Page 52 of Keeper of the Word (The Unsung and the Wolf Duology #2)

Chapter

Forty-Seven

ELANNA

T he rickety, wooden stairs that crisscrossed outside the witch’s apartment house creaked with each step. When the three of them stood on top of the roof, Tara waved down to Goodsell, who stood with the others on guard at the foot of the stairs.

Gethwin was studying the sky when Elanna turned back to her. “ Hmph. Not much time. Not much moonlight left.”

“It shall be enough,” Tara said, kneeling beside Gethwin, who had gently placed the orb in front of her.

“A master of Shroud Magic, are you?” Gethwin laughed before wiping her lips.

Elanna withdrew the Edan Stone from her pocket. ’Twas placed at the center of the triangle formation they’d made.

Gethwin was quiet, studying the moonstone. “I see,” she finally uttered. “You have lofty schemes.”

Elanna was unsurprised that Gethwin already knew what they planned for the Edan Stone.

“’Twill work,” Elanna said. “We are enough.”

“I have midnight gloves for each of you. I do not need them,” Gethwin said, removing two velvet-looking pairs from her satchel. “ But ’twould be better if my sister was here. I know not if I can hold both of you.”

Elanna and Tara exchanged a glance.

“Keep her,” Tara said, taking a pair and placing them on her hands.

“Tara, nay. You are the First,” Elanna said before turning to Gethwin. “Protect her first.”

“Elanna, nay,” Tara pleaded.

“Tara—”

“Stars’ shadow. We do not have all night to argue. I’ll aim to hold both of you, but she spoke first”—she inclined her head to Tara—“so you are who I shall concentrate on.”

Elanna burned inside. Tara had already righted her shoulders. There was so much unsaid between them.

“Are you prepared?” Gethwin snapped.

“Aye,” Elanna replied. “I am ready.”

Gethwin lifted the Edan Stone to her milky eye with care. A knobby finger ran across the azure streak. “This has already been used.”

“’Tis not broken,” Tara said.

“That is not what concerns me. You ask much of the moon, Seer of stars. The moon has already given its shadow. You’ll need more than the spell we perform here tonight to conceal an entire city.

And the one whom your faith is in? You certain he’ll be up for the task? The word will not be easy to bestow.”

“Beyond doubt.”

“’Tis not what he thinks. He has more than doubt in him. Anger, grief, a desire for vengeance still. Those qualities can impede the word. ”

“He’s also noble and brave. He will come through.”

The witch turned over the Edan Stone in her palm. “There’ll be others, you know. They will know what this is. And they will desire it. Jordain, the leader of the coven, especially. There are only a handful of moonstones on this continent, and most are lost.”

They nodded. A chill ran up Elanna’s arms.

“One more matter,” Gethwin said, placing the Edan Stone precisely in the center of their triangle. “You will not have your powers for at least a phase of the moon. Mayhap longer. That is the price of borrowing from the goddesses whom you’ve no right to ask from.”

One week. One week without being able to See the stars. The chills already consuming Elanna caused her to shiver. Tara studied the sediment of the late-night sky. “We understand. The stars have commanded this.”

Gethwin nodded, satisfied. “Keep your eyes low. Do not become fixed on nor speak to your stars while we perform this. ’Twill ruin the spell, and then that moonstone will be naught more than a hunk of rock. Swear it.”

“I swear,” they said in unison.

“Say no words until you are told. When I tell you, place your left hand on mine and touch your right hand’s fingers to the moonstone. Do not touch the stone or me until I instruct you. Do you hear?”

“Aye,” they both said.

“ Hmph. ” The witch placed her hands on the orb. Her eyes closed and she began to utter words under her breath that were indistinguishable.

Within seconds, the air cooled. A breeze stirred, and a roll of what sounded like thunder resounded.

The orb illuminated, glowing like a pale full moon in miniature.

The more Elanna focused on the orb, the colder she became.

