No one that good deserved to die.
I heard the crunching footfall of boots. I heard the mage's labored breathing as he drew close.
I let my hand fall limply to the side.
"Ryiah?" Darren's voice rose.
I didn't respond. I let my eyelids flutter shut.
"Ryiah!"
I held my breath.
"She's a pretty thing," the Caltothian declared. "I can see why you wanted to keep her alive."
"Don't you look at her!"
"You can't stop me, boy, you are dying yourself." The mage laughed raucously.
There was a sudden clatter and then Darren gave an ear-shattering scream. It took everything in me not to move.
"You shouldn't have tried to pain cast," the man addressed the prince, "not against me."
I exhaled and began to inch my hand slowly, closer and closer to my abdomen. As soon as my fingers closed around the dagger embedded in my stomach I took a deep breath and waited. One. Two.
The soft crunch of grass alerted me just as the man stepped on the ground near me. I kept my hand frozen in place. There was the rustle of movement and then I cracked open one lid, just in time to catch sight of the man hovering over the prince.
The mage held out his hand and a shimmering orb of fire appeared in his palm. "I would have made your death quick, like the girl's," he told him, "but since you tried to trick me I'm going to let you burn. Slowly. I want you to feel every second of it."
I didn't waste another moment. I wrenched the blade free and bent forward, slashing at the back of the mage's leg with all the strength I had. I caught the steel along the curve of his thigh and dragged down, deep, deep into his calf and fell back with a cry.
Then the pain took over.
My whole world reared up around me as blackness took hold of my sight.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
I couldn't see. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't feel.
All I could do was listen.
Harsh pounding. In and out. In. And out. The murmur of something faint. His voice.
One word. Over and over.
Ryiah.
CHAPTER TWENTY
"I'm alive?" Though I had spoken the words aloud, they still seemed at odds with my memory. Wasn't I supposed to be dead? Dead with Darren and Eve in the northern forest of Jerar? Surrounded by burning pines as I bled to death from a fatal wound to my stomach?
Which brought me to my next question: "How?"
Derrick snorted. "That would be the first thing you ask us, wouldn't it?"
Alex, meanwhile, was glowering down at me with a concerned-looking Ella clutching his arm. "You must have a death wish," he bellowed. "This is the fifth – no, the sixth - time I have had to visit my sister in an infirmary because she thinks she can take on the world by herself!"
"Alex, that's not fair," Ella interrupted, "most of those were because of mock battles, you can't blame your sister for-"
"I don't care what they were for!"
"Alex!" Derrick looked annoyed. "Don't yell! The healers!"
"I will yell if I want to!" my twin shouted. "The lot of you are fools for choosing Combat. Fools! And you, Derrick, choosing to be a soldier – did you not hear that four of your own were murdered? Slaughtered like pigs for a butcher! What kind of idiot signs up for-"
"Alright, Alex, that's quite enough." Ella pulled on my brother's arm with an apologetic look to me. "Later," she mouthed as she escorted my twin firmly out of the room.
"So," I said weakly to my last remaining visitor, "he's mad at me again."
Derrick guffawed. "Alex is always mad. Just because the rest of us live exciting lives is no reason for that grouch to bring you down." He paused. "Besides you and Prince Darren-"
"He's alive too?" I couldn't keep the relief from my tone.
"Of course he is, silly," Derrick chided. "You two are the talk of the north right now. All the local regiments heard about how the two of you risked your lives to save the keep's knights! I wouldn't be surprised if they made a song about it!"
I cringed. The last thing I wanted was to hear my "deeds" memorialized in song. Especially when the only thing I had done was almost die… "Eve," I asked suddenly, "did she-"
"She's dead, Ryiah." Derrick's voice has lost its humor. "It was quick, if that helps. Stabbed herself in the chest. I overheard Master Byron telling someone it was a 'mage's last stand,' whatever that means."
I swallowed. When someone willingly brought on his own death to exert an extreme pain casting, it was known as "the mage's last stand." "She was a hero," I said softly; "without her magic, Darren and I would have died."
"Probably why the prince is in Devon."
"Darren left the apprenticeship!" I sat up with a start and then regretted it immediately. My whole body roared in protest. "Why would he…?" Why wouldn't he after what had happened?
"Are you mad? Of course he didn't leave."
"But you said-"
"He's visiting that girl's father. Eve. He said it was something that couldn't be put in a letter." Derrick looked sideways at me. "The prince is nice, actually. I don't understand why Alex hates him so much."