Chapter 14
Grazrath
To think I must suffer such indignity. Watching my blood ooze from the wound in my chest, I grimace.
It is too bad that I have drained all the healers whom I had taken previously, for I have no way to treat this wound.
Normally, when I am invulnerable, such wounds heal quickly and are barely worth consideration, like a mortal getting bitten by a gnat.
But now I must wait for the blood to slow and heal; the pain is considerable.
I have never felt pain like this before.
Given it, most certainly, but to feel it?
It would be novel if it weren’t so alarming.
I don’t have time to waste in the mountains, sitting on my treasure of dragon bones. I need to move to Ilustan, crush the fortress walls, and take the Fairy-Blessed queen as my blood slave. This wound is more than just inconvenient, as it is also a reminder of my current weakness.
But there is always an obstacle, it seems, Fate being against me.
Though I was finally able to find the bones, by the time I got here, they had been inert and dead for too long.
Coaxing the magic from them will require magic in and of itself, and I used my last magic user I captured to scry for this place.
Not for the first time, I curse the fact that the mortal body I am occupying has no magic.
If only the ceremony that summoned me had put me in a body of power, I would have already put Anar’i under my thumb.
A pinprick of awareness prickles at the back of my mind.
The seer. She broke through my block, and now I can feel her thoughts, as if from far away.
I don’t have the wherewithal to completely block her again, so I merely keep her at a mental distance.
Still, I can feel her getting closer. She must have figured out where I am hiding and is coming here with her warriors to challenge me.
Normally, that would be nothing to me, but weakened as I am by the soulfire, there is actually a chance that her mortal warriors could kill me.
I should send the imps I have left after them and try to cut them down before they can reach me.
But wait, I think, a notion coming to me. A seer. A sasari. With illusion magic in her veins. Could she not be the thing I am waiting for? What I failed to get at the village because of her interference? A magic user whom I can drain and use to wake up the magic in these bones.
All right, perhaps it is time to play a game of cat and mouse. It's a gamble allowing her to get close, but once she’s in reach, I will take her and drain her. The last thought she’ll have is that she is the reason that I can do what she is trying to prevent.
Looking out of the mouth of the cave, I smile. I hope they hurry. Looks like it’s going to snow.