Page 18

Chapter 18

Rev

Only our boots crunching through the ice broke the silence. The trees grew tall with dark trunks dusted in snow. The sky was harder to see through the tops of dark pine, needles sharp and threatening as we entered the line of trees.

I had guessed at what we’d find, but the truth in those trees was far worse than anything I could have imagined. Graphed into each trunk was a face, a body, limbs of people—channelers, conduits possibly—it was too difficult for even me to tell.

Each body was sunk in varying depths of the black trees with vines that wound over and through their skin, arms, legs, and torsos. Some frozen faces could be seen, eyes closed, some were too far into the depths of their tree to even discern if it was a man or woman, old or young.

Ilyenna retched somewhere behind me and Talon rushed to her. I twisted my head to see her stop him with a hand and a look. She shook her head, wiped her mouth, and stood straighter, following the steps through the ice.

I stole a glance at my beloved only to see what she was feeling plainly on her face.

Cold , searing anger engulfed her. With hands closed tightly at her sides, her jaw clenched as she studied another of the trees. Its black carcass pulsed a purple light. The red hair of the trapped woman lifted slightly in the cold breeze, her face frozen and partially consumed by the rough bark.

“ This is what she does with them,” Karus whispered so only I could hear. “ She takes them and feeds off their power like this.”

“ Yes .”

“ There are hundreds here.” Her voice broke for just a moment before she swallowed and continued. “ How long do you think she’s been doing this?”

I shivered, passing by a tree pulsing in a golden glow. The only sign of the channeler inside was the shape of a hand reaching out through the coarse bark. “ The Tectus Trail hasn’t been used since Baron Eyreth murdered his channelers.”

“ Less than a hundred years, then.” She paused, glancing behind to the rest of our people, each face grave and heartbroken for their brothers and sisters in magic. “ What if one of these is?—”

“ These are too old. These trees have been here a long time. We both can feel it. If she plans this fate for Philius , we have not come across him yet.”

“ Can they be saved?” she asked, voicing the question we all were undoubtedly thinking.

“ I hope so.” I reached out to touch the cheek of an old woman, her face the only part of her exposed in the ragged trunk of the tree. Her lashes were encased in ice, frozen to her face. Her white magic pulsed from the center of the tree where her heart was buried deep beneath the wood. She didn’t flinch. She didn’t open her eyes or show any evidence that she could ever exist outside of her cage at all.

We trekked on, passing tree after tree, magic wielder after magic wielder, silent as a graveyard. Possibly , that was exactly where we were. I felt each one’s power as we passed, but not as a single hub of magic. Instead , each tree felt like a nodule, a branch’s point which led back to a whole somewhere, feeding the Blightress with unchecked power.

Even more so than before, I understood while crossing through the grove of people that the Blightress was unmatched. Karus and I together could never defeat her as she was now, siphoning the power of hundreds, here at the top of a nameless hill at the base of the Attatok Mountains .

I also understood that she had led us here because she wanted us to see. Her reasoning frightened me most, and I gripped Karus’s cold hand tighter in my own.

“ Stop ,” Figuerah whispered harshly at the end of Karus’s line. Her eyes danced to Talon , who lowered his head, brows furrowed.

He nodded to her and she spoke. “ There are creatures ahead. Some kind of animal that feels like,”—her eyes darted to Karus —“they feel like lumens.”

As if they’d heard, a howl pierced the air, flying through the grove, eerie and vicious.

“ We need to hurry,” Karus urged. “ Figuerah , Talon , up front.”

They did as she commanded, moving swiftly to the front of the lines, shields out, and hands before them.

“ Compaynen ,” Figuerah called through the sea of trees. Her golden power flowed from the tips of her fingers, winding through what we still had yet to face in a spell of calming.

We trudged faster, caring less about the crunch of ice as the howls continued in a beckoning for what we would face next. A clearing loomed ahead as we passed tree after tree, body after body, pulsing in that dim glow.

We broke through to a clearing, finding Philius unconscious in the snow, his puffs of white breath the only indication that he was still alive. Three massive lumen-like beasts circled his body. Their heads were shaped from elongated vines, their limbs no more than branches of black trees. Though these creatures were akin to the wolves of Felgren , nothing protective or sweet lay in the aggression of their movements. Behind them, a pulsing black portal loomed. Its inky surface rippled like water in the light snowfall.

“ Concess ,” Figuerah commanded in a spell to cease the beasts’ movement. They ignored her spell and continued circling Philius as if in wait for a command from someone else.

Talon stepped closer, easing slowly toward Philius , low to the ground, his eyes on the beasts. He whistled low in a sound of ease, approaching the beasts with Figuerah beside him.

I kept my eyes on the portal, knowing exactly where the true threat lie.

Talon reached for Philius’s cloak, pulling his hand back just in time as one of the creatures snapped at his fingers in a vicious snarl.

“ We don’t have time for this,” Karus warned, striding forward fearlessly and giving orders. “ Figuerah , keep their mouths shut. Talon , Mychael , grab Philius on my mark.”

She looked my way and I nodded, shaping a viridescent portal to send Philius back to Felgren the moment we had him.

“ You must teach me that,” she insisted, building her power into a green ball of light and bringing it back to her chest, readying her magic to fly forward.

“ We get out of this, I’ll teach you anything you want,” I promised, sending my own power low to the ground to wrap around Philius and help get him to the portal.

Renn , Rell , Ilyenna , and Nyeimah circled the clearing, shields intact, spells ready.

“ On my mark,” Karus started, “ Three , two?—”

The black portal shimmered and its maker stepped onto the snow in a graceful sweep of black robes. “ I do appreciate you bringing such powerful magic wielders to me, Kar? —”

I opened a second portal in front of her, leading to the depths of the sea, and in an instant, she was gone. The shimmery green of my portal did not close as usual, however, and before I could investigate why, Karus brought me back to focus, saying, “ Now you must teach me how to do that.”

The beasts lifted their heads to howl, but Figuerah kept them clamped shut in a spell of golden vines just as Karus sent her ball of light forward.

It split into three arrows, deftly aimed right for the heads of each creature. The sharp points hit their marks swiftly, soundlessly, all three of the massive beasts falling to a thud in the ice.

“ Now !” Karus shouted.

At her command, Mychael dropped his sword in the snow, pulling with both hands on Philius , Talon doing the same. I wrapped my magic around his middle, pulling the unconscious prince to the second waiting portal. In an instant, we shoved him through, sending him back to the Fortress . The portal closed upon itself just as long, frozen fingers wrapped around my throat behind me, black nails cutting into my skin.

A beautiful voice whispered, “ Have you forgotten, Baron Revich ? Your portals allow only one beating heart through.” She paused, scraping her nails down my neck. “ And my chest carries none.”