Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga)

RECAP

P
erched
high on a
sturdy
branch,
a large brown and white owl watched in dismay as a ma
gical battle unfolded
below it
less than two
hundred feet away.
Despite its curiosity, t
he bird dared get no closer—
the leafless winter trees provided little cover and
the powers being unleashed by the two wizards were far too dangerous. Still,
even from this distance,
the owl’s sharp eyesight allowed it to take in every detail
of the contest
. Its large round eyes swiveled
back and for
th
between the two battling wizards
and the volkaane who
was trying to help one of them.

The owl was no stranger to magic
, b
ut it had never dreamed magic this powerful
existed.
The black energy being called for
th
by o
ne of the wizards was especial
ly disturbing.
Even from its lofty perch, the bird could feel the dark magic’s foul malevolence.

The prudent move would hav
e been to fly away, far from the
danger, but the owl remained
in the tree
. Something told it
that
what was happening below
could
be of grave importance.
So t
he regal bird
remained where it was, deter
mined to watch and to learn everything
it could
.

Hidden behind the
gnarly
trunk of a thick tree,
L
eesa’s heart raced, her body shot full o
f adrenaline
.
The evil wizard
Josef’s
bolt of black magic
was mov
ing ever closer to
Dominic
, pressing his yellow-white beam backward
. In moments, the
dar
k magic would overwhelm her wizard mentor
. And once Dominic was out of the way, the black
waziri w
ould turn his full might against
her volkaane boyfriend
Rave.
Alone,
Rave wouldn’t stand a chance
against him
. S
he had to do something.

S
he pulled her eyes from Rave and Dominic and scanned the woods around Josef, searching desperately for some kind of idea.

She spied a small log,
a foot thick and maybe eight feet long.
In the short time she’d been practicing magic, s
he
ha
d ne
ver moved anything
nearly
this heavy. I
n desperation
,
she had
once
sent Edwina h
urtling through the air, and Edwina
was a vampire.
Leesa
still
wasn’t sure how she had managed that—the anger had just welled up inside her
and somehow taken over
—but i
f she
could just get the log rolling, then maybe….

She
pictured the log
bouncing along the ground
to
ward Josef’s legs.
Very s
lowly, the log began to roll
, picking up speed as it drew closer to Josef. Leesa held her breath as the log prepared to smash into the back of Josef’s legs.
She wondered if a wizard’s legs might snap as easi
ly as a person’s, but she didn’t get the
chance to find out.
Somehow, at the very last moment, the black wizard sensed the danger behind him and leaped into the air while the log rolled harmlessly beneath him.

Leesa
watched
as
Josef scan
ned
the woods behind him, seeking the
source of this new attack. She
had hoped the unseen
threat would distract him
more t
han it had, but
Josef’s inability to
sense her magic was
actually
wo
rking against her. S
ince Josef could detect no other source for the magic, he
seemed to
a
ssume the attack had
come from Dominic.

Leesa was crushed.
She didn’t know what else to do.

Josef redoubled his
attacks on Dominic and Rave, unleashing the full might of his black magic. Dominic’s knees began to buckle under the onslaught as
the dark bolt pushed against his lighter beam
.

Leesa
saw
no other
choice—t
here was only one thing left for her to do. She s
ucked in a deep breath and limp
ed out from
her hiding place
behind the tree.

Josef
stared at her in
surprise,
but when his senses detected no magic he turned away, confident she represented no danger.

Leesa needed to show him different,
to prove
she was a
genuine
threat
, even if she really wasn’t
. She concentrated
on the log
again
.

It rolled more ea
sily this time, heading back toward
Josef
from the front
. On
ce again, he
easily stepp
ed over it
. This time, however, he focused his gaze on Leesa. For
the first time, she saw a
trace of confusion on his face.

“
Blitha
egras
sumuss
,” she chanted loudly
enough
for
J
osef to hear
. A tiny branch near the end of the log began to grow longer.
T
he twig itself was inconsequential. She just needed to show Josef
that
she possessed magic. She need
ed
him confused, distracted.

Josef stared at Leesa, an incredulous look on his face.
She knew what had to be going through his mind—he
had just heard her utter a waziri spell, yet
he
would not be able to sense her magic.
Such a
thing should not be possible—he had to be wondering why
he couldn’t detect her magic.
More importantly,
he would have to worry about just how big of threat she might pose.
So far, her efforts had been
weak and ineffectual, but
she could see
he
did not like the idea of leaving a source of magic unopposed on his flank.

Dominic took advantage of
the
distraction to once again press his attack, but Leesa could see he was nearly out of energy. Josef beat back Dominic’s assault easily, then pulled his left hand away from
Rave and raised it toward her
.

Leesa
knew her meager magic would provide
no defense against the coming attack. The power that Dominic and Rave could withstand, at least for awhile, would consume her in mere seconds. She could only
hope her
sacrifice had been enough.