Chapter 42
Forty-Two
Asher’s hand doesn’t leave mine as we stand with our back to the rune etched on the Willow of Lore. The famous symbol that has been known since the beginning of its creation – now just a dead hunk of wood with decaying flowers.
Hanna, Ricka, and Kyno stand around the base, surrounding it. The three of them holding their weapons that they point at the rebels that are stalking us.
Different races surround the runic shield Asher made.
He had started forming it the second Mavyn told him too and locked the final links the moment we were within the boundary line.
One of them already lays dead, their body still smoking from the shock or fire or whatever defense Asher wove into the runes.
His magic amplified by Mavyn’s aura and flickering with the bases of her magic.
Asher’s magic has never felt so powerful.
Stepping through the opening, I lock eyes with that mage who walked in with Percius at the first attack. His stormy blue eyes swirling in different shades as he approaches. I can feel my magic calling to his but I hold still beside Asher. Tightening every muscle and staring at him head on.
His face flickers with amusement as he keeps coming until he’s only a couple feet from the shield. His eyes, that have dipped more steel colored, look down at the first rebel to try breaking the shield, then back up to me.
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” he says, and like it did in the classroom his words thunder through the air. Vibrations rumbling through the ground and above as the storm that had been brewing finally relents. “Drop the shield and let us finish our business.”
I can feel Asher about to pull me behind him, so I step past him while keeping hold of his hand and glare at the mage. “Mavyn said no.”
His jaw feathers as his eyes snap to a frozen gray. “That little girl is not our – nor is she your – keeper. What she says does not have to go.”
I relax my shoulders, tip my chin up, and lightly chuff. “I bet you feel all high and mighty facing us instead of her.” I lick my lips and take another step closer to the shield and him. “I bet you feel like a real warrior now that you’re not getting your ass handed to you by a little girl.”
His jaw tenses and his eyes flash in rage. “Drop. The. Shield.”
“Eat. Shit.”
The ground beneath us rumbles and then the roots of the willow outside of our shield get upended around us. Soil and earth exploding up as the mage, who I thought only possessed water and sound, controls nature and earth.
He can control more than two elements.
It makes trepidation ignite, but I put on my best ‘Mavyn face’ and arch a single eyebrow as if I’m unimpressed. “And here I was thinking I needed to be afraid.” I tut and roll my eyes in disinterest. “How disappointing from the second in command of the infamous rebels.”
Asher’s hand squeezes mine as the mage’s rage reflects in the elements outside of our shield.
The torches burst with flame as the ground rumbles and then the glass dome above shatters from a bolt of white lightning. I can feel the moisture in the air sharpen to icicles and a vibration in the air I’m sure is about to make my ears bleed from the frequency.
I wince at it but lock my knees to keep from falling. We just have to hold long enough for them to leave. We just have to hold long enough for Mavyn to get rid of them.
And right on cue. Bloodred aura like a sheet that’s visible stretches over us. Sweet berries with a cut of florals and a hint of cream chokes us, but I smile through the suffocation as this mage who can wield more than one element flinches.
“It seems you’re just as scared as Kolasi, the Death Devil, is of her.
” I take one last step until I’m as close as I can get to the shield without touching it.
Asher a solid wall behind me as I don’t break eye contact from this mage.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret, though.
You don’t have to worry. I’ll tell her to make your death quick, even though you threatened me. ”
He sneers at me and I grin at him. Slightly high from the power that I feel from being able to stand up against this being who is no doubt much more powerful than me.
And it is only because of the shield between us, but as Mavyn has told me before – if you have to fake it till you make it then you better fake it with everything you’ve got.
The mage looks up to Asher behind me before controlling his expression and looking back down at me. Then he steps back and raises his hand up.
“Let’s go!” he orders. The other rebels all falling into line before something in the air hitches.
A glitch in the matrix – even though that’s not real.
And then that bloodred aura that was all-consuming as it always is disappears in a wink.
It makes the mage look curiously at me before a slow grin begins to spread.
Fear worms through me as I think of the worst, but Asher holds tightly to me. I can feel his lips pressing into the top of my head. His warmth and aura soothing.
“She’s not dead,” he relieves.
“Not yet.”
And I do only what I can in this moment – which is glare at the damned mage.
Asher’s hands wrap around my waist and he tugs me away from the shield. “She’s maybe knocked out, but not dead. And even then, we’re blood bonded so they’ll never be able to get through this shield so long as I’m alive.”
The mage just grins, but I force myself to calm down.
Mavyn can’t die. Not now. Not when she’s been forced to go through so much and not when she has yet to finish this damned prophecy so she can finally be at peace with her fated.
She deserves some peace. Callahan, more than the rest of them in my opinion, deserves peace with her.
I focus on the runes in front of me instead of the mage.
Intricate designs that are impenetrable.
One of the symbols I realize is more familiar than the rest. It’s the same symbol that is painted as the dance floor in the ballroom.
The same symbol that is also carved above the front doors of the main building.
“His symbol,” I think out loud. “The Forgotten God of Blood Moons. His symbol is etched all over this school.”
It’s the same symbol that forms the mental door to Mavyn’s blood art within her.
“He knows,” I whisper. I had felt his presence before in the auditorium. “He’s in line with us and helping. He’s doing as Mavyn said.”
“What are you talking about?” the mage demands.
I slowly shake my head. “She was right. You really don’t know anything.
” I focus back on the mage and everything goes calm within as he makes his presence known once more around us.
Sanivin’s twin brother who allowed himself to be forgotten so she would be remembered.
“He’s always been right here in front of us.
But there’s only one person who is meant to make him remembered. ”