Page 23 of Heartflame

Quill

Iwas only halfway through the race when the alarms began to shriek.

“THERE HAS BEEN A WARD BREACH.”

I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around. All the other racers were gone, either too far behind me to see in the woods or they’d already turned back because of the alarm. I was all alone in the middle of the forest, the northern ward only fifty feet away through the trees.

My breath came in sharp gasps, my lungs burning from the exertion. I stood frozen for a moment, listening. The forest around me had gone eerily quiet as Dean Thornfield’s words died away, the usual ambient sounds of wildlife and rustling leaves completely absent. It was the kind of silence that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

Then I saw them.

Flashes of light erupted through the trees ahead, brilliant and blinding against the darker forest. I squinted, trying to make out what was happening, but the brightness made it impossible to focus. There were shapes colliding with the wards, the ward flaring each time. The figures, as far as I could tell, were definitely humanoid, but I couldn’t discern any details. They seemed to be trying to get through, but their movements were strange.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Whatever was trying to breach the perimeter was right there, just through the trees, and I was standing between them and the rest of campus. Between them and everyone else.

I took a step backward, my instinct screaming at me to run, to get back to safety, to report this to someone in authority. But my legs felt rooted to the ground, frozen by a mixture of fear and some sort of sick curiosity. The figures kept pushing, and with each surge, the light intensified. I could practically see the wards now, a shimmering barrier that flickered like it was struggling to hold them back.

One of the figures turned its head in my direction.

Even though I couldn’t see its face clearly through the blinding flashes, I felt its attention lock onto me, like a hand around my throat. My stomach dropped. It knew I was here. They all knew.

I forced my feet to move, backing away from the trail, deeper into the forest and away from the breach. My mind raced through possibilities, none of them good. Should I run? Should I find somewhere to hide? Should I try to get back to campus and alert someone?

Another flash of light, brighter than before, and I heard something crack. The sound was unmistakable. The wards were crumbling one by one.

Heavy footfalls echoed through the trees as something bright caught my attention. A red shape came hurtling down the trail, calling out my name.

“Red! Where are you?!”

It was Aeron.

I didn’t think. I just ran toward that red blur, my fear overriding every rational thought in my head. Aeron burst through the trees like he was moving at mach speed, his golden eyes wild and fixed directly on me. He looked terrified and relieved all at the same time.

“Quill!” he shouted again, closing the distance between us in what felt like an instant.

Behind me, another crack echoed through the forest. Another layer down. I could feel it in the air now, a kind of electrical charge that made my skin prickle. The figures beyond the barrier seemed to sense it too, their movements becoming more frantic, more desperate.

“We need to go,” I gasped, but Aeron was already there, his massive frame blocking out the light from the flashing wards. Up close he looked even larger than before, like his fear had caused his dragon form to swell with power. His jaw was clenched so tight I thought he might crack his teeth.

“I’ve got you,” he said. Before I could respond, he scooped me up like I weighed nothing, one arm wrapped around my waist and the other supporting my thighs. My instinct was to protest, to demand that he put me down, but another flash of light and the sound of something massive slamming against the wards made the words die in my throat.

Aeron turned and ran.

He moved through the forest with an impossibly fluid grace, dodging trees and undergrowth like he’d been doing it his whole life. I clung to him, my arms wrapped around his neck, my heart still pounding so hard I thought it might burst out of my chest. Behind us, I could hear the sound of the more layers finally giving way, a sound like glass shattering mixed with the low hum of magic collapsing.

“Don’t look back,” Aeron commanded, his voice a low rumble against my ear. “Keep your eyes on me.”

I obeyed without thinking. My face was pressed against his shoulder. His muscles bunched and released beneath me with each powerful stride, and despite everything, despite the terror and the chaos, a small part of me registered that this felt good somehow. That being held like this felt like exactly where I was supposed to be.

We burst out of the tree line and onto the main campus path. The sun hit us suddenly, bright and disorienting after the shadows of the forest. Aeron didn’t slow down. If anything, he ran faster, his breathing controlled despite the exertion. Around us, I could hear students shouting, could see people running toward the dormitories, could hear the sound of magical barriers being reinforced.

Security witches swarmed past us, delving into the forest toward the source of the attack. Some of them were already casting spells, trying to reinforce the wards before they went down completely. Others shot us suspicious looks before running past, like we had something to do with the attack.

Aeron carried me directly toward the residential buildings, not slowing until we reached what I assumed was his dorm. He took the stairs three at a time, the impact of each step jarring through me, and I didn’t protest. I just held on tighter.

He shifted all my weight to one arm as he unlocked his door. As soon as we were inside, he kicked it shut and collapsed on his bed, breathing hard.

I was still in his arms.