A sphere of ice. Perfect and round, just big enough to fit into my fist.
“What are you going to do with that?” he laughs.
I smash it across his face.
The sphere is solid, hard as rock. It doesn’t shatter, but his cheek does, cracking with a hard, wet spray. He lets out a gasp and staggers back, blood streaking down his face, but now there’s something in me again, something burning with anger, with desperation, with pain. I leap up to my feet and I hit him again, this time in the forehead, as hard as I can. There’s a brutal crack, loud enough that the crowd can hear it, and a collective scream cuts through the air. He whips toward me, trying to raise a Loci and slip into the Null, but it’s too late, and I’m too close. I smash him across the face again, stunning him, and the Loci tumble out of his hands, those beautiful carved stags’ heads hitting the dirt with dull thumps.
My vision pulses red, throbs at the edges. My heart thunders, my ears roar. In that moment, I am not a Wizard, nor a Revenant, not even really a person. I’m a beast of caged fury and pain, a lifetime of loss and fear. I’m every friend I’ve buried, every tear I’ve shed, every loss, every defeat, every fear. I am a force of nature, a hurricane of rage, a howl screamed into the ocean night. I am terrifying, and I am relentless, and I am unstoppable.
Marius Madison is the better Wizard. He effortlessly beat Alayne Dewinter.
But he’s got nothing on Alka Chelrazi.
In the stands, the crowd is frantic, scrambling, shouting, pointing. I leap forward onto him, knocking him flat onto his back, and I hit him again and again and again, bringing that sphere of ice, now a bright ball of red, down onto his face. I shatter bone and break teeth, even as his hands grasp weakly at me, even as he kicks and flails.
“Wait…” he rasps, blood bubbling through his broken lips, and I do stop for just a moment, the sphere raised high. His face is a ruined mess, but I can still his eyes, puffy and swollen and terrified. “Wait!” he pleads, his voice desperate. In that moment, everything he has is gone. His privilege, his power, his wealth, his training. Every single advantage he has, taken away. In that moment, we’re just two people, nothing more. And I’m stronger.
“Did you wait for Fyl?” I ask, and raise the ball for one last hit.
Then something hits me from the side, a forceful rush of air that hurls me off him, sends me flying back to where I’d been before. The ball of ice tumbles out of my hands. I slide back against the clay and crane my head up, and standing there, his Loci in his hands, is Headmaster Aberdeen.
“Enough!” he bellows at me, red-faced, livid, magic surging around him like a gathering storm. “This ends now!”
The crowd is in utter chaos, out of their seats, every last one of them shouting. The other professors stare at one another in bewilderment. Professor Calfex alone moves, lunging forward, her own Loci out and aimed his way. “Headmaster Aberdeen!” she demands, her voice booming over the dueling grounds. “You violate the laws of krova-yan! You disgrace these grounds!”
“To hell with these grounds!” Aberdeen turns back, roaring at her, at the crowd, at everyone. This is it then. I’ve fully forced his hand. Everyone backs away, pointing, whispering, and that just enrages him further. “Are you all out of your godsdamned minds?” he screams. “This is the son of the Grandmaster of the Senate! I’m not just going to sit back and let some lowborn bitch kill him!”
He pivots back to me, to where he thought I was, but I’m not there anymore. I’m up on my feet, right in front of him, and I drive my Loci up to the hilt into his chest.
Aberdeen’s eye goes wide as he gasps, pulsing black as he pulls into the Null. I’m there with him. We hover together in that fog, in that gray, as the rest of the world melts away. The screaming crowd, the referees, the professors, all gone. Right now, it’s just me and Magnus Aberdeen, the man who killed my parents, all alone at last.
We stare at each other as ash flutters in the air, as blood trickles down from his lip, as the fog swirls and dances around us. He tries to raise a Loci, but I grab his wrist, holding it tight with one hand, as I jerk and twist the bone knife with the other. He’s trapped, powerless, dying, but even now he’s still got his brow furrowed with rage and indignation.
“You…” he snarls. “You dare…?”
