Inkmistress (Of Fire and Stars 0.5)(60)

“Give me a knife,” I said to Hal. I wasn’t going to let the Nightswifts hurt Hal because of me. Together we’d fight back.

Hal handed me one of his blades without question. The gesture of trust galvanized me, and I raised the weapon to stand my ground.

Hal lifted his arm and a gust of wind burst out of nowhere, kicking gravel and dirt into the eyes of the Nightswifts. They shouted and staggered back, but one of them recovered quickly enough to pull a throwing knife from the strap across her chest and take calculating aim. Hal shifted the direction of the wind and threw her off balance, but the others were already regrouping and drawing new weapons. He wouldn’t be able to hold them back for long.

A few of the Nightswifts broke away from the group, aiming blows at me meant to disable and threaten, not to kill. I staggered backward, splashing clumsily into the edge of the lake, realizing too late that they’d managed to separate me from Hal. More and more of the Nightswifts gathered, pushing me back until I stood knee-deep in the water. They’d cornered me, leaving Hal to face off with Ina. As powerful as he was, he was no match for her. His magic was enough to hold off the Nightswifts, but not a dragon.

My heart raced. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t be in two places at once. I couldn’t stop Ina, and I didn’t have time to write our way out of trouble.

Ina advanced on him, withholding her fire in favor of using brute strength. She rose onto her hind legs and slammed into his chest, knocking him to the ground.

“Hal!” I yelled. I knew Nismae would want them to capture me alive, but I wasn’t sure Ina felt the same way about Hal.

The circle of Nightswifts around me tightened.

I dropped to my knees and clumsily pricked one of the fingers on my right hand with Hal’s knife. Blood began to drip and my magic surged. I opened myself fully to the Sight, barely able to hold back as my magic writhed in its eagerness to pour out and shape the future. I didn’t want to risk writing anything, but I had to somehow use the power of my blood to get us away.

All around me the life of this remote place pulsed, from the gentle glow of the trees to the swirling depths of the lake. I wished it was a river and that we could jump in and be swept away. I wished the water god might put their arms around us both and carry us west to Corovja, but that was not the way water ran from here. I wished that I belonged to the water god, so that they might treat me as family.

The cut on my hand throbbed. I was out of time. I stumbled to the edge of the lake and let my magic pour into the water along with my blood.

I had never done magic this way before, directly from my body.

Without the precision of ritual.

Without control.

I sketched the symbol of the water god beneath the lake’s surface, trying to still my panic and weave into the magic a sense of calm, of promise, of good things—even as the battle heated around me.

An arrow splashed into the water beside me. The Nightswifts drew closer.

My hold on the tendrils of magic streaming out of me broke, taking with them the power of wind and water and all my wishes for something—anything—that would get us out of here.

“What the Hells is that?” one of Nismae’s warriors shouted.

They backed away from me as the ground began to rumble.

“Fly!” another said.

The air filled with beating wings as the warriors took their manifests.

Even Ina launched into the sky.

“Asra!” Hal turned to me in surprise, his eyes widening as he caught a glimpse of something behind me. I followed his gaze. The surface of the lake rippled and rose, swelling into a wave. It rushed toward us, building into a wall that loomed high enough to block out the moon hanging full and round over the horizon.

He ran toward me, and I barely had time to grab him with my uninjured arm before the wave crashed over us. We tumbled under the water in the dark until I had no idea which way led to the surface. A powerful current tugged us down until my lungs felt as though they might burst. How had this been the result of my cry for escape? Just as I began to choke, certain I would drown, we broke through the surface atop another wave, both of us gasping for breath.

Water surged beneath us, mingling and reshaping until we sat astride a massive horse made of liquid and darkness, its mane bleeding shadows into the night. The magic of my blood held the constructed creature together, giving it form and strength. Hal held me from behind with one arm wrapped around my waist, grabbing a fistful of the horse’s mane in his other hand.

Ina roared behind us, and a plume of flame scorched over our heads. My heart rose into my throat.

The horse’s powerful hindquarters gathered, then launched us into the sky. Ina gave chase, spouting fire. Her wings carried her swiftly, and when I cast a fearful glance over my shoulder, it was just in time to see her snap at the water horse’s tail only to come away with a mouthful of empty shadows. We needed to go faster.

I shut my eyes tightly. All I had to draw on was my own magic—or Ina’s.

There was no time to be moral.

I yanked power out of her, hard. With a yelp of surprise she faltered, tumbling several lengths down until she righted herself.

I used the stolen power to feed the water horse more energy, and we ascended to a dizzying height. Behind us, Ina roared, but she couldn’t keep up. Just before she vanished from sight, she turned back toward Orzai while the horse galloped northwest with great beats of its shadowy wings. Relief washed through me, quickly followed by an ache that spread through my bones until all I could do was hang on.