Crown of Cinders (Imdalind #7)(91)

“Go alone? What if Sain senses your magic? What if he ‘sees’ you?” Míra asked, her eyes wide as someone else ran into her, jostling her around before she came right back to standing. “You said—”

“That barely matters now,” I snapped. “There will be much more magic heading right toward him, and I need to find them before they get here. Do you understand?”

She nodded once, grinding her teeth together, her eyes back to the hard death look that was so familiar to her.

“Find Damek if you can. Find the blade, hide it and meet me in the old hall, where the men would meet. Once we have the blade and Ilyan we can end Sain. It’s the only way. We need a blade in our possession before we are to face him. Do you understand?” I didn’t even look at her. I stared at the city, at the ruins that were alive with light and Vil?s as they took off into the air, attacking the dozens of helicopters and planes that soared across the now open sky.

Fire erupted from one as the Vil?s took control, sending the helicopter down toward the city in a ball of fire. The soldiers who were going around the tents, searching for survivors, looked back at the explosion, only to increase their search. Many of them began to drop to the ground, attacked by the winged monsters my father had created.

This game had suddenly become very dangerous.

“You’ll need to stay hidden, Míra,” I finished, finally turning back to the girl. “These men will stop you. The Vil?s will eat you. Everyone will destroy you.”

“Don’t worry, Ovailia.” A smile spread over her face so wide and innocent that it looked out of place, stretching her features the wrong way. “My brother died because of him. I’d rather die before he sees another day.” She smiled again, her white teeth glinting in the obstructed light. Then she turned from me, running around the tents and dodging soldiers and Vil?s before she disappeared completely, shrouded by her magic.

“Ma’am!” a deep voice yelled at me, and I turned to face a large man clad in black armor, a large, unnecessary gun in his hands. “Do you need help? We have a large—”

“You are the ones who will need help,” I said, the chill in my voice matching the icy air that swirled around us.

The soldier looked at me in confusion. The look switched to fear as a Vil? flew behind me, coming right up, ready to attack.

“Zdechnout,” I hissed, and the creature fell to the ground with a thud.

Meanwhile, the soldier had cocked his gun, ready to fire. He stood, staring at me, confused about what had happened, confused about what I was and what side I was on.

“Ma’am,” he said, his voice shaking underneath the strength he tried to convey.

I smiled, the power in my look making the gun shake in his hands.

“I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”

“So you can save me?” A deeper grin, a bigger shake.

“Ma’am—”

“You think you saved us from hell?’ I asked, lifting my fingers to look at my perfectly manicured red nails. “You and your men have released it. You better hope I can kill him first.”

I smiled at the man who stepped back in obvious confusion. His eyes widened as he looked around him, desperate for backup, but before he could find anything, I snapped my fingers, sending a wall of flames up around us, circling the tiny alcove of the campsite in flame.

“Run,” I said before I left him, vanishing into thin air and leaving the man standing in the flames, staring at nothing but fire. Facing nothing but death.

For the first time, I actually hoped I could succeed before Sain killed us all.





JOCLYN





23





With a whoosh of wind, the barrier fell. It pulled at coats and hair and dirt with such force that I was afraid it would sweep us away, back to the city that was now bathed in bright light.

Cowering against the force, we huddled over the fresh grave of my brother, snow swirling around us and coating everything with a fresh layer of white.

Just as it had in all the sights I’d had of this moment.

The cold air bit against my nose and cheeks as I looked up from the security of Dramin’s old blanket. The wind swirled before the gap in fur and skin as, for the first time, I saw the city of ruins that had been my home for the last few months.

Everything looked different in the yellow light of the sun. The hauntingly beautiful frame of this skeletal city glistened in the light. Broken glass twinkled from the twisted stone of the ancient architecture. The beauty of the dilapidation did not last before the wind began to slow and the screams began to fill the air. The howls of the creatures that had hunted us for so long ripped through the silence of the snow, tiny specks of brown and gray emerging from their hiding places within the ruins and exploding into the sky in streams of the undead. They defiled the beauty of the scene in ribbons of mud, the winged rats ready to feast on new meat.

With my heart clenched in fear, an angry agony gripped me as I pushed myself to stand, ready to soar into the air and fight the things, to stop them as they began to swarm the helicopters of the mortals who were already soaring into the city.

I got one foot off the ground, ready to follow Wyn and Ilyan who were already running to the low outcropping on the hill we stood on, but instead I collapsed in a terrifying free fall, my head spinning as my magic pushed through me with a speed that sucked the breath from my chest.