Prodigy of Thunder, page 65
Deya kept throwing spells as Anna came for her. “Voidus lingua! Effectus xadius! Dreadus terrablus!”—6th degree Mute, 7th degree Slow, 4th degree Fear—but Anna danced around the incantations, not even needing Reveal to see them.
When Deya threw a rather clumsy Confusion casting, Anna ducked underneath it, feeling it tingle across her spine, and used the momentum to launch a staff at Deya like a spear. Then she yanked on Deya’s spinning staff, incanting, “Disablo!” making the fiery weapon vanish with a whoosh. Deya, who had been trying to smack the incoming staff aside, found herself weaponless. The staff speared her chin with a crunch, and she grunted as she stumbled back.
Anna pressed and unleashed a torrent of blows, but Deya raised both forearms in front of the only thing that mattered—her face. Anna’s thunking staff hissed against the fiery armor until it burst into flame itself.
Deya snorted, smacked Anna’s staff aside, and made a petting motion, incanting, “Senna dormo coma torpos.” With Anna surprised by Deya’s nonchalance, the Sleep spell hit dead-on, and Anna felt her Mind Armor crumple like a cheap wax candle.
But it held, albeit barely.
She ducked under a fiery arm swipe, noticing Deya’s chin was bleeding, and yanked on her foot. Deya allowed her foot to shoot forward whilst she hissed, “Voidus aurus!” Anna, caught in an awkward position, felt the Deafness spell smash through what remained of her precious mind armor and smack into her exposed mind, instantly snuffing her hearing.
Don’t need it anyway, Anna thought, yanking on Deya’s other foot and sending her tumbling backward. Then she brought her still-burning staff down on her head, only for Deya to roll aside, the snow melting underneath her. Anna kept smacking with her staff, always aiming for the face, but it was like trying to whap a cockroach, for Deya was an accomplished arena dueler trained to avoid such strikes. At last, she summoned her fiery shield and Anna’s staff crumbled into burning cinders after smacking into it.
Anna was about to yank on the shield and deliver a quality punch to the face when it vanished on its own, replaced by a shove from Deya with a mouthed, “Baka!” Anna flew far, landing in a snowy tree and tumbling down its branches until she landed in the snow with an involuntary grunt she could not hear.
She hauled herself back up, seeing Deya incant a three-worded spell whilst flexing.
Has to be Strength, 8th degree, standard, Anna thought. Her sister was throwing everything she had into the duel, determined to win the scion, and Anna knew she was well outmatched on all fronts.
All but one—creativity.
Anna dipped backward into the forest and circled her opponent. She ducked behind a snow-laden spruce and peeked at Deya, who was saying something, probably in a singsong fashion, as she strode over to the scion.
“You pick it up and you break the deal!” a stone-deaf Anna sang back, resuming her circling.
Deya stepped over the scion without reaching for it. She nodded with a lopsided grin and said something, likely along the lines of, “It’ll be mine anyway soon enough!”
Not if I can help it. Anna doubled back, hunching low in the woods, feet numb as she flanked her sister.
Deya smacked her hands together at the woods opposite, and a fireball lit up the trees before exploding against a trunk. She did this at four points around her, forcing Anna to duck low as a fireball lit up the woods just overhead. The tree the fireball struck shivered, and a huge plume of snow fell onto Anna. Seeing an opportunity, she let it bury her—and lay absolutely still.
Hearing and seeing nothing, she focused on the ground. For a time, all she felt was her heart thundering from the fight, as well as the blistering cold trying to ice her hot veins.
At long last, she felt the ground tremble ever so slightly, indicating footsteps. She waited until they were at their strongest. The moment the vibrations weakened, she rose from her hiding place. Her sister was only feet away, her back turned to her—and her elemental armor had timed out, making her vulnerable.
Anna pointed her tangle ring at Deya’s feet and incanted, “Tanglio!” Her sister whirled about just as the web enveloped her feet. She smacked both wrists together, mouthing, “Annihilo bato!” Anna cartwheeled aside as two fireballs shot by, missing her foot by a hair’s breadth—and they had not been tempered, a violation of their dueling rules. Deya was fighting dirty! For the first time in the duel, Anna feared getting truly hurt.
