I rounded the last corner only to come face to face with Edmund. I had hoped we would beat him here; obviously, I had been too optimistic. He stood between my brother and me, his arms folded over his black leather jacket as he looked me up and down. I could see Cail on a large bed behind him, the jagged red blade protruding awkwardly out of his chest.
I clenched my teeth as I glared at Edmund, hoping my face would be enough to issue a warning, but he only smiled, my challenge greedily accepted.
“Out of my way, Edmund, or you’re going to lose another finger,” I growled, my magic moving through the rock toward him eagerly.
“You really think I am just going to let you leave, after I worked so hard to dispose of everyone else in these walls?” Edmund’s voice was deep, as a wicked gleam played in his eyes. “You are the last one, and you are going to die, just like the rest of them.”
“Move, Edmund.” I felt my fingers flex as I watched him, unwilling to look away for a second. I wasn’t going to step down. I would not back away, not after I had come this far.
“You would risk everything for him, wouldn’t you?” he said, my warning rolling off him like water. “Just as he would do the same for you?”
“Out of my way,” I snarled through my clenched teeth.
“Very well,” he said casually, shifting his body out of the way and giving me a full view of the stone room at the end of the hall. I glanced at Cail’s sleeping body, my feet ready to take me forward, when a man moved to stand beside him, a large knife poised in his hands. I took one step forward without thinking, my blood pulsing with desperation.
“Nonono,” Edmund taunted. “Remember, he dies first, and then you die, and if I am not mistaken, Timothy still lives.”
Edmund and his games, I should have known better. I should have expected this. I was a fool to have hesitated. My father should have been dead by my hand. The fact that he wasn’t, and that there was some way he had lived through his fall was mildly disturbing.
My jaw clenched, my eyes glaring at him for a moment before moving back to look at where Cail lay on the bed. Choose light, Sain had said. What was he thinking? Light and dark, I thought I had chosen correctly. Had I really chosen the wrong path? I wanted to say no, but I could hear the footsteps of Edmund’s army surrounding us, and I felt Sain cower by my feet, his practically useless magic no help to me.
That was fine. I had enough power for both of us.
I narrowed my eyes at Edmund, my lips turning up in eager anticipation. I felt the army surround us as their magic surged through the stone. The large stone cavern was now protected from every angle, trapping us in place.
For the moment.
Forgive me, Cail.
I surged my magic into the rock I stood on, sending Sain into the air as I tapped my toes to the ground, a deep rumble spreading out away from me like a ripple on water. The rock shifted as it opened up and swallowed those around me to the waist before solidifying again and trapping them in the stone. I didn’t wait, I knew I only had a matter of minutes to use this diversion, and we needed all the head start we could get. I took off into the air, grabbing Sain around the waist and cutting our bodies through the air toward the exit.
I heard the yells and explosions behind us as the rock I had trapped everyone in, was blown apart, releasing those I had trapped from their temporary prison.
“Wynifred!” I felt the ripple of Edmund’s magic travel through the air behind me, my body turning as I dodged, afraid of what the magical current he had placed in his words might do to us.
It was too late anyway, I had gained the time I needed. There was only one way in and out of these caves, through the gate. You couldn’t even stutter in entrance or exit, Ilyan had seen to that.
The massive reflective carving that served as the gate into the underground circuit of caves towered above us – the large man sitting astride his horse, surrounded by a large intricate arch.
I angled us toward the carving, toward what appeared to be a wall of solid rock. Without stopping, I pulled us through the rock and into the large canyon on the other side, right into a large group of tourists that had hiked through the moss-covered trench to see the mirror image of the carving that we had just passed through.
Shouts of surprise echoed around us as a few tourists at the front witnessed our miraculous appearance from the stone.
I pulled Sain behind me as I plunged into the thickening crowd of tourists, the initial shouts drawing others from nearby. I didn’t care about their mortal worries right now, I had bigger problems right on my heels. Of those that had seen us appear, many stepped away in fear, while others came closer, their curiosity bringing them dangerously close and slowing our progress. I glared at each of them, unleashing the full anger of my eyes on them.