The Sword and The Mountain (Kathardra book 1)
The Last

Side by side Lessa and Zar walked forward.

At the very end of the room, Golathar’s hulking form sat on a dark wood throne carved to look like he was sitting in the lap of an imposing bear.

“What have you done?” Zar demanded at once. Lessa’s eyes fell to the floor below Golathar where a woman in servant’s garb was lying in a pool of blood, symbols had been smeared onto the floor around her.

A woman with long silky black hair stood just to the side of the throne, her fingers were stained red. “I’ve made it so that he cannot be pierced by a blade, or touched with magic,” the woman said with a sadistic smile and a self-satisfied air.

“I’m on it,” Lessa said, opening her well of magic. Before she could even start exploring the spell on Golathar the woman before him spoke inaudible words. It must’ve been a spell because a thick hissing snake of lightning shot toward Lessa from the woman’s palm.

Lessa brought up a shield and absorbed the attack. But the power was so much more than she was expecting that her body was pushed backward several feet.

“This!” Golathar roared, “This is the heir of Rhodrin?” he stood from his throne. “I will not be deposed in favor of a child!”

Another magical attack surged at Lessa, she could feel the power surrounding her feet, and she jumped away, just in time to avoid being shredded by stones that crumbled themselves away from the floor and shot toward the ceiling.

Golathar pulled two swords from the sheaths on his back and charged at Zar.

“Zar!” Lessa yelled, lurching toward him.

“Handle the sorceress!” Zar commanded as he ran toward the much bigger man.

Lessa turned her eyes to the dark sorceress. Who was already mumbling another spell. Lessa threw her hand forward and launched a fireball at the woman, but she lifted her hand and shielded herself while still reciting the spell.

Lessa charged at her but her boots sank into the stone tiles around her. Lessa pushed her feet up with magic to free herself but the sorceress finished her spell. A concentrated beam of energy, a laser Lessa realized, shot toward her from the witch’s hands. It sizzled across the ground and Lessa pulled a shield up, but it shot through her shield unperturbed, for a second it caught her shoulder, and smoking clothes and skin filled Lessa’s nostrils.

Faster than light Lessa changed her shield so that instead of solid air it bent light. The laser bounced off of it and the woman cried out in pain or shock, Lessa didn’t know.

An invisible wall hit Lessa, knocking her to the ground and sliding her across the floor at a dizzying speed until she broke through it with her own magic. She was on her feet again in a moment and darted toward the sorceress.

Balls of oozing light started forming above the woman’s upturned palms. They sent out bolts of energy that left molten holes in the stones around them. Careful to not get hit, Lessa danced and dodged, she tried to block one with a shield but it only slowed before broke through her magic. As she got closer Lessa summoned several more shields and let the sorceress break all of them.

Lessa was nearly within sword’s reach now. The woman brought her hands together and the plasma balls melted together. Just as she was launching a massive blast of energy Lessa formed a shield between them and fed it a ridiculous amount of magic. The plasma ball stopped in place, and the sorceress’s eyes went wide as she stared at the creation that was suddenly in Lessa’s control.

Instead of launching it back at the woman, Lessa threw it at a wall to the side, simultaneously she threw an unbridled pulse of energy at the sorceress. She was thrown backward into a wall where she fell, still, to the ground.

Without pause, Lessa darted to where Zar and Golathar were dueling. For such a huge man Golathar was fast, his swords whirled at Zar without respite. But it seemed neither of the men were injured.

Lessa reached out to feel the spell that had been placed on Golathar, she recoiled instantly. Whatever the spell felt like sludge in a gas form. Lessa guessed that if she could see magic like Zar, this would be a black cloud.

Not that she knew what to expect, Lessa reached out again, with most spells she could feel them out with her magic. There was usually some kind of pattern to them she could build a mental picture of. They were symmetrical and layered with patterns that would come together in a point she could break. But this monstrosity was a random mess of writhing tangled knots.

With her magic, Lessa grabbed at the spell. But it slid out of her grasp. She tried again with the same result.

Before her eyes, Zar’s sword slid across Golathar’s forearm but left no mark. A few strikes later one of Golathar’s own blades nicked Zar’s back. He winced but otherwise ignored the injury.

Lessa couldn’t watch anymore. She threw herself at the fight, but no matter how many times Lessa and Zar struck Golathar he remained uninjured.

“Lessa,” Zar said.

“I know!” she panted back.

Without a way to break the spell, they would be fighting all night.

Lessa redoubled her efforts but was distracted by parrying and striking. Out of desperation, Lessa sent a blast of random energy at Golathar, but he didn’t even notice. Lessa felt something strange in how her magic interacted with the spell. It seemed to pull on all of it at once.

“Zar!” he immediately sidled in front of Lessa, knocking Golathar back just slightly so that Lessa could disengage.

Lessa closed her eyes and focused on the dark knots surrounding Golathar, she didn’t grab them, but slowly started looping around them. It took all of Lessa’s focus, made harder by the fact that Golathar was moving. More than once she had to start over because he caused the spell to slip away from her. At last, Lessa had all of the knots encased she pulled on them with all of her power.

An explosion rocked the room, Golathar and Zar were blasted away from each other.

Black smoke started circling Lessa’s feet. As fast as gravity could carry water the smoke started creeping up Lessa’s body. Just before her vision was consumed Lessa could see that the witch across the room had woken up and was pointing at Lessa, talking, as she rose to her feet.

“No, no, no, no, no, no,” Lessa said to herself.

She had seen this before.

She spun in a circle, looking for Zar. A spell hit Lessa in the back, her body froze, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t scream.

The smoke cleared just enough for Lessa to see Zar. She tried to scream, to warn him, to do anything. She couldn’t even move her eyes.

