by Lisa Cassidy
“At least I didn’t promise not to try and escape.”
“Couldn’t you have saved our breakfast?” He stared mournfully at the remains of the oatmeal splattered all over the floor. “We haven’t eaten since yesterday.”
She was about to reply when a powerful shuddering swept through the corridor. Alyx gripped one of the bars for support as the walls rocked around them.
“What was that?” he asked.
“I have no idea. But I’m not waiting around to find out.”
She set off down the corridor at a swift jog, Brynn at her heels, magic illuminating her arms as she held it ready. The other cells were empty, and they hit the stone steps leading upwards without running into anyone.
“There is a curious lack of guards around,” Brynn muttered as they climbed, echoing Alyx’s concerns aloud.
They’d just cleared the top step when another resounding shudder shook the ground under their feet. Alyx slapped a hand against the wall for balance, fear shooting through her. It would be beyond horrifying if the roof collapsed on them and they were trapped underground.
“That’s not normal.” Brynn’s voice was heavy with dread.
“You don’t say.” She paused and closed her eyes, sending out her telepathic magic. She had to reach farther than expected before hitting a raucous cacophony of thoughts, most of them reflecting panic and chaos, and it took a while to find a mind calm enough to read what was happening. It wasn’t good. Gritting her teeth, she expanded the reach of her magic.
Her eyes snapped open, fixing on Brynn’s light green eyes in the dimness. “The city has been under siege since last night. Shiven soldiers have fully surrounded Carhall. The mages started their attack a few moments ago.”
Brynn’s eyes widened. “That’s why the ground is shaking. The Shiven aren’t going to breach the outer city walls without mage power.”
Alyx shivered. “Everyone is so afraid. It’s awful.”
“Stop.” Brynn laid a hand on her arm. “There’s no need for you to keep picking up on all of that.”
She nodded. “In better news, there were less minds than I expected outside Centre Square—they must have finally seen sense and evacuated most of the residents. From what I could tell, the militia are still deployed along the outer walls, but most of the minds I touched are expecting them to fall to the Shiven mages soon.”
“And then they’ll concentrate their defence here in Centre Square, which won’t hold forever against magic either.” Brynn shook his head. “The council were fools to think they could hold off Shakar’s army.”
She nodded. “At least we have a clear run out of the cells. All the guards have been sent to help man the inner walls around Centre Square.”
“But then what?” he asked. “It’s going to be almost impossible to get out of the city now unless you fly us. Can we really just leave everyone here behind?”
Alyx looked away, unable to help remembering the hundreds of thoughts filled with fear. Damn. “No, we can’t.”
“What do you want to do?”
She thought quickly. “I’ll see if I can locate Galien. Maybe we can do something to hold the Shiven mages off, at least temporarily. If we can take them on together it might allow the militia left in the city to gather and fight a way through for Town Hall and the Hub to evacuate.”
“The other council mages should be able to help too,” Brynn added.
It might have been over eight years since she’d last been at DarkSkull, but Alyx had no difficulty telepathically locating Galien. It had been a survival mechanism, something she’d done far too often to ever forget.
She was on the verge of speaking to him when she caught one of his surface thoughts. Frowning, she delved deeper, surprised he wasn’t shielding. What she saw sent any hope she had fading into oblivion. Cursing, she withdrew her magic. “Tarrick, Finn, and some of the others are in the city. Galien knows they’re here and he’s planning a trap. He wants to kill them.”
Brynn frowned in puzzlement. “Why is he bothering with them while the city is under attack? And how did they get inside the walls in the first place?”
“I don’t know!” Anxiety was creeping through her—standing still wasn’t helping. “I didn’t dare reach further into his thoughts in case he sensed me.” She considered her options, a list that was becoming rapidly shorter. “I’m going to find Galien and deal with him before the others walk into his trap. I need you to go and find them and warn them.”
“What about the attack on the city?”
