This is the third-last chapter! :P Sorry for the miscalculations and all that, but I kind of needed to add another chapter otherwise there wouldn't be any suspense, haha. This one is kind of short... But I'll update the next one in like, three days or something like that. I hope you guys like it anyway! Picture of Ellie on the side. :)
Chapter 44
With what seemed like inhuman strength, Ellie hurled Tamarak at Troy and Dahlia. Both of them dove out of the way, barely avoiding being hit. At the very last second, Benjamin caught him with telekinesis, setting him down gently on the floor.
"You're outnumbered, Ellie," Benjamin said. "Even you, arrogant as you are, cannot possibly believe that you can defeat six armed magicians in combat. And you just lost your hostage."
"This is a time sensitive mission," Ellie mocked. "I don't have to kill you, just capture some of you."
"Does that mean that the portal is here?" Hunter asked in a low voice, glancing around wildly.
"Poor Hunter," Ellie crooned. "Always alone. The only woman whom you've ever loved is married to someone else. If you joined us, you wouldn't have to worry about that, you know. You could have any number of girls at your disposal."
"He's not going to fall for that, is he?" Benjamin whispered to Kayla, who merely smirked through her anxiety.
"Hunter will join her when Dahlia becomes a Magician of Fire," Kayla muttered back at the same time as Hunter snapped, "I've always had plenty of girls. I don't need yours."
"Leave him alone, Ellie," Troy warned, gripping his sword tightly. "You don't need him."
It was Ellie's turn to smirk. "Too true. He is dispensable. But some of you aren't."
She moved forward like a lioness stalking her prey. For a moment, she looked like she was targeting Benjamin and Kayla, but then she snapped her head around to leer at Troy and Dahlia, both of whom tensed up in front of Tamarak.
"Leave them alone," Kayla warned, inching forward at Ellie's distraction, looking for an opportunity to strike.
"I don't think so," Ellie snarled and then lunged at them with her spear outstretched.
"Get back!" Kayla yelled, throwing her spear.
Ellie twisted in mid-air to avoid the projectile; Benjamin grabbed at her with telekinesis but she flung up her shield. For a moment, it looked like the Magician of Earth had won, but then she froze, struggling visibly to maintain her shield. Benjamin clenched his teeth, forcing it back with his mind.
"Go," he grunted, breathing heavily.
"What about you?" Dahlia demanded, helping Tamarak to his feet; he was a little dazed and unsteady.
"I'll be fine!" he panted. "Dahlia, Jenna's in your cell. Hurry up! I can't hold her back forever!"
Hunter tugged Dahlia's arm to pull her out of the room. Glancing back, her eyes met Troy's. For a split second, she hesitated. Then he mouthed one word: Go. Hunter yanked at her arm again and she allowed him to pull her out of the room, Tamarak hot on her heels.
"The portal's probably in Varmer's throne room!" Benjamin shouted, just before they ran out of earshot.
Kayla watched Dahlia, Tamarak and Hunter limp out of the room. She would never see them alive again. But she didn't have time to worry about it. Quickly, she unsheathed Excalibur and stabbed the sword into the floorboards at her feet. Excalibur plunged into the floor up to its hilt like a knife in butter. Taking a deep breath, she knelt next to the sword and placed her bare hands on the hilt.
"I'll miss you, Kayla," Troy said, sitting down next to her.
Kayla flicked her wrist and her spear shot back to her hand. Carefully, she eased her silver bangle bracelet off her wrist and handed it to Troy.
"The bracelet and my spear are magnetized now," she said. "It was another wedding present. When you next see Jenna, give that to her. Tell her that I love her and that... that I'm sorry."
Troy nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He closed his fingers around the bangle and stuffed it into his pocket. Placing one hand on his sister's arm, he squeezed it once and then let his hand drop. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on becoming a bridge. When he became unnaturally still, Kayla knew that he had left his body and had become the bridge between the three realms once more.
Whispering a silent goodbye to her brother, Kayla gripped her sword tightly and chanted, "Hsiwer el khule, ikalui hsiwer, Helen, fhukiel. Oul eguik kxiy. Fhukiel vhi hsiv." (Spirits of the dead, shadow spirits, Helen, rise. I command you. Rise and come.)
For a brief second, nothing happened and then Helen's ghostly form flickered into view. She looked just like she always had; long black hair held back with a hairband and a short black prom dress.
