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As long as not one more weapon reached Kostaria, it would not matter.

Hopefully Essie was far enough away. She would ensure that whatever sacrifice he made today would not be in vain.

He gathered his magic until everything inside him crackled. Then, with a deep breath, he drew the sizzling bolts of magic from the trolls and channeled everything he had toward the steamboat.

Blue lightning engulfed the boat, tearing at the boards, seeking the volatile ammunition, even as footsteps crunched on the gravel behind him.

Troll magic dropped the temperature around him. The moment the trolls stabbed him, the power of his magic would be cut off.

Bolts of his magic burst through the steamboat, touched the crates stacked in the boat’s hold. He sensed the ignition a second before the roar, the eruption of fire.

Farrendel reached for the last of his magic and shoved it into a shield around Melantha.

A shockwave picked him up and tossed him. He slammed to the ground, gravel tearing his hands, his cheek. His ears rang, the breath knocked from his lungs.

Shrapnel and burning splinters of wood rained around him. He managed a few, weak sizzles of magic to keep the worst of it from stabbing him. Gasping for breath, he craned his head, finding Melantha crouched in the protection of his magic.

All around was smoke and fire. He coughed, gathered his strength, and pushed to his hands and knees.

Essie must be well on her way out. Maybe he could escape, like she had asked him to.

He sensed a presence behind him. Reaching for his knife, he rolled and batted the troll prince’s sword to the side.

The troll planted a boot on his chest, pinning him to the ground hard enough to knock the air from his lungs again. Magic iced the troll prince’s sword a moment before he stabbed Farrendel through the shoulder.

Pain lanced to Farrendel’s bones even as he lost feeling in his fingers. All the stones of the gravel beneath him stabbed into his back.

With a growl, Farrendel gripped the troll’s ankle with his good hand and sent sparks shooting up the troll’s leg.

The troll cried out and stumbled backwards, the leather of his boot smoking.

Farrendel rolled to his knees, dodging as one of the other trolls leapt for him. He needed to get to his feet. If he did not, he would have no hope of surviving.

The troll prince recovered. He and the other trolls rushed Farrendel.

Farrendel reached for his magic, but he could only get one of his hands to work. Blood slicked warm and wet down his back, pain lancing from the stones stabbed into his skin. He pushed onto one knee, lashing out with his magic at the two trolls behind their prince. The trolls were blasted from their feet, landing on the dirt.

The troll prince stepped forward, a knife of stone and ice growing in his hand.

As the troll prince stabbed down, Farrendel grabbed his wrist and used it to yank himself to his feet. He lunged at the troll and stabbed with all the force of his momentum.

The knife stopped an inch from the troll prince’s shoulder, even as Farrendel halted the troll’s knife with a crackling shield of his own.

They both shoved, magic crackling against magic, neither giving an inch. Sweat poured down Farrendel’s back and under his hairline. Agony flared through his wrist as the stone there lengthened and burrowed deeper into his body. His hand on the knife shook while the bolts of his magic sputtered around his other hand.

Behind him, the other two trolls clambered to their feet, but Farrendel could not divert any of his magic or attention away from the troll prince.

The troll prince’s snarl showed his teeth. “Murderer. No wonder your family turned on you.”

It was a stab that shook Farrendel to his core. His magic faltered. It was only for a second. But it was enough.

The troll prince drove the stone knife into Farrendel’s shoulder. Stone and troll magic grew down his arm from his shoulder, pinning that arm to his side. A wave of intense pain tore through him. The last bolts of his magic fizzled out. The knife dropped from his numb fingers.

One of the trolls behind him clapped a rag over Farrendel’s nose and mouth.

That same, overly sweet stench choked Farrendel’s nose and burned in his eyes. This was the might of the humans. They did not have the magical or physical strength of other races, but they had their inventions and their chemicals that even magic could not fight.

He could try to keep fighting. Maybe he could force the troll prince to kill him.