The Black Mage: Apprentice (25 page)

"But-"
What kind of mission is more
important than a prince's life?

"I am done arguing. We will wait for him
here, for as long as we can." Mira had already turned her back,
ordering Cethan to take them to the ship.

"I'll stand watch with Ryiah." Andy stepped
off the boat, groaning.

Mira glared at the mage. "Don't for a second
think that I don't-"

Andy put a firm hand on my shoulder trying
not to wince. "I'll make sure Ryiah remains here, Mira, I know my
duty."

The leader kept her eyes on the two of us for
a moment longer and then indicated for Cethan to continue
paddling.

As soon as they were out of hearing the mage
spun me to face her. "Lightning," she said, "if you see it,
whatever you are doing, get back to the beach. I will try to hold
off the enemy as long as I can – but if it gets too much Mira will
make us leave without you."

"What are you-"

"Go, Ryiah. Go find Darren."

My feet were already zipping across the sand
before the words finally registered in my mind.

****

I tore across the dark forest. Long, black
branches reached out like fingers to scrape across my skin. I cast
out small balls of light, launching them in every which direction,
trying to find any sign of the prince or where he had gone. The
cold air whipped across my lungs like a knife. My frantic breathing
was coming out in quick, sharp gasps.

Darren could be anywhere. The others had said
they'd been forced to separate two hours ago. Andy wasn't sure if
he had gone deeper into the woods, or east toward the beach. One
thing was certain: he wouldn't have gone south unless he'd been
captured.

I retraced my trail, following familiar
landmarks and calling out as loudly as I dared.

As the minutes ticked by and there was still
no sign of Darren my searching became frantic. My quiet shouts gave
way to desperate shrieks. I no longer cared if the enemy soldiers
spotted me.

I cast out large clouds of light, letting
everything illuminate as if the entire forest had been struck by
the sun. I knew Mira would be furious if she found out I was
casting giant beacons of magic and screaming on the top of my
lungs, but I was too far from the shore for my leader to stop
me.

Rational thinking had given way to panic and
there was nothing holding me back.

"DARREN!" I screamed. "
DARREN!"

It had been an hour and a half since I
started. My castings had begun to falter, and while I knew it was
reckless to use up all of my magic, I couldn't bring myself to
stop.

I made it back to where the soldiers had
first spotted us. A handful of bloodied bodies littered the
clearing in front of me. This was where Mira, Andy, and Darren had
first held off the enemy…

All of the bodies bore Caltothian insignia.
None of them had dark brown hair. I exhaled slowly. The non-heir
was safe, for now.

He must have taken a different path. Or maybe
he was lost. Or perhaps he had already made it back to the beach
and was wondering where I was. I hadn't seen any signs of lightning
yet. Andy was still waiting for me.

I had run the whole trail back, thinking I
would find Darren somewhere waiting – possibly too injured to
continue the way to the ship without my assistance. Now, I took my
time, carefully examining each and every bit of ground in hopes of
a trampled branch, bent grass, a footprint in the leftover winter
frost, anything that would point to Darren or where he had
gone.

At one point I thought I saw something – a
bit of dried blood smeared against a rock, as if someone had been
using it to prop himself up - but no matter where I turned the
clearing was empty.

He's probably already on the ship
, I
told myself quickly,
you must have missed him on your way
in.
I continued to prowl the forest back, shouting and casting
in every which direction.

It started to rain. After a couple minutes my
clothes were soaked through.

"D-ar-ren," I tried again. My teeth were
chattering and it was hard to speak. I tried to wipe away the
raindrops that were blurring my vision but they were falling in
sheets. I could barely see two feet in front of me. "Darr-"

I broke off, crying out as a searing pain
tore in and out of my left side. I barely had a second to register
the pooling blood above my hips before a loud swooshing noise came
at my face and I was sent staggering to my knees.

