As the minutes ticked by and there was still no sign of Darren my searching became frantic. My quiet shouts gave way to desperate shrieks. I no longer cared if the enemy soldiers spotted me.
I cast out large clouds of light, letting everything illuminate as if the entire forest had been struck by the sun. I knew Mira would be furious if she found out I was casting giant beacons of magic and screaming on the top of my lungs, but I was too far from the shore for my leader to stop me.
Rational thinking had given way to panic and there was nothing holding me back.
"DARREN!" I screamed. "DARREN!"
It had been an hour and a half since I started. My castings had begun to falter, and while I knew it was reckless to use up all of my magic, I couldn't bring myself to stop.
I made it back to where the soldiers had first spotted us. A handful of bloodied bodies littered the clearing in front of me. This was where Mira, Andy, and Darren had first held off the enemy…
All of the bodies bore Caltothian insignia. None of them had dark brown hair. I exhaled slowly. The non-heir was safe, for now.
He must have taken a different path. Or maybe he was lost. Or perhaps he had already made it back to the beach and was wondering where I was. I hadn't seen any signs of lightning yet. Andy was still waiting for me.
I had run the whole trail back, thinking I would find Darren somewhere waiting – possibly too injured to continue the way to the ship without my assistance. Now, I took my time, carefully examining each and every bit of ground in hopes of a trampled branch, bent grass, a footprint in the leftover winter frost, anything that would point to Darren or where he had gone.
At one point I thought I saw something – a bit of dried blood smeared against a rock, as if someone had been using it to prop himself up - but no matter where I turned the clearing was empty.
He's probably already on the ship, I told myself quickly, you must have missed him on your way in. I continued to prowl the forest back, shouting and casting in every which direction.
It started to rain. After a couple minutes my clothes were soaked through.
"D-ar-ren," I tried again. My teeth were chattering and it was hard to speak. I tried to wipe away the raindrops that were blurring my vision but they were falling in sheets. I could barely see two feet in front of me. "Darr-"
I broke off, crying out as a searing pain tore in and out of my left side. I barely had a second to register the pooling blood above my hips before a loud swooshing noise came at my face and I was sent staggering to my knees.
With all the magic I could muster I cast out from all sides – hoping to hit my attacker before he landed another hit. I didn't have any time to prepare. I threw forward the first projection I could think of: fire.
But it was a mistake. The flames were quickly doused by rain. I cursed myself for wasting so much magic on the wrong casting. I hadn't been thinking. A Caltothian soldier behind me kicked my chest and I fell flat into the mud, barely rolling out of the way in time to avoid a heavy boot from crushing my neck.
"I found one!" the enemy shouted.
I heard two sets of loud boots slapping against the wet ground. I tried casting again, but my magic was gone. I had spent four hours expending my force in my desperation to locate the prince. The fire had cost me my last bit of magic. I was weaponless except for a small blade tucked into my boot, but I couldn't reach it from my current position.
The footsteps were right beside me and I shoved my hands deep, deep into my open wound, screaming. I forced the pain to bend to my will, calling out the branch of magic that belonged to me and me alone.
And then I pain cast everything I had.
****
I woke up to a sea of silver falling from the sky. It was beautiful. One of the stars brushed my face, and then another, and I was surprised to feel a calm, cooling sensation as they caressed my skin, dancing across my brow, my nose, and finally the curve of my jaw.
Finally. Peace.
I blinked and realized with a start that the silvery stars were actually glittering flakes of snow, and that I was definitely not enjoying a peaceful death. Every inch of me throbbed like it had been slammed against a wall - repeatedly. My head spun and every time I tried to move my vision seemed to fade away, leaving me with a black haze and small clusters of shadow I could only assume were some of the forest pines a little further away.
My whole stomach felt like it was on fire – especially just above my waist where one of the soldiers had managed to stab me with his knife. Of course, I acknowledged, I made it much worse with my pain casting.