Feudlings

by Wendy Knight

  It was apparent that they were losing, and Shane wasn’t surprised when the Carules warriors turned and fled. He expected the Prodigy to follow, especially when the other Edren warriors did, howling a horrible battle cry that reverberated even through the wards, pounding on Shane’s ears. The Edren Prodigy was insatiably bloodthirsty. He should have gone after them.

  Instead, the Prodigy turned slowly, and though his face was hidden in the folds of his robe, Shane could feel his eyes on them. Of course. The Prodigy wouldn’t be here to fight the Carules warriors. He was here, hunting the one thing that stood in his way of ending the war and enslaving the Carules people.

  “Shane! Get out of here now!” Hunter yelled, leaping toward Shane as Charity screamed, spinning in panic and running into her cousin. Shane didn’t move, his eyes brighter than normal as he stared back at the Prodigy, hands fisted at his sides. He raised his chin, ready to meet the oncoming challenge. “I know what you’re thinking. I want to stay and fight, too.” This thing below them had been a nightmare since they were too small to know what war was. If it was gone, if the war was over… “But Shane—” Hunter’s eyes dropped to Charity, trusting him to keep her safe. “Right now, Charity is not safe.”

  Shane shook his head, trying to clear the need to fight, the desire that flowed through his brain like a drug. Keep her safe. But his blood boiled. It was as if he was drawn to the Prodigy below him. He started forward.

  “Now is not the time for this!” Hunter bellowed. It wasn’t clear whether he was yelling at himself or Shane. Hunter tugged Charity to her feet with one hand, digging his phone out of his pocket with the other. Hitting speed dial, he screamed, “Burn a saldepement!” and traced the spell into the air.

  The doorway shimmered open in front of him and he shoved Charity through, then whirled on Shane. He hadn’t moved, and Hunter cast a panicked look over his shoulder at the Edren Prodigy. He stood motionless on the lawns below, and then raised an arm. The wards in front of them shimmered and snapped, folding in on themselves until they were gone. “Shane!” Hunter spun around, getting in front of Shane and he dove, tackling him and knocking him through the portal and into the Council chambers beyond.

  ****

  Ari saw that they were safe, but her mind was already racing ahead of her. She had to get rid of the robe first, and then she had to find a phone and call Will. He was probably losing his mind with worry. And Richard. She would have to call him too, since he had to have been the one to order the Edrens here.

  She tore the robe off and tucked it under her arm as she ran to the dorms and up the stairs. The halls were empty; everyone was asleep, dreaming through the battle outside that had threatened to blow their whole pleasantly normal lives apart. The only sound was Ari’s pounding feet and ragged breathing.

  She burst into her room, but Brittany didn't stir. That girl could sleep through a nuclear attack. It was just as well, since Ari needed to borrow her phone, and asking a sleeping Brittany was way easier than asking an awake Brittany.

  She dropped to her knees and stashed the robe in her bag under the bed. She wanted to call Richard and find out who had ordered the Edrens to her school, although she was pretty positive it had been Will. For him to call Richard, he must have been incredibly worried. And to be that worried and not come himself… Ari's heart froze at the thought. If Will hadn't come, that meant something was wrong. He would have done everything in his power to get to her, Ari knew that. Yet he hadn't come.

  So what had stopped him?

  Chapter Eighteen

  Shane sat up, rubbing the back of his head where Hunter had smacked it into the floor when he’d shoved him through the portal. “I wasn’t aware we were playing football tonight, Hunter,” he muttered, glaring.

  Hunter pulled himself up with the help of a nearby chair, his eyes already searching for Charity, when another portal shimmered to life across the room. Two Carules warriors struggled through, dragging a furious Edren between them.

  “Who is this?” Charles asked, walking up the aisle like he had all the time in the world. His gray suit was crisp and clean. Clearly, he hadn’t been involved in the fighting.

  Shane frowned in disgust. Somehow, Charles was never involved in the fighting.

  “An Edren we caught at the battle.” One man said. The other gasped, doubling over as his captive jabbed him viciously in the side with his elbow.

