A Guardian of Shadows (Revenant Wyrd Book 4) by Travis Simmons Page A

gathering, like a school of fish, pointing at her in an arrow formation, ready to attack.
    “Pi!” It was all Cianna had to say. The sorceress turned around, channeled her wyrd down her arms, and launched a sage-green fireball at the tip of the kelpie formation. The fireball seemed to scare them, but did little to distract them. Cianna wasn't sure what she was hoping for; maybe some kind of destruction?
    Deven shifted his sister in his grip, freeing his dominant hand by slinging her over his other shoulder. He held his free hand to his mouth, and there wyrd began to gather in the form of a small ball, gold in color. As they ran he yelled into it. “Open the barrier.” As soon as he said it, he threw the orb toward Flora.
    The orb flew true, finding its target. Cianna could barely make out Flora through the rippling aegis of the border, grabbing the orb, holding it to her ear, and then looking to find them. Once she spotted them she ran in the direction they were headed.
    “They’re coming!” Pi yelled. The sound of thunder reverberated in the circle, and the space lit with green light as the diminutive sorceress launched a volley of lightning behind them. Pi was trying all she could to hold them off.
    Deven yelped and stopped. In pain, he dropped Clara, but the girl didn’t fall to the ground — instead she hovered. The air around Clara stirred, though Cianna couldn’t feel any wind. It lifted Clara's hair languidly, shifted her blue tunic and brown breeches, and even caused her to levitate. She hung in the air, facing the attacking kelpies, and slowly her eyes opened, now white and alive with wyrd.
    The kelpies flew true, smashing into the circle. Cianna fell onto her backside as the necromancy used to create the protective barrier snapped and traveled back down the link directly into her. She saw stars.
    The kelpies came. Clara held up a hand, and a vertical beam of yellow light appeared, stretching from ground to sky. It was like a knife, slicing through the ranks of the kelpies. Where they came in contact with her yellow energy, the kelpies screamed and turned to glittering dust, raining down around the group. Dead.
    Cianna knew they were dead because she could feel it. Where the shimmering ectoplasm of their spirit selves soaked into the ground, she could feel no stir of life.
    The kelpies stopped after half of their group had been lost to Clara’s casting. They studied the girl, but didn’t come any closer. Hissing, the half-horse, half-fish creatures swam off.
    The preternatural wind stopped, and Clara collapsed.
    “What was that?” Cianna asked.
    “She’s in her trials now,” Pi told her. “Trial of Air.” Deven grabbed his sister and dashed through the barrier opening Flora had just created.
    Cianna and Pi followed.
    “But how is that possible?” Cianna asked. “If she hadn’t been in her trials before she fell, wouldn’t she have died?”
    “Set her down,” Flora commanded, quickly sealing the barrier behind them. As she worked, she cast concerned looks over her shoulder at the comatose sorceress. When the barrier sealed with an audible noise like ice freezing rapidly, Flora turned her full attention to the group. “Try not to touch her; it is dangerous when a sorcerer is in their trials.”
    “Not impossible, but strange,” Pi answered Cianna, ignoring the exchange between Devenstar and their teacher.
    “Not strange at all. Wyrded beings have an unusual effect on the wyrd of other creatures,” Flora said. “We all saw the kelpies travel through Clara that night she fell over the side of the bridge. It’s my belief that they might have brought her change on faster than was intended. I’m sure she wasn’t far off from the change naturally, but they certainly helped it along.”
    “Is she going to be okay?” Devenstar folded his lanky form up beside his sister, staring at their teacher.
    “She is in her trials. She is immortal. Clara should be fine.” Flora said.
    “What did she