Water blasted Feyla down the aqueduct tunnel seconds after she'd shoved the notes in her bag. It slung her around curves and turns, barely letting her catch a breath before plunging her back down again. Her lungs stung and all she could see was wet blackness as she spun around and around, lost to all sense of direction. Something—or someone—slammed against her side before being tugged away. Water clogged her nose, stealing her remaining air.

Fear gripped Feyla's chest, cold and clammy like the water around her. Her body cried out for air, begging for just one breath. Right when she thought her lungs would burst open, she hit an iron grate. Wrapping her arms around, she clung to it like a lost child until the water receded enough for Feyla to suck in a breath. Someone above must have realized the drain had opened.

A dim light peaked past the grate. Feyla slogged toward it, squinting in the near darkness. I must be in the tunnel that Sedgewick said led back into the city.

Sedgewick! Feyla twisted around, splashing water everywhere. Where had he gone? Was he okay?

A hand clamped around her ankle, tugging her back into the water. Water stung her open eyes as she kicked off whoever had grabbed her. Feyla stumbled back and swerved around, only to spot Zedeya emerging from the water, murder in her eyes as she pushed her blood-red hair out of her face.

Black magic swirled to life in her hand.

"What are you doing?" Mydel shouted as he stumbled into the dim light.

Zedeya curled her lip in irritation. "I'm finishing off the battle healer before she tries to protect her little boyfriend, what else does it look like?"

"I'm not a battle healer!" Feyla growled. "I'm a personal assistant!" She launched herself at the woman. Zedeya's blast scorched her wet hair before the two of them crashed into the water. Feyla scrambled to jab her in the neck but the taller woman twisted away and kneed Feyla in the stomach. She doubled over, a groan escaping her lips.

Zedeya reared her hand back to deliver the finishing blast. Feyla clenched her eyes shut, raising her hand in a futile attempt to block the coming blow.

Except it never came.

"Lady!"

Feyla cracked her eyes open to see Mydel holding a staff to Zedeya's throat while Hobrin slogged through the water, a shaking Mrs. Sniffles in his hands.

"Don't. Move," Mydel said, his eyes, skipping between the three of them as if he was trying to decide who was the most dangerous.

"Mage—" Zedeya growled.

"Shut up before I blast your head, Sorceress," he snapped. "No one's moving until Master Tyrinn gets here." He glanced toward the darkened depths of the tunnel as if expecting him to appear at any moment.

Feyla's pulse pounded against her ears as she slowed her every moment, trying to seem as non-hostile as possible. "Mydel," she started, her voice soft like she was soothing a frightened animal. "I know you're trying to do the right thing but you have this all wrong!"

Mydel's shoulders slumped tiredly. Water dripped from his still-wet coat, plopping onto the water coating the floor. "I... I know you believe that, Feyla, but please stop trying to— "

"It is true!" she shouted, her voice losing its soothing nature in the face of her righteous indignation. "Tyrinn's been lying to you— "

If it hadn't been sopping wet, the hair on Zedeya's neck would have raised in anger. "Shut the gates up, you little— "

Feyla's hand flew to the pouch at her side. "—And I can prove it!"

"Now that's something I'd be interested in seeing."

All four of them swerved toward the light. The iron grate had been swung open and Master Gaiven now stood in the entrance.

Feyla went slack with relief. With Master Gaiven here and Mydel watching Zedeya, she could convince them of Sedgewick's innocence without having to worry about Tyrinn—

A cold clamminess passed over Feyla, one that had nothing to do with the water.
 
If the rest of them were here then Sedgewick could be trapped alone with Tyrinn!

There was no time to explain. She tossed the notes at Gaiven and dashed back into the aqueducts. "Read those! They're Tyrinn's!"

If Sedgewick hadn't been focused on not drowning, he might have spent time regretting his choice of a plan.

He crashed into a curved corner, digging in his nails as the water slowly pounded his grip away. Something rammed into his side, sending him careening down the opposite fork he'd been drifting towards.

Water clawed at him like a wild beast playing with its prey. He stole a gasp of air before it dragged him back down its murky depths.

The rough stone ripped his shirt as he scraped across the floor, water receding around him. Hacking up water, Sedgewick cracked his eyes open. The world blurred around him. Light blazed in from the archway in front of him. The tunnel had widened, now triple in size. Squinting, he managed to make out the outline of broken bars and the drop at the end of the aqueduct, water still falling into the green lake below. Sedgewick blinked but the only thing it made clearer was the stinging on his cheek. It almost felt like something had cut— His glasses!

He touched his face—but no, the only thing there was his new cut. Blinking again, Sedgewick staggered to his feet.

Only to freeze as a hacking laugh cut him through.

Sedgewick twisted around slowly. Please no. Surely not.

The blurred form of Tyrinn rose slowly from the ground, laughing while he hacked up water. "Not bad. I'm still going to kill you but congratulations on prolonging your useless life a little longer." He lazily raised a hand and blasted at him.

Sedgewick rolled to the right. The spell hissed as the magic hit the wet ground.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to see you like this," Tyrinn said. He breathed deeply as if savoring the moment before blasting at him again.

Sedgewick scrambled back. Steam rose from where his feet had been. He fumbled for his belt, a rune disc nearly slipping from his sweaty hand. It flickered into a ward seconds before Tyrinn's blast crashed against the spot his chest would have been.

