Witches in Training (#2 in the Witches Trilogy) [rewrites ongoing]

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Bound

VERA

The sounds of dozens of footsteps and their accompanying voices aren't what strikes me first. It's the clash of metal, the heat of fire and the thuds of blows that really drives the nail home. Guess who's battle oriented now?

I'm about to turn right around and go back, but then I remember what Kieran said: don't come back. 

Easier said than done. Normal people would run far from danger. They'd be glad to have an excuse not to plunge into that chaos. But maybe I'm Vinni's sister, or I'm insane, or it's my friends in there, and I forget everything anyone ever told me.

I do, though, remember about Kieran's gun. I check the bullets and try to figure out what they are with my head pounding in semi-darkness, illuminated by flashes of light from outside. Blue is ice. I stuff it back in. Red. What's red? Kieran's scribbled little fire symbols all over it. Of course. Fire. They're all labelled in one way or another: stone, metal, light, bullet, lightning. I pick metal, figuring it's the least likely to actually kill anyone, and, finger on the trigger, heart hammering, I creep back down the tunnel armed with just a Nerf gun.

An arm emblazoned with the Exiles tattoo whips past me and collides heavily with something... or someone. Instinctively, I raise, aim and fire. The Exile cries out and whips around. I duck back into the tunnel, pressing myself against the shadows and watch the man grimace as he yanks out the small iron bolt. I wince and my eyes dart across the fight to Kieran.

He's not doing as well as he should be. He looks tired already, and his reflexes have slowed. He's holding back the entire lake from rushing in and flowing the tunnel now that the barrier is broken, he's attacking and he's defending all at one time. A mob is swarming him, almost hiding him from view because, though powerful, he's not very big.

The first Exile has moved on to other targets, so I do too. I pick bullet, and, cringing, fire.

The foam explodes into tiny, deadly metallic bullets which bear down on Kieran's attackers and pepper holes in their skin. I look elsewhere, withdrawing back into my tunnel, waiting for another moment to fire. I switch the bullets around to stone, wondering what it can do, then dart out and fire at someone who definitely isn't Kami, Shaun or Kieran.

I see her, briefly, fighting like a possessed, which of course she is. I look away whenever I do catch a glimpse of her.

I have no idea how much time has passed. I just methodically pop out, shoot and pull back immediately. I've yet to be discovered, but Kieran must know that I stayed, that I'm the one firing.

The fight seems like it's going nowhere. No particular side is winning. Kieran, Kami and Shaun have disappeared in the throngs of people and everyone's face is a blur. Some people have fallen, but the tables have not tipped. All this fight needs is for one powerful player to fall, and the balance will fall as well.

I just never imagined who that player would be.

*

It all ended with a thump.

There was a silence that swept across the entire tunnel, so rapidly I knew something was terribly wrong. Then someone laughed.

A woman pushed her way through to the front of the crowd, near the entrance of the tunnel. The people moved aside for her, forming a clear path and letting me realise who had fallen. Kieran. Not dead, but unconscious. I couldn't see his face clearly, but he was pale and sweat poured down his face. The woman-Lynette-smiled. It was all over. Without Kieran, we didn't stand a chance. 

That is, until the entire force of the lake smashed into the tunnel.

*

The cold water hits me so fast I wasn't even expecting it. Darkness completely overwhelms me, and I am stuck in the small tunnel, blind. I want to scream but I can't. The water is an aggressive force, pushing me up the tunnel when I know I need to go down it, out into the bigger tunnel, and up to the surface.