I turned to gather my knife and journal, wanting to separate myself from the spectacle as soon as possible, but a cacophony of screams tore through the mutterings of the crowd.
“Death to the Warlord!” My head swiveled up to the sound of the shouts, just as screams rolled through the crowd. A fireball was hurtling toward the platform with a handful of us still stuck on it.
My eyes widened as it came closer, frozen to the stage in fear. Two Mages at the front of the crowd stepped up and created a wall of water, which eliminated the fireball in a cloud of steam as it passed through.
The crowd was silent for a moment before more screaming started in earnest.
“Long live the Keeper!” was shouted from what felt like every angle of the courtyard.
Rebels.
My blood ran cold, and I began to shake at the thought.
How did they get here?
All at once, sound and magic exploded around me, and I was knocked off my feet by a particularly strong blast of Earth Magic. I dropped my knife and book but quickly picked them up and tucked them into the belt at my waist.
If those got into the wrong hands . . . I shuddered at the thought. It was already bad enough that the Bonds felt . . . off when I performed them today. None of the Mages reacted the same way that Ben and Asha had whenreceiving the Bond—there was no elongated unconsciousness, Ben and Asha were still unconscious when we left for Hestin. And the Mages today . . . they didn’t even feel sick, not like Ben.
The thought that I was forcing this new type of Bond, one that we didn’t even know the full side effects of, on Vessels for Mages who weren’t even sick made my stomach roll.
“Faylinn!” I heard Rohak’s shout from near the staircase, jolting me out of my thoughts.
Not the time, Faylinn. Run now, think later.
I crawled along the platform toward the stairs, magic flying overhead in nearly every direction. There were screams of pain and fear coming from the crowd and I glanced a peek behind me to see the thousands of people gathered today in absolute disarray. There was practically a stampede as they tried to get out of the way of the battle.
Some were climbing the stage, even, but many were either kicked off by Lord d’Refan’s Mages or were struck down by errant magical blasts. My face paled as I saw what felt like hundreds of bodies lying on the ground, either trampled to death by the fearful crowd, or hit with calculated strikes.
The scene threatened to pull me back to the memories of Isrun. So many dead, the smells the same, the screams of terror identical . . .
A fireball whizzed over my head and shook me from my memories. I ducked my head and resumed crawling across the stage.
“Faylinn, we need to movenow,” Rohak said again as he pulled me down the stairs and under the platform. He was still clutching a now catatonic Ellowyn.
Shit.
He gently laid her body on the ground before crouching next to us both.
“Can you watch after her? I need to subdue this as best we can right now.” I nodded my head. “When it’s safe, go straight into the temple. There’s an exit in the basement, it will take you directly to a waiting carriage that will take you back to the manor. Right now, that’s the safest place in Hestin.”
I nodded again, already pulling Ellowyn’s limp and pale form up and over my shoulders. I was lithe, but I was strong. I could carry her the few hundred feet into the temple.
Rohak searched my face once before nodding and standing up. “Do notstop for anyone. I will meet you back at the manor later. Now, go!” he shouted as he stepped out of the cover of the platform, his magic already curling around his hands and arms.
I stepped out, too, intent on running immediately, but was caught in the beauty that was his magic.
I’d seen him use his powers back when the rebels attacked, but it was nothing like this. The ashes and embers seemed to beonewith him. His magic shot from him, the tendrils of Destruction weaving through the air until they met their targets—a group of Mages aiming the fireballs at the platform—and disintegrated them into nothing.
I was simultaneously in awe and terrified.
And he didn’t have a Vessel. The power of his magic was incredible just with using limited crystals, and I shuddered at what it would look like when he inevitably found a Bond.
Briefly, Rohak whipped his head back, his eyes full of wrath.
“Move,now,” he growled, his voice not sounding like his own as he sent another tendril of magic through the pulsating and terrified crowd.
My mouth was dry at the intensity of his stare, and I mentally shook myself for staring instead of moving. That mistake would not have happened in the village—I had people to protect there.
