Shane could see the keen edge of the sword coming straight down towards his upturned face and he too thought the blow would slice right through the old staff, or shatter it like an icicle and do the same thing oi him. He wanted to close his eyes or look away but he found that he couldn’t do it. He was completely transfixed by the gleaming steel blade as a Sparrow caught in the stare of a Cobra.

As the flashing steel blade met the old wizard’s staff, Shane actually did squeeze his eyes shut tightly. As the force of the blow began to radiate through the ironwood outward and down from the point of contact and through the staff, Shane hollered out in indignant rage at the injustice of his ignominious and undeserved end at the age of 16.

“NO!” he screamed turning his head away from the blow that was coming.

Across the fire, Dark Star saw the sword make contact with the staff and tried to look away but he too was transfixed by the Cobra’s eye.

At the same moment, the sword made contact with the staff of the powerful old wizard that had owned and carried it for so many decades that even Choralys had forgotten how many, something completely unexpected happened.

The Orleanstone mounted on the head of the staff flashed a brilliant white light like the explosion of a star. Simultaneously a jagged bolt of lightning came snaking down from the dark storm clouds overhead.

It struck the glowing white fire inside the Orleanstone and seemed to infuse the ironwood with a light that was even painful for Dark Star to look at indirectly. It was like staring into the eyes of the sun. It stopped Dark Star in his tracks and caused him to take a step back. He just managed to avoid the flaming figure of, Crandle as he took off, running for his life into the dark and stormy night.

As Star and the sisters watched, the brilliant white fire engulfed the staff and the length of Brill’s sword to the hilt. Static electricity rent the air displacing air molecules. As the powerful mega-volt bolt went into Brill’s hands, the empty space it had just occupied slammed shut at the speed of light. This produced a thunderous clap that erupted at the speed of sound.

Miraculously the ironwood held firm but the steel blade exploded into a thousand fragments as though it had been constructed of cheap glass. The force unleashed as thunder hit Brill like a ton of bricks. Shane and the horses were spared the brunt of the fearsome blast which was directed at the man who wielded the sword.