Book of Fates ✔

No way back

"I'm not asking."

Anya watched them fight, being drugged away by her father. Tane appeared by Nagal's side soon. "Nikk!"

"I'll deal with them!" Daphne climbed on the pile of shards." Go get the book."

Without hesitation, Nikk darted toward the artefact. He stopped for a fraction of a second, then closed his hands around the shinning cover. He spun around and was about to run, but...

"Nikk, from behind!" Anya cried, but she was late.

Nikk met the yellow eyes of Choraun. The shadow threw his hand up in the air and clutched it into a fist. Like a poppet, Nikk slid across the hall and bumped into the wall, and blacked out. A sequence of stones rushed off the pile in the center, hiding him from Anya's eyes.

Yet, with some mysterious skill, Nikk managed to toss the book toward Anya, and the artifact landed right at her feet.

Oh, hell with the book. "Nikk!" She rushed forward, but Rill stopped her, appearing by her side.

"You can't go to him now. You'll only make it worse." Her face was smeared with dirt, and her sweaty hair clung to her cheeks.

"Are we supposed to leave him to die?!"

"No, he's not dying today, Anya." Rill promised. "We need to take the book and leave. The fomoires will be gone if there's nothing to steal."

Still harboring doubts, Anya reluctantly nodded. She grasped The Book of Fates mischievously glittering in the sun, and hurried toward the portal with Rill and her father.

"To open the dimensional door, we need two adri," Alexander said. Two holes instead of purple stones were in the sockets encircling the arch. "We've found one before you arrived. We still lack one more."

"We have our own," Rill said. "Our bags in the hallway. I'll go get them."

"No, we need the original ones. They're here," he ran his eyes over the dusty chaos of the battle. "Somewhere."

They began to fumble on the floor around the arch, searching anything purple and shining.

Anya still could see the fight. Charaun saw the book in Anya's hands and was determinately making his way over to her, and Daphne was the only one still in his way. His gloved hand was in the air, reaching for her throat, when Leir leaped to Daphne's side.

"I said," he twitched his lips with rage, and lifted his sword offensively. "I'll deal with them."

Charaun gave him a sinister smile. "As you please, my prince." His eyes darted behind Leir's back.

Leir whirled around the moment Daphne made a whoop of triumph and landed her sword in Leir's flesh. He let out a long, howling cry, as the blade pierced his shoulder. If not for the warning, Daphne struck him squarely in the heart.

Screaming and cursing, Leir dropped, rolling across the stone shards, holding his injured shoulder as blood tickled down his arm. His blade cluttered to the ground.

"Too bad," Rill whispered next to Anya. "We need to hurry or there would be no one left alive. There!" She pointed at the distance. "The adri!"

Anya saw it, too. Under the broken marble column was a skeleton, his phalanges curled around the crystal.

"I'll go get it," Anya's father said and rushed across the hall. "See you by the portal!"

"Let's go," Rill tugged at the sleeve of Anya's top and drew her sword. "You guard the book. I guard yo—" Her voice faltered and she began to cough, holding her throat.