Halyma was silent for a long moment, and for a second I thought she might actually let us go. But then she lifted her chin proudly and squared her jaw.
“I care nothing for mages or their troubles!” she spat, her dark eyes gleaming with anger. “I saw something in you that I thought would be different, but you are just like the rest, taking what you need from us and leaving us to suffer. If you want to leave me, I will send you to the afterlife!”
She pointed her staff in Iannis’s direction and began a chant, but Iannis flung out a hand and shouted several Words. Some kind of strange, sizzling yellow and black energy shot out from his palm and slammed into the shamaness, knocking her flat on her back before she could complete her chant. Her body began to shake as energy crackled over her skin and clothing, and she bucked and writhed as though she were having a seizure.
“Come on!” I grabbed Fenris’s hand. “Let’s get out of here!” Raising a hand, I conjured a ball of fire and aimed it at the shamaness’s tent. The structure burst into flame, and those of the Coazi who weren’t trying to help the shamaness rushed to put out the fire, giving us the diversion we needed. The four of us made a run for it, sprinting from the camp as hard and fast as our legs could carry us, and I prayed to whatever god might be listening that we would make it out of this blasted mountain range alive.
17
It took over an hour to lose the Coazi – even though most of them stayed behind trying to save their shamaness and her burning hut, a good number of them still came after us. Iannis and Fenris took over the defense against the ones who chased us, deflecting arrows and spears with the use of magic. We did not retaliate as Iannis still seemed to have friendly feelings for them, and after all we were intruders on their land. We continued in our full-on sprint for a good two miles after the last confrontation before we finally slowed.
“Okay,” Annia gasped, clutching at a stitch in her side. “We’ve got to stop or I’m going to explode. Surely we’ve lost them now, haven’t we?”
“We have,” Iannis confirmed as we slowed to a trot. I arched a brow, amazed that though his cheeks were flushed from the run, he was barely winded. “But the Coazi have small parties that roam these mountains, so it would not be wise to assume that we are safe. We really should keep moving.”
“Well I’m sorry, but unlike you three I’ve got human limitations,” Annia snapped, still clutching at her side. “I can’t sprint for miles on end.”
Iannis stopped abruptly, and I nearly ran into him. “Come here,” he commanded.
Annia stopped as well. “Why?” she demanded, suspicion in her voice.
“So that I can help you,” he said patiently. “There is little point in making you suffer through your ‘human limitations,’ as you call them, when I can provide a workaround.”
“Alright.” Annia stepped forward cautiously. “What do you want me to do?”
“Just stand there for a moment.” Iannis squatted down, and Annia jumped a little as he wrapped his fingers around her ankles. He spoke a few Words, and glowing circles of magical energy formed around Annia’s ankles. The energy spread up her legs and over the rest of her body, and her eyes widened as she was briefly enveloped in the strange glow. The magic hummed over her for a few moments, then disappeared in a shower of sparks.
“Wow.” Annia ran her hands down her sides as Iannis rose. “What the hell did you do to me? I feel amazing.”
“I gave you an energy boost,” he said simply. “You should be able to run for several hours more without tiring. It will wear off eventually, but for now you should be able to keep up with us.”
Sure enough, when we resumed our run, Annia kept up without complaint. We ran another eight miles, mostly downhill, until we came across a cave that looked suitable to bed down in for the night. Iannis and Fenris warded the entrance, and Annia and I built a small fire in the back of the cave where the glow could not be easily seen from a distance.
Once Iannis and Fenris had secured the entrance, they joined us around the fire. My eyes roamed over Iannis as he stared into the flames, the firelight flickering over his handsome features. When I’d first met him, I’d never thought I’d see him sitting cross-legged on a cavern floor in beaded buckskins, with his hair tousled and a healthy flush on his normally alabaster cheeks. It was a good look for him – no, better than good. He was downright sexy. No wonder that shamaness had desired him – any red-blooded woman would have. Even so, there was no way I could forgive her for putting that spell on him. What Halyma had done to Iannis was little better than slavery.
“Now that we’ve had a chance to catch our breath, why don’t you fill us in on what happened?” Fenris asked as he handed Iannis a packet of beef jerky. “We’ve traveled quite a way to come to your rescue, at considerable risk. It would be nice to have the blanks filled in at last.”
“Indeed, and I am grateful.” Iannis’s eyes swept over us all, lingering on me just a beat longer than everyone else. Heat swept through my stomach, and I fought the urge to bite my lip. “I am greatly in your debt, for going to such lengths to find me. If you had not, I might have lived for years or decades as Halyma’s sharalli. Her mind magic is extremely potent.”
“Just how the hell did she manage to bewitch you into staying with her in the first place?” I demanded, jealousy adding an edge to my voice. Even though I knew Iannis had been under a spell, it still chafed me that he’d allowed himself to be caught like that in the first place. I mean, he was one of the strongest mages in the Northia Federation. Shouldn’t he have been able to resist one puny shamaness?