by Kaitlyn Hoyt
He should look at all those times they’ve come to capture me. Did I cower in the corner? Maybe the first time…but I didn’t after that. I fought. I throw my hands up and push the winds out. Zahtri’s forward progression halts as he waits for the wind assault to end. He doesn’t fall like I intended, but this is enough to give me some more time.
I hear a familiar scream echo through the field and briefly glance at the fight behind me. Dravin is in the middle of the field, fighting Liam and Colton. Surprisingly, it seems evenly matched despite the odd number. How is that possible? Colton and Liam are strong—they should easily be able to overcome him. Emma was the one who screamed though. I try to not break my concentration when I see why she screamed. She jumps forward and grabs onto Kyril as the Gadramick in front of her pulls his sword out of the middle of his chest. Larkin blinks in behind him and twists the guy’s neck, breaking it. He slumps to the ground soundlessly, but it’s too late. Emma falls from Kyril’s sudden weight. David jumps to her side and helps Larkin move Kyril. Kyril starts convulsing. Even from this distance, I can see the tears streaming down Emma’s face.
I continue pushing wind toward Zahtri. Come on, Kyril, don’t leave us. I bite my lip as I continue sending thoughts in his direction. Larkin yells for Logan, but Logan isn’t around. I scan the clearing, but I don’t see Logan or Lily at all. Kyril whispers something to his friend and goes limp. Emma covers her mouth, turns to her soulmate, and sobs into his shoulder.
Kyril’s dead.
He’s gone. Kyril can’t be gone. Thunder rumbles again and the intensity of the wind hitting Zahtri amplifies. I’m angry now, and I’m going to let everyone know it. I return my attention to the mage responsible for all of this in front of me. He’s going to pay for this. Kyril was a good man; he shouldn’t have died here. The sky above us darkens and it slowly begins to rain. The battle sounds behind me disappear. It’s only me and Zahtri. Just the two of us. For this to end, two has to become one. Only one of us can survive. It’s been prophesized for thousands of years. This day has been predestined for that long. I’m an artist and a reader, not a writer. I’m not going to rewrite history. History is going to play out like it’s been prophesized. I’m going to make sure of it.
I stop the wind and run toward Zahtri, surprising him. He recovers quickly from the wind attack, but not quick enough. I stop running a few feet in front of him and transition into front flips. Zahtri doesn’t move. I stop and fall to the ground and swing my foot out. With my hit and magic, he falls onto his back and grunts. I stand up, but Zahtri reaches out and wraps a hand around my ankle and pulls me down beside him.
I land on my back and gasp as the air is knocked out of me. I pull my leg up and kick Zahtri, causing him to release his grip. In getting up, he’s much quicker than I am, and when I see him standing, I try to roll onto my stomach and stand, but he runs toward me before I can move. A foot connects with my stomach, lifting me into the air and depositing me back onto the ground a few feet from where I just was.
Biting my tongue to keep from crying out, I attempt to stand, ignoring the pain that radiates through my abdomen. Zahtri rushes over to me and wraps his large arm around my waist and pulls me up. Crushing me against his chest, he forces me to look out at the people fighting around us.
“Look at them!” he grabs my chin to ensure that my gaze is directed at them. I close my eyes. I don’t want to see the scene in front of me. When I shake my head, he squeezes me tighter. “Look at them!” he yells in my ear.
My stomach is numb. The pain from his kick and the force he’s using right now should be excruciating, but I can’t feel anything. I can’t get any air into my lungs and when I finally open my eyes, he loosens his grip a little. I can’t help but gasp and gulp in oxygen, however, that’s quickly cut short when I see the scene before me.
Larkin is fighting multiple people at once, but is completely dominating. He’s definitely angry. He was very close to Kyril and is taking his anger out on the Gadramicks. Emma still has tears falling down her cheeks, but like Larkin, she’s channeling her anger into her fighting. She’s still brandishing a whip like earlier, but this one appears to have electricity running through it. Colton and Liam are in the middle of the clearing with Dravin. Blood is dripping down Liam’s arm and Colton has a split lip. Dravin’s jaw is red, but he doesn’t seem to have any other injuries. Tom, Colin, and Vincent are still fighting back-to-back.
