Page 33

“You?” He swept his gaze from Rod to me. “How did you survive?”

I wanted to scream at him and let him know about Grandfather’s sacrifice, but Rod didn’t answer with words. A second burst of energy struck the dark magic swirling around Blackstone’s legs. The attack burned away without touching its target.

“You’re a fool to challenge me, Roderick Hollen,” Blackstone said. “Even your overrated brother can’t match me now.”

A ball of blackness shot from his stone. Unfazed, Rod flicked his stone, and the globe sped toward the demon. The orb struck the beast, eliciting a deep growl.

“Human, your bindings restrain my full power,” the demon snarled. “The longer you wait to free me, the weaker your position becomes.”

“You hold back on what you give me.” Blackstone maintained his composure, his black hematite pulsing with dark energy. “As I knew you would. If you won’t honor our agreement, you will die too.”

Magic struck the demon on all sides, and he roared in frustration at his attackers. “This prison already violates our agreement. You will pay for your duplicity.”

Blackstone didn’t respond, which was answer enough. His deception ran deep enough to fool even a prince of hell. He’d better hope our side defeated the creature.

I used a brilliant explosion of magic to shift. My phoenix form was more connected to the Earth, and Rod’s plan required that deep relationship.

To my left, Avie’s people imprisoned the last of Blackstone’s mages.

Perhaps sensing he was about to be surrounded, Blackstone waved his stone at his lackeys.

All the black mage stones around the area, even those still in the hands of his allies, flew toward him.

The various gems merged into a gelatinous blob before exploding into a translucent barrier that protected Blackstone from attacks.

Chancellor Wilhelm led the mages with him closer to me and Rod. They fired at the shield as they moved, but their energy slid harmlessly off the surface.

“Anyone know what that is or how to defeat it?” Rod shouted.

Silence answered him. Blackstone lashed out, his attack aimed at Rod.

The white magic absorbed the energy, but it seemed to turn gray for a moment.

“Now do you understand? You’ve lost. Once I help Prince F’dreg defeat those pathetic guardians, I’ll have the power to make the world pay for trying to eradicate my family. ”

Without warning, Blackstone struck at the closest guardians to his position.

The blast hit Percy and Gio in their backs with enough force to knock them to the ground.

Otto’s red zircon bathed the area in crimson energy, preventing a second blow.

Behind the shield, the former guardians slowly got to their feet.

Rod led an attack on the dark wall guarding Blackstone. Everyone focused their energy at one point. The dazzling display obscured my view for a moment, but when it cleared, the wall looked unscathed.

Blackstone tossed his head back, drunk on his new power, and laughed. It seemed like overconfidence, but given how easily he’d repelled what should have been a devastating attack, he might be justified.

From the west side of the wheel, a purple and blue wave of magic struck Blackstone’s barrier. It appeared to have no effect and Blackstone renewed his laughter. “Not even the mighty Bartholomew Hollen and his little elfling can touch me now.”

Surprisingly, Bart and Cael didn’t renew their attack. Instead, they returned their attention to combating the demon, and their indifference seemed to annoy Blackstone as his smile disappeared.

“Don’t pretend you aren’t afraid,” Blackstone shouted. “I’m the world’s true archmage!”

He fired a ball of black energy in Bart and Cael’s direction. It immediately exploded, and the magic rebounded back at Blackstone. Caught off guard, Blackstone threw his hands up to cover his face. He fired a second, smaller burst, but this also stopped at the edge of his shielding.

Across the wheel, Cael touched his two fingers to his forehead and gave Blackstone a mock salute.

“That tricky little Bart,” Avie said, admiration in her voice. “We can’t penetrate his shield, but now Blackstone can’t fire through it anymore.”

Proof of her assessment came when Blackstone fired dark energy in different directions, but none of them escaped his new prison.

“If Blackstone drops his shield, he’ll probably be able to attack us,” Rod said. “But then we’d be able to hit him.”

That was a tough choice. An angry Blackstone must’ve come to the same conclusion because he let out a frustrated scream.

A new attack hit Blackstone’s shield, this one came from the opposite side. Darius and Ignatius had separated from the others and fired short bursts of energy from their stones. The balls skimmed along the surface until they soaked into the dark wall.

