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An Excerpt From: HIS MAGICAL STUDENT
Copyright © MARY WINTER, 2007
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing,
Inc.
Unable
to ride his zardark to the source of the
magical energies, Teryn Windhorn
dug his heels into his mount’s ribs and urged the horse even faster. The zardark, a winged reptile, would have been
quicker, flying over the forest instead of making him ride through it. Branches
whipped into his face. The tang of magic from the same powerful source he’d
sensed before, yet had been unable to locate, urged him forward. Whatever
this mage fought, whatever caused it to draw the power, the magic was raw
and untrained. Power like this could kill a person and he’d be damned if
he’d accept another young mage’s death on his conscience.
He
cursed his work several leagues to the north that kept him from monitoring
the magical workings in his home territory. He struggled to keep the farms
and villages under his protection safe, and it seemed there never was
enough of him to go around. Add to that the mage council’s incessant
demands that he find and train an apprentice. Teryn
urged the horse even faster. He’d heard rumors of an untrained girl, yet
hadn’t had the time to seek them out and discover their truth.
The
scream of a wounded beast tore through the forest and chilled his blood. Ducking
low over the horse’s neck, Teryn urged the animal
faster and followed the trace of magic he sensed. Bright. Powerful. The
magic held a feminine undertone and he stiffened in the saddle.
The
horse leapt a small log, nearly unseating him with the powerful jump.
Grabbing its mane, Teryn struggled to stay in the
saddle. He clenched his legs around the animal and thought only of what
he’d face when he reached his destination. With his short sword strapped to
his back and his body well rested and ready for magical battle, Teryn thought not of those he couldn’t save, but the
ones he could. Like the farmers who had disturbed a flock of firebirds.
They’d nearly lost their entire crop before he arrived and convinced the
birds to roost elsewhere. Too big a territory just for him, but there
wasn’t much he could do about it.
A woman’s
scream of pain filled the air. Beneath his legs, sweat slicked the horse’s
coat and soaked the legs of his breeches. His mount’s labored breathing
filled the air and reluctantly Teryn eased back,
not wanting to ride the best into the ground. “C’mon,” he murmured under
his breath, already beginning the incantation that would offer a bubble of
protection around him and his horse.
The
smell of charred flesh filled the air. A powerful burst of magic shot
through him, nearly unseating him again as he gasped for breath. The hair
on his arms rose. This close, he recognized the death cry as belonging to a
boaresk, and he shivered. The
creatures traveled in packs, the death of one calling another.
The
horse skidded to a stop in a clearing. Vaulting from the beast’s back, he
drew his sword and raced for the body lying on the ground. She lay on her
side, one arm flung out as if to send a last, futile burst of magic. Her
tangled blonde hair promised to shine like the sun. The tight vest and
trousers she wore left little of her rounded figure to the imagination.
Even now, with her life force ebbing, power hummed around her.
Teryn
rolled her onto her back, not liking the way blood trickled from her nose.
A slash across her ribs leaked blood, dirt smudging her tunic and vest
around the wound. Another gore mark along her thigh promised to be painful.
Rustling in the bushes pulled his attention from the unknown female mage’s
wounds. A second boaresk rushed the
clearing.
Teryn
stood and leveled a bolt of magic at the creature in one swift movement.
The creature stumbled and kept advancing. Stepping over the supine body of
the woman, he fired more bolts of blue-hot magic at the creature. One. Two.
The need to kill it and get the woman the hell out of here thrummed in his
veins. If she lived, she’d be the apprentice the council wanted him to
have.
If she
lived.
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