Half Wylde | Book 1

Forty Seven: Fire and Ice

My breath was ragged and sweat started to bead on my forehead despite the cold air seeping around the door overhead. I wanted to go out there, needed to.

But Thain told me to stay here, and I was determined to do it.

I gritted my teeth and made myself a mantra, chanting it obsessively.

Stay here.

Stay here.

Stay here.

My ears twitched as I heard yelling outside. I squeezed my eyes shut and chanted harder in my head.

STAY HERE.

STAY HERE!

I grunted and gripped the railing harder as I stood on the top steps, just under the door. The door that could take me to the training field. The training field that Schula was on right now.

More voices. Some snarling. A loud roar.

"Stay here," I whispered out loud, begging myself to listen. "Stay here, stay here!"

I started my breathing and tried to dip into my serene magic state, but I couldn't quite get there. It felt as though my mind was fading in and out, trying to visualize my little cabin but I couldn't get there.

With one more burst of effort, I forced my way there.

It felt like all the air was knocked out of me. The white spark, the one I saw when Nasir first met me in my cabin, was screaming out. Pain. Fear. Love. Regret.

The spark sent a whirlwind of emotions my way, and I felt her in her rawest magic state. My white spark was Schula.

I opened my eyes, my real eyes. I couldn't do this, the pull was too strong. Nothing was going to make the urgency in this connection ease until Schula was safe.

I gritted my teeth and pushed open the door above me. Thain would be pissed but I could worry about that later.

I climbed out of the doorway and my head snapped to the far side of the training grounds. Somehow, Schula's head turned to me and if we were closer I was sure we would have locked eyes.

She was still chained up, but now a small blizzard was swirling in the space around her. Thain, at least I was pretty sure it was Thain, was hunched over nearly on all fours in a blur of fangs and fury. He was more beast than fae, he was a thing unlike I had ever seen him though I had seen glimpses of it through his glamour. His silver eyes glowed as he fought to gain space between Schula and the warriors, but he was badly outnumbered and already he had an open wound on his shoulder that glistened red.

I didn't have time to think before my body moved. I ran to my friends, leaning over and scooping up the wooden practice axe I had dropped earlier on my way. Thain was doing such a fabulous job distracting the Winter fae around him and Schula that they didn't notice I was almost upon them until it was too late. 

I lifted the wooden axe and slammed the thick head of it into the nearest fae. If it weren't for the fact that she was turning around at the last second, I wouldn't have bloodied her nose the way I did. The snap of cartilage rang clear in my ears as she fell to the ground, clutching her face.

No time, I had to keep going.

Two fae tried to turn to me but Thain was quick to take a swipe at one of them, leaving me with just one to deal with.

And if I was a trained warrior, maybe I could have. My few weeks of meditating and stretching were not going to help me here. Not against the large male with yellow eyes and a snarl on his face. His arms were as thick as my torso, he would be able to snap me in two if he got a hold of me.