Cinza dove to the grass and rolled underneath an aluminum baseball bat swung at her head. As she came back up, she kicked viciously at the man's leg. With a bit of magic to make her boot swing faster and harder, she knocked him to the ground. He went down in a heap, and she brought her foot back around and kicked him again in the head. She had no qualms about attacking someone while they were down—not in a situation like this.
This was a lynch mob coming for her head, and she was damned if she wasn't going to use every possible tactic to defend herself.
Still, they'd all agreed they would hold back on lethal force. If they killed, they would only set themselves up for further persecution. Cinza was far less optimistic that they'd ever really integrate into society than Rachel was, but she didn't want to ruin any potential hope. So she held back, as a favor to Rachel and to the entire growing magical community. Even after the bear trap and the axe-wielding Robert Harrison, she still tried to give Rachel's dream a chance.
As the fighting got more heated, Cinza feared they may soon no longer have a choice.
They'd managed to break out of the encirclement. Morton Pollock had broadened his shoulders threefold and barreled through the weakest part of the crowd. The rest had rushed the sudden gap, before the circle collapsed on them.
Aaron was picking out members of the crowd with more dangerous weapons. He stayed behind Morton's furious brawl and reached out with invisible hands. One by one, knives and axes were ripped from angry fists and hurled into the dark forest far away.
Yusuf threw a punch that flattened one of the loggers with an angry roar. In unison with his fist, a tree branch hurled out from above them, splintering away from the trunk with an earsplitting crack. It bowled through a part of the mob, knocking them down like dominoes.
Joe had joined in the fight too, to Cinza's surprise. He was shouting and brawling with Logan and his cronies, who evidently hadn't expected him to be awakened. As Logan threw a punch that would have knocked down any normal college guy, Joe shrugged it off like he'd struck a boulder.
A second later, Joe slugged him in the chest with a rising fist. Logan sailed ten feet through the air and into the dirt.
Cinza recognized Joe's talent and ordered him to the front along with Morton, the other Self affinity in the group. They took hits that should have broken bones and dealt back fierce blows in return, but the crowd simply refused to give in. They were frenzied, murderous and afraid. The town had slipped into real chaos and saw no recourse but to fight.
Ruby was ready to respond in kind. Her hands were ablaze like twin suns, and she was hurling flame left and right with abandon. People dove away from the blasts, hurling themselves to the dirt. She kept the fire dancing in her palms, as it was always easier to add to a fire than create it from scratch, but portions lanced forth like a dragon breathing out death. People were reluctant to approach, but neither were they willing to back down.
We can't keep this up forever, Cinza despaired. Robert Harrison had returned to the front, and he was furious. He dodged Morton's punch and put a fist through his face, breaking his nose and sending him crashing to the dirt. Blood spattered the grass. Cinza summoned up a flame and prepared to face him again.
A jet of water shot through the air and slammed into Robert, knocking him aside. Makoto had returned. He nodded at Cinza before redirecting his water to another target. Cinza felt a brief glimmer of hope. She sent a burst of fire at the nearest angry townsperson, forcing them to retreat. They might still be outnumbered ten to one, but they had a chance. They could try to force them away—and with Brittany safely evacuated, they could make a break for it.
A telltale glint of moonlight on metal in the distance shattered that hope. Robert was upping the ante.
"Rifle!" she called, quickly shaping how her voice moved through the crowd so that her people could all hear it clearly. They scattered, leaving Cinza as the only viable target. She stared Robert down, daring him to take the shot.
He had no reservations. He took aim, while people in front of him scattered. At the last moment, she dove behind the tree. Splinters shattered off the bark as the bullet lodged deep into the trunk. He'd brought an actual rifle, not a shotgun or an air rifle.
Help us, please! Cinza thought desperately. Where is she? Where is our goddess, when we need her most? She saved us from death only to let us be killed by ordinary fools?
Ruby rolled over to her side, while Makoto hurled another jet of water at the advancing crowd, like a single riot cannon trying to drive them back. It wasn't enough.
"We have to use it," Ruby hissed. Cinza wanted to shake her head, wanted to deny they were that desperate, but she couldn't. The crowd wasn't backing down, despite the power they were showing.
Another gunshot. Morton cried out in pain. He'd taken the bullet in the stomach while trying to keep a man off Makoto.
We're on our own.
Cinza pulled Ruby to her feet behind the tree. She closed her eyes, feeding every bit of power she could into Ruby's hands. She could feel herself growing weak and empty as she emptied the river, letting it all flow forth into Ruby's waiting arms. Every gemstone she held disintegrated in their slots, even the ones with no relation to the elements she was channeling.
