Whispers (Book 3 of Wielder series)

Chapter 24 - Round Two

Alie didn't fight the Phantoms who came to her cell. She didn't bother asking them questions about what they wanted with her, or where they were taking her. She didn't respond when they taunted her, or flinch when their ghostly forms wrapped around her arms and squeezed. Though she still kept her injured arm in a sling, it had recovered enough to tolerate their rough handling as they pushed her through the halls.
   Halls she still didn't recognize, even after traveling through them with the butterfly.
   The golden creature hadn't returned. Though she hadn't been surprised, she couldn't deny its absence was disappointing. Sole had been right to lock her up so tightly. She didn't even need to control magic for it to want to set her free.
   As the Phantoms locked her into the arena's prep room, she hoped that the butterfly would come looking for her. She'd need its help to survive.
   One of the Phantoms solidified. It was the same man whom she'd met the last time. His red eyes burned hotter than before, but a confident smile made his expression unsettling to look at. "What do you wager this time?" he asked the Phantoms standing to either side of her, though his gaze remained fixed firmly on her. "Think she'll survive?"
   Alie stood a little taller. "Bet against me again, and you'll only lose more money."
   The Phantoms ignored her. "Thirty seconds," said the woman to her left.
   "Ten seconds," said the man to her right.
   The blond Phantom before her grinned wider. "It'll be longer than that. Jea's gotta make it fun."
   Jea? Who was Jea? Was that the name of the woman she'd fought before? The blood drained from her face.
   "True," said the man to her right. "Alright, ten seconds once Jea gets serious."
   "Five seconds after Jea gets serious," the woman to Alie's left corrected. She put out a ghostly hand, which the Phantom in front of her clasped with his own. "What about you, Ilex?"
   Alie held her breath. She couldn't say why, but Ilex seemed immensely confident about the fight she was about to face. Like he had already seen the outcome, and had only to wait for it to properly play out.
   Ilex stuffed the other Phantom's bet money into his pocket. "Once Jea gets serious," he said slowly, so that Alie wouldn't miss a single word, "you'll have about two seconds before you draw your last breath."
   Despite holding her chin high to show she wasn't afraid, a chill swept down Alie's back. She shuddered.
   "Don't scream too much," Ilex taunted as he pulled the bolt to the arena door and pushed her out.
   Alie stumbled forward. "Don't I get a weapon or something to–"
   The door slammed shut behind her.
   "Okay." Forcing herself to breathe, first in, then out, she scanned the arena floor. So far, she stood alone against the wall. Her gaze swept upward, toward the cage, to see whether Ilex had remembered his promise before about making sure she couldn't climb it. Sure enough, she could detect a faint covering of black energy covering the bars. So, climbing was out. Great.
   She scanned the rest of the room. Outside the cage, the spectator stands remained mostly empty. Only two other Phantoms, lounging casually over the bleacher-style seats, stared down at her. A handful of guards sat completely on the opposite side of the arena, beside the burly man she remembered to be the warden.
   And, of course, Commander Sole sat directly ahead, in his elevated seat of honor. Evan sat beside him.
   Alie stepped forward. She wasn't sure whether to be grateful that barely anyone had come to watch her die, or insulted that no one thought her worthy of putting on an entertaining show.
   She glared at the commander. "Are you going to allow this to be a fair fight?"
   He snorted. "I think you already know the answer to that."
   "Do you want me to die?"
   "I want you to pay," he answered, far too calmly for her liking. "Consider this your reward for discovering a way out of your cell."
   She opened her mouth to say more, but one of the other arena doors opened. She turned her focus to the opponent that emerged. At first, Alie didn't know what to make of her. The woman was beautiful, with a soft, round face, chestnut hair that she'd braided over her shoulder, and red eyes that promised she was dangerous, but not maliciously so. She wore armor the color of a midnight sky. It shimmered as she walked to the center of the arena floor, its buckles and clips twinkling like stars. A matching helmet lay tucked under one arm. Beneath the other...
   Beneath the other, strapped to her hip, hung Commander Sole's crystal sword.
   Panic chilled her to the bone. No prisoner would have access to the commander's personal weaponry. Only a Phantom would be given that honor.
   Which meant her opponent - Jea - was a Phantom.
   Terrified, Alie glanced up at Sole. A smug sort of satisfaction had creeped into his smile, as if he enjoyed watching her figure out what she was up against.
   There would be no sympathy from him. She wasn't sure why she searched for it.
   Evan looked just as terrified as she felt. "Roger, this is going too far," he argued. "She'll never survive–"
   "We will see," Commander Sole grinned. He looked to the Phantom.
   Jea bowed to him. "Thank you for this honor, Commander."
   "Do not let her surprise you," he warned.
   Alie scoffed. "Me? Surprise her?"
