Page 92 of An Archer's Redemption

Larinda screamed as the force battered her body and mind.

The attack bore no heat, but its strength assaulted Larinda’s magical core.

Sensing an opening, I reformed my shield, this time drawing both air and water. I stepped forward, shield wall extended two paces before me.

Another step, then another.

Larinda’s eyes widened, and she took a step backward.

Quicker than she could react, I threw my arms forward, hurling my shield into her.

The impact of hardened water and air slammed into the aged, frail body she now inhabited, sending Larinda’s form flying backward and into the crystalline wall. Blood streamed from a gash on her forehead, and more flowed from another wound on the back of her skull. The inhabiting spirit didn’t feel disorientation as Larinda would have felt from such a blow, but the body of her servant was slow to rise.

With moisture and heat nearly exhausted within the cavern, the temperature plummeted, and thick clouds billowed each time we breathed.

Kelså shivered as she screamed a warning.

I fell back on my Ranger training instead of using more magic, lunging forward, driving a fist into Larinda’s sternum and doubling the old woman over.

I gripped her by her hair and pulled her head upward, readying another blow, but Larinda was faster. Her bony fingers bent, and hardened knuckles thrust upward into my neck.

I gagged and gripped my throat, straining for air as I staggered backward.

“Irina?” Realization dawned on Kelså as her teeth began to chatter.

“Took you long enough,witch. How dull you have grown over the years.” The woman’s head snapped unnaturally toward her, then cocked to one side. It has only been a millennium since you stripped me of my power and cast me aside—you and yourfamily of Mages.”

“Irina, I was not even there when the last battle occurred—or when your parents—”

“Enough!” Irina screamed. “I will reclaim my power and send you straight where you belong: into the void.”

A wave of Compulsion blasted into Kelså, knocking her backward. My tunic resisted the spell, but Kelså’s eyes glazed, and her body relaxed.

“Cast him into the Well,” Irina commanded.

Without hesitation, Kelså stepped forward and gripped me by both shoulders.

Startled, I turned, but she pulled with all her strength.

My feet had been well set at shoulder width apart in anticipation of Irina’s next attack, but I hadn’t expected an assault to come from behind—from my mother.

I staggered into her embrace.

“Mother!”

Her eyes were wild orbs of glass that stared, yet saw nothing.

She yanked backward and dragged me toward the Well’s opening.

I threw an arm behind me but couldn’t dislodge her grip.

Irina, seizing the moment, flew onto the platform and punched my chest with her Enhanced Strength. My tunic raged at her touch, and her hands came away scorched.

She screamed in agony and staggered back.

But her shove had been enough.

Kelså tripped over her own feet and, still gripping my shoulders, tumbled backward.

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