Stanwick knew something of his mother’s fear now and he pulled at the chains that bound him, but there was no give in the links.
They were all going to die.
Brother Sequilious stood staring at the chained villagers gathered before him as he prepared the spell.
“What have we ever done to you?” someone in the crowd shouted. “What has the Faith got against Westbay?”
The fact was that the Final Faith had nothing against Westbay, but this coastal settlement was small enough that the disappearance of its populace could easily be covered up. Bandits would be blamed, or maybe the Chadassa.
Brother Sequilious closed his eyes. Behind him, a last small wave lapped at the lake’s shore before the water became unnaturally still. Sweat began to bead his forehead as he envisioned the wheel of dark energy that he turned with his gestures. The temperature in the cavern dropped and flames erupted from his open palms and raced across his body, although he was not burned. Instead, the fire seemed to tease his flesh. With a stifled groan, he climaxed; where his semen jetted onto the stone floor it hissed and spat.
The cries coming from the prisoners were louder now, but nothing could break Brother Sequilious’s concentration. The words that he spoke had been memorised from a fragment of Chadassa manuscript. He had never before used the magic of the sub-aquatic race and, as the last of the glottal syllables died away, he braced himself for a backlash of arcane energy. Instead, he felt a thrumming of power deep within, and his hands blazed with an intense, pure light. If he held onto this power for too long, it would consume him, and so he unleashed the tide of living fire over the huddled villagers.
They burned so fiercely that they were reduced to little more than bundles of blackened sticks within seconds. Yet still they stood, held aloft by the terrible magic that filled the chamber. The intensity of the passing of so many souls strengthened the spell and Brother Sequilious began to weave the final threads of the enchantment together.