A wild animal was released from its cage. All those years it had struggled against the mental bars and waited for a moment of weakness. Now it was out and strikes hard versus at everything around it. It launches into the man who stood defenceless in the middle of the room and, he stumbled against the wall, without even thinking of putting up a shield. The monster demolished the whole chamber and it was a miracle that Cery, who still lay on the floor wasn't harmed.
Sonea shook her head to get away the dizziness. What happened? Why wasn't she dead, but the stranger leaned on the wall? The guestroom was completely destroyed. Even the solid bed was broken. It would cost Harrin's father a fortune to rebuild it.
a moan from the window remembered her of the danger. The magician straightened and cautiously took a step towards her. Sonea remarked with surprise that things in his reach were forced away from him by an invisible power. Was that a barrier? - Like the ones the guild used for the Purge to cope with thrown objects? Was he afraid of her? That thought was so absurd, that Sonea nearly giggled - a magician who fears the dwells.
But the laughter stuck in her throat as the man took out his knife again, but this time he held it in high of her neck.
Then the stranger said something. His accent was thick and heavy, it sounded like a completely new language*. Sonea understood something like "natural", but didn't have the intention to ask. Yet she couldn't go without Cery...
As though wanting to save her, the door was slammed ajar and another man in rags emerged. His face was shadowed by his hood, but his eyes seemed to glow. His gaze wandered across the room, stopped for a second at Cery's body and finally focused on the sachakan.
Whose eyes widened, and then a triumphant smile appeared. "Akkarin. I just thought you'd never intervene. I helped myself to a bit of power with your people. It doesn't bother you, does it?" Suddenly an invisible force had moved between Sonea and the sachakan and pushed her on the black dressed man's side. She nearly stumbled over Cery, who was drawn back by magic too. Quickly she knelt beside him and laid a hand in his chest. Relief flooded though her as she felt a weak but steady heartbeat. Now just get away from here! But as she moved towards the door there was this wall again right before her.
Sonea turned and realized that there were flashes of light shooting from one magician to the other. All of a sudden the stranger took a step back and the air in front of him shimmered, then a blinding white light sped towards her. Why does he attack me? I didn't do anything. The strike neared and a short distance away from her face, it smashed against something useable and faded away. Did the second magician protect her? - If he did, then why?
The exchange of blows was continued, but Sonea herself wasn't assaulted again. Both men were sweating and the sachakan magician looked haunted. The face of her defender was hidden, but his flashes had lost intensity and size too.
Sonea already thought the match would never end, as the stranger suddenly stripped back und motionless sank to the ground. Was he dead? The other magician approached him carefully and Sonea was drawn with him too because of the shield. She hastily stood up and walked two steps behind him.
The man knelt down and laid a hand on the man's forehead. He remained still for a moment, and then he snapped his eyes open and stared at her in shock.
*It's illogical if Kyralian and Sachankan are different languages, because in "The high lord" the higher magicians understand the discussion between Avala and Parika (Sonea too, who could never have learned it in the slums) Why should they learn a language of a county they'd never see?