Page 49 of Pawns of Fate

NICHOLAS

L ysander’s shadows overpowered him. Nicholas drowned in an ocean of midnight. A scream sounded in the darkness. Was it his own?

He tried to actuate another spell, but it only cut through a few inches of the inky magic. He was going to die here, going to suffocate from these shadows.

And yet all he could think about was Rose.

Her warmth filled his heart, even here at the end of his life.

Suddenly, that warmth grew. Nicholas shuddered.

His body felt stronger, healthier than it had been since he was a teenager.

He could command a thunderstorm with all of this energy. What had happened? Had he died already?

“Nicholas, please! You can break through! I know you can!” Rose’s voice sounded distant and close at the same time. Was she beside him or miles away? Nicholas couldn’t tell, but he had nothing to lose. If he were dying, he might as well go out fighting for her.

He actuated a spell that usually took all of his mana, and when the sparks formed around his blade, the shadows melted away as if he’d summoned lightning strong enough to vaporize a troll. Strange. Normally, he could hardly burn a goblin with his magic.

He thrust his sword into the middle of Lysander’s spell circle, and it disappeared completely.

That was far too easy. What had happened? Was he dead already?

He looked over at Rose, who was leaping up and down with joy, cheering him on. Was he imagining this?

“You can do it, Nicholas!” Rose sounded ecstatic, so perhaps he hadn’t died.

He looked over at Lysander, who actually looked afraid… of him.

The truth hit Nicholas with more ferocity than any of Lysander’s attacks. Rose had increased his mana, not Lysander’s.

His beautiful, brilliant, amazing wife. He was going to give her the world when this was over. But for now, he had a shadow mage to destroy.

He charged Lysander, whose shadowy magic now twisted uselessly around the lightning sparks that accompanied Nicholas’s blade.

He swung at the mage a few times, but Lysander avoided every blow, melting in and out of his shadowy form.

After a short chase, Nicholas thrust his blade close to the mage’s heart, cutting through the leather armor and across Lysander’s pectoral muscle.

Lysander let out a horrible groan filled with pain and frustration.

Nicholas raised his blade over his head and began chanting a lightning spell he’d long thought out of his reach, but Lysander’s form began to melt into shadow.

Nicholas slammed his sword down, catching the mage’s shoulder fully this time.

Before Lysander could completely liquefy into his shadow form and dart away, Nicholas saw his face flash with pain, then rage.

Lysander’s shadowy form rushed toward the pillars of star crystal in the middle of the cavern.

He’s going for the spells, Nicholas realized.

And there wasn’t anything Nicholas could do to stop him.

Any lightning he sent that way was bound to cause an explosion, too.

Lysander was going to take the whole cavern down, and Rose and Nicholas would go with it.

His eyes landed on Rose, who was cradling Kagon’s unconscious reptilian form. She must have reached the same conclusion as him, because her eyes were full of panic.

“We have to run!” they screamed simultaneously.

A cluster of star crystals fell from the cavern’s ceiling and nearly crushed Rose as she ran.

They made it to the tunnel that would lead them outside just as the ground began to shake.

Nicholas spared a glance over his shoulder, but all that remained in the cavern was flames, falling rocks, and wisps of shadow magic .

They ran for a while, until the tunnel walls stopped shaking from the terrifying tremors. Nicholas looked over at Rose, who was breathing heavily and had to lean on the wall for support.

Nicholas crushed her to his chest. “Are you alright?” he asked, knowing she wasn’t.

“I’m just tired,” she answered through labored breaths, still clutching Kagon’s body. “I can see why my ancestor didn’t do that very often.”

Nicholas chuckled. “And you’ll never have to again. Do you have enough strength to keep walking?”

Rose’s nose wrinkled and her lips pursed as she tried to convince Nicholas that she did. But they only made it a few feet before she almost fainted with exhaustion.

Nicholas picked Rose up and carried her out of the cave, determined to take his wife home even if he had to hold her every step of the way.

