Spirit Past (Book 8) (22 page)

He gasped for breath. Even as the wind spear failed to reach his body, it exerted so much pressure that the air around him shook with fury. If not for another sudden boost from Enin's magic, he would have lost his footing and sailed backwards into the trees.

No one could see the flow of magic from Enin. The powerful wizard from Connel remained hidden by a curtain of magic. The white energy from one wizard flowed  seamlessly into the magic of the other, and there was no indication Jure was receiving aid.

Scheff, however, would not allow surprise or doubt to stop him again. He did not wish to aid Reiculf, did not want to be a pawn, but his desires were mere pebbles thrown at a wall of granite.

Reiculf had a firm hold of the elf spell caster, but the demon did not manage every decision, every movement. The daokiln influenced the elf in a much more subtle and diabolical fashion.

Scheff was not quite an empty shell, but rather more of a walled prison where every mistake and misjudgment he ever made filled the cells within. His past had been used as a gateway, like a portal that connected one dimension to another, and Reiculf magnified the elf's shame. Scheff's guilt made him vulnerable to the control of the demon master, and the pain of his history erased his future.

"You may have found a way to tap into the energy of the surrounding forest," Scheff guessed as he raged against Jure's strengthening defenses, "but even all the magic of Dark Spruce will not allow you to survive. That will prove what you are up against... what
I
was up against. You will see that nothing can stand against Reiculf... not you, not me, not anyone. It is a futile battle, and you will be destroyed."

Away from the conflict, Ansas pressed Haven into a decision.

"Did you hear that?" the sorcerer asked. "The elf has the power to overcome all the magic of Dark Spruce. He does not know that he is fighting both Jure and Enin, but it won't matter. He believes Jure has tapped into the power of the forest, but he continues to attack. He knows he will ultimately prevail, and so he will... unless you do what is necessary."

"Let me at least attempt a temporary blinding," Haven offered, hoping to avoid casting a spell that would cause permanent harm. "It may suffice."

"No, it won't. Reiculf's magic will quickly overcome a temporary spell, and it can heal insignificant damage. You must do damage that is irreversible or your attempt will be pointless. Worse, you will alert Scheff to our presence. Reiculf will then act appropriately and it will all be over. He will recall the serp and the infern and use all three pawns to capture both Enin and Shantree. Uton will ultimately be destroyed because you failed. It is your choice, but you must act now!"

Searching for any possible alternative, Haven looked toward Scheff and found her answer. She could not deny the fury in his face or the rage in the spell he cast. She saw the hate of Reiculf as it infected Scheff's entire being. As she watched him attack Jure—and more revealing the elf elder—she knew she had to strike. Scheff meant to turn Shantree Wispon over to Reiculf, and while Haven's elf heart still beat, she could never allow that to happen.

Focusing on the eyes of her target, Haven prepared a spell of concentrated brilliance. She whispered a few words and brought her hands up in front of her. A glistening triangle, burning so bright that Ansas had to shield his own eyes, formed between the palms of her hands. The triangle broke apart into two separate sections and both condensed further into two small stars no larger than her thumb. With a quick flick of both hands, she sent the gleaming projectiles of energy directly toward Scheff's face.

So focused was Scheff on overcoming Jure's shield, he did not see the attack until it was too late. Two points of stunning light rushed toward him at unbelievable speed. As each tiny star soared toward his eyes, Scheff's vision became filled with the growing brilliance. A flash of yellow radiance was the last thing he saw.

The explosion of light forced Scheff to end his spell as he staggered backward. He could no longer see Jure, Shantree, or even the surrounding forest, and he could not afford to harm the elf leader. He stumbled about in the clearing, waving his hands in the air as he tried not to crash into a nearby tree.

Realizing he had been blinded, Scheff quickly used the magic within him in an attempt to flush any spell from his body. The distorted energy blurred the space around him, but he still could not regain his sight.

"You see?" Ansas stated to Haven as he pointed to Scheff. "If you tried to disrupt his sight without causing damage, he would have purged the spell. Now, prepare yourself. You will be needed again."

Ansas stepped out into the clearing as he called to Jure.

"Strike now, as I instructed!"

Jure had ceased his spell of deflection when Scheff had been blinded. Using his remaining magic, he went on the attack. He flung a circle of white magic at the elf spell caster, and when it encircled Scheff, he pulled tight upon its boundaries. Maintaining a connection to the lasso of power, Jure held firm and fed all of his energy into the spell.

"Enin!" Ansas directed. "Take as much magic from the elf as you can!"

No longer needing to hide, the powerful wizard also stepped out into the clearing. He knew what Ansas was going to ask of him, and he had prepared a siphon spell that would attempt to draw out as much energy from Scheff as possible. If it succeeded, the power would be flushed out into the skies over Dark Spruce where it could do no harm. If Scheff resisted, which the elf initially prepared to do, the confrontation would still drain him of magic.

"Excellent!" Ansas shouted as he reveled in the battle. He was forcing a servant of Reiculf to the ground; a victory of unimaginable scale. "He is blind, held, and losing power. All that is left is to cut Reiculf's hold."

The sorcerer turned to Haven one last time.

"He can't see, but the light of your magic can break through certain barriers. You know how to reach into and take hold of the light of other dimensions. Use Scheff's connection to Reiculf to grasp the dim and lifeless light of Demonspawn. Flush that light into his core."

"But that will reinforce Reiculf's hold," Haven countered. "We must break the connection, not strengthen it!"

"Do not question me! I have not brought us to this point to fail! Do it!"

Haven did not understand the command. It seemed her spell was in direct opposition to their plan, and yet, she could see the zeal in the sorcerer. He was intoxicated with the battle, and she knew he was fighting to win.

