I wasn’t even sure if it could do that, or if it understood what I wanted. I gave it one desperate look, then hurried through the door after Raphael.
“For someone who hopes to evade capture, I would have thought you might move faster.”
“Hey, this is a big deal for me, Raphael. I’m not doing this lightly.”
“Hmm, indeed.” He didn’t sound convinced, but he also wasn’t throwing fireballs at me, so I was calling that a win. He strode down the hallway we’d followed to get here and I stuck with him.
The journey back didn’t seem to take nearly as long as the one down here, even with me moving as slowly as I dared. I tried to count in my head how long it might take for Elias to round up the cavalry and come save my behind, but the truth was, I didn’t even know if the familiar would be able to get my message to him. For now, I was on my own.
Raphael navigated the twists and turns of the hallways as easily as if he’d had a map – either he’d been toying with me before, or he had a really good memory. Within moments, we were back out into the more frequently used areas of the prison. From here on, he’d have to move more slowly, or risk running into an enforcer patrol.
“Don’t suppose you know an invisibility spell?” I asked, raising an optimistic eyebrow.
“You know as well as I that no such thing exists. Perhaps we ought find a busier route so you can overcome your aversion to bloodshed.”
“Yeah, or we could focus on getting out of here alive. Whichever you prefer.”
I didn’t manage to sound quite as blasé as him, but I gave myself points for effort, and then remembered I had bigger problems.
“Seriously, Raphael, how are we going to get past the guards? This wasn’t part of my plan.”
He stopped and rounded on me.
“I am the most powerful druid in living memory. A few enforcers will not stop me.”
“And I’m the druid who brought you down,” I hissed. “If you hurt anyone in this escape…”
“Save your idle threats,” Raphael brushed them aside as though they were nothing more than buzzing insects. “Your only talent on that night was your ability to evade certain death.”
“Um… harsh.”
“Prove me wrong.”
I would love to prove him wrong – preferably by throwing him back in his cell in time to beg Elias not to lock me in the adjoining one. Too bad I didn’t have any idea how I was actually going to do it.
“Now, if you have no further objections, it’s time for you to earn your keep.”
“Excuse me?” Given that I’d just busted him out of an inescapable cell, I was pretty sure I’d done more than enough. Nausea roiled in my stomach. Much more.
He gestured to the hallway in front of him.
“Guide us to the exit.”
“I’m not turning my back on you.”
“Scared?”
“Terrified,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Ah, yes. Amazing what regaining your magic can do for your sense of mortality.”
“Yeah, let’s go with that. Straight up here, then turn left.”
The hallways were deserted. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. At least none of the unsuspecting enforcers would stumble across Raphael in his disguise and fall easy prey to his magic. On the other hand, every step took us closer to the exit, and if Elias didn’t come… it didn’t even bear thinking about.
I guided him through the winding corridors in terse tones, and every time I even considered steering him round in circles, his gaze pierced me, as though he could see right through my intentions. I guided him the right way. Killian was right: I was a coward.
We rounded the final corner far too soon. There was no alarm, no sign of backup arriving, or Elias rushing in to save the day. I was on my own. Maybe the familiar never even delivered my message. Through the studded wooden door was the entrance hall, manned by two enforcers, and beyond that was the exit, freedom, and the death of everything I’d fought to protect.
He pushed the door open and stepped through to the entrance hall. One of the enforcers behind the desk nodded to ‘Cody’ in recognition, and Raphael nodded back, striding across the open floor.
I clenched my jaw. Screw Killian. I was no coward.
I drew my hand back, connected with my newly restored magic – even dampened by the room’s wards, it pulsed bright as a flare – and flung a fireball at the dark druid. The ball struck him square, and he roared in pain. Indecision flickered across his face – no doubt torn between engaging with me, and making a run for it. Come on, Raphael. Fight me.
What my plan didn’t take into account was that to the enforcers, it looked like I was attacking one of their own.
