His hand slammed down onto the ground and a massive chunk of earth launched up from under my feet, sending me airborne.
I hit the inside of my elemental shield and shrieked in pain. I quickly rolled away from it, to stop the onslaught of crippling pain. I glanced at him, he was still on the ground, but smiling in a way that made my stomach drop.
I immediately saw his plan as it popped into that arrogant head of his. He was going to toss me into my shield as often as he could. The quickest way for me to end this was to keep him in here with me, so the dome was going to have to stay. He was less dangerous to my army and allies if he was trapped.
I got to my feet at the same time as he did. He had removed the dark magic from his body and threw it at my shield. It formed a small hole, which I quickly repaired.
“Your fight is with me, not the shield,” I told him.
“You’re right; it is,” he said, throwing a shard of ice at me.
I quickly swatted it away and it shattered when it hit the dome shield. I drew my sword hoping to distract him, as my magic wrapped itself around his legs in the form of vines. He went to take a step and fell forward, but the earth rose up to keep him on his feet. He burnt the vines to a crisp and then he was free. Then he charged at me.
It happened so quickly, I didn’t have time to combat him, and we both went through the shield. We were burned, electrocuted, slammed with flying rocks, high speed winds and cold water, all at once.
My body twisted as I hit the ground, with Kennan laying on top of me. This felt too similar to when we fought in my second trial. I was just waiting for those strange rock creatures to pop up and start attacking.
My legs had been twisted to the side and I could feel my knife still in my boot. I slowly reached for it. Kennan was unmoving on top of me. I wasn’t sure if he was unconscious, or if he was pretending to see what I would do.
As my hand wrapped around my knife, his head lifted and his hand moved to my neck. He applied pressure, and I moved the knife quickly, and I jabbed it between his ribs. He screamed out in pain, but never removed his hands from where they squeezed my neck. I could feel my eyes bugging out, and my lungs started to scream in protest already. I fumbled with the knife and pulled it from his ribs, causing him to scream again.
He knocked the knife from my hand, and it was in that moment when his concentration was split between strangling me and disarming me that I had my window to get out of this.
Don’t screw this up Violet.
The damage was already done to him. I could feel blood trickling out from his side, and unless he had stolen the power to heal, he would bleed to death.
“Heal me!” he screamed at my face as his hand went to his ribs to try to slow the bleeding.
I guess that answered my question, he still had to rely on healers.
I placed my hand on his hand that was still strangling me, and I lit it up with lightning bolts. I could still feel the current electrocuting me, but it wasn’t as bad for me as it was for him.
He tried to pull his hand out from under mine, but I held on. His hand was turning black under mine, and I felt a little bit of relief, I was finally wounding him. Also the pressure he had on my neck decreased and I gasped for breath. Black spots had been dancing in my vision. Now that Kennan was trying to flee again, his body weight was no longer restricting me and I was able to bring my knee up and into his stomach.
He fell backwards onto the ground and then he hurled rocks at me while he was distracted with his still bleeding side. I easily swatted them out of the air, it was apparent that he was getting weaker.
“For way too long, you and your family have done nothing but cause chaos and destruction to the people of this continent. I know that the people of Corone are enslaved to you, they didn’t actually want war. I see their forces are hiding in the trees and engaging my people, yet their leaders aren’t here. Why?”
“You mean our family, cousin. Someone had to stay behind to challenge you in case we were to fall,” Kennan mumbled.
I ignored his family comment, because I wasn’t about to make this a Jerry Springer show.
“Not if, but when,” I answered quickly.
I was approaching him, with my hands out low and to my sides. I concentrated really hard on the darkness that Kennan had previously made. Because I had handled it previously, I was able to mimic the magic. I created an orb of it in each hand, and I watched his eyes go dark and terrified, resigned to his fate.
