— Ylva —

“That’s odd,” I told Elaeya.

“I know,” she replied.

This was the third house we went too and the symptoms were all the same. Only the children were affected. Their lives were not in danger or the doctors would not have sent them back, but it was still odd. I had no idea what Elaeya could do, but I’ve seen her do enough incredible things to know that it was worth it to let her have a go at this.

“Are there any other symptoms?” she asked the mother.

“No,” she said.

Just like every other parents.

Elaeya was sitting on the bed next to the feverish boy, until she jumped up, looking around us a little wildly.

That got my senses on edge.

Anything that made her react like this was not good, but she said nothing so I assumed she didn’t know yet.

I signed for her to leave where she was and rushed out.

I got my gun out and scanned every room I moved through.

I kept trying to connect through mindlink with the guys but there was nothing. I tried Kaden. Nothing either.

I picked my phone, no bars.

Kaden has made sure no matter how secluded some part of his territory can be, nothing is out of communication reach.

A scrambler then?

Can one work with mindlink?

That would probably mean some kind of magic.

Elaeya got out of the room with the mother and her son in her arms.

I signed for them to stop, she shook her head. “We need to evacuate everyone around,” she muttered.

“Someone cut us up.”

Her face paled but she nodded.

“We secure travel one house at a time and get them out,” she said, but she stopped as I cracked the door open, just like I did. We could both smell this, blood.

There was more than one source, I was sure of it.

“The illness,” said Elaeya, her eyes like reflective spheres. “It was made. It is a trap. It is a spell.” She blinked her eyes a few times getting back to their natural colours, but it darkened in a second a two to a nigh blood red with little flicker of magenta in there. “They hurt children,” she said her voice colder than I ever heard it.

“Let me scout,” I said.

“Back door,” she said. “I’ll move ahead to the next house. Don’t linger,” she told me.

I nodded.

It’s one of the worst things in the book for a bodyguard to separate from the target. But I also learned to trust that woman. If she says what we’re doing, then that’s what we’re doing.

I track the first blood trail quickly. I stayed focused, my weapon ready, it led me to a corpse. Dodson’s. His throat had been slashed deep enough for the wound to expose the bones. He never had the time to scream.

I looked at him for no more than three seconds then I was gone on the next trail.

I found Finn, one of the kindest men I’ve ever met with glassy eyes in a bush. He had been dragged there. I saw no wounds but a few scratches that probably came from the bush’s thorns, but he was clearly dead.

I decided not to track the others.

I thought of Hugo and Anders.

Giving the situation, the risk was high that they were gone too, so I went to the next house. I could not track Elaeya, she was probably hiding herself and her scent. Only the scent of when we originally came still lingered.

She was not at the next house, but it was empty, so I deduced that she went for the next house like she suggested.

As I furtively approached, I got hit by a massive wall of air that felt like a training mat, pushing me five meters back. I heard the ‘fft’, ‘fft’, ‘fft’ of bullets hitting the ground where I’d just been, the shots silent, probably coming from long distance sniper rifles, too far to hear.

Elaeya just saved my ass.

“Get them to safety,” I heard her mutter.

People rushed through the house and popped on the other side, running away.

During that time, I heard soft footsteps rush to me, invisible. She was coming to veil me with her.

“Run,” she said.

I didn’t wait as I head the bullets hit the ground.

Then the scream of a child froze my body cold.

“Mammmmaaaaa!”

There was more than one sniper, and they were shooting at the others too.

Elaeya’s steps stopped, I heard a low sound, maybe a word in a language I didn’t know, and instantaneously a massive wall of wind rose and swept past us and hit the tress and water of the swamps so hard the weakest trees bent and broke.

Then another word and everything that was dried vegetation still left standing caught fire.

We heard a few screams of pain coming from that direction.

She got to them.

I turned to look at her. I could see her.

I guess she can’t attack and hide at the same time.

Pain went through my leg and I jerk away.

“Leave now,” I told her.

I was shot. She should have left me there to run, but she grabbed my hand to help me.

I could still run. It was a bitch to do it, but the bullet mostly probably went through the muscle, sparing the bone. It hurt bad, obviously, but I’ve fought with worse.

More screams came from the group ahead. I heard a few shifts and werewolves growls, one that turned into a horrifying whine.

She raised her hand and did something that I couldn’t see in that direction. The cries were attracting attention from the nearest homes, and people were rushing to help.

“EVACUATE,” she screamed at them. I saw a few men rush to help with the kids and the injured. Black figures were coming in, but some were thrown back, one at a time, Elaeya’s doing I assumed. One of the wolves—one of the mothers—when after them enraged.

They were targeting them more than us.

It didn’t make sense.

What would they benefit from attacking farmers, when Elaeya was here, and a much better target? And then it clicked.

She focused on protecting them, she can’t protect them and herself at the same time. I took my sword out in my left hand, while keeping my gun in my right. I should have found a better replacement for the sword I lost at the hospital, I thought.

And then I realised something else.

I’m not an expert at magic, but there’s one thing that I know, it’s that magic is finite. No one can toss around spell and evocation endlessly, eventually, she’ll need to rest and recharge. And if she spent all her magic on protecting vulnerable targets, then she’ll have nothing left for herself.

I took her arm and pulled her away.

“Ylva,” she complained.

“They’re after you,” I said. “They cursed the kids to get you here and now they attack them to have you spend everything on protecting them.”

She gave a look at the people under attack but followed me.

“I can’t do nothing.”

“Staying close will condemn them.”

“What if I can stop them?”

“I’m sure there’s more lurking in wait for when you try.”

She slowed her pace. Clearly torn between options. I stopped a few paces away from her, and all hell broke loose.

— Elaeya —

Bullets flew everywhere around us, and nearly all of them were hitting Ylva.

I instinctively raised a shield between her and the onslaught.

The moment I did, I felt pain hit me everywhere, but it did not go any further than skin deep.

I spared a brief look.

Darts.

I did some of the toughest kinetomancy I’ve ever done, especially given the circumstances. I opened the door of our car from a distance and extended my sense, like one long invisible hand, grabbing Ylva by the midriff and shoving her twenty meters away inside the car.

My body was turning numb.

I knew I had little time.

If I could save only one, I thought as the imprint of the blood-soaked Ylva echoes in my retinas.

I trigger the most complex enchantment I’ve ever done without any preparation and I aimed it at the ground around the car. Large vines rose and twirled tightly around the metal, locking it in place.

The black silhouettes were coming closer to me.

I could hear screams and roars in the distance.

I focused all my pain, and all my anger, and sadness, and I raised a finger at the closest enemy.

I received a few more darts, but I watched satisfied as his head exploded in a mass of gore, the body limply falling down. The others barely hesitated.

I was on my knees now.

I spit another word and another man’s head exploded. As another kicked me in the chest. My muscles refused to respond.

I used another word and the one who kicked me fell on the ground, holding his head between his hands. It did not explode but I knew it was still crushing his brain, my energy waning, while another took his place and wrapped a collar around my neck.

The pain was immediate and absolute and I barely notice as he injected something in me.

My vision blurred until everything was nothing but darkness.