Reaching Retribution (The Prophesized Series) (26 page)

I try
to throw a shield around me when I hear his thoughts, but Zahtri transports much quicker than Larkin. One second he is in front of me, and then the next, he is wrapping his arms around my waist and transporting us out of the field.

I try to fight against him, but his grip is too strong. I slam into a large rock.
My back instantly protests as pain shoots through my torso. I gasp, trying to catch the breath that was knocked out of me. Zahtri is smiling over me. It’s no longer raining anymore, but the dark clouds above me could open up at any minute and shed their tears. “Get off of me!” I yell at him as I attempt to get away from him. The legs around my hips tighten and his arms pin my hands above my head.

“Stop strugg
ling, Ryanne,” he growls at me.

“Then get off of me.”

“Stop trying to kill me. This would be so much easier if you’d just pick the first option.”

“You’re still stuck on that?” I ask. “I’m not going to work with you.”

“So you’d rather let more people die because of you? They’re either fighting with you or they are fighting against you. You’re the reason why people are dying.”

“They’re
fighting for or against you as well, Zahtri.”

“Yes, but I don’t care if anyone dies. You do,” he tells me.
I close of my mind, not letting the meaning of his sentence sink it. I can’t over think anything right now. That’ll get me killed. Liam and Larkin have both talked to me today, and I understand what I have to do.

I
call my magic to me. I know Zahtri can feel it moving around us because he tightens his grips on my wrists again. The bones are on the verge of breaking when I release all the pent up anger I’ve gathered since I’ve been at Dravin’s compound. Zahtri flies off of me, but he doesn’t loosen his grip right away. I’m thrown into the air and land, not so gracefully, on another rock and roll a couple times before coming to a stop. Zahtri’s deep grunt fills my ears as he also lands painfully against the rocks.

Since I don’t have time right now to dwell on injuries,
I jump up and get my first look at my surroundings. I’m standing along a cliff off the coast. Angry water crashes against the edge of the rock about thirty feet below me. I back up. If I had rolled a couple more feet, I would have fallen off. Turning around, I face Zahtri, with the knowledge that this is it. This is what I am meant to do. Claire told me I would be somewhere else during the final battle. I wouldn’t have Liam and Colton around me.

Now I understand why.

I step forward, putting more distance between me and the cliffs edge all the while decreasing the distance between Zahtri and me. I can feel his magic flowing around us, so I know he’ll attack soon. I push more magic out, putting it into the air. My magic works much quicker when I don’t have to push it out.

I throw a shield up behind me along the cliff’s edge as a precaution. Zahtri stands up and
stalks toward me. “I really hoped we could have solved this civilly.”

“Then you shouldn’t have kidnapped me and stuck me in a cell for this past week,” I retort.

“Touché,” Zahtri says as he stops a few feet away from me. I throw a shield up around my mind, hoping that he can’t read my thoughts. I can’t read his anymore, so I know that he’s doing something.

“You’re smarter
than I gave you credit for, dear. This might actually be fun.” Zahtri’s voice and constant endearments are really starting to annoy me. I’m an accent person. I love accents, but after hearing his deep almost Australian accent, I hate it. Endearments are something only those close to me get to call me. I am definitely not close to Zahtri, so he needs to knock it off.

I take a few steps to my right and watch as Zahtri takes a few steps to his left. We’re now moving in a circle. As long as he’s closer to the cliff’s edge…

Zahtri smiles at me before running straight at me. I’m not prepared for the sudden attack, so I don’t have time to move away. Zahtri’s movements are much quicker than any of the mages I’ve fought before. He barrels into me and knocks me to the ground again. My head instantly starts throbbing and my back aches from being slammed into the hard ground. He just had to choose a cliff, didn’t he? He couldn’t have chosen a soft grassy meadow?

Instantly, my magic shoots out of me and pushes Zahtri off of me.
Look for weaknesses.
That’s what Bragden taught me during our training sessions. My opponents are always going to be bigger than me, so I have to look for weaknesses. Zahtri stands up right as I bring my arms up. The liquid lightning shoots out of my palms and goes straight for his chest. With my hand out, I try to stand but dizziness overcomes me and I stumble to the side. He jumps to the side, but some of my magic hits him on the shoulder.

I catch Zahtri’s angered look right as my feet are lifted off the ground an
d I’m flying backward. Time seems to move in slow motion. Zahtri watches me as I’m thrust backward and land on the hard rocks, rolling three times before coming to a stop on my back. I can’t breathe and can’t hear through all the ringing in my ears. It sounds like I was suddenly transported to a busy, bustling city. There’s a lot of indiscernible noise around me. The world around me begins to spin as the clouds open up and rain down on me.

Everything g
oes black.

“We knew this would happen, Colton,” Liam yells as he starts fighting another Gadramick.
There are less of them here now. A couple chose to leave after Ryanne attacked Dravin, but we’re still pretty close in numbers.

I elbow the man I’m fighting in the solar plexus and kick his temple when he doubles o
ver. “I know, but I thought she’d still be here. I thought I’d be able to know if something happened to her. Right now, she’s fighting against Zahtri and none of us know what’s going on. What if she’s hurt? What if she needs help?”