I think I had always known that I was going to have to kill him, and that I wouldn't be able to trap him like I did Eduard. Nothing would stop Kennan except death, I was sure of it. It was hard to think about maliciously taking another life, not when there was still time to try to permanently restrain him, or simply just take his magic. None of that would stop him from coming after me. If I wanted any shot at living a normal life here, if I wanted my kingdoms to be safe, Kennan had to die.
“Cousin against cousin, it’s like something from a Shakesphere play, isn’t it?” he asked.
“It certainly is, I’m surprised you know who that is. You were too busy flirting with Lacey to pay attention in class,” I said, still stepping closer.
His eyes followed my every move, hoping he’d have an opportunity to escape me.
“You noticed?” he asked with a coy smile. Like he was getting pleasure from knowing that at some point of time he had power over me.
“More like I noticed Lacey. She bullied me, and now I hear that the tables have turned for her. Her boyfriend dumped her, for his cousin no less. I also heard that her family has fallen on some financial hard times. It seems as though Karma has sorted everything out.”
“So you say,” he said.
I was now standing directly over him and I dropped down to a knee. I placed a crippling amount of darkness on his abdomen that had him rolling in pain.
“Any last words?” I asked.
“Yeah, if I’m going down, you are going down with me, like a messed up Romeo and Juliet,” he said, as he curled into a ball.
Good luck with that.
I placed both of my hands on his head and did what I did in the second trial. My magic answered my call immediately. I pulled the foreign magic from Kennan, but it happened painstakingly slow. He had a lot of power, and it didn’t want to leave easily.
I was fighting with the magic, trying to get it to leave Kennan when I felt Kennan jerk beneath me, and then I felt a burning sensation in my stomach. I looked down, and there was a knife, my knife, in my stomach.
I’m not sure how he got it without me noticing, but he did. I groaned in pain as he twisted the knife, making the wound and pain so much worse. I looked up to Kennan and he was smiling smugly.
“I told you, if I’m going down, so are you,” he whispered.
“That’s fine, as long as my people are safe. I’m not sure if you know, but Samantha and Victoria are fighting. Your sister stands no chance against a ghost she can’t touch,” I murmured.
His eyes widened. He had been counting on his sister to pull through and finish this. Now he was realizing just how badly he was about to lose. So if I died, I’d still have a line of succession with Trin. It was unfortunate that Axel couldn’t be crowned before this, he would have made a good King, but he would be destroyed at my loss. It’s already happened once, and my kingdoms deserved to have a leader who would be able to focus on them. Eventually Trin would move on from my loss and be able to do what I couldn’t, lead in a time of peace.
“Check mate,” I said as I sent a large push of magic into Kennan’s head, and pulled more of his power. If I let go of the magic before he was dead, something bad would happen, I could just feel it. I had to finish taking what didn’t belong to him before I succumbed to my injury.
I was scared to die to be completely honest. Would I still be alive back in the hotel room with my Mother? When Axel went to sleep with an Emerald, would he be able to come see me? Or would I be dead and gone in both worlds? Would I go to the spirit world where
I met Victoria and Venia for the first time?
I had so many questions that I would reluctantly find the answer to, soon. I could feel myself getting weak as my blood trickled out of the large gash on my stomach. The blade was still lodged there, and I hoped Kennan wouldn’t pull it out. The blade was putting some pressure in the wound and slowing down the blood loss. I did what I could to send some of my magic to the wound to try to heal it, but Kennan’s magic demanded more and more of my own to take on his.
I felt myself getting nauseous and I was sweating. The skin on my hands was turning even paler as I fought to hang on. While my abdomen was literally killing me, so was Kennan’s magic. It felt dark, just like the mass he had thrown at me. To hold onto it was draining me further, and this was a massive uphill battle. Our combat had been easier than taking this magic from Kennan. The more I took, the more it fought against me.
Kennan’s eyes closed, and his breaths were sporadic and gasping. He lay limp beneath me. I struggled to keep my head up and my upper body off the ground. But I could feel myself hitting the bottom of the barrel. I could feel the last of Kennan’s dark magic putting up its final stand.
