Young Writers Society

A/N: With this chapter all put together, there's a line here to separate this first scene from the rest of the chapter. Since this scene starts out this part of the chapter, I figured having the line here would look stupid. Just to let you guys know, it is separated.

A/N 2: I can't remember if I called the spell at the river a protection spell or not, but I know I didn't call it a barrier spell. It is indeed a barrier spell which keeps the mages inside the city. Just fyi.

“You let them go.”

“So did you.”

“I meant to.”

“Maybe I did too.”

Rhys slammed his hands on the desk. “Don’t lie to me. You always get the job done. Akia’s too much for you?”

“You know, I could kill you here and now,” Niro growled. “Push me farther. You claim to be a brave man.”

Rhys was at Niro’s throat faster than lightning to the ground. He wrapped a hand around the man’s neck and squeezed, feeling the man’s Larynx collapse under the pressure of his grip.

He watched as Niro gasped, his arms flailing as he tried to reach Rhys’s hands. But Rhys only pushed harder, forcing Niro farther back into the chair. He watched Niro’s eyes slowly lose their life as his face went pale. If Rhys held on any longer the man would be dead.

“Don’t you ever threaten me,” he said, his voice calm despite the anger flaring in his eyes. “You work for me. And don’t give me that speech about how you only take jobs that you choose. You’re here because I asked you to be here. And I’m done taking that crap from you.”

He let go of Niro’s throat. The man fell forward, sputtering. He rubbed his throat gingerly as he looked up to glare at Rhys.

“What do you suggest we do?”

Rhys shrugged. “You’re the mastermind here. What do you suggest?”

“Now you’re just mocking me.”

“We wait,” Rhys said, ignoring Niro’s comment. “They’re almost to Lightport. Once they get there, we can attack.”

“But you can’t get into Lightport. Not with that protection spell.”

Rhys smirked. “I have my ways.”

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“I vote Zeke stays.” Everyone turned to look at Mina. She returned their gazes with equal surprise. “What? I know that rest of you. Well, not you, Akia. But you don’t annoy me as much as Zeke does.”

“Thanks for that,” Akia muttered.

Zeke was quick to defend himself. “I can’t do it. I don’t know how to hold that energy.”

“But you know how it works,” Mina retorted.

“Course I do. Everyone does,” he snapped. “Doesn’t mean I know how to stop it. You know about torture spells, but can you use them? No.”

Akia wasn’t so sure about what Zeke was saying. She knew that what he said was true. A magician or mage cold learn all the magic they wanted. It took certain skills and practice to actually perform the magic though.

She highly doubted however, that he didn’t know how to contain the magic of the pellets. He could do so much already: read brain waves to teleport, heal people with the snap of a finger, break both her and Falyn out of Rhys’s grasp. How could he not know how to distract the energy of a few pellets locked into a spell? It definitely wasn’t as complimented as it sounded.

Then again, maybe he was just trying to save his skin. It was one thing to know how to perform a spell. It was something else completely to commit to doing something that would destroy the purpose of such a long journey.

Everyone was silent, each one wishing that another would volunteer, Akia was sure. She for one didn’t want to be the one to have to stay behind. She couldn’t. Who would get Falyn back safely? And besides, Phillip was counting on her. She just couldn’t not show up again. He’d be furious.

No one had anything to say. Akia was starting to get antsy. They were wasting time. If they didn’t get going soon, the guards would be back and it would be game over.

Just as she was about to suggest a solution, Sam spoke up. “We’re idiots, all of us. Freaking idiots.” Before anyone could ask what he was talking about, he stalked over to where Falyn was standing. “You can do the time stop. The pellets won’t be able to harm us. We can walk right through.”

“Would the pellets lose their magic if Falyn does the time stop? Wouldn’t the magic still be there? How does this even help?” Mina asked.

“No, the magic would still be there,” Sam explained. “But the pellets would stop moving; they’d stand still. They’re only dangerous if you come in contact with them. Right now they’re moving so fast that there’s no place we could even hope to get through without getting hit. But once Falyn does the time stop, the pellets will freeze and we’ll be able to find a way through.”

