Page 11 of Between Fear and Favor

“Hurry!” Anton shouted at me, and I gaped in horror at the woman in his arms. Edwina had an arrow through her shoulder, and she grimaced as he adjusted her in his grasp.

Without a word, I ushered them both through another rift before pushing a wall of water toward the boat navigating its way closer. The conduit was timing his wind divinity with the waves, aiming between two pillars. The twang of a bow echoed beneath the stone bridge, but the corresponding arrow never struck. Just as the archer released their shot, my tremendous wave overturned the boat. A mild breeze tangled through my hair and caressed my shoulders, a measure of defense from the conduit I’d knocked into the water. I didn’t bother drowning them; there was little they could do to stop me, and it was likely they’d die within the blast I was about to cause.

The obsidian orb was lodged into a hole in the pillar—far higher than I would have liked. Edwina had likely climbed up the stone and found herself in the archer’s sights. I didn’t have time for this. Once the bomb was lit, I’d have to dive away and open a rift, and I didn’t trust myself to do it fast enough.

Glancing over my shoulder, I couldn’t tell how much of the bridge still stood. Dusk had turned to darkness quickly, and all I could see was a cloud of dust from the previous explosions. I wondered if perhaps I could manipulate the seabed far below. If I could use my divinity to shift the earth, it could destabilize the bridge without the explosives.

But I couldn’t quite sense the ground. The water was so deep here that I was too far away to use my divinity to its full extent. I did my best, but I could barely feel the deep vibration in the water. At the very least, perhaps I’d shifted the seabed enough that the next blast would complete what I’d started.

My only alternative was to use Em’s divine fire and hope. Because I had no idea what would happen. Would I have time to escape? Would I even be able to summon her divinity? Our bond had weakened with distance—both mental and physical. With my chest and head aching, I knew I’d expended far more divinity than I was comfortable with. Rifting so many times in a row had been difficult.

Was it worth the risk?

As I took a moment too long to ponder the best course of action, the conduit I’d thrown into the water surged toward me. Using his divinity, he propelled himself through the water. With an aching disappointment, I noticed he was barely older than Dickey. And with that knowledge, though it pained me, I drowned him anyway. Turning away as I forced water down his throat with my divinity, I decided I couldn’t take any more chances. I opened another rift.

“Where’s Shade?” I demanded when I could only see Maurice clinging to the pillar. He was trembling, blond hair wet and sticking to his forehead, and I was sure he’d lose his grip any moment.

“That way!” he yelled, nodding toward shore. “She heard a scream and started swimming!”

Spinning in the water, I turned to see Shade, swimming toward the destruction I’d just come from. It was unlike her to leave her post, but when Edwina shouted, she must have stopped what she was doing to go to her.

“Shade!” I shouted, but my soldier couldn’t hear me. Though we didn’t blow up the bridge where Edwina and Anton had been, I watched as it crumbled. Moving toward us at speed, it almost reminded me of the game Ven and I had played as children. We’d lined up tiles across the study and into the corridor, creating all manner of swirling designs, before we’d knock down the first piece. Rippling around the room, the tiles had fallen in their spiral patterns. But there was no pattern here. Like an approaching wave, the bridge crumbled, and I didn’t know what to do.

Could I rescue Shade and Maurice before we were all buried by the collapsing stone?

I chose the boy. Shade knew better than to leave the place I’d planned to meet her. I cared for the woman, but Maurice was here.

“Through my rift!” I shouted, and Maurice only stared at me.

“But the—” he started, pointing toward the orb wedged within the stone.

“It doesn’t matter!”

Eyes widening, he stared toward the rapidly collapsing bridge. “Shit!” he exclaimed before leaping into the water.

Lasu stood on the other side of the rift, hand outstretched to help Maurice.

“Come on,” Lasu said as I shoved Maurice through the water with my divinity. When I didn’t follow immediately after, he grew agitated. “What are you doing?”

“Shade needs my help,” I responded, not bothering to explain. Lasu opened his mouth to argue, but I allowed the rift to close.

The loud crash of stone behind me should have been enough to deter me from following after my soldier. But even the sound of a rift opening and soldiers shouting with their Nythyrian accents wasn’t enough. Shade had helped rescue me from death. She’d waded through literal shit with Dewalt to rescue her king. The least I could do was try.

The responding enemy soldiers were shoving their small boat through the open portal, unleashing twenty men onto us from the warship on the horizon. Without further delay, I opened a rift closer to where I’d last seen my soldier.

“Shade!” I shouted once more. In the time it took me to push Maurice onto the beach, Shade had gone even farther. What was she doing? She had to have known I wouldn’t have let anything happen to Edwina. I shouted my soldier’s name once more, and she halted. She was nearly impossible to see in the dark. With her long dark hair, she would have been easy to miss, especially from the dust which fell down around us. Larger stones rained down, and I knew it was only a matter of time before the whole thing collapsed on top of us.

Though exhausted with a raging headache, I intended to rift toward Shade once more. But as she turned to swim toward me, the section above her gave out. A large chunk of stone fell, and I couldn’t see her anymore.

“Fuck!”

Swimming through another rift, dodging large rocks as they fell, I knew she was probably already dead. But I wouldn’t give up before I knew it for sure. Expending far more divinity than I had any right to, causing white flashes on the edge of my vision, I created armor made of air. Using it to protect my body, I dove down after her.

I didn’t know what made me think I’d be able to find the woman. Night had descended, the water was murky at best, and pieces of the bridge slammed into the water around me. I grunted as a particularly large piece of debris slammed into my side, though the air pocket I’d created around myself softened the blow. My head was spinning as I dove deeper, and I increased the air pocket around my hand so I could call upon Em’s divine fire. It was difficult, our bond groaning and flaring a dark gold because of our distance.

I would run out of divinity soon enough, so I mustered every bit of strength I had to find the woman who had once saved me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could have sworn I saw a massive fish, but I assumed it was a trick of the mind. The chaos and the explosions would have scared away all life nearby. The divine light in my hand did little to help me. It illuminated my surroundings, but all I could see was dust. Suddenly, something sped in front of me. Quick, like some sort of predator, it swam to my right before diving deep. I blinked, understanding dawning, before I followed after.

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