"I'm really starting to get sick of those." Tyrinn fired off another blast. "But if you weren't such an arrogant pile of dragon's dung, I might bother thanking you for making this interesting. As it is..." The essence flare in Tyrinn's hand doubled in size. It crashed against Sedgewick's ward, shattering it. "I think we've wasted enough time."

Sedgewick stumbled to his feet and pulled out his last ward. The lake laid behind him and Tyrinn blocked the tunnels. Gates! He'd gotten the notes but having his name cleared post-mortem wasn't how he'd planned to spend his magic-less future.

He activated the final ward and pulled out Feyla's first fireball disc. The cool material thrummed with her magic, a constant reminder of her absence.

Tyrinn's magic sparked in his hand. "You really haven't gotten it yet, have you?" His venom-green glow brightened, drowning out the natural light. "All right then. Let me explain."

He blasted against Sedgewick's ward hard enough to knock him back. "For years and years, I was forced to sit back and watch while you got everything!"

Tyrinn swung his arm to the side. Sedgewick moved the ward just in time for the blast to crush him against the wall.

"My father was Head Court Mage for centuries! I can trace my mageatic roots back to the Second Age! And you—" He pounded his magic against the ward in a constant stream. Cracks scattered throughout it. "A blasted foreigner from some backwood mountain tribe, got everything that should have been mine."

Sedgewick pushed the ward back against Tyrinn's magic, his arm shaking from exertion as he fought for enough space to raise his other arm and fire back at Tyrinn. "Forgive me for not planning my life around someone who was still a child. I'll be sure to do that from now on."

Tyrinn's magic faded just long enough for Sedgewick's blast to shoot off Tyrinn's new ward like a bug on glass. "Still acting so superior. I guess I'll have to be clearer."

And then Tyrinn's magic wrapped around Sedgewick's ward, biting into it like a fanged animal. Sedgewick's eyes widened but before he could drop the disc, Tyrinn slung him against the broken grate like a child's toy.

Sedgewick's breath fled him. Pain crackled inside his chest. Spots swam across his eyes as his head cracked against the iron grate. He crumpled to the ground, the rune discs shattering against the stone below.

"I am going to kill you. And when your corpse is rotting in the lake and I've ruined your legacy forever, I will finally—" Tyrinn paused, breathing deeply as if a great weight had just fallen off his shoulders. "Finally have everything that should have been mine in the first place."

Sedgewick glared at Tyrinn's blurred form. Dozens of expletives mushed together is his throbbing head but his empty, heaving lungs kept them from leaving his mouth. A faint voice in the back of his brain whispered that he was trapped, cornered. Helpless.

Tyrinn smiled down at him like a daemon about to suck his soul away. He knelt in front of Sedgewick, his voice dropping low. "You get it now, Alverdyne? I'm not destroying anything. I just have to break things down before I can remake them how they're supposed to be. Which never should have included you."

He chuckled as if Sedgewick was a pitiful punchline. "You really don't belong here, Sedgewick. Everyone hates you. The only reason you were tolerated was because of your magic and I—the man you always underestimated—took it from you. You are useless. You are worthless. And you're going to die like that."

"No," Sedgewick choked out, finally regaining his breath.

"No?" asked Tyrinn incredulously as he stood up. "Did I hit you against that grate a little too hard?" He reared back his leg, punctuating every next word with a kick. "You. Have. Nothing. You. Are. Nothing!"

"You don't...define me," Sedgewick heaved out past the pain in his chest. "My magic...doesn't define me. And killing me won't make me any lesser...or you any greater."

Tyrinn paled. His face hardened like a lake in a Northland winter, cracks of rage glimpsing through. "We'll see about that."

Sedgewick braced himself for the blast he knew was coming. Until a blur of blonde flashed across his field of vision.

Feyla lunged at Tyrinn but he'd already seen her. He pushed off her attempt to knock him out, sending her tumbling to the ground.

"Now." He summoned a fireball and aimed it at Feyla. "This is getting interesting. What do you say, Alverdyne? Should I kill her first, prolong your life a little longer? You have no idea how much of a thorn in my side she's been," Tyrinn said, smirking at her while Feyla scowled at him. "Then you can tell me if watching your woman die is as painful the second time around."

Rage is the best anesthetic. Sedgewick's hand curled around a shard of broken rune disc. He lunged at Tyrinn and sunk it into the taller man's stomach. Tyrinn tried to shove him off but Sedgewick just dug it in deeper.

Until Tyrinn pushed again.

The shard slipped from his hand. He tried to grab onto the grate but it slipped through his blood-stained hand. His feet skimmed the edge.

And then he was falling. Pain slammed into his head again as he crashed into the water. Water choked his mouth but his chest refused to move, doubling his agony to punish him for temporarily forgetting it. Kicking, kicking, kicking but the surface drew no closer.

Lighting shimmered above him. Sedgewick's eyes closed, a final thought passing through his mind. This must be what dying feels like...

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Author's Note: Hello, everyone! Sorry for the long delay! This was a tough chapter and I've had a lot of other things going on. We're in the final stretch! Which reminds me, would anyone be interested in an author/character Q &A once I'm finished?