Her sister tried to move forth, only to fall from the webbing. But as she fell, she shot an arm out to loose another spell, one that Anna did not fully see, for she had finished her cartwheeling. Instinctively, she summoned her lightning shield. The spell smacked into it, the vibrations of its strike transferring to Anna’s arm.
Deya got to her knees and kept firing spells, but Anna dipped behind the nearest pine, then ducked and ran a circle, always keeping something between them—a bush, a trunk, branches. Deya kept firing and Anna thought, Yes, keep wasting stamina!
A panting Deya squirmed as she tried to get up, but the webbing was strong and likely needed a blade. Anna stopped behind a thick fir trunk and peeked around in time to see Deya reach an arm out. Burden’s Edge, which now sparkled with occasional lightning as if Arinthian’s soul were troubled, began to drag along the snow from the glade toward her.
Oh, no you don’t—Anna jumped from behind the tree and violently shoved at the air, roaring, “Baka!” sending Deya tumbling into the woods, feet still entwined. Anna ran after her, but when she exploded through a snowy bush, she found Deya ready for her, and her sister smacked her wrists, mouthing, “Annihilo!” Anna raised her lightning shield, only to have it yanked away. Too late, she realized the First Offensive casting had been a feint, something hard to tell when one was deaf. As Anna fumbled forth, Deya made a claw of her hand and mouthed, “Dreadus terrablus!” She was looking right, so Anna dipped left, only for Deya to switch her hand position at the last moment—she too knew her sister’s style well.
The Fear spell walloped Anna’s exposed mind full force. All at once, her soul exploded with gut-wrenching terror as the spell, cast potently by a 7th degree arena champion, ate away at her thoughts. She saw her sister turn into a writhing demon who was choking their father. She saw herself becoming its next victim.
Anna screamed a silent scream, then sprinted away as she had been trained, leaving demon Deya to fight with the webbing—and their father.
Anna stumbled through the woods, subconsciously knowing she now had to wait until both spells timed out, knowing in the core of her soul that that was not her father, but an illusion. The branches raked at her like pawing brigands, and the darkness of the blizzard made her childhood nightmares come to life. Despite being deaf, she heard hidden bullies throw taunts from the forest, joined in by her sister, their faces floating around her like midnight mirages. The voices are in my head. They’re not real! But it was no use.
“Weakling witch!” her sister called.
“How about another punch to the face, huh?” Ger, the bully, grinned, floating face going rotten right before her eyes.
“Ugly, ugly, ugly girl!” sang a tiny Ordinary girl. “Ugly girl! Ugly, ugly, ugly!” It was a catchy song that echoed even as others joined in.
“You’re so useless,” Deya hissed. “Useless and stupid and worthless and—”
“You’re nowhere near as strong as Deya,” Mother’s floating head said in a matter-of-fact voice. “That is why I love her more. You are a weakling who doesn’t deserve the scion …”
And on it went. Anna ran until she clumsily smacked into a tree and fell to the ground, wincing. Her feet throbbed, feeling as if icy thorns had penetrated each toe, and her body hurt all over. Then the snow began choking her and she gasped and coughed. No, you’re just winded! a weak but rational part of her mind pleaded. It was overcome by the much stronger voice that hissed, You are going to die out here in the cold. She is going to get the scion. You are nothing. You are useless, a moron, a loser, a cretin. You tore apart the family. You murdered Papa. You did that. You.
She squirmed, seeing fire nearby. The Fear writhed, cajoling her to think that the whole forest would soon burn. Her skin would slough off as she was boiled in a cauldron of her sister’s making. She would boil alongside her father, whose eyes stared sightlessly at her from the Great Beyond. Eyes black as a dead fish’s, black as her soul …
She stumbled away from the light and from the visions, as fearful of both as she was of the darkness. There was no safety. Not in the forest, not in her thoughts. She ran and ran, trying not to scream from the terror that infused her being, trying not to lose the last threads of herself to blind panic. She couldn’t catch her breath, for the fear had grown as potent as hellhound venom. When she grabbed herself, she thought her hands were made of needles. Each step felt like she was stepping in acid. Each thought sizzled with lies and self-hatred. You are nothing. You are an idiot. You are weak.
