Reaching Retribution (The Prophesized Series) (32 page)

“There’s nothing we can do Colton. I wan
t to help her too, but we can’t,” Liam tells me.

“She’s unconscious, Liam!”
I can’t just let her get killed while she’s unconscious. I can’t lose her like that.

Hearing another scream to my right, I turn and see Emma brandishing a medieval spiked flail against a
few Gadramicks. She’s having too much fun with her conjuring power. It wasn’t her who screamed though. It was Natalie. She’s fighting next to James, but James is busy with two Gadramicks and Natalie is trying to fight a man much larger than her. Liam tenses beside me and attempts to make his way over to her, but there are too many people in between us.

I scan the clearing. Larkin should be back by now. He wouldn’t skip out on something like this. He wants to avenge Kyril’s death. I see him transporting back and forth a few feet behind us. He’s moving between two larger groups of Gadramicks. He’s going to get himself killed at his rate.

“Larkin!” I call.

Larkin’s eye move away from the men he’s fighting and connect with mi
ne even though I’m invisible. I blink and suddenly he’s in front of me. Again, he doesn’t speak.

“Can you go help Natalie?” I ask him. Liam points across the field to his
soulmate. Larkin’s eye move in that direction and he disappears. I look back over there and watch as Larkin appears behind the man. I don’t keep watching to see what happens. When Liam relaxes beside me, it’s safe to assume that Natalie is okay. I look around the clearing again looking for anyone that needs help.

I seriously hope
this is almost over. I’m not sure we can handle much more. Seeing Tom, Vincent, Colin, and Chris fighting in the middle of the field, I start to make my way over to them. Liam moves to the right to try and get to his soulmate. Lucky. As I take a few steps forward, I glance back across the clearing in Ryanne’s direction. She and Zahtri have disappeared. Where did they go? Damn it. Why am I always losing her?

With renewed vigor and my invisibility, I push through everyone
. I wipe the bloodied sword on my black pants and push it back into the sheath. I don’t want to kill any more people tonight. Too much blood has already been shed. Too many lives have already been lost.

Throwing a punch to the side, I knock an unsuspecting man to the ground
and continue moving forward. Tom and his group are now only a few feet ahead of me. No one attempts to touch me as I progress the last few feet.

“Tom, did you see where Ryanne went?” I ask as I stop beside him.

“No,” he answers even though he can’t see me, “but she disappeared before Zahtri got to her. I’m hoping her magic kicked in and helped her. She was unconscious last time I saw and Zahtri disappeared shortly afterwards.” He reaches out and punches the man in front of him. “He’s probably searching for her.”

Ryanne is gone
, and Zahtri is searching for her. I suppress my groan and focus on the fight around me. The sooner this is over, the better. The sooner I know what happened, the better. I see Liam fighting alongside Natalie. With Dravin gone and Zahtri missing, the Gadramicks have no one to follow. I can see a few of them looking around confused. Everyone they looked up to is gone.

I try to push my invisibility away. It is helpful, but right now I want these guys to see me. I want them to see my face as I fight them.
I want them to see the person they are fighting and see my anger for what is going on. I’m tired of seeing death, and I want this all to end.

Before all my invisibility has disappeared, I start to
fight one of the Gadramicks who had moved toward Tom. Tom has always been there for me growing up, and I don’t plan on having that change anytime soon. Like the guys around him, I’ve got his back.

Out of th
e corner of my eye, I see fire dancing around. Turning in that direction, I see two trees completely engulfed in flames. That has to be Bragden’s or Incendia’s work. They’re creating a distraction, but for what?

Ugh, my whole body aches. Keeping my eyes closed, I roll onto my back. I don’t feel like anything is broken, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t broken at one time. Where am I? Opening my eyes, I look up and see…trees. A canopy of tree leaves is all I can see. I’m in the middle of the forest? I push myself up, ignoring the dull pain that spreads through my body from the movement and get a good look at my surroundings. I’m in the middle of the forest. What happened to the battle? I was fighting Zahtri. Where is he?

Standing up, I spin in a circle looking for anything that c
an tell me what happened or where I am. There’s absolutely nothing. How did I get here?

I stretch out my muscles
, and I don’t even try to keep in my pained cry as I move. My back is killing me. What the heck happened to me?

I pause. Zahtri. Zahtri did this to me. He…what did he do
? He did something.

I was calling my magic to me. I was go
ing to attack him, but he got to me first. He hit me with some form of magic, but how does that explain how I got here? How did I get to this part of the forest…alone?

Why do I still have
more questions and no way to find answers?

Well, this just sucks. How long was I
even unconscious?

