Page 6 of Arcane Entanglement

A faint blue light flashed weakly beneath it.

Evander’s pulse quickened. He squatted and carefully moved aside the rock his boot had dislodged, exposing a small object.

Shaw and Brown joined him as he picked it up and brought it to eye level.

“What is that, your Grace?” the alchemist asked curiously.

Evander stared at the small crystal vial. It had a slim body and two tapering ends, fitting easily in the palm of his hand. A clear, sparkling azure liquid filled the hollow chamber within.

It didn’t look like the sort of thing you’d find in the East End.

Evander’s heart slammed against his ribs.

His intuition was telling him the object was a magical item. One linked to the victim.

His gaze shifted to the dead man, gauging the distance between the body’s point of impact and the location of the vial.

Was it on him when he fell?

The hairs lifted on the back of Evander’s neck in the next instant.

The air in the alley thickened with a suddenness that made his ears pop. Dread chilled him when his breath misted in front of his face.

Dark magic!

Shaw and Brown doubled over before he could shout a warning. Their hands rose to clutch their temples even as their faces contorted in expressions of pure agony, the suddenness of the invisible attack robbing them of breath and stealing their cries before they could form.

The only thing that protected Evander from the debilitating effect of the spell that incapacitated his associates was his powers.

Coolness bloomed in the centre of his chest and filled his veins as he drew on his water magic, the tingling flow matching the rhythm of his heart. The sensation changed to a sharp, biting cold when he shifted its focus from liquid to ice.

Fire magic would have been more useful under the circumstances, its purification effect capable of burning away dark energies and spells from the air.

Sinister black trails coiled through the frigid atmosphere out of the corner of Evander’s right eye just as a two-foot long icicle materialised in his left hand.

He twisted sharply on his heels and hurled it at the gap in a doorway that should have been sealed. The weapon flew straight and true, its trajectory guided by his powers.

The hooded figure lurking in the shadows of the building jumped back and cursed. Wind whipped violently into life around him, shifting the icicle’s path at the last moment.

It slashed a cut in the man’s right thigh, pierced his cloak, and smashed into the wall behind him. Glittering fragments peppered his clothes as he whirled around and vanished from sight.

Evander scowled. He jumped to his feet and gave chase.

Shaw and Brown gasped and wheezed behind him, the dark mage’s fading spell removing the constraints binding them in place.

“Wait, your Grace!” Brown shouted weakly.

Shaw started running after Evander, earth magic blossoming on her fingertips.

He darted inside the building without waiting for her. The enchanted folding cane strapped to the inside of his right forearm snapped out of the sleeve of his frock coat with a flick of his wrist.

Stairs appeared at the end of a gloomy passage. A startled shout rose from somewhere up them. It was followed by a cut off, gurgled scream.

Evander gritted his teeth.

Blast it!

He took the stairs two steps at a time.