Dark Mage (Avalon: Web of Magic, Book 11) by Rachel Roberts

explained. “The sun is way too bright for their large eyes, and their thick fur is too heavy for this warm climate.”
    “Are you sure this is your home?” Ozzie asked the kobold. “Maybe you got lost.”
    “We know our home when we don’t see it!” the creature wailed.
    “Ozzie,” Emily murmured, raising her rainbow jewel. “Give me a boost.”
    The ferret’s orange gem sparkled as he hopped to her side.
    Gingerly reaching out with her magic, Emily focused on a patch of bright purple daisies, watching intently as a halo of light blossomed. Plants had magical auras too, more subtle than magical animals, but visible to Emily’s heightened vision. The daisies, with their large smooth petals and strong stems, appeared perfectly healthy. But when Emily looked deeper, she saw the truth: The flowers’ aura was a jumble of red and blue, like two different colored ribbons tangled together in a knot. Instinctively, Emily sensed the blue magic was the daisy’s true magical aura. The red magic was eating away at it like a virus. Emily shuddered. She’d seen this before, when the water magic of Aldenmor had made the sea dragons sick.
    Widening her magical vision only confirmed her fears. This strange red magic polluted the land, twisting the natural blue aura out of shape.
    “Ouch.” Ozzie winced, feeling the healer’s shock.
    Emily whispered, “This whole place hurts.”
    “You mean the land is sick?” Lorren asked.
    Emily nodded grimly. “Yes. It isn’t supposed to look like this.”
    Once, she had felt the pain of Ravenswood when the forest spirit was corrupted. But here the land itself hurt.
    Lorren’s mouth was tight with concern. “The only magic I know that could do that is a power crystal.”
    Emily agreed. “We need to find it before it does more damage.”
    “Please help us, great weaver of magic,” the kobolds wailed.
    “You can actually heal the land?” Lorren’s eyes went wide.
    “No way! This isn’t like healing an animal,” Ozzie exclaimed. “You can’t risk something like this on your own.”
    Ozzie was right. This was new territory. The only way to heal this land was to reweave its magic back into its original pattern. She would have to amplify her magic through a web of animals, as she had done on Aldenmor. But her new powers had hurt so many. This could be even riskier.
    But what choice did she have? The kobolds, huddled in a miserable clump, were suffering. She was a healer and these creatures needed her help. “I have to try.”
    “You sure about this?” Ozzie’s brown eyes were wide with worry.
    Know this, healer. Your power for weaving magic surpasses even hers.
    The words of the Dark Sorceress echoed in her mind. Ozzie was right to be concerned.
    But Emily was not the Spider Witch. And if her Level Two powers enabled her to heal in this new way, she had to take the next step.
    Deep down Emily already knew she could do it.
    She spread her arms wide. “Ready?”
    Without waiting for Ozzie’s response, the healer enveloped the clump of daisies with a wave of glowing colors. Instantly her jewel flashed dark as magic prickled along her skin. Taking a deep breath, she wrapped her power around the voracious red threads. Her fingers moved through air as she gently tugged at the red, trying to unravel it. To her surprise, it came loose easily. A loop of red magic separated from the daisies’ blue auras and floated before her eyes. And she was doing this with only Ozzie’s magic to support her.
    “It’s working!” Ozzie gasped.
    The daisies began shimmering, changing. With bright sparks their purple petals melted into sharp red spikes, and the green stems twisted to woody brown.
    “The bugbear pod!” the kobolds cried happily.
    “I don’t believe it!” Lorren said, stunned.
    Emily barely heard him. Encouraged, she expanded her healing web over the lush valley floor. She tugged at the red magic, her fingers moving faster as she tore it loose, allowing the blue pattern to