Free Iron Elf - A Race Reborn (Book 2) by Klay Testamark Page A

clean fight. Protect yourselves at all times. Start walking.”
     
    One. I turned and took the first step. Two. I opened my mind to the energies around me. Three. I started topping off my mana reserves. Four. I brought up my spell wheel. Glowing symbols jumped into view, seeming to float in front of my face. They were imaginary, of course, but it helped to have a focus when you were throwing around so much power.
     
    Five. I summoned a shield of chaos. Sparks flew from my left arm as I raised it into a guard. Six. I activated the stoneskin glyph and my skin lost all sensation. Seven. I went through the gestures for the fireball spell. Basic stuff, but this was my first fight.
     
    It was quiet on Restaurant Row. People watched. I watched them back out of the corners of my eyes. The sun was shining straight down. Eight. Nine. A drop of sweat down my lips. I couldn’t feel it because of the stoneskin enchantment, but I could taste it. Ten. I stood there, back to Belroth. I fought to keep my breathing steady. The wind ruffled my hair and smelled of the sea.
     
    “Fight!”
     
    I whirled, drawing fuel from the air. It swirled at my feet, lifting my skirt as I shaped it into a ball. I threw it—and it dispersed before it got halfway.
     
    “Dammit.” I twirled, leaped, and brought down the lightning. It struck Belroth’s shield and split into arcs that passed harmlessly into the ground. “Damn, damn, damn!”
     
    Belroth snickered. “Are you trying to kill me with panty shots?”
     
    It’s true I wore a long, flowing skirt, but I hadn’t expected to fight a duel on the way home!
     
    He showed me what a real fireball looked like. It screamed across the distance and I barely blocked it with my shield. It dispersed the heat and force, showering me with ice. I staggered back. This was all wrong. I’d never been good at externalized magic. I couldn’t throw energy the way a standard combat mage did, all sound and fury.
     
    Internalized magic, however—I tore out a cobblestone and threw it.
     
    People think enhanced strength is easy to come by because labourers use it. It’s not flashy. Earth magic tends not to be. But it’s one thing pull a plough with it and another to fight with it. You’re basically reinforcing your bones and muscles with force fields. Force lines, since there’s nothing solid about them—they’re just your mind moving things. All magic is telekinesis, and when you’re using it on your own body you have to imagine a scaffold that follows your every movement.
     
    And I do mean every movement. Harden your bones or boost your muscles too much and you might rip something. Miscalculate during a lift and it’s crush or be crushed. It’s a delicate operation, even when you’re hauling sacks of grain. Doing it at combat speeds can tear your arms off. But when you’re good at it, you can be stronger than anything. The cobblestone flew fast enough to take someone’s head off. Belroth met it with his shield. The rock turned into sand but still knocked him off his feet.
     
    “She can’t do that!” One of his friends tried to rush to his aid but Czeleborn drew his sword. “No, she can. Improvised weapons are allowed.”
     
    I approached my fallen foe. Belroth’s clothes were tattered and the skin of his arm and chest was mottled red. I kept my guard up just in case, and was only slightly surprised when he threw a fireball in my face.
     
    Stoneskin is another earth technique. You lose speed and flexibility and gain unbreakable skin, for certain values of unbreakable. Like enhanced strength, it takes decades to master. Your skin is moving all the time—you can’t harden it to the point that you can’t breathe, much less walk. Not for long.
     
    As soon as Belroth cast the fireball I closed my eyes and made like a statue. My heart stopped. My flesh became like steel. The explosion hurled me through the nearest restaurant window, through the dining area, and into the kitchen. I remembered