Revelation

by C. A. McHugh

  Someone shouted a command he didn’t understand, and his heart skipped a beat. Had they found out he’d escaped?

  But as the forces moved toward the largest tunnel leaving the main cavern, some of his panic fled.

  Seroney, however, tensed and pressed him even closer to the wall. She exhaled an almost silent curse. A boom, followed by a crash, shook the walls of the cavern. More of the Raven Bringer’s forces ran past them, and she pulled him in the opposite direction.

  When the crowd thinned, she murmured, “There went my escape plan.”

  “Teleport?” he mouthed.

  She shook her head. “Can’t. Wards.”

  Just like the Academy, this stronghold was protected against anyone who wanted to magically appear inside. Or leave.

  The sounds of battle drew nearer, and a surge of magic tossed at least a dozen of the Raven Bringer’s forces into the air. The demons combusted before they hit the ground, showering the room in their ashes.

  Aerrin peered around her. “Master Binnius.”

  He tried to run toward the mages, not caring that the camouflage spell flickered and faded when he let go of her hand.

  Seroney threw him back against the wall and reinforced her spell. “Don’t be an idiot. You could get killed in that chaos.”

  “Or I can fight with them.”

  “You’ve taken too much of a beating to be of any help. I bet you can’t even summon a simple anchoring spell.”

  He gritted his teeth. I’ll show you. But the second he tried to draw upon his magic, he found what felt like an empty well.

  “He cast a leeching spell on you,” Seroney explained. “Any time you try to draw upon your magic, you’re feeding him. It’s a common spell used by necromancers.”

  She cast another spell on him. The walls holding his back crumbled, but he couldn’t draw upon it. “I counteracted his spell. It will take a few minutes before you can cast, though.”

  The clang of steel mingled with the explosion of spells. Armed soldiers now fought alongside the master mages, driving the enemy back and closer to them.

  “As you said earlier, we don’t have a few minutes.”

  Seroney glanced around them before grabbing his hand and pulling him further away from the fray. “I have an idea.”

  ***

  Raimel hated huge battles. He preferred to pick off his enemies in small numbers, one by one, from the stealth of the shadows, not run headlong into a wall of swords and demons. Sorry, but suicidal was not a word he’d used to describe himself. He valued his life, no matter how messed up it was.

  “On my left,” Ceryst grunted.

  “Got them.” With a few slices of his twin blades, he turned two more demons into fireballs that wheezed ashes on extinction.

  “Do you see the bastard?”

  It would’ve been so much easier if he could’ve just blinked from place to place inside this hollowed-out cone of rock, but if he did that, one of the mages might mistake him for a demon, and he had no desire to go poof.

  So he bounced up and down like a child instead. “Nope, no sign of him, but there are some nasty Night Crawlers ahead.”

  “Outstanding,” the knight replied in his usual dry manner before running his sword through one of the humans the Raven Bringer had recruited. “And that’s eight for me.”

  “You are not doing something as juvenile as keeping score again, are you?”

  Ceryst paused to dispatch another enemy. “Nine.”

  “Asshole.” Without missing a beat, Raimel twirled and managed to slice through three demon necks with one swing. “Beat that.”

  A blast of magic came from the woman in the blue robe standing next to them, sending a score of demons into the air and igniting them all before they hit the ground. She turned to them and grinned. “That’s twenty, boys. Try to keep up.”

  Raimel’s jaw hung open for a moment before the shock wore off. “Oh, she is good.”

  “Master Karena always has been.” Ceryst gave her a nod of respect before running into the next brawl.

  Raimel shrugged in an almost apologetic manner. “Knights,” he explained before chasing after his friend.

  As the Raven Bringer’s force buckled under the assault, Raimel pushed through the fray until he spotted the son of a bitch standing on a rock, observing the battle from above.

  “Ceryst!” he shouted, pointing toward the Raven Bringer’s perch.

