A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom on Fire #1)(99)

“Stop!” I shouted, grabbing on to Agrippa, firing at Gwendolyn as she rose higher into the sky. Agrippa’s hand began to slip from mine. “Hold on,” I said as Magnus tried to ward him out of her grasp. Despite our efforts, we were losing.

“Henrietta, let go,” Agrippa said.

“No.” Frantic, I placed Porridge at our joined hands and murmured a quick spell I’d learned from Mickelmas. Our grip fused; it would be near impossible to break now.

“Why?” he shouted, bewildered. “Why help me?”

Because despite his betrayal, I could never really turn my back on him. My heels lifted off the ground. I struggled not to panic.

Agrippa shut his eyes and created a warded blade. “Please forgive me,” he cried. I realized what he was about to do.

“No!” I screamed. He brought the blade down and was gone, moaning as Gwendolyn flew away with him. I fell to the ground, landing on my back. He’d cut himself off at the wrist, the quickest way he could see to relinquish me.

I broke the spell, dropped his hand, and stood as Magnus stared into the sky. “We could have saved him,” he said, looking pale and sick. “Why would he do that?”

“To protect us.” Agrippa was gone. He was my betrayer, the man who’d saved my life, who’d conspired with Palehook to discredit me, who’d played chess with me before the fire. My last real words to him had been hateful ones, and my vision blurred with tears. Please forgive me, he’d said. Why hadn’t I done it?



“Howel!” Lambe and Wolff ran out of the fog. Swallowing my grief, we gathered by the side of a building and warded ourselves. Lambe inspected Rook, who was still falling in and out of consciousness. “He’s not going to last much longer. Palehook took too much of his energy.”

“What can we do?”

“Fenswick’s at the house. Go there.” Three of the ravens came out of the sky and dove for us. They slammed against the warded walls and screeched as they flew back up.

“I’ve never seen an attack like this. There aren’t enough sorcerers in the city for the Familiars and Korozoth. Wolff, can you get the ward back up?” Magnus said.

“Impossible. Palehook is dead. We don’t know the spell he used to consume Rook’s life force, and even if we had it, we probably couldn’t use it. And even if we could, we wouldn’t,” Wolff muttered. “The only thing I can think of at this point is to kill Korozoth.” We waited for Magnus to stop laughing. “Most of the Familiars are his. Without him, they’d be like a colony of ants without a queen.”

“It’s impossible,” Magnus said.

I had an idea, a wild and stupid one. “There might be a way to destroy him. Get the rest of the boys and find us. Do you know where Korozoth is?”

“He’s coming from the west,” Wolff said. “He should be leaving the river by now.”



“First we need to deliver Rook to Fenswick back at the house. Then we’ll all go off to face him together.”

“Yes, but what will we do?” Lambe said.

“Something you’ve tried before. It failed, but with me it might work.”

“You should leave,” Magnus said as Lambe and Wolff ran to get the others. He placed his hand on my back. “This is the perfect time to escape.”

“I can’t leave, not now.” Ahead of us, we spied an empty wagon with a horse harnessed in, the beast struggling to loose itself from the post where it had been tied. Magnus freed the creature while Rook and I settled into the back. Magnus jumped into the driver’s seat and took the reins, and we were off, fighting our way through the chaos. We continued into a cleared area, away from the attacks.

But people started running in the opposite direction from where we were headed. To the left of us, the streetlamps all guttered out. The blackness and silence became oppressive….

“Turn right!” I screamed as Korozoth swept into the square, quiet as shadow and fog when it wanted to be. The horse sensed the monster’s approach and reared, pawing at the air before falling over in terror. The wagon snapped and the bottom fell, throwing Rook and me to the ground.

Rook screamed and turned his face up to the monstrous thing. Korozoth stopped, perhaps sensing one of its “children” crying out to it.

I pulled Rook to the ground, wrestling him into submission. It wasn’t difficult. He gasped and wheezed. He couldn’t continue like this much longer. Magnus leaped from the driver’s seat and flew into the air.



“Howel, get out of here,” he called. Where could I go? It wouldn’t be possible for Rook to drag himself much farther. Footsteps sounded and Blackwood appeared out of the night, the rest of the boys behind him. He pulled me to my feet and checked to see if I was hurt, then examined Rook. While the others assembled, he activated his stave.

“What’s your plan?” Blackwood asked.

“I have to get Rook home first.”

“There’s no time for that now. We have to attack here, or we’ll all die.”

“Make a formation, me at the center. We can manage with six. Using my fire, build a net and bind him. It may be strong enough. Magnus, come back down!”

“I’m a touch busy at the moment,” he shouted. Blackwood organized the boys while Magnus returned to earth, dodging Korozoth. We stepped into formation.