One conjured a fireball faster than I could blink and flung it straight at me. I threw up my hands, and a film of glistening green magic spread between them, deflecting the fireball – but not far enough. It skimmed across the shield and thudded into my hip, sending a searing agony through me.
“Raphael!” I rasped. “It’s Raphael!”
The two enforcers pivoted on the spot to stare at Raphael’s glamoured form. Their eyes widened with recognition as they pierced the spell, and then one of them raised his hand. Raphael was faster, and a burst of green light flew out of his hand, surrounding the pair. They froze mid-movement as the green light engulfed them, trapping them in a stasis field.
I swallowed, one hand clamped over my hip, and raised the other. Raphael flashed a smile at me that was all teeth and bad intentions.
“My daughter, indeed.”
He raised a hand and flung a fireball at me. I dived aside, hitting the ground hard and shredding my burned hip, and as I looked up, he yanked the final door open, and stepped through.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I rolled to my feet, ignoring the pain that lanced through me, and cast a look at the enforcers. There was nothing I could do to help them – I didn’t know how to create a stasis field, much less break one. At least they were safe if they couldn’t go after Raphael. But someone had to.
I hurried through the door after him. He couldn’t portal this close to Daoradh, which meant I had time to catch him. And I was going to stop him escaping, no matter the cost. Too many good people had risked everything to put him here. I’d deal with the consequences of being too blinded by the spell to see that later – if I was still around. But I was here right now, and I was the last line of defence against Raphael’s escape.
We were so screwed.
The evening air rushed around me, and my eyes took a second to adjust to the dim sky before they locked on to Raphael, hurrying across the open ground to Cody’s car. My stomach clenched when I thought of the enforcer, still unconscious in Raphael’s cell. I pushed the guilt aside. There was no time for that. If Raphael got to the car, he’d be outside of the prison’s wards in minutes, and free to portal anywhere in the world.
A fireball smashed into the dirt at his feet and he dodged aside, head swivelling side to side as he searched for his attacker. He picked up his pace into a sprint, and as he did, the ground right in front of him shook and a small hole opened in the dirt. His foot landed on its edge and he stumbled and lost his balance, crashing to the ground, and rolled straight up onto his feet with an agility that belied his age.
I hurtled after him, not wasting time looking for my invisible allies, closing the gap between us, and he fixed his eyes on me. His palm glowed yellow, and before I could even think of dodging, a gust of air hammered into my chest, tossing me aside. I hit the ground hard, knocking the wind from my lungs, and jerked my head up, narrowly avoiding cracking it open on a rock. As I did, my eyes caught movement in the deep shadows behind the bushes: two figures. And a yellow-brown spotted cat.
I dragged in a wheezing breath and forced myself up.
“Lyssa!” one of the figures called, and I whipped my head round at the sound of Kyle’s voice. He was the last person I’d expected to see here… but was I ever grateful to see
him – and Zara by his side. I frowned. But where was Elias?
I shook my head, trying to clear my confusion. Raphael was almost to the vehicle – there was no way I could beat him to it now. But I didn’t have to.
I lifted one hand, focusing on all the fear and anger and frustration of the last four months. The fireball that materialised in my hand was the biggest and brightest I’d ever formed. I drew my arm back and threw it.
Not at Raphael. I knew better than that.
At the car.
The vehicle shuddered as the fireball thudded into it, and then the entire frame seemed to shimmer, mirage-like, as heat and fire licked at it, roaring with menace. The flames leapt several feet into the air, billowing thick smoke. And then, with a deafening crash, it exploded, sending chucks of metal and upholstery flying across the field, still flaming.
I stared at it, blinking in shock. I wasn’t the only one. Shadows flickered over Raphael’s face as he scowled at the wreckage. And then he turned on me.
Oh, crap.
I sensed the two figures on either side of me before I saw them.
“Lyssa, come on,” Zara said. “We need to get out of here.”
I shook my head and pulled my wrist free from her arm.
