A horn blared somewhere in the Palace. Another one came from the direction of the barracks, and then another from somewhere to the north.

Felitïa stumbled down the steps at the south entrance. She tossed aside the invisibility spell, which was becoming too much of a strain. Now she was outside, she could hopefully get somewhere out of sight. The grounds were huge, and while there were no longer any gardens to provide cover, there were still places to hide, and it would take the guards ages to search everywhere. In that time, maybe she could regain her strength.

Though she also needed to find Zandrue.

No. Zandrue could look after herself. She needed to regain her strength and get her emotions under control first.

Gods, she had come here intending to kill Lidda Plavin. It wasn’t supposed to be the reason she was here, but it had taken up a significant part of her thoughts. But instead, Lidda Plavin’s double had killed herself.

And it was Felitïa’s fault.

The double had been a Darker too, and had done and taken part in terrible things. But she had also gone through worse things, and there had been an innocent young girl buried in there. If it hadn’t been for Felitïa, that girl—Koreen—might still be alive.

That was a foolish thought, of course. Koreen would still be buried and fake Lidda would still be in control.

But telling herself that wasn’t enough. Seeing Koreen thrust the dagger into her own neck, seeing the spray of blood, seeing her tumble over… Felitïa had seen people die before. She’d killed a few herself. But it had never been like this.

Whether it was her fault or not, she couldn’t help feeling responsible. She’d accidentally fallen into Lidda/Koreen’s head. She’d accidentally invaded the memory that had revealed her name. These damn powers! She had no control over them!

Why the fuck hadn’t she listened to Mikranasta?

Because she was a reckless idiot, who thought she was more capable than she actually was. That was why. She’d stumbled her way through so much, and was somehow miraculously still alive. It had given her a confidence she didn’t deserve.

Fuck her ego! Fuck her recklessness! Fuck her powers! She’d never asked for them. She’d never wanted to be the Will-Breaker.

Oh yeah, fuck the gods-damned Will-Breaker! Fuck her all the way to hell!

She wiped away the tears blurring her vision, and ran on. More tears quickly replaced them.

She started heading towards the Bear Fountain, but soon thought better of it. It was too obvious, and likely one of the first places they’d search. She turned southwest instead, past the scorched area that was once the rosarium.

There was a rumble like thunder in the distance.

Rain or snow would be a good thing. It would limit visibility, and make it easier to stay out of sight.

But the sky was mostly clear, with only a few small, white clouds scattered about. The sun shone brightly.

The rumble came again, louder.

No, not a rumble. A roar.

To the south, in the fields that eventually led to the Bear Fountain, a huge shape rose. Great wings spread out, and a long neck with a lizard-like head rose. It opened its mouth and let out another roar, this one even louder.

“Oh shit.” Felitïa stopped and recast the invisibility spell. She hadn’t even considered the dragon. In fact, she’d completely forgotten about it.

Gods damn it, she was a reckless fool.

The dragon turned its head about, looking in every direction.

Felitïa remained as still as she could, and tried to calm her thumping heart while she kept the spell intact.

The dragon’s neck lowered a little and it folded its wings. Its head turned to look in Felitïa’s general direction.

She was low on energy, but the spell would hold as long as she kept her own fear in check. She kept her breaths slow and relaxed her muscles.

The dragon’s head pointed in her direction. Its nostrils twitched.

Scent.

Oh gods, how well did the spell mask scent? It wasn’t something she normally had to think about. It had worked against Volgs who had better smell than humans, but was it enough for a dragon? How could she adjust it to improve it?

Lifting its head up again, the dragon sat on its hind legs and let out another roar. Then it rose to its feet.

It was still quite far away. How fast could it move, and how fast could she run? How far could its fire reach? It didn’t have a presence in the Room yet, did it? A quick check confirmed nothing there, but what sort of presence would it have? Would it be like most other animals, which she barely noticed unless she looked specifically for them?

She looked again. There was definitely nothing there other than Lon and Nesh, not even other rodents or birds. Perhaps if she kept a better check on these kinds of things, she would have noticed something off about that.

The dragon roared again, spread it wings, and leapt into the air.

Felitïa turned and ran, the spell slipping away. It was pointless now.

There was no way she could run fast enough. It would be on her soon, and that would be it.

Huge chunks of the grey walls along the outskirts of the Room blew apart, and Felitïa fell to the ground. Stones and remains of twigs and branches scraped her face and hands. Snow and ash got up her nose and in her mouth.

In the Room, the hole in the grey walls was even larger than it had been.

Felitïa.

A massive presence passed over her, a presence unlike any other she had ever felt in the Room. Hunger—such massive hunger—accompanied it. No, not exactly hunger. Not a desire to eat for survival, but a desire to revel in the flavour of flesh, just for the sheer joy of it.

A gush of air passed over her, and she rolled over. The dragon had flown past her and was now circling around. Why hadn’t it killed her?

