The crimson witch

Titel: The crimson witch
Autoren: Dean Koontz

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king screamed and backed toward the throne.
        Mouths opened in the floor and swallowed the snakes.
        Cheryn threw a ball of blue fire at Lelar.
        He caught it in a bowl of yellow energy and slung it back.
        It dissipated before it reached them.
        Lelar sent a thousand red bees at them with stingers an inch long.
        Cheryn raised her hands, grinning.
        The bees turned to flowers and fell to the floor.
        Lelar pointed at the brilliant blossoms.
        They decayed and formed a mound of rot. The rot began to jell into a half-formed, hideous graveyard beast. It pushed to its rotten feet and trudged toward them, groaning, its mouth open, a black hole in its mangled head.
        Cheryn turned it into a pretty young girl in a low-cut dress.
        The girl curtsied and disappeared.
        Lelar squinted and exercised full powers.
        The room seemed to disappear and was replaced with a swirling, boiling sea of colors. There were streams of blue, pools of ocher, geysers of yellow and peach, splashes of green, fountains of crimson and cinnabar. Color burst and bloomed about them, blinding them. Slowly, Lelar swam at them through the gurgling, bubbling hues. He sat in yoga position, levitated, floating nearer and nearer.
        Jake reached out for something.
        There was nothing to grab.
        His hands closed on crimson
        The crimson flowed through his fingers
        He flailed
        He hugged his arms around amber
        The amber turned to bubbles
        Burst
        Was gone
        He was lying in a pool of onyx
        There was a brown and purple sky overhead
        Lelar was descending through it
        White and orange lightnings played around the king's head
        Kaliglia bleated
        Lelar drew closer
        He was grinning
        Cinnabar fields beneath a waving, rippling black and blue sky
        Dancing rouge
        Leaping violet
        Cheryn in a burst of blue
        Red robes fluttering
        Lelar laughing
        Cheryn hurling yellow balls
        Lelar dodging
        Noise building
        Building
        Louder
        Booming thunder and tinkling bells
        Red waves crashing on a green shore
        Trumpets blaring
        Cymbals clashing
        Crashing
        Building toward a crescendo
        It came to Jake that they just might lose the battle.
        Just might lose
        Just might
         Boom! A burst of black tinted yellow at the edges
        An explosion of blue with a white core
        Trombones
        Trumpets
        Drums
        Strange horns
        Screaming toward a climax
         Explosion!
        And darkness.

Chapter Nineteen: THE KINGDOM OF JAKE

        When he came to, Cheryn was slumped at his side, unconscious. He lay, waiting for the scythe of Lelar's power to cut them both in half. But no blow came. After a few minutes, he stirred himself, sat up. Lelar was nowhere in sight. The throne room looked perfectly normal. At the rear, the manbats lay in heaps, also knocked out from the blinding explosion of energy that had been set when Cheryn and Lelar locked minds. He turned Cheryn over and looked at her. She was smiling. He slapped her face carefully, and she moved, groaned, opened her eyes.
        Lelar- he said.
        I destroyed him, she answered. It was rather close, though.
        He burst out laughing as the tension drained from him. He pulled her close and hugged her. It's now the Kingdom of Cheryn, he said excitedly.
        No, she said.
        Behind, Kaliglia moaned and woke up, grumbled something.
        What do you mean?
        It's the Kingdom of Jake, she said, smiling.
        Wait a minute-
        You will draw the Talenteds together for a good purpose now, she said. You can teach them things of your world. Maybe we can sneak back to your world-without dragons this time-and gather information to restore the sciences on this world. We'll take only the good from your line. We'll elevate the Commoners.
        You could do all that yourself if-
        It needs a man, she said. And you're very much a man. You be the king, Jake. Please. I'll be the queen. We need you as king because you know how your people fight. And now that they know how to

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