by T. J. Klune
He didn’t die.
Instead, before he was run through, he held up a hand and the ice shattered into thousands of pieces, glittering in the starlight. He snapped his fist closed, and the ice swirled around him, gathering into a single large piece, sharpened to a point.
“Well fuck me sideways,” I muttered as I turned to run.
And then the fucking dickbag threw it at me.
My feet pounded against the wooden dock. I felt the burst of magic behind me, that infection and shadow, and I swung my arm up in an arc over my head without thinking complete thoughts about what I was doing. I glanced over my shoulder in time to see the end of the dock snap upward, bursting into flames so hot that the skin of my back felt flash burned. The large bolt of ice smashed into the burning dock, crashing through it, breaking apart as the fire melted it away. The dock swayed sharply under my feet at the impact, and I almost lost my footing and fell into the lake.
I jumped the remaining distance and landed on solid ground just as the dock broke apart completely. I hit the ground roughly, smashing my knee. A bright flare of pain shot through me, but I pushed it away as best I could as I picked myself up and turned around, chest heaving.
The dock burned on the water, smoke and steam rising into the air.
And Myrin still stood atop the water, as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
“You’re good,” he called out. “I’ll give you that. But, Sam. You must know how much better I am than you. You may have power, but it’s untamed. And I have years of experience.”
“Oh, would you just stop already? I’m getting sick of your—what the fucking balls of shit!”
The last came out as a squeak because he began running toward me, each step making a large splash on the surface of the lake. He moved faster than any man should have been able to, but since he’d been walking on water, I figured he could be the exception. He ran at me, and so I did the natural thing that anyone would do when being charged at by a formerly good wizard who had been banished to a shadow realm and then escaped: I took the fuck off in the opposite direction.
I could hear him laughing behind me as I ran along the water’s edge, trying to get away from the center of Mashallaha where it was more populated. I couldn’t take the chance of there being any collateral damage from this asshole’s vendetta against me.
Of course, any thoughts of outrunning him faded when I felt the ground beneath my feet begin to bend and crack. I glanced over my shoulder to see him running just behind me in the water, and I put on a burst of speed, lungs screaming as I jumped over pieces of the wooden walkways that began to snap up around me.
I thought I was going to make it.
I really did.
I was the good guy.
The good guys always won.
That’s what I’d been taught.
That’s always how these stories ended.
The good guys won.
And I knew I was the good guy.
But even before I could reach the end of the walkway, even before I could have any hope of escape or, at the least, getting as far away from Mashallaha as possible, I was knocked off my feet when the ground exploded underneath me. I went end over end into the lake. As my feet hit the water, my head rapped against something solid, and stars shot across my vision as I went under, the breath knocked from my chest.
I was dazed. Confused. Unsure of what had happened or where I was. I choked before I stopped trying to breathe, a small amount of awareness flooding back. I didn’t know which way was up. My head was throbbing. Everything felt sluggish. Slow. I tried to gather as much strength as I could, and there was green and gold, and it—
A hand closed around my throat, and I was pulled up and out of the water.
I sputtered as I was held high, toes skimming along the surface of the lake. I tried grabbing at the hand on my neck, but the grip was strong. I kicked out, but the impacts were weak. I opened my eyes, blinking away the water.
Myrin stood on the surface of the lake, water dripping down off me and onto his arm. His face. His body.
He was smiling.
“Sam,” he said, clucking his tongue. He sounded disappointed in me as I struggled to get a breath in. “That was… underwhelming. This is supposed to be the great Sam of Wilds? This is who the Dark wizards are supposed to fear? That was nothing. You are a child playing at a man’s game.”
“Wait till I get my second wind,” I managed to choke out. “We can go again. Next week work for you? Just leave your information with my secretary and—” His grip tightened, cutting me off.
“You still make jokes,” he said. “Even in the face of death. It would be admirable if it wasn’t so pathetic.”
