Disclaimer: I caught a Jeb!
They were gone. All the fighters were gone but ten of the mage's men. She didn't give herself time to gape at what he had done as she tried to scramble up. Her ankle gave out below her and she fell to one knee as she felt desperately for Raw. She was betting he was with everyone else. Az let out an angry shout and hurled her magic across the room. The mage staggered back but she wasn't sure how much damage her sister had done. She locked onto the viewer out on the lake and let the connection go so she could put all her concentration on her light. Now that she knew they were at least alive, hopefully all of them, she could fight with her full attention.
The mage sent a blast of dark magic at the two of them and she hurled herself up and erected a shield in front of both of them. His magic broke through it and they were tossed in separate directions. Unable to keep her balance on her injured ankle she fell to the floor once again and let out a cry of frustration. This was crazy. It was like a mouse trying to win against a cat with the eclipse on his side. Hitting the ground she rolled twice before catching herself. She flipped to her hands and knees in time to see the mage step to the side and send a bolt of dark energy at Az. Her sister didn't have a chance now that he could direct all his magic in one direction. The darkness hit her, shattering her defenses, and she flew backward into a pillar, her head hit the carved marble with an audible crack. The heir apparent slumped to the tiled floor and didn't move.
"Azkadilla!" Her mother screamed at the same time she did.
"No!" She began to spring when his depraved eyes turned back to her. He snapped his fingers and another set of chains sprang into existence around her. Manacles snapped tight around her wrists and she toppled to the floor face first. She skidded until the chains caught her and she ground to an abrupt halt. Snarling in rage she locked onto his position and threw a blast of magic at him as the hidden emerald boosted her power.
A scream tore through her as her magic was forced back on her by the chains that were holding her down. A smug chuckle floated to her and she yanked at the shackles angrily. "I'm afraid that isn't going to work, my beauty. They're made of moritanium and hold a rather ingenious spell in them if I do say so myself." His clipped footfall came closer, and seeing him out of the corner of her eye, she twisted fast and lashed out at him with her foot. She had a brief moment of self-satisfaction as she got off a solid hit to his shin.
Cursing he fell back before spinning toward her and kicking her hard across the rips. The air left her lungs in a whoosh and her father yelled as he fought as hard as he could against the remaining men that had caught hold of him. He was rewarded with a quick punch to the stomach and doubled over as they held him.
She wasn't able to recover before he grabbed her hair and yanked her head back at an awkward angle. Without loosening his grip he sent another blast of magic through her body. She convulsed with a scream of agony as he held her tightly. Her magic flared briefly, burning her wrists where the metal touched her, before she forced it down and allowed the dark energy to lance through her body. She heard him laughing as she wailed and then he let her fall to the ground. She collapsed in a crumpled heap at his feet and fought down a moan of pain, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. "And to think you could have avoided all this. I would have killed your family anyway but you wouldn't have had to see it. This all would have been a lot faster."
Her eyes opened slowly and she could see her father struggling in the grip of the two men holding him as her mother was held to the marble on her knees by the chains around her wrists, her violet eyes blazing. Az lay still and silent on the floor with a soldiers boot over her chest in case she regained consciousness. Pushing herself to her knees she cursed at him. "Fuck you."
Another blast of magic hit her and she let out a shout as pain tore across her back. She felt warm wetness across it and realized what he had done. He was using his magic like a whip on her skin. "Let her go you bastard!" Ahamo was snarling as the darkness released her. She doubted it had anything to do with her father's threat.
He started circling her and she tried desperately to get her hands free. "You couldn't leave well enough alone could you?" He stared down at her as he spoke and without warning another slash of magic hit her. She gasped and fought harder. "You stayed here, and for what?" Another lash and she screeched. "For them? What have they ever done for you?"
"Enough." Her mother's voice was sharp and commanding. "You want magic?" She straightened as much as she was able. "Leave my daughters alone. You can have mine."
"Yours?" He raised an eyebrow and glanced back at the queen. Suddenly he threw back his head and started laughing hysterically. "Yours? You think I came here for your magic?" Looking down at her wrists she flashed back four years to the warehouse. No. Oh no. This is how Kara had been held down. And Kalm had been held on the other side of the room… Her eyes flew to the mage and he cocked his head to the side as a smirk played over his lips. She blanched and tried to wrench as far from him as possible as realization dawned. He had never been after her family. He had been after her. He'd been trying to get her alone at the ball not out of the way.
Her mother was radiating rage. "Why did you come here then? Simply to murder us all?"