   "She doesn't even have a weapon!" Evan cried.
   "She doesn't need one," the commander dismissed. "Jea, are you ready?"
   The Phantom bowed her head, then slipped her helmet on. It covered the entirety of her face, leaving only her long braided hair exposed. "Yes, Sir."
   "Then you may begin."
   "Roger, you can't just–"
   Jea struck fast. One second, she stood halfway across the arena, and the next she appeared directly beside Alie. Sucking in a horrified breath, Alie pulled back, but before she could think to react, the Phantom had already pushed her into the ground and disappeared.
   Alie's heart thundered in her ears. Panic turned her breathing to pants. She scrambled to her feet, tripping over herself in her rush. Her head swiveled back and forth as she searched for Jea, who had completely disappeared.
   Nevermind that the cage above was unclimbable. Even if it wasn't, she'd never be able to run fast enough to reach it.
   Jea struck her from behind, square between her shoulders. A cry broke from her lips as she splattered to the ground. Dirt stuck to her cheek and hands as she picked herself back up.
   She didn't even make it all the way to her feet before she was struck once more, this time from the side. Her back struck the ground, momentarily knocking the wind from her lungs.
   Someone far away called something. She couldn't make out the words.
   She couldn't even see the Phantom. Jea had turned into mist. She coughed as she rolled onto her side, forcing herself up again. Even if she kept getting knocked over, she had to keep getting up. She couldn't afford not to try.
   But as a wave of energy struck her square in the chest the moment she returned to her feet, she wondered how long it would take before Jea grew bored of her.
   What had Ilex said? Once Jea gets serious. The Phantom was playing with her. She was humiliating her, reminding her how weak she was without her magic or the Ultimate. She wasn't even really trying.
   But once she started trying, it would be over.
   Alie took a moment to steady herself before rolling over. She couldn't keep going like this. There had to be some way she could fight back. Slowly, so the Phantom would think she was struggling more than she was, she pushed herself onto her hands and knees, making a show of fighting to catch her breath. Her gaze swept across the arena, searching for the telltale signs of a disguised Phantom in motion.
   Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flicker of a shadow approaching.
   Alie braced herself for the attack. The moment before the Phantom struck, she sprang forward, tackling the Phantom with all her might.
   She fell through the woman's shadow form, catching nothing, and tumbled to the ground behind her.
   Laughter burst out from the side of the room where the guards sat. But the observing Phantoms remained silent. Alie took that as a good sign, and tried again.
   She had to catch the woman while she was solid. It would only be for a moment, and perhaps it wouldn't even be her whole body that solidified. But some part of Jea solidified long enough for her to push Alie over. All Alie had to do was latch onto that part and redirect the attack's energy away from her.
   It was far from an offensive move, but at least it would keep her from tumbling over and over to the ground.
   She got knocked over four more times before she managed to figure out where Jea was. This time, she waited a half second longer before striking. Her hand caught Jea's fist, and the force of her forward momentum caused Jea to swing away.
   Joy blossomed within her. Finally, progress!
   The next moment, a binding of cold, unfeeling pressure caught her by the waist and lifted her into the air.
   "AGH!" She flailed wildly, her stomach turning upside down as her feet dangled helplessly below her. She grasped at the invisible bond, but her hands found no purchase. How could they, when there was nothing there to grab? Jea's power held her aloft. The only thing that could touch it was magic.
   Magic she didn't have.
   She kicked and flung her arms, hoping to regain some sort of control. "Come on," she muttered to herself. "This can't be it."
   "It's not," Jea spoke somewhere too far away. Then the power holding Alie shifted, and she found herself flipped upside down. A scream lurched into her throat as the power slid from her waist, dropping her. It caught her painfully by the ankle the second before she hit the ground.
   Alie's head spun. How was she supposed to get out of this?
   Before she could come up with a plan, the power disappeared, and she hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.
   It took much longer for Alie to pull her feet beneath her. Tears sprang to her eyes. She wouldn't last long like this.
   For some reason, the Phantom gave her a moment to breathe. It made Alie fear what the woman had planned for her next, but she still pulled air into her lungs in desperate gasps. She lifted her head, looking up to the commander, hoping that he'd realize she had no way to fight back and would die if the Phantom wasn't called off.
   But she only found pleasure upon his face. Whatever terror he'd felt for her survival before had disappeared.
   And Evan, she noticed, no longer sat by his side.
   In her darkest hour, her only friend had abandoned her. Her chest tightened as despair closed in. She would really die. Alone, humiliated, defenseless.
   She curled an arm to her chest, unable to hold back a broken sob. "I'm sorry," she whispered, though to herself or to her far away friends or to the Realm, she wasn't really sure. All she knew was that she had failed. There would be no escaping this.
   "ALIE!"