“Hey, man, jokes are what I’ve got. You’ve kind of got me by the balls here.”
He chuckled. “Indeed I do. And I think a lesson in humility is in order.” He lowered his arm, bringing my face closer to his. I was able to grip his forearm with my wet hands. “Even now, the Darks march toward Meridian City where the people sleep unaware of the fate that awaits them. At my word, the city will be razed. It is truly a sinful place, so I doubt it would be missed too much. And they will have my word, Sam. As an example to you.” His teeth were bared, his eyes narrowed. “This will be to show you that you are on the wrong side. That you cannot win. Morgan and Randall were weak. They still are. There will be a new order, one that will begin with you and end with me. You can either join me or watch as I tear your whole world apart.” And then I felt another pull, like he was sucking my magic from me, and I thought I was going to split right down the middle.
“You wouldn’t,” I managed to grit out.
“Oh I would, Sam. You’re playing with the big boys now. The stakes are a little higher than what you’re normally used to. Their deaths will be on your head, every man, woman, and child in Meridian City. I told you once that I would rip the lightning-struck heart from your chest. Trust me when I say I will do just that.”
I began to laugh.
Because it was so godsdamned obvious.
He frowned. “What’s so funny?”
“You,” I wheezed, lake water still dripping down onto him. “Gods, you think you’re so different. You think you’re better than all the others that have come before you. I’ve got news for you, dude. You’re a fucking idiot, just like the rest. It’s incredible.”
He brought me close to his face, his nose almost touching mine. I could see the fury in his eyes. “An idiot? If I’m such an idiot, what does that make you, seeing as I have the upper hand?”
I grabbed the front of his jerkin, completing the connection between us. “Oh, man. You have no idea what I’m capable of.” I leaned forward, straining against his grip. It must have looked like I was going in for a kiss. Instead I said, “You want to see just how lightning-struck my heart is? You’ve got it. By the way, water conducts electricity.”
His eyes widened.
And because I’d probably never have a more perfect moment, I grinned and said, “I think you’re going to find the results quite… shocking.” Catchphrase for the motherfucking win, asshole.
And then I screamed in his face as my magic exploded out of me. From the very first day that I’d been lightning-struck, from the moment it had curled around my heart, I’d known that nothing would ever be the same. That things would change. That I could become something more than what I already was. And I’d given that heart away to the ones I knew could keep it safe. Tiggy. Kevin. Gary. Ryan.
I would do anything to keep them safe.
The lightning didn’t come from above.
It came from within me.
The snarl of lightning burst from my chest. From my mouth. My eyes and fingertips and toes. It was white hot and almost sentient, following along the path I’d set for it. It rolled from inside me with an electrical snap, pouring out and crawling over Myrin. It jumped along the water covering his skin, his wet clothes, striking down into the surface of the lake through his feet.
&n
bsp; The entire lake became electrified beneath us. The world took on a bluish hue as the lightning spread through the water, arcing off in different directions. It glowed so brightly, it was almost as if the sun had risen.
Myrin’s jaw was clenched as his body seized. The grip around my throat tightened, but it was a flexion of the joints more than anything else. His eyes were beginning to roll back into his head, and I pushed as hard as I could, filling his body with everything I had. My own skin felt like it was on fire.
“You… won’t… win,” he stuttered out, jaw clenched. “This is the beginning… of the end.”
I smiled at him, knowing my eyes were glowing brightly. “Dude, go fuck yourself.”
And then I went boom.
The grip around my neck was torn as we were thrown away from each other, the shock waves rippling the air around us. I had a moment to think how much this was going to fucking hurt before I slammed into the side of a building, the wood cracking behind me before giving way and sending me through the wall.
It got dark real quick after that.
“SAM? SAM!”
“Whazzit.”
“I need you to open your eyes. Sam, listen to me.”
“Whodat.”
“What?”
“I think he just asked who dat?”