“This is my mess. I’ll clean it up.”
“Not alone,” Kyle said.
My breath caught in my throat – and not from the acrid smoke pumping out of the car. A fireball blazed to life in Zara’s hands, and Kyle’s palms glowed green. Raphael eyed the three of us, and then his lips curved upwards in a brutal smile.
His own hands blazed with a swirling mass of red, blue, and yellow.
“What’s the plan?” Zara asked.
“I’m going out in a blaze of glory.”
The two of them shared a look. Zara spoke first.
“Well, that’s a shit plan.”
My witty retort – which I would have absolutely thought of if I’d had more time – was cut off by Raphael throwing a fireball at us. I dived aside, then scrambled to my feet, grabbing Zara and dragging her with me.
“Okay,” I panted, as the three of us ducked behind a tree, “it might not have been the best plan ever. Anyone got a better one?”
“We stop him,” Kyle said, his jaw clenched. “Whatever it takes.”
“I think you’ll find that was my plan, and it sucked.”
He shook his head once.
“No. You’re right. This is bigger than us. Elias is coming, but we need to buy some time. It doesn’t matter what it costs us.”
“I can buy time on my own. You two get out of here.”
I made to duck out from behind the tree, but Kyle grabbed my wrist, yanking me back.
“No. This isn’t just your fight.” He sucked in a breath. “Did I ever tell you why I came to Krakenvale?”
“No.” And I didn’t think this was the best time to have this conversation, but something in his eyes held me in place. He broke eye contact before I did.
“My dad was an enforcer. He died in the battle. Trying to stop Raphael. I swore I’d never let that happen to anyone ever again.”
“Kyle, I’m so sorry, I–” I’d freed the man who killed his father. The man his father had sacrificed himself to stop. And I’d done it to save my own magic. Now Kyle was here, ready to follow in his father’s footsteps. And there was nothing I could say that could even close to cover what was going through my mind right now.
“You’re my friend,” he said. “You’re an idiot, but you’re my friend. We stick together. No more beating yourself up.”
“Yeah,” Zara said. “Raphael will do that for you.”
She raised a valid point. I shoved my head out from behind the tree, relieved when it wasn’t immediately taken off my shoulders by a fireball. That relief was short-lived as I looked around the clearing.
“Uh, guys? I don’t see him.”
Kyle cursed and looked around.
“He can’t have got far.”
“He’s a powerful dark druid,” Zara said doubtfully. “I wouldn’t count on that.”
“I’ll send my familiar north,” Kyle said, closing his eyes and drawing in a slow breath. A red panda flickered into existence at his feet. “Zara, send yours south.”
She nodded and closed her eyes, summoning her familiar, too. I wondered if I could call mine, and no sooner than the thought had passed through my mind, a yellow-brown shape shimmered into existence. The jaguar opened its mouth in a silent yowl, and I stared at it, cocking my head.
“I think he’s gone that way.” I pointed off to one side. “I can’t explain it, but I just… I know it.”
“Your familiar. It must be communicating with you.”
“Without a fully formed link?” Zara sounded cynical, and I couldn’t blame her. The familiar hissed in frustration and moved a few steps in that direction.
“If you have any better interpretations of that…”
She shook her head, and I shrugged.
“Okay, boy… or, uh, girl? Take us to him.”
Zara eyed me. “It’s not Lassie.”
Even so, the familiar took off at a lope that was a flat-out sprint for us lesser beings, circling back every time we fell too far behind. All I could do was cling to the hope that months in a cell had left Raphael less fit than us – and given Killian’s brutal fitness regime, I liked our chances. Or I would have, if I wasn’t running with a serious burn to my hip. I gritted my teeth and pressed on.
The cold evening air was ripping through my lungs, already seared by the smoke from the car, but I kept my eyes fixed on the jaguar, and forced my legs to keep pumping.