Ruby gathered it up, pulling as much as she could and beginning to shape it into a compact and incredibly dense field. Cinza could feel her at work, could feel the magic taking hold in the air over the heads of the unsuspecting crowd.
"Who?" Ruby asked through gritted teeth.
"Anyone," Cinza whispered in desperation. She'd collapsed against the tree trunk. The thick knots in the bark held her up. Ruby didn't hear her over the shouting of the crowd and the continuing brawl. Cinza opened her eyes. She would watch. She didn't have to, as she wasn't in control of the field, but she refused to let Ruby carry the burden alone.
She'd help bear the weight of what they were about to do.
Robert had fallen back, his rifle barrel low. He seemed reluctant to shoot again after Morton's cry of pain—but there was another man who had no such compunctions. Paul Wilson had a pistol, and he was lifting it to aim at Makoto with righteous fury. He was a man out to avenge his murdered daughter. He wouldn't hesitate.
At that range, he wouldn't miss.
"Him, right now!" Cinza cried, pointing at Paul. Ruby cried out at the massive release of energy—a visceral, throat-rending shout of rage at the effort she was expending just to keep it under control.
The magnetic field sharpened and condensed itself, polarizing instantly to pull at a single target. Ruby shaped it so that only picked out specific areas, and by compressing it to such precise spots she was able to amplify it tremendously. Coupled with the increased energy and control that Cinza was lending her, it was enough.
Thousands of miniscule cuts burst onto Paul's skin. The blood in his veins literally sprayed into the sky like a geyser, pulled out by the faint traces of iron floating within. He crumpled like a limp noodle. Cinza was certain he had died instantly.
The fighting stopped. The crowd backed away. A few screamed and fled. Makoto was heaving and exhausted, but still standing. Morton was bleeding out on the ground. Nikki and Yusuf emerged from the forest, looking bruised and battered. Nate Price was nowhere to be seen, and Aaron bled from several small cuts on his face and arms.
Ruby trembled in fear, still holding the magic in the air.
It was very quiet. Only the crackling fires beginning to spread through the forest behind them and the heavy breathing of exhausted men and women filled the clearing. One man had dropped to Paul's side, checking him over, but the rest seemed too afraid to get any closer. Cinza emerged from behind the tree, hoping that was as good a moment as any.
"Go back. Go home. Do not return." She was too tired for grandiloquence. Flames licked at her hands, a gentle warmth on her skin and a deadly weapon to anyone else. Her knife, which she'd avoided actually using until then in an attempt to avoid bloodshed, was back in her grip—and it too was covered in dancing flames.
It hadn't been bloodied in years, but all her reluctance had been washed away. She'd stain it again willingly, her oldest friend who had saved her life a dozen times over, if it meant protecting the red-haired beauty who'd saved her soul.
Robert looked about to speak up. She tensed, waiting for whatever words he might use to push the crowd forward again.
It didn't come. Instead, they heard a howl from the woods at the far edge.
A huge wolf trotted out of the woods. Natalie Hendricks sat atop it, in her torn black dress and a dark green coat. She rode slow and calm toward the crowd, ignoring their dumbfounded stares. Wordlessly, she lifted her hands and pointed at the fires beginning to rage through the forest. If they weren't dealt with, they would spread to become a massive forest fire. Natalie made a few motions with her fingers, then gestured at the fire as if beckoning it.
The flames began swirling away from the wood and through the air to meet her. As they reached her fingertips, the fire vanished—as if Natalie were absorbing it.
This was wholly for show, as Cinza knew full well. If Natalie had wanted to dissipate the flames, it would have been far easier to just ride into them and exhaust their source directly through force of will. Most couldn't handle a fire at that scale, but Natalie wasn't most people. She wasn't one for theatrical displays to halt a bloodbath, either. This was someone else's playbook.
Cinza looked past the wolf-girl and the bright swirling flames to the treeline. Standing in the shadows, taller than anyone in the crowd and with grim determination on her face, was Rachel DuValle. The leader of the new world.
Cinza felt herself finally able to relax. Ruby finally let go, and the overload of magic hit her in full. She collapsed to the grass, coughing up blood. Her arms and legs looked like they were puppet whose strings had been severed. She was horribly still. The rest of her family regrouped, while the crowd was still mesmerized at the sight of the little wolf-girl who controlled fire. They gathered behind Cinza, watching and waiting.
Cinza had nothing to offer them. Her family huddled close. They trusted her to know what came next, but Cinza was following another now. Their goddess hadn't appeared, but her representative had. Rachel DuValle had come to save them. This was the leader Cinza would follow and put her faith in. This was the visionary she trusted to take her family into the future.
Rachel DuValle would finally give her the answers she needed.