Page 67 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

IRKSOME LIZARD

Hallie

THE CHAOS OF THE CAVE in and black smoke that smelled and looked too much like Yalvar fuel with its stench of burned flesh was just another tick on Hallie’s list of everything to go horribly wrong that day.

After the conversation with the Stradat Lord Kapitan and Saldr, she hoped that this might be something she’d dreamed, because just about everything that had happened could very much be considered a nightmare.

Then Niels had collapsed from blood loss. Not only had his sword wound been spilling blood, but his leg wound had also reopened. Hallie was rubbish at using her power. Could she heal? Yes. Somehow. Could she transport people across the world? Also yes.

But she couldn’t do any of it accurately.

Thankfully, Saldr had enough Vasa to stabilize him, but Niels hadn’t woken up. He needed more blood, but that was something Saldr couldn’t fix with his limited supply of dust. His body would have to replenish on its own.

She tried not to blame herself. She’d done her best, but it wasn’t enough.

After her father had done an initial assessment at the Stradat Lord Kapitan’s tent and declared most everyone else stable, he insisted they all be further assessed at the hospital ward just in case he missed anything. He whispered something in her mother’s ear, then helped Saldr carry Niels.

Hallie felt sick.

Kase took Hallie’s pack onto his shoulders and took her hand. “I’ll walk you down.”

Zelda grabbed Hallie’s other arm in her vice-like grip. Not only did it make for an awkward gait traversing the crowded tunnels, but it was also odd, because her mother hadn’t seemed to care when Hallie had loaded herself up on the carriage heading for Kyvena.

She’d only received three letters from her parents in the time she’d been at the University. Maybe they would’ve written more if Hallie had put forth more effort, but now, it was like her mother was scared her daughter would simply vanish if she didn’t keep a death grip on her.

Old Hallie would’ve wrenched away, annoyed at the gesture. Current Hallie only allowed her to continue because…well, if she was honest, she needed all the stability she could get.

The earthquakes had become more intense since Achilles.

She’d merely thought it a coincidence, though she really had no reason to believe that other than she didn’t want it to mean anything else.

She hadn’t expected the corrupted Zuprium crystals to be the reason, and she hadn’t expected it to be the heralding of Jagamot.

How useless her studies on the Yalvs had been. She felt lost and unstable without her knowledge to rely upon. She felt like a bird with clipped wings.

The smell of the Yalvar fuel still penetrated her lungs with each step away from the cave in.

What did it all mean? How was the fuel going to do anything to them? It was corrosive. Was that what Saldr had meant? Was Jagamot the fuel?

That didn’t make a lick of sense.

Hallie’s head ached just thinking about it. As if he knew, her father turned around and kissed her forehead while they walked, promising one of his headache cures if the hospital ward was overloaded.

Her eyes started to burn. She looked at Kase to hide the tears from her father.

Kase didn’t look much better. His eyes were narrowed as he inspected each person they passed. He was looking for someone, but Hallie didn’t know who. Maybe his mother? Brother? Hallie would’ve expected them to be with the Stradat Lord Kapitan, unless…

Oh stars, had something happened to them? What about his sister-in-law, Clara? She’d been pregnant. Had they been able to escape the city during the attack?

It was Stoneset all over again. It was fighting Loffler in the Gate Chamber. It was King Filip, dead and sliding into the unnatural fissure.

It was losing Jack in the mines.

The pounding of her heart hurt, and every beat pierced her chest like that sword she’d discovered.

The pain spiraled out from the wound like a spider’s tangled web.

She couldn’t breathe. Ice and fire warred within her as her power tried to stop the panic, only to be beaten back in the next struggling breath.

She swayed. She was losing control.

Her vision narrowed, and the tunnels disappeared. Her mother and Kase vanished. All she could see was the ground beneath her. And then it bit into her knees, but the sensation was nothing compared to the vice grip on her chest.

“I’m here. Breathe with me. In for three, out for four.”

That voice.

“In….out…”

Hallie tried to obey, but all she could get to was one. Panic attack. She was having a panic attack. She breathed again. Only got to one.

“The ground is rocky and packed with dirt. Feel it. Concentrate on it.”

Pebbles and crags bit into her palms where she pressed them into the stone. The scent of woodsmoke and leather filled her nose. Her chest loosened a fraction.

