Apprentice (The Black Mage, #2)(15)

Two, three, four… I sent ten castings in the blink of an eye. The barrage continued all around me as Combat mentees targeted Lynn's defense.

At first our castings fell harmlessly, barely grazing the mentors' barrier. But then the portion near Lynn started to flicker, temporary lapses of a strange purple hue that looked like veins whenever a new casting collided against it.

As soon as we were three hundred feet away the Alchemy apprentices joined us, tossing out their fire flasks with a practiced finesse. I was at once grateful all factions – not just Combat - maintained such rigorous physical conditioning. If we hadn't, they would never have been able to lob such distances now.

The mentors' barrier emitted a loud, earth-shattering shriek. The left side began to crumble, a cloudy mass of gray and purple haze. It couldn't hold.

Our missiles began to land hits on the leftmost apprentices. I watched with a shudder as our new castings, including my own, began to hit their intended target: Lynn. Screams began to echo across the desert landscape.

There was a loud, panicked shout from Caine and then the mentors dropped their remaining defense and what little attacks they'd started to cast.

What were they doing?

"MENTEES FALL BACK!" Darren's panicked voice shook the canyon walls.

Alex jerked the reins to the side and I clutched our cart's railing as it began to swing wildly around.

Before we completed a full circle the ground beneath us crumbled and caved.

Mentees cried out in alarm as their carts tipped over and fell. Horses panicked and took off in every which direction. Riders were stranded. Mentee apprentices fought to find balance in the aftermath of the mentors' manmade quake.

"Alex, get up!" I grabbed my brother and attempted to drag him away from our splintered vehicle. When the ground broke it had capsized, and while I had managed to roll away unscathed Alex hadn't been quite so lucky.

My twin struggled to right himself, using my shoulder to stand while I guarded against potential attacks. In front of us I could see the rest of our team doing the same: Restoration was retreating to the butte while Combat mentees attempted to hold off the mentors' charge.

We were losing. The mentors had started to push forward with their own castings leading a counter assault. The mentees' first line of defense was dissolving. Fast.

In front of me Priscilla fell to the ground, surrounded by a pack of fifth-years.

"DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TAKE THE MENTORS ON! FALL BACK, FALL BACK, FALL BACK! ALCHEMY, TOSS THOSE FLASKS NOW!"

"Let's get out of here," Alex wheezed. He didn't have to say it twice. I immediately took off at a sprint – only to realize too late how slowly my brother was following. There was something wrong with his leg. He wouldn't make it out on his own. I looked across the plain to the mentors just fifty yards behind us. The others were emerging from the fire our Alchemy apprentices had chucked, slightly worse for wear, but still formidable. One of the mentors was casting javelins at a handful of fleeing mentees.

I saw him spot Alex…

My twin saw my hesitation and shook his head. "Run, Ry."

I didn't budge.

The fifth-year cast out his spear. My brother ran limping, trying to dodge its magicked course.

I didn't have time to think. I raced forward and cast out a large gust of wind, just enough to knock the mentor's weapon off course. I swung Alex's arm over my left shoulder and began to run-walk as fast as I could.

Just then Ella appeared, coughing and sputtering through the smoke. As soon as she spotted my brother's leg she joined me, pulling Alex's other arm around her shoulder.

Then we took off.

We managed to make it to the butte. I wondered at our luck until the haze cleared and I saw Darren, Eve, and Ray casting defense as our remaining mentees scrambled to safety. They were keeping the mentors at bay.

As soon as we were close enough to hear without shouting Darren pointed to a narrow trail behind him. "There's a gulch just past this rock. Keep following the stream until you find the grotto. I surveyed the whole site from the butte. If you can get to the cave you should be safe, for now. We'll be five minutes behind you – I want to make sure we get every Combat mentee we can first."

I nodded quickly and continued down the path with my brother and friend. I could hear the shrieks of pain and explosions of castings gone awry coming from the edge of the field.

There wouldn't be many of us fighting for long.





****





It was a half-hour later when Darren reached the grotto, half-carrying an injured Jayson as Eve and Ray shielded his approach. Four more mentees had come in after my group, and there'd been eight present we arrived.

We were down to twenty. We'd lost eleven mentees in that first charge. Only one Combat fourth-year had made it back, gravely injured. We were not in good standing.

The prince quickly set to work preparing our next move. The first thing he did was assess our condition. There were four of us too injured to run – though the Restoration mentees we did have were attempting to fix that. We had nine left from Alchemy, five from Restoration, and only six from Combat. With the exception of Alchemy - who'd had the advantage of a rear escape - most of us were second-years. We had lost most of the older mentees in the first attack since they'd been leading the assault.

"From here on out every casting needs to count. I made a mistake ordering that foray with the chariots – Caine was too smart to fall for our tricks. We'll need to be much more careful now since we've lost one third of our team. The mentors already have such an advantage..." Darren ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "We are safe here for a bit. Eve and I cast a large boulder to block our entrance that should hold us in this narrow gulch for a while… But there are other ways in and I am sure the mentors have already started scouting the rest of the canyon for breaks in the rock."