low, desperate mewl. Vane’s hand dug deeper into the lion’s chest. The metallic stench of iron in his blood made me want to gag. Yet, all I could do was watch. From under a crown of rough mane, the lion’s enormous head turned slowly toward me. Huge, amber-brown eyes—Matt’s eyes—locked on me for a moment. They were saying goodbye.
Vane yanked out the lion’s heart. With a satisfied grunt, he stepped back and the lion fell in a heavy heap to the floor. Without another glance at the fallen beast, Vane turned to me. He held the beating muscle in his hand. Blood dripping, Vane turned Matt’s heart over in his hand. He looked at the dying organ with dispassionate eyes.
Still frozen in place, I could only let out a suppressed cry. Closing my eyes, I pictured myself unfrozen. I opened them again and tried to move. Nothing. Even in my head, I couldn’t break through Vane’s grip.
Vane held up the heart. Black veins crisscrossed the red flesh in a tight web, strangling the vulnerable muscle. “The infection is here. No one would think to pull this out. Lelex was clever.”
Lelex, the mermaid king held Matt captive for fifteen days. Fifteen days, which passed as slowly as fifteen years. Days we’d never forget.
“No one who cared about Matt would pull it out,” I managed to say despite the freeze spell.
“We have little time for care. It takes twenty seconds for him to die if he has no heart.” Vane looked at me steadily, ice chilling his irises. He squeezed the heart with his palm. Green fire flared in his hand and surrounded the organ. Vane opened his hand. The black veins disappeared from the bloodied heart. He strode to the lion and knelt on the floor. Reaching deep into the lion’s mutilated chest, he put the heart back in place. Fire flowed from Vane’s fingers and he reconnected organ and tissue like it was a broken clay sculpture, not blood and bone. He worked outwardly, and within seconds, Matt’s ribs and chest were sewn together. Still, a mark of the trauma remained. A jagged sunburst scarred the lion’s chest.
My throat dry with fear, I ached to go to him. I almost fell on my face when the spell winked out with an abrupt “snap!” I rushed closer and knelt just above the lion’s reclining head. I ran my fingers through his rough, tangled mane. The lion lay still. Too still.
I murmured, “C’mon, Matt.”
Vane put a hand to Matt’s now-healed chest. He looked at me. “It’s your turn.”
I swallowed. “What do I do?”
“Nothing.” He stood up and snapped his fingers. The Fisher King’s trident appeared in his hand. “You do nothing. You will not fight back.”
My fingers tightened in Matt’s thick mane. The ends bit into my palm. Doubt filled me again.
“Agreed, champion?” Vane mocked.
My palm itched to connect with his face. I took a bracing breath, and said, “I will do nothing. I will not fight you.”
Vane’s glacial green eyes flashed with satisfaction. It wasn’t enough to get his way. He wanted to grind me down at the same time. He aimed the trident at Matt. “Adhikaram karoti.”
I jumped a little when a stream of green fire blasted out, hitting Matt directly in the chest. The lion’s body shuddered under the attack. A film of blue formed around Matt. Blue was the color of Matt’s magic. My hand in Matt’s mane burned with such intense heat that I had to yank it away. The fire coming out of the trident intensified. So did the blue. The room vibrated as the two wizards fought, one conscious, the other unconscious. That Matt still had enough magic left in him to fight Vane, even though weakened, filled me with hope. Then, Vane turned the trident on me.
I cried, “What are you doing?”
“It’s time.” He shouted, “Adhikaram karoti,” once more.
Green fire blasted me. A blue shield winked around me before it could make contact. Still, I felt the attack like a wallop to the stomach.
I looked at the lion. His eyes were open. Matt’s eyes were open! With effort, the fallen lion expended what little strength he had to turn so that he lay on his belly. His massive head rose up off the ground. Blue magic flowed from him to me. Matt was trying to protect me. All I had to do was hold on to Matt’s magic.
Vane said, “The lives of everyone, the fate of this entire region, rest in your hands, Ryan.”