I can see Natasha fighting against a smaller girl. I recognize her as the girl I saved from Thomas a while ago. Lucas and his posse are in the back fighting against a large group of men. Incendia falls to the ground after a man backhands her. Before the man even has time to think, Bragden reaches out and punches him in the jaw. Crouching down, he helps Incendia stand—his fingers grazing against the growing redness on her face. With an angry shake of his head, Bragden turns around and searches for a Gadramick to take his anger out on.
I start to fight against Zahtri’s grip again when I see a man walk behind Mrs. Howick and stab her in the side. Her back arches as he pushes the dagger in further. Hearing her cry out, Mr. Howick stops fighting the man in front of him and turns toward his wife. The Gadramick takes this distraction to his advantage and plunges his sword into Mr. Howick’s back. I cry out as I watch both of them fall to the ground. I know those daggers were infused with dark magic. The majority of the weapons here are infused with it. They won’t be able to heal. Knowing that, the Gadramicks move on and start fighting other mages.
Mr. Howick uses the last of his energy to crawl over to his wife. Zahtri’s grip on my stomach tightens as I try to get away from him. When he’s halfway there, Mrs. Howick moves her right hand forward, and Mr. Howick grabs onto it and pulls her into his side. Even from here, I can see the large amounts of blood seeping from their wounds. Both of them start convulsing. I see him whisper something to her, but I can’t hear them. I don’t need to hear though. If I were in that situation, I know what I’d say.
With tears streaming down my face, I watch as Mr. Howick leans forward and places a small kiss on his wife’s forehead as she stops moving. Her body goes limp under his lips and I can see his body getting weaker. He rests his forehead on hers as he stops moving as well. They’re dead.
I stop fighting Zahtri. “Call off the attack,” he demands, “or more people will die.”
Travis, Logan, and Lily run out of the compound followed by five very scared girls. Humans. Travis calls for Larkin, and then grabs onto two of the girls and disappears with them. Logan and Lily guard the remaining three girls. Larkin blinks away from the Gadramick he was fighting and reappears beside Logan. Logan says something to him and he grabs onto the closest girl and disappears. Travis comes back and grabs the last two girls and blinks away again.
My attention returns to the middle of the field when I see Colton lying on the ground, holding his head. Dravin is making him see something. That’s it. I bring my foot up and back kick Zahtri in the shins. He curses and angles down at little. I use this to my advantage and lean back, hitting the back of my skull into his nose.
When his hold on me loosens, I spin around and lift my leg up and connect my foot with his temple. He staggers to the side, but doesn’t fall. Zahtri moves toward me and starts attacking. He wants this to end just as much I do, but we’re both fighting for completely different reasons.
Zahtri runs toward me, growling, and using all of this strength he begins his physical assault. I don’t know how my body is doing it, but I block his attacks. My arms and legs move in ways I didn’t even know I could do. I don’t think about what is happening; I just react. When Zahtri realizes he’s not gaining anything on me, he starts coming harder. Even with drawing magic into my limbs, I’m getting sore.
I’m not going to last much longer.
Zahtri brings his arm forward to punch at the same time as his leg moves out. It was one of those moments, where I have to choose the lesser of the two evils. I chose wrong. I duck to avoid being punched and his foot hits
the side of my knee. The world blurs around me as I tumble to the ground. As the grass gets closer and closer to me, I try to twist my body so the landing won’t hurt, but I don’t move fast enough. Landing on my left arm, I hear the snap before the pain spreads through me. I can’t hold in my cry as I try to roll over and get up. Pins and needles climb up my arm with the movement and I collapse back to the ground. Zahtri moves toward me, slowly unsheathing a small dagger from the belt around his waist.
So much for a weaponless fight.
Colton
“Well don’t you look handsome,” my girl’s voice says from behind me. I turn around and smile at Ryanne as she walks toward me wearing her bridesmaid’s dress.
“You’re wearing pink,” I try to hide my smile as she stops in front of me. I’ve never seen her in pink before.