I push my magic through my body, trying to heal the rest of my injuries before I attempt to go back to the clearing. I don’t know what I’ll find back there, so I need to be prepared. There’s a multitude of scenarios that could play out or are already playing out.

I take a few steps forward. There’s literally nothing but trees around me. The forest is quiet. Like so many other times I’ve been in a forest recently, it’s too quiet. I don’t hear any birds chirping or flying around. There are no animals scurrying along the fallen leaves on the ground. The sound of insects flapping their wings and buzzing through the air is nonexistent. There isn’t a breeze rustling the leaves together. It’s silent. A forest is supposed to be full of life. Not silent.

I walk over to a fall
en tree branch and sit down, letting my magic run its course. I can feel myself being healed as I wait. I’ll remain here for a few more minutes and then I’ll go back. No matter what, I need to get back. I need to see what has happened while I was out.

While I heal, I continue to scan the forest. I have a feeling that my own magic brought me here, but why this spot? What is so special about this area?
The ache in my body is slowly dissipating. It doesn’t hurt to move anymore, but I know that fighting or continuous use will cause it to return. My eyes move to the right and linger on a rather large oak tree.

I push myself off the log and slowly walk
toward the tree. As I get closer to it, I see something carved a few feet off the ground into the bark. Stopping in front of it, I see a heart. Though faded, it looks like the letters SW and LW. I wonder who carved them there…what was their story?

I’m about to step back when an unfamiliar warm feeling spreads through me. Love and…happiness? This is different from the feelings I’m usually around. This is an old feeling. I feel all the pain leave me. All the
unease and uncertainty is gone. I feel confident. I feel prepared.

I don’t know who those people were, but they have definitely helped me. They gave me courage. I’m finally ready to end this.

I’m ready to fight.

I’m now confident in my abilities and know that I can do this.

Closing my eyes, I focus on the clearing. I think about Colton and Liam. I think about my family. I don’t know if this will work. I’ve never attempted to actually transport myself somewhere before. Usually my magic just…takes me where I need to be.

I push my magic out and spiral it around me. I don’t know how much magic it’ll take to go back there. I close my ey
es and concentrate on the magic as it moves through the air. Creating a vortex around me, I start raising my hands. For some reason, extending my hands seems to work for me.

Thinking about my family, I feel a shift in th
e air. Pushing more out, my body tenses and starts to tighten as my magic tries to listen to me. Transportation is not one of my powers, so I have no idea how long this could take. A familiar sharpness spreads through my torso. My airways constrict as if someone has reached into my chest and squeezed my lungs. My legs and arms feel like jello and I feel myself being pulled backward. I keep my eyes closed as I move through the air. Concentrating on the clearing, I wait until I feel myself stop moving.

Hearing swords clanging together around me,
I open my eyes. I did it! I’m back at the compound. My glee doesn’t last for long. The burning of wood and the heat from fire infiltrates my senses. Without thinking about it, I rush out from the cover of the trees, covering my mouth and nose to avoid inhaling too much smoke.

Instantly, I start coughing and stumble
as I enter the clearing. Bragden turns around and looks down at me surprised. “Ryanne?” he says as I fall to the ground unable to breathe because of the smoke. Bending down, he picks me up. Incendia throws a barrier of fire around us, but this time, it isn’t hot or aggravating. I step away from Bragden and catch my breath.

“Where have you been?”
he asks me.

“Umm…I have no idea actually. I was fighting against Zahtri and I remember him hitting me w
ith some form of magic and I flew into a tree and lost consciousness. I woke up lying on the ground in the middle of the forest. Have I been gone for a while?”

“
I’m not sure when you disappeared exactly, but I know that you’ve been gone for a little over ten minutes.”

Ten minutes? “What happened to Zahtri?”

“I don’t know. He disappeared shortly after you did.”

“Drop the fire. I’m fine now,” I tell Incendia,
“The fire just caught me a little off guard.”

“Are you sure?”

“Is everyone okay?” I ask before she drops it. “Colton? Liam? Emma?”

“They’
re all still alive…” Bragden tells me.

“But this isn’t over yet,” I finish for him. Nodding at Incendia one more time, I wait for her to
release the fire barrier. Giving me a sad look, the fire disappears and once again I’m thrust into the middle of the chaos. Looking around, I see Colton with Tom, Vincent, Colin, and Chris. They’re okay. A large arm wraps around my waist and pulls me back. I slam into Bragden’s chest as a small dagger flies past the spot I was just standing.

With wide eyes, I thank him, but don’t step away
. That’s the…second? time someone had to save me because I didn’t see a dagger flying toward me. Arching my head back, I look up at him and see him staring down at me with wide eyes.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks.

