Solace Curse: Part I

11 - Darkness Awakened

Instead, his eyes narrowed. "Boys... we'll be bury'un this pretty knife in summat softer 'un wood."

The magic was burning in my chest. Get out, just get out. You can't do this here.

But I could barely take a breath, let alone a step. The room was spinning.

Three chairs scraped from the table, three big men stood.

Breathe. The clamor of the bar filled my ears.

Marv reached for Lylisia's knife.

Just breathe. My chest was bursting, ears ringing. The flickering firelight made the gamblers dance left and right, side to side. They closed in around us.

Grubby fingers closed around the silver knife's hilt and I swung, wrenching the blade from the wood and flinging myself toward the door.

Someone dove at me from behind and took us both down. The gambler's breath filled my nostrils and I gagged on the stench of alcohol. There was blood in my mouth. The dull thud of bone on stone. His fist hit my ribs and I knew it was over.

Magic erupted in my soul and struck back, savagely.

It traveled like a bolt of lightning straight down my arm and connected with his chest. The rush of power was pure exhilaration mixed with wrenching pain. He let out a shriek, but the rush in my ears drowned out the noise as his body blasted backward off of mine.

Ears still ringing, I tried to jump to my feet, only to stagger to my knees, hanging onto a chair. My chest might as well have been crushed by an anvil—my right arm was completely numb. Blurry shapes swam into focus and I raised my eyes.

No one moved. Marv was lying in a bloody heap in the splintered remains of his gambling table. The eyes of the whole tavern were fixed on me, some wide with fear, some narrowed with anger. A few mutters broke out.

I glanced warily around but the other gamblers had fallen back. The stone was scorched in a circle around me, and I uneasily hauled myself up, swallowing the vomit that rose in my throat. The adrenaline still pumped through my veins as the magic recoiled warily, sensing the now heightened danger.

The muttering grew thicker, soon filling the air with a fog of whispered words. A few men moved cautiously to the fallen Marv, and I glanced at the bartender. He glared and pointed a shaking finger at the door. The order finally kicked my dazed mind into gear and I slunk across the room, hood up, knowing all eyes were fixed on my cowl.

Above the other voices I heard a raspy growl from the bloodied Marv. "...I'll... kill 'im... you boys... kill..."

It was all I needed to hear as the buzz in the bar filled my ears. I practically burst through the door and broke into a sprint, my heart beginning to pound again.

They won't find you. They can't find you, you'll be long gone before they do. I wasn't scared of the townsfolk. How could you let this happen again? With the Ska'al looking for me, this was going to beckon them like a smoke signal.

My boots slapped the mud as I ran, weaving between shabby huts and equally neglected shop fronts. I could only hope this was the right way, and that "the pig" would stick out to mark the shaman.

My footsteps echoed off cobblestones, then stopped, then echoed agai—someone was following me.

Launching myself into an alley, I tried to hold my breath, every muscle shaking. It isn't the Ska'al, it can't be, it's someone else. The man's friends, the gamblers with him?

More footsteps—they were rushed and echoed now too, closing the distance between us, then stopping suddenly.

They don't know you're here. I gripped my knife tightly, the feeling slowly returning to my numb arm.