Page 108 of The Desert King's Spy (Magic and Kings 2)
What I didn’t count on was how hot he’d be. Searing heat had me screaming, and the pain nullified my attempt at magic. Daksh yelled my name, but throbbing pain held my focus as I ripped my hands from Zuun, leaving charred flesh behind.
The agony staggered, and my butt hit the ground hard. I sat there in disbelief, my hands a ruined mess, useless and only able to watch as Daksh retreated from the rapid onslaught as Zuun, with matching flame swords, hammered at him.
How were we supposed to stop the ifrit? Even as I watched, I saw his orange glow intensify before expulsing hard enough to slam into Daksh, sending him flying through the ring of fire.
Leaving me alone with Zuun, with no weapon but my wits.
“What are you going to do?” I asked. A vague question, but the right one apparently.
“After I kill you all?” Zuun asked wickedly. “First, I’m going to reclaim one of the intact cities.”
“There’s only one real one left. If the monsters haven’t overrun it.”
He winked. “I made sure they didn’t wreck the castle.”
A less-than-subtle reminder he controlled the monsters. “Once you take the city, then what?”
“You already know.” He cocked his head, and his lips tilted. “I’m going to rule this world. A world with no more pesky humans. All will die, starting with you.”
“I thought you needed a body to survive.” I grasped for anything to keep him from catching me with his slow stalk.
“It doesn’t have to be human for it to work.”
“So you’d lord it over animals. Seems like a step backwards,” I argued.
“At least they won’t even think of betraying me.”
“What happened to making babies?”
“Would you like to carry my child?” He gestured, and I made the mistake of looking to see his serpentine cock glowing as if dipped in fire.
Ouch. “How is that supposed to work? Shouldn’t I be alive at the end to carry the baby?”
“Ifrit are born in the charred husks of their mothers.”
I gaped.
“And you know what, that seems like a fitting way for you to die.”
He reached for me, and the heat of him singed the air as he neared. In that second it occurred to me why he’d been in a well. Could it be water did something to nullify Zuun’s power? Water and fire did not mix. A pity I didn’t have any.
I sure wished I did, though. Wished with all my might.Goddess, we could really use some rain right about now.
Which was when the well erupted.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
Ageyser of water shot out of the shaft, a powerful jet that pushed me back and had me blinking wet lashes. But even so, I could have sworn I saw something caught in the torrent. I didn’t have time to wonder about it, as Zuun screamed.
And by scream, I meant a wail of unholy anger. Parts of his body sizzled as the erupting fountain sprayed. The ifrit ran for his ring of flames, but the spewing water arced and spattered in a rain that had Zuun shrieking even louder. He held up a hand wreathed in flames, and for a moment, an orange-hued shield appeared in the air before sizzling into nothingness. The nimbus of orange around his frame died, as did the ring of fire.
In mere seconds, Zuun went from terrifying ifrit to a soaked and slender man with a really unimpressive cock.
Before I could blink, Daksh and my friends charged Zuun. He raised his hands in a defensive posture, as if begging for mercy. I almost felt sorry for him, and then I remembered his plan for me. Even I knew better than to show mercy.
A head went flying. An arm. A leg was severed. The torso cut in half. They all took turns severing parts, which, in turn, collapsed in on themselves, the flesh not actually bleeding but turning to charred meat and bone. Apparently, the human body hadn’t been containing the Ifrit’s flames all too well after all.
I might have kept watching the death of Ulkruuba’s greatest threat, only a hug from behind lifted me off my feet. I would have feared but for the familiar huffed, “I found you!”