  “You were there?” Charity asked, climbing to her feet and dusting herself off. She was still white, tremors shaking her slender frame. Her silver eyes were luminous in her pale face. Noticing Hunter’s stare, she hid her shaking hands behind her back and looked away.

  “Yeah. We were doing pretty good too, until the Prodigy showed up. He had to have known we were coming before we got there. He was right there when it started,” the other warrior answered, jerking the Edren more securely into his grip as he dodged the man’s foot.

  Shane jerked in response. The Prodigy was right there…

  But the captive Edren snarled just then, catching Shane’s attention. “We didn’t call our Prodigy. We didn’t need any help.”

  “What caused you to show up there in the first place?” Charity asked, her voice soft as she moved across the aisle to stand next to Hunter.

  “We were called to protect the Prodigy,” the Edren answered, almost seeming unable to help himself, eyeing Charity warily.

  The Carules holding him frowned. “As were we.”

  “Well, you were called to protect our Prodigy, but—” Charles started but Shane interrupted.

  “Who ordered that?”

  “I didn’t. I had no idea there was any trouble,” Charles said, holding up two hands and taking several steps back as if he expected Shane to throw a spell at him right there.

  “So someone knew our Prodigy was in trouble. And the Edren Prodigy knew his team was in trouble before they were even in trouble. How could that be?” Charity asked. She met Hunter’s gaze with a frown.

  “We need to go back,” Shane said, striding toward the portal.

  “What? Are you insane?” Hunter snatched Shane’s arm. Charles too, had gasped behind them, and Charity chewed her lip. Shane shook Hunter off, turning on him.

  “Yeah, Hunter. I’m insane. I just let you knock me through a portal when the Prodigy is right there at our school!”

  “Okay, Shane, I know you’re worried about Ari, but—”

  “This isn’t about Ari, Hunter,” Shane snapped, cutting him off. “This is about ending the war. And we do it tonight.”

  Charles stepped between them, glancing from one to the other. “Shane, that isn’t a good idea. You aren’t trained to—”

  Again Shane jumped in, waving Charles out of the way and facing Hunter again. Charles’ opinion had ceased to matter to him. All he needed was Hunter, and he knew it. “I know I’m not trained enough to go up against the Edren Prodigy. I just watched him slaughter ten of our warriors with one spell. I can’t do that, and I’m not stupid enough to think I can.”

  “Okay, so what are you thinking?” Hunter asked, also ignoring Charles’ attempts to argue with Shane.

  “We’ll set a trap. No one escapes my traps. I have the most powerful wards in the world,” Shane said.

  Understanding dawned, and Hunter’s face lit up in an uncharacteristically cruel smile. “If you set a trap you’re going to need bait.” Both boys looked at the Edren across the room.

  “Shane, I don’t like this,” Charity said. She had given up chewing on her lip and was now nibbling on her thumb nail.

  “Sabine!” Charles called, and Hunter spun toward the back of the room, where the Council’s favorite Seer sat in the shadows. He could just see her glowing eyes. “What do you see?” Charles asked.

  “Nothing, Charles. Where the Prodigy is involved, I see nothing.”

  “But I…” Charity started, but Charles stopped her with a raised hand.

  “I know you want to help, Ms. Delyle, but if Sabine can’t see anything, I d
on’t expect you to.” His tone was mocking, as if the idea was ridiculous. Charity looked down at the floor, knotting her hands, her fair cheeks coloring.

  “You don’t expect much of anyone who has the ability to end this war,” Shane said coldly.

  Hunter curled his fists and took a menacing step toward Charles. “You forget it was Charity that saved us in Adlington, not Sabine.”

  Charles stumbled back, his eyebrows raised in shock. Charity grabbed Hunter’s arm and shook her head. Jaw clenched, he sent Charity an apologetic look and turned to the Edren across the room. “Edren, what’s your name?” he called. The captive answered him with a savage glare.

  “His name is Antonio,” Sabine said, her voice lilting from the shadows.

  “We’ll need him.” Hunter jerked his chin toward Antonio, who resumed struggling.

  “Don’t worry. We’re going to give you a fighting chance,” Shane said coldly.

