31. Kill on Sight
1621 Words
31
Kill on Sight
Emilia met Jacob’s eyes.
Kill on sight. They had been ordered to kill him on sight.
“No,” Emilia said, “we’re getting out.” She was not going to let Jacob die boxed in like an animal. Emilia surveyed the room. Maybe if they could find someplace to hide, they could wait for the searchers to go far enough back down the corridor that she and Jacob could find another way out.
Emilia scanned the room for a big enough hiding place. She froze when she spotted a pipe running up through the ceiling. The pipe had diesel only painted on it.
“Jacob, I need you to trust me.” She moved in front of him and wrapped his arms around her waist like they were posing for prom pictures. “Do not move. Primurgo.” The air around them shimmered, and the shouts down the hall became strangely muffled.
Emilia placed her hand on the shield she had created and gently pressed through, careful not to tear the barrier. “Don’t move.” She aimed at the ceiling. “Magneverto!” She said the word and yanked her hand back through the shield just as the gas pipe exploded.
The blast tore through the room. The floor shook as orange flames encased their safe haven. Warmth flared over her skin, but even though the raging flames were mere inches from them, they did not get burned.
A dull c***k pounded overhead as the ceiling around the pipe splintered like broken ice.
Jacob hunched over her, trying to protect her from the falling rocks. For a moment, the whole world shook. And then there was only dust.
“Inluesco.”
A light shone inside the spell’s dome. Dust fell gently around them like a snow globe. Only the shaking snow was on the outside, and they were on the inside watching.
She lowered the shield and coughed, covering her mouth and nose with her hand to block some of the dust.
Rubble surrounded them. People screamed in the distance. The cave-in had affected more than just the generator room.
How many people did I hurt? Emilia wondered as another scream reached her ears.
“I think we can climb out.” Jacob pointed to a dim light overhead. He started clambering up the rocks.
Emilia climbed after him. She slipped on her dress, and Jacob reached down and caught her hand without looking. The instant their hands met, Emilia’s heart began to race, and at the same moment, her fear disappeared. Emilia pulled her hand away quickly and kept climbing.
“It’s the sun,” Jacob said. “I can see the sunset.” Carefully, he shifted a few rocks and made the hole large enough for them to climb through. He pulled himself out and reached back for Emilia.
As her head broke through the dust and rocks, she took deep, gulping breaths of the fresh, clean air. The light from the setting sun burst through the trees. They were on a pile of rocks above a clearing. Chanting carried from below them, but through the trees, there was a way out.
“Come on,” Emilia whispered and began to run for the forest.
“No!” Jacob shouted.
Emilia spun around, certain someone was attacking Jacob. He ran over to her and knocked her to the ground, hiding behind the rocks.
But the damage had been done. The guards had heard Jacob’s shout.
“We have to run!” Emilia said, desperately trying to pull Jacob to his feet.
Jacob yanked Emilia back to the ground. “There’s a shield. It’ll fry you. There are chanters keeping it up.” Jacob pointed past the rise. The sound of sliding rocks reached them as the guards struggled up the hill.
Emilia scrambled toward the top of the rocks, and Jacob followed. She looked at the circle. All she needed was one good spell to distract them.
But the guards were up the hill and closing in behind them. She screamed as one of them aimed a spell at Jacob that missed by mere inches. She pushed Jacob behind her using her own body as a shield.
“Stop!” one of the guards yelled. “Hand over the girl.”
“I will not be handed to anyone,” Emilia growled.
“The Pendragon is waiting for you inside. Come with us now.”
They were surrounded with guards in front and a ledge behind. Jacob’s arm slid around her waist. “Jump back on three,” he whispered in her ear.
“One.”
“Your father will be most displeased if you resist rescue,” the guard said.
“Two.”
“You are assisting the enemy and dishonoring the Pendragon.”
“Three!”
They jumped backward and were in the air for only a moment before they hit the ground hard and fell over. The guards shouted from the rocks above. Only the two guards at the door had been left below.
“Fulguratus!” Jacob cried, and one of the guards fell.
“Sporactus!” Emilia shouted. The second guard’s eyes went blank, and he swayed for a moment before crumpling to the ground.