She had managed to edge a few inches away as she silently screamed for Raw to get to her faster. She couldn't use her magic with the chains around her wrist. She couldn't escape. He was going to take the one thing that would make him nearly invincible once the eclipse ran its course and he returned to his normal magic level.
"Oh that's priceless." He circled back behind her and a fourth laceration tore its way down from her shoulder to her hip. She let out a shout as he crouched down next to her. Catching a fistful of her hair with one hand he wrenched her head up and ran his knuckles benevolently across her jaw. "They don't know do they?" He continued to chuckle as both her parents looked at her.
Pressing her lips together and breathing hard through her nose she glared defiantly at him before spitting in his face. He could go straight to hell for all she cared. His magic raked across her back and there were suddenly so many slashes she couldn't suck in enough air to scream. He held her up by her hair as she gasped and when she managed to open her eyes he was smiling sadistically at her. "Stop!" She'd never seen her father so upset by anything affecting her before.
Then she saw the wicked gleam in the mages eye and snapped at him. "Leave them out of this. None of them can give you what you want. Let them go."
He spoke to her like a teacher would speak to an errant pupil. "Now that's where you're wrong, my beauty." Standing up he threw her forward on the floor. "Without them this would be so much harder for us." He glanced down waving his hand and another line of blood made its way along her skin. She clawed at the marble below her hands as her shirt began to stick sickly to her skin. "Well, it's going to be hard for you regardless. But we both know this won't work properly if you don't want to save them don't we?"
Overwhelmed by pain and fear her mind shifted to an unfamiliar place and she began to laugh. "You think your going to get what you want? What do you know?" She shoved herself back up and met his eyes. "You think this is a formula? A simple set up with me being tortured and my family across the room?" He was baring his teeth at her and she couldn't find it in her to be frightened of him anymore, she was too fucking angry to care. "You'll get nothing from me you idiotic bastard."
Not surprisingly she was rewarded with more pain. Hissing she shook her head rebelliously. The only thing that had gotten her through the soul brushing was her stubborn streak. He had no idea that Kara had given her this willingly. He didn't know that was part of it. She refused to do the same, no matter what it cost her. She realized in that instant that to save the kingdom, and her people, she would even give up her sister. It was a sobering thought. "You'll have to kill us all because I'll be damned if you I'll let you have what you want."
"You think this is torture?" More pain. She was starting to think she couldn't process much more. "You have no idea what I am capable of!"
"I know exactly what your capable of." She raised her head again. "Your capable of nothing but poor planning and botched executions. What are you going to do when I'm dead and you have nothing to show for it? You think the people of the O.Z. will bow to a man with less power than a quarter the mages living in our borders? One that assassinate the Gale line when we've kept peace in our realm for hundreds of years? A man with no claim to the throne and the tin men and royal guard out for his blood?" She smiled grimly at him. "The men you had are dead or dying as we speak. You have no leverage over me but pain and I assure you I've been in far more than this for a greater amount of time. So what are you going to do now? You have nothing. You're worth less than nothing." Grinning maliciously at him she drove her verbal assault home. "You're a zero."
His face was red with rage. "Enough! You will give me what I mine!"
She turned her face away from in dismissal. She knew that what she said next would be the end of her but she could feel Raw getting closer. She couldn't let him have Kara's gift. She'd stalled for as long as she could. Perhaps her family would be ok. "Never."
"No!" Both her parents screamed as dark energy began to lance off him. She stared over at them without emotion. Her mind had gone still as she accepted the fact that in some small way she had won.
"I will have the seers gift!" Violet eyes flashed in confusion and for once she met them steadily as the man beside her went into a rage. "If I have to cut you and your family up into tiny pieces slowly than so be it! She was never meant to brush you!" The queen's eyes went wide with horrified understanding. "Her soul was mine! I will have it now!"
She heard the sound of doors smashing open and a bitter wind swept through the hall. Her head spun over her shoulder in time to see the Tin Man raise his gun and shoot at the mage behind her only to be jostled to the side by one of his men who had run at the doors. She ducked as the gun went off and heard a snarled curse as the mage's magic flared and he tumbled back to the floor next to her. The once empty room was plunged into chaos as the remaining guards flooded into the hall and clashed with the mage's men. Twisting as best she could she tried once more to get her hands free as she saw the mage begin to sit up as blood seeped out of his shoulder. At least Cain had hit him.
Pure fury flashed over his features. Scooting back her injured back hit something warm and solid and her eyes darted behind her. Jeb grabbed her right wrist and shouted at her over the noise. "Stay still!" A metal wire and a small knife flashed in his fingers and she realized he was trying to pick the lock that held the manacles in place. Her head flew back in time to see the mage raise his hand toward the teenager and she made a fast choice.