In the Room, the dragon’s presence smashed through the diamond walls Felitïa threw against it. They fell apart like paper, much the way Koreen’s walls had fallen to her. There was delight—such exquisite delight—at her suffering, at all suffering.

It was playing with her.

Felitïa.

Could she use that to her advantage?

She had to. She was dead otherwise.

She thickened the diamond walls, made them stronger, and spun them around the dragon’s presence, but they shattered instantly as the dragon burst through. It smashed through the dimensions of the Room, tore entire pieces off.

Zandrue and Rudiger, at the front of the queue went flying in opposite directions. Borisin, Meleng, and Jorvan smashed into each other, while Corvinian and Quilla were trampled by Kindanog and Nin-Akna. The dragon squashed Etiënne and threw Miana straight at Felitïa.

Was it laughing?

It was doing something that seemed like laughing, though not quite.

Felitïa.

Then it burst out of the confines of the Room and into the core of her mind, where it started ripping apart her very essence.

Felitïa.

Felitïa screamed.

Felitïa, you must listen to me.

Oh, fuck off! I’ve listened to you! Over and over I listen to you and you tell me nothing! So you can fuck right off!

No, Felitïa, you don’t understand. I can answer now. The breach in the wall is large enough, but I have little time before I’m noticed. Retrieve the Staff.

What?

Retrieve the Staff. Place the Pearl in the left eye. Hurry!

But I can’t. I don’t have the Pearl! Zandrue does.

She’s coming.

Felitïa.

Yes, I heard you.

Felitïa!

I’m listening!

“Felitïa!”

Oh. She rolled over.

Zandrue was there, hand held out. “Come on! We have to move now!”

She took Zandrue’s hand and rose to her feet. In her head, she gathered every bit of mental strength into one spot, forming a dagger of diamond, which she thrust at the dragon. It recoiled back into the Room, where Felitïa stabbed it with the dagger again.

Outside, the dragon roared in rage and circled back round.

In the Room, the dragon’s presence turned pitch black and began to grow. Heat spread out from it. She’d never felt heat or cold in the Room before.

“Felitïa, let’s go!” Zandrue said, yanking on Felitïa’s arm.

“We can’t outrun it, Zandrue.”

“What the fuck else are we supposed to do?”

Felitïa stabbed at the dragon’s presence again. The diamond dagger burned in her mental hand, but she stabbed again.

Outside, the dragon screeched in pain and rolled as it passed overhead. Flames shot from its mouth, scorching the ground a good fifty paces or more away.

“I can’t believe it missed,” Zandrue said.

“It’s in my head, Zandrue. I’m doing what I can to fight it, but it’s tearing me apart.”

“The Pearl!” Zandrue dug out the Pearl’s pouch. “We can use it to get away.” She shook the Pearl into her hand, and offered Felitïa her other one. “Take my hand. Get us out of here.”

Felitïa shook her head.

The Room was burning. Flames were everywhere, scorching everything. The people in the queue she hadn’t yet uncovered were melting away. Only the presence of the Staff remained untouched.

“Felitïa, come on! We can get away!”

“No, we can’t. Remember when I was in Sinitïa’s head when she used it? I went with her. The dragon’s in my head. It will go with me too. You have to use the Pearl yourself. Go to Agernon. Get the Staff from him and bring it to me.”

“But I can’t use the Pearl. It won’t work for me, remember?”

“Then make it work!”

The dragon landed on the ground some distance away, its head turning to stare at her.

Felitïa stabbed with the red hot dagger again. Once more, the dragon roared in pain. It wobbled on its feet, like it had almost fallen over.

“Zandrue, please!”

Zandrue held up the Pearl and stared at it. “I’m trying! It’s not working! You know it doesn’t work for me!”

“Concentrate! For once in your fucking life, concentrate!”

The flames were in the rest of her head now. The diamond dagger melted, and her mind burned as a darkness deeper than any she had ever imagined flooded through her.

Felitïa screamed, and fell to her knees, clutching her head. With great effort, she managed to turn it, and look up at Zandrue.

There were tears streaming down Zandrue’s face, and her face was drawn back in a rictus of fear. Felitïa couldn’t sense the feelings. There was nothing but burning in her head now. Slowly, Zandrue closed her fist around the Pearl, then closed her eyes.

And then she vanished.

With a scream of both pain and triumph, Felitïa fell the rest of the way to the ground.

It was too late, of course. There was no way Zandrue could get back before the dragon destroyed her mind and ate her corpse. But at least Zandrue had gotten away.

She prepared herself for the end. So much for the Will-Breaker. She’d made a pretty bad one.

When the end didn’t come, she gathered every bit of strength she could to raise her head and look towards the dragon. It had lain down, its head resting on the ground, looking towards her.

Had she hurt it more than she’d realised?