After what felt like a long game of tug of war, Keenan took one last gasping breath, and then his chest fell still, and the magic was all gone, and it was raging inside of me.
I rolled over onto my back, concentrating on this new, very angry magic. It didn’t do this in the trial. Maybe Kennan had learned from my trials like I had, and he knew I would take his power from him. Maybe he figured out a way to make sure that his power would kill me? Everything about this felt like a long drawn out battle. I had won, Kennan was dead, but had I really won?
I talked a big game to Kennan about Victoria and Samantha, but I had no idea how that turned out. I had heard Victoria cry out and I had no idea what happened between them. I had no idea if Axel had been successful in rescuing my father. I had to hope that my uncle didn’t kill him just to get to me.
I opened my eyes as I continued to fight with this magic that was clearly trying to kill me. It felt like my insides were being electrocuted, melted and freezer burnt all at the same time. My head spun, I was still bleeding out, and I was cold. I stared up at the dome formed from my elemental magic. If I could release it, maybe I’d have some magic back to fight. I searched for my control of it, and couldn’t grasp it. I let out a strangled cry. All I could feel was this dark magic, which was attacking my own magic.
Now that I was sure that Kennan was dead, I needed to release this dark magic before it killed me. I focused on it, and I did what I could to push it out of me. It fought me the whole time, it was really beginning to feel like a curse.
I screamed as I peeled back the layers of the dark slimy magic and pushed it from my body. As it left, it floated above me, and it swirled in a dark cloud. When everything that had belonged to Kennan was floating above me, I was able to use the last dregs of my magic to blow the magic away. It creeped right through my dome and out into the world. Hopefully the magic returned to the Emerald Mountain. He would hold onto it until it was ready to be given to another magic-worker.
I smiled at the realization that I had done it. I was about to find out about the Spirit world, much sooner than I ever hoped, but that was ok, because a great evil was gone from this world.
I closed my eyes, too tired to keep them open. What tiny bit of magic I had left, I sent to my abdomen. I fell asleep, wishing my second death had been painless.
Chapter Thirty One
Axel
Something was terribly wrong with Violet. It was that feeling that stirred me from my sleep. I woke up propped up against a tree.
I opened my eyes and gasped at the sight in front of me. It looked like a massive fireball hit the ground and burnt every tree within a hundred feet into ashes. The ground was black where Queen Victoria and Princess Samantha had been fighting. I had to hope that because I was alive, that meant that Princess Samantha was not. She seemed to be the type to not leave loose ends. So the fact that I was still breathing had to mean something good for our side.
I slowly pulled myself up and grunted in pain. I listened to the sounds around me. The fighting had died down, and I was scared to see where we stood. I quietly walked back to the beach and couldn't believe it.
Almost our whole army was in one piece, and they were no longer fighting, in fact, they looked like they were waiting for their leaders. A portion of the enemy's massive army was lying dead on the beach. While there were some dead bodies, there wasn't enough to prove that they were all gone, most of them had to have fled.
What really shocked me was the army of skeletons that were posted around our battlefield. They were holding onto swords and bows, but they let me through. They had a strange green glow surrounding them. As I walked past, they relaxed into an “at ease” position. Violet’s love for movies had really rubbed off on me..
I looked for the members of our group, and I was relieved to see Trin, she was sitting on the ground. She looked like she was knocking on death’s door. She was pale, and slow in her movements, but she was alive. She was tending to Thomas who had seen better days. He was covered in blood, which I hoped was not all his.
Proctor, her friend from the Children of the Willows, was stretched out on the ground. He didn’t look so great either, but I could see his chest rising and falling. Violet’s Father was speaking to Thomas, standing about six feet from him. I looked around further and noticed two things. Victoria was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Violet.
Then I remembered that feeling in my chest that something was very wrong.
“Anyone seen the Queen?” I asked.
