“Stand down!” I shout, forming a barrier of electrified water. It holds against the first assault, fractures on the second. “You don’t have to do this!”
“You betrayed us!” Kellan’s response comes with a spear of pressurized water that punches through my defense. I redirect it at the last second, but feel the strain. “You chose a Sky-dweller over your own kind!”
“I chose survival over extinction!” I counter-attack, not to kill but to disable. Water wraps around his legs, pulling him off balance. “Caspian’s plan?—”
Another warrior blindsides me. Pain explodes across my ribs as his hydrokinetic blow connects. I go under, tasting blood, and have to fight my way back to the surface. They’re coordinating. Using tactics I taught them. Turning my own strategies against me.
Through the bond, I feel Zara’s alarm spike. Feel her impulse to dive down, to help, to blast them with lightning until they stop.
Don’t, I send, urgent. The ritual. Focus on the ritual.
I sense her hesitation. Her fear for me. Her desperate need to protect what she loves.
But I also feel her trust. Her faith that I can handle this.
Please, I add. Let me fight this battle. You fight yours.
The connection steadies as she makes her choice. I feel her banking away, climbing higher, gathering power. Leaving me to face ten warriors alone while she stops genocide.
It’s the right call. The only call. But gods, I wish we could stand side by side right now.
I surface in time to block another assault. Three more warriors have joined the fight—I’m up to thirteen now. They’re trying to push me away from the dam, away from Caspian, away from any chance of disruption. Smart. Frustrating.
I gather every ounce of hydrokinesis I possess and release it in a shockwave. Water explodes outward in all directions, throwing warriors back. It buys me seconds. Maybe.
In those seconds, I assess. Thirteen against one. I’m enhanced, transformed, stronger than any individual opponent. But they have numbers. Coordination. And unlike me, they have no qualms about lethal force.
I shift fully aquatic, dropping into my sleeker form. Faster this way. Harder to hit. The electricity that now runs through my veins makes me even more dangerous—every touch I deliver carries a charge that locks muscles and disrupts magic.
I dart between them like a missile, tagging warriors with precise strikes. Not enough to kill. Enough to drop them, make them think twice, force them to focus on defense instead of offense.
But there are too many. For every one I disable, two more press forward.
One gets through my guard. His water blade cuts deep across my back. Another hits my leg. A third nearly crushes my ribs with pure pressure.
I’m bleeding now. Really bleeding. The river around me turns pink.
Through the bond, Zara screams my name. I feel her terror, her rage, her desperate need to abandon the ritual and save me.
I’m fine, I send. It’s a lie. She knows it’s a lie. But she also knows I’d rather die fighting than let thousands drown because we were too focused on saving each other.
Trust the plan, I send. Stop Caspian. I can hold them.
Another lie. But a necessary one.
I can’t hold them.
That becomes clear when three more warriors join the fray. Sixteen total now. More than half of Caspian’s force, all focused on the traitor who dared to choose love over loyalty.
A water hammer catches me full in the chest. I go under hard, hit the river bottom, and barely manage to push off before they pin me there. My vision blurs. Everything hurts. The electricity crackling along my scales is dimming—power reserves depleting faster than I can replenish them.
Above the river’s surface, I hear thunder. Feel lightning building in the clouds. Zara’s doing. She’s gathering for her strike on the ritual.
I need to buy her time. Just a few more minutes. Just long enough for her to disrupt Caspian’s concentration, shatter the focusing circle, give the dam a chance to survive.
I can do this. I have to do this.
I surface in the center of the ring of warriors, and this time I don’t hold back. Electricity and water merge, not in careful combination but in explosive fusion. The liquid lightning I create lashes out in every direction, striking six warriors simultaneously. They seize, cry out, fall.
