Chapter Three – The Ice That Burns

  Gray sprinted after the rest of his squad, but he couldn’t use his mana, not in any real way, and so he was last to get there. By the time he reached the rest of his squad, it was chaos. He was glad he had brought his stick.

  Rynn was trying to pull Ames off the evil Fae girl, but Ames was fighting her off. As for Pinch, she looked uncharacteristically stunned.

  Gray was shocked to see needles, the same healing needles they’d got from the Widow Stone, sticking out Pinch’s arm. Ames must’ve jammed into her skin, but why? Even more strange, Ames was getting mana from it, but it wasn’t the golden mana he’d seen before, nor was it red, blue, or purple. It was this midnight blue, an inky midnight color, swirling around her core.

  Ames was screaming as Rynn managed to wrench her off. “It is the ice that burns. It is the terrible ice that burns! Burning me! I can’t take it. I can’t fucking take it.”

  Pinch sprouted four incandescent wings and rose off the ground. At that same time, she flung golden circles of light—mana shuriken— into Ames, one after another, right into her chest. A second later, though, Tomi—her full monstrous cat girl form—leapt and snagged Pinch out of the air.

  Another Fae threw shuriken at Tomi but Midj used her giant mana hands to block the magic missiles.

  But a Fae man with a large tattoo under his left eye tackled Midj and began to punch the goblin in the face, over and over.

  Two of the Fae came at Gray but they didn’t coordinate their attack.

  Gray stepped to the side, forcing one Fae behind the other, which allowed him to fight only one at a time.

  Gray feinted with his stick, as if to strike the fairy man on the leg. Instead, Gray punched the sharp-faced Fae in the face. Gray didn’t stop. He flung his weight into the fairy man, driving back into the second Fae. Both fell, and the it was easy to kick the unwounded in Fae in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.

  He thought he’d done well except for the first Fae leapt into the air, powering his wings with mana. Blood leaked from his face, but he was fully powered up.

  Blurring with speed, he kicked Gray in the face before Gray could get his stick up. If the Fae had powered his kick with mana, it might have ripped Gray’s head from his shoulders. Instead, it just knocked him down and put stars in his vision. Without being able to channel mana into his meridians, Gray was no match for the fairies. They were all fully-marked neophytes if not more.

  Gray reached for his stick but the flying fairy came down and slammed his foot down on Gray’s hand, twisting his heel. Gray cried out. Fuck, it hurt.

  A second later, the Fae was hit by something, and he was thrown back into his squadmates.

  Gray turned, and there, standing in the center of the fight was Captain Sette Sevananya. He saw her core ignite like the sun exploding. She’d had thrown some kind of energy into Fae, nearly shredding his wings. And she wasn’t done.

  She flung out one hand and in a second, Tomi and Pinch were both frozen. No, not frozen, but moving so slowly that they might have been encased in amber.

  Other of the fairy men charged forward but Sette raised her other hand and a wall of fire appeared, spitting up gouts of flame from the grass.

  A Fae woman was in the air, flinging mana shuriken at Ames, who was already wounded. A second later, Sette encased the Fae’s wings in ice with a flick of her hands. She came crashing down to the ground.

  The Fae men behind the wall tried to fly over it but they experienced the same issue. One after another, their wings turned to ice, and they plummeted to the ground. Sette then motioned with her fingers and the wall of fire circled them.

  Lastly, Sette casually walked over and flung the tattooed Fae man on top of Midj and hissed, “Punch yourself in the face.”

  The Fae got off the goblin and began to slam his own fist into his nose. Blood sprayed from his nostrils, but he kept punching until the tattoo his left eye was covered in gore.

  Sette knelt and touched Midj’s face, and it was like the dragon woman was pouring light into the goblin’s core.

  Midj blinked.

  Gray saw the mana in Sette’s core dimming. Grunting, he pulled himself to his feet, grabbed his stick, and then reached out a hand. A second later, he’d transferred an ocean of mana into her. Her core then burst forth in a bright light as Sette went and healed Ames, who lay on her back, breathing hard. Her chest was scorched, her uniform ruined, but she was alive.

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  “Please, stop!” the tattooed Fae man shouted, and then hit himself again. “Please stop making me do this!”

  “Very well. Stop hitting yourself,” Sette said simply.

  The dragon woman snapped her fingers and the spell slowing Tomi and Pinch ended. The fairy women immediately hurled the cat girl off her. Blood streaked her face and dripped onto her clothes. Her inky hair was shaggy and unkept now, and her purple eyes blazed with fury. “How dare you cast spells on us? How dare you fail to control that Quelling bitch? She stuck needles in my arm! In my arm! For no good reason.”

  Pinch raised her arm and there wasn’t just the one needle in her arm but three.

  The cage of fire was gone, but the ice remained on the wings of the Fae. They were all grounded for the time being.

  The Fae that had punched himself in the face stood behind Pinch, mana glowing in his hands. He would be insane to attack Sette after her display of power. She hadn’t even changed her form. How many different spells had she flung about like they were nothing?

  Feeling a little spellbound, Gray stood with his stick, ready to fight.

  “You,” Sette said. “What is your name?”

