Page 99 of Staff of Nightfall

“It’s high time you died.” The sorcerer ran the sword through Regulus’ chest. The pain nearly made Regulus pass out. His scream stuck in his strangled throat, coming out in a thin moan. The sorcerer withdrew the sword. Sword and ropes vanished, and Regulus fell face-forward onto the ground. His chest was on fire. He couldn’t breathe. Blood pooled beneath him. From where he lay on the ground, he saw Adelaide bolt upright, her hand clutched over her sternum.

“Regulus!”

Slowly, the fire blazing in his chest cooled and the pain numbed. Adelaide ran toward him. At the last moment, she changed direction and snatched the staff off the ground. She slid across broken glass until she stood in front of him, the staff clasped in both hands.

“He’s not yours anymore.” The challenge in her voice forced a smile to Regulus’ face.

The sorcerer laughed. Regulus pushed himself to his knees, and the sorcerer’s laugh died on his lips. “What... Oh.” He slapped his forehead. “You put a bond on him. Idiot.”

“Your Highness!” Carrick ran into the hall, panting. “The king has escaped. I can’t find him.”

Relief filled Regulus as the sorcerer cursed.

“I’ll take that back.” A coil of green rope shot from the sorcerer’s hand and ripped the staff away from Adelaide, pulling her forward.

Adelaide conjured a flaming sword. Kirven held his hand forward, but Adelaide blocked the blast of flames with a shield of magical light. Regulus turned his attention to Carrick—right as Carrick slammed the pommel of his sword between Regulus’ eyes.

––––––––

ADELAIDE PANTED, SWEATtrickling down her back as she braced herself against Kirven’s fiery assault. She maintained the shield with her left hand, the flaming sword still held in her right. Pain exploded between her eyes, but she couldn’t look back at Regulus as she focused on withstanding Kirven’s attack. Kirven raised the staff, then slammed the end into the ground. A small tremor raced toward her, enough to knock her off balance. Kirven cursed and fumbled the staff. Her foot slid across glass and she fell onto one knee.

“Should we go, my lord?” Nolan said.

Kirven waved his hand and a blast of green she didn’t have time to block knocked her sideways. “Yes, but not empty-handed.”

He sent a dozen ropes toward her, leaning heavily on the Staff of Nightfall and looking pale. She raised a barricade around herself and tried not to worry how much strength she had left. A rope broke through her barrier and grabbed her wrist.

“Hargreaves is unconscious?” Kirven asked. Carrick answered in the affirmative and Adelaide looked toward Regulus. He lay in a heap on the floor. Her heart twisted, her concentration breaking. Another rope got through and circled around her waist.

“Good.” Kirven wiped his forehead with his sleeve. “Take him and go.”

“What?” Carrick sounded as stunned as Adelaide.

“Are you stupid, boy?” Kirven shouted. “Take him and get out of here now!”

In her surprise, she lost all control of the barrier. The ropes wound around her arms, her legs, her waist, her throat. She strained against them, watching helplessly as Carrick ran past her, Regulus thrown over his shoulder.

“No,” she choked out past the rope tightening around her neck. She let a blast of magical energy radiate off her entire body. The ropes disintegrated. She gasped in air.

“You’ve gotten better,” Kirven panted as he walked toward the entrance to the hall. “I’m too tired to continue fighting you right now.”

She stumbled to her feet and threw an arc of fire, but a green barrier stopped it. Kirven raised his left hand. Emerald light swirled around his legs, lifted him off his feet, then sped him toward the entrance. Adelaide darted around the barrier Kirven had left up. It disappeared as she passed it while Kirven floated out of the hall doors. She hitched up her dress and chased him.

A green shimmering barrier blocked the door behind him. She ran into it and was pushed back. “No!” She threw a fireball at it, but it held. “No, no, no!” She conjured a sword and attacked the barrier, but still it held. “Regulus!” She pounded the barrier with the sword, then stepped back and threw a stream of fire at the door. It flickered but didn’t break.

“No!” Wait. The windows.Idiot!She turned and ran to the nearest window and climbed up onto the sill, ignoring the shards of glass cutting into her palms. She fell three feet to the ground outside and twisted her ankle. “I don’t have time for this!” She tried to run without healing her ankle, but it slowed her progress and every step was excruciating. She cursed in Khast and stopped to heal her foot.

She didn’t see a trace of Kirven, Nolan, or Regulus in the front garden, so she hurried on. One of the royal guards knelt over a bleeding guard on the ground next to the open font gate.

“Where are they?” she screeched. “The sorcerer and Nolan Carrick and Regulus Hargreaves! Did you see them?”

The guard looked up, eyes wide, and pointed a shaking hand out the gate. She ran past into desolate streets. Kirven and Nolan were gone. And so was Regulus.

She fell to her knees on the cobblestones and screamed. A blast of flames flared around her, turning the stones black. Another shrill scream ripped up her throat, leaving it raw, and echoed against the palace walls.

---