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I tore my blade from the ground—a strength, unlike anything I had ever known, pumped through my veins.
“How dare you,” she seethed, her voice so twisted and monstrous, it made my blood run cold. She screamed in anger, striding towards me as she raised bits of ground behind her—shaping them into arrows.
Two could play that game.
I glanced to my left, conjuring a handful of daggers to float behind me.
At the same moment, we released them.
Earthen arrows collided into azure daggers—obliterating each other upon impact.
But one of mine slipped past her defenses, embedding itself in her torso. She stumbled backwards, sputtering, but I did not see her fall because—
“Sage!” Harper cried out to my left, weakly stumbling towards me.
“Harper.” I raced to her side, and I slung her arm over my shoulder. “Where are the others?”
“Those who could not fight fled further east—Lyra, Ezra, and Graiyson included. They should be safe for now. But Ryker—” She winced, her hand, covered in fresh blood, clutched desperately at her side.
“What about Ryker?” I asked, my hand brushing over hers, a silent plea to let me look.
Gasping for breath, she answered, “He should be here fighting, somewhere, but I haven’t seen him in a while.” She grimaced as she removed her hand.
I steeled my features. The wound in Harper’s side . . .
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” she asked.
It was. It was hard to decipher the torn leather of her armor from her shredded skin, but I could easily make out the jagged bone beneath and the way it unnaturally jutted out. Whatever had hit her had not just taken a fist-sized chunk of flesh out of her side, it had broken her ribs.
“It is. But you are strong, and you are going to make it through this.” I took her hand and placed it back onto the wound. How Harper had managed to fight with such an injury—it was a testament to her incredible strength. Her incredible will.
I meant what I’d said—Harper was going to live, but that was contingent on me getting her out of here. There was a narrow path that led to the outer rim of the battlegrounds—if I could make it there.
No.Iwouldmake it there.
“We need to move,” I told her.
She nodded wearily.
We waded through a sea of dead and injured soldiers, Harper’s weight increasing on me with each passing moment.
Again, my heartbeat thrummed in my ears—ticking down the seconds I had.
Each time a soldier attacked, we worked together to defend—either her hand shooting out a burst of flame or mine throwing a glass-like water dagger. And although that worked for ashort while, her reaction time was becoming slower, her eyelids fighting a battle of their own.
“Come on, Harper.” I forged steel in my voice, hoping it would do the same for her. “We’re going to make it. Think of Lyra. Ryker. Graiyson. Ezra.” I repeated that same message to her over and over, hoping she would latch on to it.
And for a time, she did.
But then I felt her arm slip from my neck, and her legs gave out. I caught her, but just barely. Her torso slumped against mine. I shifted her weight, putting more of it on my good arm. Gently, I tapped her face, trying to rouse her as I said her name.
But Harper wouldn’t wake.
I tried again and again, but nothing.
My heart ticked loudly in my ears as my shaking hand moved to her neck. I checked for a pulse. At first, I couldn’t find it. But after another attempt, I did. I exhaled a small breath of relief. “You are not going to die here,” I promised her, tears brimming. “I’m going to get you help.”
Harper needed her twin. He knew these lands better than I did, and he would know where to find a healer to help her. But I needed to find him first. My head whipped around, searching for him, but there were too many soldiers.