ROSE

Rose woke to the feeling of sand scratching her face. Her body felt terrible, like someone had replaced her blood with sludge. After a few heavy breaths, she sat up and looked at her surroundings.

Bright sun and desert greeted her bleary eyes.

Hot wind stung her face. She remembered Lysander mentioning the Ojoh, so it was reasonable to assume he’d teleported them to their desert.

That still left quite a few possibilities as to their exact location, none of them particularly close to civilization.

Nicholas lay beside her, his arms wrapped around her waist. She checked his neck for a pulse. He was alive and breathing.

She craned her neck. The entrance to the cave was a short distance behind them. A thread of panic wove through her. She didn’t want to be anywhere near that place. Even with the explosion, she couldn’t be sure that Lysander was well and truly dead.

“Nicholas,” she pleaded as she shook his body. “Please, Nicholas, you have to wake up.”

He didn’t respond for a long time. Tension clawed her spine, anxiety setting in. What if she’d missed an injury? Or he was still suffering the effects of the snake bite?

Only when her pleas turned into outright sobs did Nicholas finally wake up. Rose threw her arms around him.

“I thought you might not wake up!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep, Rose. I’ll always be here with you.”

He kissed her deeply, and Rose felt some of her tension ease. Their situation was too precarious for the stress to melt away completely, but Nicholas’s words and touch calmed her racing heartbeat.

“Where did Kagon go?” Rose asked hesitantly, patting around in the sand, looking for the snake. Pity filled her when she thought about the druid and his predicament. She wanted to help him, since he’d helped them in the end.

“He must have left while we were sleeping.” Nicholas let out a sigh and stroked Rose’s hair. “I knew you’d want to look after him, but it’s better this way, Rose. He did assist Lysander with our kidnapping.” He shook his head. “We’ve got enough to worry about as it is.”

Nicholas was right. They were hiding in the shade of a large boulder, but as the sun journeyed across the sky, their shade was becoming smaller and smaller. Not to mention their lack of food and water. They needed to find an Ojoh village or outpost, and they needed to find it soon.

Nicholas stood up, swaying slightly. She was about to stand and help him when he straightened and reached to aid her. The two started their journey into the desert, hand in hand.

“Do you think Lysander will follow us if he’s still alive?” Rose asked as they approached a small oasis. They’d been walking in the sand for what felt like hours; she couldn’t wait for a drink of water and a chance to sit in the shade of the palm trees.

“No,” Nicholas replied firmly, bending down to the water’s edge and cupping some in his hands. He offered it to Rose.

“How can you be certain?” she asked.

“You made me strong enough to defeat him. He knew that; I saw it on his face.” Pride filled his voice, and a smirk crossed his features. “We’re too strong for him to kidnap you, now. That’s why he destroyed the cavern. I would have killed him otherwise.”

Rose drank from Nicholas’s hands, removed her boots, and dunked her aching feet in the cool water.

“What happened in there, Rose?” Nicholas sat beside her.

“Lysander forced a spell on me that increased my connection to the aural plane.” Rose rolled up her sleeve, but the runes had disappeared. Either Lysander had died, or he was smart enough to nullify the spell.

“I could see mana on the aural plane with more clarity and detail than I would have ever imagined. I’ve actually always been able to see traces of it, though I hadn’t realized that was what I was seeing at the time.

But Lysander’s spell was like using one of those scientific devices for stargazing.

” She frowned as she searched for the correct word.

“Perhaps it was a telescope, or a lens. A microscope? Something like that.”

“What did you see?” Nicholas was curious.

“So much. Every little crystal was… a world of life. It was hypnotic, almost. But there was druid magic! I talked to an elemental spirit, Nicholas!”

“What? How is that possible?”

“It lived in the circle between the pillars of star crystal. It wasn’t happy with Lysander defacing its home. But I don’t think it could connect easily to the physical plane. I couldn’t see it without Lysander’s spell.”

“Elemental spirits disappeared with the druids, Rose,” Nicholas said with concern.

