Page 59

Chapter 59

Saelyn

Even the rising sun could not shine on the Blight .

The rays beamed over the endless black, but did not seem to touch its surface.

Not an ounce of light could filter to the depth of what lay east over the land.

A desolate silence beheld us—the entire army of Runners and Wieldwryns .

My mother and Thevin had argued for him to be at my side the entire way through the Dimming and they’d won out, eventually earning the support of my uncle as well.

Other commanders were chosen to lead the front line of Runners , all four-hundred fifty-six of them.

The Wieldwryns in their varying colors of vests were just above two hundred, and our three leaders in my mother, uncle, and Madame of the Mountains were standing at the tip of the Blight Line , waiting for the call of their commanders that their troops were ready to embark forward.

Thevin and I were a few rows back, listening to the shouts of confirmation. He held my hand tightly in his, dressed in Runner black, ready to blend into the landscape if he needed to. I wore my black pants and boots, but my mother had dressed me in a green flowing tunic to honor where I’d come from and what we were fighting for.

A howl broke the silence, echoing across the vast landscape, and I wondered if it was an omen of good or if it signaled our doom.

The command came from my mother, not in voice, but in the glowing sun she set before her, quickly matched by the King and Madame Zoreyah . The hiss began, immediate and eerie, as the Blight Line moved, forced back by the power which destroyed it.

The forward march began and we walked through the ash at our feet. The line of Runners widened, spanning into a semi circle around our leaders, swords drawn, ready for the inevitable defenses of the Blightress’s creatures.

None came.

We continued on for a mile.

Two .

The Wieldwryns were given the signal and more simulated suns appeared in the wake of ash as the Blight continued to fall away in hardly more than a whisper of demise.

Despite the warmth of the many suns surrounding us, my teeth chattered.

Thevin gripped my hand with force, scanning all sides of us in constant surveillance.

I watched my mother. Or at least, I watched her sun.

I was too far back in the line to see more than an occasional glimpse of her white braid, but her sun I knew. It was the largest of them all, burning ahead, directing a path forward.

The plan had been to fight.

The plan had been to destroy as many Blight beasts and trees as we could before I would be given the signal to produce the sun, hopefully leading the Blightress right to us when she realized I was within her grasp, no longer protected by my mother’s shield of power over the city ruins.

But the fight never came, and as the Wieldwryns slowly trickled out of power and word was sent down the line to rest, we stopped, the Runners wrapping everyone else in a tight circle, eyes open and swords at the ready for any sign of movement.

My mother made her way to the inner circle where I stood with Thevin .

“ What do we do?” I asked her at first sight.

“ We continue forward after a short rest,” she answered, then addressed Thevin . “ Your promise still stands?”

He nodded once. “ Where she goes, I go.”

“ Good . Here ,” she held a skein of water to me. “ Carry this with you for now. I need to speak with Clairannia and Figuerah .”

Muttering my thanks, I took a long swig, handing it to Thevin before looping the tie on the end to my belt. Another howl arose and all of us tensed, scanning the wasteland of ash, partial Blight lying in wait to be destroyed.

“ Something’s wrong,” I warned.

“ What do you feel?” Thevin asked, tensing at my words.

Before I could answer, the cry boomed across the army with a call to close into tight formation. I heard Blight beast echoed across the lines, and I spun around, looking for the creatures which would surely be upon us soon.

I glanced up to the sky, clouded in gray, waiting for my signal to begin the spell. I was to look for a single flair of green above us, as if my mother would begin her shield. It was all to be a farce to urge the Blightress to act quickly and begin her attempt to take me.

The moment she appeared, my mother would feel her presence and call the Wieldwryns to her aid, forming a chain of Cosensian Magic which could allow them to siphon their power to her, enhancing the sleeping spell and suspending the Blightress into a sleep-like state.

We also had my power to reverse time if need be.

Thevin and I had discussed how best to use it, knowing the Blightress would expect it of me if plans went awry.

Another howl erupted and I finally caught a glimpse of the beast, rampaging through the ashes behind us, a great mass of black with silver eyes.

“ Boros ?” I called softly, unheard over the calls to hold the line.

My loyal friend pounded over the earth, something calling him all the way out here from Felgren to protect me. The same realization hit my mother as she called to hold the attack while I screamed to let him through.

From what felt like nowhere, true Blight beasts emerged from the ashes behind us, hundreds of them forming over the ground, endless vines of black shaping in twisted limbs of beastial claws and teeth that emerged from their elongated snouts of thorns.

“ Reform the line!” I heard my uncle shout, the command echoing as we turned our back on the Blight yet to be demolished.

I could no longer see my lumen through the sprouting Blight beasts, prowling closer to the Runners in a slow, careful gait of predators assessing their prey.

The crack of tree limbs came next to the sides of the line as great creatures of bone-snapping jaws roared, swiping across the sea of Runners at our sides, sending them flying across the Blight .

“ Steady back!” I heard over the screams of soldiers and the sound of the attack we knew would come. The Blight beasts launched forward, ripping and tearing into our front line. The command for the Wieldwryns ’ suns came next as the battlefield lit in the brilliance of hundreds of channelers and conduits syncing together to take down the threat that had finally come for us.

My mother’s signal came in a flash of green brilliance, blinding me for a moment before I rose my hands above my head and screamed into the battle, “ Simulair Solum !”