  The knight twirled his sword at the hilt, not showing the least bit of battle fatigue and marched toward the man who’d ruined his life.

  Raimel hustled to join him, only to be beaten by Master Binnius.

  “Watch our backs,” the old man said before launching a ball of blinding white magic toward the Raven Bringer.

  The fiend stumbled back a step, his cowardly face still hidden behind that sinister skull mask. He drew a solid black sword adorned with sinister spikes around the hilt. With his typical arrogance, he beckoned them to take him on. “Come.”

  “I’ve been looking forward to this for years,” Ceryst said.

  “I would’ve preferred to put this in the never-in-my-life category,” Raimel countered, “but since he didn’t have the good grace to die, I suppose I’ll have to—”

  “Shut up.” Ceryst raised his sword and nodded to Binnius. “On your count.”

  The master mage stared at the enemy. “Now.”

  As well choreographed as any dance between two veteran partners, they commenced their one-two assault. Master Binnius launched another spell while Ceryst charged.

  Somehow, the Raven Bringer managed to deflect them both, casting a shield spell while parrying Ceryst’s sword with his own. Over and over, he managed to escape their attacks until they all circled each other, breathless yet poised to strike again.

  Raimel’s attention remained fixed on handling anyone who dared to intrude on their little threesome. Every time one of the Raven Bringer’s minions tried to come to his aid, Raimel struck, bearing no mercy for his victim.

  ***

  Aerrin followed Seroney until they were standing against the far back wall. No tunnels. No other means of escape. They were directly across from the battle and as far away from their allies as they could get.

  Then she pointed up to the sky. “Remember that spell I cast in the fire?”

  His stomach dropped. By the goddess, she was planning on flying him out of here. He shook his head, not trusting his voice. The last time had been during a blazing fire, and they were going down a few floors, not up a three thousand-foot mountain. If she lost even a shred of concentration, they’d fall to their deaths.

  Seroney squeezed his cheeks between her palms. “Trust me.”

  He opened his mouth to say he couldn’t, but nothing came out.

  Because he did trust her. Even though she was no older than him, she’d proven time and time again to have the skill of a master mage.

  She pointed to the ledges that had naturally formed along the rock face. “It’ll be like a cat climbing a tree, hopping from one branch to the other. Once we get to the top, I can teleport us to safety.”

  Of course she would bring up a reference to a cat, considering she was practically one herself.

  He glanced behind him. The clang of swords battled with the blasts of magic and the screams of the fallen. And the sounds were coming closer and closer. If he waited any longer, they truly would be trapped.

  He nodded.

  She wrapped his arms around her waist. “Hold on tight. Pretend we’re dancing.”

  The absurdity of her suggestion coaxed a laugh from him.

  Seroney closed her eyes. The air swirled around them, forming the same vortex as before. His feet rose from the ground. With every inch they climbed, the winds grew stronger, lifting them up faster and faster until they reached a ledge twenty feet above.

  She calmed the wind enough to let his feet touch solid ground. The simple act reassured him and gave him the courage to continue on.

  “Ready to kee
p moving?”

  “Faster,” he replied.

  She grinned, and they shot up to the next ledge, then the next. For a moment, he felt like a panther bounding up a ravine wall, and he found himself envying Seroney’s ability to feel such things.

  She rested for a moment, giving him a chance to gauge the battle below. From this height, he could easily spot the Raven Bringer and the two men engaged in battle with him.

  Master Binnius.

  And Ceryst.

  Surely the evidence today would be enough to clear his name. If there was any good that could come from being face-to-face with the Raven Bringer, it would be that.

  The winds whipped up around him again, and he braced for the next jump. Then the side of the mountain next to him exploded. His feet slipped from the ledge. Seroney cried out and grabbed him, pulling him back against the wall.

  Blood tricked down the side of her face, but she didn’t appear to notice. “Cast a circle of protection spell now.”

  “What—?”

  Another explosion cut him off, showering more rubble on them.