“I can only do one thing at a time!” she snapped, overwrought with competing emotions. “Galien isn’t going to work with me, not ever. The fact he is wasting time carrying out petty revenge when the city is about to fall…no, he’s clearly lost perspective. I need to shut him down as quickly as possible, then we can do what we can for the Tregayans.”
“You’re sure this isn’t about revenge for him killing Dashan?” Brynn raised his eyebrows.
For a moment she stared at him, unbelieving. “For the past three years I have done everything I can to make nice with the council and seek their help against Shakar. They tried to kill my father. They would have tried to kill my brother. They did kill Dashan. Yet I put aside my feelings every single time I met with them. You have no idea what that has been like, so don’t you dare stand there and suggest I’m putting my personal feelings above what is best for all those people out there.”
“I’m sorry, Alyx.” He spoke quietly, but his face was stricken with guilt. “I spoke without thinking. Will you let me come with you?”
“Your talent will be of no use against Galien.” Her voice was harsh. “I need you to find Tarrick and send them to help me. Then see if you can get to the council members and this commander of theirs. If we’re going to try and help the city, we’ll need to do it together.”
Brynn hesitated, indecision in his green eyes, but then he nodded. “Where are they?”
She closed her eyes. Dawn was not difficult to find, and for a moment she hovered, debating whether to reach out. But no, she couldn’t afford the time or energy to argue her plan.
“They’re closing in on Centre Square. If you run, you might be able to catch them coming in the eastern gate.”
Brynn sighed. “Tarrick’s going to turn purple when I tell him you’re fighting Galien alone.”
Alyx found a smile for him. “Have fun with that.”
“You made a promise to them. You said you would keep yourself safe.”
“I’ve held to that promise, and I’m sending you to them now so that you can bring them to help me. I’m not being reckless. I’m the Magor-lier, and it’s not Shakar I’m going to face.”
Brynn hesitated a moment and then nodded. “I’ll bring help as quickly as I can.”
Alyx passed soldiers running down the halls as she headed to where her magic told her Galien was, but none of them seemed to take any notice of her. All looked afraid, and she didn’t blame them. The mage attack on the walls was continuing, if the irregular shaking of the ground was anything to go by.
She ran lightly down a wide set of marble steps. An arched set of wooden doors stood closed at the bottom. Here she paused, taking a deep breath. Galien was on the other side waiting for the others to walk into the trap he’d set them. His shielding was down deliberately so they could find him—but it also meant she had been able to find him.
She was alone, with no mage staff. But she wasn’t afraid. In fact she was relieved—it was finally time to end this enmity with Galien. Her magic glimmered inside her, and she reached for it, allowing it to sweep through her.
Then, she opened the door and walked through.
Another set of steps beyond led down into a cavernous militia exhibition hall. Galien stood in the centre of the sawdust-covered floor, surrounded by rows and rows of empty seating reaching up towards the roof high above. Tall oak pillars lined the oval floor, the seating in wedges between each pillar. At the very top, a viewing gallery ran ar
ound the entire surrounds of the hall.
“Are you really going to abandon the city to the Shiven army?” Her voice rang out clearly. “What about your soldiers on the walls? The people still in Centre Square? The council?”
He spun, cat-like, at the sound of her voice. His eyes narrowed, but there was no surprise on his face. “I was hoping to keep you contained until I’d dealt with your friends.”
“Unfortunately, they can’t make it. You get me instead.”
He shrugged. “I’ll kill you first, then hunt the others down one by one.”
She began walking down the steps to the arena. “You do realise how dire things are? Shiven mages are attacking, concentrating all their magic on the south wall around the gates—it won’t hold much longer.”
His head craned upwards, eyes focused as if staring through the roof up to Centre Square. “Yes, the city is under siege. There’s nowhere for your friends to run, and once you’re dead, nothing to protect them.”
