Guardian Of The Grove Read Online Free Page B

spell hit me. The fire licked around the edges of my hastily erected shield, but it held strong.
    “You have to be on your toes, Jackson,” Marcus screamed with glee from the stands.
    This time, I had to block a blast of water from behind me. I felt the ground under me start to shake, and moved to the side just as he called out green. I sent a blast of hardened air at the target and watched it split in half before I deflected Marcus’s next attack. I dodged a few more attacks, and then he shouted blue. I sent a ball of flame at that target, and it was engulfed in flames instantly.
    “Now, you’re getting it,” Marcus shouted.
    Life got harder after that. Marcus started launching two or three attacks at me simultaneously. I spent more time dodging and rolling than I did on the offensive side, but I hadn’t been hit yet. My shield held against the continued assault. Three more targets went down, leaving three left. The ground shook again, forcing me to move at an awkward angle to the targets. I managed to clip the white one with a spear of rock, but the hit was off center.
    “Now you’re in for it, Jackson,” Marcus howled, his laughter filling the air.
    Three golems made of sand rose from the arena floor. Each of them was holding a huge club made out of stone. They shimmered, letting me know that Marcus had shielded them from magic. I needed to come up with a counter to them. No way would I be able to dodge all three of them and Marcus’s attacks. Not to mention there were still targets left that I needed to take care of when he called them out. I blasted the rest of the white target into dust as the golems charged at me.
    Two targets left. Could I survive long enough to get them down? I wasn’t sure unless I came up with an answer for the golems quickly before I ended up getting clobbered by one of their clubs. I erected a wall of ice in front of the golems. As soon as they reached it, I heard their clubs begin to pound against the wall. It wouldn’t hold for much longer. What was I going to do? I managed to block two attacks from Marcus while I tried to figure it out. The first chunk of ice fell away from my wall. I only had moments to decide on a strategy before they were on me.
    I decided to do what Marcus had told me and stick with different elements. He had sand people; I could make ice golems. I reinforced the wall I had made and started to work on creating my ice warriors. They rose from the ground, tall and lean, carrying blades made out of hardened ice. My creations looked more like people sculpted from ice then the blocky creatures Marcus had conjured. That was so cool. I didn’t even know that I could do that, but that was magic for you. If you thought of an idea and had the power, you could make it happen. I dodged another attack sent at me by Marcus as my wall finally shattered.
    “Red,” Marcus shouted.
    I sent my ice warriors into the mix and rolled away from a wave of earth Marcus had sent in my direction. I stood up and motioned toward the red target, covering it in ice. My shield took a massive hit from one of the sand golem’s clubs, flinging me sideways. One of my ice warriors moved into his path, blocking his next attack. I motioned toward the red target, and the ice shattered, taking the target down with it.
    My warriors were falling to the massive sand golems, and there wasn’t much I could do about it. As their swords of ice broke against the massive rock clubs, I replaced their broken weapons with new ones. Marcus picked up his assault on me, forcing me to keep moving. I was blocking two attacks at a time and dodging through the legs of the giant golems. My arm hurt from the hit I had taken even though my shield had absorbed most of the blow. He had to call the final target soon. I wasn’t going to last much longer.
    “Green,” he shouted.
    Finally, I had the last target, but I couldn’t see it through the legs of the sand golems and ice warriors battling around me. Fire rained