Free The Blood Sigil (The Sigilord Chronicles Book 2) by Kevin Hoffman Page A

her, he leapt for Miss Orla.
    "No!" Cailix shrieked, scrambling to her feet. She threw her knives, both plunging deep into his back. Neither appeared to have any effect.
    He's doing it again , she thought. I need to learn how he shields himself like that.
    She sprinted for him, but was too late. Before she could reach him, he had slashed his knife across Miss Orla's throat. A horrible gurgling noise erupted from her mouth as her life's blood pumped from her neck.
    "No!" she screamed again, a terrible and sick feeling coming over her. Her lungs emptied and and her stomach churned. Tears streamed unbidden down her cheeks.
    Now Anderis turned to face Cailix. Hands covered in Orla's blood, he lashed out, and an invisible hammer struck Cailix. It hit her again and again. It slammed into her knees, then her elbows and chest, the phantom mallet pounding her left eye shut, then bashing her nose so hard blood ran backwards down her throat.
    As she fell onto the grass, unable to move, she wondered if she would be able to come back from the dead as a ghost and have her revenge that way. She didn't care how long it took, or what rules of the afterlife she had to break, she would kill him. And she would do it slowly, and as painfully as possible.
    Anderis stood over her, gloating in that way only he could, hands on his hips, a self-satisfied smirk spread across his face.
    Cailix tried to summon the power of her blood, but nothing came. She tried again, clenching her fists, channeling all of her anger and remaining energy. Nothing happened.
    "You're blocked. Try as you might, your magic will not aid you now."
    "I'm going to kill you," she managed to say through a broken mouth. "For Momma."
    Anderis chuckled. "So you did learn how to care. How touching."
    He held his hands out and turned them over slowly. As his hands turned, pain wracked her body. It felt like her blood boiled, her skin searing from head to toe. Just as she thought she might be able to withstand the pain, her fingernails began sliding out of her fingers.  
    The pain was excruciating.
    "I could do this to you for days, Aerlissa. You betrayed me. You defeated my army and kept us from taking Aldsdowne. You kept us from the vertex. There will be no end to the pain I will visit upon you, apprentice ."
    She tried to respond but the agony was just too unbearable.
    He can't shield himself and break my bones at the same time , she thought. I need to find a way to attack him .
    "I will let you stew in your own suffering for a few more hours, and then I have a very special surprise for you." Anderis smiled, licking his lips like an animal sucking fresh kill from its teeth. "A special kind of pain that only a girl like you can experience."
    She was vaguely aware of the screams of her family. She tried to tell them to stay quiet, to not anger Anderis, but no words came out.
    "Quiet, you backwoods dung-shovelers," Anderis commanded. "I will deal with you soon enough."
    The blood mage turned to Cailix. "Would you like a sample of this special kind of pain?" he asked, shedding his cloak and rolling up his sleeves, a man about to thoroughly enjoy his work.
    Cailix could feel Anderis use her freshly spilled blood to fuel his power. She felt his shield weaken as he began his torture.
    "It starts with—" He stopped and made a choking noise, his eyes wide.
    He stared down, Cailix following his gaze. There, protruding from his chest, were the three sharp, rusty points of an old pitchfork. The points withdrew then reappeared, this time from his stomach.
    Anderis dropped to his knees, clutching the pitchfork in his hands. Cailix would relish and remember that look of shock and surprise on his face for the rest of her life. She looked up to see Colin standing behind Anderis. He pressed his boot into the blood mage's back and wrenched the pitchfork free, cracking Anderis's ribs.
    Colin was about to go for a final stab when the blood mage vanished again, leaving nothing but a puddle of blood in the