Page 34

“ N ow!” Vahly yelled to Nix.

Nix blasted Mattin with dragonfire. The elf stumbled backward, his shadows reeling around him, protecting him. But then the shadows faltered under the onslaught of the orange-red flame and his face streamed with sweat as he fell to his knees.

Nix couldn’t strike out at Canopus because he held Cassiopeia close.

Cassiopeia’s rage showed in her eyes as she struggled against the shadow’s hold, floating just above his shoulder, her hands gripping a bow and a nocked arrow.

The barrier holding back the crowd wavered and thinned. The elves called up blazing flares of sunlight and spinning lengths of purple shadow, but it was nothing compared to the strength of Mattin’s darkness.

Rigel broke through and ran at Mattin before the wall reformed.

Vahly joined him. “Hold, Nix!”

Nix ceased the stream of fire aimed at Mattin, then lashed out at Canopus with her spiked tail. The elf leaped to avoid a hit, but landed hard on his side.

The spell holding Cassiopeia broke, and the sun-haired elf immediately fired at Canopus, nailing him to the ground with a shot to the heart. Dark red seeped into the ground around his body.

Vahly feinted a horizontal slash with her sword, then flipped her wrist at the last second, slicing the blade diagonally at Mattin.

The steel edge fought through the shadow, the weapon trembling against the magic, and managed to cut across Mattin’s chest. His surcoat fell open. Blood spooled from his pale skin.

From behind, Rigel hit Mattin between neck and shoulder, but the wound was shallow.

The king raised his shadow shield again and there was no getting through.

He looked to Canopus, eyes wild, and threw darkness toward the vial at Canopus’s neck.

Tendrils of dark magic curled around the vial, quick as a breath, and brought the container to Mattin’s lips. He drank, shuddered, and bent double.

Arc rose. His voice broke through the chaos.

A stream of ruby blood streamed from his head, but he held his daggers ready.

“Cousin!” His face twisted like he was in pain as he watched Mattin finish the contents of the vial.

“That’s Blackwater. Why?” It was obvious Arc thought the act an abomination.

“It should kill him. Shouldn’t it?” Vahly looked to Arc, then Cassiopeia, then Rigel. They only stared, mouths agape and faces pale.

Nix roared, and Vahly backed up, motioning for the others to do the same.

Dragonfire skirted over Mattin’s darkening shield, not injuring him, but igniting the wildflowers, trees, and vines.

Vahly raised her hands, the urge to use this new sensation rushing through her body. She could feel the earth, the very dirt, waiting for her command, longing to smother the fire eating at its growth. But nothing happened. She had no power to do such a thing.

Eyes fierce, Arc raised two blinding orbs of light and flung them at Mattin’s shield.

The shadow blinked on contact, but held its shape.

Mattin straightened, his face slack with the nausea that came with drinking the Blackwater, and shoved a churning cloud of inky darkness toward Arc.

At the same time, Mattin drew up a wind.

The gust threw Vahly, Arc, and Cassiopeia down, then knocked Nix backward into one of the guard stones near the spring.

Tail slashing, Nix exploded with rage. Her dragonfire blazed toward the canopy.

On the ground, Vahly stared, unable to pry her head away from the earth, as Nix struggled to aim, fighting the elemental force, the muscles in her neck straining.

All of them fought against the wind, but Arc was the only one making any headway. His lights shone on, even as he lay on the ground, hitched up against a boulder. The shadows that slipped around his light only caressed him like fingers, their movement unwavering despite the wind.

I didn’t drink Blackwater and Mattin is strong. I won’t last more than a few more seconds, Arc said into Vahly’s mind. You are changed. I feel it. I smell it. Throw your will toward my light and let us see what might happen. Trust your friend the alchemist.

But I can’t do anything. It didn’t work.

It will. Just try it.

Tears pricked Vahly’s eyes. She looked to Nix, who broke away from her pinned position to breathe fire over Mattin once more.

