Feudlings (33 page)

****

Franklin burst into flames on impact, a towering inferno. Richard stared at him in shock as Ari raced toward Will and her mother's lifeless form. Richard's eyes snapped around to meet hers and she felt triumph roar through her as she clearly read panic in his gaze.

Richard turned and ran.

He raced around the inferno, leaving Franklin to die, and disappeared in the smoke.

Ari didn't hesitate. She charged forward, running straight at the towering blaze. "Will!" she screamed, and her brother sat back, reading her mind. Ari jumped.

****

Charity’s guards led Shane back around the hill, until he was nearly parallel to Ari. Out of the corner of his eye he could also see Hunter, who was still on his feet, frozen in shock, his eyes trained on Charity while her guards dragged her to the other side of a huge fire. As Shane followed he risked a glance to check on Ari, to know she was alive. For the second time in as many minutes, his heart stopped at the sight of her sprinting straight at the bonfire, running so fast she was nothing but a blur and Shane was sure she couldn’t stop before she crashed into the fire. Will knelt on the ground in front of the fire, next to what could only be his mother, seemingly unaware of Ari racing straight toward him. And then Ari screamed and Shane watched, astonished, as Ari leaped forward, planting one foot on Will's knee and the other on his shoulder and flew into the air, curling herself into a ball as she rolled through the sky, over the hungry flames, and disappeared onto the other side.

Hunter, too, had frozen as he watched Ari hurtle over the fire, but as she disappeared from view, Shane saw Hunter shake himself and start after Charity. He stepped over Charles, who lay silent at his feet. "Hunter! Look out!" Shane yelled again, and Hunter spun around, startled to see Shane so close. Then he saw why Shane had yelled as several more Carules rushed up the hill toward him, spells already burning in the air. Shane watched in horror as the first one hit, a powerful one; Hunter fell to his knees, his eyes widening in pain. And then he collapsed as several more spells slammed into his still form.

"Hunter!" he yelled, blasting spells at the Carules who were still surrounding him. But there were so many. He was never going to get to Hunter or Charity in time. If he got out of this at all.

****

"Richard! Come out and fight me, you coward!" Ari screamed, rage making her voice raw. She curled her fingers into her palms, frustration making her dig half-moons into the roughened skin. She barely noticed as blood welled and dripped through her fingers.

"Do you think I'm that unintelligent, Arianna?" His voice taunted her through the smoke, and she sent a blind spell toward the sound, but there was no satisfying explosion. She had missed.

"
Aagh
!" she bellowed, sightless with rage. And then his voice, again through the smoke that was so thick it burned her eyes and blocked out the sun.

"Your little friends need your help, Arianna. Now, you can stay and fight me, but your mother's already dead and your
brother
" —the word sounded like slime on his tongue— "is trying to help them. But let’s be honest, shall we? We both know without you, they'll fail. They'll all be killed," he said conversationally. Hiding in the mist and the flames seemed to make him feel safe. Ari wanted to take that safety and strangle him with it. Slowly.

She spun around in circles, as his voice taunted her from all sides, trying to catch sight of him, but he seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once. The smoke cleared with the breeze, just a bit, and she could see past her mother's body to the Carules banner beyond. Will fought off Carules, standing over Hunter’s still form. Not far from Will, Shane was throwing spells at Charles and several guards who still surrounded Charity. Her friends were overwhelmed, and even as she watched Shane took a hit and fell to one knee, struggling to get up, and then Will, too, was hit. And more Carules and Edren were swarming up the hill after them. Below, the Renegades had been overrun.

"It's me or them. Completely up to you." She heard Richard's voice by her ear, but when she spun around he wasn't there.

"Fine!" she screeched into the smoke. "But I
will
hunt you down, Richard! You'll pay for what you've done!" And she raced after Will.

She was too far away.

She got to him in time to throw a
masas
just as he finished burning one of his own, and the spells forged together. The
masas
exploded, obliterating the several Carules attacking him.

“Will! Is Hunter…?” She couldn’t even form the words, the horror too much in the back of her throat.

