Time crawled. If Leif and Wren managed to make it up the mountain, the instructors at the Sacred School would know the moment they made it to the tram. It was on sacred ground, which was heavily monitored by the instructors. That would take a day to reach, and they couldn't even use the secret passageways since I wasn't there to open them, so it could take twice that time. This was a foolish plan if I'd ever heard one. I had been exiled. The instructors would happily let me die. In fact, they'd kill me themselves. Wren and Leif had said they'd tell them that they came to beg for help after the Prophet captured their village and appeal to the instructors to actually hold the man they'd trained accountable. Really, they just wanted to get to Piercey.

It seemed even more foolish now than when they'd first left. This was a plan of total desperation. The instructors didn't care about the villages in the valley so far below them or they would have done something by now.

I had to find a way to go after them. We'd all die at this rate.

And yet, I had no alternatives. Hours had passed as I kept my hand cupped in Nash's while he slept, watching him the whole time to make sure he didn’t die in his sleep.

He moaned in his sleep. I wish I knew how to numb him to the pain. Despite my best attempts, he still bled slowly.

I struggled to keep my grip on my power. My heavy eyelids threatened to close. Sweat dripped down the side of my face. I ached from the burning.

And then, I heard hard snow and ice crunch outside. I darted up and drew my sword, eyes wide.

No sounds followed.

I tensed and searched for the pitter patter of their hearts. It felt like my mind was being torn in two.

There. Three men. Well-trained. I heard it in their steadiness of their hearts despite that they'd come to face the demon who butchered their forces. Probably the only three willing to face me head-on. They’d have good reason for their confidence, not just because they must have realized I was weakening, but because they were the best.

A spear tore through the air. I knocked it against the cave wall with my power before it had the chance to reach me.

The three charged. I didn't have the strength to take them all at once. The battle earlier and the effort to keep Nash alive had drained me mentally and physically. Panic filled me as I held two of the men in place with my mind and hefted my sword up for the third, leaving him free to venture forward.

"The other two left the cave." One man's voice strained as he struggled to break my hold on him. “Call it in…”

The one who stepped toward me lifted his radio but I blinked and crushed the antenna.

"Turn back," I said.

"I must kill anyone who trespasses here. No exceptions."

"That's unfortunate for you."

We leapt forward at the same time. Our blades collided, the little power I managed to put behind my attack making his muscled arms tremble in exertion.

It didn't matter if I had to spill every drop of my blood. I was not going to let them kill us.

I knocked the charging guard a step back, twisted for momentum, and slashed for his neck. He parried and kicked. I jumped back to dodge.

Pain pounded in my temples. The two men hadn't stopped fighting to free themselves. One struggled an inch forward. Terror filled me that I might not be able to hold them off.

I needed to strike the paralyzed men before they broke free.

I deflected the strikes from the man attacking me and then threw my knife past his right shoulder. It plunged into another man's throat, embedding past the hilt and halfway up the handle.

The one I still held back roared as he muscled forward another inch.

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I was wearing down quickly. I could feel my hold on Nash slipping. I threw the bulk of my energy into keeping him alive and holding the man in place.

It left me open to the one still attacking. I blocked a hit, barely caught the follow-up, forced deeper and deeper into the cave.

His eyes caught Nash. I bashed my forearm against his nose and threw my weight into a piercing strike.

He knocked it back too easily. I was losing strength. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't compensate.

The man at the mouth of the cave trembled as he inched his hand toward his weapon. The veins in his neck bulged.

The one attacking me feigned an attack and then sidestepped me for Nash. I threw a wave of force against him that shot him against the wall.

The cave shook.

My hold on my enemy broke like a cord snapping. Now freed, the second man grabbed his knife and reared back. He threw his blade through the air. I slashed it down with my own when it was mid-air.

The one I'd thrown struggled to his feet. That was when I noticed Nash. He dragged himself toward his weapons, gasping from the pain and exertion.

His wound threatened to rip open.

I wasn't going to be able to hold these men off. So, I ripped their blades from their hands and sent them flying into the woods. One sliced through a man's arm on its way out.

"Stay down!" I yelled to Nash.

With one final push, I flung the two men toward the mouth of the cave. They slid across the ground.

Turning, I saw blood seeping into Nash's bandages. Damn it. He'd stopped, but he still eyed his blades that laid out of reach.

The two men were on their feet and running to me. I saved my mental strength to fortify my defense. They attacked with their bare hands. I nearly got lost in the flurry of punches and kicks.

One stabbed. I dodged. The other grabbed. I swung my blade. I kept them back for ten seconds. Twenty. They were good. I couldn’t hit them, even though they were unarmed.

My muscles burned with pain. My knees felt so weak I nearly tripped and fell.

Finally, one jabbed his fist and left himself exposed. I made my move, sliced through muscle and tendon, embedding my blade in the stocky one's shoulder. While I struggled to wrench it free, the other managed to slide past me, barreling for Nash.

I wheeled around and kicked the inside of his knee. He went down, grabbing desperately at me. I tried to use my power to push him back but it was no use.

Screaming like a dying animal, the injured one spun and threw me hard. I managed to just barely soften the blow when I crashed against the wall and then down to the ground.

Nash called out for me. My focus waned as pain vied for my attention. I kept his wound closed but I could do nothing else, not even rise to my knees. He reached an arm above his head and dragged himself forward a few inches, that small progress enough to wrench a scream from his gritted teeth.

The injured one crawled across the ground toward me, growling.

Nash's fingertips brushed his blade. Blood spread over his bandage. The second man reached him and ripped the weapons away. Threw the swords into the darkness of the cave. He reared his sword back, the tip pointed at Nash's throat.

I couldn't do two things at once. Not now.

I released my hold on Nash's wound. Pressured the blade that plunged toward his neck until it snapped like the men's necks in the white field. I slung the broken blade around with my mind. It speared the man's eye. His corpse hit the floor.

The guard close to me wrapped his hand around my ankle.

Blood was gushing from Nash's open chest. I wrapped his chest with a tight pressure, but it was even harder to keep the wound closed now that it had reopened. His body slackened on the ground.

The man attacking me jerked me to him and buried his fist in my gut. I curled up, consumed by the shock of the pain. My diaphragm spasmed. Couldn’t draw in a breath.

I needed to end this fight before I lost my energy entirely.