“You can’t what?!”
There’s no time to explain the griffin is going to charge any minute. I glance down at Aurelio, finding him still completely unconscious. My legs are useless. I can barely raise my arms. At this rate, all my efforts will be wasted, because I can’t fight off a griffin with my current strength.
“Lief! Can you cast immobilizing magic?” I cry.
“Yes!”
“Do it, now!”
Lief raises his arms and casts the spell. A ball of light appears from his hands, and the second it collides with the griffin, the monster freezes in place, its beak open in a silent screech.
“You’ve got ten seconds! I can’t hold him!” Lief shouts.
I only need eight.
Struggling mightily, I drag myself over toward the monster. My legs participate minimally in the pathetic show. Lief counts down from ten, and he’s on four by the time I reach the griffin’s side. Summoning all the strength left in my body, I draw my sword from my side, raise it high above my head, and slash straight through its wing.
“Two…one…!” Lief counts.
With the last scraps of magic left in my body, I punch my fist into the ground, and in the blink of an eye, a rock column explodes from the side of the mountain, slamming into the griffin. Immobilized, it can do nothing as it topples right over the cliff. I hear it screech down below as Lief’s spell wears off, and then a few heartbeats later, its scream is abruptly cut off. It’s hit the ground, most certainly dead.
“Alessia, that was brilliant!” Lief cries. “You slashed its wing so it couldn’t fly and used the mountain to your advantage!”
“I’m just glad it’s over,” I sigh.
Just then, my stomach protests, and I’m leaning over to vomit down the cliff side. My body gives another great heave, and then I’m knocked flat on my back by a pulsating sensation through my magic channels, like I’m being punched by a hundred tiny fae. I convulse, then curl up into the fetal position, my eyes flying wide.
“Alessia, what’s happening?”
“I pushed myself too hard again,” I gasp.
This may be my closest brush with death due to magic energy draining yet. My vision goes white, and I’m knocked unconscious by my own body.
Chapter thirty
Aurelio
For the second time in a week, I wake up in a panic.
“Alessia!”
I sit bolt upright, clutching my chest. My whole body aches and burns; I glance down, seeing that I have a few lacerations around my middle and one across my forearm. They’re not bleeding anymore, but man, do they burn like they’re on fire. My whole body aches like I’ve been thrown off the side of a mountain.
Wait…
I look around to regain my bearings, only for my heart to seize in my chest. I am on the side of a mountain. A cliff face, to be exact. The griffin that stole me away is nowhere in sight.
But there’s a very still, pale Alessia only a few feet away.
“Alessia!”
I shoot to my feet and run to her, rolling her onto her back so I can see her better. For a heart-stopping moment, I think she’s not breathing, but then I see the shallow rise and fall of her chest, and I realize she’s alive. Her face is paler than a ghost, though, and her hands are scraped and bloody.
“What happened to you?” I whisper.
“She saved your life.”
I look up, and hovering above Alessia is none other than Lief. He flutters down to perch on my shoulder, his face weary, but his smile genuine.
