The Fragile Tower - Book 1 of the No.1 magical fantasy series

The Fragile Tower Chapter 35 - Determination

Grace fell, but it was a real fall this time and not the workings of the mage on her mind. She didn't fall far.  

She landed on soft earth, her leg sending pain coursing through her all over again, but she caught herself on her hands before her head could land on it too.

She couldn't see. There were blue and purple and green shapes covering her vision, the after-imprint of a blinding explosion of power, and she blinked and blinked but couldn't seem to clear them. In the end she squeezed her eyes shut and hugged the earth in the hope that the mage couldn't see, either.

It was the voice that made sense of it all: a voice she had heard sweet, and playful; and furious and bitter; and which now she heard with a great and ancient sadness to it.

"I let you do this."

There was hissing sound and then another booming explosion, and Grace flinched, but it was the mage who gave a yell of pain.

"I let you hurt my people, and I let you destroy everything that I love."

Grace could hear tears choking the voice, and when she tried to open her eyes again, she could just make out the shining golden-white form of the Queen. She seemed to be wreathed in magic; almost made of it.

She had the cold mage at her feet, his bear-like form cowering.

No, not cowering, Grace thought, as she saw threads of golden-white magic around and across him. Held down.

He was snarling in pain and anger, and with his burned face he looked more like an animal, caught as he was. He could have been a snapping flesh wolf, or one of his dog-creatures.

"But I won't let you do any more," she said. "Now that everything has gone, there's only me."

She drove a fiery symbol through the air at him, and it sank into his body. He roared again, writhing, and Grace wondered what she was doing to him. It was difficult to feel sorry for him when she remembered his words, but a little part of her mind still recalled that frightened little boy she had seen in his memories.

He lowered his head, and Grace thought he must have been defeated by the pain, but then his huge hands clenched into fists, and he was suddenly covered in his own green power. It pushed and drove at the bonds around him, and the Queen stepped back with a gasp.

"Not enough, Your Majesty," he said, and his arms broke free, sending the bonds fizzing and snapping into the air.

She saw the Queen stumble, and without any more thought, she threw her will into a shielding spell and drove it between the Queen and the mage. Almost in the same moment, he threw himself upwards and sent a blast of force at the Queen.

Grace felt it when it hit her shield, cracking it and forcing its way through, until the shield shattered into orange-red fragments in the air. The remainder of the spell travelled onwards and struck the Queen, but it was only part of the force he had sent, and it did little more than knock her backwards a few steps.

Grace could see the fear on the Queen's beautiful face, though. She had believed herself to be stronger than the mage. Bitterly, Grace realised that she had hoped she might be, too, even though it had been a stupid thought. If Dedora and Ruidic and Ma couldn't stand against him, what hope had the Queen?

The mage gave a grin that made him even more an animal than he had been.

But I'm here, too, Grace thought, and they only needed to survive for long enough for Ruidic to finish his spell.

She conjured a rope of fire, and while the Queen sent daggers of ice flying at him, Grace snapped it around his feet and pulled.

He fell, heavily, the spell he had begun to cast dying away in his hands. But he landed with his hands close enough to swipe at the Queen and he pulled her down with him. She struck the earth, and he landed a vicious blow across her face that made Grace cringe.