I jerk the knife up, to the side, down, cutting deep. In the Null, it’s just us, so I lean in close and whisper. “My name is Alka Chelrazi,” I tell him. “Daughter of Petyr and Kaelyn.”
His jaw drops, and at last I see it, the dance of emotions. Confusion, surprise, and finally fear. “No…” he chokes, and I pull the knife up harder, up to his collarbone, even as terrified recognition dances in his eye, as he realizes these will be the last words he ever says. “It… can’t be.…”
“You killed my parents,” I tell him. “And now I’ve killed you.”
Then I jerk back into the Real and I shove him back, away from me, so he falls back onto Marius. Chaos rages in the stands as students jostle and shove. Professors rush toward me. I can see Talyn shoving his way down, see Marlena screaming. I stagger back, Loci tumbling out of my grip, and collapse onto my knees. The world grows hazy and gray, and I can feel the darkness coming for me, but I force myself to hold it together, to stay conscious just long enough to see this all the way through.
In front of me, Headmaster Aberdeen pulls himself up, trembling, gasping. A handful of professors sprint to him, but as he rises they jerk back, because they see it now, the Glyph I carved into his chest, flaring a terrifying, hungry red, the Glyph that’s haunted me my whole life.
A half dozen intersecting circles, connected like links in a chain. A snake eating its tail.
Aberdeen reaches out to them in desperation, even as the Glyph glows bright and brighter, as his veins run hot with yellow rivulets of flame, as tongues of fire lick their way out through the chasms in his flesh. The headmaster lets out one last desperate scream.
Then the earth shakes with thunder and flame, and I fall back into the darkness.
CHAPTER 49
Now
For some time, I linger in that darkness. It’s quiet there, and still, and oddly comforting. It’s a bit like the Null, but without the ash and that feeling of heaviness and the shadows lurking in the fog. It’s just dark and gentle and still. Peaceful, almost.
When I manage to open my eyes at last, the first thing I see is the bright white of a billowing canopy. There’s a pillow under my head and a gentle breeze. The infirmary.
I try to sit up, but I can barely move. My body’s wrapped tightly in bandages, my skin glowing that faint shimmering green. I ache, ache a lot, but it’s a dull ache, bone deep. My head’s foggy and my throat is parched, but I can feel the sheets under my fingers, the cool air on my skin, smell the distant scent of anesthetic. I’m alive. That’s something.
“She finally wakes,” a voice says. I crane my head to see Professor Calfex sitting in a chair beside my bed, hands folded neatly across her lap. She’s looking more formal than I’ve ever seen her, in a neat black suit, her hair done up in a bun, a pendant of a kraken hanging on a chain across her neck. She’s not the first person I’d want to see, but she’s not the last, either.
“How long was I out?” I ask, still straining to process my last memories. It feels like it was just a minute ago that I was cutting into Aberdeen’s chest, but also like it’s been ten years.
“A week,” Calfex replies. “You were injured very badly. Between the damage from the explosion and what Marius did to you, it’s frankly a miracle that you’re alive.”
I swallow hard, my throat aching, and every word feels a bit like forcing out coals. “Headmaster Aberdeen…?”
“Oh, he’s dead,” Calfex says, matter-of-factly. “Marius, too. You made sure of that.”
I close my eyes, breathing deeply, feeling the cool comfort of darkness. It’s over, then. After all this time, I got my revenge, for Fyl, for my parents, for Sera. I have no idea what happens next. But at least I’ve
gotten that much. Calfex lets me linger there wordlessly, and when I look up again I notice for the first time the shapes just past the canopy. A pair of guards wearing armor, Loci at their hips. “Am I in trouble?” I ask.
“Legally?” Calfex asks. “No. Aberdeen violated the laws of the krova-yan in front of hundreds of witnesses. His life was forfeit and yours to claim.”
I glance again at the guards. “Then… what about not legally?”
“Not legally, you are more in trouble than maybe any person in the Republic,” Calfex replies. “You have absolutely no idea the chaos you’ve caused.”
