Sword and Mind

21

I want to see, Lu. Let me see, came Rumah's soothing voice.

Pallu sucked in her failing breath. Again she had ran until she could run no more. Rumah had stayed awake with her the entire time, going over the night's and morning's events. Pallu told her sister that the people died, but the image of their death she would not give Rumah.

No. I'll not let you see this.

Rumah gave an exasperated sigh. Are ya there yet?

Close. I can nearly see the town.

Ya must rest.

I will when I get there.

Ya're going ta kill yerself.

Better dead this way.

Pallu!

I wonder where they are.

By Papa's look, I'd be sayin' they're as far away as ya be. Rumah hesitated. Ya're not ta be tryin' it 'til Papa perfects it.

Aye, I'll not try it. I just hope they leave me alone until Father gets here.

****

Yunin leaned low on the newest horse's neck. The three had change horses twice already, and they were nearly to the town Pallu was supposed to be in. What he would do if she wasn't safe he did not know. The sun was full in the sky now and the town within sight. As they came nearer, he realized the streets were uncomfortably empty except for two people.

Lightening flashed to one who was on his or her knees. His heart sank when he recognized the person. Then he saw something amazing. The person on bended knees, who must have been Pallu, seemed to be pulling in the lightening and living. In her hand was a glowing, growing ball of lightening. She hurled it at her opponent and hit him square in the chest with the globe.

All three men exchanged wide-eyed glances, but their pace never slowed.

Pallu rose to her feet as a boy came running out to her. He was trying to pull her to a nearby building despite his mother's shrill protests. At the moment the boy pulled at Pallu, the wizard rose and readied another spell. Flames flew from his hands as Pallu turned her back, covering the boy with her body. Strangely one hand was pointed toward the wizard. Someone was screaming. Yunin did not know if it was Pallu, the boy, himself, the other two masters, or the boy's mother. The blaze encircled them so intensely that the pair was covered from sight. Then the flames seemed to curl away from the pair and into Pallu's hand. Pallu turned, apparently unscathed, with the boy protectively behind her and a fire globe in her hand. Yunin could plainly see her body's exhaustion. Unlike the previous time she trapped the wizard's attack, she held the globe. With a grunt, she made the globe separate into two so that she now had two in each hand. Both she and the wizard began to walk towards each other. The boy ran back to his mother's waiting grasp, but he would not go inside.

"Come on!" The wind picked up Pallu's hair and cloak, making her appear more formidable than anything Yunin had ever seen with those two fireballs in hand.

Nimshi leapt from his saddle. The moment his feet hit the ground his hand pushed the air, and the wizard staggered back. Yunin pulled a throwing knife from his boot just as Pallu cocked back a globe. The pair let fly at the same moment. With a flourish of his arms, the wizard disappeared before the attacks ever touched him.

Pallu threw the globe high in the air and dropped to the ground, hands over her head. At the apex of the ball's flight, it exploded with a sound just less brilliant than thunder. With a relieved sigh, she stumbled to the boy. Yunin, Vinit, and Nimshi came behind her, guarding her back. She touched the boy's face.