  “Do it!” she shouted before she turned and cast a spell with lightning-quick precision at the black-robed woman on the next ledge.

  Aerrin’s throat choked. Based on everything he’d heard, this had to be the female apprentice who’d battled with Ceryst and Raimel.

  “Aerrin,” Seroney growled before casting her next spell.

  He drew a circle barely big enough for both of them to squeeze into. “Come on.”

  “Cast the damn spell now.” Her eyes had turned bright green and feline, and a feral growl accompanied her order. He half expected her to shift at any moment, but she continued to alternate between deflecting attacks and mounting her own against the apprentice.

  “Not without you.”

  She paused long enough between spells to curse and hurl a wave of green magic toward him. The circle sparked to life, sending up a transparent green wall around him that faded seconds later. But when he pressed his hands against it, it was as solid as glass. And even worse, it blocked any sound from entering. She’d trapped him in a modified version of a ward of seclusion.

  Seroney turned and focused her attention on the enemy, maneuvering between the narrow ledges with catlike grace while casting spells that would make most masters weep. He’d always known she was dangerous, but for once, he didn’t fear that dangerous side that she’d been hiding from him. He appreciated it.

  One of the apprentice’s spells soared over Seroney’s head and connected with the ward. Black lightning bolts crackled across the surface, leaving behind visible defects that distorted the world outside, like a shattered mirror. Seroney turned, her face constricted with worry, and pressed her hand against the ward. Her spell reinforced the protection, but the second she gave her enemy her back, the apprentice struck.

  Seroney’s eyes widened as though she’d been stabbed from behind, but as her body went limp and crumpled, Aerrin saw no injury, only the remnants of a dark spell zapping along her dress. Her body swayed on the edge, the dexterity and balance from before lost.

  She tipped to the side and fell.

  Chapter 32

  Raimel recognized the spell the second the apprentice cast it. His own body reflexively tensed from the memory of the searing pain it induced. As much as he wanted to stop it from happening, his body refused to move. He stood there, breath frozen in his lungs, as Seroney toppled over the edge and fell at least five hundred feet.

  Master Binnius managed to slow her freefall just before impact, but it did little to dull the bone-crunching thud when she hit the ground.

  Nausea roiled through his stomach. He’d seen death hundreds of times over. He’d even been the cause of hundreds. But nothing had ever hit him quite as hard as this did.

  “Get her to Eamon,” Binnius ordered, his attention never leaving the Raven Bringer.

  No healer, no matter how good they were, could help the dead. Unless, of course, Master Eamon was a necromancer. But somehow, Raimel doubted that was the case.

  He glanced up one more time to the ledge. Whatever shield that surrounded Aerrin seemed to be holding, and the young king was growing more and more pissed off by the second.

  “Shouldn’t I—”

  “As long as she’s alive, her magic is keeping him safe.” Master Binnius cut him off. “Both their lives depend on you.”

  Talk about putting all the pressure on one person. He ran as fast as he could to where she lay facedown on the stone floor. Her limbs hung at unnatural angles. Blood seeped out into a pool under her. But as he knelt beside her, he caught the sound of a gurgling breath.

  By the goddess, she’d somehow survived.

  He rolled her over with care. Her face had been smashed into a bloody lump of flesh and crushed bone, no longer resembling the lovely girl she’d once been. Blood bubbled from her lips with each rattle from her chest. She was alive, but as her uncle had pointed out, her time was running out.

  Raimel couldn’t teleport. There was only one way to get her to the care she needed. Even if it meant risking an army of demons coming after him, he would risk it if it would grant Seroney the precious seconds she needed.

  He gathered her in his arms as gently as he could without sacrificing time and slipped into the Shadow Realm. Time virtually stopped, allowing him to cross the entire kingdom in the time it took a human to blink an eye.

  By some small stroke of luck, when he blinked back into the mortal realm, the ward against creatures like him was still broken inside the Academy. He appeared in Master Eamon’s infirmary, scaring the wits out of the healer.

