Magic's Memories

Chapter Forty-seven

His hat was gone and his back was to them but Feyla would have known those lean, slim shoulders and that head of red hair anywhere. Her breath did an odd hiccup that matched the stutter of her heart. "Sedgewick!"

"This is the third interruption in just as many hours, and as I recall, I promised to blast the next person who disturbed my work again." He turned, uncurling himself from where he was sitting cross-legged and rising to his feet. The orange ward still vibrated in from of him.

"Master Sedgewick!" Mydel was the first to exclaim. His voice lifted in boyish enthusiasm.

Sedgewick tilted his head and stared at Mydel the way one might stare at a buzzing, annoying bug. His gaze slipped down the line, lingering on Sandrina and her staff before briefly glancing at Feyla.

A fearful half-thought rose to Feyla's mind, blocking out the words she'd planned to say. Could he have been...? No, this was Sedgewick. He'd never let Desden—

"Am I supposed to know that name?" he asked. There was no recognition in his eyes. His ear gave a flick of irritation while his expression lapsed into boredom.

"Sedgewick?" Feyla asked, her throat unable to handle more than a broken whisper. Beside her, Sandrina and Mydel both took a step back.

"Carrow's spell," Sandrina hissed, voicing what they were all thinking.

Feyla's hands started shaking. He was looking right at her and acting like he didn't see anything at all.

"Maybe he doesn't remember any more magic either?" Mydel suggested.

"I thought that those thugs outside were supposed to deal with intruders but once again, I'm the only competent one here." The ward tugged away like a blanket jerked free of a clothesline. Magic swirled back to Sedgewick's hand, coalescing into a ball above his palm. He carried no staff. For the first time since their arrival, a small smile played across his lips.

"We need to run," Mydel whispered. His eyes were wide and sweat had begun dripping down his forehead.

"I can take him," Sandrina insisted. She reclaimed the step she'd given up.

"You're the Archmage's old apprentice, not the Archmage herself!"

"I don't need to beat him, I just need to hold him off."

Mydel grabbed Feyla's arm and tugged her toward the door. The shock over her limbs loosened enough for him to tug her along.

Behind them, the door slammed shut. "If you wanted to leave easily, you shouldn't have interrupted me in the first place."

Sandrina and Mydel both summoned wards just in time for the force of Sedgewick's blast to knock them back like a sledgehammer. Sandrina grit her teeth, strengthening her ward enough to keep the second blast from pinning all of them against the door. "Mydel, now!"

Dismissing the remains of his shattered ward, Mydel swerved to the left and sent a blast of yellow magic flying at Sedgewick. Feyla snapped out of her haze. She opened her mouth to stop Mydel from hurting Sedgewick when Mydel's blast snuffed out pitifully against Sedgewick's ward.

Sandrina wasted no time. She rushed deeper into the large room, sending out a dozen small lilac essences flares in Sedgewick's direction. He jerked his attention away from Mydel in time to let the flares hit another ward, pounding against it like falling comets.

Feyla started creeping along the wall. If she could just get behind him then she could knock him out before one of the three mages in the room got another killed. Sandrina met her eyes briefly but only a single nod acknowledged that she'd recognized what Feyla was doing.