Ted stared at the barbed arrowhead protruding from Cara’s chest, myrellium glinting beneath crimson-black sludge. He watched her eyes go wide and blank. Saw her muscles give way.

  He caught her as she fell. Held up her limp form.

  Icy-fire flooded his veins. He looked up, back down the corridor. Into the darkness where Alenia had to be hiding.

  Where she’d be nocking another arrow.

  He dropped Cara’s corpse to the floor and weaved a crackling white Barrier in the air.

  White magic glinted in the air, shooting towards him. Dispel magic arced out from the arrow, shattering his Barrier before it.

  Pain thudded into his shoulder. He stumbled back and clutched at the arrow’s shaft, just barely resisting the urge to yank it out.

  Adrenaline pounded through him, and the pain washed out to a distance. No time for that now. He had to fight. Had to escape the trap.

  Had to take revenge.

  He pulled on his mana and cast a Telekinesis Contingency spell.

  Not a second later, there was another flash of white. Another arrow of death.

  The Contingency spell triggered. Force magic flared and the arrow slammed to a halt mere inches from his knee, before clattering harmlessly onto the rock floor.

  Gasping for breaths, Ted recast the Telekinesis Contingency and weaved a Barrier for good measure. Yet, as he stood there staring into the darkness, no more arrows came.

  Why wasn’t she pressing the advantage? If she wanted to take him alive, now was the best chance she’d damned well get.

  Blood pounded in Ted’s ears and pain pulsed out from the arrow in his shoulder, spreading to his arms and legs, and making his head throb. Sitting around like a pathetic weakling wasn’t going to take Alenia down, but nor could he go charging in as he was.

  He shook his head, even that tiny motion sending pain searing through him. He couldn’t waste time worrying about why. He pulled the First Aid kit from Cara’s pack and laid it out. He closed his fist around the shaft of the arrow, wincing at the touch, and yanked.

  Pain exploded into agony, but the arrow came free. Myrellium again, covered in crimson-orange blood.

  He took an animal skin bandage and, struggling with only one hand, wrapped it around the wound. It stemmed the bleeding, though it would do nothing for the pain.

  If Cara were here…

  He shook his head, and his eyes drooped. Couldn’t think about that. Not now. Not yet.

  Distant pain fluttered in his shoulder, far away. Happening to someone else, in another place.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  He blinked, and stared at the crimson-orange goop coating the arrow head. Part blood, part… part…

  His vision blurred. He dropped to his knees. The world softened. All he had to do was…

  He clenched his fists, pressed his nails into his palm, yet felt nothing.

  The orange goop… poison…

  He reached into the pack, rummaging for… for…

  His eyes closed. The world weighed down upon him, even as it floated away.

  He lay down on his side, his hand resting in the pack, the cold stone pressing against his shoulder.

  She was gone. Why fight it?

  Squeak! Squeak! Distant bites pecked at the tip of his earlobe.

  Nibbles… Cara…

  She needed him.

  Needed him alive… free…

  He grasped inside the pack. His fingertips pressed against a narrow neck of cold glass. He pulled the phial out.

  Pain swelled in the heavy blanket holding him down.

  He hefted the phial to his mouth. Tasted cork. Coughed.

  Why bother? He’d only screw it up again.

  Squeak! Squeak! Even sharper pain punctured his ear lobe. Blood dribbled down.

  Ted bit down. Pulled the cork free. Spat it out.

  A boot kicked the potion out of his hand. Glass shattered against the ground. Frantic squeaking assailed his ear, growing faster and louder.

  Ted forced open his eyes to the blackness of the world.

  A figure stood over him. Tall and slender, clad in dark leather with a bow slung over her back. She held a long dagger in one hand and a steel collar in the other. “Disappointing,” Alenia said.

  “Sorry, I—” Coughs forced themselves out, cutting him off. “I tried.”

  “You failed.” There was no triumph in her voice. No joy at all. “His orders are very extensive this time.”

  Ted stared at the blue goo spreading out from the broken glass. It spread slowly. High viscosity.

  Slowly… yet surely…

  “Bite me,” Ted said, rolling toward the goo while readying a Nullification Contingency with his mind alone. One last, tiny hope.

  Nibbles leaped away. Left him.

  A boot struck Ted’s chest, pushing him onto his back. “Don’t,” Alenia said, kneeling down and pressing her dagger to his crotch. “We’d both prefer I didn’t have to start stabbing non-vital areas, yes?”

  His imagination ran headlong into it and his whole body tried to clench, yet the muscles refused to obey. All he could do was give the barest of nods, and muddle through the spell he’d pushed as far as he dared.

  Apparently satisfied, Alenia leaned down and pressed the cold, unyielding metal of the collar around his neck.

  The spell finalized in his mind, and the magic hid wherever Contingencies vanished to. A slim chance, but all Cara had.

  The collar closed with a faint click, and Alenia let out a soft sigh. “It’s done.”

  His mana fled, and he lay back against the ground. It was done. He couldn’t fight. Why had he even tried?

  Alenia stared at him, her pale face utterly inscrutable. For a moment, her eyes seemed to water, then she turned away and set about gathering her myrellium arrows, without even bothering to disarm him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  Too little, too late.

  Pain pierced Ted’s pinky finger, two little fangs of burning agony puncturing his skin. Fire flooded through his hand and up his arm, searing as it went.

  Squeak! Squeak!

  Ted grunted. It didn’t matter now. The Emperor had to be obeyed.

  A slender hand grabbed his, and Alenia yanked him to his feet. “Let’s go,” she said, propping him up with her arm.

  He trudged ahead, deeper into the corridor, his blood burning. He glanced back to see Nibbles sat atop Cara, staring into her lifeless face.

  “Keep moving,” Alenia said, shoving forward. “He’s waiting.”

  The Divine Emperor. Ted shuffled onward again, pushing through the pain that now seared every inch of his being. His father was there at the end, waiting to mock his latest failures.

  Save your father, save the world.

  Ted scuffed the ground. How had he been so stupid, so delusional, to imagine that he stood a chance?

  His finger traced the gash in his leg armor. Cara had healed the wound, but she’d never fix the leather now. Never hear the tree-song again. Never grow old. Never do anything again.