A retort was on the tip of her tongue, glib and cutting, but as she was about to utter it, she thought of those still trapped in the city. So, instead she swallowed the words and took a deep breath. “How about we put aside our differences for the next twelve hours. We fight together to push back the invading army, or at least hold them back long enough for those remaining to get out.” She held out her hand, opening her thoughts to him to show her sincerity. “What do you say, Galien? After twelve hours has passed, you can try and kill me again.”
His eyes narrowed, fixed on her hand, and he hesitated.
“If nothing else we could win time for your precious council to escape,” she urged.
Time lengthened, stretched out, then snapped back into focus as Galien shook his head. “Nothing is going to stop the Shiven taking this city today, you were right about that,” he said. “I just want to make sure you’re all dead before I get out. I will be the Magor-lier. Once you’re dead, the mages will have no choice but to follow me. Then I’ll have an army to drive back the Shiven and defeat Shakar.”
Damn. She was genuinely disappointed, surprising herself. But at least now she’d done everything she could. “That’s supposing you kill me.”
“Supposing?” He raised an eyebrow. “That’s a foregone conclusion.”
He struck quickly and powerfully. A gust of air swept down the hall towards her, pulling up all the sawdust from the floor into a spinning tornado. Just as quickly, she drew on her flying ability, using it to maintain control as Galien’s wind swept her up towards the ceiling. At its apex, she increased the strength of her magic and broke free of the wind. It whistled shrilly in her ears as she dove towards him, eyes closed against the dust in the air, telepathic magic telling her exactly where he was.
But he had telepathic magic too. Just before she hit him, the wind died as suddenly as it had risen and in its place a wall of fire leapt into existence. Alyx dodged desperately to avoid it, almost losing control of her flight. Careening sideways, she stumbled to a landing seconds before hitting the low wall below the bottom tier of seating.
Galien let the fire die and stalked towards her. His staff was raised, the bright light of anticipation in his eyes. He wanted this. He wanted her. He was a fool. She summoned her magic, lifted her hands and sent concussion burst after concussion burst at his oncoming form. Green light flashed, but Galien’s shield absorbed the blasts, robbing them of their concussive power. He kept moving, coming straight at her, and without a staff to defend herself, she raised her own magical shield.
He was moving too quickly to stop himself and the two shields crashed together, sending out a sonic boom. The pure visceral thrill of her power and his exploding together rushed through Alyx, and in that moment, she felt invincible.
This is what it is like when two mages of the higher order battle!
It was nothing like fighting Casovar. Then, she’d been hurt from his torture and scared—fighting him had been a desperate, instinctive affair. Galien was no Casovar. Excitement licked at her, born of adrenalin and the sweet rush of her magic flooding her body.
Alyx stepped back, flicked her wrist and yanked at his staff with her telepathic magic. It flew halfway to her before he recovered, yanking it back and attacking her mind with a vicious and unhesitating assault. But here she had the advantage—she’d defeated Casovar’s attacks on her mind many years earlier, and Galien was not as accomplished in telepathy as Casovar had been. She thrust Galien from her head with every bit of strength she could muster, following him out with the intent to explode into his mind.
He felt her coming and launched a counter attack—two blue concussion bursts firing out from his staff. She raised a hand and matched him. Green and blue crashed together, the opposing forces enough to send another sonic boom ripping through the air. They were blown off their feet and across the open space. Alyx drew on her flying magic quickly enough to control her fall, and looked down the hall to see Galien land gently on a cushion of air.
Splinters of wood and dust rained down from above—one of the wooden beams supporting the roof had cracked almost all the way through. She spat sawdust from her mouth, then gathered her magic, shaped it, and reached out to tug hard at one half of the broken beam, tearing it free. With a roar of effort, she sent it spinning towards Galien. Flames leapt into life, burning white-hot, reducing the beam to cinders so that by the time it reached him it was a harmless pile of ash drifting to the floor.
“Is that all you’ve got, Egalion?” he taunted.
He called up his wind power again, this time stirring all the air in the hall into a frenzy so that Alyx’s vision was obscured by flying debris. Closing her eyes, she located Galien’s thoughts, then leapt upwards and flew unerringly through the gusting winds to where he stood.
