Whispers (Book 3 of Wielder series)

Chapter 32 - What Love Is

Alie didn't give her brother a chance to attack first. She rushed at him with a blinding flash of magic, throwing every ounce of energy into her first swing. The Ultimate clashed against his crystal blade; her magic thundered against his dark power.

Through the resulting flash of black energy and golden light, she witnessed a bloodthirsty grin stretch wide across the commander's face.

All this time, this was what he had been wanting. A fight to end all fights between them. A final battle, one that would either take his life, or hers.

She grit her teeth and pushed hard against his defense.

"What a tragic fate we've met, little sis," Roger taunted, his arms shaking with the effort it took to hold her at bay. "A sibling rivalry for the ages. Think they'll tell stories about us when we're gone?"

"Oh, definitely." Alie dislodged their blades and swung again. Then again. And again. "But it won't be a tragedy."

His eyebrow lifted in amusement. Dark power slammed relentlessly against her magic shielding, searching for weaknesses. "Really?"

"I'm going to save you," she promised. Panting a little from the effort it took to meet him blow for blow, she dug her toes into the earth and shoved. Their blades separated. Alie launched forward for a thrust straight to his heart. He spun to avoid her. She reached for his exposed back, but wasn't quite fast enough. His crystal blade clanged against the Ultimate.

His grin turned feral. "Not if I destroy you first."

Alie trembled with the effort it took to keep his power back. She flashed him a smile of her own, full of determination and mirth. "You will try."

Laughter tumbled from his lips as they crossed blades. Flashes of power, both dark and light, collided all around them like a firework show's finale. A rivalry for the ages, indeed.

Alie lost track of her surroundings. She forgot about the prison that lay somewhere behind her. She ignored the bubbling lava river that flowed somewhere deep under her feet. She didn't care that the air felt thick and made it hard to breathe, or that sweat streaked down her neck and made her grip on the Ultimate harder to keep.

As she put her all into the battle, she focused only on the way Roger's bond snaked in streams across his skin.

In places, it was more ingrained in him than Ilex's had been. The black and red glowing veins pulsed and bulged with each rapid beat of his heart, glowing brighter as they expanded, then dimming as they shrank. The streams fueled his power; it was from them that the dark waves of his shadows flowed.

In other places, the streams more closely resembled ropes. Or chains. Thick and heavy, they imprisoned her brother, staining his skin black with its toxins. Power leaked from them, but not to aid him. This power restrained him. It held back the small glimmer of light that shimmered within him.

It was that light that Alie's focus locked onto. That was what she needed to free. That was her brother's true soul, the piece of him that was beautiful and caring and in desperate need of saving.

The monster that consumed the rest of him was just in the way.

Alie fought hard. She ignored the little victories her brother won, the small cuts and scrapes across her arms and cheek. She inflicted some of her own, the Ultimate reaching just far enough to scratch some of the Evil's veins that ran through Roger's body. The cuts hissed and oozed black liquid, thicker than blood and reeking of death. He winced a little every time she managed to touch him, but otherwise seemed unaffected.