Read The Wizard Killer - Season One: A Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Serial for Free Online Page B

Yeah, I can tell.” With stupidly hopeful eyes, I look at Dila and ask, “Can you help her?”
    She looks at our protector and shakes her head, “No.” She puts the crossbow down, likely waiting for the shield to drop. I shake my head, realizing that if it were me, I would have shot and probably killed one of us by accident. They’ve clearly worked together before.
    Dila pulls open her shirt, showing an under-layer of leather armor festooned with throwing knives. She’s also got them along discreet slots on her thighs and upper arms. Yig, I had no idea.
    Looking down at my pistol, I laugh. If Dila thinks that a crossbow and knives are going to have a chance against the carnu, she’s way out of her league. So that leaves me with two options: try to take down the carnu, or try to get out of here faster than them. Given how Ania’s at least an acolyte, that makes the second option almost as bad as the first.
    Ania’s groans of pain are becoming growls. It’s only a matter of time before she’s outright screaming and then she’ll drop. The nausea in my stomach is building, but I’ve got no feeling of pressure to feed the pistol.  
    I find myself staring at the one tree that’s inside the shield for some reason. Glancing about, I note how it’s more of a strange oval now. As Ania screams, I watch as the tree withers right before my eyes. Startled, I step back and bang into Dila. “Transforming life force into mana… Did she just do that?” I grab Dila by the shoulders and point at Ania. “Did she just kill that tree?”
    “Eat for mana,” replies Dila.
    Right, some people can do that. Wizards, acolytes and… gah, I had it. Huh. Staring at the withered tree, I think of the landscape. It looks really similar. Blue veins start to pop out on Ania’s red face.
    I close my eyes and concentrate on my heart and core. Come on, where’s that raging beast that ran out my arm and pistol when I needed it? My eyes dart about desperately, I’m like a burning man looking for a barrel of water. I don’t have much time until Ania goes down.
    A whiff of an idea hits me, and my body reacts before I know what’s going on. I watch myself drop my pistol and short sword, and shove Dila aside. As I haul the unconscious guy half out of the levi-car, she starts getting back up, fury in her eyes. I rip his shirt and put a hand square on his bare chest, while my other hand grabs my pistol. She’s starting to scream at me.
    Ania notices what I’m doing but can’t react without dropping the protective shield. Dila’s reaching for a knife on her thigh, screaming at me. Closing my eyes, I feel my nausea peak and… and then something else.

episode thirteen

    “AHH!!!!” I scream as the wounded man’s essence burns up into my arm and then into my chest. It’s like inhaling a hurricane, it’s beyond agony. My jaw’s clenched so tightly I expect my teeth to shatter any minute. Memories start hitting me so hard I’m on the verge of passing out. I have no idea if they’re mine or his. Wrapping my arms around myself, tremors start, giving way to full convulsions. The one thought screaming through my head, over the deafening sound of the inner hurricane, is to hang on. Was that what the Old Man used to say?
    Dila’s face is red with rage. Her knife narrowly misses me as I flail about. She dives for my short sword, yelling “FARKES WESLEK!” In a single heartbeat, she rolls up to me and is poised to drive the sword through my throat. In a flash, she drops to the ground, a huge hole through her middle, my pistol streaming blue smoke. The convulsions are done.
    Ania screams, her eyes wild with fury. The shield vanishes and she turns, glaring at me, both hands outstretched. Nothing happens. “Sorry lady, magic’s not here right now. You’ve got to have your own mana, and you’re all out.”
    I point my pistol at the scarred carn, shifting my gaze back and forth between them and Ania. The scarred carn says something to the