Page 106 of The Ruins of the Heartless Fae

Kolfinna erected her own shield and cloaked her hands with broken chunks of rocks while Revna continued attacking her shield. To her right, Magni was using a raised coffin as a barrier from Revna’s attacks. Meanwhile, on her left, Truda was slicing the rocks in half with her air magic. When Revna’s attacks slowed, Kolfinna emerged from her wall.

“You used me!” Kolfinna ducked from a sword attack.

“I helped you, and you helped me,” Revna said. “You would’ve been stuck in that dimension without my help.”

Kolfinna charged at her, intent on smashing her face with her fists of rocks, but at the last second, something snaked around her ankle. She barely had time to look down before the thick, green vine pulled her from under her feet. Her vision blurred and she yelped, flailing like a rag doll across the room. The smell of something burning assaulted her nose and she was released from its grip. She flew in the air and crashed into the wall.

Kolfinna doubled over, gnashing her teeth to keep from screaming. Her ankle felt like it would twist off her leg, and her back ached terribly. It was wet and sticky. Kolfinna struggled to sit up, her body groaning in protest. The vine Revna had used was half-burnt, she realized; Magni had helped her.

A movement to her right caught her attention. Mímir and Blár still fought each other; a sheen of sweat clinging to both of their faces. Time slowed as Mímir ducked from Blár’s punch, flipped the dagger in his hand, and thrust it into Blár’s stomach. Kolfinna’s eyes widened just as Blár’s did. He looked down, but it was too late. His eyelids fluttered shut and he collapsed in a split second.

Kolfinna gasped. Blár was out cold. Mímir stood over his body, breathing heavily, theGenfødsel Knivin his hand. Kolfinna’s mind whirled as she processed everything: Blár had been stabbed with theGenfødsel Kniv.If they weren’t able to get the dagger from Mímir, Blár would be asleepforever. A chill settled in her bones. They needed Blár. If there was a war against the world as they knew it, they needed Blár on their side. Furthermore, she didn’twanthim to sleep forever.

Mímir’s gaze drifted to the coffins and he took off running. Kolfinna’s mind spun. He would awaken them all, and then they would have to face a horde of ancient fae bent on sucking their mana dry. That couldn’t happen.

She picked up a nearby rock and threw it with all her force, not even bothering to feel for her mana. It whizzed past Mímir’s head. He glanced over his shoulder at her, his eyes widening. In that split second, she forced a part of the floor to jut out in front of him. He tripped and skidded on the floor, the dagger flying out of his hand and clattering among the debris and rocks.

Kolfinna was in front of him in seconds. “You traitor!”

“Kolfinna—” He started rising to his feet slowly, his eyes flitting from the floor to her face.

She stomped a foot on the floor, pumping her mana into the stones surrounding her feet. In seconds, the stones launched at him from every direction. He didn’t have time to react as half a dozen stones smashed into him and pinned him to the floor. She encircled him in another ring of stones, but this time, she clapped her hands together, forcing the stones to encase him until only his head stuck out from them. He wriggled against the rocks, but it was too solid.

“Kolfinna,” he breathed, “stop—”

Kolfinna tightened her hold on him, but the stones suddenly released and he fell to the floor. Kolfinna’s gaze darted to Revna, who had danced away from Magni’s fire and Truda’s wind attacks. Kolfinna’s eyes narrowed. Revna was still watching.

Mímir searched the floor around him, but the dagger wasn’t there. Kolfinna raised a stone beside her and shot it at him. He was so focused on his task that he didn’t see it coming. It cracked against his temple and he fell forward, his body limp.

Kolfinna used her mana to pile stones around his wrists and feet, then melded the stones together until they became solid stone bindings. Once that was done, she returned her attention back to the fight. Truda and Magni were struggling against Revna. Their attacks, although hitting her occasionally, weren’t doing much damage, if at all. Her sword leeched the brunt of most of the attacks, likely sucking the mana from them.

Kolfinna hesitated as she stood between the edge of two important decisions: she could either join the others to fight Revna, or she could search for theGenfødsel Knivand wake Blár.

Her decision came quick.

Kolfinna dropped to her knees, her hands swimming across the floors. She kept glancing at Revna to make sure she didn’t throw another attack or sneak vines over her body.As much as she wanted to fight, Blár was more important; if they had him in this fight—

“Kolfinna, we could really use your help!” Truda shouted just as she was hit in the chest with a large rock. She flew backward and tumbled like a doll.

Kolfinna cursed loudly as she looked between Truda and Blár, who remained still on the floor like a corpse. She wanted to help him, and a part of her knew it was more than just his powers that she needed him here. But they needed her right now.

Kolfinna ran to Truda and Magni. She would have to deal with Revna first.

She drew upon the mana deeply nestled in her body, feeling the nature in the ravine. She had been wary to use her nature powers in the ruins since she hadn’t wanted to destroy the ruins, and simply because plant matter was far away, but she needed her powers more than ever.

She uprooted chunks of the walls and flung them at Revna, who attempted to dodge by jumping backward. Magni seemed to expect that because he sent a blaze of fire directly behind Revna. A scream ripped from Revna’s throat and she flapped her wings and theMagisk-æderto free herself from it, but it continued to spread.

Revna tried to bolt up into the sky, but Kolfinna’s vines were already spreading below her, hidden by the upturned stones she had thrown. They flung upward and grabbed her ankle, yanking her down. Revna grunted as she slammed onto the floor. Magni and Truda volleyed fire and air slices at her while Kolfinna continued to tangle her in vines. Revna swung her sword, trying to cut the vines. Kolfinna felt the tug of magic as Revna tried to take control of her vines with her mana, but Kolfinna didn’t surrender. Her mana held tight over her vines, even as Revna tried again to take control of them.

Flecks of Magni’s fire landed on the vines, but they didn’t burn. Kolfinna’s mana kept them from burning in the carnage in front of her. A realization dawned on Kolfinna: when Revna had tried attacking Kolfinna with vines earlier in the battle, Magni’s fire had been able to burn them. But here, Magni’s fire wasn’t hurting Kolfinna’s vines.

Revna might’ve been able to beat Kolfinna when it came to runes, but Kolfinna was better at manipulating nature.

She tightened the reins of her vines around Revna and squeezed tightly. Revna tried again to take over Kolfinna’s vines, but her attempts were futile. Magni’s fire roared over Revna’s body and she thrashed against the vines holding her hostage and the unrelenting fire.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Revna twisted her wrist and she tried to cut the vines with the sword, but Truda kicked the hilt of the blade, where it skidded across the room.

Magni’s fire finally calmed down and dissipated as he stood over Revna. He clutched his injured arm tightly and glowered at Revna. “You’ve lost.”

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