Page 101 of The Fate of Magic
“He’s going to take her to the Origin Tree,” Cornelia says, answering my unspoken thoughts. “We have to cut him off—”
“He’ll get Liesel first,” I say. I remember what they’d all said before, weeks ago, when we first started this quest. There were three stones, onefor each goddess—earth, air, water. But the fourth element came from the witches.
Fire.
“He would just need any witch’s fire,” Cornelia starts to say, shaking her head. “It doesn’t have to be—”
“He’ll take Liesel.” I am bone-certain of this, and while I hate that I know the enemy so well, I do not doubt that he wouldn’t love the synchronicity of it, the poetry of his terror.
I turn to the door, a crack of light escaping from the other side. He must have gone that way—the bloody footprints lead in that direction. I motion for Alois and Cornelia to follow me.
I have to be careful.Fritzi has no magic now and nothing to protect her. Nothing but my sword.
Outside, I duck behind a heavy tree branch, my eyes on the fading bloody footprints. Out of the corner of my vision, I see Cornelia and Alois following my lead, taking cover. I can hear—screaming? I dare a look down.
Scheisse. Hexenjägers areeverywhere. We assumed he would use the water stone as a weapon, but it didn’t occur to use that he’d be able to turn the rivers and creeks into a Trojan horse. These hexenjägers are black-cloaked and well-armed as they move like shadows through the witches fighting back, a battle that feels like an even deeper betrayal because it rages through the place I have come to see as home.
As safe.
How is he doing this?He had magic to control people like puppets before, but he lost that power. Is this the water stone? Can Dieter use the liquid within a human body to force it to fight? Or has he found enough vitriolic blood-thirsty monsters of men willing to ignore his own magic in the water to kill the witches he revealed here?
I cannot focus on how he’s done this; I must only do what I can now to stop it from getting worse.
Chaos rattles the trees. Shouting, gunfire, magical blasts, horses, crackling fire—
And a voice.
Fritzi.
“Liesel!” she calls across the treetops in a singsong tone. “Come out, come out!”
Fritzi wouldnevercall to her cousin like that.
Buthewould.
My eyes scan the trees. Most of the buildings among the branches are empty, hollow shells as the residents have all gone to arms on the forest floor below. My heart twinges—Hilde. She’s a brewer, not a warrior. But Brigitta will protect her…
Fritzi isn’t too far away from me—I could reach her with a hard sprint across the bridge nearest me, down a ladder, and over another bridge. But I would give away my cover, and I am absolutely certain thatheis here, nearby. Hidden as well.
“Fritzi?” Liesel’s voice cuts across the cacophony. I only hear it because I’m waiting for it, dreading it.
Fritzi kneels on a bridge, arms spread wide. “Come here, cousin.”
“Is that blood on you?”
They’re on a landing. My stomach heaves—she’s near the school, where the other children of the Well learn magic and math and letters. I see Manegold, the young man who teaches charms to the students, crouching near the window as Liesel takes a tentative step through the door. Wisps of hair and flashes of colored clothing—the children are hiding.
They know something is wrong.
But Liesel trusts Fritzi.
She walks slowly onto the bridge.
“Come to me,” Fritzi says, her words muffled by the sounds of the battle below.
I look around frantically. This position on the balcony by the council room has afforded us cover, but now feels too far away. Alois shows me his empty palms—he has only a sword at his hip—and Cornelia’s magic isn’t ready for this. I have no distance weapons, but if I can locate Dieter—
Liesel steps into Fritzi’s arms.