Her teeth chattered. Fingers grazed her gloved hand, and she noticed Tara peering at her.

Look at the Edan Stone, Elanna , Tara said in StarSpeak.

She did, grateful that when she regarded it, she wasn’t quite as chilled. The Edan Stone did not change appearance but remained seemingly like a piece of rough obsidian. Gethwin’s voice grew louder. Echoed in Elanna’s ears.

A smoke-like substance rose from underneath the Edan Stone and wafted through the air. Elanna shivered when it brushed against her neck. She longed to gaze at the stars for comfort. For warmth .

’Twas impossible to know—the witch spoke so swiftly—if she spoke in Lenforese or in some distant tongue of sorceresses.

The wind kicked up, and Elanna brushed strands of hair off her face.

In the middle of the smoke, the Edan Stone began to change color.

It melded from midnight black to charcoal to slate grey to the color of stone dust. The azure fissure transformed as well.

Its blue disappeared and glowed silver. The voice mutated, and suddenly, what Elanna heard in her ears was a tone like gravel.

It deepened, and with it, the echoes rang next to her temples.

She squinted against it before bracing herself.

The wind whistled, knocking at her cheekbones.

Hold on, Elanna .

Were the words from Tara? Or the stars? Elanna’s gaze traveled upward.

Do not, Elanna. This time, the voice was Tara’s StarSpeak.

The wind blared against her shoulders, her hair whisking her face. The Edan Stone continued to transform until at last, ’twas almost white.

“Now!” Gethwin shouted.

Elanna thrust her left hand onto the witch’s and placed two fingers from her right hand on the Edan Stone next to Tara’s. Even with her hands gloved, her fingers immediately chilled.

Gethwin’s voice changed again, and this time, it became higher, the echoes a screech slashing into her ears. Her left hand grew colder and colder until ’twas numb.

Tara’s scream broke Elanna’s attention on her numbed hand.

Tara?! What is it?

My hand! It is sliced through. My fingers have come off.

Elanna studied their hands. ’Twas impossible to discern through their gloves, but Tara’s appeared no different from her own.

Do not let go, Tara. Do not let go.

Was this part of the effect of Gethwin holding on to Elanna? Did it make Tara suffer more?

Tara screamed again, tears leaking from the sides of her eyes .

Elanna longed to say words of comfort aloud to her sister, but instead, she repeated in StarSpeak, Do not let go .

A clap of thunder overhead nearly caused Elanna’s fingers to separate from the Edan Stone. The moonstone transformed black again. Then, in a flash, it burst hot white. Elanna flinched at the brightness before refixing her gaze on it.

Out of the smoke that surrounded it, the Edan Stone rose into the air. Elanna let her hand glide upward with it.

“Now,” the witch’s voice was still not her own, “repeat after me: Oh moon and stars and shadows, too.”

The StarSeers—Tara’s voice little more than a weak whisper—repeated her words.

“Combine your power of light and shades true.”

Elanna spoke clearly, hoping to offset Tara.

“We seek to hide the Heart of the realm, which Adrienne works to overwhelm.”

Tara sobbed at the word. Elanna recoiled. But they repeated the next line.

“Seal within the enchanted word , which, when uttered, will wield this magic blurred.”

Now, Elanna’s hand shred in pain; she comprehended what Tara had meant. She repeated the next line, each word fleeing her lips like a scream.

“And shroud Asalle from greed and hate until ’tis time for its restored fate.”

Sweat dripped off Elanna’s forehead, despite feeling frozen. Tara had quieted. Mayhap she was simply numb.

“Your turn,” Gethwin said. She whipped her hands out from under theirs and placed their gloved left hands directly on the orb before covering them with her own. Elanna’s shoulders sank.

’Twas tremendously heavy.

They knew what they had to do, but the exhaustion was beyond recognition. Elanna closed her eyes and tapped into her starlit core. She sensed that Tara did the same. With every ounce of her energy, she pinched a touch of stardust and drew it into her hand that still grazed the Edan Stone .