Trin glanced in my direction, worry was etched deep into her face as she shook her head.
“Let’s put together a search party. I need all those able to walk to assist,” I ordered.
I saw people groan in pain as they stood, but we all shared the same worried expressions. They were worried for the Queen who led them to an apparent victory, against the ever growing odds.
I walked back into the trees with Trin, Thomas, Violet’s father, and Proctor at my side. We walked closer towards the castle. About four football fields away from where I woke up there was a clearing. It wasn’t originally a clearing, but the trees had been melted into one. In the center of it stood a large dome-like shield. But it wasn’t a physical shield, it was a dome composed of the elements, trapping the rest of the world out.
I walked as close to the dome as I could to see if I could sneak a peek inside. In between swirls of water, flame and rocks I could see two people lying on the ground. A moment of staring confirmed what I knew in my gut. That was Violet and Kennan. Both looked like they were dead. But my chest felt different than when Violet died, less than a week ago. It felt like a lifetime ago, but really, it was days. We’d been married for less than two weeks and she'd already died once, now maybe twice. I hoped to the Goddess that Kennan was dead, because I couldn't keep losing Violet over and over.
I tried to get through the shield, but I couldn't. My hand hit the flames of the shield and I recoiled in pain. I decided I’d try to charge through the shield to get to her. If she was awake, she’d have lowered the shield already. I braced myself for the pain and then charged. I then hit the ground after bouncing off the elemental shield.
What the hell?
My shoulder was burning, but I ignored it. My fall to the ground put out the fire that had started my sleeve.
Why couldn’t I make it through the elements? I looked back to Trin.
“Any ideas?” I asked.
“Someone should go get Wisdom. He might know what to do,” She ordered.
“Do you not see her lying in a puddle of blood? I can feel that she’s alive right now, but I don’t know for how much longer. She’s not doing well,” I said, my hand going straight to my chest, reminding her of my soul mate bond.
“What do you suggest then?” She asked.
“Well you are both witches. You shoul
d have similar magic,” I said, feeling desperate. I could hear it in my own voice and hated how it sounded, but I’d do anything for Violet. I’d even sound like a desperate fool.
“She’s a million times stronger than me. You think I can take down all the elements she put up?” she asked exasperated and exhausted.
“I know that we won’t know until you try,” I pleaded.
“He’s right, you know,” Proctor said.
I knew I liked the kid.
She sighed, and then let go of Thomas’ hand. Proctor had been watching Trin and looked a little hurt at the sight of her holding another man’s hand. The kid had to be blind if he didn’t see the feelings between those two, even if they didn’t voice them to each other.
Violet’s father stood to the side watching his daughter’s handy work in proud awe. I think he might be in shock, the fact that his daughter was dying again hadn’t registered. If it had, he wasn’t showing it.
Trin rose her hands and hesitantly touched the shield with her eyes closed. I couldn’t see what she was doing, but she cried out in pain as the first layer of the shield, fire, disappeared. Next was air, the whirling winds that separated the flames and rocks disappeared. The shield became quieter without the howling wind.
Trin crushed the layer of rock with the witch magic of hers before the water on the inner layer collapsed to the ground, soaking Violet and Kennan, not that I gave a shit about him.
The last layer was lighting. Trin watched it hesitantly, knowing it was going to be extremely painful. How many times had Violet been electrocuted? That wasn’t fair of me to compare, though. Trin was even newer to her magic than Violet. Again, we only thought she was a necromancer, but with the discovery of her witch heritage, it appeared there’s more tricks up her sleeve. She was so much like Violet and she had no idea.
Trin looked back to us for reassurance. Thomas nodded to her.
“It’s ok, I have enough to bring you back if needed,” Proctor said to her. Let’s hope the electricity didn’t stop her heart. I couldn’t live with the cousins dying, who’d run this kingdom, me?
Emerald Wars (The Dream Traveler Book 3) Page 21