Mage Hunter Omnibus (Complete 5 Book Series) Read Online Free PDF

the witch’s slim hands disappeared within the folds of her thin garb, a moment later showing itself again and stretching out toward the Ursian. Within the palm of that blue hand was a bauble, a gem glinting of gold and light. “It is yours. Take it.”
    “I think not.”
    “ Take it!”
    “ No.” He turned away from her once more. “I will fight the Dartague again, but I will do so on my own terms, as a man and as a soldier. Most importantly, I will fight as an Ursian, without the help of your ... magic .”
    There was a rush of movement behind the sergeant. He swung around, expecting an attack from the angered woman, and swatted out with his mace.
    She was too fast for him. Her slender frame sidestepped his blow as easy as a snake sliding away from a stomping boot. Now in front of him, practically on top of him with her height, she thrust out a boney hand, the long fingers wrapping around the soldier’s throat.
    Guthrie choked and tried to pull back, but the grip holding him was like that of an iron vice. Not able to retreat, he slashed up with his weapon, hoping his iron-headed club would break her hold on him.
    But his blow was weak. There had been little room for a proper swing. The ice witch barely registered as the iron head of his mace glanced across her thin but strong arm.
    Then it was he saw her other hand held in a fist against her jaw next to her eyes that bore into him.
    “I will not be denied!” she called out.
    Her fist struck forward, slamming into his face. The blow was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. Guthrie Hackett had seen his share of combat over the years, and he had experienced more than a few brawls, but never had he been struck so hard, not even by men twice the girth of this witch.
    His head snapped back and a numbness rolled over him. For a moment he feared his neck broken, but then the woman dropped him, allowing him to fall back onto the snow, and despite the pain now blazing away in his jaw, he was relieved to feel that pain and the cold and damp on his back.
    Before he could roll away or prepare to ward off an attack, the witch woman was upon him. She planted her reed-like legs on either side of his chest and sat atop him as if they were lovers. One hand grabbed him by the jaw and tugged, causing him to scream out in pain. Her other hand rushed forward, still a fist. But that fist opened at the last moment before connecting with him and Guthrie felt something cold and hard land on his tongue.
    He tried to scream and spit, but the witch shoved up on his jaw, clamping closed his mouth. His mace dropped, his hands flailed away at his opponent, hoping to grab anything, to break anything, to cause her pain, to shove her aside, anything.
    A faint warmth rolled over him then and Guthrie felt his head go light. His fingers continued to claw at the woman, but they did no good and were only growing weaker. He felt the strength flooding from his body, draining away like water in a sieve. His fighting arms soon lost all their strength and fell atop his chest. The witch withdrew her hands and sat there watching him.
    Guthrie groaned, then darkness crept in at the edges of his vision.
    “ When you awake, you will be a different man,” the woman said, “and your destiny will have altered forever.”
    She had other words, many words, but they were lost to the sergeant. The darkness swamped him and his eyes fluttered closed. He knew no more for some while.
     
     

 
    Chapter 3
     
    “ You think he’s alive?”
    Guthrie bolted upright into a sitting position, his lungs gasping for air, his vision swimming. He shook as if fevered, a chill running along his body. What had happened? The witch had forced him to the ground, then thrust something into his mouth. After that ... he was not sure. Darkness. Dreams of wading through a black pool. No. Yes. Maybe. He did not know.
    What he did know, however, was that someone had spoken and those words had broken the spell under which he had