Ice spreads through my veins as that crack spreads across the wall and up through the ceiling. Stone groans above us.
“Mabona’s fucking tits,” Alistair growls.
And then he releases the wall.
I cry out as the wall starts moving faster without Alistair pushing against it too. Spinning around, I press my back against it and try to dig my heels in instead to get a better grip.
“Alistair,” I call as he darts away. “What are you?—”
“Stand aside,” he snaps at Draven, ignoring my question.
Draven leaps aside as Alistair stalks up to the wall.
“Farther back,” Alistair says as he comes to a halt. “And use your wind to direct the heat away from the five of you.”
My boots slide across the ground, leaving deep ruts in the sand, as the wall pushes ever closer. There are only a few strides left now before it reaches the other wall. Panic pulses inside me like shock waves. We’re going to be crushed between them.
“Fuck,” Alistair growls as the fire along his arms shifts down to his palms instead. “This is going to take everything I have.”
Draven runs back to me, throwing his weight against the wall next to me. It stops the rapid sliding and forces the wall to move slower. But it’s still not enough.
“Wind!” Alistair snaps. “Now!”
While still bracing the wall, Draven summons his magic and sends gusts of wind rippling in the space between us and Alistair. Once Alistair’s curly blond hair is whipping with it, he positions both hands so that they’re facing the unmoving wall in front of him.
I just stare at him in disbelief. This will never work. If it was wood, sure. But it’s stone, for Mabona’s sake! It’s not even flammable.
Fire erupts through the corridor.
It bursts from his palms and streams through the air in one thick torrent before it hits the stone wall in front of him. Orange and yellow flames crash against the stone. Alistair clenches his jaw. Then the color of the fire starts changing. First towards white. Then the fire turns blue.
Even with Draven’s winds keeping the worst of it away from us, the heat that radiates from the fire is still insane. It fills the cramped corridor like thick fog, so oppressive that it’s almost difficult to breathe. Sweat slides down my temples and rolls down my spine as I continue to press myself against the wall, trying to keep it from crushing us.
Alistair, who is immune to his own fire magic and the effects of it, just stands there, his spine straight, and continues to pour violet-blue flames straight at the wall before him.
On the ground, Isera seems to be barely conscious anymore. Her chest rises and falls with jagged breaths.
We slide closer towards the middle. Towards the other wall.
I stare desperately at Alistair. This will never work. It will never?—
The stone before him begins tomelt.
My jaw drops.
I stumble, almost losing my grip on the wall before I manage to steady myself again. While pushing harder against the wall behind me, I stare at Alistair in shock.
Stone starts dripping away from where his flames hit, creating a hole.
But our walls continue pushing closer.
A strained grunt rips from my chest as I throw my entire weight against the wall, trying to force it to stop. Sand shifts around my boots as I slide steadily inwards.
Panic pulses in Lyra and Galen’s eyes as we are pressed so close to each other that it’s barely more than a few strides. Draven lifts his legs and places his feet flat against the opposite wall. With his back bracing our wall, he groans in exertion as he pushes hard with his legs. Galen quickly does the same from the other side. And so do Lyra and I.
The walls grind to an almost halt.
On the floor between us, Isera is lying on the sand, barely breathing through waves of terror, as her worst nightmare and most terrible fear has become reality.