She collided with him at full speed and they both went rolling along the floor, the gale still screaming around them. Galien grabbed at her, trying to get a hold on her throat. She fought as Dashan had once taught her to, moving quickly enough to keep free of his grasp while landing punches anywhere she could.
They rolled over and over. The wind shrieked, tugging at her clothes and hair, trying to distract her. She ignored it, ruthlessly drew upon her telekinetic magic to keep Galien’s hands from getting too tight a hold on her. He retaliated by setting fire to her clothing. She rolled off him to douse the flame, glanced over when he didn’t follow up. He crouched, watching her with a feral snarl twisting his handsome features. But he was sweating freely, chest heaving as he gasped for air. The wind had faded to nothing. He was starting to tire.
“Is that all you’ve got?” She threw the words back at him at the same time she launched herself towards him, using magic to increase the force and speed of her motion. Her knee slammed into his stomach, her palms shoving him down hard.
He roared in anger, the cries cutting off as she closed a hand around his throat, using the weight of her body to keep him pinned down. He threw his magic at her, but she was in a position of strength. Her fingers tightened, cutting off his breathing. He twisted and writhed, pale skin turning red as he gasped for air.
“Now you know what it’s like to have someone choking you,” she snarled at him. “And I’m not afraid of the DarkSkull masters catching me. This is what you were afraid of, wasn’t it, the first time you saw me? You knew I was stronger, better, that one day we’d end up here! That’s why you’ve always hated me so much.”
All of Alyx’s long-repressed hatred and anger swelled to life, everything she’d hidden and buried and refused to acknowledge. All the torture and bullying she’d endured from him. It gave her strength, enough to close her fingers more tightly around his throat. “You’re done, Galien.”
And Galien, the slow realisation of defeat dawning in his eyes, used the final card he had left to play.
“He’s alive.”
The thought crept into her mind, the touch of his telepathic magic sickening. She shuddered, not letting up on her steady attempt to choke the life out of him.
<
br /> “Your Taliath. He’s alive.”
Chapter 27
What?
Her grip faltered, shock flooding her. Snarling, he used that briefest moment of distraction to hurl his body upwards, trying to break free.
She summoned magic, using pure strength to fight him off and hold him down. But her fingers loosened slightly on his throat, and her hesitation was enough. He gasped like a fish beneath her.
“I lied, and you believed me.” He spat the words at her. “Your paltry magic couldn’t even tell I was lying that night and you think you can defeat me. I never killed Dashan. The council took him—he’s been here in Carhall all this time.”
What? It couldn’t be…he was lying to her again. Trying to save himself. But what if he wasn’t? A gasp escaped her, a momentary slumping of her shoulders, but that was all Galien needed. She found herself flying sideways as he got the leverage he needed and used his magic to fling her away.
On instinct alone she staggered to her feet, barely avoiding the fireballs he tossed at her. Her roiling thoughts were a distraction, one she couldn’t afford, but she didn’t know how to still them. Galien came at her again, and she took to the air, flying up through his wind to perch on the railing of the gallery high above.
“Come down and face me,” he roared. “Or I’ll kill you where you are. And then I’ll kill your friends. Including him.”
She clung to the railing, fighting desperately to keep her focus amongst the emotion flooding her. No. Dashan. He couldn’t be…it wasn’t possible.
“Weak,” Galien taunted.
She tasted blood on her lip from where he’d landed a punch, and her body was bruised and battered. It didn’t matter—her magic was still strong inside her, and Galien hadn’t been able to hide the weariness in his voice. He was taunting her because he needed to end this quickly.
She took another deep breath, fighting and clawing to bring back her focus. He’d used Dashan once before to break her. She wouldn’t let it happen again. No matter the truth, all she had to do right now was concentrate on this fight. If she did that—she’d win. She’d seen the full extent of Galien’s power now, and hers was greater.