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

The Fragile Tower Chapter 31 - Sleight of Hand

It's over, Grace thought, and with all the despair in the thought there was almost a feeling of relief. They had been outgunned when it had been just them against the mage; with the weapon against them, too, it was hopeless. She didn't have to summon up any more strength and fight her way out of this now.

But it took only a few seconds for the cry of triumph to become a roar of rage, and Grace sat back on her heels in confusion.

Benjamin gave her a sly little grin. "It turns out the thing I led him to may not have been the real Cartheno's Fire," he said.

"What do you mean?" Grace asked, feeling a little as though she should have understood more than she did. "Why would he follow you?"

"Because I'm the one who was supposed to know," he said, with such a funny little smirk that she wanted to hug him all over again. "There was some prophecy about it."

He doesn't have the weapon, she thought. I should just be glad. I can still try. I can still win this.  And then she looked at Benjamin with a growing hope.

"Then you know where it is? Cartheno's Fire?"

Benjamin laughed. "Of course I don't. Don't you think I would have mentioned it earlier? I just pretended I did." He shrugged, and Grace felt her momentary optimism come crashing down.

"So how do you know you haven't shown him the right thing?" she whispered. "If it was a prophecy and everything?"

"It was a pretty good gamble," he said, so sarcastically that she felt a familiar rush of sisterly rage. "Have you seen the size of this place? And anyway, he sounds a bit disappointed."

There was a reverberating rumble through the tower, and then another and another, and Grace realised that Edin must be hurling his magic at something. The riezehn equivalent of kicking the nearest object, she guessed.

Afi, you'd better not be in the way of that, she thought. And then she gave Benjamin a hug that ended when he elbowed her in the ribs.

"Get  off! Get off!" he shouted, and she released him and gave him a small shove instead.

"All right. I have a book to read anyway. I won't hug you any more if you promise to go and hug Ma instead."

He sighed and stood up, but she saw the little smile on his face as he caught sight of his mother for the first time in days.

Every one of the boys was awake now, though four of them – all boys in their teens, close to adult-hood - just sat staring into space, and she felt an awful twist of horror at the thought that they had lost their minds. Could she help them somehow? Or would they turn on the palace as Edin had done?

Find a way to beat the mage, she thought, and hoped fiercely that she wouldn't need the link. After that, you can try and help them.

She glanced over as Ma put one arm down to squeeze Benjamin against her side, tightly, even while she went on holding that shield, and it made Grace's eyes well up just a little. She wiped the tears away with her thumb, impatiently, but she guessed it was good to be crying for a nice reason for once.

"Can you help the other boys, Benjamin?" she called, as she picked up the book again. It felt warm in her hands, and she ran her hand along its smooth spine for a moment in gratitude at everything it had done for her already.

Just one more thing, she thought to it. Just help me once more, please.

She opened it, and then looked up at Benjamin one last time. "Can you explain everything to them?" she asked him.