Page 78 of The Blood Rites

I’m about to answer when the rocks behind us explode. I turn to see Rask, alone and soaked, blood running from a gash that stretches from brow to cheek. He lumbers towards us, knuckles practically dragging on the ground. Orla is not with him, but in his hands, he wields a hefty stone club.

“Motherfucker—give us a break,” Alaris curses.

Rask roars and charges at us. I don’t have time to think. I shove Marissa sideways, diving with her behind a sturdy-looking pillar. The Airborn scatter, but Fen isn’t quick enough—Rask catches him with one hand, slamming him into the ground. He rears back the club.

I throw myself from cover and let light erupt from my hands.

A golden dome snaps into existence around Fen just as the club comes down.

The club rebounds, taking Rask by surprise. He grunts and tries again, swinging it at Fen’s head.

The shield shatters into splinters of gold on impact.

My skin hums as the wind suddenly picks up. Sorin and Alaris thrust their hands forward, and a blast of air tears Rask off Fen, sending him crashing onto his back. The club slips from Rask’s grip as he falls.

“We’ll hold him off,” Alaris shouts. “You two get to the Waterborn and warn them about the wave.”

I nod, even as my throat tightens.

We climb, leaving the three boys behind. I dig in with my fingers and haul myself up each ledge. Below us, the fight dissolves into crashing stone, shouted curses, and screams.

At the final ledge, I shove Marissa over the edge and haul myself after her. I shake the strain from my aching fingers and look back down at the fight.

Alaris and Sorin rush Rask, but he barely seems to notice them. He wields the club again, swinging it wide. Alaris ducks. Sorin tries to deflect the blow with a blast of air, but it’s not enough.

The club crashes into his shoulder, crushing bone.

I can hear Sorin’s scream from here as he drops, clutching his arm. Rask throws his head back and laughs as he winds up for another swing.

I try to shield them from here, but it’s too far. The curtain of light I summon stretches to nothing at this range.

Rask brings the club down, but Alaris puts himself between Sorin and the incoming attack. He tries to block it with his forearms, and I hear the crack of bone as Alaris falls.

I turn to Marissa for a second. “Go and get Lyssandra. Tell her about the wave.”

She is already moving before I finish speaking.

Rask stalks Fen through blasts of air, but stone scales now cover his chest and shoulders. The wind barely slows him.

Behind him, Sorin crawls with his good arm. He jams a shard of dark rock into the side of Rask’s thigh. The wound pulses, and Rask howls, swinging wildly. Sorin’s face is a mask of pain, but he holds on, twisting the shard in deeper.

Rask reaches down and grabs Sorin by the throat. Sorin’s face goes red, then purple, and his body starts to spasm before going slack. Rask drops him, blood spraying from his thigh as Sorin’s body clatters to the ground like a broken doll.

I sprint over to Marissa, who is shaking Lyssandra by the shoulders. As I reach them, Lyssandra opens her eyes and looks up at me, the picture of serenity.

“Have you come to kill me?” she says, as if no other possibility exists.

"No," I say, glancing at the shoreline. "I'm trying to stop you from dying."

The wind surges without warning, whipping hair across my face. Below, Rask is on his knees with both hands pressed to his thigh. Sorin isn't moving.

The Mother Shard pulses dark magenta, and for a second, everything goes silent. Sorin’s body lifts off the ground, limp as a marionette, and he begins to unravel. His skin peels away in translucent ribbons, muscles liquefying, bones crumbling to dust as he dissolves into a golden-red light. The light streams towards the Mother Shard. She brightens, pulsing as she feeds on Sorin’s essence.

I want to vomit, but there’s nothing in me to expel.

Marissa covers her mouth. Lyssandra watches with a sort of cold detachment.

When the light fades, there is nothing left of Sorin.