“Only because I love Emma and this is her day. I’ll get back at her at our wedding,” she laughs and wraps her arms around my waist. My heart skips a beat at the thought of our wedding. Ryanne and I are going to get married. This girl is going to be my wife. My life.
“You do look beautiful, Ryanne,” I whisper in her ear. Her slight shiver fills me with happiness. It’s been almost a year, and my touch still affects her.
“Okay, everyone get in your places. Emma’s ready,” Natalie says as she walks into the backyard. She’s wearing a dress very similar to Ryanne’s, except hers is strapless while Ryanne’s is one shouldered. I let go of Ryanne and Logan, Liam, and I walk over to stand behind David at the edge of the yard.
“Hey man, you ready?” I ask him as I get into line. David is fidgeting with the cuffs on his jacket and clenching his jaw. “Relax,” I laugh at him.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into me,” he says as he releases the cuff and clasps his hands in front of him.
Before I can answer, Violet starts playing the wedding song on the piano we brought outside. Travis is standing off to the side, watching his soulmate as she plays. She grins up at him, but doesn’t let that mess her up. After everything that’s happened to him, I’m glad he found his soulmate.
Incendia enters the aisle and slowly walks down it, holding a small bouquet in her hand. Similar to Ryanne, seeing Incendia in pink is something that just doesn’t happen. Her smile widens as she sees Bragden watching her from one of the lawn chairs. She shakes her head and steps into her place across from us. Natalie is next.
“She looks beautiful,” Liam whispers behind me. She does. I know Natalie caught that because she bites her lip and shakes her head at him. Liam laughs quietly behind me. I’m glad those two found each other too. They both deserve it. Once Natalie is in place, Ryanne steps onto the aisle.
My breath hitches and my stomach tightens at her beauty. How is this girl mine? Ryanne smiles as she takes the first step. Her eyes never leave me as she continues walking toward us. Someday she’ll be in a wedding dress, walking toward me.
A couple seconds later, her smile falls and she stops walking. The crowd starts whispering at her sudden change. I glance at David. What’s going on? Her eyes move from mine and land on the trees behind me. With tears in her eyes, she glances back at me as an arrow shoots out from the trees and implants itself into her chest, impaling her heart. Everyone gasps and jumps up. Ryanne falls to the ground where she stays, her bouquet landing at her side. As the wind picks up the loose flower petals, Logan and I push everyone out of the way and run to her, but I know it’s already too late.
Ryanne is dead.
Logan drops to the ground beside her and attempts to heal her, but he can’t bring back the dead. Only a soulmate can do that and I’ve already healed her once. We only get one chance. Seeing the blood soak through her pink dress chokes me up. I stand up and look toward the tree line. Who did this?
Dravin steps out from the shadows and waves his bow at me. “You should have killed me when you had the chance.”
The vision stops playing in front of me. I’m lying on the ground in the middle of the field while the fight continues. I can hear grunts of pain echo through the area as punches are being thrown. I look to my right and see Liam still fighting Dravin, so I push myself up, but can’t join Liam right away. Closing my eyes, I try to make the world stop spinning around me.
It wasn’t real. Dravin made me see that. It didn’t actually happen. David and Emma are not married yet. That was a projection…something of Dravin’s imagination. As the vertigo passes, I look across the field and see Ryanne fighting against Zahtri. Alive. She’s alive. She wasn’t shot with an arrow. Ryanne is moving with the skill of someone who has trained their whole life. She’s ducking at the right time, deflecting his advances with the correct parts of her body, and she’s mentally in the zone. She’s not focusing on what is happening around her.
Hearing Liam grunt in pain, I return my attention to the man who made me watch my soulmate die again. How did he know all of that? Because from the little details I know about David and Emma’s wedding, that looked like it. How could Dravin have known that? I unsheathe my sword and walk toward him again. This can’t go on for any longer.
Thanks for coming back, Liam says in my mind. Liam says that in my mind! Why didn’t I think about that before now?
We can use this to our advantage, Liam!
What?
We can communicate to each other without Dravin knowing. We can plan something and finally finish this. I tell him. This could be what saves us.
Dravin’s strong, Colton. He’s not going to go down easily.
