“But I am,” Jahal assured him. “I want to learn.”
Hail Storm nodded silently, and considered. The boy seemed malleable and easily influenced. He’d no fear that he could train him on this new path to power. Once he’d claimed the dark power for himself, the boy would lose the ability to use the elemental magics, and really have no choice but to join with Hail Storm.
But first, to let him make his first sacrifice.
“Kill it, and see what I see,” Hail Storm demanded.
Jahal looked down at the rabbit squirming in his hands.
Hail Storm stood behind the boy, just to the side, watching.
Jahal’s lips thinned, as he knelt and pressed the rabbit to the ground. He thrust his blade into its throat. The rabbit convulsed in his hands, its blood staining Jahal’s fingers.
“You can see it,” Hail Storm asked. “The life as it flows out? Capture that dark essence and make it your own.”
“I can,” Jahal’s voice cracked in excitement. “I can see it, Elder.”
Hail Storm was careful not to sniff at the boy’s enthusiasm. There was little in the way of power from the death of the tiny animal, but it was a start. Once he’d learned the darker path, they could—
“I see both, the golden and the dark, all the power!” Jahal crowed.
Both? He sees both?
Rage flooded through Hail Storm, pure fury that made his vision go dark, blurring his sight.He has what I’ve lost.
Of its own accord, his hand pulled out his bone knife. A mere step and yank on the boy’s hair and his knife plunged itself into Jahal’s throat.
Even as the blade hit bone, Hail Storm regretted his action. Alive, unharmed, the boy was worth more to him… but what was done was done. He followed the body down into the grass, and as he had with Arched Colors, he drained the boy’s power and life as he died.
Yet with Arched Colors he’d been pressed for time, and here, now, he could take the time to go further, to drain every bit of energy until the body was a dried husk of nothing.
Hail Storm knelt there, panting, feeling the exultation of the power he’d drawn within.
One of the horses snorted, scenting the blood.
Hail Storm froze. The packs. The supplies. They were still on the horses.
Mentally he cursed himself for a fool. The horses tolerated the boy, but they wouldn’t tolerate his approach. He glanced over. They were a fair distance off, there would be no way he could reach them before they bolted.
But he’d power now, didn’t he? And as he had done with that captive, he could use it well.
Hail Storm rose slowly to his feet, clutching the knife in his right. He turned, focused on both the horses, and reached out, clutching his fist tight.
Both horses jerked their heads up, their eyes rolling in their heads, but unable to move. Their chests heaved as they fought for freedom.
Hail Storm strode forward, focused on their struggle, letting his power flow out.
Sweat gleamed on their hides, foam flecking in the corners of their mouths.
Hail Storm stopped steps away, his own breathing ragged and hard. They were big animals, bigger than a human, and they were struggling. His control was slipping.
A moment’s thought, and he released the one with the saddle. It reared, screaming its fear, and galloped off.
The other fought, but Hail Storm’s control held.
He drew closer, the blade in his hand. He couldn’t subdue a living horse to his will for long.
But a dead one?