Reaching up to the sky to hold my sun, I saw the abyssal black portal, lying in wait behind us as our army retreated back toward the Blight’s edge. Thevin saw it too, calling down the line at the danger as several at a time, soldiers fell into the illusory wall of mist, slipping into the portal the Blightress had formed to be rid of them.

A root shot through the earth behind my boot, and I yelped, falling backward. Before Thevin could right me again by his hand, I landed hard, my breath leaving my lungs completely. My sun fizzled out and just as Thevin bent to pull me back up and I drew in another breath to reverse time, wet roots shot from the earth, pinning my arms and legs. Several roots of Blight spread over my mouth, silencing me completely.

My eyes grew wide as I struggled and Thevin shouted my name, flicking a dagger from his baldric, slicing at the vines around my face.

The Blightress’s power only dug deeper, pulling my entire body slowly into the earth. Shouts raged above me as Thevin pushed soldiers out of the way so they wouldn’t trample my head and render me unconscious. The Blight over my mouth squeezed tighter and no matter how many he cut away, more Blighted roots wound over what remained.

My mind whirled in a panic, and I strained my eyes downward, hoping Thevin would understand my movements.

He caught on quickly, focusing instead on releasing my arms from my sides. With one precise swipe of his blade, my arms were free and he started on my legs as I formed my hands in the the long, circular shape I’d seen my mother do before she wielded a portal.

It hovered wide above me, not in the shape of my body, but in an ever-changing formation of white, hazy light. I reached for it with one hand, digging at the roots over my mouth with the other. I didn’t know where it led—all I knew was that I needed to get through or I’d be consumed into the earth below, buried completely as the battle raged above me.

A boot knocked into the side of my head and the world faded in and out with screams and snarls, the snap of branches and the smell of burning. My hands fell limp to my sides as my own blood trickled into my eyes. Thevin’s rage was a clear anchor in the screams of war. The last moment I stayed conscious for was the rip and slice of root, violently torn from my face before I was pulled to Thevin’s chest and jumped with him into an oblivion of white.

* * *

The silence was cold.

It filled me in a thick chill that coursed through my veins, slowing my blood, and catching my breath.

I blinked slowly to see white, spread as far as my eyes could see, blanketed with drops of blood.

I lifted my head from something hard, understanding that though it was freezing, something was keeping me warm.

Black fur, matted and full of briars with frozen ends spread under me and a familiar whine sounded quietly in the stillness.

“ Boros ?” I muttered, blinking more, rising more.

Blood rushed to my head, and I felt for the gash. Frayed black fabric covered the wound, staunching the flow of blood.

My black lumen licked my arm as I sat up completely, finding that I had been nestled into his long coat of fur.

We were alone and I began to panic, memories rushing to me of what we had left behind.

I could only guess the portal worked, and I had delivered us somewhere else entirely—a land of endless white snow with black trees that rose spindly and emaciated into the gray sky, pulsing in various colors.

I searched the layer of snow for footprints, finding them leading away from us. I rushed to my feet, stumbling and gripping the back of Boros to steady me.

“ Where’s Thevin ?” I asked and he whined again, offering his back to me.

I pulled myself up, weak and dizzy, and he trudged forward with layers of snow meeting the top of his legs. We followed the footprints, cresting a hill to find a figure in black standing atop.

“ Thevin !” I called, and he turned, his shirt ripped and his cheek bloodied.

His eyes grew wide and he raced to us, calling my name as I tumbled off Boros , struggling to rise to my feet.

His arms wrapped around me tightly, and he puffed into my hair, his fingers pressed hard to my scalp as he squeezed me to his chest. “ I was only gone a few minutes, Sae . I’m sorry you woke up alone.”

I buried my face further into his shirt. “ I wasn’t alone.”

I heard his sigh of relief and felt it under my cheek. He kissed the top of my head and pulled me back, eyeing my wound.

“ Is it bad?” I asked, lifting a hand to touch where he’d bound it with cloth from his own shirt.

“ You’ll survive,” he replied, peeking under the bandage.

“ I think I can heal it.” I opened my mouth to begin the spell of mending, but his hand shot forth, covering it.

“ The Blightress doesn’t know where you are. You portaled us here and any magic you use now could lead her right to us.”

I frowned, taking his hand from my mouth and nodding. “ Have you seen any of the others?”

His brow furrowed and he cupped my cheek. “ Can you walk?”

I nodded and he helped me to my feet with Boros nudging under my rear to lift me. “ Did he come through my portal, too? I didn’t know I’d be able to bring more than one through. My mother can’t do that.”

“ No , he found us over an hour later.”

“ An hour?” I cried.

He gave a short nod and grabbed my waist, helping me reach the very top of the hill.

A vast wilderness of white lay below, more trees blackened to mere husks of wood jutting through the snow like jagged teeth rotted and broken, but faint with varying glows of color.

A dome of blue caught my eye across the valley, and I leaned forward, squinting in disbelief.

The swirl of azure power covered what seemed to be a dark hole leading underground.

“ Could that be…” I trailed, thinking of my father’s magic and what I knew of it.

“ I think you brought us to your father, Sae ,” Thevin began, then pointed across the land to a distant base of the hill to our left. A small party trekked through the snow, led by a woman in easily identifiable black skirts and vest. “ And your mother has come to save him.”