He trembled as if he might feel the heat of it, but still his shadows and his elemental wind crushed her and the rest. Arc’s nose began to bleed and his eyes rolled like he was about to lose consciousness.

Mattin’s gusts blew Nix back. Her head slammed against the tree where she was pinned. She roared in pain, throat trembling.

This was it. Mattin would kill them all. The Sea Queen would flood the land and every hawk, sparrow, stag, fawn, steed, and dragon—all the creatures, simple and high—would perish in the crashing waves, burned by spellwork or ripped to pieces by the sea folk’s teeth.

Only Mattin and the elves he chose would live on. An abomination, their magic twisting the way the world was meant to be. This beautiful place, the Forest of Illumahrah, would crack and decay would seep into its emerald glens and lofty towers of oak. All would be ruined.

Pull yourself together, Vahly, she told herself. You won’t go down like this. Fight for Kemen. For Ibai. For Dramour. For the innocent elves, Vega, Leporis, and Pegasi, who died by the hand of someone they trusted. Fight. Fight. Fight.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her senses to the earth, to the tree roots, to the vines and to the rocks. The ground cooled her cheek, its touch like a friend’s hand. Not at all sure what in the world she was attempting, she poured her will toward Arc’s light.

Bind, she thought. Join and grow.

The ground between Arc and Mattin churned. Then the earth rose into a mound as if a wild, crazed animal crawled under the surface. The earth burrowed straight toward the King.

Vahly’s lungs squeezed and she sucked a breath, already exhausted. Her temples pounded with the effort. Sweat rolled down her face, her limbs shaking with the effort. Her control began to slip.

The earth reared under Mattin’s feet and threw him to the ground.

His concentration broke just as the sound of a hundred dragon wings filled the air.

I am here , Amona said into Vahly’s mind.

Vahly’s concentration broke. She lost her ability to move the earth, but happiness soared inside her, regardless.

Amona! she shouted through the bond. Only torch King Mattin. Trust me. Please!

The Lapis’ great bodies appeared above the canopy, their scales like glittering water in the dawn light and their talons long and fearsome. The elves cloaked in the shadow barrier shrieked in anger and terror both, their hands drawn up to cast light and dark.

“No!” Vahly ran toward them and Cassiopeia joined her. “The dragons will save us. Don’t hurt them, and they won’t hurt you!”

Cassiopeia bent her head, and Vahly guessed she spoke to her kynd telepathically.

The dragons circled but only one breached the forest ceiling to blow fury down.

The massive stream of dragonfire roared with the strength that could only come from a matriarch, enveloping Mattin entirely.

Nothing of him or his shadow work remained visible.

The ground bubbled under the heat of Amona’s flames.

Vahly, instinctively knowing what to do, whispered to the ground. The earth rolled up and over the fire that reached beyond Mattin, suffocating the errant blaze.

Arc was standing now, beside Nix and Cassiopeia, and the Lapis landed one by one in a clearing beyond the spring.

Amona ceased her dragonfire and eased her way to stand beside Vahly.

A pile of ash was all that remained of Mattin’s body. Vahly blinked, realizing Amona had also obliterated Canopus’s body.

Arc’s gaze latched onto Vahly’s. A sad smile lifted one side of his mouth, and he bowed his head to her. Our friends did not die in vain, he murmured gently inside her head, his deep voice soothing and genuine.

Vahly wished she could speak alone with him right away. What had they done, combining their magic like that?

The wall Mattin created shivered and fell away, a sign that his soul had fled the remains of his body. A few elves raised their weapons at Amona and the Lapis approaching from behind her.

Vahly sheathed her sword and put a hand on a hip. “Truly, elves? They fly in here and save you all from your own problem and you’re going to fire at them?”

Most had the grace to look ashamed as they tucked their knives and bows away. Some muttered and disappeared the way they’d come.

Vahly turned to Amona. Thank you. Once again, you saved my life.

I don’t know. You seemed to have things under control. But I didn’t want to miss a chance to roast an elf. What was wrong with him?