Blackstone tried to strike them, but something incredible happened. The smooth surface of the dark shield cracked like glass. For a few heartbeats, Blackstone kept firing, seeming to not notice the new threat. Then he stopped.

“Impossible.”

“Darius is a brilliant mage,” Rod told me. “I doubt there are many spells Blackstone created that Darius hasn’t discovered over his very long lifespan.”

The spider web of lines spread along the dome.

Dark energy seeped from Blackstone’s hematite, spreading across the shield.

The cracks seemed to disappear, but a second later, they returned.

When his attempt to repair his protection failed, Blackstone lost a little of the cocky attitude he’d displayed.

“Malachy,” Rod called out. “Can you and your guards shift and hit the barricade with your fire? Darius says that will cause it to shatter.”

As my father and the guards returned to their phoenix form, I looked at Rod. “Should I join them?”

“No,” he replied. “You need to be ready to move the moment we get Blackstone moving backwards.”

I waited impatiently as the fight devolved into a stalemate. The demon, hampered by the wheel’s restraints, couldn’t use his full power against his opponents. He roared in anger and lashed out with minimal success.

Although he directed his attacks on the guardians, his anger grew every time he looked in his captor’s direction. Blackstone played a dangerous game. If the pissed off demon ever got free, I didn’t need a list to know who he’d go after first.

The guardians’ approach to the fight confused me. They appeared to hold back, annoying the creature, but not taking it down.

“The demon withholds most of his power,” Rod said. It took me a moment to realize I hadn’t voiced my doubts, but Rod sensed them through our bond. “If they defeat the creature, Blackstone will take full control of its power.”

The plan had always been dangerous, but I hadn’t fully grasped the subtlety.

Rod was forcing our enemies to fight at less than full power.

My chest filled with a happy pride for the mate who would share my life.

The quiet, kind, and thoughtful being who stole my heart was a brilliant, analytical man who wore command like a glove.

Rod and the other mages continued to hit the black barrier. This extended the fault lines around the entire surface of Blackstone’s shield. Father and the guards shifted and hovered close to me. Rage fueled all our inner fire. Blackstone had killed our king, something that could not go unpunished.

“Now, Malachy,” Rod said calmly. “Aim just below his head. The shield will be weakest there.”

Father and his guards flew to a point directly in front of Blackstone.

He eyed them warily, power gathered around his hand.

Even from this distance, I felt the temperature rise as they gathered their inner flames.

The guards belched their fire first, marking the spot for the new king to strike.

Father, channeling all his anger and pain, let out a massive stream of flaming destruction.

Copper-red energy collided with black, creating a fiery display that made the humans shield their eyes.

For a second, Blackstone’s shield impossibly held back the devastating force, seeming to absorb the phoenix fire.

The guards stopped their attack and Father shot a last ball of solid phoenix energy.

The wall shattered into fragments of dark energy that twinkled to the ground like a sheet of broken ice.

Blackstone’s eyes widened and his arm wavered.

Before he could recover, Rod’s diamond blazed with white light as he unleashed a concentrated beam of energy against Blackstone’s personal shield.

Darius and Ignatius joined him, their blue and green magic striking the moment Blackstone recovered from Rod’s attack.

Avie added her peridot energy, followed by Wilhelm.

Each blow rattled our enemy, but he steadied himself quickly.

“We’re going to repeat the sequence.” Rod said.

“You should mix things up or else he’ll anticipate your moves.”

“That’s what I’m counting on.” Rod massed power inside his diamond. “He’ll raise a solid wall to cushion the force. That’s when you strike. Hit him with enough force to move him backwards.”

They repeated the combination of attacks, but this time more mages joined the fight. Blackstone stayed on his feet, drawing on the dark energy he’d recently collected.

“You can’t defeat me,” he snarled, dark tendrils lashing out from his stone. “I’ve prepared for this moment for centuries.”

Despite his confidence, the coordinated attacks were testing his defenses. He’d been too busy repelling hostile attacks to go on the offensive. When the series of attacks cycled back to Rod, Blackstone smirked.

