A Snippet for You

 I'm up to my armpits this morning, so here's a snippet (the beginning of Chapter Two) for you to enjoy...

As the fiery tornado rose almost to the height of the gallery, the skin on Aryl's cheeks tightened. Not since the whole of Northunder gathered around the bonfire last Midwinter Eve had he felt such heat. He could almost smell Da’s pipe and Ma’s hot chicory tea. In his head, he could hear the townsfolk singing the song of storm and shroud to chase the blizzards and the beasts away.

Terrified screams reached him from below, jerking him out of his reverie. On the field, his potential classmates ran for their lives, scattering in every direction. 

One alone stood firm.

A boy almost as tall as Galin, but twice as wide, stood holding the largest sword Aryl had ever seen. It shimmered, but not from any kind of heat. Magic radiated from the weapon. Aryl couldn’t hear the boy, but he would swear he saw his lips move in a shouted spell. Blue light arced from the blade toward the elemental. 

And disappeared as if it were no more than mist.

The firestorm reached a hand-like tendril out and slapped downward at the human standing brazenly before it. With an audible fwoosh, the boy disappeared in a blaze, leaving only a smear of scorched earth behind. 

The elemental turned, seeking another foe, but all the other combatants had hidden behind the barricades at the edges of the field. With nothing to attack, it turned its horrible face toward the gallery. Its roar made all the watchers step back. 

Aryl looked to Master Eenan to save them, but the man had gone. “He left us?” Disbelief made his voice break. “How can fighting this thing be left to us?”

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