She hunkered behind a tree, shivering, teeth clenched against the onslaught, until her hearing slowly thundered back like wind from a moaning cave, and the fear subsided. Then the fiery light returned, and she realized—for her thoughts were clarifying once again—that Deya was following her tracks. She must have broken free of the webbing and was using a fiery palm to light the way.
Anna got to her feet and continued running, only slowing when the light had faded behind her. The panicked thought that she was losing this duel wormed its way through the acid fears. What would happen if she lost? What would happen?
Then, like a distant wolf howl, she could almost hear the echo of her father’s voice. Focus, Anna! Focus!
I’m trying, Papa. I’m trying!
Try harder!
Anna swallowed with a dry throat. She looked skyward and could barely make out the tops of the trees swaying a certain direction. Remembering which way the wind had been blowing back in the glade, she deduced the direction of the house and ran for it, running upwind.
Only to get decked across the face by a sudden arm. She slammed back into the snow and witnessed, in the barest of starlight peeking through the clouds, two interlocked hands coming down for her head, hammer-like. She rolled away and kicked out, tripping her sister. Then she yanked at a tree and, flexing her telekinetic might, shot herself just out of reach of her sister’s clawing hands.
“Slippery devil,” Deya muttered as Anna scrambled to her feet and bolted.
But her sister was in hot pursuit, roaring, “Annihilo!”
Anna heard the telltale slap of her sister’s wrists and shot out telekinetically once more, this time to a high branch. She soared over a fireball, then lashed out at an opposing tree branch and yanked herself perpendicularly. Then she did it again, swinging from tree to tree, until she spotted the pitched roof of the house and exploded through a pine. She slammed into the glade, throwing up a plume of snow.
“All right, that trick was impressive, little sis!” Deya sang from the woods. “You can bend the knee and teach it to me. Bah, I jest. I can learn it myself! You hear me? I’m coming for you!”
A panting Anna stood up, took one step, and heard an arcane sizzle that lashed out at her soul. Instantly, her body slowed to the speed of molasses. She’d sprung a trap her sister had laid, one infused with the 7th degree Slow spell. But how could Deya have learned the 9th degree Craft Trap spell so quickly when she’d only recently attained the 7th degree? It could only mean one thing …
She had continued training illegally ahead in secret.
At that moment, Anna understood what her father had been teaching them—that knowledge truly needed freeing, for those who did not obey the rules yet burned with ambition would learn ahead anyhow.
Anna pushed herself to move, which was agonizingly slow, like walking upstream against a torrent. And all the while, the fiery light from the forest brightened as Deya approached. Spying the scion at the foot of the stump, Anna contemplated summoning it to her hand.
No, that would be cheating. You must fight fair. Do not stoop to the twisted level your sister has sunk to!
Anna thus ignored it. Instead she froze and closed her eyes, focusing on how the tendrils of the Slow spell bound her soul. She could almost see their webbing latching onto all her muscles, slowing them. Given the time, if she could just pinch those tendrils with her mind, she might be able to hasten the spell’s failure …
“Ah, the mouse has sprung the trap,” Deya sang from behind, emerging into the glade.
Anna turned in slow motion.
Deya snorted, her hand lit with fire. She rounded out her shoulders and neck to stretch and relax them. “Time to end it, little sis. You lose. The scion’s mine.” She slapped her wrists together, roaring, “Annihilo bato!”
But Anna ducked under the two fireballs that whooshed her way, for she’d fought off the Slow spell and had been pretending to be under its sway. In turn, she fluidly shoved at the air, shouting, “Baka!” and sending Deya flying back into the woods as her sister’s fireballs slapped into a tree behind Anna. Deya smacked into a trunk with a grunt, then hit the ground, moaning in pain.
Anna held the pose a moment longer before straightening. She glanced back to see that the fireballs had been cast at a high enough potency to sever some branches—another violation of the rules of a duel. She could hear her sister gasping for breath—the wind knocked out of her. But then the gasps came faster, as if Deya were choking.
“You all right, Dey-Dey?” A bolt of fear shot through Anna. “Dey—?” The wheezing stopped and Anna sprinted forth. “Dey, are you—”
“Annihilo!” Deya roared, slapping her wrists together. A fireball smashed into Anna’s stomach, buckling her in place. She felt a horrid sting and a gut-wrenching pain as she fell to the ground, holding her stomach. Gods, it hurts bad …
“I too can play make-believe,” Deya spat, getting to her feet from the base of the tree. “I could always count on your soft heart, you loser.”
