There was no screaming, Max just looked down at the sword in horror. He slumped to his knees, the sword sliding out of him with a sickening, slithering sound.
Jalec calmly wiped the blood on a rag and sheathed it, standing back so that the boy wouldn't bleed on him.
Iatus let out a guttural scream of rage and began to crawl towards Max.
"Stop, Iatus," Urien said scornfully.
The pain was excruciating, like someone was pouring molten lead onto his arm but Iatus kept moving forward, getting to one knee and floundering, his body fighting him all the way, like someone had him tied to weights. Somehow he eventually managed to reach Max's side.
"Max!" he shouted.
"Help... me... Iatus..." Max gasped weakly.
"Stay with me Max!"
"Leave him, Iatus," Urien said coldly behind him.
His arm started to burn again and Iatus felt like he was being pulled away from Max by a team of oxen.
"No! I won't!" Iatus shouted, a tear streaking down the side of his face.
"You must obey me, the rune..."
"No!" Iatus shouted again, he glared at Urien and shouted the spellword for shield.
He poured as much mana as he could find into it, focussing on shaping it around Max and himself. The shield exploded outwards, sending a shockwave of air and dust outward in a great plume, Urien and Jalec were knocked back off their feet. Jalec let out a scream in surprise but Urien was too close and had the air driven out of him.
"Iatus... you... said... it... would... be... okay..." Max said painfully.
"It will, it will," Iatus reassured him.
"Impressive... for a boy," Urien said, getting to his feet.
Jalec too was getting up but he was backing fearfully away.
"Lower the shield," Urien said, his calm demeanour returning.
"Never," Iatus shouted defiantly, but he was fighting inside himself to keep his control.
He looked desperately about for anything that could save Max but there was nothing. Desperate he breathed "Erro," focusing it into a small beam of heat and light that scorched the ground around him. He hurriedly twisted on the spot, carving out a rough circle around himself.
"What are you doing boy? You can't stand inside a summoning circle."
Iatus hurried through a quick summons and then shouted at the top of his voice "Aelith," as if he was physically calling to him.
The mana drain was intense, like nothing he had ever felt before, as if he were being ripped open from the inside but then there was a flash of lightning and a scream then Aelith was dragged into existence.
"Ow!" cried Aelith, bitterly. He was in the form of a squirrel, his cheeks puffed out and filled to bursting. When he saw Iatus its tiny mouth dropped open.
"Aelith, heal him!"
Aelith was still looking at him in confusion, "How did you do that? Do you have any IDEA how painful that summon was?"
"I don't know, heal him now!"
"It was like being dragged across a bed of nails... for an hour!"
"Aelith, he's dying, help him!"
Aelith looked at Max and scowled, "I'm not a healer, I can't do that."
"You did it for Capitus, do it for Max!"
"That was more a temporary fix..."
"Stop him from dying Aelith, or I swear you will be joining him."
The squirrel scowled and held out a paw. Max began to glow with a faint green light and slowly his tense breaths began to relax.
"There, now tell me how you managed to summon me when I was already in your world," the squirrel folded its arms and glared at him, which was quite funny on the face of a squirrel.
Iatus checked over Max, the wound was still there, red and seeping blood but it didn't look critical and Iatus sighed in relief.
"Iatus!" Aelith snapped.
"I don't know, what's the big deal? I've summoned you before."
"Not when I was in your world. You shouldn't be able to do that."
"Why not?"
Aelith rolled his eyes, "Didn't you learn anything in your lessons? The ether is less solid that your world, it's easier to pluck a spirit out of it than from your world. Why do you think the spirits don't just draw circles and summon some humans up? And why have you got a giant rune on your arm? And who are these two?"
Iatus sighed and sat down next to Max, the strain of the magic was beginning to take its toll. Jalec and Urien were prowling about the shield, every now and then testing its strength with magic or sword
"Those two are my captors, they drew the rune on me."
"That looks like a promise rune, those can only be drawn on willing subjects, why did you let them?"
"So they would set Max free."
"And yet here he is, bleeding all over the stonework..."
"The tried to kill him anyway..."
"So, in summary, you stuck your neck out to save another mage, pledged yourself to a bunch of renegade idealists and were then betrayed by them and we're now calmly waiting for your shield to fade so they can finish killing us off."
"Pretty much."
"YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT!" the squirrel screamed at him, waving its hands in the air for added affect.
"Can you get it off me?"
Aelith chewed his lip, which must have been painful with those teeth.
"No, I can't, I don't have the power, and runes aren't really my thing."
Iatus cursed.
"You're little demon can't help you, Iatus, now, put down the shield before I become angry. Do you think a boy who hasn't even finished his training can stand up to us? I don't want to hurt you, but I will," Urien called through the shield.
"I'm not little!" shouted the squirrel, waving its tiny fist at him.
"Aelith, how do I get it off?" fighting against his own magic trying to pull the shield down.
Aelith turned back to him, "Here? You can't. It will take a dedicated team of about 5 magi about a week to undo it."
"That's not good enough, Aelith, there must be another way."
"We could cut off your arm, that might do it."
Iatus glared at him, "I thought you were called 'the wise' for a reason! Think of something, that's an order!"
Aelith pouted his lips, "There is one way..."
"I'm listening,"
"But it's too horrible to even consider..."
"Tell me."
"I once worked with a spirit that was something of an expert on runes."
"What's so horrible about that?"
"Well, she's a mara, a greater mara at that."
Iatus bit his lip and Max groaned incoherently.
"Last chance Iatus, come out of there or Jalec will take great pleasure in killing you," Urien shouted.
Jalec smiled and his fists began to glow with a soft yellow light and he punched the shield. Sparks flew and Iatus felt the drain on his mana. It wasn't too big but in his weakened state he knew he couldn't keep it up for too long.
"Aeltih, take over the shield, I need to rest."
Aelith nodded and a new shield popped up around them. Iatus let his fade away and slumped down next to Max.
Jalec punched again at the shield, sending sparks across it. He snarled at Aelith and the squirrel calmly stared him down.
Urien cursed, "Jalec see to this, find me when it is over, I need to go see to last night's reports."
Jalec nodded and Urien walked off into the city.
Jalec snarled at the shield and began to shoot a stream of black wind from his hands, like a mini tornado, at the shield, Aelith simply lay down on his back, crossed his hind legs, produced a nail file out of thin air and began to manicure his claws.