“Thank you, Gary. That helped me with absolutely nothing.”
“Yikes, someone woke up bitchy today. And that someone is named Ryan Foxheart.”
“He sad ’cause Sam go boom?”
“Yes, kitten.”
“I sad ’cause Sam go boom?”
“We’ll be sad if he dies. And after an acceptable period of mourning—say, three and a half days?—we’ll start to divide up his stuff. I get mostly everything, and the things I don’t want will be thrown away. Or donated to charity. Most likely thrown away.”
“I get his brooms.”
“I don’t know where this broom fetish came from. I had absolutely nothing to do with that. You are a strange, wonderful half-giant who I love dearly.”
“It’s because he stole them from my keep. Everyone knows that brooms are part of any good hoard. It’s just common sense is what it is. I mean, why wouldn’t you have brooms?”
“Shuddap,” I said. “Tryna leep.”
“What the hell is he saying?”
“Shut up. Trying to sleep. Oooo, I’m like the Sam whisperer. My thighs are tingling. That’s a good thing, especially since he seems to get knocked out a lot lately.”
“I am going to slap the shit out of him if he doesn’t open his eyes.”
And since that voice sounded serious (and slightly frantic), I did just that.
I blinked blearily at the faces staring down at me.
They all looked immediately relieved.
And because I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be an asshole, I said, “Where am I? Who are all of you? Why can’t I remember anything, such as my own name or country of origin or the people in my life who I am supposed to love?”
Gary burst into tears and started wailing. “Oh my gods, he’s lost his memories. Why, gods, whyyyyy would you do that to us? How can he remember how splendid I am if he doesn’t know who I am? Do you know much work I put into him? Why? Whyyyyyyy!”
“Oh no, Sam!” Tiggy said, bottom lip quivering. “’Member me? Old pal, Tiggy?”
Yeah. You try having a half-giant on the verge of tears staring at you and saying something like that. “Just kidding! Oh my gods, I’m kidding. Sweet molasses, that face. Gaaah, I want to hug it and kiss it, what are you even?”
Gary immediately stopped shrieking, eyes dry. “You fucking motherfucker fuck,” he snarled, sounding rather impressed. “You should go live under a bridge, that was such good trolling. I am going to murder you.”
“Not if I get to it first,” Ryan said, grinding his teeth together.
“Uh-oh,” Kevin said, face stuck through the large window. “Either Sam’s about to get kissed or punched in the butt, I don’t know which—oh, he’s getting kissed. Personally, I would have gone for the butt punch, but what do I know?”
I couldn’t respond that Kevin knew absolutely nothing because I had a mouthful of knight. Not that I was complaining.
Okay, I was a little bit, because that hurt. Everything hurt. “Ow,” I said against his mouth before I shoved him away. “Dude, your face on my face does not feel good right now.”
“You fucking asshole,” he snarled at me, eyes wide and frightened. “Do you have any idea how scared I was?”
“You know we’ve talked about cursing, Ryan. You can’t fucking talk like—okay, you’re right. Now’s not the time. Stop looking at me like that.” I sat up, groaning as I did so. I put my hand to my head, which was pounding something fierce. Somehow I was back in the room Ryan and I were sharing, wearing only a pair of what looked like Ryan’s trousers. My body felt like it was covered in bruises. I looked down at my bare chest, expecting to see mottled blues and purples, but was surprised instead to see a raised red scar that looked like tree roots stretching along my skin, curling down toward my stomach and over to my right arm.
“Uh,” I said. “Did I get drunk and make the unfortunate decision to get tattooed? I told you guys to never let me get shattered and make decisions involving needles. You know how I get.”
“Unfortunately,” Gary said, rolling his eyes.
“It’s a mulani,” another voice said. “A ghost scar.”
I looked up to see Vadoma standing in a corner, Ruv at her side. She was watching me with a look of what I could have sworn was fear on her face, but it was gone before I could pin it down. That didn’t bode well for what was to come.
