Free Tall, Dark & Apocalyptic by Sam Cheever Page A

desperate push.
    The magic stretched…dug…and searched an extra measure and then tensed to retract. Just as it started to pull away Audie felt her. The energy carried Yeira’s scent, teasing him with its sweetness. Her unique signature swept over him. “Yes!” He screamed to the spinning sky.
    As the magic tugged her forward, through the energy tunnel he’d created, Audie’s body finally gave out and he fell forward into the festering dust.
    ~ TD&A ~
    Yeira jerked one last time against the grip holding her shoulders and felt the energy surge up from her belly, like a hot poker digging its way through her flesh to get at the monster standing in front of her. She gave up trying to hold onto it and let it fly, her back arching under its power as it exploded away from her. The grip on her shoulders disappeared and the two guards gave startled screams as her energy slammed them backward and smashed them into the distant wall like they were nothing.
    Before her, Joris stood in a wash of silvery light, his impossibly blue eyes wide with surprise and his delicate hands slightly lifted, like he’d tried to ward off her magic as he’d felt it coming. The boline he was holding was tinged with the first drops of her blood, shimmering deep red against its lethal edge.
    Yeira couldn’t move, couldn’t reach for the knife and turn it on the hateful creature standing locked in her energy weave as she longed to do. She was as much a victim of her unexpected blast of magic as he was.
    Something touched her.
    Yeira blinked, her body softening as the magic started to slip away. She cried out as fingers of power nudged the cold skin of her arm, leaving behind a shimmering blue aura where the phantom fingers had pressed.
    She started to stand, tried to move away, but Joris recovered from her magic tantrum quickly, and he pounced on her. The deadly boline sliced into the tender skin at the base of her throat, creating a shallow cut that stung but didn’t savage.
    “A magic bearer. Interesting,” he ground out through gritted teeth as the knife skimmed across her flesh. “All the better for my purposes.”
    The phantom magic probed her again, harder than before, and Joris’ eyes widened as if he’d felt it too.
    Then the energy wrapped itself around her wrist and, before she even had time to shriek in surprise, ripped her out from under Joris and into a shimmering, blue void.
    ~ TD&A ~
    Yeira smelled the sour, tainted air of the dead land before her feet touched the ground. She wobbled a bit as the energy left with a resounding, whoosh .
    Blinking in disorientation, Yeira looked around, trying to figure out how she’d gotten there. A familiar form lay sprawled on the ground a few feet away. Her pulse picking up with alarm, Yeira realized what must have happened.
    She bolted toward him, stumbling to a stop beside the hunter and dropping to her knees. His brow was damp with sweat and his handsome face pale. The thick arc of black lashes fluttered on his cheek as he struggled against unconsciousness.
    Fear clutched her chest. What if the raven had found him? Was he gravely wounded?
    Yeira grasped his arm and turned him over, taking care to lower him gently onto his back. Given his size, it was no easy task and she was panting from the effort by the time she had him settled.
    A thin line of blood ran from his temple, down the side of his broad face. A quick examination told Yeira he’d sustained a small cut just below his hairline, probably when he hit the ground.
    His big body trembled and, when she picked up his hand it was icy cold. Yeira wondered what had happened to him. She ran a hand over his cheek, her fingers scratching against the dark stubble. Unable to resist, she placed a fingertip into the deep dimple in his chin and smiled.
    Her body tightened as she eyed him—the broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long, muscular legs—the densely muscled arms arcing away from his sides.
    Her traitorous hand slid down to map the firm