Page 76 of Ava's Legacy of the Dragons
With gritted teeth, she jumped from side to side to make it harder for the mage to hit her, but he remained highly focused and hurled one volley after another. The people roared and cheered him on, but not all of them. There were visitors in the stands who sat silently, looking at her with pity or wincing when she herself did so from the pain.
But they didn't intervene to help her. They didn't say anything either.
Ava couldn't afford to pay attention to them. She tore her gaze away from the spectators, focused on her opponent, and ran to the side. She dodged his attack, which gave her body a brief moment of respite. The magic constantly hitting her was painful, hot, and glowing, as if these were needles of pure fire.
Without taking his eyes off her, Arthur conjured one magic sphere after another, threw them at Ava, and was already forming another while she dodged or deflected the projectiles. She didn't know how long he could keep this up, but her strength was clearly fading. She needed a solution.
She had to take action, just as the stranger had advised her.
Frantically searching for an opportunity, she looked around and ran towards the posts. Maybe she could use them. But before she reached them, Arthur muttered a binding spell that caused an invisible chain to wraparound her legs, which made her fall flat on her face in the sand.
She couldn't see what was binding her, but when she shook her feet, she was free again. She scrambled to her feet, ran to a wooden post, hid behind it, and gasped for breath. The mage ran after her and fired a magic bolt that crashed against the wood. It splintered, and the upper part of the post broke off as if it were a paper straw.
Ava quickly jumped aside before she could be hit, but Arthur had been waiting for just that. He hurled a binding spell at her back, which made her freeze on the spot. Unable to move, she stood stiff as a statue in the middle of the arena, incapable of stirring. Only her eyes darted back and forth desperately.
"What a pathetic opponent!" Laughing, Arthur turned to the audience, gesturing extravagantly to encourage them to cheer him on, and basked in the crowd's adulation. At the same time, a tingling sensation spread through Ava's body as the spell fell away, but the mage didn't notice. Ava seized the opportunity, grabbed the iron chain lying in the sand, and hurled it at Arthur. He flinched back before the iron links could hit him in the face. He glared at her hatefully as the iron chain turned to sand and trickled to the ground, pulverized.
Ava didn't wait for his attack. She immediately bent down, picked up a handful of sand, and threw it at him. Bored, Arthur erected a protective shield that the grains bounced off of. Ava immediately grabbed another iron chain and hurled it at him. But before it could hit him, it transformed into fluffy feathers and floated aside. At the same time, the mage formed a new lightning ball and thundered it at her.
If she hadn't immediately raised the dagger, itwould have hit her directly in the chest. Even so, the impact was intense. Her hand holding the weapon slammed against her chest, and part of the magic surged into her body. A paralyzing weakness coursed through her, her legs gave way beneath her, and she fell to her knees. Simultaneously, her opponent prepared the next barrage of attacks and laughed loudly.
She couldn't hesitate, couldn't catch her breath, or it would be over.
She clenched her jaw as she gathered her strength, then ran her hand through the sand once again, hurled a load at him, and dodged the attack, but the mage reversed the direction of the sand so that the grains flew towards her.
She ducked, squeezed her eyes shut, and raised her arms for protection. He was too strong for her. But she saw one last way out. Quickly, she turned to the audience. "I don't want to fight!"
The mage jutted out his chin. "You don't stand a chance against me anyway!"
"Why are we even fighting each other? Because Elora commands it? I didn't realize when we became enemies!"
"We mages can't trust anyone!" her opponent roared and formed the next attack.
The audience didn't react, or at least no one intervened. As far as she could tell from the occasional fearful expression, they didn't dare to.
She raised the dagger and jumped to the side. This time, she managed to deflect the sphere, but the projectile flew towards the audience. It landed with a loud bang on a chair that a spectator had just jumped away from just in time.
Startled, she raised her hands. "I don't want to hurt anyone!"
A murmur rippled through the spectator stands, prompting Elora to stand up and raise her right hand. The spectators immediately fell silent.
"Don't let yourselves be manipulated. She's not on our side, I can assure you, otherwise she wouldn't have befriended the dragon fighters who are the king's henchmen!"
Angry shouts erupted, and individual fists were raised in the air. Some remained silent, however. But Ava couldn't focus on this small group, as the mage was already hurling the next attack. She managed to deflect the first projectile, but the second followed so quickly that the blood-red lightning struck her arm unimpeded. She staggered back, the dagger slipping from her hand and falling to the ground.
Although the pain hissed through her body and threatened to paralyze her, she stretched out to grasp the weapon. She reached the handle just in time. She didn't know where she found the strength, but she reacted instinctively, raised her hand, and deflected a red bolt of fire.
How long could she keep this up? The possibility that she only needed to endure this for a certain time to secure her release was out of the question. One look into Elora's merciless eyes was enough to recognize the truth. The sorceress would not let her escape this arena. Even if Ava were to miraculously defeat her opponent, Elora would never dream of letting her go.
Her gaze met Elora's, and all she saw was hardened callousness. Nothing but the unrestrained will to do whatever was necessary to make the sorcerers the new rulers of this world.
"Finish this!" Elora demanded of Arthur, causing a cunning grin to appear on the sorcerer's face.
He had only been toying with her until now?
This realization hit Ava along with another attack, mercilessly revealing her chances of success. Unless a miracle happened, she wouldn't leave this arena alive.
A miracle...
