined with Alain’s already weakened state, made him stumble. His ward began to splinter like a broken mirror. Mavery leapt beside him, conjured her own protective ward, and raised her palms to the blue dome. Her magic slithered through the gaps, reinforcing Alain’s.
The demon paused and tilted its head to the side. It seemed to understand what Mavery had just done. Instead of lifting its paw again, it retreated back a few steps. It pivoted its body, then threw a muscular shoulder against the ward. The magic fractured again, now becoming a vast spiderweb of fissures. The ward wouldn’t hold much longer. Fear coursed through Mavery’s veins, along with a rising tide of fiery energy.
“Hurry up!” she yelled over her shoulder.
“I’m trying!” Ellice yelled back.
Mavery couldn’t blame her for panicking. It was taking every bit of her focus to keep her ward aloft while her arcana thrashed beneath her skin. Perhaps a surge would be useful against a centuries-old demon. But she couldn’t control what the surge did once it escaped her body. It was likely to ricochet off the ward and back into her own face—or Alain’s.
The demon lunged again, using its body as a battering ram. This time, even more of the magic chipped away.
Mavery grit her teeth as she channeled everything she could into the ward. She spared a glance at Alain. His teeth were also bared, his forehead glistened with sweat, his arms trembled as hestruggled to keep them raised.
She looked forward as the beast charged the ward for a third time. She braced herself for the inevitable impact.
The force of the demon’s body shattered the ward. The blue aura dissolved into mist.
With nothing left in its way, the demon focused all of its ire on Alain. It once again raised its paw, black claws bared and gleaming.
“No!”Mavery screamed.
For a split second, her very blood was on fire. As arcana blazed through her, she raised her arm, pointed her fingers at the demon. A bolt of white-hot magic escaped her fingertips, shot through the room, grazed the beast’s shoulder. Apart from a clump of singed hair, her magic surge didn’t seem to leave any lasting damage, but it was enough to distract the demon. It turned its attention away from Alain—and onto her.
The demon looked at her like a predator sizing up its next meal.
She took that brief pause as her opportunity to drop her pack and sprint toward the stairwell. Behind her, Alain yelled with a guttural ferocity unlike anything she’d ever heard from him.
She glanced over her shoulder to see him swing his staff and hit the demon’s singed shoulder. The beast didn’t so much as look at him as it flexed its wings. One hit Alain squarely in the chest with enough force to send him stumbling backward. He collided into a cabinet with a pain-stricken groan.
Mavery wanted to scream, but she couldn’t afford to do anything but run.
She took the stairs two at a time. When she reached the top and reentered the lower library, her lungs were on fire. Each step brought about a jolt of pain from her bad knee.
Panting, she searched the library for a place to hide. Distracting the demon had been her only goal, so she hadn’t planned what to do next. She fled to the farthest corner, then huddled behind a large pile of books. She flicked her wrist, sending her orb of light to the opposite corner of the room. While being shrouded in complete darkness would be ideal, she needed at least some light to know when the demon returned.
That quickly proved to be the best course of action. True toits catlike form, the demon was completely silent as it crested the stairs.
It paused. Its eyes glinted like rubies as they swept the library.
“There is no need to hide, young mage.”
Mavery blinked. Had the demon just…spokento her?
No, she was hearing things. Exhaustion and overexposure to magic had finally driven her mad.
The demon crossed the room at a leisurely pace.
“Fear not, for I will not harm you. You are Senova—same as Master Aganast.”
The voice was a gentle purr, not the bone-chilling growl from before.
