Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) (51 page)

He stroked his beard with his fingers, thinking. It was now or never. He had to decide whether to go ahead with his plan or to forget about it and simply keep fleeing from his enemies. Both
choices had their pros and cons, but e
ither way, he had to move quickly.

He
spun around and strode back toward his car. Pulling his new cell phone from his pocket while he walked, he punched in
Leesa
’s number
.

44
.
THE STAGE IS SET

L
eesa pulled into the parking lot of the diner Dominic had told her about. When she turned the engine off and looked up the road, she saw him standing on the opposite side of the highway, a hundred feet or so
away
. He gave her a curt
nod to acknowledge her arrival and
then poked his head and arms into his car through the driver’s side window. A moment later, the car began rolling slowly forward, coming to a stop on the shoulder of the road about ten paces from where Dominic stood watching. As soon as the car stopped
rolling
, Dominic gave Leesa
a quick thumbs up—the signal they had agreed on that she should proceed as planned.

She
grabbed the ivory
box from her bag and got out of the ca
r. After waiting for a truck to flash by, she
hurried
across the road
and found the spot Dominic had described to her. The old oak tree—almost twice as thick as any of its neighbors—was just barely visible from the highway.
Its gnarled branches spread wide in every direction, and Leesa could imagine the huge canopy
of shade
they would provide when the leaves grew back. She imagined the tree had probably been left standing sometime far back in the past while its
neighbors were felled for lumber and to clear
farmland. When the field was abandoned, the woods had grown back
around the oak
,
leaving a small clearing around
its base where not enough
sun
penetrated
to give life to new growth
. N
one of the second-growth
trees
came close to
match
ing
the size of the
majestic
oak
.

She looked around and spied several small
green
patches
of mountain laurel, just as Dominic
had described. One of the groves
, perhaps thirty or forty feet from the oak, seemed a bit thicker than the others. She decided that one would be her hiding place.
Moving quickly now, she limped to the base of the old oak and set Dominic’s box down onto the ground. She pressed her index finger against the silver front plate.

“
Illuminati
verdus
,” she said, imagining a yellow light on the tip of her finger.

She saw the yellow glow for just an instant before a blinding flash of silver light made her close her eyes. When she opened them, Dominic was standing in front of her, his back against the trunk of the tree. Not Dominic, she reminded herself—his avatar.

The likeness was startling. It was hard to believe this was not her friend and mentor standing
there
. It became even more difficult when the avatar spoke.
It sounded just like Dominic.

“Well done, Leesa,” it said. “Now
go
hide. Our enemies are almost upon us.”

Leesa scrambled away and dove into the stand of mountain laurel. She stretched out prostrate on the ground behind some of the leafiest branches
and press
ed
herself as deeply as possible into the layer of
dead leaves that had collected there.
The smell of decaying leaves and the damp earth beneath them filled her nostrils. Satisfied
that she had
hidden
herself as completely as possible
, she twisted
her he
ad so she could watch
.
From where she lay, she could see both the highway and the avatar.

Barely a minute later,
a
black
SUV
swung quickly to the side of the road.
Leesa allowed herself a grim smile. This had to be
the black waziri
—there was no other reason for a vehicle to pull onto the shoulder here. Her smile turned to a frown as she watched
four figures
emerge
f
rom the vehicle.
Dominic had
said
there were only two black waziri chasing him now.
Who—or what—were these other two?
She hoped Dominic had the power to deal with the unexpected extras.

Hidden behind the trunk of tree,
Dominic also saw the four men climb out of the car. Unlike Leesa, he knew immediately the
two younger men
were
apprentices to Tomas and Andre. While
Makenzi and Matthew
were nowhere near as powerful as their masters yet, they were dangerou
s nonetheless.
He
hoped the four wizards
remained close enough to
gether for him to deal with all
of them
at once. If not, he would have to take care of Andre and Tomas first, and then hope he still had time to
dispatch the acolyt
es
.

 
He
watched as the wizards’ eyes fastened upon his avatar. He felt rat
her than saw the satisfied looks
on their faces as they realized they had finally caught up to their elusive quarry. They took two confident steps forward and then abruptly stopped. Andre and Tomas looked quickly at each other. Dominic knew they had just sensed the weakening of their magic. Beyond the shock of such an unthinkable thing happening, they had to be wondering if he was so
mehow behind it. The two black waziri
edged a few steps away from each other and motioned their apprentices to spread wider still.

The avatar Dominic
moved confidently
toward them.

“I see
that
you have fel
t my spell,” it said
, carrying on the charade even as Dominic himself would have
done
. “It is one of
the last things you shall
feel
.”

“You do not possess
the power to take our magic away like this
,” Tomas said, though there was a tinge of a question in his voice.

Andre slid another few feet
away
from Tomas. “If you did,” he said, a bit more confidently than his companion, “you would have dest
royed us already
. I think
that
whatever
magic
has afflicted us has s
tricken you as well. Perhaps i
t is even the reason we have
finally
overtaken
you.
” He risked a careful smile. “
No, I do not believe you
have the power to defeat us.”

Andre nodded to Tomas. Both wizards
lifted
their hands
threateningly
toward the avatar.

Dominic stepped out from his hiding place behind them, c
areful to remain a few feet away from
the
shimmering boundary
, which was even more difficult
to see
here
among the trees. He raised both his palms toward his enemies.

“He may
not
have the power
,” Dominic said. “But I most assuredly do.”

The black waziri and their
two
henchmen spun around at the sound of Dominic’s voice. He
saw a look of understanding flash across Andre’s fac
e
. T
he dark wizard had
undoubtedly
seen the curtain of magic
and
guessed
that
it was the cause of his diminished power. He also
recognized that
by remaining outside
the barrier,
Dominic almost certainly retained
his full power.
Tomas
realized
it
as well
.

“Well played, old friend
,” Andre said. “The avatar was a brilliant stroke.
How did you fashion one without us sensing
the use
your magic?
”

Dominic knew Andre wa
s stalling for time, hoping some solution to his dire predicament might
come to him. Dominic was not about to give him that chance
by engaging in any dialogue
.
His enemies had no need to know he had created the avatar a hundred years before. They had no need of anything—save
to
finally
pay for their treachery with
their
death
s
.
He gathered the full might of his magic
, ready to annihilate his weakened foes.

Before he
could unleash his power, the magical curtain
suddenly
bulged forward, eng
ulfing him
. He felt the sickening sensation of his magic diminishing.
His advantage
over his enemies
disappeared with it
.

Dominic knew his doom was imminent. He prayed that Leesa would remain hidden and
not sacrifice herself
in a vain effort to save him.