"Down, Jeb!" She threw herself over him backward and focusing harder than she ever had let her light flare out. A weak shield formed between them and the blast of energy as her wrist sizzled. Gritting her teeth she felt the remainder of the magic hit them like an electric shock and heard Wyatt's son yelp even as he twisted madly to hang onto the chains.
"Apparently your family was the wrong bait!" He stalked toward them with dark sparks flying from him as he raised his hand toward the young blond behind her.
"Apparently." Wyatt's voice was dry as he suddenly materialized to their right. His gun was raised and he pulled the trigger as the mage turned to look at him. Raising one hand he cast a reversal spell and she screamed in horror. The bullet that had been heading toward his chest ricocheted off the magic and flew back at Cain. Ice blue eyes widened and he staggered back as the lock on the manacle clicked open. Blood bloomed over the Tin Man's chest and he fell to his knees before slumping to the floor his gun clattering next to him.
"Dad!" Jeb's nearly hysterical scream filled her ears as her hand came loose. The teenager ran to his father's side as the mage smirked and she dragged the emerald out from under her shirt. It glowed green as fury like she'd never known roared through her. As she clutch the relic she demanded its unswerving obedience and heard it answer in a rush. The remaining chains holding her shattered with a metallic screech and she stood up. Body turning in surprise the mage saw her stand and the darkness formed a halo around him.
"Did I upset you, my beauty?" She saw a few of his remaining men running toward him to help, and raising her hand snapped the chain the emerald had been hanging on from around her neck. Palming it in her hand she raised her arm and let every bit of magic she possessed fly down her arm and through the gem. Dark magic snaked out fight it and clashed with a roaring bang. Everyone in the hall was hurled backward as the backlash smashed across the space. Her body remained rooted in place, unaffected, as the mage stumbled back.
Light was radiating off her dangerously as she stalked toward him. "Did you think I was lying about killing you at the ball, Zero? When you dared to threatened my family?" He was baring his teeth at her as he shoved both his arms out in front of him and called on all the darkness he possessed. "What did you think was going to happen when you came after me? I'm a direct descendent of the first slipper. I have the power of a Gale and the gift of a viewer. Compared to me you're an incompetent beginner." Her light had begun to melt the mosaic tiles around her feet as the darkness bounced off it.
"You can't beat me today, my beauty." He hissed at her and she made a slicing motion with her hand.
"That would be another mistaken assumption on your part." Her magic intensified and she met his eyes levelly. "I'll see you in hell."
She didn't bother to control her light. She let it careen wildly out of control as it tore through the emerald and smashed into the mage and his men. His darkness burned away and he let out an enraged scream before they were all hurled away in a shower of blood and bone. The force of her spell had made them explode backward with sickening consequence. Ignoring the devastation she had created she turned her eyes back to the hall to find the fighting had stopped. Most of the men here were dead and Jeb was huddled over his father with blood covering his hands as Raw rushed to them.
Her voice was ferocious as she regarded the remaining men. "Drop your weapons now or I will tear you limb from limb slowly!" Weapons fell to the floor and the guards captured the fighters that surrendered.
She started toward Wyatt, her heart cold as ice, when she heard her name. "DG!" The consort was suddenly in front of, in her way, and she waved her hand. He was tossed backward toward her mother and without much thought she shattered the chains holding the queen to the floor.
Her viewer looked up at her with his gloved hand firmly over the Tin Man's wound, his gift pulsing. "Must get to coast." She sucked in a breath and her eyes darted between Raw and Wyatt's white face. He was still alive. "DG!" Her friend didn't allow her any sort of respite. "Now! Cannot keep alive for long! Must have help!"
Bending down she caught Cain under one shoulder as Raw grabbed the other. Jeb was next to her instantly as she staggered and he pushed her out of the way as they hauled his father off the ground. "Outside!" She followed them quickly as they carried him and when they were at the door she turned back to look at her family briefly. Ambrose was over her sister and patting her face as she groaned back into consciousness.
She caught sight of her parents and tossed the emerald to the consort who caught it on instinct. Her mother was staring at her with a cross between revulsion and dismay and she used what magic she had left to call down a travel storm. "Deeg!" Jeb called agitatedly to her from the snow-covered shore and she backed away from them.
As she passed through the doors she yelled at the advisor. "Ambrose, tell her I said goodbye." Toffee eyes locked on hers and she saw regretful understanding in them. "Take care of her." Then the twister fell over them and they were gone.
Author Note: Was it good? Are you excited? I love fight scenes! You know it, I know it! Woo! Now I have to write a paper….