Page 39 of Soulbound
"Got the right!" Cleo called, casting a shield between the whip of lightning and the pair of them. She cried out as the lash struck her invisible shield, but it held.
A spinning ball of light came at him from the left.
Sebastian swung his arms up in a cross, forming an invisible shield. The impact of whatever the fellow threw at him staggered him back, where he tripped on Cleo.
They both went down. Sebastian rolled to his feet, catching a glimpse of a flurry of golden web heading his way. He shielded again, but whatever it was wrapped around his shield and obliterated it. The second it vanished, he saw an imp launching directly at his face.
"Get down!" someone bellowed, and a month of listening to that voice and obeying it made him slam Cleo onto the dirt.
A roar of fire shot overhead, the air turning hot and dry. Sebastian buried his face in Cleo’s hair, trying to shield her with his body. The imp screamed as it was roasted, hitting the dirt and rolling wildly.
"Verity, get them out of here!" Bishop yelled, suddenly leaping over them with his cloak flapping behind him like wings.
A hand helped drag Sebastian to his feet, and Verity appeared, her face tight with worry, and her breath coming shortly as if she'd been running. "I've got you."
"Cleo, first," Sebastian insisted, pushing his wife into Verity’s arms. "I’ll stay here with Bishop."
It eased some of Verity’s concern for her husband, but Cleo’s dark eyes shot to his. "Don’t get hurt."
Nobody had ever truly cared about him before, except as a weapon, or a tool to be used. "I promise." His voice came out dry, and he gave Cleo a curt nod.
Verity wrapped her arms around Cleo, and they both began to waver, then Verity punched out of there, translocating Cleo to safety. The bond between them vanished for a second, and then he felt her reform somewhere far to the south. Hopefully, Bishop's house, or Lady Rathbourne's.
"Remember how I told you to keep your power under tight rein, and hold everything back when we were dueling?" Bishop called. He flung a hand, his rings glittering with green light, and a ring of green flames raced to circle them.
"Yes."
"Ignore it," Bishop said. "You have carte blanche to annihilate anything that comes at us."
Finally. Sebastian began to channel power, sucking in the well of energy that filled the world around him. Every living thing thrived on energy, and he absorbed it, taking care not to pull from Bishop.
A red mage globe formed in Sebastian's hand, and he levitated it into the air, focusing on the first hooded figure. "Ignitius!" he bellowed, and the globe flew toward the stranger. It struck the man's shield, and obliterated it. The fellow landed flat on his back, his heels drumming on the ground.
The world lit up with red. Bishop was spinning at least a dozen red mage globes around his head.
"Show-off," Sebastian growled. He had more sheer power than Bishop, but none of the finesse. And mage globes were new to him. The best he could do was handle one at a time.
Bishop's globes darted toward the remaining two sorcerers. They hammered at hastily formed shields, exploding in washes of power. Imps flooded out of the shadows in response, racing across the ground toward them.
Fine. He didn't have his brother's finesse. That didn't mean he was defenseless, far from it. Sebastian sucked in energy from the imps, encasing some of them in ice. The second they froze, he flung another wave of force, and the frozen statues exploded into thousands of bloody shards. Black ichor sprayed across the ground.
It felt good to fight.
Something physical to burn off some of the tension Malachi Gray had left him with. Sebastian moved with oiled ease, echoing the moves Bishop had taught him, and locking down his focus until power words spilled off his tongue with ease.
He summoned globe after globe, all of them burning hotly red, until the world took on a bloodied tinge.
"Try not to burn yourself low," Bishop called, and Sebastian reined himself in.
A pair of imps took advantage of his sudden recalcitrance, stalking him from both angles. He formed the glowing quarter staff Bishop had made him practice with, twirling it around him. One launched at him, and he moved to the side, sending it flying with a well-timed heave. The other used the momentum to dash in and rake at him.
Claw marks sliced through his side of his ribs. The flare of pain made him flinch, and his countermove lacked punch. He got it off him. Somehow. Turned, the staff spinning in his hands, as the first one launched at him. Not thinking. Just reacting. Slamming it to the ground, and then withdrawing just enough to drive the end of his staff through its ribs. It screamed, pinned by his staff, and Sebastian forced a wave of energy through the length of the staff, detonating it inside the creature’s rib cage.
Black ichor sprayed him like acid. He turned his face away, staggering on something in the grass.
Another imp came at him, and Sebastian rammed the end of the staff into its throat. Shadow flickered behind him, and he thrust back, keeping the newcomer off his flanks. They moved ridiculously fast. A month ago he wouldn't have had a chance. Sharp teeth bit into the end of the staff, and on the edge of his awareness, he saw red flashes illuminating the night as Bishop set to work.
"Eat this," he growled, as the imp shook the end of his staff. Another pulse of energy went through the staff, and he met its bronze eyes seconds before its head exploded.
