unconsciousness. She couldn’t see him in danger. It was too much to bear. As her mind tried to swirl into its cocoon of safety, she fought the urge with all that she had. Amanda shook her head furiously and turned to Madgie, who looked at her with every bit of concern a mother would have.
“Madgie didn’t you hear me? Cole needs help!” she turned to run into the field, but Madgie grabbed her arm.
“Sorry S-B, you’re too weak to fight, and besides, you’ve had no combat training. Only men have that.”
Amanda turned to her and spoke quickly. “I’m not too weak. My entire life I have been, but I don’t want that, not anymore. Battle training or not, it doesn’t matter. Look around us, we are in a war zone, Madgie!” Amanda said and turned sprinting into the clearing and the fight with her wolf close on her heels.
Cole was amazingly quick and fierce in battle. Carter’s clothes were in tatters and his nose bloodied, while Cole stood straight and unharmed. It was strange for her to think of him as a warrior, but that was what he looked like to her at that moment, blocking Carter’s onslaught and throwing spells of his own.
Amanda blocked a spell thrown at her from across the field and stood surprised. She hadn’t even felt him build it up. Her wolf’s fur rose up on end, and a low rumble escaped his mouth. Carter was tired and broken down, making his moves more erratic and harder to block. Cole looked cool and confident, but she was still worried about him. Carter was more frightful to her now with his face contorted into a strange mask that was so different from his usually cocky one.
Amanda stopped running once she got to the opposite side of the field. She didn’t like being so far from Cole but knew this was strategically better. Now they could attack from the front and the back. She felt the world around her, searching for more energy and a way to fight. Her great silver companion was giving her a limitless supply of energy, but she didn’t know any offensive spells. He looked at her with questioning eyes, but she had no answer to give him. Her confidence level was dropping. She didn’t know what she could do to help. The only thing she’d truly mastered was shields.
An idea occurred to her and she smiled. Crouched down and ready, she waited for the opportunity to strike. Carter looked over his shoulder and saw her behind him. He quickly threw out a barrage of attacks at Cole and spun toward her.
Cole, busy blocking the torrent spells, could do nothing but call out, “Amanda!”
Carter gathered up his remaining energy, and in his hand appeared a dark ball of smoke. He cradled it in his palm, delicate as a baby bird. Then he met her eyes, and with a look of disgust, he drew his arm back.
Just as he released the spell, she threw up a shield, not in front of her but directly in front of him. The dark energy exploded off the shield and ricocheted back into his face with violent speed. All was silent, or at least she perceived it that way, save one noise.
A guttural scream tore through the clearing, raising the hairs on the back of her neck. She couldn’t see anything through the grey fog that surrounded Carter. Cole began to cautiously cross the space between him and the swirling cloud. She fought back the urge to throw up as his screaming died into a bubbling gurgle.
Cole had almost reached the strange mist that seemed alive. It didn’t sway and move with the wind as it should have, dancing and moving as it desired. She choked back the rising vomit and guilt. She couldn’t let him go in alone. Without a second thought, she darted across the dry dying field.
As she neared it, the fog became darker. Her wolf ran in front of her, blocking her path, but she moved around him. She paused before the wall of haze. It looked so solid she wasn’t even sure she could step into it. Amanda was scared of the first step but was so desperate to find Carter alive she closed her eyes and plunged in. She felt a kiss of cool moisture on her face as she crossed the barrier. Amanda had a million thoughts reeling through her brain. She never thought she would kill someone. She was surrounded by the dark mist now. The smoke smelled sickly sweet, and it hung on her like a wet blanket.
“Amanda!” Cole screamed from the other side. “Get back! Get out of there!”
She was startled and tried to back out, but it seemed to follow her. Not finding a way out, she searched for her wolf, but he was nowhere near. Breathing in the fumes left her with a syrupy residue on her tongue that made her choke. Her hands began to sting and she looked down at them. They were beet red. She didn’t know what was happening, but she knew that it wasn’t good.
“Murderer,” a haunting voice gurgled.
“What?” she shouted. Her eyes were stinging so badly that tears were streaming down her face, making it impossible to see where the chilling voice had come from.
“You did this to me…”
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as the last coughing turned into a bubbling sputter. “Cole, help!” she cried.
Amanda attempted to shout for him again but began hacking violently. She tripped over something and fell hard but continued moving on her hands and knees, attempting to find the exit. Salty tears ran down her cheeks like a river, stinging her already burning flesh. Just as her fingers made contact with something that felt like gelatin, a strong thin hand pulled her back to her feet.
“S-B! Don’t breathe or speak, you’ll be out in a second.”
Amanda had never been happier to hear Madgie’s voice, though she was wishing Madgie wouldn’t hold her so tightly. Her skin felt like the worst sunburn imaginable.
“Amanda!” Cole exclaimed in worry when he found the two in the smoke.
“Don’t worry. She’s fine. She is probably in a lot of pain but…” Madgie said.
Amanda wanted to say, “Ya think?” but obeyed her orders. They never stopped their brisk almost running pace as Cole and Madgie talked.
“Well, get her out of here as quick as you can. I’ll keep scanning for him,” Cole said.
It was silent for a good while, and her lungs were on fire by the time Madgie gave her the okay to breathe again. When she took in the first gulp of fresh air, her head began to clear.
“Are you and Cole all right?” Amanda asked in a rushed breath, her eyes still closed.
“Don’t worry. We’re fine. He was searching for you in there same as me, but we had the forethought to use protective spells before running into a cloud of acid,” Madgie said.
Amanda’s brain stopped working for a second. “A cloud of acid!” she replied.
Madgie had her hands above Amanda, going over her body with healing and pain relief spells. “Yes. That was quite a nasty spell. I haven’t ever seen anything like it. It kills me that he knew a spell like that.” She paused. “Why would they teach such things at the Hovel? I mean, I’ve heard whisperings of what they did to the Guard, but still…”
Madgie was there in body, but her mind seemed a thousand miles away. Probably puzzling on all of the locked doors in the Hovel, all of the places that she, as a woman, had never been granted permission to enter. And all of the dark gossip that she hoped wasn’t true.
“Madgie?”
“Yes, child?” Madgie replied.
Amanda was terrified to ask the question, but it tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop it. “Is Carter alive?” she asked, thinking of the terrible voice calling out to her in the smoke. A moment went by then another. She peeled her eyes open to look up at her friend. “Madgie?” The old woman’s face was distraught, and she knew the answer.
Madgie took in a deep breath. “I don’t see how he could be. Look at you.” She gestured to Amanda’s clothes that had holes eaten through them. “And that was after it had dissipated. “S-B, if he’s dead, it isn’t your fault. It’s not like he was throwing a cupcake at you. You just made his actions literally blow up in his face. He’s the one who chose that awful dark spell, not you.”
She didn’t want to argue with poor Madgie.
Cole came walking out of the fumes a few moments later.
Amanda was relieved to see him until she took in the ghostly white face and dark red slime dripping from his hands. She sprang to her feet a little too fast and wobbled out of balance as she ran to him.
“What happened? are you hurt?” She went to touch him and he took a step back.
“Just give me a second,” he said in a rush. Cole took a breath and exhaled in a terrible sigh of pain.
“What is it, Cole? How can I help you?” she begged.
He knelt down on the ground and held his hand out to her.
