So naturally, I felt the need to share this with my beloved.
“We’re gonna die!” I screamed at him.
“What?” he shouted back.
“We’re going to get so murdered!”
“Fuck that,” he snarled at me. “I already died once today. I’m not going to do it again.”
“Now is probably a really bad time to tell you that you need to watch your fucking mouth, but seriously. Ryan. Watch your fucking mouth. You’re a godsdamned knight who—oh my gods, duck!”
And we did, just in time to have a freaking carriage hurled over our heads and smash into a storefront, glass shattering, wood breaking, the awning collapsing to the ground.
“Okay, so he might be a little pissed!”
“Oh really? You think?”
“Don’t get snarky with me, Foxheart. I just gave you life.”
“After you took it—here, this way!”
I almost lost my footing as he pulled me down a narrow alley. There was a great crash behind us, and I looked back in time to see the building on the opposite side of the street collapse.
“Now would be a good time to do something magical,” Ryan snapped at me. “Can’t you suck us through a hole like Randall does?”
“Oh my gods, phrasing. Why would you say it like that? And you know I can’t do that like he can. Way to make me feel inadequate!”
We burst out of the other side of the alley, the sky above us darkening as black clouds appeared out of nowhere. Thunder rumbled overhead as the streets dimmed. The wind was picking up like a great storm was brewing.
We could hear the City of Lockes being torn apart behind us, but we didn’t stop to see what was happening. Ryan looked left, then right, then left before we started running again.
“You need to do something,” he called over his shoulder as the air filled with the scent of a heavy rain.
“Um, hello. Did I or did I not just bring you back to life? You know what happens when I use a shit-ton of magic. I don’t have enough strength to face him right now.”
“I thought you were—I’m not talking about taking him head-on, Sam! We need to get out of here.”
And then it hit me. “Kevin.”
“What?”
“Kevin! Dude, I am the motherfucking dragon whisperer. I’ll just get Kevin to come and—fuck me in the face!” That last part came out as a shriek as a wall of rock burst out of the ground before us. We avoided it at the last second as Ryan pulled us to the right down another alleyway. I heard a large rumble and looked back in time to see the alley behind us narrowing as the buildings on either side moved toward each other.
“Faster!” I squeaked. “We need to run faster.”
He glanced over his shoulder, and his eyes bulged when he saw what was happening. I heard the groan of wood and stone and plaster around us as the buildings shifted. Flowerpots from balconies rained down around us, and Ryan grunted as one hit his shoulder, the pottery breaking against his armor. He kept moving, however, and we jumped out of the alley at the last second as the buildings crashed together. I fell to my knees, grunting as the road scraped against my skin. Ryan stayed upright, though his sword was knocked from his hands. It bounced off the road and came to rest on the opposite side of the street.
“We have to keep moving,” he snapped as he pulled me to my feet. “We need to go north. We can get to the gate and—”
Even before he finished, another wall of rock rose from the ground, blocking the northern road.
“Mothercracker,” he growled. “Come on. We’ll find another way.”
We continued on. He scooped down without slowing and grabbed his sword, flourishing it as he rose, because he couldn’t not act like a douchebag, even when we were running for our lives.
I winced at the pain in my knees, feeling blood splashing and smearing along the inside of my robes. But I pushed away the sting, gathering my magic as best I could. I tried to reach out to the pulses in my head, the black and red and blue and white, but they were faint, like they’d been muted somehow, and I wondered if it was Myrin’s doing, if he’d somehow cast a spell over the entire godsdamn City. I didn’t push too hard. I wanted to avoid giving away our location. I couldn’t hear Myrin behind us anymore, but every time we tried to head north, more often than not, the road was blocked. We were able to advance, but we were mostly moving east, and it took a few instances before I realized where we were headed. “The slums.”
“What?” Ryan shouted back at me, sweat dripping from his forehead.
“It’s like we’re being corralled. We’re heading for the slums.”
He frowned. “Why would he—it doesn’t matter. We know the slums better than he ever could. He wants to take the fight there? Fine. Let him bring it.”
“Dude, that was so fucking hot—right, yeah, not the time.”
With renewed determination, Ryan stopped trying to push north and instead headed for the slums. My body was weak and tired, and running for our lives wasn’t helping. I didn’t feel as drained as I had after the sand mermaids or even when I’d faced Myrin in Mashallaha. Granted, I wasn’t the same person I’d been back then, but still. I couldn’t do what I’d done— kill murder death
—without… consequences….
What the hell was that?
I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I didn’t have time for anything else right now. The connection to the dragons felt stretched thin, and if Myrin was doing something to stop me from reaching out to them, I was going to need everything I had in order to break through.
We began to anticipate where the rock walls would shoot up, and that put us one step ahead. I could no longer hear him behind us, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. Ryan didn’t falter as he led us through side streets and alleyways, flashes of the familiar going by as we ran through the empty City. We came across random lumps of vermilion root where Dark wizards lay trapped underneath. They still lived, even after all they’d done. I had chosen to spare them after they’d followed Myrin.
Why?
I could have stopped them.
I could have stopped them all.
It’s what wanted I wanted to do from the start. I had the power within me. I could have ended everything in one fell swoop. Never again would the Darks be able to hurt the ones I loved. It would have been my decision—
“—AND I need you to respect that,” I said quietly, staring out at the sunrise.
Randall sighed. “I do, Sam. I promise you, I really do. But I’m worried.”
“About?”
“Your heart. Your mind. Your soul.”
“That’s… all-encompassing. What the hell, Randall.”
“How many people do you know that have lost their cornerstone?”
I swallowed thickly. “Three.”
He blinked. “Three? Who are you—”
“You. And Morgan.”
“Right. And?”
“And Myrin.”
He closed his eyes. “I hadn’t even—but that just raises my concerns even more. With Anya, Morgan knew the end was coming. She was… old. Frail. She still had that spark in her eye that had drawn Morgan to her. But she—her time had come. And Morgan had made peace with that. He was by her side when she took her last breath. When she crossed the veil. He mourned her. He celebrated her life. But he did not lose himself.”
“Not like you,” I said before wincing. “Hey, I didn’t mean—”
“Yes. You did. And it’s true.” Randall sighed. “Look, Sam. Losing your cornerstone is a shock to the system. It’ll claw you and bite you and make you bleed before it attempts to tear you right down the middle. I lost my cornerstone to darkness. Myrin lost his by the choices he made. Look how that turned out for the both of us. I lost my mind for a decade. Myrin was locked in the realm of shadows. You’ve only just gotten your cornerstone—”
“It’s been two years—”
He snorted. “Ah, how time does move differently for the young. Sam, you are going to kill your cornerstone.”
“And then bring him back to life.”