The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II

beneath the descending wall of magic.
    Powwell felt the Kardia tremble, both in the protected courtyard in the city and through the pass where Yaassima and Moncriith kept their thoughts shielded from him. He tried harder to penetrate Yaassima’s mind. She had no magic and shouldn’t be able to block him.
    Suddenly his vision split again. He watched a small shower of rock and dirt slide down the hillside into the pass through eyes that could only be Yaassima’s. But her thoughts and memories remained cloudy and indistinct. A blast of heat nearly shattered his partial rapport with her. The morning air of deep winter heated to the noon temperatures of high summer.
    Powwell thought she was remembering her fall into the pit, and he nearly shouted in triumph. At last, he’d see precisely what happened to Kalen.
    Then he realized the heat came from the Kardia itself. Heat akin to the molten lava in the pit. Yaassima was lying across a thin ley line that suddenly reversed its flow of energy and with great speed returned . . . returned where? Where did ley lines begin?
    No matter. The channel of the retreating magic scorched and collapsed, taking the crust of the Kardia with it. All around them, a spiderweb of cracks opened and spread. The slow spread of the ruptures in the land contrasted sharply with the frantic movements of the men. Movements that accomplished little in getting them out of the path of chaos and death.
    Powwell heard a few of their shouts and screams over the crashing of the Kardia.
    The soldiers jumped and scrambled away from the fissures that followed them in all directions. Some jumped forward, over the rising magic wall, many backward and up the sides of the hills. The hillsides crumbled beneath the trampling feet, showering more debris down into the pass. If they weren’t careful, they’d bury the pass and Moncriith with it.
    Yaassima laughed. Her burned and shattered body trembled with pain. Still she laughed. “You’re dead, Moncriith. You are dead already and don’t realize it!”
    “Come!” Moncriith hauled her up, none too gently, by the armpits. “Follow me, all of you.” The Bloodmage made a panicky dash for Coronnan, dragging Yaassima with him.
    A few soldiers followed them. Most opted for retreat into SeLenicca.
    Yaassima continued to laugh at the crumbling of Moncriith’s grand invasion.
    Powwell tried to retreat. Yaassima wasn’t thinking of her fall into the pit. She thought only of watching Moncriith die.
    “Stop laughing,” Moncriith ordered as he paused for breath and looked back at the wall that separated him from the majority of his troops. He grasped Yaassima’s shoulders with clammy hands and shook her. Back and forth. Back and forth until her neck ceased to support her head. Back and forth until her senses whirled and the constant pain of her burns and aching joints intensified beyond endurance.
    And still Yaassima laughed. That evil laugh that took delight in watching others in pain. She raised her hands and encircled Moncriith’s neck with her preternaturally long fingers. She laughed as she pressed her thumbs into the Bloodmage’s vulnerable windpipe.
    Her laughter choked and gurgled when Moncriith moved his scarred and sweaty palms to capture her own throat.
    The magic wall spurted upward, engulfing Yaassima and Moncriith. They froze, trapped with the magic.
    Powwell yanked his mind out of Yaassima’s failing body. Then the wall collapsed again with uneven energy, crushing the Bloodmage and the Kaalipha into a bloody heap.
    The wall suddenly grew higher, threatening to capture Powwell’s mind. He willed himself back into his own body, back in the safety of Coronnan City.
    I failed, Thorny, he moaned. I didn’t learn anything about Kalen. I’ve failed her again.

Chapter 40
     
    M yri’s vision returned to the body anchored to the Kardia. She didn’t need to see the magic, only fuel it. Wings broke free of the tight human skin on her back. Her neck elongated. The vestigial spinal bumps sharpened and shot outward as full horns. Purple-tipped crystal fur erupted from her too smooth skin. Fire rose. Fire glowed. Fire streamed forth as she absorbed more heat, and yet more heat from the Kardia.
    Shayla showed her a swelling in the wall at the border. Up and up it rose, separating the army. The power fueling the spell fluctuated up and down. The wall grew and collapsed. She channeled more power into the spell. The wall grew again, up and out. It flowed in a