Whom do I help?
“I need this more than you.” Ravin’s voice carries over the sounds of the battle he’s confidently ignoring. He stalks, deliberate and unhurried. “You want the World for your modest ambitions. My very existence depends on it.”
I turn, looking at them. Vaduin is in the corner. No cards hover. Hisdeck must be empty. How long were he and Sorza fighting on their own?
“You’re…” Vaduin’s mouth drops open with horror and shock.
“No!” Kaelis’s shout draws me back.
I turn with just enough time to see a Stellis charging for me, sword aimed at my heart. I duck and twist away, but not fast enough. The blade catches the hood of my cloak and snags. The sword slips and digs into my shoulder. The Four of Swords is already being cast to mend the small wound, but the knight is drawing back for another attack.
Mid-swing, he freezes, as if suddenly carved from stone. The knight’s mouth drops open, and blood almost as black as ink dribbles from his chin. His eyes roll up into his head, and he falls, lifeless.
I look from his body to where Kaelis looms behind him, his eyes burning with murderous rage. Wordlessly, he turns back to the other Stellis.
What card was that?
There’s no time to figure it out. Across the room, Gregor stumbles. Leigh’s blade has found its mark, slicing deep across his ribs. Blood pours down his side as he staggers backward.
“Gregor!” I start toward him. I don’t have another Queen of Cups; I used it on Sorza. I cast a Four of Swords, but it does little more than mend scratches. Ravin chooses that moment to make his move.
The Eight of Swords pins Vaduin in place with spectral weapons of light and shadow. Vaduin strains against them, fighting to break free. Ravin reaches forward; all along, he really did know where the vessel was.
Leigh’s blade is at Gregor’s throat. Her feet shift. She pulls it back.
Time slows to a crawl.
I must choose.
The vessel—the key to the World, to everything I want.
Or Gregor’s life.
My friend’s eyes meet mine across the chamber. Even bleeding and beaten, he manages a tired, bloodstained smile. A sob chokes up mythroat, and the world blurs. I’m moving but barely have control of my body.
No. No! I can’t. I can’t lose anyone else.
I summon the Ten of Wands with a cry as Leigh readies her strike. But my card doesn’t cast. Someone else tears it apart with a Ten of Swords. Aces are the fastest card, so I pivot to the Ace of Swords. Her falcon is faster again. Leigh’s blade whistles through the air.
Luck be on my side. Spin the wheel!
I cast the Wheel of Fortune.
The card twists from my deck and vanishes. A block of rubble loosens from the ceiling, falling heavily on Leigh’s blade. She’s thrown off-balance, and that gives Gregor enough time to roll away. Her sword hits the ground heavily right where he was. He gasps, wheezes, and tries to get upright. Blood continues to pour from him.
Behind me, Vaduin screams.
I glance back to find Ravin holding the vessel card aloft, its light pulsing through his fingers like a captured star. “Finally,” he breathes, and for the first time since I’ve known him, there’s genuine emotion in his voice. Relief. Triumph. “Reality will be mine.”
Chapter 64
“No!” I start toward Ravin, but Leigh is already moving to intercept me.
“I have you,” she snarls, her blade coming down in a vicious arc. It shines in the firelight, picking up the magic glow of cards being cast around us.
I barely get my sword up in time. The impact sends shock waves up my arms. Her eyes lock with mine, squinting.
She must be seeing through the Seven of Cups. No, it’s been more than seven minutes since Kaelis cast it. Did she see me cast the Wheel of Fortune? Does she know what that card was? If she did, then she knows that Clara Graysword has new eyes because no one else would have that card.