Elanna!

Her eyes flew open. The stars. The stars were straining to reach her. They had something important to tell her.

“Do not become fixed on nor speak to your stars while we perform this.” Gethwin’s words echoed in her mind.

Elanna!

Cease, Elanna dared return to the heavenly voices above.

Silence.

Elanna closed her eyes again and fed the seed of stardust into the Edan Stone.

A light to light the way. A fleck of hope for the future. A sliver of a chance for a destiny strewn with virtue returned.

’Twas a fledgling of a possibility. A mere potential to turn the fates. But with hope, the kernels of stardust would be enough to help the stars return to Asalle someday.

Elanna!

She was almost finished. She needed only a drop of time to encase the stardust into the Edan Stone.

The…Hall. Do not take…Maristel.

Elanna’s eyes flew upward. Maristel! What about Maristel?

“Do not peer up!” Gethwin yelled.

Elanna pried her eyes from the sky and, with her last remaining energy, sheathed the stardust into the essence of the Edan Stone.

The moonstone irradiated. The brilliant white glowed gold, shimmering and sparkling like a star.

Her right hand was brought back to life, the warmth of the moonstone reheating her blood like a steaming bath.

Abruptly, the last thunder burst clapped, and the Edan Stone dropped.

Everyone pulled their hands away from one another.

Elanna tore off the gloves and cupped her left hand, blowing on her fingers to regain feeling in them.

Tara placed her left hand into the collar of her dress and held it in the pit of her arm.

She whispered to the stars, tears streaming down. But she smiled. She was well.

Elanna’s eyes shifted in and out of focus. She turned to Gethwin, who blew on her hands as if to cool them. The witch nodded toward the Edan Stone, and Elanna clasped it in her hand. The black rock was as it had been but for one detail. The azure scar was now silver.

“You still have the word to give him,” Gethwin said, slumping and coughing into her sleeve. Her vigor drained.

Elanna nodded. Tolvar would do it. She knew he would.

“Tara!” Elanna exclaimed. Her sister slumped, losing consciousness.

“She will be all right,” Gethwin said. “’Tis the effects.”

Elanna took Tara’s limp hand. I’m sorry, Tara. I am so sorry. And when you awake, I shall tell you again and again ? —

Gethwin interrupted her thoughts. “I’ve ne’er seen stardust before. ’Tis no wonder ’tis stopped Adrienne in its tracks.” Gethwin attempted to stand.

Elanna removed the pouch of nyxpaun from her cloak and held it out to Gethwin. “My thanks.”

The witch stretched out her arm to take it, but Elanna pulled it back.

“Before we began, you mentioned that the Edan Stone alone will not conceal Asalle. What more do we need?”

Gethwin’s lips widened into a grin until her cough took over.

“Aren’t you clever?”

“Witches certainly are known to be. Tell me.”

Gethwin reached out again for the pouch, wiggling her fingers at it. Elanna sighed and handed her the nyxpaun.

“You need a key.”

“A key? Explain.” Elanna was anxious to call for Goodsell to help Tara.

Her back ached. Her hands throbbed. She wanted sleep.

And most importantly, she needed to make sense of what the stars had struggled to tell her.

But she knew that once Gethwin disappeared into the crevices of the city, their paths would ne’er cross again.

“The main gate of the city must be locked.”

“Is that all? I can easily gain the key.”

Gethwin shook her head. “Not the key of the gate master. A key to hold Asalle’s Heart until ’tis time. ”

Elanna was drowning in fatigue, and still, these words caused her blood to race. “Tell me.”

“You need a key fashioned from the strongest mineral on the continent.

Elanna hung her head. “And the rarest.”

Starstone.

Gethwin cackled as she stood and headed to the stairway. “Good luck, StarSeer. You shall need it.”