   Evan's cry pierced through her agony. She whipped her head toward the sound. He hadn't abandoned her after all! He'd left his seat, yes, but now he stood at the edge of the cage, a desperate determination written across his face.
   "HERE!"
   Alie watched him pull back his arm. Watched something that flashed golden leave his hand and hurdle toward her. She noticed the Phantom solidify, turning toward it.
   Alie's breath caught in her throat. It was Evan's crystalized butterfly.
   She wouldn't let Jea have it.
   With a speed she didn't think she had left in her, Alie tackled the Phantom. Together they tumbled to the ground, but Jea reacted instantaneously. She whirled around, pinning Alie easily. Alie's own face reflected back to her on Jea's helmet. Power locked her hands and feet in place. She strained at the restraints, even knowing there would be no escaping them.
   Jea jumped up and easily caught the small object Evan had thrown. She turned it over in her gloved hand. "What the...?"
   No! She'd been so close! Alie sagged limply on the ground, defeated.
   But then, another flash of gold caught her eye. Evan had thrown something else, and Jea was so busy looking at the thing in her hand, that she hadn't noticed yet.
   It landed inches from her wrist, giving a soft little thud and forming a crater that cupped it in the dirt.
   Alie nearly wept. The butterfly was just as she remembered it. Spanning only about the width of her palm, its wide, golden wings lay frozen in a bed of transparent crystal. The gemstone glistened as she reached for it.
   The moment her fingers touched it, the entire stone lit up.
   "Evan!" Commander Sole's voice cut through the arena with a sharpness that had every head turning in his direction. Fury burned in his eyes. Dark shadows licked out from his seat.
   Alie barely noticed. She wrapped her fingers tight around the gemstone, relishing the feeling of magic that burned across her palm. The Phantom's power over her wrist broke, and she instantly brought the crystal to her other wrist to free it, too.
   But something miraculous happened when she brought the crystal to the cuff that cut her off from magic. With a subtle click, the lock opened, and as Alie lifted her arm, the cuff fell away.
   "STOP HER!" The cry broke out from somewhere outside the arena. Alie didn't bother wasting time trying to figure out who. She lifted the crystal to her neck, unlocking the band there as well. Magic burned brighter in her hand.
   Jea finally noticed she was freeing herself. Dropping the decoy that Evan had thrown first, she reached for the commander's sword, drawing it with one swift tug of her arm. The crystal blade hummed in her grasp, her dark power rippling across its surface.
   Alie pressed the crystal to her ankle. The last magic-restricting cuff fell to the ground.
   Her entire world brightened. With a breath, magic flooded back into her. Magic from the crystal, magic from the air, magic from the world's core that she could finally feel swirling miles beneath her feet. It was everywhere! Laughter bubbled out of her, a delirious sort of giggle that caught on a half-strangled sob.
   She had magic. She was free.
   Everything happened at once. Jea leapt for her. The Phantoms in the stands jumped toward the cage. The door she'd entered the arena from burst open, and the three Phantoms who had brought her out of her cell rushed toward her. Commander Sole rose to his feet and cast out his arm, shooting out a wave of dark power so massive, it coated the entire room.
   But Alie had magic. So none of it mattered.
   She lifted the crystal high above her head. A golden shield billowed out from her, covering her in a shower of glittering light. Her torn and tattered garments, which she had been wearing since she'd been caught, transformed into new, battle-ready clothes. Her bruises and scrapes and aching shoulder healed. Her exhaustion and hunger melted away.
   Time seemed to stop as she fortified herself. Everything around her moved in slow motion. She looked at each of the approaching dangers in turn, having time to assess which was the biggest threat. Certainly the commander won that contest. But he was far away; the Phantoms stood much closer.
   She noticed Evan out of the corner of her eye. He stood just outside the cage of the arena, watching her with bated breath. Hope bloomed across his face. Hope, and relief, and something like a plea.
   A plea for help.
   But not for himself.
   Alie clenched her jaw. If she was wise, she wouldn't stay. She would use her newfound magic to escape the prison, escape the commander, and find her way back to freedom. It was what she wanted to do, more than anything.
   She cast her gaze about the room one more time, and hesitated.
   Evan had helped her. He had done so multiple times now, asking nothing in return but for her to have an open mind. For her to consider showing mercy where no one else would, in a way that no one else could.
   She looked at Jea.
   Now that magic swirled around and through her, Alie could see so much more of the Phantom than she had been able to before. She could see Jea's physical form, but also the places where she tried to disappear into shadow. She could detect the power that leaked from her, stretching out in both attack and defense. It was like seeing another dimension of the Phantom that had been unreachable to her before.
   With magic, she could even see the link between Jea and the Evil that bound her.
   Alie made a decision. A stupid one, she admitted to herself, but one she would regret not making if she walked away instead.
   Using the power of the crystal, Alie summoned the Ultimate.