I feel the slight pain of Dravin trying to invade my mind again. Liam reaches out and punches him, distracting him. What can we do? Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ryanne fall to the ground and Zahtri stalk toward her with a dagger in his hand. She’s grimacing as she tries to get up, but she’s not moving fast enough.
Liam, we have to end this now.
I know. I see her.
I wonder…I know that Ryanne can feel the feelings of those around us. I try to send my positive feelings to her to help, but it’s hard to think like that right now. Zahtri is standing right in front of her. Ryanne is scooting back on the ground, but she still can’t get up. What happened to her?
I turn my attention away from Ryanne. I knew this was going to happen. She has to fight Zahtri. I have to be here with Dravin. Harnessing all the anger I’m feeling, I turn toward Dravin. Unlike Ryanne, emotions can’t physically strengthen my magic, but they can help strengthen me. I’m not sloppy when I’m mad. In fact, it’s just the opposite. My attacks are more precise.
Noticing a change in me, Liam steps to the side and lets me move toward Dravin. I don’t go invisible. I want Dravin to see me. This is the man who stabbed me without a second glance. He didn’t even think about it. He killed me so he could get Ryanne to tell him about her magic. He’s been kidnapping and experimenting on humans and needs to be stopped. All of this needs to stop.
I reel back and land a punch of Dravin’s jaw. He falls to the side, but doesn’t react as much as I wanted him to. The force of my hit splits his lip, and blood starts dripping down his chin. “That’s was a good hit,” he says as he flexes his jaw. “But it’s not going to be good enough to save your pretty little girl over there. You’re going to have to try harder than that.”
How are we going to do this? Liam asks me. I can hear the urgency in his voice which means that he sees something that I don’t. Either Natalie or Ryanne are in trouble. I duck one of Dravin’s punches and take a step back.
I have absolutely no idea. Dravin reaches out and punches me in the jaw this time, and then turns around and starts attacking Liam. I stumble backward and try to ignore the pain. I hear a small pained cry echo behind me, but I can’t turn around. I have to keep my attention on the fight in front of me. Not the one behind me.
I have to focus on Dravin.
Not Ryanne.
Chapter Thirty
I continue scooting backward as quickly as I can as Zahtri moves toward me. I’m trying to ignore the pain in my left a
rm, but I’m pretty sure it is broken. As I move, I try to push magic into my arm. I may not be like Logan, but I do heal quickly. Maybe if I concentrate all my magic into my arm, I can heal myself with its help.
Zahtri stops, and standing over me with his dagger pointed outward, he says, “Seriously, darling, this could have all been stopped. No one had to die here today. This is all your fault.”
I groan and push myself back a little further. If I don’t heal soon, this will all be over. Too soon. It can’t end like this. It just can’t.
“You’re the one who kidnapped me,” I remind him.
“You could have told them to stop the attack,” he says.
“And how would I have done that when I was trapped inside of a cell?” I move back a little further. Zahtri follows my movement, but he doesn’t attempt to stab me yet. I don’t think he wants it to end like this either…However, he did throw me off a cliff, so I don’t really know what he’s thinking. His thoughts are still blocked from me.
“I don’t know how you did it, but I know you were able to contact them,” he crouches down next to me. “It was either you or Liam; one of you, if not both, was able to contact them. He’s a dream walker, I know that much. He has the ability, but you don’t. How’d you do it?”
I sit up, putting pressure on my left arm. A sharp pain still spreads through my arm, but I don’t let Zahtri know that I’m in pain. He’d use it against me. “That’s not possible,” I tell him.
“Every day we prove things possible that should be impossible,” he whispers as he stands up. “Get up.”
“Why?” I ask him.
“Because we’re going to do this your way.” Using the dagger, he motions for me to stand up. Without moving my eyes away from him, I avoid putting weight on my left arm and stand.
He raises his arm and flexes his muscles, preparing to throw the dagger. I throw a shield up around my body and wait for him to throw it at me. Without my permission, my eyes close. A whoosh sounds by ear and my body flinches as I prepare for the possible pain. After a few seconds of nothing happening, I open my eyes and find Zahtri staring at me. Keeping the shield up, I peek over my shoulder and see the dagger embedded into the trunk of a tree.
