Page 28 of Tino
“Congrats!” Nujik called out from behind and I shot him a quick grin as I refocused on the dummy.
“Try fire now,” Niam suggested with excitement, too.
I raised both hands again and pictured the dummy burning to a crisp, but this time nothing happened. I sighed and turned to the others. “No fire magic.”
“Wind, then,” Xari said, gesturing to the dummy. “Make the wind knock the dummy over.”
Having a clear picture of what I wanted the wind to do, I raised both hands and again, nothing. I sighed with disappointment, not that I really wanted fire or wind magic, I truly didn’t care what I had, but it still felt like a failure.
“If you get earth magic, then the book was correct,” Tino reminded me. I shot my gaze to him with wide eyes. He was right. If I had water and earth magic, then we could trust the book, or have further trust in it. We still needed to see if Tino had fire and wind as it said, but since I had neither….
I raised both hands and thought about an earthquake, tearing the ground up under the dummy and swallowing it whole. But in my excitement, I forgot to reign in my powers, making us all tumble down with all twenty dummies.
“Fuck!” Xari and the others yelled as we fell down a hole in the ground, our bodies landing hard at the bottom.
I groaned and looked around. I’d really messed up. We were in a very deep hole and I could hear mages yell in the distance as they’d clearly felt, and heard, the earthquake.
“Tair?!” Tino called in desperation, his tone laced with fear.
“Here!” I called back, getting up from the ground and wincing at the pain.
“We need a healer!” Niam yelled from somewhere close by. “Xari is bleeding out!”
Fuck! This was all my fault! I whimpered as I began to move along the broken-down earth, it was like a lightning strike in pattern as I moved around the cut-up edges in the hole, getting closer to Niam’s sobs. Squeezing myself through a tight tear, I finally reached Niam and could see Xari really was hurt.
My own body was aching and I was pretty sure my left arm was either broken or sprained. I kneeled next to Xari’s body and on instinct, I touched his head where a big cut was leaking blood. He’d likely hit his head on a sharp rock, hitting it with enough force to break the skull.
A gasp came from Niam as light poured out of my hands, next came another gasp, this time from Tino who’d found his way to us. I looked down at Xari in amazement as his cuts started healing. I didn’t dare remove my hands just yet. Somehow, I knew he needed them to stay on him for longer.
“You’re healing him,” Nujik’s awe-filled voice reached us. He was lying on the ground above us, looking down with worry. At least he hadn’t been close enough to be swallowed up like us.
A groan came from Xari, alerting us he was back to himself. I still didn’t stop my healing, though. I knew he needed more and as I worked, I could feel Tino and I needed healing too. It was hard to know with Niam since he was likely hiding his pain, but he seemed fine enough so far.
“Stay where you are!” Willow called from above. “We’ll make a ladder for you!” We could easily make one ourselves, but since Xari was still a little out of it and the fact I’d created this mess in the first place, maybe it would be best if someone else used their earth magic.
A male mage came into view with a long wooden ladder under his right arm. “Can one of you grab it from the end?” he asked, making Tino jump into action, knowing Niam wasn’t ready to leave Xari’s side yet. I loved that man so much.
Xari’s eyes opened fully and took in our surroundings, making Niam sob with relief. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered, feeling my eyes tear up too. I was so unbelievably sorry and so utterly drained, too. I’d only had my magic for a little over twenty-four hours and I knew Iwas reaching my limit. My arm would have to wait until tomorrow to heal, unless Grethe could help me out. I wanted to save what little I had left to help Tino. He seemed well enough to move around, but I could sense he’d hit his back.
Xari sat up just as Tino came back to my side. “Do you think you can climb the ladder?” I asked him, knowing he would be dizzy for a bit before clarity would return to his vision.
“Yes,” he answered with a raspy voice. “And don’t blame yourself, Altair. You didn’t do this on purpose, and this is why we’re practicing.”
I nodded, not agreeing with him, but not wanting to seem ungrateful that he wasn’t angry with me either. This was my fault. No matter what, I’d done this.
Niam helped him stand and together they got to the ladder. I would need to climb it using only one hand. I’d used my other arm to heal, ignoring my pain so I could save Xari from permanent head damage, but now I couldn’t ignore the throbbing ache any longer.
“Stand still,” I ordered Tino, making him look utterly confused, but he did what I asked. Then I placed my hand on his waist, pouring the last of my healing magic into him. A gasp escaped his lips as asnapping sound could be heard from his back. And then, I collapsed into the darkness.
Chapter 20
Tino
“Tair!” I yelled as his eyes rolled back, just managing to catch him before he hit the cold ground. “Fuck,” I cursed, then looked up at the others who watched in horror as my bonded succumbed to magical depletion.
“Um,” I began. “Can anyone help me get him up?”
The ground rumbled around us as someone made a walkway for me to carry Altair through, like a ledge so I wouldn’t strain myself too much. I was grateful to whoever made it, but I didn’t stay and offer small-talk, just carried Tair straight home. Niam and Xarius followedbehind us and it helped seeing Xarius was feeling well enough to move on his own.