my shoulder, finding Darcy hovering a few feet above the path while fiery wings burned brightly at her back and her blue hair billowed around her.
"You should probably run," she warned me, giving me half a second's notice before a blast of air magic slammed into my shield again.
I snarled as I managed to regain my feet, but Seth threw his own air magic at me from the right and I stumbled towards the left side of the path between the combined strength of their power as it drove against my shield with undeniable force.
Max stepped onto the path ahead of me and as he directed his own air magic at me too, I was left with no choice but to turn and run into the trees on my left.
I stumbled between the thick trunks as their air magic increased in pressure and the trees all around me bucked and swayed wildly in the maelstrom they were creating.
I ached to stand and fight them, unleash the full strength of the shadows on them. But my king had made it clear I wasn't to attack the Heirs or Darcy while the country was still adjusting to the new leadership. Outside of enforcing the new laws, he didn't want me to engage with them and I couldn't bear to disappoint him again. So with a growl of fury, I turned and fled.
My boots thumped over leaves and sticks in my path as I ran through the trees and for a moment, I swore I spotted a blur of movement to my right and then again ahead of me on my left. Fucking Vampire.
The assault of air magic didn't let up behind me though so I had no time to focus on what was ahead and with each moment that passed, my magic was being stretched to its limits as I fought with everything I had to keep my shield in place.
The trees seemed to open up ahead of me, a clear path free of debris on the ground appearing and allowing me to run faster as I took it and upped my pace.
The shadows writhed beneath my skin, but I kept my focus on my Elemental magic even as I burned through more and more of it while pushing everything I had into maintaining my shield as the wind continued to ram against the back of it.
I cast a ball of fire beside me to replenish my magic but the moment I did, the ground bucked beneath me so hard that I was thrown up in the air. I yelled out as I forgot about the flames and threw everything I had into air again to stop myself from face planting the smooth path ahead of me.
My magic was seriously depleted as I made it back to my feet by some miracle and I cursed loudly as I ran on down the path, taking a turn to the left as it curved that way, the trees and bushes either side of it far too thick for me to try and break through at this speed.
I suddenly found myself at the top of a steep hill and as my boot landed on the path again, my foot slid out from under me as I hit ice instead of mud and I fell onto my ass. But between the sharp decline of the hill before me, the slick ice and the never-ending gale at my back, there was no way for me to stop myself from sliding straight down the hill at high speed.
I threw my arms out ahead of me, trying to slow my fall with air magic, but the dull ache in my chest warned me that I was almost out and I knew there was no way I was going to be able to fight off the three assholes at my back now.
Just as my magic reserves guttered out, I crashed through an illusion that had been placed on the path making it look like there was nothing ahead of me and screamed as I was propelled straight into a heavy metal cage.
I hit the bars at the back of it hard, smacking my face and hearing bone crunch before the agony of the injury even reached me.
I rolled over, scrambling back towards the door with blood dripping down my face, but before I could even get close, Caleb shot into view, slamming the door and locking it with a metallic clang that resounded right down into my soul.
I shrieked in