Myths and Gargoyles by Jamie Hawke (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

lady in the throat, once, but a flame shield rose and she vanished, only to reappear behind me. My transmutation took hold, letting me move through part of a wall to dodge her counterattack, and then exit at another spot farther along.

I was moving fast, maybe because of my enhanced stats from leveling up, or maybe because my life depended on it. Either way, I was starting to get the idea that this was too much for even us.

We all struck at once, and were all pushed back.

“Did you really think there was any winning here?” Thiten asked, rising above us with her fiery black robes flickering about. “Against one of the Nine? You?”

She pulled her hands back and it was like all the air had been sucked from our side of the room. Flames curled along the walls, building and starting to form waves of fire that came right at us.

“We tried,” Kordelia said, determination in her eyes in spite of the defeated sound in her voice.

Steph growled and threw out another wave of wraith knights… only to see them fall as she, too, collapsed. I caught her, holding her tight as if that would protect her from the flames. Ebrill did the same to me, muttering spells.

Another growl, and then Shisa charged past. The lion-dog leaped for Thiten, and a strange thing happened—Thiten seemed to be met by a force field, sent flying back. I could breathe again, and the flames were gone.

Our enemy recovered but stared at Shisa with a mixture of curiosity and horror.

“I have an idea,” Ebrill said, and knelt next to Shisa, hand on its head. The flash of light showed me she had given it an amplification spell.

Shisa froze, amped up by Ebrill’s touch, and growled. An instant wall of blue light formed between us and Thiten, then surrounded her like a dome. She charged the wall, hitting it to be flung back against the far side, where she skidded to a stop. She pushed herself back up, cast fire at it, only to see the fire fade.

“No! You can’t!” Thiten screamed, pushing at but unable to break through the invisible barrier created by Shisa.

“How…?” I started.

“As I said, this can’t be the real Thiten,” Steph pointed out. “But a summoning, a part of her brought here via a spell, that could be held off by the protective magic of a shisa.”

“You have no right to talk about what I am or am not capable of,” Thiten, if that was really her, said. “I will destroy you. Before this is over, I will hunt each of you down and see you torn apart piece by piece.”

“Shut her the fuck up,” Steph said, then turned back to me and the other two. “It’s not her.”

“Let’s see who we’re dealing with, then,” Ebrill said, and cast a reveal spell. The dark dress faded first, the woman’s body exposed but burning bright with flames in places until that, too, flew away. Darkness lifted like a veil, revealing the dark form of a kneeling woman.

“Irla?” Ebrill gasped while taking a step back, voice nearly cracking. “No… how?”

“You were turned to stone,” Kordelia added. “One of us.”

With a shake of her head, Irla laughed and moved her hands quickly, creating a spell that held us each in place. “I was never truly one of you, was I?”

“Of course, you were,” Ebrill countered.

“Your kind always looked down on my people.” Irla stepped into the light and more of the puzzle came together—her dark skin, white hair. This wasn’t the Irla I had met in the mountains back in time. This version of her, which I had to assume was the real one, was a Drow.

“We were allies with the Drow,” Kordelia argued.

“You treated my people like slaves,” Irla spat back. “How can you talk to me about allies?”

“It wasn’t like that,” Kordelia pleaded. Seeing someone as tall and intimidating as her plead gave the conversation a whole new meaning. It made me wonder what had really gone on between these two groups so long ago.

“You see it your way, I see it mine,” Irla mumbled. “Now… it ends.”

She lunged for the gargoyle, a blade of flames appearing in her hands, and I could tell that Kordelia wasn’t even going to fight her—just let it happen. I couldn’t allow that, though, so I stepped in to meet that blade with my ice-forged one.

Only, at the last second Irla let her blade fade, so that instead of our blades meeting, mine sank deep into her chest. It didn’t draw blood, but instantly began to make her freeze over as it had with the rocky skin or armor of the giant.

She was held there momentarily, looking at me with a sense of relief and satisfaction, and then fell apart, shattering on the ground. It had been as if she wanted the release, and that troubled me.

Level up. Sweet.

Level 7 MAGE

Statistics

Strength: 22

Defense:17

Speed: 19

Luck: 15

Charisma: 15

Mana: 600

Recent Spells

Gorffwys (sleep); Frost Footing; Ice Wall; Ice Claw; Frost Bite; Flurries

The new level almost felt wrong, confusing. But… flurries? I’d take that, whatever it meant. For now, we still had Fatiha to deal with.

97

Fatiha stood in the corner, face pale and eyes wide with worry. I moved for her and she seemed like she was about to fight, but instead held up both hands.

“You win,” Fatiha said. “For now. But when she—”

“Give me the tree,” I interrupted.

She clenched her teeth, glaring. Her hand shook as she indicated the far wall. Moving up to it, the wall gave way—the same wall I’d made an escape through during the fight with Irla! One more foot, maybe, and I would have found it. Unless there was some other magic to the hiding part that I wasn’t aware of.

The tree floated out to her, and she turned, letting it go to me.

“The Nine are out there, waiting…” she said. “When you meet Thiten in person, the real Thiten, you will die.”

“We’ll take our chances,” I said, frowning