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Spinning sharply, I flung my hand toward the Warden Wall.
The magic answered my silent command.
Pure power rushed at me like I’d opened a channel to the heart of a dark star. The air thundered as the magic around the entire nation ripped away from where it had been anchored. In a shimmering cascade, the surface of the wall roared toward me, flowing toward my hand like I was yanking a vast tapestry away.
And pulling it into myself.
All the light and power funneled to a single point. Me. My outstretched palm that had become the center of this vortex of magic. The energy of the wall surged through my body, through my mind—an entire nation’s worth of defense flooding instantly from all across the land to return to me.
Alaric could never stand against this.
I whirled back, whipping my other hand toward him.
He was gone.
My eyes flashed over the monsters still spread all across the terrain, seeking that smiling bastard. But while the Voidborn were here, as was a clear space where Alaric had been standing, I couldn’t find him anywhere.
Had he hidden himself from me? Run from me in terror, his verbal jabs be damned?
I grinned, but I also was too smart for him. I wouldn’t let down my guard, not yet.
Slowly, I turned a small circle, cautiously searching.
“Trouble, pet?”
Alarm shot through me as I whirled back to face the horde. His voice came from the empty spot where he’d stood moments ago, as if he hadn’t moved from where he’d been before I took in the power of the wall. Moreover, I could hear that same infuriating smile in his voice, like the metal-toothed bastard was amused by my discomfort.
“Not quite what you anticipated, is it?” he continued.
My heart raced. I extended my hand toward the monsters, taking aim. If I could not kill him, I would kill his fellow Voidborn and watch him reveal himself as they burned.
Alaric made a chiding noise. “Oh, I don’t think we’ll be putting up with any of that today.”
The ground lurched.
Everything around me had changed. We stood on a small cliff overlooking a river, no trace of the Warden Wall markers in sight. The monsters were ahead of me now, fording the swiftly running water like a herd of cattle on their way to another pasture.
“Did you know that rivers often follow ley lines, pet?” Alaric asked as if he stood right at my ear. “But I don’t think we’ll stop to break this one. It’s rather small and pathetic… like you.”
I gasped, looking around, but he was nowhere to be seen. “What is this? What are you?—”
He chuckled. “Indeed.”
The ground lurched again.
I stood in a valley now with monsters all around. Late afternoon light turned the dry winter grass to gold, while a cold wind whipped over the horde, carrying scattered snowflakes that melted before they hit the ground.
And Alaric was standing in front of me, regarding me with a mild expression like he’d been there the entire time. “You made a little barrier around the capital city as well, didn’t you? That will be fun to drain and hear the populace scream.”
My hand came up instinctively, aiming at Alaric.
He winked at me.
Another lurch. We were on a hillside, the river and the valley gone, and the sunlight had nearly vanished from the sky. A small town lay ahead of us. Already, the monsters were descending on it, and the cries of the townsfolk carried on the breeze like a far-off melody.
“What is this?” I demanded, my heart racing. I turned a tight circle, but once again the bastard was nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, my silly, broken little pet.”
