Master and Apprentice Read Free

that—even if it was an evil djinn. I yanked on the bracelet again. It moved down about a quarter inch and stuck at the base of his thumb.
    The Morai’s hissing grew louder. This time, I heard a few vowels in there.
    “Blast you, Donatti, kill him!”
    Ian had pulled himself up on one knee. The broken arm dangled limp and twisted at his side. Sweat drenched his ashen face and mingled with blood from a deep gash on his forehead.If he wasn’t out of magic before, he had to be now, and there was no way I could fight this guy on my own.
    I grabbed for my switchblade, flicked it open … and realized that even if I could pony up the guts to lop his hand off, it’d take too long to saw through with a lousy three-inch blade. Time to improvise.
    A hasty mental inventory revealed I’d brought nothing useful. Cell phone, flashlight, a bag of trail mix. That’d help. I could temporarily blind him, force-feed him, and hope he had a peanut allergy.
    With my limited magic options, that pretty much left tether destruction—if I could get the damned thing away from him. I might’ve been able to destroy it while it was still on him, but djinn tended to explode when their tethers went, and if I didn’t move quickly enough I’d finish myself along with him.
    There had to be another way. I scanned the cave floor, and my gaze lit on a crumbled spray of loose rock. Perfect. I dropped the Morai’s wrist, grabbed a fist-size stone from the pile, and smashed it against his temple. He shuddered and collapsed.
    Magic didn’t solve everything.
    A sharp gasp from Ian drew my attention. I dropped the rock beside the unconscious Morai and rushed over to him. He’d staggered back against the wall, collapsed, and slumped forward, barely conscious. Bright blood dripped from his mouth.
    “Ian.” I shook his shoulder. He stirred, groaned. “C’mon, man. You in there?”
    He raised his head and looked at me with piercing eyes. “Idiot. Destroy him.”
    “He’s out of it—”
    “Now.”
    “Fine.” I turned, palmed my blade, and crossed over to the Morai. His closed eyelids twitched in erratic rhythm, and his open mouth had frozen in a sneer around his ruined fangs. The Morai could look more human if they wanted to—Ian didn’t resemble a wolf much, except for his eyes. Their appearance was a testament to their hatred. If they were smart, they could make it a lot harder for us to recognize them.
    The arm bearing the bracelet lay flung out from his side. I crouched as far away from him as I could and still be within reach of the tether, sucked in a breath, and sliced my finger open. Blood was an unfortunate necessity for most of the few spells I knew. At least this one didn’t require drawing a symbol, like the mirror bridge. My hands shook enough to ensure a lack of precision.
    I smeared a thick band of blood on gleaming gold and tried to concentrate. There were words I had to speak. I always had trouble with those.
    Before I could spit out the incantation, the Morai’s eyes fluttered open and found me. A cold smile wrenched his lips. He struggled to breathe and spoke in a guttural whisper. “Riisal’a gekki. Ken’an ni shea-wa. Fik lo jyhaad insinia de sechet.”
    A translation ripped through my head, and dull weight settled in my gut—then fingers seized my wrist. The Morai’s lips attempted to form words. More weird warnings … or a spell?
    “Ana lo ’ahmar nar, fik lo imshi, aakhir kalaam.”
    My relief that the words had come from me didn’t last long. The tether glowed white-hot, and the Morai erupted in flame. I wrenched my hand free, but not before the fire singed my flesh. Real burns this time, turning my skin a ghastly, blistered white. I scrambled toward Ian, half blind, the Morai’s dying scream chasing me like a wounded banshee.
    His explosive end shook the world and knocked me proneon the cave floor at Ian’s feet. I curled around my throbbing hand and waited for things to settle down. No need to witness the