There were a few minutes of silence as everyone digested what Sam had said. And once everyone got the idea good through their head, they started to plan.

“But I’ve never done the time stop on my own,” Falyn said once the plan was all set. “It’s always happened when I least expected it. How do you expect me to do it now without any training? I don’t know what to do!”

“All you have to do is relax. It’ll come to you, I’m sure of it.” Sam sounded so sure of himself that Akia almost believed that it could be that easy.

“How would you know?” Falyn asked harshly. “Have you ever done it before?”

“Well, no.”

“Then don’t tell me how easy it is!” she snapped. Sam seemed taken aback by her comments. When she realized that, she took a deep breath and steadied her voice. “What if this doesn’t work? What if the pellets keep moving despite the time stop?”

Sam approached her slowly and placed his hands on her shoulders. “They’ll stop moving. I know they will. This is going to work.” They stood for a while, staring into each other’s eyes. It wasn’t until Akia cleared her throat that they stepped away from each other.

“Right,” she started. “If this is going to happen, we need to do this now. It won’t be long before the guards are forced to come back.”

Falyn turned to face the group, a scared smile on her face. “If I’m gonna do this, I can’t have any distractions, alright?” No one made a sound after that. They all stepped back to give her some space.

Akia ended up standing next to Zeke, something she was less than ecstatic about. Sure, Zeke had been nothing but helpful to their cause. Akia still wasn’t ready to trust him though; not just yet. They had a long way to go before she could trust him.

As Falyn turned to focus on the barrier spell, Akia noticed a sudden flicker in Zeke’s eyes. It was so small that she barely caught it. But it was there. She watched him more carefully as Falyn concentrated on making the time stop work. His face was plain and he made no more movements. It was almost like he was focusing so much, waiting to see what was going to happen.

There was a sudden blast of cool air that passed them by. Akia reached up to untangle her hair, which the breeze had tangled. When she looked at the barrier, she gasped.

“It worked,” she said, her voice almost failing her. She didn’t want to admit it, but she had thought the time stop was the worst idea they could’ve come up with. She went along with it only because everyone else was all for it. She wasn’t about to play the devil’s advocate.

Time around them had stopped. The world had gone quiet. It was an eerie feeling, one that really tugged at Akia. She hated the time stop. Despite being able to resist it, she didn’t like being around when it happened. It was discerning to go on while the world is so still and lifeless.

The barrier spell looked just like Sam had described it would. The azure pellets were still there and pulsating bright blue. But they stood still, rooted to the spot. They were no longer moving.

“Those holes aren’t all that big.” Zeke commented. He was right. Akia had hoped that there were fewer pellets than it had seemed at first glance. Turned out there were actually more pellets than it had seemed at first glance. There weren't very many places where they could make it through without running into a few pellets.

“We’re gonna need all the time we can get. Not that we have to particularly worry about that right now but...just thought I'd say something helpful.” Akia said, not even bothering to hide her voice from shaking. They could all tell that she was nervous; it was obvious. If they hadn’t noticed then they were stupid. What made her most nervous was the time frame that Phillip had given her. It had to have been a few hours at least since she talked with him on the phone. They didn’t have much time left.

“So, who goes first?” Sam asked.

“Doesn’t matter. Just know that Falyn has to go last.” Akia heard the words, but she hadn’t noticed that they were coming out of her mouth. Was she really suggesting that the moonstar go last? What if something happened to her? She’d be lost forever.

“Me? Go last? Why?” Falyn asked. Akia caught the tiniest bit of fear in her voice. Looking up, she saw the pellets moving slowly. As she watched, they got faster until they were moving at top speed again.

“Falyn…” Akia really didn’t know how to finish the sentence. It was obvious that the panic and fear had clouded her emotions, ruining the time stop. But could she get Falyn to calm down again?

Falyn turned to look back at the river and her face paled. “Oh God, oh God, I’m so sorry! Let me try again.”

Before she had time to do anything though, a screeching sound emitted from the walkie-talkie. Akia turned towards the woods just in time to see at least two dozen guards emerge from behind the trees, their weapons pointed in her direction.

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For the LMS contest. Word Count: 1,624