Chapter 14 #2
The woman hissed, raising her torch higher. “We witnessed the magic burst out of you. The very ground shook in outrage at your blasphemy.”
Wynn struggled to think clearly as the women continued to chant, moving forward with their torches held outward.
She didn’t remember these women or any devilish burst of magic.
But she did remember Maya telling her that she was some sort of Void.
Which meant she must have been the daughter of a woman who could use magic, maybe even one of the torch-carrying lunatics surrounding her.
And her wild magic must have flared only to burn out before she could use it.
Typical. Obviously her luck had always been shitty.
On the edge of a full-blown panic attack, Wynn forced herself to stop her futile struggles and concentrate on the threads of magic inside her.
The witches’ combined power was strong, but she had a few weapons of her own.
She just had to be able to concentrate long enough to find the proper strand. ..
Wynn released a stifled sob as she realized that there were no magical threads. Not even the stupid dragon one that had been causing her such problems. It was as if they’d been stripped away. Or wait...maybe she just hadn’t collected them yet.
If this was the past, then she hadn’t had an opportunity to encounter the artifacts she needed to absorb their powers.
“She’s calling on her devil magic!” the older woman cried. “Look at the medallion around her neck. It glows with an unholy light.”
With a roar of anticipation, the women lifted the torches over their heads and threw them at Wynn with obvious glee.
Wynn watched in helpless horror as they hit the spell surrounding her, igniting a wall of flames that swirled around her like a tornado.
She was trapped as the flames swirled closer and closer, threatening to burn her alive, the medallion around her neck searing into her skin.
There was no way out. No way to escape. Not unless she could somehow wake up from this horrifying blast from the past. A damned shame she didn’t have a clue how she was supposed to do that.
The flames were starting to sear a path of agonizing heat over her body when the ground beneath her dangling feet began to undulate, as if there was something beneath the thick layer of soil struggling to get out.
The witches didn’t seem to notice as they continued to chant and bask in the sight of her being tormented by their magic.
Wynn blinked. The world was blurry through her tears of pain, but she was certain that there was something happening beneath her. The massive surge of power felt like a volcano about to erupt. How could the witches be so oblivious?
Unless it was demon magic, a voice whispered through her tortured mind. The humans had no idea that paranormal creatures walked among them.
Another wave of flames whipped around her, searing deep into her flesh, and Wynn shrieked in pain.
It was so overwhelming she nearly missed the sight of the ground abruptly bursting open like an overripe watermelon.
It was at last the bright silver light bursting out of the massive hole that alerted her to the changes beneath her.
A split second later she was abruptly sucked downward, caught in a funnel of air that reached up and grabbed her.
She heard the distant sounds of the coven’s fury as their prey was snatched from their clutches, but she was too intent on her free fall through empty space to appreciate their bleating.
Waving her arms as if she could learn to fly in the next two seconds, Wynn fell through the blinding light, landing on a stone floor with enough impact to snap her spine in two and crack several ribs.
The pain should have been overwhelming, but she felt nothing.
Either she was paralyzed, or she was already dead.
Both seemed legit possibilities.
Laying spread-eagle on the ground, Wynn closed her eyes as she felt a presence approaching. She didn’t want to know what awful thing was about to happen next. She was tired and nauseous and incapable of stirring up the urge to fight.
Expecting the worst, Wynn flinched as warmth spread over her. But there was no pain this time. In fact, the warmth seemed to be knitting together her broken bones and even healing the burns on her face.
What was happening?
Cautiously she cracked opened her eyes, unable to see anything beyond the white glow surrounding her.
There was a vague outline of someone or something hovering above her, but she couldn’t make out the features.
Whoever it was might be using their powerful magic to repair her broken body, but that didn’t mean they had sucked her into the hole out of kindness.
They might have even worse plans for her.
As if to reinforce her fears, the white glow was suddenly threaded with a familiar green slime, and the stench of rotting flesh wafted past her nose. Was the magic being infected before her eyes? Was the corruption in this hole?
