Ward Against Death Read Online Free PDF

on the door shocked his eyes open. He hadn’t begun. Nothing, if anything, would have happened in the inn yet. The wine couldhade wine n’t be spoiled, the food couldn’t have gone rotten, and the ale couldn’t get any worse. The barkeeper had no reason to call on Ward.
    “De’Ath?”
    His heart leapt into his throat. The barkeeper didn’t know his name. It could only be Celia’s family. How’d they find him so fast? He’d taken every precaution in the market.
    More pounding. Louder and longer.
    He had to wake Celia, get her to tell them he hadn’t stolen her body. Closing his eyes, he bowed his head.
    Deep breath. Imagine the power.
    A bang rattled him. He squeezed his eyes tighter. It sounded like they had a battering ram.
    Imagine the power. He tensed and trembled as if his muscles could squeeze more of the unfelt inner magic into the spell. His heart pounded, and he gasped for breath, all proper breathing forgotten.
    Another bang, this time accompanied with the crack of breaking wood.
    Power. Breathe. Even with his eyes closed, he reeled. Never before had he felt so completely out of control, merely a means for the spell to cast itself.
    He grabbed his whirling thoughts and, in his mind’s eye, created the image of himself flying to the veil between life and death and parting it.
    Bam. Crack.
    No. He ripped it open. A new and awesome strength powered by the crystal, wood, herb, and his own blood filled him. Celia’s soul would come when he called. He had the power, even if he couldn’t sense it. She would answer. And she. Would. Stay.
    Wood cracked. Men yelled and hands grabbed him.
    No, he neededBamo, he n to stay. He wasn’t finished. He squirmed in their grip, struggling to keep his position and make Celia’s spirit return to her body.
    Fingers dug into his scalp. He shot another forceful call through the imaginary veil and was yanked away. His muscles burned and his breath caught in his throat. Goddess, a spell had never felt like this before. Nothing had ever felt like this before.
    Celia gasped, and Ward opened his eyes.
    Her lashes fluttered open and confusion clouded her expression for just a heartbeat, but then she rolled to her side and grabbed the first man’s legs between hers. With a twist, she toppled him over and shoved her heel into his temple.
    Ward stumbled aside, still weak from the blood loss and the spell, and tripped over the fallen man. His head slammed into the small table. Stars danced before his eyes as Celia grabbed the dagger from the fallen man’s belt and threw it. It landed with a wet thunk in the second man’s throat.
    Blood sprayed from the wound. The man grasped at the dagger but couldn’t pull it free. Celia had hit an artery, and each beat of his heart poured more of his life onto the floor. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, but no sound came out. Then his eyes rolled up, and he dropped to the floor.
    “You... He’s...” The proper words wouldn’t form in Ward’s mind. She’d killed those men. Just like that.
    Celia grabbed the first man’s head and rolled it to the side. “Damn.” She turned her icy gaze on Ward. “Can you wake either of them?”
    “But you just killed them.”
    She rose and took a step toward him, then stopped and stretched her neck. “Better question. How long was I dead this time?”
    He swallowed and dropped his gaze to the pool of blood seeping toward him. She had woken and, bam — killed two people as if it was second nature.
    “A little blood shouldn’t bother you, necromancer.”
    Ward looked up at her. It wasn’t the blood that bothered him.
    “How long was I dead, boy?” she asked again, this time in those enunciated words that insulted his intelligence.
    He clenched his jaw. So he’d been momentarily shocked. It wasn’t every day a physician actually saw the violence that brought the patients to him. He tried to sigh, feigning boredom, but it came out as a squeak. “My name is Ward. And you’ve been behind