Frost Prisms (The Broken Prism Book 5) (36 page)

An hour and a half later, he heard an explosion.

Hayden dropped his book in surprise, and Aleric snapped his attention away from his work and looked through the window. Hayden had no idea what had blown up; it sounded like something large, but the sound had also had an odd, muffled quality to it.

Another crash followed, less muted, and the distorted prisms that his father kept on the worktable shuddered slightly, along with the crystals on the chandelier.

The Dark Prism hurried to the window for a better look, and his eyes widened in surprise—one of the few times Hayden had seen that much expression on his face. Before he could ask what was going on, Bonk soared in through the still-broken window beside his father, clutching the violet prism in his talons.

Hayden and Aleric both watched his flight in unison, as Bonk coasted over to Hayden and dropped the prism in his waiting hands.

For a moment that seemed to stop time, Hayden and his father made eye-contact. The dangerous flicker of insanity flared to life in the latter’s eyes as they came to an understanding.

The Dark Prism brought down the eyepiece of his circlet just as Hayden dove out of his chair and rolled across the floor behind a bookshelf. A moment after he’d left his seat, it burst into bright green flames that consumed the entirety of it and burned out within a few seconds, leaving only ash in its wake.

Guess he’s too crazy to remember that he wants me alive.

Hayden scooted back from the bookshelf as it exploded towards him, deluging him in heavy books, which slammed into him hard enough to leave bruises. He frantically turned the violet prism in front of his eye before the dust settled and cast Clone on himself three times in rapid succession, watching the copies of himself fan out.

Run around and cause confusion!
he mentally commanded, leaping to his feet and doing the same so that it wasn’t immediately apparent which Hayden was the real one.

The ruse worked. Four Haydens were running around the room in different directions, and the Dark Prism had to pause for a moment to consider which to attack first. Fortunately, he turned towards the Hayden on the opposite side of the room from the real one, putting his back to him.

Hayden cast Pierce at his father’s back just as he heard a roar from the grounds that could only mean the magically-enslaved monsters had been called into play.

That means they’ve made it through the light curtain!

His heart soared at the thought that help might be coming, but he didn’t have long to celebrate, as his father whirled around so fast that he might have been waiting for Hayden to attack from behind, rebounding the spell and causing Hayden to cast Shield on himself just to block it.

“You can’t defeat me,” his father said calmly, twisting the Black Prism and silently casting something that shattered Hayden’s shield. “I always know when magic is being used against me. It is a spell that you could never hope to replicate.”

Awesome,
Hayden thought ruefully, dispersing his clones and casting Break at the Black Prism.

His father didn’t even bother blocking the attack, and somehow the Black Prism absorbed the spell without any visible sign of damage. Hayden targeted his father’s heart and cast Stop, trying not to dwell on the consequence if he was successful; he had told everyone that he was willing to do what was necessary to win, and now it was time to step up.

In a way, this was better than having the extra week to dwell on the inevitable, slowly counting down the hours of his life. The abruptness of the fight prevented him from thinking about anything except the battle, before his courage could fail him.

His father blocked the spell and fired back something that Hayden tried to shield himself against. The shield was only half-formed when the spell shattered it, the magic grazing one arm and making it feel like he was being burned alive from the inside out.

Somewhere outside was the unmistakable hunting cry of a magically-inclined dragon, but there was no time to figure out which of the three dragonlings it was. Praying that Bonk was alright, Hayden dove behind the worktable and knocked it onto its side so he could hide behind it. He threw himself into his magic with reckless abandon, peeking out from behind the table and casting faster than he had ever cast in his life.

He started with Sear, which was deflected, and then followed with Stun, Blind, Break, and Pierce in rapid succession, before ducking behind the table again.

His father avoided the first three spells—barely—but Hayden’s piercing spell caught him in the shoulder and Hayden saw his father wince.

I wonder how long it’s been since anyone actually landed a spell against the Dark Prism?
Hayden twisted the violet prism rapidly in front of his eye, seeking fresh inspiration.
If I survive long enough to see Asher, I’ll have to tell him about my accomplishment.

His father was clearly furious at being wounded, and returned with a volley of magic that seemed to explode out of him at random. The first spell slammed into the table and knocked it into Hayden so hard that he got thrown into a backward roll. The second spell caused the table to break into dozens of wooden fragments, which flew at Hayden like spears. He tried to roll out of the way but was only partially successful, and one of the fragments of wood sliced through his pant leg, drawing blood as it flew past.

In a rush of adrenaline, Hayden cast Clone again even as he was rolling out of the way, over and over until half a dozen copies of himself were attempting to right themselves alongside him.

“Not this time,” the Dark Prism said coldly, twisting the Black Prism in his eyepiece and casting some sort of magical net that seemed to rush past Hayden, banishing all of the copies as it made contact. “Where did you get that prism?” he demanded, as Hayden dodged another spell and was almost crushed by a falling bookshelf.

“You shouldn’t have underestimated me, Father!” Hayden yelled back from beneath the detritus of books and splintered wood. “I’m as much a Frost as you are.”

He was still sitting on the floor, but there was no time to get up. Hayden’s sweaty palm almost caused him to drop the remaining prism fragment—now half its original size—as he turned it in front of his eye.

This is going to get terrifying when my prism is spent.

He started to cast Break, but his father cast his own spell at Hayden’s prism, and Hayden was barely able to throw it away from him before it exploded in brilliant white light, which surely would have blinded him or forced some kind of hideous light-sickness upon him if he had still been looking through it. The effect of the dark magic being used on it caused the violet prism to shudder violently and then shatter into a mist of fine powder.