Hoping she made the right decision, she followed Ansas' orders. She reached past the spells of Jure and Enin and delicately probed the light surrounding the elf spell caster. The tainted illumination that sprung from Demonspawn was impossible to miss, and its abhorrent qualities almost made her recoil from the filthy light.

Fighting off her revulsion, she pulled upon the dingy glow and forced a greater surge into Scheff. The connection between Scheff and Reiculf doubled, and then redoubled. The flow not only threatened to tear Scheff apart, it broke Jure's hold and blasted back upon Enin's spell.

"Ansas!" the wizard shouted. "What are you doing? I can't siphon off that much power!"

"You were never meant to!" Ansas roared, but then he turned his own magic upon the intensified connection to Demonspawn.

A ring of pure blackness swirled around the sorcerer's upper arms as he placed both hands together and pointed them at Scheff. He snarled strange words and let the spell of total transformation fly.

"Watch what the power of alteration can accomplish!"

The ebony energy spilled into both Enin and Haven's spell. With Jure's lasso broke,  there was nothing that contained the elf spell caster, but it was no longer necessary. Even as Scheff found the opportunity to move freely across the battlefield, the black magic completely altered his link to the daokiln.

Enin's siphoning spell reversed. Instead of pulling Reiculf's energy away from the elf, it forced it back into Scheff's core. For one very brief instant, the elf was immensely dangerous, but he never had the opportunity to unleash the power building up within him.

Haven's spell was also transformed. Rather than pulling light from Demonspawn into Scheff's essence, it forced Reiculf's energy out of the elf and back into the veiled portion of the dark realm. When the last strains of the daokiln's energy raced out of the elf's essence, the connection between Scheff and Reiculf was broken.

The complete draining of Reiculf's magic, as well as his influence, was near instantaneous. Once it was complete, every spell dissipated in one sharp crackle of energy, and Scheff fell to the ground.

Jure and Shantree ran to the fallen elf.

"He's alive!" Jure shouted.

"Of course he is," Ansas replied with a grin almost glowing with a sense of unbridled victory, "but he is no longer in Reiculf's control."

Haven also moved to Scheff's side. She took his hand and helped him up. She carefully guided him to a large rock where he could sit down.

Scheff continued to blink as he wiped at his eyes with his fingers.

"I cannot see," he whispered.

"I know," Haven admitted, her voice shaking. "I caused it. It is not a spell I can remove. It is permanent damage, damage that cannot be healed through magic or time. Ansas said we had to do it. He believed Reiculf was using you, that he could see through your eyes."

"Ansas?" Scheff asked, turning his head about as if trying to find the ebony casting sorcerer.

"I have returned from Baannat's realm to defeat the daokiln," the sorcerer stated with too much pride and very little sympathy for Scheff's injury.

"Who else is here?" Scheff asked.

"Shantree, Enin, Holli Brances, Jure, Neltus, Ansas, and me," Haven revealed. In describing what Scheff should have been able to see for himself, her guilt expanded. "I am sorry for what I did."

Scheff could hear the pain in her voice. Pain was something he felt in great detail since Reiculf's influence had entered his soul. He was finally free of that, and perhaps his sight was a small price to pay for such freedom. He did not wish to transfer his pain to the elf sorceress, did not wish her to swim in blame he was unable to accept himself.

"You did what you had to. I am grateful." Scheff then considered the things he saw while under Reiculf's control, and he also admitted another truth. "There are things I wish I never had to see, things I never wish to see again. Now I do not have to."

A momentary silence hung over the group until the leader of the elf camp posed her own question to the sorcerer.

"Is the danger passed?" Shantree demanded.

Ansas looked at the elf as if she had just removed her own head and rolled it across the ground.

"Of course not," the sorcerer mocked. "Do you think Reiculf will just give up because of this? He will make every attempt to take you and regain control of Scheff. It's just a matter of time."

"I mean now... at this moment!" the elf elder responded with growing anger. "Is the camp still in danger?"

"For now, you are all relatively safe. There is still a draevol lurking about in the woods, but it is no real threat. As far as Reiculf is concerned, the demon lord will be forced to reconsider his plans. He is down to only two servants. Only Gnafil and Macheve are left to bring his magic out of Demonspawn, and they have squandered their opportunities in Burbon and Connel."

"How can you be so sure they failed in Burbon... or even in Connel?" Jure questioned.

"Because all of Reiculf's objectives are right here. He was after Enin, Shantree, and Neltus. They stand before you now. That's how I can be sure."

Shantree turned the focus back to the elves who remained prone upon the ground all about the camp. Many were struck by the plague, but even more had been made to appear that way by Ansas' magic.

"If the danger to the camp is over—even if it is just for now—I want you to remove your spell. Revive the elves of my camp. There is no reason to keep them helpless as if they had succumbed to the plague."

"Actually, I prefer the quiet."

"I do not!" Shantree seethed. "And when you are done with that, I want every elf cured of the disease that spread through my camp."

"It was not my spell that brought the plague upon you. What would you have me do?"

"Help them!"

"Fine. As I said, the draevol is still in the forest. Holli has the power to sense dark creatures. Send her to the northwest to locate it, and then have Enin and Jure deal with the plague mage. It must know it has been abandoned, and it will not be able to deal with two wizards casting white magic. Surely it will make a compromise. Offer to send it to the dark realm in exchange for lifting the plague."

"And your spell?" the elf elder asked impatiently. "Are you going to remove it?"

"Very well."

Ansas lifted his arms and allowed a circle of black power to roll around his body. He took a few steps about the camp, and the ebony ring retrieved the magic that placed so many of the elves into a suspended state. As they rose from the ground, Ansas looked to the camp leader.

"Satisfied?"

Shantree did not answer. She placed her attention upon helping those elves struggling to stand.