Night Rune (Prof Croft Book 8) by Brad Magnarella (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

“Once we’d broken your friend,” Forneus continued, “my master infused me into what remained. And together we embarked on a journey to map the time catches and locate your teammates.”

Sounded like we were dealing with another shadow demon.

“And you couldn’t bring my teammates here yourself?” I challenged.

I wanted to fluster him. Demons didn’t like being called out for their weaknesses.

His eyes narrowed. “I could have, but why use force when persuasion is far more efficient? And with you on the way, well…” He gestured around with his flaming sword. “Here we all are.”

Something about his answer rang false, but I didn’t have time to dissect it. Because in the next instant, his face contorted in pain. His pants were growing out in the back, as if he were giving birth to a giant watermelon.

What in the…?

When his pants split open, a massive arachnid-like abdomen emerged and flopped to the street, still expanding. The legs that had once been Malachi’s burst apart, replaced by four segmented spindles on each side. Pieces of bloodied fabric and flesh fell as the spindles separated and lengthened into spider’s legs. They then pushed against the street, hoisting Malachi’s still-human torso into the air. I craned my neck back as I stepped away.

Forneus looked like a grafting experiment gone horribly wrong, but I was seeing something closer to his true demonic form.

“Now that you’ve delivered my master his elements,” Forneus said, “all that’s left for you to do is die.”

He covered the distance between us in a fast skitter. Holding my ground, I pushed energy into my shield. His blade came off it in a plume of fire. But before I could get my sword into his abdomen and shout the banishment Word, Forneus continued past. We were talking a mid-level demon, tops. And with the amount of raw energy thrumming around my casting prism, it wouldn’t take much to expunge him.

Then I can begin to heal what’s left of Malachi and search for the others.

I just needed a damned opening. I considered launching my sword, but I’d used that move on another of Malphas’s demons, the one overseeing the half-fae. And Forneus’s flaming shield appeared poised to block whatever came at him.

He chuckled now as he circled me. “You should have seen your stupid face when the Upholders were reunited. So confident, so full of yourself.” His swollen abdomen shook above the ground. “That was one of the greatest joys of my demonic life. You doing just as master intended and having no earthly idea.”

I grunted into my next sword swing. He raised his shield, but not before an edge of holy light glanced off his shoulder. White flames erupted along his sword arm, and he skittered back with a scream.

“Where does that rank on your joy meter?” I asked.

His lips curled, and he yanked his abdomen back. It wasn’t until I was tugged from my feet that I realized that all the time he’d been circling me, he’d also been wrapping my body with infernal strands of energy. My body rotated now as his many legs went to work, turning me over in an attempt to cocoon me.

“Respingere!” I shouted.

The force that detonated from my shield ripped the strands apart and slammed me to the ground. Forneus went airborne and landed on his side several yards away. His spider legs righted him quickly.

Seeing me down—and dazed—he rushed me, sword roaring with infernal fire. I gained my feet and parried his blow. I couldn’t see Forneus’s face, but I could feel his fury in the contact of our blades. Sparks from the collision fizzled over my shielded body.

When he backed away, so did I, moving to the left to keep him out in front of me. I wasn’t going to let him circle me again. And with every backward step, I could feel the growing power of the St. Martin’s site behind me. Power I could use.

With my next step, I left the dirt lane of Broadway and crunched onto uneven ground. When he’d first appeared, Forneus-as-Malachi had shied from the power of the St. Martin’s site, and he was hesitating now.

Just need to lure him in.

Alternately thrusting staff and sword, I released a series of invocations in succession.

The first one bound Forneus’s left set of legs in hardened air. He staggered and swung his sword down to break up the manifestation. But a force blast was already slamming into his shield. With his legs still constricted, the violent collision of opposing energies knocked him onto his back.

He leapt up quickly, unfettered legs spreading apart again, but now walls of hardened air were arriving from both sides. Grimacing with effort, he got his shield against one and his sword through the other. But the shock of the dispersing manifestations shook him, setting him up for the coup de grace.

“Vigore!” I shouted, and opened my sword hand.

White flames rippled as the blade shot toward him.

And then past him.

Forneus laughed. “What a pity.”

I stumbled backwards into the roar of ley energy and fell, landing hard on one of St. Martin’s foundation slabs. Seeing his opportunity, Forneus skittered forward and leapt. His ponderous spider abdomen landed on my shielded legs, pinning me. Beyond him, my blade clanged against a copper panel. As he raised his fiery sword, I threw a hand toward his abdomen and shouted the Word for retrieve.

Forneus hesitated and turned.

My returning sword skewered his gut, the end of the blade punching out his low back. Bullseye. With a shriek, he twisted back toward me. My sword handle protruded from his navel, a thick black liquid oozing around it.

Seizing the handle, I shouted, “Disfare!”

Banishment energy flashed from the blade’s topmost rune, but something was pushing back. With the volume of ley energy storming around me, I’d only opened my casting prism a crack. I braced myself now as I willed it wider. The light of banishment swelled from the blade, engulfing