Abruptly, the familiar skidded to a stop, and swiped a paw at my leg. I jumped back – a pointless reflex, since its claws would pass right through me – and scanned the horizon.
“There!” I shouted, and then cursed as Raphael’s head swivelled in our direction. He had good hearing for an old guy. Good reflexes, too – his hands blazed with fire and air.
“There goes the element of surprise.” Zara shook her head in mock disappointment.
“We’re only half a mile from the ward line,” Kyle said, his voice hard with determination.
I nodded. “We split up, and stay between him and that line, whatever it takes.”
I looked at the other two, and they both nodded back at me.
“Hey, Raphael!” I shouted, detaching myself from our group and starting forwards. From the corner of my eye, I saw my friends split off in two different directions. “Come back and fight me – or are you too much of a coward?”
His teeth flashed white in the pale light, and my stomach sank. I squared my jaw and strode across the clearing, my hands tingling with energy.
He stalked towards me across the clearing, either unaware of my two friends darting for the ward line, or confident he could take me down and then handle them, probably without breaking a sweat. It wasn’t like I could say his confidence was entirely unfounded, based on previous performance, his lack of a distraction, and my lack of a hippogryff. But I wasn’t completely alone.
In front of me, the familiar hissed and swiped its claw through the air, then spun around and raced away, disappearing in a shimmer of air.
So much for that.
“Gee, thanks,” I muttered under my breath, and then shook out my arms, fireballs blazing to life in each hand. Raphael’s laugh carried clearly through the still air.
“Foolish girl,” he said. “Do you really think you can stand against me? Alone?”
“I’m not alone,” I said, lifting my chin and meeting his eye. “You can kill me, but more enforcers will come. And if you escape tonight, they’ll keep hunting you. You will never ruin another life. Never.”
“We’ll see.”
He flicked his wrist, and a swirling ball hammered towards me. I threw my hands up, loosing my fireballs without meaning to, and one of them crashed into the multi-coloured mass, knocking it aside. It smashed into the ground, obliterating a crater-size p
atch.
That was not good.
Raphael hurled another ball in my direction, and I flung up my hands again. A green, shimmering film spread between them and the ball crashed into it, driving me back and sending tremors through my arms. I braced myself and leaned into the shield as three more balls smashed into it in quick succession. The force jolted through my arms and I gritted my teeth, then stared through the translucent shield to Raphael. That look was back in his eyes… wariness. Then they hardened and he raised his hands and began to chant.
Crap.
I had no idea what spell he was casting, but I was pretty sure my shield was only good for physical attacks. If he decided to pull his stasis trick, I’d be helpless. And standing around waiting for Raphael to put a knife between my ribs was not on my to-do list.
I dropped the shield and charged at him, raising my hands and throwing a fireball on the run. He lifted one hand and a tiny cluster of energy darted from it, sending my fireball harmlessly aside. He twisted his palm, pointing it at me without breaking his chant, and my legs were swept from under me. I hit the ground hard, but I’d taken spills before on the Itealta field. I rolled and sprung back to my feet, trying to circle round behind him, but he turned with me, his lips curving into a cruel smile as they formed the words.
“I thought you’d have learned your lesson about backlash from failed spells,” I said, stalking closer to him. “You survived last time, but you’re not going to get that lucky twice.”
“I thought you’d have learned your lesson about making assumptions,” he said, stunning me. I braced myself, waiting for the backlash from the aborted spell. “I wasn’t casting a spell. I was luring you in close.”
Well, crap, that couldn’t be good.
He raised one hand and muttered a word. My legs were swept from under me again and I thudded to the ground, but before I could jump up, a flash of light caught my eye. I flung up my hands and the energy hammered into my shield, the force driving me against the earth. Another energy ball followed it and panic flared in my stomach. I couldn’t move while he was throwing those, and sooner or later, my shield was going to fail, or I’d be crushed against the ground from the sheer force being thrown at me.
Familiar Magic (Druid Enforcer Academy Book 1) Page 19