The Dragon’s Tooth flew under my arms towards Kelser. I couldn’t stop it with my hands. I summoned my energy and cast motion magic, creating a magic hand that sped towards Kelser at lightning speed. I managed to push him back just as the Dragon’s Tooth swept past where his neck had been. He flew back, into the wall, where there was a nasty sound as the wind got knocked out of his lungs. He slumped to the ground, badly injured, but alive.

I grabbed Noel’s right shoulder with my left hand. She was leaning forward, right past me, her body at an angle to the ground. I cast balance magic, which made her fall towards the ground. She didn’t try to steady herself, since she knew that would be pointless, and instead brought her hands in front of her chest to cushion her fall.

She used her hands to steady herself, and rolled forward towards the unconscious red haired boy. I cursed and cast another magic hand and used it to pull her leg. She stumbled, once again. My eyes widened as a fireball rushed towards me. I hadn’t noticed her casting it because she’d hid it with her body. I didn’t have much time to react, so I jumped out of the way.

Released from my magic hand, Noel raced towards the wall. I cast a fireball at her back. She must have felt the heat approaching her body, because she jumped to the side. I used the pause to launch a few more fireballs towards her, which forced her to turn around so she could dodge them properly. She continued walking backwards while dodging the fireballs, but I was gaining ground on her, since I could run facing ahead.

She glanced over her shoulder in between attacks, and then positioned herself right between me and Kelser. I bit my lips. I wasn’t shooting anything strong enough to seriously hurt her, but if she jumped out of the way, there was no way Kelser’s injured body could endure a single spell. I was still several feet away, and she was the only one with a weapon. She swung it from side to side as she backpedaled, which made it impossible for me to approach her.

Splotch. Her foot fell into a puddle. She looked down. Both of her feet were covered in water. I used both water and earth elemental magic to move the puddle of mud over her feet. She forced her foot out of the wet mush, but there was more mud right behind her. Her pace slowed to a crawl, I made more mud puddles, and she had no choice but to glance behind her shoulder, still using the Dragon’s Tooth to keep me at a distance.

But in the moment she looked over her left shoulder, I outflanked her to her right. I used a magic hand to chuck a large rock to her front. She turned just in time to see the rock, and tried to block it with the Dragon’s Tooth, but she wasn’t quick enough and it hit her on her hands. She gave out a loud cry, but held onto the Dragon’s Tooth. I cursed inwardly. I was hoping she’d drop the weapon, letting me steal it with a magic hand.

Instead, I kept approaching from her right, which forced her to move diagonally towards Kelser. Now that he wasn’t right behind her anymore, I continued my bombardment of fireballs, while slowing her down further with mud. She was still using the Dragon’s Tooth to keep me from approaching her, but at this angle, I’d get to Kelser before she would. She wasn’t wielding the Dragon’s Tooth as easily as before. I saw a nasty bruise on one of her hands.

Splotch. I looked down. There was mud on my feet too. The mud was so thick, it took a while to lift my foot and place it forward. I turned my head up, almost immediately, but Noel had learned my trick well. A massive fireball was barreling towards me. She’d shot another ball of fire to my left, which meant it was between me and Kelser. The only way to avoid the fire was to dodge to my right, which would put Noel back in position to reach Kelser before me.

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I grit my teeth and did the first thing that came to my mind. I tried to create any amount of water that I could on my body, managing only a thin mist, and dove straight through the fireball on my left. Pain flooded my body as the smell of singed hair and burning hide assailed my sinuses. I rolled on the ground after my dive, casting wave after wave of water magic on my body.

I forced myself to stand up right after, ignoring the pain, and letting adrenaline take over my body. I was probably still on fire somewhere, and the pain wasn’t going away. I’d imagined the fire wouldn’t be so bad if I was only diving through it, but the fireball had been a lot thicker and hotter than I was expecting. Still, I’d made it through. Kelser lay unconscious right beside me, breathing slowly. He had a pleased expression on his face, like he was having a pleasant dream.

I immediately turned myself to the side, preparing another round of magic to fend off Noel’s attack. I used my magic hands to grab a large rock, with the intention of using it to parry or break the Dragon’s Tooth, before throwing a fistful of dust in her eyes. I even toyed with the idea of using balance magic to force her to the ground, before piling on a bunch of earth on top of her body to stop her from moving. I still couldn’t bring myself to seriously harm her, even though my body was absolutely screaming in pain from her fireball.

I furrowed my brows. Where was she? I blinked my eyes, worried I’d been hurt there by the fireball. I stuck close to Kelser’s body, just in case she was using light magic to hide herself, even though she didn’t really know how to go invisible or anything. Then again, I’d always been impressed by her quick thinking and ingenuity. Maybe she’d used her raging emotions to become better at magic or invent a spell or two.

No. She wasn’t here. I searched from side to side, in case she was hiding on a crevasse, or in my blind spot. I even looked above my head, just in case she’d learned balance magic and could scale the walls or something. I caught movement in the corner of my eyes. I looked back towards the entrance of the cave.

Noel was racing back to the edge of the peak. My mind took a moment to process what was happening, then, my eyes went wide. I took a step forward, but saw Kelser’s unconscious body at the edge of my vision. Noel was running at full speed to the edge. I bit my lips and snarled as I was forced to bend down and grab Kelser, letting Noel get a massive head start.

By the time I had Kelser on my shoulders, Noel had grabbed onto the edge with her hands, and pushed the rest of her body behind the rock. Only two, small hands were visible on the lip of the rocky precipice. One disappeared. Then another.

I trudged through the cave with Kelser on my back, ignoring my aching body as I tried to get to the place where I’d seen Noel disappear. I reached the edge, and peered over it. Noel was climbing down the mountainside like a lizard with its tail on fire. I carefully stepped onto the wall of rock, my whole perspective switching by ninety degrees like in an artsy cut from an action movie.

It was a lot riskier to use balance magic while going down the mountain, because I had to time my magic just right. If I messed up, my footholds would crumble under my weight, something that was even more likely to happen now that I was also carrying Kelser on my shoulder. Still, I had no choice. I jumped from one foothold to the next, focusing intently on my magic and footwork. I knew this was my best opportunity to catch up to her, since my balance magic would help me climb down faster than her.

And I absolutely had to catch up to her. My mind was already racing with thoughts about why Noel had provoked me into going deep into the cave, with an injured Kelser to lug around, and giving her a head start down the mountain.

If she got back to Bek Tepe before me, she would stain every stone red as the pulsing star in the sky.