Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) (6 page)

Looks of anguish,
despair,
fear and pain filled
every one of ghastly orbs
. What passed for a smile twisted the Necromancer’s thick lips as he used his power to summon their magic. Alive, they would have resisted him to their last breath—
indeed,
a century ago
they had done just that. T
hese
were the souls of the waziri, defeated by his black magic and the magic of their traitorous comrades.

In victory, the Necromancer had n
ot let them die completely.
Doing so
would have been a foolish waste. Instead, he had imprisoned the
ir energy within his table. The wizards
had refused to
serve him in life, but in their quasi-death they no longer had a choice.

When he had awakened enough of their power, the Necromancer changed his spell. His voice grew louder and names began to appear within his incantation: Tomas,
Viktor
and Andre, his three black waziri lieutenants.
Reflexively, he almost included J
osef, but caught himself before uttering the name
.

Very slowly, dark shimmering forms began to coalesce above three of the four empty chairs.
The forms morphed into human shapes, their features b
arely visible, and settled
onto the seats. They were not the actual black waziri; rather, they were energy projections, dark shadows of the Necromancer’s servants summoned for communication.

“You all know
what has befallen
Josef,” the Necromancer began without preamble.

The three
spectre
s
glanced at one another
before t
he one in the center spoke.
Though his lips did not move, his words were heard by everyone.

“Yes, my lord,”
Viktor
said. “
He has been vanquished
.”

“
Killed by Dominic
,”
Tomas added
.

One of the novitiates winced, the one who had borne a trace of sadness in hi
s features. He was Raf
ael,
Josef
’s disciple
. He had been griev
ing since he had sensed
the loss of his master, but hearing the words
spoken
brought his feelings to the surface.
Without his mentor, Rafael’s
training as a black wazi
ri would
never be completed, though he would remain a servant of the Necromancer.

“How i
s that possible?”
he asked.
“Dominic does not wield the black arts. He should have been no match for my master.”

Everyone looked at the Necromancer. T
he
same
question
had been weighing on
all their minds, especially those of the three black waziri, who were charged with finding and destroying Dominic
. They had not expected that Dominic could defeat their brother.

“I do not know,” the Necromancer admitted. “Perhaps Josef was overconfident. He was
always the most arrogant of you four
.
I trust
you will learn from hi
s fate, and
that none of you will repeat his mistake.
”

“Is it possible Dominic’s powers have somehow grown in the years he has been in hiding?”
Andre
asked.

“In the realm of magic, almost anything is possible,” the Necromancer replied.

“Would we not have sensed it if
Dominic was practic
ing new
magics
?”
Tomas asked.

“Perhaps…but perhaps not,” the Necromancer replied. “I think it more likely Josef made a mistake, or that Dominic had help.” He settled back in his seat, as if the effort to keep himself on the edge of his chair was
too
taxing. “Either way, Dominic has now been revealed. Having released his magic, he can no longer hide from you.
”

“What are your orders, my lord?”
Viktor
asked.

“Now that you can
track him, there is no need for the three of you to remain
separated. Indeed, until we know how he vanquished Josef, I do not want any of you facing him alone. You
r first task is to get to
America. I sugges
t
you to meet up in New
York City. It’s the easiest place
to get to, and far enough from Dominic
’s last location that you w
on’t run the risk of encountering him before you
a
re together. Are you all close enough to an airport to reach New York tomorrow?”

The
three shadowy forms responded in the affirmative.

“Good. Once you’re all together, head for the place Dominic defeated Josef and see if you can learn anything.
I expect
Dominic will be long gone, but if he
i
s not, you will know it.
”

“If he
i
s there, we will destroy him,” Tomas promised.

“And if he is gone, we will follow him,” Andre said.

The Necromancer thought for a moment. “Not all three of you, at least not at first,” he said
. “There may be a reason he
chose to reveal himself to Josef in that particular place. Perhaps he has a secret ally there, or something else tha
t ties him to it. If
we can find who or what it is,
maybe
we can
draw Dominic back.
Viktor
,
you
will
remain there
while the others pursue Dominic.
Y
ou and I will see if we can conjur
e
up enough mischief to attract Dominic’s attention, or perhaps to draw out his
secret
ally
if there is one
. I will have some ideas by the time you arrive there.”

The Necromancer reached out and dropped his hands onto the table.

3
. CARRIED
AWAY

L
e
esa breathed
out
a soft sigh as she and Rave
neared the edge of the trees. She wasn’t ready
for her wonderful ride in hi
s strong arms to end. The ride had been all too short—Rave had covered almost a mile i
n little more than two minutes, a
nd she
knew he could have done it
faster had he needed to. Once they reached the road
where they could be seen
, he would put her down and they would walk the rest of the way like normal people.
And that was not nearly as much fun.
She thought about asking him to circle back to make the ride last longer, but she didn’t think it very wise to return the vicinity of the battle. It was best to put as much distance from that place as possible. She would just have to be satisfied with the ride she had gotten.

So she was totally surprised when Rave slowed his pace at the wood’s edge but did not stop to put her down. Instead, he kept her cradled in his arms and began walking east along the road.

Leesa
pulled her cheek away from hi
s
deliciously
warm chest and looked up into his face.

“What a
re you doing? People can see us out here.
”

R
ave smiled down at her. “So? Where is it written that a guy
can’t carry his
beautiful
girlfriend if he wants to?
Just because
I can’t u
se volkaane speed out here in the open,
there’s no reason I can’t carry you awhile longer. People will just think you hurt your leg or something.”

Leesa realized Rave was right. While it might be unusual to see someone being carried like this, there was nothing to indicate anything supernatural was going on. She certainly wasn’t going to protest, not when it meant she could snuggle against him for a few more minutes.
An
d she did feel a bit tired—expending
as much
magic
as she’d just done
was tiring for a beginner wizard.

“You’re right,” she said. “I just might let you carry me all the way back to the dorm.
”

Rave
bent his head and kissed her
forehead.

“It would be my pleasure,” he said.

“Mine, too,” Leesa sighed. She
pressed he
r cheek back against his chest, determined to enjoy every minute.

At normal walking speed,
it took almost fifteen
minutes
for them to reach Leesa’s dorm. Rav
e stopped on the sidewalk outside the front entrance, but still didn’t put Leesa down.

Leesa opened her eyes and looked around.
The wrecked Blazer
—the result of the accident that had started all this—s
till sat alongside the curb
. S
he guessed
that the campus police
would do something about it by tomorrow. There was nothing inside the vehicle to tie either her or Dominic to it, so she decided she would just let security take care of it. The guy who sold the Blazer
to them was in for a
surprise when the police contacted him—since she and Dominic had never registered it, he was still the official owner. She hoped he wouldn’t
get into too much trouble. She bet he might
even be happy to get the car back, despite its damaged rear end. After all, he still had the
four thousand dollars. He could fix the Blazer for much less than that and then sell it again. Remembering the
satisfied
look on his face as he counted the
thick wad of
cash, she was pretty sure that was exactly what he would do.