“I don’t know for certain what it was. Maybe it was a fairy?” Rose splashed her feet a little. “But we did meet a druid, and they were supposed to have disappeared, too. Is it such a stretch?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you,” Nicholas replied, voice softening. “I wonder if we’ve stumbled onto something better left alone.”

“Well, I promised the spirit we’d clean up Lysander’s mess if it helped us.” Rose thought about how the spirit had enveloped Kagon’s body and wondered if it had survived the explosion.

Nicholas barked out a laugh. “I hope it haunts Lysander, then. He’s the one who destroyed their home.” He held up his hand, sparks of silver and, occasionally, pink lightning magic dancing in his palm. “There’s no denying that it helped us. So, did the elemental spirit increase my mana?”

Rose felt heat rise to her cheeks. “No, that was me. The spirit stopped time. It was happy to chat with me.” Rose let out a small laugh. The spirit really hadn’t shared her sense of urgency for the situation.

“York is going to be so jealous.” Nicholas grinned.

The thought of York and Ava twisted Rose’s heart. She missed her family, missed the coniferous forests of Onanish, and never wanted to see another grain of desert sand as long as she lived.

She was about to voice all of this to Nicholas when a spell circle erupted behind them.

Nicholas jumped, brandishing his sword and throwing himself between Rose and the spell. Rose watched as silver lightning danced around his blade, so much stronger than the tiny sparks she’d seen when they’d been attacked by mountain ogres so long ago.

Two figures emerged from the circle.

“Thank the gods,” Nicholas said, lowering his sword as two shadow mages stepped out of the teleportation spell.

Relief coursed through Rose’s body. It was Syzman and Lyla.

“You’re alive!” Lyla’s voice carried so much relief in it. In a rare show of affection, the mage even gave Rose a hug.

Syzman, on the other hand, simply nodded curtly at Nicholas and asked, “What the hell happened?”

Rose rubbed her forehead. Where to even begin? She looked at Lyla and decided that her bodyguard deserved to know the truth. “We were captured by a shadow mage named Lysander. He claimed to be your brother, Lyla.”

Nicholas’s eyes widened, and Rose realized that this was the first he was hearing of this, too. In all of the chaos of their escape, she hadn’t remembered to tell him that little detail.

Lyla’s shoulders slumped, and she stared at the ground. “Did you… Where is he?”

Rose wanted to answer, but the words to explain stuck in her throat.

“He used his shadow form to escape the explosion he caused, I’m sure,” Nicholas retorted.

“That sounds like Lysander,” Syzman replied, a hint of chagrin in his voice. He nudged Lyla, who looked like she might be sick, then turned to Nicholas and Rose. “We have food and water. Let’s rest here for a moment, and you can tell us all the details before we walk to the village north of here.”

As they ate, Rose and Nicholas recounted the events of their time with Lysander, sparing no details.

“But how did you know where to find us?” Rose asked as they packed up and began what she hoped was their final walk through the desert.

“Duke Talbot has a shadow mage in his employ. When you two didn’t make it to his castle, they contacted Syzman,” Lyla replied.

“After seeing the ruins in the swamp, I had my suspicions,” Syzman added.

“So we mapped out all of the monster attacks on the Ojoh villages, and did a little research on the locations of ancient druid temples. Uddedin has such an extensive library; we found helpful texts and maps almost immediately. It turned out that there was an underground druid temple close to the attacks.”

“I wanted to reserve mana, so we settled on teleporting to the oasis and walking to the cave.”

“Where are York and Ava? Did they make it to Onanish safely?”

“Yes, Lady Rose,” Lyla replied, a faint smile on her lips. “They’re safe. Ava is back at the castle, and York is leading the Sharp military from the swamps to help rebuild Uddedin after the monster attacks.”

“Oh.” Rose felt a bloom of hope. If the Ojoh were willing to accept military aid from the Sharps, would they still need her and Ava as collateral?

Syzman added, “Marquess Sharp has renegotiated with the Ojoh leaders. Pescinnia has already left Castle Sharp and is returning to Uddedin. There’s no more need for an exchange of collateral.”

She let out a deep breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in. For the first time in what felt like months, Rose knew that she was really going home.