  ****

  Ari scrambled to her feet and, with another hasty glance at Brittany, she hurried to the desk and started searching the drawers for the phone. It wasn't there. She cast a desperate look around the room when something out the window caught her eye.

  Blue.

  And red.

  Spell smoke was wafting through the halls of the school. She could see it through all the windows. She squinted, trying to see through the dirty school windows, and stumbled backward as she realized the blue smoke wasn't any normal Carules magic. It was bright blue, metallic, like Shane's eyes.

  He was being attacked. Shane was in trouble, and if he was in trouble, Charity and Hunter were there with him.

  Ari tried to reason with herself as she bolted out the door and toward the school. Shane was a Prodigy just like her, and he could handle himself. But she had fought him; she knew he was untrained, and she knew he wasn’t as powerful as she was. He might not be killed, but he could be hurt, and she couldn't let that happen. Swallowing her panic, she lengthened her stride and sped across the lawns.

  ****

  "Trap ready?" Hunter’s voice, cold and detached, snaked through the darkness. He was scared. Shane couldn't hear it, but he could feel it emanating from him. They had fought the Prodigy before and lost.

  This time, there would be no fight. He would trap the Prodigy and then kill him, before the Prodigy even had a chance to fight back. It would all end tonight.

  They stood at the bottom of the stairs. The plan was brilliantly simple. The traps sat on the second floor, above Shane and Charity, who both waited on the first floor. Hunter stood in the shadows of the third floor stairwell. The Prodigy wouldn't have a clear shot at any of them from the second floor hallway.

  Shane's most powerful Carules wards shimmered as he created them, appearing as a box with the back side missing, and then fading into an invisible wall. As soon as the Prodigy got to the edge of the stairs, Shane would create another ward and trap him in the wards.

  They had fought with the captive Edren from the second floor of the school and ended here, leaving a perfect magical trail for Prodigy to follow. "The wards are ready. Come on, Edren. Antonio. Aren't you going to protect yourself?" Shane taunted Antonio, who was staring him down from across the room, his arms folded across his chest.

  "Whatever you're planning, it won't work. My Prodigy is too powerful for you," Antonio said. Perfect trust in his Prodigy. Shane wondered how many Carules had that trust in him. Probably not many, he thought with a frown. He threw another spell at Antonio, more powerful than he planned, spurred by jealous anger. The Edren countered, but he wasn't trying to kill Shane. He knew better, and all his spells were only trying to protect himself.

  Charity's eyes glowed from across the room and she scrambled backward, cowering in the corner. "Shane, the Prodigy is coming," she said, her voice a panicked whisper. "Coming fast! Shane!" she screamed.

  Shane locked eyes with Hunter, standing in the upper hallway, and nodded. Hunter threw a spell at their captive Antonio, immobilizing him but not killing him. Above, Shane could hear feet racing toward them, moving so fast the sound blurred in his ears. His hands flew through the last ward spell, flinging it forward as Hunter screamed, "Now!" The ward was in place.

  The Prodigy was caught. Shane’s face lit up in a triumphant grin.

  And then Charity screamed, "Shane no!"

  It was as if the wards weren’t even there. The Prodigy burst through them, coming straight at them, moving so fast Shane's eyes couldn't follow, but somehow his hands acted on their own and were burning a lirik in the air before he even realized what he was doing. He threw it as hard and as fast as he could just as the Prodigy paused at the top step.

  Ari.

  Charity burst to her feet in the darkness just as another lirik flew out of the upper hallway. Hunter's spell joined Shane's and they both smashed into Ari. She flew backward, and Shane heard her slam into the wall with a sickening thud.

  He stood frozen. What had just happened?

  Charity was racing up the steps, sobbing, and suddenly Shane couldn't move fast enough.

  Ari.

  He had just attacked Ari with the most powerful kill spell in existence. He could hear Hunter's feet pounding down the stairs from above, but it was all as if from a distance. He could see Ari's crumpled form, blood soaking the floor around her.

  "Ari!" he screamed. Two more steps and he was leaping into the corridor where she lay, racing toward her. Her hand, weak and shaking, was burning something in the air and she pushed it, a ward blooming in front of him.