The shield he created was part magic, part dark energy, and a bit of demonic energy. It was a formidable and nearly impenetrable barrier. Rod’s anticipation crept into our link. It was almost time for us to repay Blackstone for the pain he caused my family, me, and Rod.

Avie’s strike hit at the same time as Rod’s, and Blackstone took a half step backward.

“Now, Cinaed!” Rod’s voice shouted into my mind.

Using the last of Grandfather’s power, I launched forward like a missile. Since Rod’s first attack, Blackstone had ignored me and focused on countering the mages. At the last moment, his eyes darted in my direction. I doubt his mind had time to process my arrival.

I slammed into him with the full force of my enhanced strength.

The impact was an unstoppable force hitting an immovable object.

A sonic shock wave exploded outward from the point of contact, flattening anything not behind a powerful shield.

Pain erupted through my body as even the superior strength of my phoenix bones couldn’t withstand the impact.

The force transferred through Blackstone’s shield, shoving him backward even as I rebounded violently away. He staggered back one step, then a second, struggling to maintain his balance. His stunned expression gave way to dismissive triumph as he followed my broken form hurtling away from him.

“Now!” Rod’s mental voice blared through our bond.

A combined burst of white, green, and blue magic struck Blackstone before he found solid footing. Rod, Avie, and Wilhelm’s combined attack pushed him back two more steps, placing him well inside the medicine wheel’s perimeter.

Father caught me mid-air, his arms cradling my injured form.

“Well done, Cinaed,” he said softly. His healing fire flowed into me, joining with my healing power to speed up my recovery. The familiar warmth spread through my broken limbs, easing the excruciating pain. Each broken bone straightened under his direction, knitting back together.

The ache I’d been holding inside slowly burned away. Grandfather had been a part of my attack, and together we achieved our goal.

Through our bond, I felt Rod’s concern and pride. There was also a measure of guilt for sending me on a mission guaranteed to injure me. I projected satisfaction and let him know making Blackstone vulnerable was worth every broken bone.

Around the wheel, the guardians ceased their attacks on the demon.

Leo sent yellow magic south toward Jan. The energy flowed around the perimeter of the medicine wheel.

Catching Leo’s spell on his emerald, Jan fired green energy to Otto, who passed his red power west. Bart completed the circle by sending purple energy to Leo.

Cael put his hands on the purple light coming from Bart’s stone.

A pulse of blue magic ran along the line encircling the wheel.

A transparent rainbow-hued dome appeared over the glyph-covered ground.

“Pathetic,” Blackstone spat, regaining his balance. “Your strongest attacks can’t hurt, and now you think a flimsy wall of magic is going to defeat me?”

“Defeat you?” Rod sounded almost amused. “No, James. It just needs to hold you long enough.”

“Were you supposed to be inside the wheel, James?” Leo asked.

Leo’s sarcasm paired perfectly with the terror on Blackstone’s face. I saw the moment he realized not only had he lost, but that he was also in mortal danger. He spun around, raised his stone, and pointed it at the now grinning Prince F’dreg.

“No!” he shouted, shrinking back from the being he’d tricked. A blast of black magic struck the multicolored barrier. It rebounded off the shield, causing Blackstone to flinch.

He stared at the new cage for a second before darting left.

Tendrils of black energy flowed from his mage stone, running along the ground in all directions.

Behind him, the demon prince rose to its full height, a terrible smile spreading across its inhuman face.

It took a long stride and reached out with its massive hand, claws extended.

“Our bargain changes,” it said, voice rumbling like an avalanche.

The lines of his dark magic pooled on seemingly random sigils. Light flickered around the edge of the wheel. As F’dreg moved closer, Blackstone fired a second, stronger burst of black energy at the barrier.

Shock, anger, and desperation played across his face. “Release me!” His voice rose several octaves. “You idiots don’t know the forces you’re playing with.”

“Actually, James,” Otto said. “It seems you didn’t know what you unleashed.”

The demon’s hand closed in on its prize.

Blackstone spun around, raised his hematite, and blasted F’dreg at point-blank range with enough power to shake the ground.

It left a scorch mark on the demon’s skin, but it didn’t stop him.

The demon’s fingers closed around Blackstone, who screamed in soul-rending pain.