The Fragile Tower - Book 1 of the No.1 magical fantasy series

The Fragile Tower Chapter 26 - The Great Mage

Grace let the true-seer touch her skin again, and she knew it was a selfish action when the Queen had no such comfort, but it still eased the well of sadness rising in her to see the gleaming cluster of lights drift up into the air and out of sight. She smiled up at it, and tried not to let the howl that came from the Queen's mouth make her regret what she'd done.

She felt Afi move, and realised that she was still holding on to his arm. She released it, and saw that he was a little horrified. Of course he was. He had seen a boy vanish, and the Queen was slowly sliding to the ground, sobbing silently and desolately.

"He was a spell," she whispered. "That's why she needed the boys."

It wasn't enough of an explanation, but she knew it would have to do for now.

The Queen's head snapped up, and her eyes blazed through the rivers of tears.

"You took him! I knew you would. Ever since Ruidic told me about you, I knew you would hurt me."

Her hands clutched together in her lap, and fire began to build around them.

"No," Grace protested, urgently. "I'm not hurting you. You needed him to go, in the end. Because he wasn't real. You lost your Gregori before he came into being, didn't you?"

"He was mine!" the Queen was still weeping, even while she raged. "He was all I ever had!"

The light in her hands was growing blinding, and the swirls of colours were as brilliant as Ruidic's light show. But Grace hadn't been afraid of that show in the way she was now. She knew those blinding colours could kill her.

For a moment, she saw a surge of brilliant red, and she remembered thinking that it was Benjamin's colour. How could the Queen use Benjamin's power to hurt her?

Grace saw Afi move to stand in front of her, but she stepped aside, and drew the symbol of shielding in the air in front of her, more quickly than she had drawn any of these symbols before. And then she realised that it wouldn't be enough. She threw her will behind it and watched as it grew into a huge, blazing shape which rushed towards the Queen and struck the dazzling spell she was creating.

Grace heard the Queen cry out and stagger as if it had hurt her, and the spell fractured, but still came towards them. Grace lifted the wand, and had only drawn part of another mark of shielding when the remnants of the Queen's magic hit her.

It felt like being pummelled, on every part of her, but still as forcefully as Ruidic's single spell had hit her. It drove her backwards, through some of the gorgeous greenery that the illusionist had created. She had expected it to be soft and yielding, but vines and tendrils whipped across her skin, and her back caught on a thick branch and felt as though it might break as it arched around it.

She tipped backwards and saw a fountain of shredded blossoms flood past her as she fell to the ground, only just getting her arms out to cushion her head a little. It was still enough of an impact to stun her, and she dizzily wondered how many head injuries one skull could take over a short period of time.

As she was righting herself, she heard a yell of fury and blinked as a flash of light illuminated the room like lightning. Through the greenery, she saw Afi, who must have recovered a great deal more quickly, fighting the Queen with his bare hands. She threw spells at him, but even at that distance he was too quick for her, ducking and dodging and driving her to fury as he landed blows on her.

And then the Queen seemed to erupt. A surge of grey-white force blasted from her and caught him, lifting him helplessly into the air. He struck the crystal ceiling hard enough to crack it, but he grabbed on to something and hung on.