I shouted up to Atroxia. "If you get the Malice, what will you do to me?"
The serpent laughed, and its echoes rumbled like waves through the air. "When I get it, you will make me a Jupiter Stone. I will give that stone to Diana, and with it, she will make war against the gods."
I glanced back to where Livia was hiding, but she was no longer visible. I hoped she had her answer. And hoped even more that she would forgive me for putting her in this terrible situation.
Rain was falling harder now. My storm was ready. Atroxia's tail widened again, and I took my chance to run. When I did, her tail rose up and careened against the hard earth. It missed me, but I fell back to the ground. Her tail slithered around again, catching me back within its fold. I struggled until I got my good hand free, and then raised it high, ready to call in the lightning. The charge tingled in my fingers, ran down my arm, and sparked inside my chest. This would be a powerful bolt, hopefully enough to kill the evil creature.
Certainly it was too powerful for me as well.
Atroxia reached for me with her claw. When she lifted me up, the sharp talons dug into my flesh, and I cried out. I had to focus on the lightning, which would've been easier without claws cutting into me.
"Stop!" a voice commanded.
We turned to see Radulf walking through the lingering fire in the vineyards, completely untouched by the flames. It was him, not a trick of the light. Despite the terror I knew he felt for the Mistress, he had come back.
Atroxia dropped me yet again, and Brutus rushed forward to grab my arm. His efforts wouldn't make any difference now. Too much of my magic was already spent, and the injuries had made me weak. Still, I shook my head at Radulf, hoping to make him leave, but he didn't seem worried. His hands were clasped behind his back as if he'd been on a casual afternoon stroll. He merely smiled back at me and nodded, perfectly calm.
"General Radulf, you are late to our party," Brutus said.
"Hardly," Radulf said. "No, actually I was hoping not to attend this particular gathering. But you have forced me to it."
"What do you want?" Atroxia asked.
His voice never wavered as he looked up at her. "I want the return of my grandson, obviously."
She laughed at his boldness. "The boy is mine now. He will give me the Malice and then he has a job to do."
"Even if he wanted to, he cannot obey," Radulf said. "Nic was telling the truth. He does not have the Malice, and he will not be able to get it."
"Why not?" Brutus asked.
Radulf smiled and raised an arm that had been clasped behind his back. The Malice was wrapped on his forearm. Not the real one, but the fake one Valerius had created when he hoped to trick the Praetors in exchange for my mother. It would never work.
But it was our only chance.
"No, not the Malice!" I yelled, trying to sound as desperate as possible. Atroxia had to believe my performance.
The dragon sniffed, trying to get a scent for its magic. I wondered how keen her senses were, because Livia had the real Malice here. Could she tell the difference?
Radulf raised his arm, and the Malice lit as with flame. I knew it had no magic, so it was his Divine Star at work here. But it certainly looked convincing enough. He gestured forward and from the Malice, a wave of magic punched through the air and traveled all the way to the forest beyond the field, toppling every tree there.
Radulf gasped, then stumbled from the release of so much magic. As strong as he was, even he had his limits, I supposed. Brutus ran from me, taking cover from the branches that were falling into the field now. One should have landed on me, but it merely rolled sideways through the air and fell on the ground. Radulf was shielding me. The Mistress still stood above me, though. She hadn't even flinched in the explosion, because none of its fallout could harm her.
"The Malice's magic is too powerful," I yelled to Radulf, though it wasn't him who needed to hear me. "We cannot give her that amulet."
"Release my grandson now," Radulf said. "Because if I count to three, I will disappear with this Malice and you will never find me again. One."
No,
he was supposed to make her target the Malice, not himself. He was supposed to offer it to her and escape.
But he hadn't come just to trick her. He had come to make a trade. His life for mine.
"No, I caused this!" I said. "I have to fix it."
"I must fix this, Nic," Radulf said. "This war began long before you received your magic, and it's my fault for failing to stop it. Two!"
"Get out of here!" I yelled. My magic was returning, but there wasn't enough to fight Atroxia. I couldn't save him.