AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The magic buzzed in my veins.
Unable to turn away, I grabbed the man’s hand, ready to somehow ease his passing.
His terror became my terror, a primal one all creatures felt for what hid in the dark, the feeling of death’s hand resting on your shoulder and the bone trees calling your name. A horror strong enough to stop your heart.
His grip tightened until painful, pulling me closer, reminding me of my own body.
How do you combat fear?With hope. Hope for a better day. Hope that everything will pass. Hope that when it’s all over, you will be able to put the pieces together.
Humming the nursery tune my mother used to sing, I shared the feeling of safety. Of moments when things were bad and I heard music, remembering there was still beauty. I took the feeling of soaring, so similar to flying, and pushed it into him with all my might.
Something broke—in him or in me—and his grip relaxed, wonder spreading across his slackened features. I smiled back, tears drying on my face.
Then magic, cold and deadly, pushed back. Someone was controlling this.
I stood. This would not be won by saving one person. I needed to stand and fight, no matter the odds.
Despite Dimitri’s people firing arrows from hidden crossbows, the robed figures were halfway across the bridge. More seemed to be fighting below us.
With magic and sword, Dimitri swung at a priestess no larger than me, face covered by a porcelain mask. She lifted a hand and the Spirits moved against the prince’s wind and covered the three remaining defenders.
With cries of terror, they fell.
The Spirits did not touch me as I leapt past them without thought. I had no weapons. No plan. But I was not running away.
Dimitri, his mind trained against magic like few others, fell to his knees as the bones on his armor burned green. In his lowered hand, I saw a knife.
Above them, Spirits swirled, like all the dead of Tal had come for this night.
The priestess lifted her hands.
What would happen when she brought them and the Spirits down?
Death.
Death always came to Tal. The man I helped had been dying of fear. That’s how my prince would end. I saw it play out in my mind. He would launch forward. The Spirits would descend. No matter how trained, he could not fight off that many.
A weight pressed me down. The Goddess had turned her gaze our way.
We were all dying here.
Magic pulled at thoughts of revenge and horror not my own. Like when I fell from the balcony, my mind expanded until I was both me and all others. Somewhere, Lumi’s fear spiked. The prince saw me and despaired.
The priestess’s hands descended like an ax.
Dimitri lifted his knife—too slowly.
My magic was a wild animal, swelling with my emotions until it ruptured like the boiling pot Popova spoke off. It only held one word, one command, one plea.
STOP.
The obsidian walls cracked. Dimitri froze, knife half raised.
The priestess turned as if moving through the mud below, expressionless mask facing me.
My vision fractured. The power made each rain drop glitter. The world warped. Still, I threw myself between them, grabbing Dimitri’s knife. Last time I held a blade, Lumi had told me to not hesitate.
I had never trained with a weapon. Never wanted to kill. But I was fast.