Relief almost caused her to collapse as he shook his head. “No, he’s unconscious, but he’s alive.” His eyes widened in horror as he threw his arm out, and Ari spun to follow where he was pointing. “Shane!”

She ran as hard as she could, to where she could see Shane fighting several Council members and Charles at once.

She wasn't fast enough.

A breeze blew the mist, just gently enough to clear it for a moment, and she could see Charles as she approached. He grabbed Charity and threw her through a portal, racing through and slamming it shut just as Shane's
lirik
smashed into it.

"No!" Ari screamed, diving toward the
saldepement
, trying to reignite it. But it was gone. She tucked her head and hit the ground hard, rolling to her feet and whirling back on the empty space where Charity had just disappeared. "Charity!" she screamed, throwing spell after spell at the last shimmers of the magical doorway, trying to bring it back, trying to send a
lirik
through. It was useless.

"Ari! Ari! She's gone. You aren't doing any good wasting your energy here," Will bellowed, jerking her around and grabbing her wrists. Ari sobbed. Shane was staring, devastated, at empty air. "He won't hurt her. He needs her alive, or he's got nothing as leverage to protect himself from you," Will said.

"He's already hurt her!" Ari cried.

"Charity's tough. She'll be okay until we can get to her." Hunter’s voice was raw as he approached, bloody and broken, stumbling up to them with the last of his strength. He gritted his teeth against the pain. "And we will get to her."

“Hunter!” Ari turned and threw her arms around his bloody shoulders in an uncharacteristic hug.

“Ouch, Ari. Not so tight.” He groaned as his arms went around her and he dropped his head against her temple. She could feel him shake, exhausted and terrified.

“Hunter, let me help you.” Shane turned to his best friend, calling on what little magic he had left to heal Hunter. As soon as the worst of the injuries were gone though, Hunter waved him away.

With Richard and the Council both gone, the battle had paused. All over the field, silence had descended as everyone watched the Prodigies with bated breath, waiting.

"I've got to get Mom's body. She deserves a proper burial," Will said, his voice breaking. Ari squeezed her eyes shut as he disappeared into the smoke, reappearing several seconds later.

"She's gone!" he yelled, his eyes wide with devastation, his face white under the grime and the blood.

"What?" Ari ran after him, back to where Franklin's fire was still smoldering, but it was true. Vivian's body was gone.

"Richard!" Once again, Ari was robbed of her target. She screamed with fury at the sky, her hands in fists, resisting the urge to throw a spell at the sun just because it was there. She whirled around, looking for something to attack, but her eyes landed on Will as he sank to his knees next to her. And then Shane was there, pulling her into his arms, burying her face against his chest.

An eternity later, Ari raised her head. She was exhausted, every muscle ached, and her head felt like it might explode. All around her, Renegades formed a protective circle, facing outward. "You guys saved us. I thought you didn't believe in this war," Ari said, her voice weak and weary, speaking to the group in general. She didn’t move from the protective strength of Shane’s arms, barely having the energy to keep her head off his broad chest.

It was Dani who answered, lowering her head, her eyes on the burnt grass in front of her. "We don't believe in fighting a pointless war. But we do believe in fighting to protect those we love.” She raised her head, brown eyes landing on Ari. “You. And Will."

Ari's heart swelled and she felt tears threatening in her eyes. "Thank you. We would never have survived if you hadn't come."

Will sat on the ground at her feet, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands, oblivious to the conversation around him. "She never gave up on me. Mom. She never did. Did you know that? That's why she wouldn't fight. She was so powerful, but she wouldn't fight because she believed I was right." Will’s voice was low and full of pain. Ari couldn't bear it. Relinquishing the strength of Shane’s arms, she dropped down next to her brother and pulled him against her.

"When they sent you after me, she called to warn me. She sent me money as often as she could. She called whenever she could sneak away."

"I never knew," Ari whispered.

"She didn't want you to know. You were the reason she stayed, to protect you. And she didn't want you burdened with that guilt."

Will raised his head and stared out over the valley. Then he frowned. "Look," he said, turning Ari around. She faced the battlefield, where thousands of warriors stood in the smoke like apparitions, all watching them. The fields were a silent tomb of shock.