I look around uneasily for any sign of my friends, but it’s just me and Calfex. “What do you mean?” I ask.
“The balance of power in Marovia hung on a delicate thread between Grandmaster Madison’s Traditionalists and the disunification of his opposition. By killing his heir and exposing Aberdeen, the vaunted, neutral peacemaker, as a crony, you took that delicate balance and shattered it into a thousand pieces. When word spread of what Aberdeen had done, desecrating the krova-yan on the most sacred of grounds, it set off a firestorm, and reports that he’d been helping Marius cheat the whole time threw oil on the fire. Senator Madison’s opposition, always disjointed, united for the first time against him, figured this was their moment, while he was still vulnerable. A vote to remove was called on the Senate floor for the first time in two centuries. Madison was voted out.”
I exhale sharply, trying to take it all in. “So he’s gone?”
“Oh, no, that would be far too simple,” Calfex says. “Madison refused to resign. Perhaps his grief had driven him mad, or perhaps he simply couldn’t let himself be beaten. He claimed this was an illegal coup and ordered his Enforcers to execute all the senators who’d voted against him. They marshaled their own forces and fought back and just like that we found ourselves embroiled in a civil war. Wizard fought Wizard in the streets of Arbormont, setting the city ablaze in a fire that’s still burning. A half dozen different senators have all claimed their legitimacy to the title of Grandmaster, even as they gather their private armies to take it by force. In this chaos, every party has decided to take their stand. Sithar, the Kindrali Isles, even the Velkschen have declared sovereignty. The entire Republic is burning. All because of you.”
I feel dizzy, light-headed, even though I’m lying down. It’s hard to process, unimaginable, consequences begetting consequences on a scale I couldn’t even conceive. “I take it the Order of Nethro won’t be visiting the Senate,” I say, mostly to say something.
“The Senate is gone,” Calfex replies. “Burned to the ground. And a third of the senators with it.”
I have to fight back the urge to laugh. Everything I’d done was to take down the Senate. And I’ve somehow destroyed it without ever setting foot inside. I wonder what Whispers is thinking, wherever she is out there. Is she proud, or horrified? I’m relieved by how little I care.
“Am I safe here?” I ask Calfex.
“For now,” she says. “When the war broke out, the conflict hit here as well. A battle erupted between the professors loyal to Aberdeen and those of us who were against him. My side won.” Her eyes twinkle with cunning. “By the remaining professors of Blackwater, I’ve been appointed temporary headmaster. This school was always meant to be a safe haven, a place outside of politics. I intend to keep it that way for as long as I can.”
I’m still at a loss for words, but it feels like a situation where I need to say something. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“This Republic was always a pile of kindling,” Calfex says. “You just sparked the flame.”
I know I should maybe let her words sit there, but there’s something about her manner I have to understand, if only to get my bearings. “You sound almost happy about it.”
She pauses thoughtfully, choosing each word with utmost care. “When I spoke of the principles of the Order of Nethro, I meant every word I said,” she explains. “I believe I was put on this earth to bring balance, to restore order, to bring justice to the corrupt and the cruel. For very long, I have sat and watched as the Aberdeens and the Madisons of the world have wielded their influence unfairly.” She pauses again, a real moment of consideration, and when she speaks again, her voice is barely a whisper. “And I have seen for too long the cruelty of Wizards running unchecked and the world crying out under our tyranny.” Then she rises, smoothing out her suit, and turns to leave. “I should go,” she says. “There are many urgent matters I must attend to.”
But as she reaches the canopy, I speak again, asking the one last question I need an answer to. “Is that why you chose me? Why you put me in the challenges, why you gave me advice? Because… you thought I might do something like this?”
She laughs, genuinely laughs, for the first time I can recall. “Never in my wildest imaginings would I have thought you could do something like this,” she says. “No. I chose you because I like you.” Then she looks at me, and in that moment she looks decades younger, decades more vulnerable, with the deep melancholy of an old wound. “And because you have your father’s eyes.”
The moment hangs over us, long and resonant, a moment beyond words. “Professor…?” I ask at last.
