“This way!” Gregor runs up. “Vaduin’s there!” He points toward a partially collapsed building where magic is flashing violently.
Kaelis and I glance at each other. I can see him weighing saving Vaduin in light of what Gregor told us.
“We need him,” I remind my prince.
That’s all he needs to hear. I start running, falling into step beside Gregor. Kaelis is at my right.
“I’m sorry about before,” Gregor says between pants. “About what I said. Vaduin told me some crazy shit, and it got me worked up. I shouldn’t have acted that way.”
“We can talk after,” I say firmly. “Not the time.” But I’m also not forgetting what he’s telling me.
“I have the worst timing, you know that about me.” He grins.
“Let’s hope not, for Vaduin’s sake.”
We fight our way through, cards and blades working in deadly harmony. Kaelis’s magic is so controlled it’s almost surgical. Every strike finds its mark. Every spell serves its purpose. He never uses the Five of Swords to summon a blade—as though he’s too good for practical means or hand-to-hand combat like Gregor and me.
But he didn’t grow up on the streets. He never had to make inking material stretch or conserve cards, and it shows. Magic heeds his will as if he is forcing reality itself to bend to him.
Never have I seen anything more beautiful…or terrifying.
Finally, we reach the building where Vaduin is making his stand. The leader of the Worldkeepers is backed against a wall, bloodied, panting. Another is at his side, also covered in a cloak like we are. Judging from her frame, it’s Sorza. Three Stellis circle them like vultures.
But they’re not the real threat. Through the haze, a figure emerges atop the rubble of a collapsed wall.
Ravin.
He’s dressed simply and entirely in black. His clothes are as impeccably tailored as his brother’s. But his silhouette against the flames strikes an otherworldly shape.
Even in the heat, the chill of death drags its bony finger down my spine.
“I know you have it, I canfeel iton you,” Ravin says to Vaduin. “Give it to me, and I might let you die quickly.”
“You don’t think you actually know my true name, do you?” Vaduin wheezes, clutching his side.
“You don’t think I have only one way to kill a man, do you?” Ravin retorts. He sounds different, moves different—this is his true nature exposed. He’s at home among carnage.
“Give me the vessel, and I’ll let you live.”
“Never!” Gregor answers for Vaduin, charging toward the Stellis, his battle cry echoing across the crumbling stone. Steel rings against steel as his blade meets that of a Stellis.
Sorza uses the opportunity to launch herself toward another. But it’s obvious in her flailing movements that she’s injured and exhausted. Kaelis goes for the third Stellis.
I cast the Eight of Swords, holding the Stellis down so Sorza can get the upper hand. Just beyond them, Ravin continues to move on Vaduin. I try to cast another card, directed at Ravin, but it’s destroyedinstantly by a Stellis coming up from behind. With a cry of frustration, I summon the Knight of Swords, and a whirlwind of invisible blades reduces the man to a pile of armor and gore on the ground.
“Damn,” Gregor grunts under his breath.
For every one we kill, two more seem to sprint through a break in the wall behind us. Sorza is thrown, rolling across the rubble, struggling to get up. I try to dart for her, but another Stellis engages me.
“There’re too many,” Kaelis slides close to say after dispatching the Stellis attacking me, not risking shouting. His cards are cast with precision, but six Stellis is a lot even for him to manage.
The King of Coins rises from my deck. I’ll just have the ground swallow them whole. But before I can cast it, a massive falcon swoops overhead. With a cry, it shreds the card with its talons and flees as quickly as it came back to its master, who is standing where Ravin just emerged from.
Leigh. Ravin’s wife.
She’s moving, not wasting even a second. Gregor roars and spins to meet her. Blade to blade. Her weapon whistles through the air, and the bigger man nearly doesn’t have a chance to dodge it. Even though Leigh is just as muscled as my friend, she somehow has twice his speed.
The two break apart, circling. Kaelis focuses on keeping control of the Stellis, casting a Queen of Coins—rubble rises and slots back into its former place, patching one of the holes in the wall and funneling the Stellis through one entry point. Sorza lies unconscious on the ground. The only way I know she’s not dead is that the hazy blue magic of the Queen of Cups I cast sinks into her. And behind me, Ravin continues to advance on Vaduin.