He drank Blackwater.

From the Source spring? How did it not kill him? All the stories claim that would end him.

He diluted and spelled it. It turns out, he had been diluting the Blackwater my kynd washed in as part of their ritual for generations. That’s why the last few Earth Queens were so weak and why so few had even been born.

Why would he do such a thing? Oh. Never mind. He is an elf. And a royal one at that. They thirst for power more than life. It has ended many of their kynd. You must continually be wary of the royal line of elves.

Vahly glanced at Arc who was deep in conversation with Cassiopeia, Rigel, and General Regulus. Perhaps she’d bring up royal-blooded Arcturus and their burgeoning friendship on a day when Amona hadn’t had to fly so far to burn a foul elven king to the ground.

So you found a way to wake your powers here? I was wrong?

I realize that’s surprising.

Amona gave Vahly a look.

I’m no Earth Queen. Not yet anyway. But I sense the earth now and all the growing things. I can hear the earth’s heartbeat and shift the ground when Arc helps me. Vahly put a hand to her mouth. Whoops.

Arc?

I don’t know when I’ll be a full Earth Queen or if indeed I ever will grow into powers that will be fit to fight the sea. I do know the ritual must include more steps for completion. I feel an undeniable urge to travel to the area near Bihotzetik.

Vahly hadn't realized the strength of this new feeling until the words had come out of her mind.

We searched the caves there, Amona said. It is a desolate place, full of sadness and nothing else.

You may be right, but I feel this longing just the same, and I must follow my gut.

As long as it leads you away from the elves, I approve.

They aren’t all bad.

A growl rumbled in the back of Amona’s throat.

Fine. Be angry now. Close-minded. Someday, I’ll get you to believe we’re all on the same side.

I know we are. And that is why I commanded all the Lapis to meet in the Red Meadow and sent a message to the Jades to come as well. You are going to address every dragon on Sugarrabota, and every elf if they’ll join, and tell us what you think our best strategy is against the Sea Queen.

I don’t know anything about that. Just because my powers are stirring doesn’t mean I’m suddenly the answer to our survival.

Doesn’t it? Amona glanced at the dragons gathered behind them. If you aren’t the answer, Vahly of the Earth, then we have no hope at all.

So I’m supposed to fake it and keep everyone from crumbling into despair.

I think your Call Breaker friends call that a con, yes?

Vahly wanted to laugh. She tried. Dramour would have loved hearing Amona’s words. But she could not bring herself to smile again. Too much sadness surrounded the name of her cider house cohorts. She told Amona as much through the bond.

Amona turned her head. They died? But Nix… Amona’s reptilian gaze found Nix where she was talking with Arc and a few of the elven elders.

Nix survived. Ibai, Kemen, and Dramour did not.

My condolences. Amona extended a wing, and Vahly closed her eyes for a moment inside the familiar comfort of her mother's shadow as they approached the other Lapis.

The sun poured rays of gold through the trees and outlined patterns of oak leaves across the dragons’ backs. At Amona’s arrival, they sat back on their haunches and tucked their wings submissively.

“Lord Maur?” Vahly couldn’t believe he had come.

Distaste filled his eyes, but he dipped his head respectfully.

Of course he came along. I commanded him.

Do not for one moment, Amona said silently, now addressing the entire group of dragons plus Vahly, think that any one of us will ever stand in your way again.

No matter what wild scheme you believe might help you fight the sea, we will support you in full.

Every Lapis. We will have your back, Earth Queen.

Vahly thought maybe this would be a good moment to show off her new abilities.

If she could manage it. She focused on the vines surrounding her place on the path.

The plant snaked up her legs and sprouted new leaves when it reached the tips of her fingers.

Her head ached with the effort. With a whisper, she released the vines and they returned to the ground.

It wasn't much, but it was a start.

The Lapis, including Maur, bent their heads as Vahly began to tell them the entire story of an elven king lusting for power, an oath he had made in a time of desperation, and how the Blackwater had changed everything.