The shadows at his feet writhed closer to them as he spoke, growing stronger. They slithered across the ground and snaked around them, black and choking. Kara felt them brush against her mind, stealing her strength. For the second time, her mind was corrupted. Full of her worst fears, her worst memories. Sebastian on the pyre, Sebastian bleeding on the ground. The visions tore through her skull, echoing words she’d heard before. Not Silas’s voice. Cade’s. Cold and cruel.
You’ll make a pretty fire, Kara Hale.
Cade’s face rose from the dark, the jeering sneer so real she gagged as the nausea rose.
See if we can get you screaming my name instead.
The shadows thickened until all she saw was Cade reaching for her again, dragging her back to that cell. She staggered, feeling the bond tremble with Sebastian’s matching terror as the dark magic clawed athim too. She forced her eyes open and saw Sebastian’s sword dip slightly.
No, not again. Not ever again.
Kara flung her free hand out. Ice-white magic, threaded with gold, erupted from her palm, blindingly bright. It chased away the darkness – it recoiled, hissing like it was alive. The visions fizzled out. The whispers quieted. Sebastian’s steadiness returned in her chest.
Silas only tilted his head, unimpressed. “Not bad,” he drawled. “But you are no Caldris.”
She pushed harder, deeper, past the exhaustion and fear. She shot the same golden-white magic directly into his chest with enough force to make him stagger backwards, just one step.
“I don’t need to be,” she snarled.
Sebastian struck. No hesitation. He was speed and precision and pure rage. But Silas was strong. Stronger even than Sebastian with his crimson running through his veins. Kara hurled herself forward, blade raised, ice-white magic giving way to crimson which hummed across her body. She refused to let him stand alone. The three collided in a storm of steel and shadow, Silas meeting them both blow for blow as if their combined strength were nothing. Two Thorne soldiers stormed forward to help, but Silas jerked a hand in their direction without breaking his stride. The soldiers were gone in an instant – viciously hurled metres across the field, wrapped in darkness and shadow. They didn’t get up. Sebastian flung out his free hand, and tree roots snaked up Silas’s legs, binding him. Kara seized the opening and pushed out her golden mist, surrounding Silas. Hope flared – she thought she might put him under – but his shadows reared, swallowing her magic whole as he tore himself free, laughing at their efforts.
It hit her then. Sebastian’s doubt. He was trying to hide it – protecting her even now. But the truth bled into her all the same. He wasn’t sure they could beat him. The thought shook her more than the enemy they were fighting. They’d survived so far; they’d damn well survive this.
Come on, Sebastian. We can do this.
She didn’t know if he heard her – his mind locked on Silas, survival, the next strike. Sebastian snarled, and flung his free hand towards the sea. A towering wall of water answered, slamming into Silas with enough force to shatter bones. The water rushed violently against the dark crystal of his armour, pulling him under. But he strode out of the flood like it was no more than light rainfall, his shadows burning viciouslyaround him. Kara seized the chance anyway. She reached for Lyran magic and thrust violet light at his mind, his heart, his will. She poured despair into him – loss, dread, the fear and hopelessness she’d once drowned in – trying to crush him from within.
Feel it. Feel what you’ve done to us. Break under it.
But when her magic struck, there was nothing. Just an empty, endless void. The Dracanth had hollowed him out. Silas felt nothing. No grief, no fear for her to grip. His laughter sounded across the battlefield, cold and merciless.
“You think me human enough to weep?” Silas hissed, shoving her light away with a pulse of shadow. “I have no heart. No soul. Only the Dracanth remains.”
Silas swung, black steel meeting Sebastian’s blade with a clash that echoed through her. Kara dove in at his flank, her sword slicing for the gap in Silas’s armour. His grin slipped as her blade drew blood.
Sebastian pressed the advantage, crimson roaring over him as he drove Silas back a step, then another. Kara threw a golden-ruby shield over Sebastian, deflecting a blow that would have shattered his ribs, and together they struck again.
The Prince of Draknor stumbled for the first time.
Then everything tilted. Another Draken landed a brutal strike straight into Kara’s side, sending her crashing to the ground. She hit the earth hard, her breath knocked clean out of her. When she looked up, a towering Draken stood over her. Broader than all but Silas himself, face jagged with scars, his blade already rising for the next blow. His stare cold and full of purpose. She threw up a Fatàn shield, felt a shock jolt through her as his blade hit it. She rolled away and hauled herself to her feet. Sebastian’s panic at them being separated jolted through her. His fear for her. It broke through on his face for the first time. She sent nothing but reassurance back, he couldn’t be distracted. Not now.
I’m okay. Keep fighting.
The Draken’s shadow loomed closer, pressing her back step by step, blades clashing. Sebastian was still locked in combat with Silas, but maybe twenty paces away now. Every second between them was a second too long. He was faltering without her, Silas’s shadows were weakening him–
No–
But this soldier, this wretched wall of steel and darkness, would not let her pass. He drove her further back with each strike, baring hisblackened teeth. “Too slow, Warrior,” he chuckled. “Your Commander dies today.”
“Get out of my way!” she screamed, panic tearing at her.
“Oh, do youlovehim?” the soldier grinned, enjoying her terror.
She heard Silas snarl, “You fight well.Verywell. The best I’ve faced,” as he pushed Sebastian back a step. “But it won’t be enough.”
Kara feinted left, then drove her blade through the gap in his guard and with a ruthless strike she finally dropped the Draken blocking her way. Tobias was fighting his way towards them too, but he was much further away than she was. Kara ran. Just ten paces now. Then five. She threw out her hand in desperation, a shield, mist,anything.
I can get there. I have to get there.