  Unable to stop, he crashed right into it and tumbled backward, knocking Charity over with him. Hunter was almost on top of them when another ward and then another exploded around them.

  She had boxed them in, just like he had tried to do to her, except he had failed. She hadn't though, and he pounded on the invisible walls, screaming her name. Slowly, so slowly, she dragged herself to her feet, hunching over and holding her side. She looked at them, trapped there by her own hand, and the pain in her eyes had nothing to do with the gaping wound in her side. Tears soaked her cheeks, and then she turned and ran down the hall, disappearing into the darkness.

  "Ari!" Shane screamed, but it did no good. She was gone.

  ****

  Ari got to the edges of the forest before she collapsed. She lay down in the undergrowth and sobbed, clutching at her side. They had tried to kill her. Her friends… and Shane. She had thought she loved him. She was so stupid. So incredibly stupid.

  She couldn't find the will to get up. She didn't care anymore. She had been born a monster, trained to be a monster. Trained to kill heartlessly, just like a monster. But she wasn't a monster. She was a soldier. The monsters were the ones who laid traps for friends, luring them in with smiles and the promise of a life less lonely. Those were the monsters. Not her. Let the war end. If this was what it made people, she didn't want to fight it anymore.

  She was so cold and so tired. Ari closed her eyes as blackness overtook her, and finally, peace.

  ****

  "We've got to get out of here! Hunter, call for a saldepement!" Shane yelled, crashing into the wards again and again in desperation.

  "What just happened?" Hunter asked dully from where he sat against the wall, his knees drawn up and his head back, staring at the ceiling.

  "I saw it. I saw Ari, but it was too late…" Charity sobbed over and over, her hands covering her face as she crouched on the floor.

  "Ari is the Edren Prodigy. She's known all along that we were Carules. Why didn't she kill us?" Hunter mumbled.

  Shane doubted he wanted an answer, but Charity gave it to him anyway. "Because she was our friend. And we turned on her!"

  "Well it wasn't like we knew it was her," Hunter argued half-heartedly, but Charity just stared back at him, fury racing through her eyes.

  "We should have known." Charity wailed. Hunter opened his mouth to respond, but Antonio chose that moment to start laughing hysterically. They had all forgotten he was there, trapped with them. Sh
ocked, all any of them could do was gape at him.

  "You had her completely by surprise and you still couldn't kill her! Edrens will prevail!" He held his fists up in some sort of victory dance. Shane's hands flew forward, throwing out Carules flames. Antonio collapsed, and spoke no more.

  Shane turned on Hunter. "Call for a saldepement. We have to get out of here and find Ari." He was out-of-nowhere deadly calm, his metallic eyes burning. Hunter stared at him, shocked at what Shane had just done, as he fumbled for his phone, but just then the wards holding them shimmered and were gone.

  "She let us out," Charity said in surprise.

  "Or she's…" Hunter started, but Shane cut him brusquely off.

  "She's not dead, Hunter. She's still out there somewhere, and we're going to find her."

  Hunter narrowed his eyes and started to say something… just as the fire alarms went off and the sprinkler system rained down on them.

  "What the…?" Shane gasped, running down the hall in the direction Ari had escaped. Charity and Hunter followed more slowly behind him.

  Shane could just see the flames licking the stairway, blocking them. "We have to go around," Charity said, arriving next to Shane. Out the window, the dorms were emptying as students poured onto the lawns to see what was happening. Oddly, the flames weren't going anywhere.

  "She did this," Hunter said, staring down at the wall of fire that bloomed from one sheet of paper, and nothing more.

  "She's protecting the school while she blocks us from following her." Shane shook his head in disbelief. How could he have not known what she was?

  By the time they went all the way around to another exit and got back to find Ari's trail, there was mass hysteria. They could hear sirens in the distance; students and staff were everywhere, yelling and crying and starting a bucket brigade to put out the flames. Smoke choked the night air and drowned the sky. It was impossible to see where she had gone. Shane searched desperately, his eyes burning, but he couldn't find her.