Page 80 of Knight's End
Declan must have been using his magic to drain their will to live.
Ryan shot yellow magic out across the room, toward the front doors, where more half-djinn soldiers tried to storm the castle. He blocked them with a giant wall of dirt. I watched Declan whisper to him and slowly the dirt heated, growing molten.
Behind the two of them, Connor watched our soldiers. He shot pink rays of healing magic toward our men whenever one of them fell.
My heart swelled with pride. We were fighting the djinn soldiers. And we were holding our own, even with my knights’ swapped powers. They’d worked so hard, trying to learn what they could—
Ryan’s molten dirt wall collapsed as a spear flew at him. He ducked, clumsily, because of his injured leg.
And suddenly, my need to get to him intensified. If it came down to running away, he couldn’t do it.
I had to be with him. I couldn’t watch him fall.
Pony!I screamed in my mind. Where were our gargoyles?
They’re fighting outside,Quinn responded to my thoughts.
Pony came smashing through a window, tumbling down on top of a pile of soldiers. He sprang up, at attention, his tongue lolling in front of his tusks, like he was some overgrown pup, and this was a play date, not a battle.
Smash the djinn!I told him.They’re toys—chew them up.
Pony dove into the fray and beheaded the first djinn he came upon. He spit out the head and batted at it.
My stomach churned, but I felt better having him in the mix. And he blocked part of the way toward Ryan and the others.
We tried to make our way toward the other knights, but the room was crowded, and enemies were everywhere.
I shot peace magic at two of Cheryn’s soldiers who came near us. They slowed, dazed, but didn’t stop. I should have shot more, but I was naked still, and I felt vulnerable. I didn’t want a roomful of djinn to see the price of my magic. They might just wish I used it until I had nothing left.
I watched as one of them started to mutter a wish. Taking Blue’s tactic, I whispered, “I wish I was clothed in mirrored armor.”
As one of them whispered, “Granted,” I felt the armor click into place over my wrists. I glanced down and saw my entire body was encased in form-fitting armor that was as shiny and reflective as a mirror. It was completely badass. But I hadn’t wished for any godsdamned undergarments. The metal was right up against my skin. I took a step and could tell immediately that my nipples were about to be chafed raw.
“Sarding magic,” I muttered under my breath. Apparently, wishes were quite literal.
Once they saw I was a bit safer in the armor, my two fast knights took turns rushing at djinn warriors and stealing their weapons then cutting their throats. They almost seemed to be making a game of it. Who was faster. Or so it appeared to me, anyway.
I tried to steal another wish, this time, not for myself or my nipples.
“I wish all my soldiers that have been wished into animals were human again.”
But nothing happened. I must not have overlapped anyone else’s wish.
Shite.
I started to uncomfortably clank over to my other knights. But the armor impeded my vision. I didn’t see the djinn bastard on my right side until it was too late.
His scimitar arced down and I could tell it was well-aimed. I could tell it was going to hit my neck. I could tell I wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to get away. I shot peace at him—so much that my thighs ripped open. But it was too late to slow the sword.
I love—I started to tell Quinn, to tell my knights that I loved them.
But then the floor sank into the ground and swallowed up the half-djinn. A huge vine arose out of it, thick as my entire waist. It was covered in thorns like a rose bush, but the thorns were as big as my hand and looked as sharp as any knife. The stem undulated and moved, and a red bloom popped out at the top. This bloom had beautiful, soft petals, but the center of the flower looked like a horrific set of jagged green knives. The vine writhed as it grew large enough for the flower to bump the ceiling.
Fighting paused as everyone turned for a second to watch this plant grow as big as a dragon.
Shite! My own heart leapt into my throat as I watched the beast-sized plant.
Just like a dragon, the plant struck quickly. The flower plunged down and the petals closed over the torso of the djinn closest to Quinn. The man screamed as the flower devoured him, gulping until his boots clattered to the floor. The flower’s stem bulged, like a snake that had just swallowed a mouse.