Well, I gave it a good try…

He hoped his father’s shoulder was really hurting him. It would be some small consolation to cause the man any amount of inconvenience.

Aleric bestowed a condescending smirk upon him at last, twisting the Black Prism slowly in front of his eye as though deliberating over which spell would be the best one to kill his only son with. Hayden was ashamed at the momentary spike of fear that surged through him, that made him want to cry out that he was supposed to be kept alive long enough to have his Source drained, because it would buy him another few minutes of precious life, if nothing else. He mastered the impulse and took a deep breath, determined to face death like a man, not like a scared little boy.

His last, wild prayer as the Dark Prism prepared to cast was that hopefully whoever had brought down the defenses around the estate would be better armed than he was.

Something that looked like black lightning burst out of the Black Prism and streaked towards him so rapidly that Hayden didn’t even have time to do anything other than close his eyes and prepare for death.

The unexpected crash that heralded powerful magic colliding set off a shockwave so forceful that it knocked him flat on his back. Wondering why he wasn’t dead yet, Hayden opened his eyes and saw the remnants of light dissipating from around some sort of shield that had been cast in front of him.

Eyes widening in surprise, Hayden struggled back to a sitting position and saw who had shielded him from death at the last second.

Asher.

The Prism Master was at the door of the library, panting as though he’d sprinted the whole way there from Mizzenwald, his combat circlet around his head and fully-loaded with prisms. A violet prism was in his primary eyepiece, with a clear one in the compounding slot in front of it.

Hayden couldn’t help but feel a wild surge of relief at the sight of Master Asher, because his presence had always meant safety in the past.

His father noticed Asher at the same moment as Hayden had and said, “How did you get past the light curtain?” in a tone of cold disbelief.

Asher smirked and said, “Your son isn’t the only one you seem to have underestimated, Aleric. You’ll be unhappy to hear that I’ve brought quite a few friends with me.”

“You seem to have lost them along the way,” the Dark Prism observed flatly.

“Some are battling monsters, and some of them scattered to search the house for you.” Asher shrugged. “But I knew where you’d be, Aleric; even in madness, you’re too predictable.”

Hayden’s father scowled at that and attacked his old friend with the Black Prism, casting so many spells in rapid succession that Hayden marveled at anyone being able to look for alignments that quickly.

Asher was no novice though, and met the attacks head-on, twirling his primary and secondary prisms around in their eyepieces so fast that Hayden almost got a headache just watching it. Unfortunately, with the speed of the Dark Prism’s casting, Asher was barely able to keep up with defending himself, let alone go on the offense. Hayden saw his mentor cast shielding spells more powerful than he had ever seen before, reflecting and dispelling the attacks against him over and over again. The clash of magic as their spells collided sent scattered beams of light splitting off in all directions and occasionally toppled more furniture as shockwaves rippled through the library.

If Asher slows down for even a second, my father will have him.

Hayden forced himself out of his stupor and pulled himself to his feet, finally feeling the pain from where his father’s spells had hit him but doing his best to ignore it. He could still hear shouts and the roaring of monsters outside, as well as the sounds of magic being unleashed around the grounds. He wondered how many people had come to help fight, and sincerely prayed that his mentor had the good sense to leave Tess and Zane at school where it was safe.

Hayden looked around wildly, sifting through debris and the ruins of the library in the desperate hope that there would be a weapon he could use to help Asher fight. Preferably a prism or a wand, though he doubted he would get so lucky. More likely, he’d have to settle for a splintered table leg.

It would be nice if Asher would toss me one of his spare prisms…

Hayden didn’t dare raise his voice to ask, because if he broke the man’s concentration for even a second, he would likely die.

He seized the sharpest looking fragment of wood he could find and tried to approach his father slowly from behind, in the hopes of passing unnoticed. Unfortunately, his father blasted Asher off of his feet with an Incendiary spell at that moment and turned in time to see Hayden approaching.

The Prism Master flew backwards and slammed into the closed doors before falling to the floor and rolling back to his feet as though unfazed by the entire ordeal.

“Hayden, RUN!” he called out as the Dark Prism turned his eyepiece to find a new alignment.

Not waiting to see what spell his father chose, Hayden threw the table leg at him and dove to the floor just as a ripple of heat passed directly overhead. More books flew off of the shelves behind him and nearly buried him once more.

“Just go!” Asher commanded, spinning his secondary circlet around to put a fresh prism in front of him. “Leave him to me!”

There was nothing Hayden wanted to do more than follow directions right now, but he knew what happened the last time Asher had fought his father alone, and he didn’t think the Dark Prism would feel terribly forgiving towards his old friend a second time.

His father’s attention was diverted again by the more immediate threat of Master Asher as he began casting, this time taking the offensive and forcing Aleric to defend himself.

We just need to hold out long enough for more help to come…
Hayden thought desperately.
Once the others clear out the monsters, my father will be outnumbered.

Just as Hayden began to wonder why his father hadn’t simply translocated himself to a safe location, he realized he already knew the answer. Even as the Dark Prism shielded himself against Asher’s attacks, he was moving steadily closer to Hayden, as though positioning himself for something.

He won’t leave without me. He either wants to kidnap me again or kill me, but he won’t risk me being rescued, because if I am armed, I am dangerous to him—I showed my hand when I managed to injure him.

It seemed that his father acknowledged him as a threat at last, especially after fighting him when Hayden was armed with only a single prism. Still, that didn’t bode well for his chances of survival…no wonder Asher was telling him to run away.