"What do you know about help?" I muttered. "Where are you?"
"I am coming. But hold on to your magic for the battle that can be won. It's not with Valerius, not anymore."
Where was Crispus with the unicorn? They should've been here by now. Unless Callistus wasn't there anymore. The Praetors said they had chased him away.
Life was draining from me, and still there wasn't a spark from Valerius, as there should have been. Why not? I was giving him everything. Everything.
"Nicolas, I said that's enough!" Radulf's voice came at me so sharp that it snapped me away from Valerius.
I released the senator and looked down at his face, even more lifeless than I felt.
He was gone.
When I looked up again, I saw the flash of white out of the corner of my eye. Livia was in front, but Crispus rode in the saddle behind her.
No, I didn't want Livia in this battle. I stood and ran toward them. But before I could say anything, Crispus dismounted and said, "The unicorn wouldn't ride with me. Not until she came too. How's my father?"
My heart sank. It was hard enough to know what had happened, but having to say it was so much worse. I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Crispus. I did what I could for him."
Crispus nodded and looked away. Livia slid off the unicorn's back and immediately put a hand on his arm for comfort. He pressed his hand over hers, gently and gratefully.
"I'm sorry," I mumbled again. I needed to apologize, not only for failing to save him, but for being the reason he was targeted.
"My father brought this on himself," Crispus said, clearly fighting back tears. "And he'd want us to win this battle. We have to keep fighting."
I nodded, but by then, Livia's eyes had drifted to me. "Nic, your leg!"
She ripped the edge of her tunic for fabric to bind the wound, but I didn't care about that. I started searching Callistus's saddle, checking to be sure the bulla was indeed gone. The rope I had used to knot it was still there, but the bulla was not. It really had disappeared.
Panic swept through me. I had no idea where to begin to search for the bulla, or how I'd do it while this battle was raging.
"Aurelia found Callistus first, then called me over to protect him while she came closer to the battle," Livia said as she bandaged my leg. "We knew he was yours -- who else would be riding a unicorn?"
"Was the bulla here when you found him?" I asked.
Livia shook her head while another fire erupted at the far end of the fields, closer to where the fighting between the Praetors and villa guards had moved. There could only be one reason for that.
Radulf had said he was coming to help me. Obviously, he had arrived.
Get my sister to safety," I said to Crispus. "After all that's happened tonight, I know I can't ask this of you, but I need you to keep Livia safe."
Crispus put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm the one who cannot ask anything of you. I'll protect your sister, Nic."
And I knew he would. I trusted him, just as Valerius urged me to do. When they ran off in one direction, I climbed onto Callistus's back, headed toward the fighting, and determined to be strong enough to finish it.
Radulf was somewhere in the middle of it all, sending out balls of fire that he launched at whatever Praetor was irritating him the most. They responded by diving into a small pond not far away to put out any fires that had gotten too close to them. So I put my energy there, using magic to build up the slope of the pond, which became steep and slippery. The men could get into it to douse the fire, but it'd take several more men with ropes to lift them out.
The effort exhausted me, and I leaned forward in the saddle while I recovered. The men who were now stuck in the pond shouted curses at me, but I ignored them. If they didn't stop y
elling so loud, I'd send something into that pond to bite them.
While I rested, I turned my attention to Radulf. The fight around him was emptying, and once I got a better look, I saw why. He wasn't really there. It was only a trick of light, similar to what he had done when I fought him outside the baths.
He was here, enough to send magic, and I knew from experience that he could receive the blows of magic as well. But he wouldn't feel the sting from the Praetor swords, and certainly wouldn't be affected by their touch. If only I'd been clever enough to do that tonight. If only I were clever enough to know how to do that trick.
A hand touched my injured leg, and I jerked it backward, expecting the worst.
"You kicked me!" Aurelia said. "Ow!"