Her head was still burning. She could barely think straight.

But she was still thinking.

She gathered her strength again, and pinched out some of the black flames in her head. A bit of light returned, so she pinched out some more flames. Bit by bit, she got rid of more. There was still a lot left, but the pain had diminished and she could reform the Room again.

She stood up, and so did the dragon.

Ezuna.

She wasn’t sure if someone had told her that name at some point, or she had plucked it from the dragon’s mind now. It didn’t matter. She stared at Ezuna, and Ezuna stared back at her.

In the Room, Ezuna’s presence flared, but Felitïa looked past it. She focused on the grey walls, specifically the gaping hole. The dragon had burst through with little effort, and it had opened up more of her abilities.

Felitïa smiled inwardly, and pulled the grey walls towards Ezuna. The dragon lashed out, smashing more pieces off the walls. Felitïa pulled more of the walls forward and, piece by piece, the dragon ripped them to shreds.

You’re powerful, Felitïa said, but you’re not very smart.

Roar!

Had the dragon actually used that word, or was it just her mind’s interpretation of a mental roar? Probably the latter, but it didn’t really matter.

She breathed in deeply. Her mind expanded and grew with power that flooded into it. She wasn’t sure she knew how to use it, but if she was going to go down, maybe she could take the dragon with her. Maybe she could even hold out long enough for Zandrue to get back.

Ezuna’s presence lashed out, but Felitïa wrapped her new walls around it. They weren’t diamond anymore. Now, they weren’t really anything. Just pure mental power. In truth, that was all they had ever really been. Black. Diamond. Those were just words—visualisations—and she didn’t need those anymore.

The walls wrapped around the dragon’s presence, and squeezed inwards. It lashed back out, broke through pieces of the walls, but Felitïa replaced them. It broke through more, and she replaced them again. She couldn’t quite squash it down to a point. Although she seemed to have vast new reserves of energy, she was using up those reserves fast. As soon as she patched a hole, cracks would appear. After a while, there were cracks everywhere in the sphere surrounding Ezuna. The dragon was incredibly powerful.

Outside, the dragon slowly raised its head again. Although its presence was still contained, the cracks were letting enough leak out that it was regaining control of its body. Felitïa patched the cracks with an entire new layer on the sphere, but the inner layer quickly fell apart and cracks started appearing in the new outer layer.

It was only a matter of time before it could open its mouth and breathe on her.

Zandrue appeared beside her, Staff in hand. “Thank the gods you’re still alive. I worried you might…”

Felitïa held out her hand, and Zandrue passed her the Staff.

Felitïa, the Staff said.

Shut up. Felitïa took the Staff, passed it to her other hand, then held out her hand again. “Pearl.”

Zandrue handed her the Pearl, and she placed it in the left eye socket of the Staff. A shock jolted through her and she almost stumbled back.

Felitïa. I...not...whole...

Just shut the fuck up.

Shut...ting...up. The Staff went quiet.

Miracles never ceased.

In the Room, the dragon burst free of the walls. That was fine. She needed that energy back anyway.

Light, the voice in her head that sounded like the Staff but wasn’t the Staff said.

What about it?

Outside, the dragon shook its head, then focused it in Felitïa and Zandrue’s direction.

It’s one of the disciplines in the Pearl. Call upon it. The Staff will focus it.

How?

Just will it.

The dragon opened its mouth.

Felitïa held out the Staff and willed the light to come forth. She stumbled slightly as the magical power within her rushed into the Staff. The Pearl glowed and a beam of bright yellow-white light shot out, piercing the dragon’s chest, boring a hole into it.

The dragon roared in pain, and took several steps back. It turned its head in back Felitïa’s direction, but she willed the light forth again. This time, she kept her footing as the beam ripped across the side of the dragon’s neck. The next beam ripped a hole in one of its wings. Its screams were almost pitiful.

Ezuna fled the Room, spread her wings, and leapt into the air. Felitïa shot a beam through its tail as it flew away, but it was soon out of sight.

A hand touched Felitïa’s shoulder, and she jumped.

Zandrue stepped back, hands raised. “It’s just me. That was fucking awesome!”

Felitïa grinned at her. Her legs were wobbling. That had drained a lot of energy.

“Are you okay?”

Felitïa reached out to Zandrue for support. Gods, she was suddenly exhausted. So exhausted.

Zandrue took hold of her and held her up. “What can I do?”

“Get me somewhere I can rest before the guards catch us. They’re looking for me, you know.”

“I heard the horns. Figured they were for you.”

“You were pretty awesome too, you know.”

Zandrue put one arm around Felitïa, while Felitïa put an arm around Zandrue. “Yeah, I suppose I was, wasn’t I?”

“I love you, you know.”

Zandrue laughed. “Yeah, I know. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Felitïa leaned her head on Zandrue’s shoulder as they walked—more stumbled—away.