Ashnod's Staff Reference

Ashnod barked a string of words, and the tangle of copper wires sang a discordant song. Wisps of lightning raced along the tracery of wires and into the skull itself.

The staff lurched a fraction in her hand, but Mishra saw no obvious beam or other discharge.

He did see the effect. Just outside the tent entrance, Hajar gave a choked scream and fell into view, clutching his chest.

Mishra was on his feet at once, crossing the tent and kneeling beside his bodyguard. Hajar twitched as he stooped beside him.

"So cold," managed the Fallaji. "It feels so cold."

***

Ashnod leaned forward and hefted the staff. She looked into Mishra's eyes for a moment, as if trying to determine what malice, if any, lay within. Then she handed the staff to him.

The Fallaji raki turned the staff over in his hands. "I see some Thran influences, but this is new. How does it work?"

"It affects the nerves of the body," replied Ashnod.

"The lightning in the staff upsets the body's mechanism that allows one to feel and distinguish pain. Too much upset, and the target is incapacitated. At the range of your dragon engine, it was not severely affected, but it would come no closer."

"Nerves," said Mishra, nodding and tapping the small power crystal that had been set within the staff's skull.

***

The Brother's War, Chapter 9