asked.
Tavia shrugged, like she wasn’t extremely impressed with her own aim.
“Karam,” she said, as casually as she could muster.
Wesley let out a low whistle.”I’m not sure whether to be scared or turned on.”
Tavia elbowed him in the stomach, harder than she’d intended, and Wesley let out a low grunt.
“Turned on it is,” he mumbled as Tavia ran toward a group of Crafters she could see surrounding Saxony.
There were six of them hurling balls of energy at her like they were stones. Saxony snarled, her Energycrafter shield shuddering with the force of their power.
Tavia could see her skin begin to take on a red hue as her fire magic grew inside of her, set to spill out like a volcano and send these bastards back to the fire-gates.
Tavia kicked one of them from behind, which was a cheat’s move but she really didn’t care. Her foot jabbed into the back of his knee and he went down like a shot. Before he had time to turn and react, Tavia stabbed her knife into his spine.
Saxony’s shield splintered.
There was blood covering her side and spreading from her ribs. Tavia gasped, but as she started to run to her, Saxony let out an almighty yell and the flame burst out of her like spikes, impaling the five remaining Crafters.
They crumpled to the ground and the fire spread across their bodies until they dissolved to ash.
“Damn it,” Saxony said. “One of them pierced my shield.”
Tavia stepped through the cinders with a wince.
“You’re lucky it was just one,” she said.
She held out a hand and hauled Saxony to her feet. Her palms felt like pure fire, but Tavia didn’t pull away. She kept her grip firm and steady, helping Saxony to regain her balance as she pressed a hand to her bleeding ribs.
“Are you okay?” Tavia asked.
Her skin felt like it was blistering.
Saxony clutched her ribs.
“Go and help the others,” she said. “I’ll be fine in a minute.”
Tavia shook her head.
“I’m not leaving you to bleed out,” she said, gripping on to Saxony’s arm a little tighter. “Let me help you.”
She had a good reason to be angry with Saxony. Many good reasons, in fact, but Tavia wasn’t going to abandon her on a battlefield.
“I appreciate the heroics, but I can heal this myself in a few minutes,” Saxony said. “Go and help somebody who needs it.”
Tavia looked between Saxony and the bloodbath surrounding them.
“You sure?” she asked.
“I am,” Saxony said, pushing her away. “Go!”
So Tavia did.
She ran without aim, punching and kicking. Slicing her knives across throats and jamming them into people’s stomachs like Karam had shown her.
She wasn’t sure how all of this blood would ever wash from her hands.
And then she spotted a group of enemy soldiers, circling like vultures around someone, and suddenly she wasn’t so worried about shedding too much blood.
Nolan.
That son of a bitch, she thought.
He and his friends were advancing on Saxony’s father.
Tavia ran toward them, reaching into her pocket and flinging out the first charm she thought would be of any use. It was a simple wind charm, but it sent them flying backward onto the ground with a loud crash.
“Are you okay?”Tavia asked Bastian, her eyes quickly scanning him for any wounds.
Bastian nodded and let out a shaken breath. “You have strong magic.”
“I wish I could take credit, but I stole most of it.”
Bastian laughed and put a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you,” he said.
“Nice trick,” Nolan said, dusting himself off. “But it’ll be your last.”
In front of him like a barrier, five thugs looked at her like hungry beasts.
“At least you get to go out with a bang,” Nolan said. “Creije’s best busker defeated by Rishiya’s best. It’s kind of poetic.”
“Read better poetry,” Tavia said.
Nolan ignored her and from his pocket he pulled out a small round object that looked a little like a fortune orb, save for the fact that it was not made of glass—or the watery kind of magic that looked like glass—but instead from some kind of stone.
It was bright blue, with pinpoints of white freckled around the polished smooth surface. It looked old and dangerous, the way most magic often did, and perched atop its perfectly rounded tip was a thin fuse.
“What’s that?” Tavia asked.
Nolan twirled it in his hand like a prize.”I call it a Star Egg,” he said. “You stole a bunch of them from me back in Rishiya. Or don’t you remember?”
Tavia remembered.
“Luckily, I had a couple in my private stash,” he said. “But I’ll be