Free Hidden Spark (Dark Magic Enforcer Book 6) by Al K. Line Page B

forward and grabbed for me as I moved in front of Mithnite. While it was off-balance, I cracked the beast at the base of the neck with an elbow, sending him slamming into the force field. He bounced back like he was having a jolly time on a bouncy castle and I took advantage of the backward momentum and kicked out hard and fast, catching him in the throat with the point of my winklepicker. He kept on falling, one hand reaching out to stop himself hitting the ground, the other at his throat.
    It wasn't enough, though, and he saved himself from the fall, pink eyes pinpoints of hate as he muttered something in a guttural language I guessed wasn't an invitation to forget the fight and to just be friends. The ogre shook, muscles rippling as he hunched forward, arms bent in front of him, ready to squeeze the life out of me.
    Magic surged and my swollen hands spurted sharp jabs of crackling energy at his torso, powerful enough to sear right through him and out the other side. As it hit, he roared and smiled while the magic fizzled and died, leaving scorch marks on the disfigured body, blackened skin that wasn't even a serious flesh wound. I'd heard this was how they were but had never had the pleasure before.
    An ogre is a rare creature indeed, never venturing above ground, hardly ever seen below. They keep to the darkest depths of the quasi-human realm, neither one place nor the other, more separate from us than the dwarves, unable to pass over into our world unless summoned or with a great deal of suffering.
    This dude seemed to have missed the memo about staying with his own kind, maybe trapped in this place to guard the door against his will.
    Ah, maybe that was it. Maybe he was summoned and now couldn't leave, not until he'd carried out his job. An idea came, and it certainly beat getting pummeled by a magic-resistant beastie.
    "Trapped, are you?" I shouted above his muttering and roaring as he lunged for me and I dipped beneath the swing of a gnarly fist that could have taken my head off. "Maybe I can help?"
    He paid me no mind and snatched for my arm, claws leaving a trail of blood on the back of my hand as I only just managed to move in time.
    I turned my attention from him for a moment and studied the barrier. It was a relatively simple piece of magic use, and, once you knew where to look, such things could be dealt with if you had the chance to focus and get things just right. I didn't really have that luxury but I had to try, so took a few steps back and focused, no easy thing while a giant creature from an unknowable netherworld closes in, smiling at the thought of chewing through your windpipe.
    "There, give it all you've got," I said to Mithnite, pointing at a thin blue vein within the rock.
    "Blast it?"
    "Yes, and don't hold back. Hurry up!"
    Mithnite crackled as magic built, the ogre seemingly cautious as we both began to expel violent snatches of energy.
    I let a particular section of ink flare into red light, the markings warping the magic and changing its function. Not good with spells of the more subtle arts, I knew I had to blast my way to giving him his freedom, so focused on the weakest spot of the spell that had created the barrier. I sent a single, focused line of energy as thin as cotton, red as hell, right at the upper corner nearest the tunnel wall.
    Mithnite shot out a thicker jolt of red power parallel to mine, his wavering slightly, but he held it together and it kept on coming, boosting the strength of my magic, mine doing the same to his.
    Just like any door, all forcefields of this nature have strong and weak points, places that act as hinges and as locks. Our combined magic wormed its way into the lock where the barrier both began and ended, and as I channeled more of my will, more of my power and knowledge of the subtle arts—which was less than total—into the growing hole, it suddenly erupted in a blinding light and vanished.
    "Hurry up. It's now or never, dude." The ogre turned from me to the