of the
Scorpion
�Ta�asha!� he cried, his eyes blazing, and Power sizzled around him. The words were in an ancient tongue that was the root of the languages of both the Drevnya and the Magi. Bring the Light! The battlecry drove the Hounds into a tight cluster of slavering, growling fear. The pause lasted only a moment, however, and then they attacked again. Darak yanked throwing knives out of his boots and buried the razor-sharp blades hilt-deep in two of them. The last three circled Randrik, wary of getting within range of his sword and dagger; but he lunged, taking one through the belly and then yanking out the sword in time to spin and cut the legs out from another that came from behind. The sole remaining animal whirled and fled back the way it had come. Darak sent a bolt after it, but the Hound swerved and vanished into the copse unharmed.
Randrik cleaned his blade as best he could on the dry grass, and Darak sent his crossbow back to wherever it had come from. The corpses were already decomposing, the stench making Perian�s stomach lurch despite the herbal treatment.
�I thought you weren�t going to help us if we were attacked,� Randrik said to Darak as she gave in and emptied her breakfast onto the bloody grass.
�Oh, were we being attacked? I thought we were hunting. In any case, I�m about to sink in even deeper, so this little incident hardly matters.�
He turned full-circle, his head tilted back and his eyes reconnoitering the sky. Then he stopped and pointed to six distant specks in the sky to the east, specks that grew steadily larger as they watched.
�Harpies,� Perian breathed and felt her heart drop into her belly.
�Exactly,� Darak said. �All Azdrefel�s creatures are linked to him, and the moment that Hound ran off it dispatched the second line of attack. Your horses won�t stop running until they�re out of wind, even if they had a prayer of outrunning Harpies. So the only way to get you to the Tower in one piece is for me to take you myself.�
�Am I missing something here?� she asked, looking from one man to the other.
�All three of us? At the same time?� Randrik barked. �You�re having delusions of grandeur, my friend. Not to mention there�s one of us who isn�t supposed to know about that little trick.�
�If you have another suggestion, I�m open for it. But, as I recall, you haven�t quite gotten the hang of transport just yet, which means if it�s going to be done, I�m going to have to do it.�
�Excuse me, gentlemen, but the harpies are really getting quite close. Would somebody please tell me what�s going on?�
�Some of we Magi use our Power to transport ourselves or objects,� Darak said. �I�m proposing to take all three of us to the Tower. And, as you have so cleverly noticed, the harpies are getting closer. So--shall we?�
Without waiting for an answer, he laid one hand on each of their shoulders. His eyes already had an inward focus, and his hands were hot where they touched.
�I will need every bit of my concentration, so don�t move and don�t speak,� he commanded.
The next moment Perian felt the total Power of an initiated Mage. It swirled around them, enclosing them in a torrent of energy that made the air sing with its force. She held herself as still as she could, her eyes fixed apprehensively on the danger winging toward them. In just the few minutes it had taken them to prepare, the harpies had come near enough for her to see the powerful stroking of their leathery wings and the great poisoned barb at the end of their tails. She had no wish for a more detailed look.
The Power surged, skittering over the surface of her skin and making her hair crackle. Her head began to spin, and it seemed as though her body were growing larger and larger. There was a sound like a million bees buzzing and a sharp smell like cinnamon and lightning. For a moment the ground seemed to shift under her feet, and then the world blurred into gray and then black and then there was nothing under her feet and she was falling and it was so cold she thought the blood would freeze in her veins and then suddenly there was blinding light and solid earth and Darak lay white-faced and deathly still on dusty stone at her feet.
May 2004
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