  “It’s not what you think,” Raimel blurted out before laying Seroney on the closest bed. “Master Binnius told me to bring her to you as quickly as I could, and if there’s anything you can do to save her…”

  The healer’s breath hitched, and he evaluated her with the wide-eyed shock of someone who’d just been requested to piece together a shattered egg. “I’ll see what I can do,” he said, swiping a trembling hand across his forehead.

  “Thank you.”

  Raimel couldn’t bring himself to look at her again, not when the memory of the ferocious fighter only moments ago was still fresh in his mind. That was how he wanted to remember her.

  He turned and blinked back to the place where there was unfinished business. That ledge.

  He jumped back into the mortal realm right behind the apprentice, weapons drawn. The bitch whirled around and disarmed him with a simple spell. He stood before her, helpless except for whatever spell he managed to summon in that heartbeat.

  But he’d given Aerrin the perfect opportunity to lay into her.

  The boy-king cast a vanquishing spell so powerful, Raimel nearly pissed himself. It shattered what remained of the protection spell around him and rammed into the apprentice.

  Even though she was human, she’d possessed enough demonic qualities that the spell ripped a scream of pain from her.

  Raimel reached down to draw one of the daggers from his boots, but by the time he’d wrapped his hand around it, she’d blinked. In his anger, he one again had forgotten to cast the one spell that would’ve prevented her from escaping the punishment he’d longed to carry out. He’d forgotten to anchor her.

  He cursed and peered into the Shadow Realm to see if he could find her and finish this, but that cowardly piece of shit had vanished.

  Aerrin shook him back into the realm. “Get me down from here right now. I want to fight.”

  “No, I’m taking you back to your nursery.”

  The king raised his hand up, a nasty-looking spell swirling in his palm. “I gave you an order.”

  Raimel groaned. Ceryst would have his balls for this, but for once, he had to respect the boy. After the day he’d had, he’d expected Aerrin to want to run for cover as quickly as he could and let others fight his battles for him. After all, that was what most rulers would do.

  “Fine, but you’re going to come to my rescue w
hen Ceryst lays into me for agreeing to be your accomplice in this stupid idea.”

  He grabbed Aerrin by the shirt and pulled him into the Shadow Realm without warning. He might have felt an inch of pity for the little king, but he was the one who wanted to get down to the ground as quickly as possible. When they popped back into the mortal realm, the king wobbled from side to side, his face taking on a slight green hue.

  Raimel slapped him on the back. “Don’t let all your first times end like that.”

  The insult was enough to fire the king up and flood him with rage. “Give me one of those swords.”

  Raimel hesitantly parted with one of his beauties. “Sure, but don’t cut yourself, kid.”

  “If we get out of this alive, expect a royal reprimand.”

  “Ooh, I’m shaking in my boots,” Raimel replied with the amount of sarcasm he usually reserved for Ceryst. “Want to go back on that ledge?”

  Aerrin glared at with the scorn of a teenager who thought he had all the answers.

  The Raven Bringer was too busy holding off Ceryst and Binnius to notice him. It provided the perfect opportunity to make up for his earlier mistake. Raimel cast the quickest anchoring spell of his life.

  He’d trapped the bastard on this plane.

  The Raven Bringer’s scream of rage shook the very walls of the cavern when he realized what had happened. Raimel half expected the extinct volcano that they were in to roar back to life and cook them all in its fury.

  Ceryst rushed forward and swung his sword with all his might.

  The Raven Bringer managed to partially block the blow, but the end of the blade hit the skull mask and cracked it down the middle. Half of the mask fell away, finally revealing the man behind it.

  The room fell silent as those who were alive fifteen years ago recognized him.

  Even the young king standing beside him recognized the uncle who’d long been thought dead.

  Aerrin stepped forward, his mouth open in disbelief. “Rythis?”