And then, finally, just as I was ready to collapse, we reached a wide berth. A frozen riverbed scattered with bits of rock and ice that had already started to drop in the catalyst that set about the glacier’s descent.
Unlike the frozen pond from before, it wasn’t skylight that showed me the way.
There was a crevice in the wall across the pond. It was real.
We could live.
Darren sprinted across the stream, and I wasn’t far behind.
The whole place was crumbling down. The walls shuddered and groaned. Bits of ceiling crashed to the floor as the wind howled against my ears. And still I ran.
So close.
No more than two hundred yards…
My bootstrap caught on a rock.
I lost my footing.
And then I went down, crying out as my palms hit the ice. I landed on my bandaged hand and the world went red.
The ceiling above gave a terrible moan.
Get up. Move. Run. My nails dug into the ice, but I couldn’t get enough traction to stand. Panic and pain were making it impossible to project.
And as the shard came plummeting down, I shut out the world. My senses screamed, but, gods, if I were going to die, it wouldn’t be because I failed to cast.
The world spun as I reached down deep—to the girl who’d spent countless library nights in meditation and binding magic to her will. The girl who had almost won a Candidacy and beat Darren’s lightning head on. She had control. She wouldn’t fail me in this moment. She would control the pain.
And then that boulder-sized glacier exploded right above my head; I’d won.
Seconds later I was on my knees, coughing up blood.
A second explosion sounded just behind my back.
I spun, righting myself as I stood.
Darren was hunched over, his fist still in the air. And there was another bit of fallen ceiling, easily twice the mass from the first, yards from where I had fallen on the ground.
My gaze flew to the king and something twisted in my lungs. Did he just save me?
Darren turned on his heel and started to run. I limped after him. The cavern was still well on its way to collapse.
The king was only ten yards ahead of me when the closest pillar fell. I didn’t see at it first because my eyes were glued to the ceiling straight ahead.
The Black Mage must have missed it too.
By the time the noise drew our attention, the structure had ripped free of its foundation and was starting to fall.
Darren threw out his hands and a spark of violet flared out across his palms.
But then it flickered and stopped.
Why…?
My heart stopped in its tracks. He had used up his magic.
I stopped breathing as my feet took off and my casting went hurtling out.
“Nooooooo!” I couldn’t even hear my scream.
The column rammed Darren’s side and chunks of ice and rock exploded the second my casting hit the edge. But it wasn’t enough.
I was too late.
Darren went down.
His black robe flapped out like wings as his body hit the floor. He didn’t even try to rise.
My pulse beat so loud I could no longer hear the room’s collapse.
All I saw was the boy and the wall’s crevice fifty yards away.
This was it. The Black Mage had fallen. And I would live.
I wouldn’t even need to use a blade to take his life.
Run.
Run, Ryiah, run. My mind was screaming at the top of its lungs. The walls were quaking all around. Run.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I stood, caught between the boy and freedom, between my life and everything else.
He’s a monster.
He’s not yours to save.
He’s dying.
He’ll never make it out.
Run.
My lips moved, but there was no sound. I was doing things with my hands, and then I was stumbling forward but not toward the wall.
There was a flash of light.
A violet hue as an amethyst globe appeared above us both. My casting quivered but held.
I sank to my knees by the king sprawled out across the floor. My vision blurred and my hands shook as I kneeled.
“You got w-what you w-wanted.” Darren’s chest rose and fell as he sputtered; his lips were stained with blood. “Your v-villain is dead.”
“But—”
“You fool.” Darren choked as he tried to sit up and swore, his face white as snow. Red seeped through the tunic covering his chest, bits of scarlet pooling underneath. “G-get out of h-here.”
“You saved me.” There was a blinding ache in my head. I could feel each time the casting trembled and shook. My projection was growing weaker with every second that passed, every time a bit of roof collapsed. “Why?”
How long would my magic last?
“D-didn’t save y-you.” He was struggling to breathe, and his words rattled in his chest.
Something inside of me snapped. Darren had never been in that second glacier’s path when we’d heard the explosion—he’d had no reason to cast.
Unless he’d been attempting to save me.
“Liar!”
Darren’s laugh was weak as he looked up at me. “S-so w-what if I a-am?”
It was like a blow to the ribs. I couldn’t breathe.
He swallowed.
“You h-have your a-answer.” The words were pained. “N-now g-go.”
The projection was splintering inside my head; I could feel it as every last strand snapped across space. So much of my world was awash in pain. So much of it was black.
You have your answer.
I did.