Golathar’s hand grabbed Zar’s shoulder, in the same moment a sword sprouted from Zar’s sternum, his face contorted in pain, blood stained his white shirt red.

The smoke around Lessa cleared, slowly, but she could see through the semi-opaque fog. The witch had fallen to her knees, spent and out of energy.

Golathar wore a wolfish grin as he pulled his sword from Zar, he turned and ran.

The exact moment Lessa was released from the witch’s spell was clear because a scream ripped from her throat.

A wild blast of magic shot from Lessa to the witch. Her attempt to guard herself was feeble, she had so little reserves left that her shield was a paper to Lessa’s bonfire. With thoughtless rage, Lessa’s magic tore into the woman and ruptured her from the inside out.

Lessa clutched at Zar while he fell to his knees. She was already speaking the spells that would heal his body, but healing the torso was complex, it would take time. Lessa stuttered. She started over.

“Go!” he told her. “Look at my sword, it has his blood, he can be hurt now.”

“Cinder!” she screamed out, he must’ve already been on his way in, drawn to Lessa’s scream, for he grabbed her shoulder and bent to start healing Zar.

“Go, Lessa!” Zar hissed at her. His face was a startling gray pale.

She hesitated only one more minute to hear Cinder start the spells before she ran to where Golathar had gone.

Behind his throne was a bolted door. Lessa ran through it as fast as she could, through a tiny hallway that was no doubt hidden inside the walls. Lessa heard glass shatter just as she took a turn so fast that she crashed into the wall.

Straight ahead of her, the hallway led directly into a broken window. Certainly, Golathar jumped through it to escape.

Without looking or slowing Lessa launched herself from the window.

“Storm!” she cried out the moment she was breathing open air. Dispersing her momentum with a roll Lessa stood and looked around for Golathar. But the air was so thick with clouds it was like looking through soup.

“I’m coming. But I can’t see anything in the fog!”

Cursing her own stupidity Lessa released the fog for it to naturally disperse into the darkness.

There, Lessa sprinted after Golathar, he had a substantial lead.

They were on a wide walkway that led around the perimeter of the castle; Golathar turned down a massive bridge that led to the outer wall.

Lessa’s eye went from his back to her own path rapidly. She was gaining on him, just barely. The air was rent by Storm’s furious scream as she glided over Lessa toward Golthar. She opened her maw and painted the bridge with liquid fire, consuming the king as she went.

Lessa was shocked to her core when the flames parted to reveal the man standing there, one arm covering his face. Golathar looked as stunned as Lessa.

“Block his path!” Lessa shouted at Storm. The dragon swooped back in a tight circle and landed on the bridge.

“You have nowhere to go!” Lessa shouted at Golathar, she walked toward him through the dragon fire, sword in hand.

A scowl painted Golathar’s face as he sprinted toward Lessa.

Lessa reached out with her magic and wrapped it around Golathar’s body until all of his limbs stiffened. It wasn’t honorable, it wasn’t fair, but she pulled him toward her, the toes of his boots dragged through the pools of fire burning at their feet. At the same moment, she thrust her sword forward until the two met and Golathar’s body slid around Lessa’s blade.

The surprise and the pain on his face mirrored the same expression Lessa had seen on Zar’s. She yanked the handle of her sword and Golathar fell to his knees. Lessa turned and ran. The only thought in her mind was for Zar.

The chase to the bridge had seemed to take seconds. Running back the same distance was taking forever. But Lessa finally laid eyes on the window Golathar had broken on his way out. Using a magically enhanced jump Lessa launched herself back through the window.

The entire castle shook.

“No!” Lessa screamed. That could only mean one thing.

“Lessa!” Storm called after her.

Tears already started pouring from Lessa’s eyes. What had started as a single word of denial transformed into an indiscernible scream as she ran back down the escape path.

“Lessa! No!” Storm screamed at her again. Storm had landed just where the broken window was and she reached her arm into it, trying to stop Lessa. Her claws broke away chunks of stone as she tried to get further in. “Stop!”

Lessa rounded the corner and threw herself forward, well out of Storm’s reach and back into the throne room. Just as she rounded the bear throne her eyes fell on Zar. He was pale, lying on the ground. His head was in Worran’s hands. Very carefully Worran lowered Zar’s head to the ground. Lifeless.

“No!” shrieked Lessa. She reached for her magic. She Snapped.

Cinder was sitting at Zar’s side, he stood and tried to step in front of Lessa.

“I didn’t have enough time. I’m so sorry.”

Lessa shoved him out of her way. Worran stood now, tears streaming down his face, he grabbed Lessa’s shoulders and tried to pull her away. She shoved at him with magic and he flew across the room.

Lessa fell to her knees at Zar’s side.

“No, no, no!” she sobbed, clutching at his shirt. Zar did not move. He did not respond.

This couldn’t be happening.

“Come back to me!” she begged him, barely able to draw breath, the rending pain in her chest nearly took her ability to speak.

Again, Cinder tried to stop Lessa, but her magic was so out of control that it was creating an impenetrable whirl around her. He might as well have tried to breach a tornado.

Her hands were shaking when she reached for the sword she had discarded next to her. Without knowing what she was doing Lessa sliced each of her thumbs on the sides of her blade.

“Come back to me,” she told Zar again, she placed a bleeding thumb on his chest, above his heart, and the other on his forehead.

Using forbidden blood magic Lessa poured every ounce of energy she had into Zar. “Come back,” she whispered. The second Lessa opened her magic it rushed from her in an uncontrollable torrent. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't stop.

Her vision went dark at the edges and narrowed to a tunnel. She did not, could not stop. All warmth fled from her limbs, her arms shook all the way to her fingers. Lessa fell into blackness.

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