Spells showered on them from above. Emilia pushed Jacob into the shelter of the cave entrance and ran toward the chanters, hoping the guards wouldn’t risk hurting her. She reached the circle and stomped on the nearest pair of clasped hands, effectively breaking the circle and the chanters’ attention. For good measure, she kicked the chanter nearest her in the stomach and punched her in the back of the head.
“Jacob, run!” Emilia screamed and sprinted toward the woods.
Jacob’s footfalls pounded the ground behind her. “Emi, the shield!” Jacob shouted.
Spells flew at them from behind, and Emilia didn’t dare slow down. She had broken the circle. The shield should be gone. It had to be gone. She heard Jacob gasp when they hit the edge of the clearing, but nothing happened as they shot into the trees.
They were foxes being chased by vicious hounds. No matter how fast they ran, they would still be pursued. She didn’t know where she was leading Jacob. She just ran.
Their pursuers gained ground. She had tried her best to heal Jacob, but he still couldn’t outrun the guards. And she would not leave him to die in the woods.
A c***k shook the air as a tree was hit by a badly aimed spell. Emilia stopped short, barely avoiding being crushed by a falling limb. That moment was all the guards needed.
“Inflaresco!”
The spell hit Jacob square in the back, and he flew forward, screaming in pain. As he hit the ground, his wand rolled away. “Emilia, run,” he coughed. “Go!”
But Emilia stood her ground. She would never let them hurt Jacob, not while she had breath to fight.
The guard who had attacked Jacob fell first, his face bursting with boils that swelled over his eyes and blinded him instantly. Another guard pushed him aside and ran toward Emilia.
“Crusura!” Emilia shouted.
The guard’s legs snapped together, and he toppled headfirst over a fallen tree.
Just as Emilia was about to turn back to Jacob, a rough hand clasped her wrist and yanked her around. The guard opened his mouth to perform a spell.
Emilia aimed Domina’s ring at the man’s open mouth and cried, “Sustaura!”
The man dropped Emilia’s hand as he tore at his own throat, gasping for air that wouldn’t come.
The remaining guards circled Emilia, prowling like dogs. It didn’t matter what she did; she was outnumbered. An arm wrapped around her throat. Emilia tried to kick, but someone else grabbed her feet. There was an agonizing snap in her finger as someone clawed at the ring Jacob had given her.
The guards threw her to the ground.
Fierce anger burned in Emilia’s chest, cutting through her fear. A power and a magic that was not her own. “Jacob, no!” she tried to scream, but a knee on her throat blocked her air.
Then there was light. Bright, burning light. The weight from her body vanished. Emilia covered her face, trying to block out the blinding light. Heat pressed against her. The people around her dropped to the ground, screaming in fear and pain, but she remained unharmed. She heard the crackling of trees igniting. Smoke filled her nostrils.
The screaming stopped. She knew she should uncover her eyes, try to find Jacob, but she was too afraid.
He had lost his wand. She had seen it happen. Using that much magic without a talisman was suicide.
Tears welled in her eyes, breaking through eyelids she still held tightly shut. Emilia shook. A sob ripped through her throat. She could taste the ash in the air.
Jacob, her Jacob. Dead. He had made the ultimate sacrifice to protect her.
She sobbed uncontrollably. She didn’t care who heard or who might be trying to attack. Opening her eyes meant seeing Jacob dead, and that would be far worse than anything the Dragons could do to her.
A hand brushed hers. “Emilia.” Arms wrapped around her. Even through the smoke, she smelled fresh grass and peat.
She opened her eyes, and there was Jacob, alive and unharmed. The only thing that seemed wrong with him was the worried look on his face.
Emilia threw herself into his arms, crying even harder now. Jacob squeezed her tightly. “Emi, we have to go. I don’t know if others might show up.” He lifted her to her feet.
The tops of the trees were burning, their trunks stained black with soot. Jacob was right, they had to move, but Emilia couldn’t let the whole forest burn. She’d been raised to believe in not harming innocents, even if the innocents were only animals. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself.
“Stinagro,” she said. The flames wavered for a moment and then flared up, stronger than before.
“Stinagro!” she said again. The flames didn’t even flicker.
“We have to move.” Jacob pulled on Emilia’s elbow. But she was frozen, transfixed by the flames in front of her. “Emi, I’m sorry about the trees, but―” Jacob stopped short and stared white-faced at the solid wall of fire that had leaped up in front of them.
A fiery projection of the Pendragon gazed out of the flames.
- Writer
