Jean Lorrah - Sorcerers of the Frozen Isles

Everyone Read with her-and found the cold white energy drawing back toward the castle. All the fires were out-but people lay dead or dying… and as it retreated, the cold fire, having consumed its prime target, now sucked the life from anyone it met who could not shield.

Those with either Reading or Adept power managed to fight it off-but they saw friends and family drained of life in its wake, and screams of renewed agony followed upon the sobs of the already grief-stricken.

“No!” exclaimed Maldek-and for the first time Torio Read genuine fear grasp at the man’s mind.

But the Master Sorcerer wasted no time on his apprehensions-he reached out with his powerful mind, drawing the circle of cold fire back toward the castle, to himself, so that he could banish it-

Where freezing emptiness had been, cold flames flickered and leaped, eluding Maldek’s attempts to direct the fire-it seared through him, cold and deadly, tapping the power of its own plane to renew its strength.

With a mighty effort of will, Maldek forced the white fire to retreat to the castle-where it broke forth in even greater force!

Where orange heat had consumed before, now unyielding cold ravaged through the castle-

Torio Read what was happening:

Maldek was the conduit for this force from another plane of existence.

The farther it ranged from its link with its own world, the weaker it became, and the more easily he could control it.

But when he drew it toward himself, to force it back onto its own plane, it renewed itself by contact with its origins, and could resist him!

¦ Zanos, Melissa, and Astra automatically joined their efforts to Maldek’s-but their powers were nothing compared to his, and they made no perceptible impact.

I The cold energy leaped about the castle-striking the living, drawing their life. Many of Maldek’s servants had powers. They resisted, but those who I had no defenses succumbed without even knowing what had struck them-and with every life, ¦ the draining force grew hungrier.

“Dirdra!” Torio shouted. “Take Kwinn and Bryen I and-”

Then he realized that they were surrounded-as Maldek closed the circle of energy, it had to travel over, past, or through all of them!

“Protect them!” he directed, and they shoved the three with no powers to the center of their circle, Torio, Melissa, Astra, Zanos, and Cassandra joining hands around them. Gray patrolled the outside of their circle as Maldek stood on the steps to his throne-now a pile of ashes-intent on conquering that cold energy as he had conquered every other opponent in his life.

As he drew the cold fire toward himself, it flicked over the circle of portectors. Torio felt it tingle through his nerves, far stronger than when it was used for healing. He shivered as it tried to draw the warmth from him-but instinctively, without knowing how he did it, he let it flow through him without effect.

So did Melissa, Zanos, Astra, Cassandra-and even Gray.

But Dirdra could not let it flow, nor Kwinn nor Bryen-in them, the cold drained, drained-

“Maldek-stop it!” shouted Melissa.

He did not reply-there was no possible reply! He was struggling with all his might. Torio Read his dominant emotion: not fear, but utter astonishment.

Never since he had come into the full flush of his powers had Maldek met a force he could not conquer!

The more Maldek struggled, the stronger the unleashed force became. Never before had the Master Sorcerer allowed it to reach beyond his touch-and now it sought mindlessly the freedom it had briefly known, pure power seeking to consume-

It broke free!

The Adepts were blank to Reading as they struggled to aid Maldek-but their abilities were nothing to his, and he could not control the force he had set loose.

Rampaging now, it seemed a living thing escaped from long imprisonment-

But it was not a reasoning thing.

There was no appeal to it, any more than one could reason with a flood or an earthquake.

The consuming energy burned Maldek with cold fire as it poured forth from his outstretched arms, then from every pore of his body, surging outward, seeking life, sucking energy out of the very stone.

Again the wave of life-sapping power washed through the circle of Readers and Adepts-but this time they could not protect Dirdra, Kwinn, Bryen. Already weakened, they were sucked dry, left lifeless husks… even the warmth was gone from their bodies, and they were left frozen.

The cold spread and spread, drawing life and warmth from everything it touched, feeding itself and growing stronger.

Shaking with the blasts of cold air, Torio turned from the now useless circle. Gray leaned up against him, seeking to share warmth, while Melissa got up from Reading the corpses of their friends, tears freezing on her lashes before they could fall. She buried her hands in Gray’s fur, also seeking warmth.

Torio’s breath was white smoke as he shouted, “Maldek, it’s destroying your land! It will kill your people, and the very earth itself! Let go, Maldek! Cut it off from its source!”

“How?” demanded the sorcerer, no longer seeming to stand there of his own volition, but to be suspended by the force flowing through his body.

” You are the avenue of power,” Torio explained. “Let go, Maidek-save what is left of your land!”

And the Master Sorcerer, realizing that the only way to cut off that draining power was to destroy its means of access, knew: he had to die.

“No!” he howled.

The numbing cold crept up Torio’s legs, and bit at his Fingers. “You have no choice!” he shouted. “It will take you after it has taken everything else!”

Cassandra fell to her knees, arms wrapped around herself, cold seeping toward her vital organs.

“No! I will control it!” Maidek insisted, although he had no strength left.

“It’s using you!” Torio insisted. “The only way to control it is to shut it off! Maidek-it’s going to take your life-let it go now , and save everyone left alive!”

Zanos and Astra huddled together, slumping to the floor as the sleep before death took them over.

“Maidek, our friends are dying!” said Melissa. “It will kill you after it’s drained everything else. Let go now, while there is some hope for your land!”

But Maidek would not listen.

Torio felt Melissa Reading him, Cassandra, Zanos, and Astra-all were dying. Gray dropped to the frozen floor, frost on his coat, and Torio could not keep his feet, could not even feel them.

But Melissa did not fall. Instead she stumbled toward Maidek, pleading, “You must die for your land, Maldek-to live forever in the land itself and the memory of your sacrifice.”

She reached toward him.

“No! Melissa-no!” Torio tried to shout, but his sluggish body produced no more than a choked gasp as he launched himself toward her. His legs would not obey him.

Melissa took one of Maldek’s outstretched hands. “Let me help you,” she said, her healer’s instinct reaching to aid him through the transition-

But the moment she touched him, the cold fire poured through her body as it did his!

Reading, Torio knew faster than thought what Melissa would do. “No! No! Let go!” he screamed, panic forcing his sluggish blood to pound through his arteries.

This time he gained his feet, stumbled forward, reaching for Melissa to break the contact-

He felt her surprise, her confusion, her fear-

“Torio-oh!” she shouted, the name broken off bluntly. Then the set of her mind turned to total determination.

The devouring force cut off, as sharply as if sliced with a sword.

Maldek fell backward, released, a stringless marionette.

And Melissa, loosed from his grip, dropped lifeless into Torio’s outstretched arms.