“Trust her, Colton
,” Natalie yells as she ducks a Gadramick’s punch. I hear someone scream to me left. I turn right as I see Emma unleash a whip on some unsuspecting Gadramicks. She sure is having fun with her new power.

Magic is flying around me in all directions. I see fire moving to my left, so Bragden and Incendia must be over there. Larkin transports in behind me a
nd starts fighting a Gadramick.

“She has three people
she can call if she needs help, Colton,” Natalie says and then screams as she flies across the field. Liam whips around and zeros in on the Gadramick who attacked his soulmate. Larkin and I step out of the way as Liam runs toward him. The man’s eyes widen as he tries to run, but Liam is quicker. Liam may not have Bragden’s size, but he’s much more intimidating and you don’t want to make him mad.

I rush over to Natalie, who’s still on the ground. I roll her over and she cries out in pain.
At first, I don’t see any obvious injuries until I see the dark blood seeping through her black clothing.

“How-
how bad is it?” she asks. I slowly lift the edge of her shirt up and try to keep my face calm. There’s a lot of blood coming from the wound. I look around the field. Both Logan and Liam are in the thick of the fight. There’s no way for them to get to her. Honestly, I don’t think she’ll be able to be healed by them anyway. The majority of them are using dark magic.

“It’s not that bad,” I tell her hoping to keep her calm. I need to move her out of the fighting and off to the side. Dr. Arden runs over to me and crouches down next to Natalie.

“I can help her,” he whispers as he looks around. He’s still working for Dravin; why would he try and help me? “You’re Ryanne’s soulmate. I can help.”

He’s doing
this for Ryanne. I don’t know if I can fully trust him, but I do need his help on this. There’s nothing I can do and I know that Natalie won’t make it much longer. Dr. Arden bends down and picks her up. She bites her lip to keep from crying out. She’s in a lot of pain. Dr. Arden cradles her against his chest, before turning back to me. “Cover me,” he shouts as he starts walking toward the compound.

I follow closely behind, fighting off any Gadramicks that try to move
toward us. I don’t know how Dr. Arden knew I was there since I’m still invisible, but I’m grateful nonetheless. He turns toward me as we make it to the back door of the compound. I reach around him and open it up, letting him enter first. He rushes past me and starts running down the hallway.

Kicking open the doors to his lab, Jedrek places Natalie down on the table and rushes to the opposite side of the room. I think about Ryann
e and slowly feel the invisibility melting away. Grabbing onto Natalie’s hand, I turn her head so she can look at me.

“You’re going to be okay, Natalie. I promise
. You’re going to be fine.”

“I can’t feel my legs,” she whimpers. “Why can’t I feel my legs?”

I lean down and kiss her knuckles, choosing to not answer her question. “You’re going to be okay,” I repeat as she starts shaking. She’s so pale. I recognize this amount of paleness because I’ve seen it so many times on Ryanne. I look toward Dr. Arden, who’s frantically searching through his cabinet.

“Will you tell Liam that I love him?
” she asks me.

“Natalie, you can tell him yourself. Nothing is going to happen to you.” I look
toward Jedrek again knowing that I shouldn’t promise her that. I said the same thing to Ryanne before she died. She’s not going to make it much longer.

“Ahh, found it,” Jedrek
says as he rushes toward the table. He briefly glances at me before looking down at her. “This is going to sting a little.” He turns toward me again, warning me. I tighten my grip on Natalie’s hand. I know that I’ll probably have to hold her down.

“What is that?
” I ask as he uncaps the vial.

“It’s an antidote I made once I found
out that Dravin and Zahtri were making weapons infused with dark magic. I thought they were going to use it on Ryanne. I promised her I wouldn’t let anything happen to her. I thought I could save her…” he trails off as he bends over Natalie, moving the fabric of her shirt out of the way. Natalie whimpers as the cold air touches her exposed skin.

She
turns and looks at Dr. Arden, “Please make it stop,” she cries. I can see the unshed tears in her eyes. She knows that she’s dying because of this wound.

Colton, where’s Natalie?
I jump and look around me, searching for Liam. Dr. Arden gives me a quizzical look before he takes the lid off the bottle and places it on the desk behind him. Beside the three of us, the room is empty, but I clearly just heard his voice.

Liam?

Where’s Natalie!

How are you talking to me?

I’m inside of your subconscious. Where is she?

I try to clear my mind. I don’t know if Liam can read my mind, but I need to remain calm. Natalie needs me to remain calm.
I tighten my grip again as Dr. Arden lets the antidote fall from the pipette and onto Natalie’s skin. She tries to push away from both of us, but Dr. Arden puts pressure on her shoulders, while I lean against her legs, trying to calm her down. Her screams echo through the deserted hall, alerting everyone to our location.

She’s going to be fine.
Do I just think it and he’ll hear it?

Going to be?

The wound instantly starts to fizz. It gathers on her skin until a black liquid starts seeping out beneath it. “Is that normal?”

“That’s the dark magic leaving her body,” he shouts as he puts more pressure on Natalie’s shoulders. I try to tune out the screaming. We’re
helping her. She’s going to live because of this. It has to be done.

The b
lack liquid stops flowing out from the wound, and now blood only remains. “I can attempt to staunch the blood flow, but she’s going to need to be healed.”

Liam
, get Logan. Tell him to come into the compound and find the lab.