Spellscribed: Conviction by Kristopher Cruz Read Free Book Online Page A

tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Well, you know what helps distract from thinking about the ones we've lost?"
    "What?"
    "Getting into your work."  Joven patted one of the boulders with a grin. "So, why don't you look at this landslide and start thinking about how you're going to get us through it."
    The mage shook his head and set his mind to the task. Several minutes later, Gullin returned, landing on a nearby rock. Endrance listened to the bird's report, then went back to the task at hand. Joven sat down a few feet away and closed his eyes, asleep. Giselle immediately ran up to him and curled up in his lap, dozing off as well.
    Half an hour passed. Bridget, who had been impatiently waiting in the back of the group, dismounted and pushed forward.
    "What the hells is taking so long?" Bridget demanded. scowling.
    Joven woke up instantly, focusing on her. "He's gotta get us through there without causing further landslides or dropping more rocks on our heads." he said. Giselle yawned as she awoke, and then scampered off to play with Selene in the back of the line.
    "Can't he, I don't know, do the thing he did with the reservoir?" She asked. Endrance's concentration broke and he turned to her.
    "The landslide is different from a big bowl of water." he said, pointing. "It has different properties. It’s made of different kinds of stones, and it isn't one congruent mass. I can't just modify a spell like that on the fly."
    "Then can't you blast it, or melt it, or something?"
    "I'm admittedly not very good at earth magic." Endrance declared. "I also don't know any spells that reshape earth; nor am I a stonecutter or miner that would know how the rock would fall if I just blew it away."
    Joven perked up. "Wait, so you're saying you could just blow it away?" he asked.
    "Yes." Endrance said. "It would be a simple application of amplified kinetic force condensed into a pinpoint area of contact. It would 'kick' the rock hard enough to send it flying."
    Joven gestured vaguely at the rocks. "Could you... I don't know... gently blow it away?" he asked.
    "Gently what?" Endrance asked, confused.
    Joven stood. "You know..." he tried to explain. "Nudge it? There's the incline into the ravine on the other side. If we can divert the landslide down the incline, we can go over the fallen rocks and pick our way down from there."
    Endrance thought for several moments and looked over to Gullin, then back to his bodyguard. "Gullin says it's clear." he responded. "We'll give that a shot. Tell everyone else to back up a ways."
    Endrance got to work setting up the spell. It was similar to the one tattooed on the palm of his right hand, which allowed him to propel things harder than if they had been shot from a bow. He cast about, took a stick, and started scratching the formula into the dirt as he did the calculations in his head. He needed to get the spell form just right or he'd hit it too hard, or too soft, or even pull the rocks towards him, which would be even more disastrous.
    Eventually, he settled on the formula he needed. He decided he'd have to best guess certain unknowable variables, and he set up to cast the spell. Everyone else had cleared out while he had prepared, and he had at least two dozen yards of clear space to work it.
    He channeled power through his aura into his body, formed it with his hands and lent it permanency with words of power. The spell completed, he spoke the final word of power, releasing the energy of the spell form into his desired spell.
    A wave of kinetic force, formed in cushioned layers of gradually increasing magnitude, washed over the pile of broken stones. Each wave shifted larger and larger stones, and they rolled away from Endrance, dropping out of sight. Some of the rock from higher up the mountain clattered down on top of the pile, but were quickly wiped away.
    The spell lasted for about a minute, and by that time, the pass was almost entirely clear. Only the largest of the rocks remained, and there was