"Kayla," Helen said without surprise; only Kayla had the ability to summon her. "What's going on?"
Kayla concentrated on keeping her grip on Excalibur despite the nausea that was rising in her stomach. "I'm exchanging my life force for yours. Don't fight me; I know what I'm doing. Trust me, please. Troy can explain everything later on. Please, please, trust me. I won't have the energy to fight you as well as resurrect you."
Helen looked frightened, like she wanted to object, but to her credit, she didn't argue or say anything else. Unlike Troy who was always asking questions, sometimes Helen was content to just accept knowledge and ask later. At this moment, it was crucial.
Kayla concentrated on channelling her strength out of her body. Whenever she called shadow spirits to fight for her, whatever energy she gave them, she lost herself. Now she focused on giving it all to Helen. For once, she could not hold back anything, not emotions, not magic, nothing.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the fingers of her right hand started feeling numb. All feeling faded from her hand; it started turning ghostly and insubstantial even as she channelled all of its life into Helen. At the same time, Helen's hand took on a skin-toned, pinkish hue. Even as Kayla watched, it became obvious that Helen was becoming alive again.
The black hue travelled up Kayla's arm until it went past her elbow. Despite knowing that she had to continue, panic started flooding through Kayla as she continued to lose all feelings in her arm. After all, it was difficult to intentionally lose her body and die, even if you had to. The black spread paused.
"Don't tense up," Helen whispered, sensing Kayla's thoughts with her telepathy. "I know this is hard. You can do this."
It didn't surprise Kayla that Helen knew her entire plan now; her thoughts were basically Helen's if Helen concentrated. Still, it took that reminder to reassure Kayla that she was doing the right thing. She focused her eyes on Benjamin. She was doing this for Jenna. So that her daughter would have a better world to live in. A tear streaked down her cheek and the black hue crept up past her shoulder.
Taking a deep breath, she glanced over to where Benjamin and Ellie were still fighting. Both of them were ignoring their physical weapons and were solely focusing on their second gifts. Ellie was struggling to push her shield closer to Kayla, Troy and Helen while Benjamin was trying to repel it and shove it away from them.
"You've never been able to defeat me, Benjamin," Ellie challenged, flexing her arms to push the shield forward.
"There's a first time for everything," Benjamin replied, struggling to keep his telekinetic powers for collapsing under Ellie's furious onslaught.
For once, Ellie was dressed for battle. Long gone were her days of silk dresses and cloaks. Her caramel-coloured hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and she wore a black and red cat suit, showing her allegiance to Varmer.
Benjamin, too, had ditched the old-fashioned clothes. He too wore black, flexible pants and boots that made fighting easier.
Ellie threw up her other hand and Kayla grunted as a barrier seemingly split her down the middle. She hadn't felt it before, but could pretty much figure out what it was; Ellie had summoned another shield behind Benjamin's telekinetic protection and was halting Kayla's magic.
Kayla's eyes met Helen's and mutual panic surged between them. If Benjamin didn't break the barrier, both girls would die. Kayla had gone too far into her summoning to back out now. Helen didn't have enough of Kayla's life force to survive on her own. Kayla closed her eyes, knowing that she couldn't fight Ellie's shield; Benjamin was the only one who could save the sisters now.
With a growl, Benjamin hurled three training dummies at Ellie with telekinesis. She scrambled out of the way, barely making it. For a split second, her concentration wavered. Kayla felt her shield weaken and, with strength she didn't know she possessed, rammed her magic into the barrier. That, coupled with Benjamin's distraction, was enough to temporarily disable Ellie's shield. Kayla almost sighed in relief as she felt the numbness spread up her right leg.
Taking advantage of Ellie's distraction, Benjamin picked up Kayla's spear with telekinesis and hurled it like a javelin. He flung arrows out of his quiver as fast as he could, trying to prevent Ellie from summoning any more shields.
She screamed in frustration and shouted, "Kratugal gakh!" (Earth crack)
Benjamin forced the ground back together with his mind before any of them fell more than an inch. Now that Ellie was forced to use her elemental magic, Benjamin knew that he was getting to her. If she felt weak enough to have to resort to that, it meant that Benjamin was winning. His telekinesis was still faster than his air magic; he just had to hold Ellie off long enough for Kayla to complete her ritual.
With a push from his mind, he made the ground crack at her feet, hoping for a brief reprieve.
He had to defeat Ellie; he just had to. There was no choice in the matter.