“Maybe. Care to find out?”
She smiled. “I hoped you'd want to play.”
Cindy threw the fireball in her hand at the warlock. It was completely ineffective, but it distracted her so I could draw my gun and shoot. The sound of the gunshots was overwhelming in the cave, and I cried out, not that anyone would hear it.
I felt a little tingle in my chest, and Cindy touched her hands to my ears, clearing up the ringing and pain.
Meg was pressed against the back wall of the cave, holding her hand to a gunshot in her shoulder, probably healing it. Cindy wasted no time, using her moment of vulnerability to throw lightning at her. I felt the tug and tingle in my chest. She put a lot of power behind it, but Meg sidestepped it.
I had moved a little slower and was able to change the trajectory of the fireball I sent her way, and it winged her on the shoulder, catching her robe on fire. She waved her arm over it as she watched us, not even flinching at her flesh sizzling from my extra-hot flames.
“Enough,” she roared, and went on the offensive, throwing fireballs and energy balls at us in rapid succession.
I hit the floor, but Cindy threw her arm up and pulled on my magic. The balls hit her defensive energy wall and fizzled out. While she protected us and she threw useless balls, I pulled on my fire, trying to get a narrow stream of it and conserve energy.
I almost came out of my skin when someone touched my back. My stream of fire erupted into a fireball that hit the wall behind the warlock, doing absolutely no damage.
I turned to find Axoular there, bleeding and hurt. He didn't miss a beat though. By the time I'd fully turned my head his way he was throwing spurts of fire at the warlock from behind Cindy's defensive wall like a champ. He was definitely better at it than I was.
“What about the others and the Valkyrie?” I asked as I focused on my stream of fire again. My idea was that I could move the stream like a water hose and Meg wouldn't be able to stop it, but the evil warlock put up a shield of her own with her left hand while throwing balls of increasing power with her other hand.
“She noticeably weakened, probably when you engaged this one here.” He stopped throwing fire that was doing no good, and I pulled in my stream.
I yanked him close to Cindy and grabbed the arm she wasn't using. “Channel him too,” I said. She grinned and closed her eyes, splitting her focus between the shield and Axoular.
The shield, which I couldn't actually see, must've flickered while she was distracted, because the next thing I knew, I was slammed against the wall, the breath knocked out of me. Axoular ran to me, running his hands over my body. I pushed him away, put my hands on my knees, and tried to breathe.
“Are you okay?” Cindy yelled, both hands pushing toward the warlock.
Once I could suck in a breath, I yelled back. “Yeah! Get her!”
She laughed. “This feels amazing!”
I looked at Axoular with a little bit of fear. I hoped she didn't take in too much power.
He shrugged and turned back to the warlock, who was backing up step by step. “How do you have this much power?” she asked, panic in her voice.
It was my turn to laugh as we unleashed more fireballs on her while Cindy battered her shield with energy. At least, I assumed that was what she was doing because our fireballs began to slip through it.
Suddenly the room was filled with people, Elias and Anthony flanking me, and the witches running up behind Cindy and putting their hands on her back.
Leo sucked in a breath. “This power!” He looked back at Axoular and me. “It's too much.”
I gave him a helpless look but had to stop sending fireballs. There were too many people in the way, and I didn't know where Cindy's shield ended.
Once Cindy had her coven around her, it was over quickly. The warlock couldn't withstand the combined power of our Sárkány magic and the witches.
“Kára?” I asked Elias, watching Meg weaken.
“Unconscious. I got the feeling you didn't want her dead.”
“I didn't, thank you.”
He kissed my hair.
“Was anyone hurt in there?”
“Hurt, yes. Dead, no.”