Anna looked at her trembling fingertips and saw they were stained with blood. “You … you … didn’t … you didn’t temper it …”
“Don’t be such a crybaby, it was an accident. You’ll be fine. Now I’m going to claim what is rightfully mine.” She walked past.
Anna tore off the entire bottom hem of her frayed robe and wrapped it as tight as she could around her stomach. The wound was terrible, and it would be mortal if she failed to get help soon, but she refused to give up control of the scion to her greedy sister. She spread the fingers of her left hand, whispering, “Un vun asperio aurum enchantus,” and pressed that hand to her stomach, simultaneously hiding the spell and keeping pressure on the wound. Then she clambered to her feet and stumbled out into the glade, just as Deya picked Burden’s Edge up.
“We’re. Not. Finished!” Anna roared, gasping from the pain but maintaining iron concentration on the Reveal spell.
The blizzard had morphed into a crisp wind. Far above, the clouds had parted to reveal a brilliant field of stars.
Deya finished securing Burden’s Edge to her hip. “Yes, we are. Take the knee before I really hurt you.”
Anna reached out and summoned Deya’s wooden staff, which rested in the snow nearby, to her hand. She spun it about before pressing it to her back. “Rearing Cobra,” she spat, hair lashing her face in the vicious wind.
Deya shrugged. “If you insist,” and she strode forth. “But I’m done playing around.” She twisted a hand at Anna, hissing, “Flustrato.”
Anna merely stepped aside, seeing the tendrils blow by her head.
“Dreadus terrablus!”
Anna ducked the writhing tendrils and pressed forth.
“Cast Reveal, didn’t you? Whatever.” Deya, less than ten feet away, yanked, but as the tendrils reached for Anna, Anna hurled the staff like a spear. Deya pointed and her telekinetic tendrils switched to shoot at the staff.
Anna, continually moving forward, shoved at the air, roaring, “Baka!” but Deya merely summoned a fiery shield and the spell thunked against it. Deya then sent the staff shooting back at Anna, who made a whipping-at-the-ground motion whilst roaring, “Grau!” A crack of lightning sounded just by Deya’s ear, making her flinch and lose focus. Anna caught the staff and spun. Deya raised her shield and the staff smashed against it with a fiery hiss.
Reveal died, but Anna spun again and again, delivering a series of blows all over Deya, who either blocked with her shield or her forearm, wincing from the blows against the latter, before she yanked on Anna, lurching her forth. Deya managed to grab the staff and, with a roar of rage, smashed it over her knee, breaking it. She tossed the pieces aside, one of which stuck into the snow like a fencepost. But that gave Anna time to kick out, catching Deya in the hip and bowling her over. Anna then kneed her in the nose and thumped the back of her head with an elbow. Deya grunted and fell to the ground, allowing Anna to jump on her back, wind an arm around her neck, grab her wrist with her other hand, and squeeze.
“Take the knee,” Anna hissed through clenched teeth.
Deya, unable to breathe, flailed like a wild horse trying to toss its rider. She frothed and growled, but Anna held on, blood from her wound smearing Deya’s amber robe. Deya landed a weak punch to Anna’s forehead. When that failed to make Anna let go, she rolled forward, flipping onto the snow. Yet Anna still refused to let go, and even on her back, she strained and held on, her face hot from the effort as her veins popped.
Deya flailed and fumbled wildly at her with clawed hands, but those hands got weaker and weaker.
“Take … the … knee …” Anna hissed.
At long last, just as she thought Deya would rather pass out than take the knee, her sister tapped her arm, and Anna let go and shoved Deya off her. She rolled aside, gasping, the color returning to her purple face.
Anna hauled herself up, panting. “There. It’s done. I get to keep the scion. And you never get to ask for it again.” She bowed. “It was a worthy duel, Sister. Our best.” Then she turned and stumbled toward the scion, half buried in the snow. But just as she reached to summon it to her hand, a hot sting exploded in her side. She looked down and thought she was having a nightmare, for protruding from the side of her belly was a long tooth of bloody steel.