“In for three…out for four…”

She couldn’t. Everyone was going to die. There was no guesswork. There was no room for negotiation. She shivered from the chill of the tunnels and the ice warring inside her. Her power had disappeared.

Hands on her face. Rough and calloused. Woodsmoke. Leather.

Kase.

“Focus on me. Focus on the ground. Imagine your lungs expanding with air. In for three…”

He was going to die. Like Jack. Except it was worse.

It was Kase. There was no way for her to save him.

It’d been clear as day in Saldr’s eyes. Combining the Essences was impossible.

Hallie didn’t even know what it meant, only that Loffler was gone.

He’d gone through the Gate. Correa had tortured her. He’d never agree to help them.

“Hals. Listen to my voice, focus on it. In for three, out for four.” His voice was much closer and softer. His forehead pressed to her sweaty one. She didn’t know how she could sweat when she felt so incredibly cold.

She breathed in for two. The tightness eased a little more.

“There you go. Feel the ground. Use me. Focus on me.”

Two and a half.

“In for three…”

Three.

“…out for four.”

Four.

She shivered. The oxygen flowed into her lungs again and out. In and out. Slow and steady. In and out. Her heart no longer pierced her chest.

Kase’s lips met her forehead. “That’s my girl.”

Hallie blinked. Her eyesight finally expanded past the ground beneath her. The sound of the tunnels trickled back in. Kase’s face came into view as he lifted her head—his short beard, his calm gaze, his perfectly formed lips.

“I’m not a girl.”

He smiled, his hands still on her cheeks. “Irksome lizard, then.”

Hallie gave him a shaky smile, even if the sweat and subtle quake of her hands negated it. “Thank you.”

“You’re the one who taught me how.”

He pulled her into a hug, and for that moment, she melted into him.

Engulfed in his scent and wrapped in his arms, the last vestiges of her panic attack receded more.

The longer he held her, the more they faded.

It had been years since her last one. Jack’s death had brought them on.

By the time she left for Kyvena, they’d been a thing of the past. It was how she’d been able to coach Kase through one, but apparently, she couldn’t help herself anymore.

He was going to die.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Her breathing picked up.

Breathe in for three. Out for four.

It wasn’t a nebulous something occurring someday in the far-flung future. It would happen. Soon. The world was falling apart. That was what the strange floating Yalvar fuel meant. They would all die, consumed by it.

In for three.

She only got to two.

“Hals,” Kase whispered into her ear. He hadn’t let her go, only kept holding her close. “If there’s anyone who can figure out a way out of this, it’s you.”

“But Loffler and Niels and the…the…what Saldr said…”

She couldn’t form a coherent sentence. Her thoughts were all a jumble, and she couldn’t even determine what she wanted to say. Everything hurt. She needed sleep. Desperately.

“We’ll do this together.” He pulled back a little and hooked a finger underneath her chin.

She opened her eyes and found his. He didn’t blink.

“You get a medic to look at you, since your father is busy helping Niels, and I’ll be back before you’re done, all right?

I need to have a word with the Stradat Lord Kapitan. ”

In for three.

Hallie’s words came out a little strained. “I’ll go with you.”

Her mother came back into sight then and interjected, “You need to rest. Now.”

“I’ll be fine.” Hallie hadn’t intended for the words to contain any bite, but they did. Her mother only raised a single brow. “Sorry, Mama.”

Movement came from behind her. Hallie looked up to see her father conversing with a few medics. They directed him and Saldr to take Niels to the back of the ward. Fely followed behind.

“I’ll stay until someone comes to check on you,” Kase whispered in her ear.

According to a few people who scurried about with supplies as they passed her, the hospital area had been moved due to the bombing. It would’ve been worse if Kase hadn’t taken things into his own hands. Word must have spread at last, as several people who passed them by thanked him.

Not the sort of thing you said to the person who’d set the city on fire a few years ago.

Did they not know? Or had saving their lives in a hover erased any ill will?

At this point, Hallie didn’t think she cared how it had happened, only that it did.

Kase had messed up. Badly. But he’d grown in the years since, and the fact that he’d been willing to go back and face it head-on? That showed maturity.

Hallie could forgive him for telling the Stradat Lord Kapitan about her powers. It was foolish of her to feel betrayed over that anyway. He’d only wanted to win this horrible war. It still stung a little. But it was Kase. He only had her best interests at heart…she thought.