"They aren't fighting," Will said. It was true. Not one spell was being thrown.

Shane stepped forward, casting a long shadow across the battlefield. He was burned and bruised and covered in blood, and his hands still shook, but when he raised his voice, everyone below leaned forward as one, straining to hear, trembling in anticipation. "This war ends now! A prophesy made three hundred years ago does not decide my fate. It will no longer decide our fates. The war is over!" It was as if his voice amplified a hundred times and carried across the battlefield. Silence descended. And then cheering, starting slowly and gaining until it was a roar sweeping the fields.

Ari reached over and took his hand as her eyes swept the expanse before her. They had done it. They had ended the war.

But at what cost?

Chapter Twenty-Five

Hours later, Hunter staggered out of Will’s guest bedroom, scrubbing his reddened eyes.

Shane waited for him in the hallway, reading the pain in Hunter’s eyes. He could almost hear the constant mantra running through Hunter’s mind.
Charity’s
gone. We
didn’t save her.
Shane put his hand on Hunter’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“I wish my heart would just stop. It hurts, every time it beats. Shane, I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next minute, let alone the next hour.”

Shane closed his eyes, understanding too well how Hunter felt. His heart, too, ached like every beat was a burden.

“Why didn’t I tell her I loved her when I had the chance? Why didn’t I tell her a thousand times since then?” Hunter mumbled.

Shane didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t sure Hunter even knew he was there. He was overwhelmingly relieved when Hunter spoke first. “Did you see her punch me, that day in the park? She’s so tiny. But it hurt.” Hunter’s lips quirked up in a small smile as he quoted Charity, “
This didn’t happen. When you want to tell me you love me, do it right. And this, Hunter, is not right
--”
Hunter broke off, gasping for breath as silent sobs shook his frame.

“Hunter?” A soft, hesitant voice interrupted his pain and he jerked his head up. Shane followed his gaze with a smile.

“Mom.” Hunter mumbled.

She held her arms out and he crushed her to him, unable to hold back the sobs, but it was okay because she cried with him. His mom, who was nearly as tall as he was, cradled her big son in her arms until he could find no more tears. Then she lifted his chin, smiling a sad, sweet smile as she peered into his face.

“It will be okay. Everything will be okay,” she whispered.

“How do you know?” Hunter asked.

Shane watched her, praying she was right. The war was over.

“There is hope on the horizon.”

Hunter’s face fell. “Maybe for some. But not for me. Without Charity, there is no hope. There is nothing.”

“There is hope. You ask how I know — it is because I know you. And you won’t rest until you make it so.” She turned as another teenage boy came into the hallway, his big hands rubbing the back of his neck uncertainly. “Hunter, this is Dax. Your younger brother.” She held out a hand to the boy as he stumbled closer, looking at Hunter with something akin to awe. Behind him, a much smaller, quieter little shadow hovered, twisting her sandy brown hair as she watched him. “And this is Ivy. They’ve been waiting to meet you for so long,” Shelley said.

Hunter spread his arms wide, and Ivy raced into his embrace. Hunter pulled Dax in, too, and held them both like everything in the world depended on it.

This was how Hunter would make it through the next minute, the next hour.
Family
.

****

Will set them up in the colony, in a nice house only a few steps away from his. He set Hunter’s mother up with a job, and Hunter and Shane moved in with her. Will took care of them, the same way he took care of everyone in his colony.

But the colony was changing. The war was over. Many of the families were leaving, going back to homes they thought they would never see again. Will was standing with his arms full of a large box, helping one of his families move. He shook his head ruefully as Shane and Hunter paused next to him, just arriving to help. “I might have to hire Normals after this. I’m not sure I’ll have enough sorcerers to run my company.”

“I didn’t think about that.” Hunter frowned. Will’s life and the way it revolved around the colony hadn’t occurred to Shane, either, when they celebrated the end of the war.

Shane shifted awkwardly. “Sorry, Will.”

Will just shook his head. “I’m not. Freedom, Hunter. We haven’t had freedom in so long.”