Page 124

A sixth time, and the laughing man took a sword to the abdomen, pushing his friend out of the way.

A seventh, and the four of them were lying in bed making plans. They all knew they were going to die–to drain–but they thought maybe Aisling had the best chance to live. Maybe she could pull from all of them because she was their source…

Again and again and again, faster and faster there were more scenes. More moments. More misery.

I watched all their pain, until eventually I wasn’t me anymore. I was merely a silent spirit lurking in a story that was not mine to tell, watching, waiting, listening.

I watched as one after another all the men died.

Their children died.

The land around them which had once been green and lush turned hot and desolate.

I watched as the red-haired queen, Aisling, became more desperate. More reckless. Without her family she had nothing. She was only rage and power.

And I watched as her will shattered, and she begged for the source to take away her misery and give it away. Spread it everywhere, to everyone, to Elsewhere.

I watched for so long that it became my story too. I was no longer standing beside Aisling, but I was her, watching through her eyes as she cursed her enemies, wishing for them to feel the pain she’d felt.

I wished for time to turn back to when the land was united, and my family was whole. So I lay down my bargain: Only when the land could be as it once was, would the misery end. Only when the crown went back to the worthy, could I finally rest.

For though I’d long since returned to the fire, I’d spread too much of myself to the land and given them my power bit by bit.

Every time my name was spoken, I was bound tighter to the land. Trapped here. Kept in the dark by the power of thousandsof voices calling to me, invoking my true name and bidding me to care for them.

In all this time I’d become the gods to which I once prayed, but I was still angry. If I'd ever cared for the people I could not remember it. I’d been trapped without family, without love, for so long that I knew only vengeance. Only everlasting misery.

But in all that time I was trapped, I watched. And I waited. And I listened.

Then one day, I saw the solution. The power kept me tethered, so why not give it away?

I tried to send the magic outward, but it turned Wilde and corrupted everything it touched. I tried again to draw it inward, but that took it from the creatures who needed it to survive, and drove the land into greater chaos.

I was so tired, and I knew there was no hope.

I would not die here, but oh how I wished I could.

So I tried one last time.

I watched a new red-headed woman living in the valley where my castle once stood, her belly growing larger by the day.

I waited for her to come to me, high up on the mountain.

I listened to her invoke my name and make her demands.

And in granting her prayer I chose my vessel–my heir–and I gave my power away in the hope that it might come back to me when it was worthy.

40

LONNIE

THE SOURCE

The last time I died, I awoke to warmth and confusion.This time, I woke to smoke and ash.

As I slowly opened my eyes, I was met with the sight of the jagged edge of the cliff jutting out in front of me. The same cliff that I had impulsively leaped off just moments before.

Or, was it moment? Minutes? Hours?