Trapped by her sheer terror, Wynn was unable to move as the green threads pulsed their way toward her. Then a voice calling her name jolted her out of her stupor, and with a grim determination, Wynn forced herself to scramble to her feet.
She groaned as her muscles protested. She might be healed, but her body had taken a beating and it wasn’t ready to be pushed. Too bad. She had already convinced herself that having the sickly green magic touch her would be a fate worse than death.
Stumbling backward, she felt a pile of loose dirt behind her. She assumed it was the ground that had collapsed when the hole had appeared at the top of the hill. Was it high enough for her to escape?
Without giving herself the opportunity to consider the wisdom of fleeing the healing magic to return to the coven of angry witches who’d already tried to kill her, Wynn spun around to desperately claw her way up the mound of dirt and rocks.
Ignoring the skin being scraped from her palms and the mud coating her from head to toe, Wynn hauled herself upward, her back stiff as she braced herself for a burst of killing magic.
Her heavy panting was the only sound to break the thick silence, along with the occasional rock that tumbled down to crash against the stone floor beneath her.
Fiercely concentrating on pulling herself up inch by inch, Wynn didn’t dare look down. Why would she want to know if she was about to be destroyed? It wasn’t until she was finally forced to halt and catch her breath that she reluctantly glanced over her shoulder.
Fully expecting to discover the magic directly behind her, Wynn released a shaky sigh of relief as she watched the white glow battling against a wave of shimmering magic that had surged into the pit from a crack in the wall.
Was that Gabriela’s magic? Wynn had no idea, but the two powers churned and pulsed together, as if they were locked in an epic war of supremacy.
It was the distraction she needed to escape, but it was only temporary.
She had to get out of there and disappear before the mysterious magic tried to suck her back down.
Returning her attention to the top of the hole, Wynn judged the distance.
It looked to be a couple of feet above her head.
Not an impossible leap, but it was going to take everything she had to make it.
Luckily, the adrenaline surging through her body added an extra boost of power as she bent her knees and jumped upward. The tips of her fingers managed to grip the edge of the hole, and ignoring the screaming protest of the muscles in her upper arms, she dragged herself up and over the ledge.
She lay panting on the ground, straining to hear any sound of the witches. When there was nothing but silence, she wearily lifted her head to discover she was alone. Had the cave-in scared them away? Or had they finally sensed the magic bubbling beneath their feet?
Not that it mattered. They would eventually come back to search for her. Always assuming the glowing white power didn’t manage to get her first. She had to get away from there.
Far, far away.
Managing to climb to her feet, Wynn was attempting to decide which way to run when she felt the ground trembling beneath her. Her heart stopped at the low rumbles that echoed through the air, watching the large cracks split open. It felt like the entire hill was about to collapse. Or explode.
Fear gave her an extra burst of power as she stumbled and rolled her way down the hill.
Once at the bottom, she limped in the opposite direction, heading away from the coven as well as the distant village.
She had no idea where she was going, but every step took her further away from her enemies.
She continued through the empty fields, at last reaching the soggy banks of the river.
Too exhausted to take another step, Wynn collapsed into the sticky mud, needing to rest before she could search for a raft or boat to take her away from the godforsaken place. She closed her eyes and darkness claimed her.
“You remember?”
The words were whispered directly into Wynn’s ear, and with a violent jerk that left her disoriented, she lurched from the countryside back to the dungeon.
Her head was spinning as she tried to adjust to the sudden shift, but as her mind cleared she realized the demon was standing just inches away, bathing her in the vile green glow from his eyes.
That evil magic had to have come from the pit, right? So had this demon been dropped into the same place? Or had he been infected by someone else? And did it have anything to do with the dragon statue? Had it been down there too?
She shook away the gnawing questions. This demon admitted he’d been following her for months. It wasn’t for any good reason. Once she’d escaped she would worry about the who, what, where, and why.