  “I’m Pamalee Thornpinch,” the fairy women said, chin raised even as blood dripped from her chin.

  Sette sighed. “Of course, I know you, Pinch. You’ve been a pain in the ass for weeks now. You and your squad ran a profitable little racket for a time, but now, that time is over. I mean your friend’s name. The one with the very powerful facial mark.”

  “He’s not my friend,” Pinch said. “He’s my squadmate. His name is Tillwick Duskdrop.”

  “A Duskdrop.” Sette adjusted her mask. “Yes, now I see the resemblance. I had an ancestor of yours on one of my squads. I can’t remember his name. What happened today was unfortunate, Mr. Duskdrop, but let’s move past this, shall we? Let’s chalk this up to another test, one in which you passed. No one died today. Let us be grateful.”

  Pinch charged forward, mana glowing in her hand. “You bitch! I want vengeance. I want to see her bleed, not burn. Bleed!”

  Tillwick Duskdrop caught Pinch before she charged into Gray and his friends. “Enough! This fight is over. There will be others.”

  Pinch shoved him off and went up to Gray, huffing in breaths.

  Gray fell into a defensive position, so grateful for his stick.

  Rynn took a step forward, but Sette stayed her. “Careful, Rynnanatha. Let us see how this might resolve.”

  Pinch took a needle out of her arm and flicked into Gray’s chest. “You are not worth this.” She took out another one and flicked that one at him as well. “You are nothing but some human piece of trash.” She took out the last one and then grabbed his hand, moving so fast, he felt her warm skin on his face, warm and sweaty, and he braced himself to feel the needle stab.

  Instead, she smacked it into his palm lengthwise so it didn’t hurt him.

  “You stay away from us,” she hissed. “All of you. The game has changed for us. It’s changed for me at least. But I will not tolerate any of your nonsense. Not one bit of nonsense.”

  “How about like five percent nonsense?” Tomi asked.

  Pinch looked like she might explode. “Fucking cat bitch and your fucking cat tongue. I’m surprised you’re not weeping.”

  Tomi, still a giant cat creature, smiled showing long fangs. “Can’t cry, Pinch, because your blood tasted so good. Might have to get more of it.”

  “You would be foolish to come seeking my blood. But then, the beastkin are not known for their sense. Leave us the fuck alone. And keep her under control.” Her finger was aimed at Ames, who was having trouble standing. Good thing was Midj was there, keeping her upright.

  Pinch turned, snapped her fingers, and her Fae fell in behind her.

  Tillwick lingered, a smile on his bloody face. “Maybe the game has changed for her, but maybe I liked the old game. Sleep with one eye open, Squad 23. You have started a war you cannot win.”

  He then followed chased after Pinch and the rest of his squad.

  Gray was surprised at how Pinch had come up to him to flick the needles into his chest. As if he’d been the one to stab her. Had things changed for her? He didn’t trust a single thing she said, but her actions? Those he trusted. He’d gotten under her skin. Good.

  Sette stood like a statue, her eyes on Ames.

  Everyone was looking at the Quelling elf. She closed her eyes. “Life is more than just pain. I have to believe that. But it feels so impossible.”

  The captain moved forward. “Rynnanatha, if you could collect the needles, I would be grateful. And Amaranthis, I applaud you.”

  Tomi grunted laughter. “Oh, this is rich. We get in a fight with the Fae, and Ames isn’t going to get in trouble. Okay. I’ll play your sick little game. Why is this a good thing?”

  Sette went and brushed Ames’s white hair out of her face. “Because Pinch revealed that she wants to win the Testing. That was not her intent to begin. She was being paid by someone to cause trouble…most likely to cause us trouble. But now, since her squad did so well on Culling Day, she sees hope. Also, they have Duskdrop in their ranks, and I have history with that family. No, Ames, you broke and embraced pain, and it is a good thing. Also, you all witnessed the power that awaits you all. Did you not see what I did?”

  “I did,” Gray said. “It was impressive. But you used a ton of mana to do it.”

  Sette turned to him. “And that is one of the drawbacks of being a dragon. We have vast power but our reserves are small. It is an equalizer, but luckily, I have you, precious Gray, to keep me filled.”

  Tomi laughed but didn’t make the joke, Midj grinned, and Rynn blushed.

  Sette didn’t seem to notice any of their reactions.

  They all made their way back to the meditation deck and were soon back seated on the cushions.

  Gray’s head began to try to unravel the mystery of Ames’s attack and Settie’s strange reaction, but it wasn’t time to think right then. It was time to focus on getting the magic from his core into his meridians and then to every part of him.

  The thoughts came, like a boat on a river, and he just sat on the bank and watched the boat float on past. In the stillness between boats—between thoughts—Gray found peace.

  His head was blessedly quiet but try as he might, he couldn’t channel his mana anywhere. It remained locked in his core.

  Then meditation gave way to running and then sparring and before long, it was lunchtime.

  He wouldn’t get a chance to talk to Ames until later that night, after Tomi had left for Third Barracks.

  The conversation with Ames didn’t go like Gray planned but that wasn’t a surprise.

  He’d soon learn that Ames played by her own set of rules.