Shadowrun - Earthdawn - Mother Speaks Read Online Free Page A

red. I heard screams. Someone in a white gown was being carried off by two of the raiders. Those who ran through the fields were chased down by raiders on horseback.

    Two raiders, a thick-bodied man and a woman, rushed toward me along the small road through the village. They laughed, but only until they recognized my magician's robe.
    That's when they pulled up on their reins, trying to bring their horses around.

    Too late.

    I grabbed two pebbles from my pocket and tossed them at the man. As the pebbles crossed the distance between us, I transformed them into maces of ice linked by a chain of ice. The man's eyes widened as the frozen weapon caught him around the neck. The maces swung past each other, the chain biting deep into the flesh of his neck.

    The woman turned her horse back toward me when she saw her companion endangered.
    She raised her sword, obviously no longer concerned with taking me prisoner. As she charged, the panic that always struck me in combat seized my mind. I thought of every possible spell I knew, desperately searching for the best way to use my magic, but meanwhile taking no action at all.

    I gave up on thought when the woman was only a few steps away. I dropped to my knees and touched the puddle of water her horse was splashing through. I concentrated, opening my thoughts to the astral plane, where magic flows across our reality. As I had shaped the pebbles into maces and a chain, now I shaped the ground and water before me. It bent to my will, the puddle becoming deeper and deeper until the horse finally fell forward, surprised.

    Whinnying and sinking up to its chest in the mud, the horse threw the woman forward.
    The sword flew from her hand, and she landed in the mud beside me. I pulled out a dagger from my robes, opting for a simpler method of conflict for the task at hand. As she scrambled to get up, I drove the dagger's tip down past the collar of her stiff leather armor and into her neck. Blood sprayed-up, washing me warm. She cried out for mercy, and I pulled the dagger away, releasing more blood from her body.

    You see, I had only you boys in mind at the moment. And anyone who threatened you or who prevented me from getting to you, would die.

    The man had removed the ice maces from his neck, and rode back to the east side of village, toward the brunt of the attack. Again I shifted my thoughts to the etheric plane, and again I used my skill to change the nature of the world. I drew my hand back behind my shoulder, and as I did so a spear of ice formed, gripped-in my palm. I flung it forward, and it cut through the air, leaving a trail of ice flakes in the air as it shot forward.

    The spear drove deep into the man's back, then snapped, leaving a portion of the shaft buried in his body. He was alive, but disoriented. I ran up and dragged him off the horse, then mounted the beast myself, rushing off toward Tellar's home, desperate to protect the two of you. It took less then a minute to get there. The swordmaster who had brought us news of the raiders fought four of them outside Tellar's door. The raiders, a mix of humans and elves, cut at her savagely with their blades. She fended off their attacks, but could not make a successful strike.

    Seeing me approach, she smiled in relief. I dropped the horse's reins, cupped my hands together and produced a flame, which I tossed to her sword. Her opponents pulled back, startled. In that half-beat she struck two solid blows with the enchanted sword, sending two of the raiders to the ground, bleeding heavily.

    Then I heard you calling for me, Samael. I looked up toward a window on the second floor of Tellar's- and saw you both looking down at me. Flames leaped behind you and smoke poured out the window.

    In that moment I forgot all but my concern for you. A mistake. A fireball thrown by a raiding wizard splashed into my right side, blinding me with its fiery light and numbing me with incredible heat as it ripped into my skin.

    I screamed—the