To Save a Life

To Save a Life
        by Sethorion

    I kicked my captor in the shin, breaking his concentration long enough to bring my power to bear. As gunfire sounded, I stretched out my hand, tossing the guards away. The bullets fired in every which direction, missing Martin and tearing into the abandoned hut’s mud walls.
    "Sh'eilek, mage-girl," my captor swore, grabbing my arm and struggling to pin it to my side.
    Kicking one guard senseless, Martin grabbed a handgun from his belt and turned it on my captor. “Release her!”
    A jet of blue fire streaked out of the necromancer’s outstretched palm. I desperately tried to stem it with my own power, but could do little more than change its course, causing it to swirl in a roaring vortex.
    “Shoot, Martin! Shoot him now!” I screamed.
    The Necromancer laughed. “Kill me then. Avenge your family.”
    Martin hesitated, stunned.
    I couldn’t tell him. I was a girl stolen from time, thrown at my father’s feet and forced to murder his innocence. If he knew who I was, and why the Necromancer must die, our universe would collapse.
    But it had to be Martin who pulled the trigger. His fingerprints... his history… …my future.
    The Necromancer glowered from under his dark cowl, his black warrior robes glisteningly darkly in the vortex of flames as he and I battled for control, my palm inches from his. He was occupied, vulnerable.
    But, weakened, I began to lose control. “He took your family! Take his life!” I choked. “Kill him now, Martin!” Innocent as a rose, Martin had to murder, or doom the world.
    That’s when fate played her final card, and the Necromancer drew his knife.
    Martin screamed my name in horror.
    I gasped as the cold steel pierced my heart. My knees buckled and I faltered.
    Gunfire rang in my deaf ears.