Chapter 14

Jinx

"Why are we headed to the weapons room?" Azriel asks as I lead them down the familiar path. Fabian's arm is still draped over my shoulder but I can feel him getting stronger by the second.

"We need to send some of the swords to Fiona. That way they won't be completely defenseless." I reply. We slowly walk down the spiral staircase trying not to make any noise and enter the room. Luckily for us it was empty, so we continued further in. Inside the second room we found the swords, but they haven't been touched. That's strange. If no one has taken anything yet, then the army isn't armed, and if the army isn't armed...

Shit.

We hear steps echo from the staircase. Azriel runs to the door,

"Someone's coming." he whispers.

"The army is coming." i whisper back irritately. He looks at me and I take a deep breath. Fabian takes his arm off me and moves over to Azriel, giving me space. I face my palm to one of the racks of swords and shoot white sparks towards it. When the sparks die down the rack is gone.

"One rack?" Azriel says devastated.

"I've never done this before, besides it's better than nothing." I say. Fabian grabs a sword and walks back over to Azriel, "We need to get out of here." I say as the echoes become louder.

"How? The walls are made of stone, the only way out is the staircase and in case you haven't heard, an army is coming down them." Azriel points out earning a glasre from me.

"You're such a pessimist!" Fabian says, "I like your brother more." Azriel in turn just glares at him.

"Wait," Azriel says pointing, "You just teleported a rack full of weapons, can't you teleport us too?"

"I've never teleported anything in my life!" I exclaim, "This was my first time. I don't even know if it went to the right place."

"Well there is always time to learn." Azriel says making Fabian smile,

"There's our optimist." Azriel rolls his eyes.

I sigh then nod. I walk over to the two boys, "I'm sorry if this doesn't work." I say and face my palm up and once again, send white sparks in the air. Azriel and I grab our stomachs while Fabian looks proud.

"We did it." he says, "But now we are back to square one." I don't understand what he means but then I look around and see we are back inside our cell.

"At least we are out of there." I reply grudgingly. Fabian chuckles.

"Now what?" Azriel asks looking a shade of green. I shrug still holding my stomach.

Ariel

We were all getting ready when a blinding flash revealed a rack of swords in the middle of our camp. When mother saw it she smiled weakly and moved towards it.

"These are the swords, aren't they? I remember Jinx had one." I tell my mother as I walk up to the rack and pick up a sword.

"Yes, Jinx was suppose to make one then find Zachary and kill him." she say then she looks at me, "but that didn't work out, did it." I look at her apologetically and place the sword back in the rack, "Axel!" mother calls. He runs up to us and look at the rack with a smile, "Gather our best fighters." Axel nods then walks away quickly calling some people as he goes, "Take one." mother says to me.

"I'm not sure I should." I say stepping back. Mother takes a sword and walks over to me. She holds the sword out in front of me, waiting for me to take it. I sigh and take the sword and hold it up in front of me, "Azriel was always the better fighter. Actually he was better at everything. He should have been the first born. He would make a great king." I smile thinking about my brother. Things were so much more simple when the only battle you fought was over who got the last of the cook's muffins.

"A great king knows which battles are worth fighting for, Ariel. I do so distinctly remember that since you were small, you let your brother beat you at everything." mother says. She places her hand on my shoulder making me look at her, "This is a battle worth fighting for." with that she leaves and several mages come and take the swords.

"Let's move out!" mother yells, "Prepare for battle! The Magen sisters, follow me."

A group of four girls break away from the group packing up the tents and follow my mother. This must be mother's blackjack. Her winning card. I've heard stories of the Magen sisters and what they can do, hopefully it will be enough to gain us some sort of an advantage. Axel walks up to me,

"Are you ready? From what I hear, this is your first battle." he says.

"And what, this isn't yours?" I reply jokily. When Axel pulls his lips tight, all my confidence deflates. Great, my little brother has more fighting experience than me. Axel pats my back and walks over to help some of the men with their armour. I sigh and sheath my sword and head over to where the horses were. I find my horse and begin to groom him,

"So boy, seems we are both going into this without experience." I say and pat his neck, "Well, I won't abandon you if you don't abandon me." The horse snorts at me and I smile. I mount my horse as several other mages mount theirs. Mother's horse trots up to me. She nods and I nod back.

Jinx

We were still clutching our stomachs when we heard a horn blast in the distance. We look at each other before listening carefully. The horn sounds

again, but shorter this time.

"They're here." Azriel says.