“No, but I’m ready for all of this to be over,” I whisper. Bragden’s arm falls from around my waist, but I still don’t move away. My eyes move around the clearing looking for Zahtri. I see David and Emma fighting. Natalie, Liam, and James are all working together. Logan and Lily are fighting side by side in the back. Larkin blinks in front of a Gadramick and elbows him in the solar plexus and then leaves again. Natasha is still asphyxiating random mages as she tries to make her to way to…Natalie? I follow her line of sight, and she is definitely trying to make it over to her twin.

I briefly see Travis crouch down near his parent’s bodies before he disappears.
He’s lost his younger sister and both of his parents in such a short period of time. I can’t imagine what is going through his mind.

Without saying anything to Bragden, I start walking away from him. Throwing a shie
ld up around me, I casually move through the chaos. I push magic into my shield, so if anyone attempts to touch me, they’ll end up getting shocked.

There’s something I need to do
, and I’m not going to let anyone deter me from accomplishing it. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Colton stop fighting and look in my direction, but I don’t stop.

Someone else needs my attention.

Walking onto the platform, I look around at the fighting around me. Many mages are staring, waiting to find out what I’m about to do. Taking a few steps back, I walk off of the platform and step into my previous spot.

Throwing
my head back, I yell “Zahtri!”

I know
he’ll hear me, and I know he’ll come.

So, I wait.

I duck to avoid getting punched and while I’m down, Tom reaches out and sweeps his fist across the man’s jaw knocking him to the ground. I stand up and open my mouth to thank him when I see people moving away from a girl. A girl with brown curly hair. Where has she been?

Tom sees her at the same time as I do
and stops fighting. What is she doing?

Ryanne
glances in my direction, but doesn’t stop moving. I know she sees me, but she doesn’t stop. My eyes follow her as she moves through the crowd. No one attempts to touch her. I can see the determination in her posture and facial expression. She’s definitely angry.

Without pausing, she jumps onto the platform and faces the crowd. Her eyes move across the clearing not focusing on any one thing. She doesn’t stop to look at anyone in particular. She’s looking for something…or someone.

Standing in front of the splintered tree, she screams his name. Tom reaches out and punches a Gadramick in front of me. I’m no longer focused on the fight. I can’t be. I’ve been trying to keep my attention on the Gadramicks and let Ryanne do her thing, but it’s so hard. I want, I need, to run forward and protect her with my life. I’m not, nor have I ever been, her protector, but I’ve made a personal promise to protect her. She’s my soulmate. It’s what I’m supposed to do.

Right now, I can’t protect her, but damn it, I want to. I need to be beside her. Tom reaches out and places a hand on my shoulder.

“You can’t, Colton,” he says. “Don’t forget about the prophecy.”

“Who freaking cares about the prophecy!” I yell. Ryanne looks around, waiting f
or Zahtri to show up. “I’ve seen her die too many times to care about what the prophecy states. Zahtri threw her into a tree earlier. Look at that tree!” I point to the tree she’s standing in front of. “That is from her small body being slammed into it. How much force would he have had to use against her to cause that sort of damage? Huh?”

“But look at her, Colton. Look at that girl who was just thrown into a tree. Does she look weak? Does she look injured? No. She looks strong and determined. She wants this to end as much as you do. Now, let her do what she needs to do. Let her finish this. This is not your battle to fight. Ryanne has to be the one to end this. If you try and go against the prophecy, one or both of you could end up dead. Is that what you want?” Tom says.

That is definitely not what I want. I’ve discussed with Ryanne what I want to happen many times. We have plans that cannot be fulfilled unless we both survive.

I calm down and look at Tom. I can see how much he’s struggling with this as well. I have to remember that I’m not the only one that cares about her.
I look away from my Uncle right as Vincent falls to his knees. We both turn and watch as he pulls a bloodied blade from between his ribs. I look across the field and see a dark haired mage smiling at us. Phillip threw the knife.

Tom crouches down next to Vincent, who is now leaning forward
, resting his palms against the ground, trying to catch his breath.

Vincent looks up a
nd gives his attention to Phillip. Without saying anything to anyone, he disappears. “Where did he go?” Tom says as he stands up. We all know Vincent will succumb to the dark magic from the blade, but for the time being, he’s going to fight with everything he has in him. With Jedrek and the antidote gone, there’s literally nothing we can do about the wound.

Phillip moves out of the way and starts fighting against a
different mage. Where
did
Vincent go? My eyes move away from Phillip to the opposite side of the clearing. Ryanne is still standing beneath the tree, waiting. Vincent reappears beside her and grabs onto her waist and transports both of them away from the clearing.