With all the magic I could muster I cast out
from all sides – hoping to hit my attacker before he landed another
hit. I didn't have any time to prepare. I threw forward the first
projection I could think of: fire.

But it was a mistake. The flames were quickly
doused by rain. I cursed myself for wasting so much magic on the
wrong casting. I hadn't been thinking. A Caltothian soldier behind
me kicked my chest and I fell flat into the mud, barely rolling out
of the way in time to avoid a heavy boot from crushing my neck.

"I found one!" the enemy shouted.

I heard two sets of loud boots slapping
against the wet ground. I tried casting again, but my magic was
gone. I had spent four hours expending my force in my desperation
to locate the prince. The fire had cost me my last bit of magic. I
was weaponless except for a small blade tucked into my boot, but I
couldn't reach it from my current position.

The footsteps were right beside me and I
shoved my hands deep, deep into my open wound, screaming. I forced
the pain to bend to my will, calling out the branch of magic that
belonged to me and me alone.

And then I pain cast everything I had.

****

I woke up to a sea of silver falling from the
sky. It was beautiful. One of the stars brushed my face, and then
another, and I was surprised to feel a calm, cooling sensation as
they caressed my skin, dancing across my brow, my nose, and finally
the curve of my jaw.

Finally
. Peace.

I blinked and realized with a start that the
silvery stars were actually glittering flakes of snow, and that I
was definitely not enjoying a peaceful death. Every inch of me
throbbed like it had been slammed against a wall - repeatedly. My
head spun and every time I tried to move my vision seemed to fade
away, leaving me with a black haze and small clusters of shadow I
could only assume were some of the forest pines a little further
away.

My whole stomach felt like it was on fire –
especially just above my waist where one of the soldiers had
managed to stab me with his knife.
Of course
, I
acknowledged,
I made it much worse with my pain casting.

The casting. The Caltothians. Had the
soldiers presumed me dead? Had my magic worked? If it hadn't, where
were they now? How much time had passed? Biting back a cry of pain
in case any were still nearby, I forced myself to sit up and see
through the dizzying fog to my surroundings.

Two men and one woman in Caltothian armor
were splayed out below a large boulder to my right. I immediately
felt sick. The granite behind them was stained red and their bodies
were crumbled at odd angles. There was no movement in their chests,
the breath stolen from their lungs. Blood covered the grass beneath
them.

Three. I had just made my first, second, and
third kill. Before I had even obtained my mage's robes. I bent over
and vomited into the grass. There was no pride, no justice, just
the appalling sense that I had lost my innocence. That I was a
monster.

It didn't matter that they would have killed
me first. Seeing the three lifeless soldiers – still so young and
strong and now stained forever against a rock, never to take
another breath– left me with a nausea so fierce I could barely
breathe without cowering against the ground in a pale, clammy
sweat. I had known I would kill in Combat, but I had always
pictured the glory. Now my opponents were here, and they were real,
and all I saw was blood.

And then I saw Darren. A strangled cry
escaped my lips and I dove forward to the fourth person I had
missed at the edge of the rock's base, hidden by one of the men
whose armor had initially blocked my view.

I knelt beside the prince, listening
desperately for a heartbeat - but I could hear nothing over the
hysterical screaming in my head.

You killed him! You killed him, you killed
him, you killed him!

I felt frantically for a pulse but it was the
same. My hands were quivering too badly to tell. I saw the blood
pooling underneath his hair but I refused to acknowledge it.

He'll wake up, you'll see, he's only
unconscious!
I tried shaking his arms, I tried yelling, I tried
pleading with the gods.

But nothing happened.

Slowly, uncontrollable tremors took control
of my limbs and I began to tremble uncontrollably.
He's
dead.
I was crying and screaming. My sobs were so loud they
drowned out the beating in my heart.

Darren is dead
. My ribs were cracking
apart, crumbling into a million burning shards. White ice plunged
into my chest. Invisible hands were choking my lungs until I could
no longer breath.

