Read Online Red Madrassa: Algardis #1 by Terah Edun - Free Book Online
Authors: Terah Edun
Ads: Link
and all, into the lake; she was completely submerged within seconds. Frantically, she kicked towards the surface as pain shot through her legs. Her stomach wound burned like fire as the stitches ripped open, but still she kicked to reach the air.
Just as she seemed to make progress, and was about the breach the shimmering undersurface, the water itself grabbed her: bands of streaming liquid and bubbles latched onto her legs and midsection, dragging Sitara toward the lake’s bottom.
She desperately needed air.
What is this ? she wondered frantically. Her people lived in harmony with the sea and revered it, but it had never been alive . Not like this!
She struggled, twisting and turning, hoping for an escape that would not come.
The aqueous tentacles enwrapping her began to throb in time to her pain, almost as if they were feeding off her. Wonderful—not only am I in the clutches of some malicious beast, but I’m also its mid-day snack!
Then she thought, in a moment of perfect clarify, No way in hell am I going to die like this. Clearly, it wasn’t just planning to consume her body but also her life force.
But that was just what she needed to know. Given that, she could fight back. The lack of air was starting to affect her brain, though, so she had to hurry. She concentrated on the magic, redirecting the pulses designed to incapacitate her back into the tentacles. The build-up of power began to disrupt the tentacle’s watery form; and with a final convulsion, it dissipated.
She was free, but that wasn’t enough. She didn’t have the strength to fight her way upward and break through the surface. Yet as she sank, she realized that she felt strangely alive. How could that be…? Then it came to her in a flash of awed realization. The energy wasn’t coming from her failing body, but rather from the lake around her! It was in every molecule of the water. She just had to harness it.
With dogged determination she reached out, digging mental fingers into the warp and weft of the energy, gathering it to her. It spooled into her until she felt full to bursting; then she pushed it out of her with all of her remaining physical force and mental might, hoping for a miracle.
The energy she pushed out hit a wall—the water’s resistance to her interference. Instead of the water moving, she moved, straight up and straight out of the lake. The push was so powerful that she arced up and out toward the lake’s sandy banks…where she would surely splatter like an egg dropped on a flagstone. Her eyes widened with horror and this time, mid-air, she didn’t push out but called mentally for help.
The air answered, forming into a funnel cloud which caught her and dropped her safely onto the grass, where she blacked out from sheer exhaustion. When she awoke the air was calm, the grass was soft, and a man sat nearby nibbling on jerky. She ached all over; otherwise, she would have leaped up and demanded an explanation. Instead, she eased up like an old lady, keeping a wary eye on the man, who wasn’t paying the least bit of attention to her. He continued chewing on his snack while studying the sky. There was a relaxed air about him. He was practically loitering on the green.
I almost just died, didn’t I? she mused. The man sat up suddenly and looked at her, as if he had heard her very thoughts. He eyes widened as she saw his. Wow, he’s heterochromic! she thought excitedly. As if he were in fact listening to her very thoughts, the man with the two different-colored eyes, one green and one blue, raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you just going to stare at me?” she asked crossly.
He smiled and said, “Hello, Sitara. I’m Cris, an Air initiate. You did quite well just now.”
She just sat and blinked at him.
“Do you realize yet that you ended up in the lake because you wanted to?” he asked. “The Air was only responding to your fervent desire to cool down, and your visions of the cool water of the lake
Just as she seemed to make progress, and was about the breach the shimmering undersurface, the water itself grabbed her: bands of streaming liquid and bubbles latched onto her legs and midsection, dragging Sitara toward the lake’s bottom.
She desperately needed air.
What is this ? she wondered frantically. Her people lived in harmony with the sea and revered it, but it had never been alive . Not like this!
She struggled, twisting and turning, hoping for an escape that would not come.
The aqueous tentacles enwrapping her began to throb in time to her pain, almost as if they were feeding off her. Wonderful—not only am I in the clutches of some malicious beast, but I’m also its mid-day snack!
Then she thought, in a moment of perfect clarify, No way in hell am I going to die like this. Clearly, it wasn’t just planning to consume her body but also her life force.
But that was just what she needed to know. Given that, she could fight back. The lack of air was starting to affect her brain, though, so she had to hurry. She concentrated on the magic, redirecting the pulses designed to incapacitate her back into the tentacles. The build-up of power began to disrupt the tentacle’s watery form; and with a final convulsion, it dissipated.
She was free, but that wasn’t enough. She didn’t have the strength to fight her way upward and break through the surface. Yet as she sank, she realized that she felt strangely alive. How could that be…? Then it came to her in a flash of awed realization. The energy wasn’t coming from her failing body, but rather from the lake around her! It was in every molecule of the water. She just had to harness it.
With dogged determination she reached out, digging mental fingers into the warp and weft of the energy, gathering it to her. It spooled into her until she felt full to bursting; then she pushed it out of her with all of her remaining physical force and mental might, hoping for a miracle.
The energy she pushed out hit a wall—the water’s resistance to her interference. Instead of the water moving, she moved, straight up and straight out of the lake. The push was so powerful that she arced up and out toward the lake’s sandy banks…where she would surely splatter like an egg dropped on a flagstone. Her eyes widened with horror and this time, mid-air, she didn’t push out but called mentally for help.
The air answered, forming into a funnel cloud which caught her and dropped her safely onto the grass, where she blacked out from sheer exhaustion. When she awoke the air was calm, the grass was soft, and a man sat nearby nibbling on jerky. She ached all over; otherwise, she would have leaped up and demanded an explanation. Instead, she eased up like an old lady, keeping a wary eye on the man, who wasn’t paying the least bit of attention to her. He continued chewing on his snack while studying the sky. There was a relaxed air about him. He was practically loitering on the green.
I almost just died, didn’t I? she mused. The man sat up suddenly and looked at her, as if he had heard her very thoughts. He eyes widened as she saw his. Wow, he’s heterochromic! she thought excitedly. As if he were in fact listening to her very thoughts, the man with the two different-colored eyes, one green and one blue, raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you just going to stare at me?” she asked crossly.
He smiled and said, “Hello, Sitara. I’m Cris, an Air initiate. You did quite well just now.”
She just sat and blinked at him.
“Do you realize yet that you ended up in the lake because you wanted to?” he asked. “The Air was only responding to your fervent desire to cool down, and your visions of the cool water of the lake
Similar Books
