Page 243 of Of Kings and Kaos
I pushed hastily to a stand, tripping over my feet as Tine grabbed beneath my arms and hauled me upright.
“We have to keep moving, Ellowyn!” There was fear dripping in every word, and I squinted to hear him better, the ringing in my ears almost too loud to hear anything else.
“Watch out!” Leal screamed, her loud exclamation punching through the haziness of my thoughts.
Tine’s face was ghostly white, but his mouth was set in grim determination, pushing me to the ground once more with little fanfare. My shoulder and elbow struck the unforgiving stone, and my breath left my body from the impact.
My gaze never left his as I tried to comprehend why he’d shoved me back onto the bloody ground.
Tine’s eyes widened slightly, fear and acceptance lighting his laughing blue orbs, before he was struck in the chest by a fireball no bigger than my fist. It punctured straight through his chest, leaving a smoldering hole in its wake. He choked once, a rattling breath escaping his surprised lips, before he crumpled feet from me to the ground like a marionette without its strings.
“TINE!” I heard his twin scream from somewhere to my right, disbelief and pain lancing through his call.
I threw myself prone to the ground, chest sliding through the congealing pool of blood, and crawled my way to his body, arm-over-arm. Scrambling, I pushed Tine’s body so his back was flush with the ground, exposing the wound.
“No, no, no, no,” I muttered as I examined the hole with shaky hands. The fireball was well placed—a shot directly where my heart would have been if Tine hadn’t shoved me to the ground first. I felt, more than saw, an Air Shield pop into place above our bodies. A small blessing as further magical attacks suddenly peppered the space above us.
I worked quickly to rip the singed shirt from his torso, trying in vain to ignore the still-smoking fabric around the wound site.
“I’m a Creation Mage, I can fix this,” I mumbled in an attempt to distract myself from what I was seeing. The fireball had gone straight through his body—from this angle, I could see the blackened stone below. There was no blood; the heat had cauterized the wound as it entered and exited, but the placement of the strike was too precise. I tore my eyes from the wound, desperately searching for signs of life.
Tine’s skin was even paler than usual, his chest alarmingly still. Even though I knew what his body was telling me, I refused to believe that he was dead. That he’d sacrificed himself for me.
“Fuck,” I swore, channeling my Creation Magic into his lifeless body, willing him to wake. “Come on. Please. Wake up and give me shit. Tell an inappropriate joke about a penis hat.You can’t leave your brother, he needs his other half. And what about Leal? You’re together now. I didn’t think you a coward to leave her behind.”
I didn’t even know what I was saying, incoherent mumblings passing my lips as I tried without success to get my Creation Magic to attach to something living inside.
There was nothing.
Each time I channeled, it sputtered and died, the bright-green tendrils never even reaching his chest cavity.
“Tine! Wake up! Please, wake up!” Talamh slid into the Air Shield, the surface of it shuddering and nearly dying before catching once more. I saw Leal off to the side, protected by a contingent of our Mages as her sweat from the effort of holding our shield for so long mixed with the tears on her face. It was clear that she was almost at the end of her magic, her crystals almost drained.
Fuck.The battle had just begun.
Though the slowly lightening sky told a different story.
Talamh’s sob tore me from my thoughts as I saw him bend over his brother’s body, clutching Tine’s chest to his face. Both of their forms shuddered with the force of Talamh’s grief, Tine’s head and arms flopping listlessly as his twin shook him.
“Why? We were supposed to do thistogether,you idiot. Now you’ve gone somewhere I can’t follow.” His voice cracked at the admission, and I awkwardly patted his back in comfort. There was time to grieve, but it was not right now.
A quick glance over my shoulder showed the rapidly approaching gods’ army, their Mages and Vessels making relatively quick work of the shoddy front line that was hastily scraped together. A burst of bright fire, followed by a thick, green vine, drew my attention down the line, and my heart leaped at the sight of Torin fighting side-by-side with theAcademy Mages, barely restrained savagery written in every inch of his expression.
But he was tiring.
It was clear in his posture and in the ferociousness of his attacks. At one point, he stumbled when a Mage-less Vessel was able to score a thin slice to his cheek.
I hissed involuntarily; the sight of Torin injured igniting some primal, protective instinct deep within me.
That one will die.
My hand gripped Talamh’s shoulder, and I pulled him away from the body of his brother. He screamed obscenities at me and tried to scramble back.
“Let me die with him, let me die,” he sobbed, and I shook him slightly, bringing his face to my own.
“That is not what Tine would have wanted. I know you’re consumed by grief right now, but if we don’t move, we willalldie,” I hissed. “Leal’s magic is faltering. We have seconds before this shield collapses and we’re forced to facethat.” I pointed at the horde.
As if to punctuate my words, the shield flickered and died.
