The Wizard Killer - Season One: A Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Serial by Adam Dreece Read Free Book Online Page A

front and behind me. Tapping my short sword against my head, I notice it’s glowing blue and I feel empty inside. Huh, I wonder if it healed me and took my mana to recharge itself.
    I walk over to Dila’s corpse and crouch down. She looks almost normal, except for the huge, burned hole right through her. I glance over at Mister Withered, unable to look at him for more than a second. There’s something disturbingly familiar about the withered one, like I’ve seen hundreds before.
    Staring at Dila, another translation wiggles loose from my memory. “Farkes weslek, eh?” I say, with a biting smile. “Well, if I hadn’t been a traitorous mana battery , then I wouldn’t know what you’d said, and we’d all be dead.” I check her things, but everything’s melted. Even the rings on her fingers are ruined.
    I stare off in the direction I think Ania went. “You’ll be back some day, won’t you? How many of us are there out here? How many wesleks are you going to run into?” I can’t figure out why she wanted me to come along. Maybe she was planning on leeching from me? Can she actually do that? I remember her touching my forehead and raise my rough hands to feel it, wondering if there’s a marking or something.  
    I remember something… with the Old Man… I look at the ground, squinting. There was a Wizard and he touched me, draining me. But I recall the pain and agony, and then that moment… that moment where I pulled his energy into me. I look down the road where I last saw Ania. “Did you know I killed him? That I’m a wizard killer?”

episode fourteen

    With a guttural yell, I heave the crashed levi-car over. It lands with a crunch, and sits there on the ground, a tired, beaten up lump of metal. I rummage through it, retrieving my map and taking a strap I can use as a belt. It’ll keep my short sword at my side instead of in my hand. Funny how little things can feel like a luxury in the right moment.
    I hear a squeak and turn to Randmon, who’s on my shoulder. “Good to know you’re okay.” Seeing him, I feel a bit guilty for having lost track of him in all the action. Part of me wonders if he was on my shoulder all along. I give him a little rub on his furry brown back. He’s smiling, I know it.  
    Hanging my head, I mutter, “I must be going crazy.” I give Randmon a sideways glance, chuckle and add, “Yeah. At least the weather there is good.”
    I scout the area quickly for the carnu, then circle back to the levi. Chewing on my lip, I recall a bit of how it works. I hunt around for the engine panel, finding it on the back. It takes me some time to figure how to get the scratched up, protective cover off. Putting it down carefully, I sit and stare at the marvel behind it. There are three blackened discs, lined-up beside each other. The sapphire tubing around it has cracked, and the cloth webbing that connects everything is scorched brown in places. “It must have sparked and burned when we crashed.” I run my finger along the mana-residue-covered webbing. “Probably already had some cracked tubes from the previous crash into the tree.” Rubbing my forehead, I attempt to pull something helpful from the molasses of my mind. I almost have something and then it’s like it disappears, as if magically pushed away.  
    Glancing up at the sun, I know that I’ve already pushed my luck with how much daylight remains. I lay the map out on the ground and lean over it. The notation’s not familiar, and the landmarks drive me crazy. Twice I climb a tree, trying to get a better sense of where I am. According to the map I should have passed through a small town, but maybe I was asleep in the levi when we went through it? The best I’m able to do is get a rough idea of where I might be, and maybe which direction I should go. Folding up the map, I tuck it into the back of my pants, then make sure I’ve got my pistol and sword.
    I look back at Dila and the guy I drained, immediately curing any sense of