But she’s turned away. “Enough chatter,” she says, pushing open the canopy. “I imagine there are a few other people you’d like to speak to.”
She gestures across the room, and I see someone else, a girl with black hair and amber eyes, a girl whose smile instantly melts away my pain. “Marlena,” I say, and she rushes over to me, to my side.
“You’re alive.” She clutches my hand and brings it up to her lips, kissing it again and again. “Thank the Gods. You made it.”
“I made you a promise that I’d come back to you, didn’t I?” I say. “I always keep my promises.”
She leans over me, kissing me, and I run my hands through her hair and hold her tight, filling myself with the sensation, with her touch, with her love. “You did it,” she says. “You really did it. Aberdeen, Marius, the Senate… you took down all of them.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you.” I run the back of my hand along her cheek, and she leans into the touch. “We’re in this together. Forever.”
Then there are other footsteps pounding toward me, a bunch of them. More faces sprint into the room, surrounding my bedside. Tish. Zigmund. Talyn.
Calfex leaves, letting the curtain billow shut behind her. My whole body still hurts, but I force myself up because I need to see them, all of them. They’re all smiling, and Tish is crying, and they huddle tight around me, hugging, laughing, beaming. Marlena squeezes my hand and Talyn pats my shoulder and Zigmund goes in for a hug so big that Tish has to hold him back.
“You were amazing out there,” Talyn says, beaming with pride. “You beat that smug son of a bitch.”
“You crushed his ass,” Zigmund booms. “Hell yeah!”
Tish leans in, squeezing my shoulder, and I lean over to wrap them in a hug. “Have you heard what’s happened? With the war? With the uprisings?” Tish leans forward. “My family is leading the fight on the islands. We are your allies in this war.”
Zigmund proudly pounds a fist to his chest. “The Velkschen fight, too, once more to be free folk. The Frostwolves bite back. We can join our blades in the fight.”
“The Xintari Kingdom officially remains neutral,” Talyn adds. “But my father has written to express his deep admiration for my role in dismantling the Marovian Republic and boasts to all of how this was his dream for me all along.”
“So you got your glory after all.”
Talyn shrugs with a sly grin. “It’s funny how things work out when you make the right choice.”
“So that’s it then,” I say, still trying to wrap my mind around it. “The Republic’s shattered.”
“You did it,” Marlena says, a tear running down her cheek, and I think I’m crying now, too, because I can’t believe how happy I am that I get to see her aga
in, to see her safe. “You changed the world.”
“We did it. Together,” I say. “And we did it our own way. For us.”
“For us,” she repeats, squeezing tightly against me. She leans down, kissing my forehead, running a hand along my cheek. I press against her, savoring her touch, the look in her eyes. “You had us all worried back there during the duel. I really thought… for a moment there… I thought I might not get to see you again.”
Zigmund shakes his head dismissively. “I always knew she’d win. She has a wolf’s heart.”
Talyn grins. “No. A dragon’s.”
“All that matters right now is that we’re alive,” I tell the four of them, and now I’m definitely crying, even though I’m smiling and laughing. “We’re alive and we’re together. Let’s treasure that.”
There are moments in life when I feel like I’m out of my body, like I’m looking back on it as an old woman through the haze of time. There are moments that feel like memories, even as they happen. This is one of those moments, one I’ll cherish deeply for the rest of my life, a moment of calm and love, a moment that matters.
The future is uncertain, stormy, inscrutable. There will be pain, and loss, and longing. There will be war and blood and death. But right now, in this moment, this forever moment, I have peace and I have safety and I have the people I love most by my side. I have loyal friends. I have a girl who looks at me with unconditional acceptance, a girl who sees me for exactly who I am and wants nothing more than to be by my side, a girl whose kisses feel like sunshine. I have this. I’ll always have this.
I fought against the Aberdeens and the Madisons, against the institutions of Blackwater and the Senate. Now I’ll fight for the people I love.
“All right,” I say to them, to my love, to my friends, to my allies, to my family. “We burned the old world down. Now let’s win ourselves a new one.”
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