Chapter 14
You decide that it is unwise to let just anyone take these sacred texts and do whatever they please with them.
The irony of this thought is not lost on you as you put your hand on the hilt of your sword, ready to draw it at a moment’s notice.
“Who’s there?” you ask, in what you imagine to be a commanding voice.
There is a swift bending of light in front of the bookshelf – they must have momentarily lost concentration on their Shrouding Spell when you surprised them! You blink at the vauge outline of a humanoid figure before it shimmers into invisibility again.
Whoever it is, they’re certainly powerful! You’d be hard-pressed to maintain your own spells when surprised like that!
No sooner do you think this, than you sense a slight distortion to your right. Training-honed instinct causes you to step back and draw your weapon.
Before you can do more than that, there is another blur and something sweeps your feet from under you!
The air is forced from your lungs in an almighty wumph as your back hits the floor! Your own Shrouding Spell dissipates immediately. A small part of you is proud that you’ve kept your trip on your sword, but before you can congratulate yourself Naema’s tall, lithe form shimmers into being crouched over you.
A strange wicked-looking dagger, the blade forged of some strange scarlet metal, arcs up into the air, grasped in both her hands. You watch, paralyzed by equal parts surprise and horror, as it comes plunging down towards your heart!
Pain sears into your chest, but strangely, it is not the life-ending agony that you expected…
Not wasting the opportunity, you thrust your blade into her side. The angle is awkward because of your position and she manages to roll away from the strike, turning what should have been a crippling wound into a mere gash.
She clutches her bleeding side and glares at you. Surprise obvious in her expression.
You also roll to your feet and stand facing her. The tome, now bloody and dagger-pierced, slips out from beneath your undershirt and falls at your feet with a loud thunk.
Her eyes fix on the book with a hungry expression for a moment before locking with yours. As you stare into her eyes, her pupils seem to expand. They spread to her green irises, and continue over the whites of her eyes until you are staring into two bottomless voids of despair.
She grins evilly at you, and her form shimmers and vanishes.
Your chest wound sears with pain.
What do you do?
> Fight! [ Chapter 6 ]
> Run! [ Chapter 15 ]