You made the right decision, Ryiah. Let's
just leave it at that.
His words brought a flood of memories
and my tears turned into a flood. An avalanche of emotion and
self-hatred came rushing out and reminding me that the fallen
prince was more than a friend, more than the wrong decision I had
pretended he was.

I saw Darren the first time I met him. In the
mountain overpass as cold garnet eyes met mine in haughty
condescension. If someone had told me back then that he would be
the one to break my heart, I would have laughed in their face. But
now my heart was broken, shattered, crumbling into pieces that
would never,
ever
heal.

In the midst of my tears I saw a stark flash
of lightening high above the trees. Andy's warning. They hadn't
left, but they would be leaving soon. Could I make it in time? Now,
if I ran, would I make it?

But it doesn't matter
.
It doesn't
matter one bit because I am not going anywhere.
I could never
go back to Andy, my faction, my family and friends knowing I was
responsible for killing
him
. My body shook harder and I
realized Darren had been wrong – I hadn't been in danger of making
the wrong decision, he had: me, the girl who would take his
life.

I suddenly couldn't bear to be near him. I
was dirty, tainted. The prince deserved better than a sobbing
murderer at his feet. I forced myself to wipe away the tears, not
caring that I had just smeared blood and dirt across my face in the
process. I stood with my back to the prince and scanned the
clearing for any sort of winter flower that I might be able to set
beside him: I couldn't recreate a funeral pyre, but I could give
his body one last thing of beauty before the Shadow God came for
his soul.

But then I remembered. We were too far north,
still in the months of winter, and there had never been a hint of
blossoms anywhere along the trails we had taken. I couldn't even
give Darren something beautiful, something to take with him now
that he was gone.

My tears became hysterical and my legs gave
out. I kneeled in the mud, sobbing.
What had I done?

Something brushed my shoulder – but I barely
felt it, the rain was drowning out everything as I fell away…

Ryiah
.

The rain still had his voice. It hurt how
real it sounded, catching the slight lilt to his tone – a hint of
music edged in humor and bitterness, a mixture of darkness and
light.

I told myself I didn't deserve to hear
it.

Ryiah
.

This time it was louder and for a moment, for
a moment I believed.

"Ryiah." A rough hand gripped my shoulder and
jerked me around. And then, suddenly, I was face to face with
Darren.

The prince was sitting across from me,
cradling the back of his head, the strangest expression on his
face.

"I – I thought you were…"

Darren winced, keeping a hand on my shoulder
as he studied my face. "You don't give me much credit," he said
hoarsely, "if you thought one of your castings would kill me." He
had meant it as a joke, a play on the vanity he always wore around
the rest of our faction - but it only made me cry harder.

"Hey. Hey!" Darren shook me. "I was kidding,
Ryiah!"

"How…?" I couldn't finish.

"I was on my way back when I heard you
calling but by the time I got there the Caltothians had found
you..." He swallowed. "I was about to jump in when you pain cast…
If I hadn't cast my shield – well, let's just say your pain casting
has gotten a bit stronger since the first-year trials."

I couldn't look at him. I was too afraid if I
did I would see I was alone – that this scene was all just a
figment of my imagination, a way of coping with my loss. What he
said made sense, but it was just too simple, too easy.

"Ryiah. Look at me."

I kept my eyes fixed to the hem of his
sleeve, but then Darren lifted my chin so that I was forced to meet
his eyes. Silent tears slipped down my face.

My breath hitched.

He's here. He's alive
.

It should have made the tears stop – but they
only seemed to come down harder.

"Why are you still crying, Ryiah?" his words
were almost a whisper.

I just shook my head, not trusting myself to
speak.

"Ryiah." He was looking at me strangely. "Are
you in love with me?"

Was I? Was that it? Was that why I had been
unable to make a decision for weeks – and, even after I had, I'd
still been miserable inside? Was that why I had resigned myself to
the enemy instead of going back to the ship? Was that why I
couldn't stop crying?