“Come again?”
“The lightning,” Ruv said for her. “It came from you. From your heart. It scarred your skin.”
“Suuuuck,” I said, wincing as I pressed against it. It looked odd on my darker skin. I thought it would eventually fade white, but I didn’t know.
“I dunno,” Gary said, sounding chipper. “I think it looks really badass. And look at it this way: if you ever think of scaring us like that again, a chest scar will be the least of your worries because I’ll be bathing in your blood.”
I gulped, because when a unicorn sounded that happy while threatening you, you had to take it seriously. Unicorns were bloodthirsty creatures who would bring the pain. “Got it. What the hell happened?”
“We found you inside a collapsed building,” Ruv said. “Along the edge of the water.”
“I didn’t do it this time,” Kevin said, head stuck through an open window. “It would have felt a little repetitious. Lord knows people hate repetition.” He frowned. “But then they’ll also complain when something wasn’t exactly the same as it was before. I really don’t get humans.”
“Shit,” I groaned, wincing as I tried to swing my legs off the bed. “Myrin.”
And that pretty much sucked the air out of the room. “Myrin,” Ryan said. “Are you trying to tell me that the bad guy—the main bad guy, the one who wants to kill you—was here?”
“Um, yes?”
“And you faced him alone.”
“Hey! It’s not like I went looking for him. Mostly. He was sort of… in my head? Maybe?”
“Gary! Get me my sword.”
“Do I look like a little servant girl? Wait. Don’t answer that. I don’t think my ego can take—”
“You didn’t find anyone else out there?” I asked, grabbing Ryan by the arm to keep him from going off half-cocked. If Myrin was still out there, I didn’t want Ryan anywhere near him. He was dangerous, and he needed to be dealt with as soon as possible. I felt a pang in my chest that had nothing to do with the scar. I didn’t know what it said about me that I could think of killing someone without hesitation.
“No,” Ruv said. “The night guards said there was a great storm within the lake. They’d never seen such a thing before and thought that the gods had been angered. That they were bringing down the heavens in penance. They
came to me, but by the time I got outside, the lightning was fading. And it was only then we heard the building collapse on the water’s edge.” He looked away. “We found you in the rubble. You weren’t breathing.”
That… wasn’t something I expected to hear. “Oh.”
“Oh,” Ryan said mockingly. “Oh.” He stood and started pacing, something he only did when he was really angry.
Yeah. I felt like shit.
Even though I didn’t think I’d technically done anything wrong.
“Ruv got you breathing again,” Gary said quietly. “Chest compressions.”
“How long?”
“Since we found you?”
“Yes.”
“Six hours,” Gary said.
“Shit,” I muttered. That explained the daylight filtering in through the windows. It didn’t help either that I felt like I was forgetting something, something important, but it was lost in the fog of pain in my head.
“He was here?” Vadoma said, voice trembling.
I looked up at her. She was pale. Shaking. “Yeah. He said… he didn’t need the dragons for what he had planned. That he—” I shook my head. “I don’t know. It’s all a blur.”
“If he doesn’t need the dragons, then what does he want?” Gary asked.
“I am okay with this turn of events,” Kevin said. “I would prefer not to be the bitch of some evil wizard. He might make me do things I don’t want to do. Sexual things.”
“Kevin, there is nothing sexually you don’t want to do,” Gary said. “Remember that time we tried docking?”
Kevin smiled down at Gary. “I’ll never look at that church the same way again. Hey. So. I was thinking. Um. Maybe after all of this is over, we could—”
“Everybody out,” Ryan growled.
“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s all just go out and—”
“Not you,” Ryan said, hand on my elbow holding me back.
“Save me,” I hissed as Gary walked past me.
“Oh, girl,” Gary simpered. “You gonna need to save yourself on this one. Go easy on him. He had a scare, and you know he doesn’t deal well with that.”
