The acolyte now focused his attention on Lasgol. He was clearly about to cast a spell on him, which was very bad news. He pointed his staff at Lasgol, who saw that the purple bolt of Transformation was coming straight toward his chest. He prepared for the worst.
The bolt failed to reach him.
Eyes open wide in surprise, he stared at the bolt which the acolyte was still directing, but which had stopped short of his body.
I protect, Camu transmitted.
Is it you doing it?
Camu flashed silver, and Lasgol saw the protective dome he had raised covering Ona and himself.
Yes. I deny magic.
You’re fantastic! Then Lasgol had an idea. Can you make it bigger?
Yes, a little more.
Do it.
Camu flashed silver again, and the half-sphere, which covered them to the ground like a dome, expanded a couple of paces more.
Perfect. Now the three of us are going to move toward that acolyte who’s attacking me.
I agree.
Ona clawed at the air, making it clear that she was ready.
The three moved forward as one, with Lasgol taking a step and Camu and Ona following together. The acolyte saw them coming toward him and conjured a second transformer-bolt. Both beams struck the protective dome Camu was holding and fizzled out on it, to the bafflement of the acolyte.
Astrid and Viggo were still fighting against the guards, who were extremely hard to kill.
“I’m going to eat all your limbs tonight!” Viggo shouted at them as he delivered thrusts and made the slashed tentacles fly around.
“I think I’m on for that dinner,” Astrid said. She too was beginning by attacking the creatures’ tentacles.
“Barbecued and with plenty of paprika they’ll be really tasty!” Viggo called back, while he slashed two tentacles which had wrapped themselves around his neck and were threatening to choke him.
Eicewald was still fighting Olagar and the other acolyte. They launched offensive spells at one another, while at the same time they drew on part of their reserves to maintain the defenses they had raised. The first to exhaust his inner energy would lose the battle. Offensive spells used up a great deal of energy, but at the same time damaged the opponent’s own defense, so that he had to send more energy to sustain it. Eicewald was attacking with spells that caused direct physical harm, sending dozens of ice-stakes against the two sorcerers which crashed against the physical defenses of both and weakened them. He kept putting on pressure, conjuring up stalactites and stalagmites of ice to hurl at his two enemies. The impacts were devastating, and the defenses of Olagar and his acolyte felt it so much that Eicewald could see his two enemies staggering within their protective spheres, so that they nearly fell. Unfortunately, they managed to stay on their feet.
Olagar recovered and conjured a dark sphere, but instead of directing it against Eicewald he directed it at the water at the far end of the cave. The sphere sank beneath the surface, then suddenly exploded with a beam of blackish light and an intense whistling.
Lasgol was five paces away from the acolyte who was attacking him. He took two more steps, and Camu’s dome covered him. The acolyte opened horrified eyes as the two spheres he was keeping up vanished from around his body.
I deny magic, Camu said proudly.
That was the idea, Lasgol told him, and released against the acolyte. The arrow hit him in the heart, and he fell dead with a look of incomprehension on his face.
Another guard hurled himself at him but Ona intercepted him and brought him down. Camu gave his face a stinging blow with his strong tail, which seemed to stun him, and with another arrow Lasgol killed him.
Nice bit of work! Now for the other acolyte, he told them, and began to move towards him.
I destroy magic.
Yes, but be careful not to get anywhere near Eicewald, or you’ll destroy his defenses too and they’ll kill him.
Oh. All right.
You hadn’t thought of that, had you?
No, not thought, Camu admitted.
Astrid and Viggo were fighting the last two guards, and would soon be done with them. They were no rivals for the two Rangers, no matter how tough they might be as fighters. Every thrust and sword-stroke of theirs, seemed slow and clumsy compared with the speed and agility of the Ranger Assassins.
Eicewald went on launching physical attacks of ice against Olagar, whose defenses were beginning to crack. He threw a giant ice trident at him, which embedded itself in the grey sphere. The three prongs managed to penetrate the sphere, and only just failed to touch the sorcerer’s body. The Mage began to conjure a javelin of ice to finish the job.
The acolyte who was attacking Eicewald realized that Lasgol, Ona and Camu were coming toward him, and conjured up an ominous-looking black cloud over them. To his surprise it did not affect them, and was destroyed by Camu’s dome. The acolyte began to conjure again.
Let’s go, quick, Lasgol said, and they ran to the acolyte. Camu’s dome enveloped him, and they stopped. The spell he was casting failed with a brief, unexpected flash. The acolyte stared at his staff, not knowing what had happened. He could not conjure, and his two defensive spheres had vanished suddenly. He saw that Lasgol was already aiming at him, realized that he was lost and plunged into the boiling well at the moment Lasgol released. As the arrow hit him in the shoulder; he vanished into the black waters, never to reappear.
Lasgol now saw that the Ice Mage had already defeated Olagar. We’d better help Eicewald, he said.
The Sorcerer had
