wizard-of-the-pigeons

would rend her.
He reached to the silver tassels at his throat. His fingers were stiff claws that
ripped them free of their knot. One-handed, he swirled the cloak free of his
shoulders and over her. He felt a part of his strength go with it, a peeling away
like a layer of skin. The woman stood up within the cloak, finding the presence
of mind to clutch it around her chilled body.
“Run!” he commanded her again, and this time she seemed to hear him.
Enough sanity returned to her face that her fear was rational. She saw Wizard
with his hand upraised before the gray shape in the gathering mist. Her wide
eyes smote him, echoing of Cassie’s. She turned and ran away. He was glad.
Cheated of its second victim, Mir fell on him with the weight of the earth
itself. Real, Cassie had said. She was right. A talon or tooth or blade penetrated
Wizard’s guard, slashing at him. Blood welled along his ribs. The cloak would
have protected him, he realized vainly, and let the thought run away
unconsidered. He tried to focus his own powers to a jabbing point, but it was like
trying to roll a quilt into a spear. It could buffer the attacks of the grayness, but it
could not prevent them, and it was no weapon. Mir surrounded him, its pressure
building. His eardrums pressed in against his brain. He felt the leap of blood
from his nose, felt his lungs squashing up high in his chest. He went as small and
hard as a nut in its grasp.
For a second he felt relief. Then the trick failed him. The pressure mounted
again; he had nowhere left to flee. He could not close his eyes, had no breath left
to scream.
A softness that smelled like ginger and vanilla settled over him, forcing Mir
back and offering respite. He took a breath, opened bloodshot eyes.
Mir loomed over them both. Cassie was wrapped in his cloak, her black hair
spilling down her back and gleaming like polished ebony. One of Wizard’s hands
clutched at the crumpled front of his stained robe; his hat with its crooked point
was sliding down over one of his ears. Her hand was on his shoulder, joining
them. He drew a breath, and with it Knew that Cassie’s power was strained to its
limits, was screaming with the load of the grayness against it. Even together,
they were not enough.
She had come on a fool’s errand, to go down with him. It was just as
hopeless, but slower. He wished be had the breath to tell her so.
“Hold on!” she shouted, and her voice reached him from across a vast dark