Masquerade

Chapter Nineteen

This leaves Mara speechless. She opens her mouth to let out another haughty response but seems unable to come up with anything, putting her arms to her sides in a defeated motion.

"Enough of this. We can't trust these people," Jac growls, brandishing his dagger.

Kendry follows suit, pulling out his bow and taking not more than a second to aim it at Mara's stunned face.

Wren and I just stand there, keeping close watch on her in anticipation for what she plans to do next. In a split second, her surprise transforms into obvious rage, and she pulls out a large spear with a flourish.

"You king worshippers need to stay out of the forest," Mara hisses. "You're messing with things you don't understand!" Without warning, she chucks her spear at Jac. It collides with his shirtsleeve and sends him backward, attaching itself to a tree trunk and leaving him stuck.

Kendry's finger rests on his loaded arrow, prepared to shoot her and stop her from further harming anyone else. But before he can do so, she materializes behind him and sweeps her leg under his. He falls to the ground with a painful thump, his bow and arrow landing in the grass a little farther off.

The sound of fabric being ripped draws my attention back to Jac, who has just ruined his tunic but freed himself from the spear. He lunges toward Mara with great focus and punches her square in the jaw, causing her to stumble backward with a grunt. But she is not down long, for she quickly gets her bearings back and runs toward him.

I watch, frozen as the two engage in an intense fist fight. They are definitely well matched opponents, both very skilled in combat. I had no idea Jac possessed this talent, but I suppose that's just another fact to add to the list of things I don't know about him.

Suddenly, a gust of wind shoots through the air towards Mara. I whirl around to see that it came from Kendry, who has his arms pushed in front of him just like the last time I saw him use magic.

But unfortunately, she senses this before it can touch her. With her hand gripping Jac's arm, she turns to look at Kendry with a cold, unfeeling stare. In a swift motion, she twists her hands in front of her and pushes the gust of wind back. It hits Kendry's body, knocking him to the ground once again. He holds a hand to his head, teeth gritted in pain.

Wren runs over to help him up, but I have other plans. The spear that is still injected into the tree trunk catches my eye, so I sprint over to it and start to pull. I try with all my might, but it does not dislodge itself. Is it enchanted in some way? Did Mara make it that others cannot use her spear?

Whatever it is, it's frustrating me. I let out an angry cry as I continue to tug on the weapon, but to no avail. I turn around to watch the scene before me, and the odds do not seem to be in our favor. Even though Kendry and Jac are both fighting against Mara, they can't take her down. I thought that she was an even match for Jac, but it seems I was wrong. Her magic and her hatred towards us are both too strong. And there is nothing I can do about it; I feel utterly useless.

It all seems over for us until a strange phenomenon happens. Without warning, Mara is lifted into the air and shoved into a tree by some unseen force. The sudden movement offers an uncanny resemblance to her spear being launched into the tree, which probably would have made me laugh if not for the situation.

I whirl around, stunned that Kendry was able to pull off something so powerful. But then I discover that it wasn't him at all, for he wears an expression as surprised as mine. The source of the action came from someone I didn't expect to see at all: the boy.