Shatter Like Glass-Cinderella Retold

End

          Kali gripped her reins tightly as she rode towards the capital. She ground her teeth, cursing herself for encouraging Jaganath to return. She had expected to arrive before he and the Yagari did. She should have. Foolishly, she had forgotten of the existence of speed spells. Instead, the council had been weakened by her absence. She loathed to imagine what might have occurred without her there to handle the man she once considered her brother.

          She considered him for a moment. She had only seen him a handful of times since he fled Calarian. He should have been dead. She thought he would die, alone, without allies, and utterly powerless. But he had embraced the savagery of the criminal kingdom he had run to.

          A twig snapped. Kali frowned and peered around. The road should have been abandoned. Only council members knew of its existence. Perhaps it was an animal. Yes, that was logical. It was the only possible explanation. The Kingslayers could not have discovered it.

          Snow crunched nearby. A chill worked up her spine. Kali flicked the reins, urging her steed faster. Something was wrong. She was never cold. She had not felt fear or unease in eighteen years. Frost Weavers did not feel such inane emotions. Usually, she felt nothing at all.

          A spear pierced her abdomen. She fell from her house, landing hard on the ground. Kali leapt to her feet, barely sparing a glance down at her wound. She would freeze it later. It was nothing too severe, nothing her powers could not fix. Her attacker was more important. That person would not leave the forest alive.

          "I warn you," she declared. "Your death shall be most painful should you choose to proceed."

          Footsteps approached. Kali pivoted, hands raised. Ice crackled at her fingertips. She was debating her method of murder when something hot struck her neck. A scream tore through her. The Weaver fell to her knees. A cloaked figure appeared in front of her. Her attacker gripped a blue crystal. Kali suspected it was the burning object that had been used against her moments before.

          An icicle formed in her hand. She drove it into her attacker's chest. The figure barely seemed to notice. She had stabbed them. Thick hot blood coated her hands. The figure should have collapsed. They should be dead.

          Her attacker pressed the crystal to her forehead. Kali screamed again. Agony engulfed her. As blood ran like tears from her eyes, Kali felt something slipping away from her and into the stone.

          Her life, she realized. The stone was stealing her life.