by Donna Grant
“I can see your fear,” Sybbyl said with a smirk.
Malene managed to hold in her retort. Besides, it didn’t matter what she said. Sybbyl would think whatever she wanted, and Malene didn’t care what the witch thought.
Sybbyl threw back her head and laughed. “The panic the Varroki have instilled in witches has been for nothing. Look at you, standing there, waiting to attack. What kind of witch are you?”
“I’m not a witch,” Malene replied.
That took Sybbyl aback. The smile died on her lips. “How can you lead the Varroki if you aren’t a witch and have no magic?”
“I never said I didn’t have magic.” It gave Malene great pleasure to see Sybbyl trying to work out what was going on.
The witch squared her shoulders and shot Malene a dry look. “Trying to get inside my head, are you? It won’t work. I’m too smart for that. And it doesn’t matter who you brought to fight, none of you can best me.”
“Perhaps it’s time we learn just who the strongest is.”
Sybbyl’s sneer was back. “I could’ve killed each of you by now.”
“Then why haven’t you?” Helena demanded.
Malene watched Sybbyl closely, noting how the witch’s nostrils flared in fury when Helena spoke. For all her bluster, Sybbyl was scared. That was why she hadn’t attacked them. If Sybbyl truly believed that she would win, she would’ve struck at them the moment they appeared. Instead, she had regarded them much as they had evaluated her.
Not to mention, it had given Brom time to regain some of his strength. Malene purposefully didn’t look his way, but she knew he was using the time wisely and healing himself. It had been pure luck that they had even found Brom and Sybbyl. Malene had no idea how the two had come to battle each other, and it didn’t matter. Brom was injured, and it looked as if Runa were dying.
The only way Malene could help Brom and Runa was to pull Sybbyl’s attention away and allow Brom to get to Runa. Malene wanted to look back at Armir once more, but she stopped herself. She had spoken to the others privately, informing them that she would go after Sybbyl alone. The rest were to keep Armir from coming after her and ensure that no other witch tried to interfere.
Malene started toward Sybbyl. As she did, she opened herself up to the magic within. The force of it surged through her veins and pooled in her palms before it shot from her hands, bathing the area in blue.
Sybbyl’s eyes widened. Malene was prepared when Sybbyl sent the first volley of magic at her.
Armir started to follow Malene when Jarin moved in front of him. Armir cut the warrior a look. “Get out of my way.”
“I can’t,” Jarin replied.
Armir glanced at Malene’s back. “She ordered you to stop me.”
“She said this was her battle, not ours.”
“Then why did the bones call you all together?” he demanded, looking at the others.
Helena pointed. “Because of them.”
Armir looked to where she had indicated and saw a mass of witches pouring through the trees. A glance showed they were coming from all around. He hated not being by Malene’s side, but he would do whatever it took to protect her. And right now, that meant keeping the Coven from joining Sybbyl.
There were only seven of them against a multitude of witches. Still, they stood a chance given the force of the Blood Skull, Helena, the Varroki warriors, and the Hunters. It wasn’t long before the ground was littered with the dead.
Brom hurried around Sybbyl and Malene to try and get to Runa. He’d nearly reached her when he saw more than a dozen witches surrounding Ravyn and Carac. The witches worked to separate the couple, weakening them. Together, Ravyn and Carac moved as one, picking off each one, witch by witch. Yet the Coven sacrificed the weaker members to get close to the couple.
Brom noticed that the witches had just about managed to split the couple apart. He glanced at Runa, then rushed to help Ravyn and Carac. He hurried to them with magic flying. Four witches went down before any others even noticed that he had arrived. Then, the others split their focus between him and Ravyn and Carac, giving the couple the time they needed to bolster themselves.
Brom remained long enough to pick off more of the witches before he tried to go to Runa again. Once more, he found that he was needed. There were just too many witches and only a handful fighting against them. He couldn’t tell if Runa still breathed, though right now, all he could do was hope that she held on long enough for him to get to her. Because if he went to her now, and the others lost, then he would doom them all.
He moved to stand with Braith and Leoma for a time before he joined Jarin and Helena. It wasn’t long before he found himself alongside Armir. For every witch that was killed, another took her place. Ash filled the air from the mass of dead witches, the gray bits hanging like snow flurries before they drifted away.
Suddenly, there was a loud boom that shocked everyone into halting. Brom’s head swung toward the sound to see Malene and Sybbyl locked in combat. The blue radiance from Malene’s hands held back Sybbyl and the two bones.
“Malene,” Armir whispered.
Brom grabbed his arm, stopping the commander before he could go to her.
“Let me go,” Armir stated furiously.
“What are you going to do?” Brom jerked his head to Malene. “She’s in the middle of combat. There’s nothing you can do.”
“The hell there isn’t. I can help.”
“She doesna need your help.”
Armir leaned close, his gaze daring Brom to interfere. “The hell she doesn’t.”
“She’s strong and powerful. She can handle Sybbyl.”
Armir yanked his arm loose. Without another word, he turned and started toward the women. He didn’t get two steps before Malene shouted something, and the radiance began to shift and bend, enveloping her and Sybbyl in a massive bubble. Armir ran toward them, but he didn’t get there in time. He slammed against the bubble just as it closed. He was thrown backward.
“Malene!” he yelled, but if the Lady of Varroki heard him, she didn’t let on.
Brom saw a group of witches coming for Armir. He ran to intercept them, taking a hit of magic that knocked his legs out from under him so that he slammed face-first into the snow. The ice was like tiny daggers cutting into his skin.
Armir shouted his name, alerting him that he was about to be hit with more magic. Brom rolled to the side and jumped to his feet to face his foes. He and Armir stood back-to-back as they blocked shots of magic while sending their own. Brom knocked plenty of hits away, but others got through. He was still weak from his encounter with Sybbyl. Fortunately, he hadn’t left her unscathed either. Brom really hoped that gave Malene the upper hand. He wanted to check on her and Sybbyl, but there were too many witches for him to take his eyes off them for even a heartbeat.
A loud cackle split the air a heartbeat after a cry of pain. Brom looked to the bubble and found Malene on the ground, breathing heavily with blood pouring from a wound near her neck. Sybbyl stood over her.
This was it. Brom couldn’t believe they were going to lose. He’d never believed that Sybbyl could defeat Malene. And yet, he was seeing it with his own eyes.
“Nay,” Armir whispered.
Sybbyl raised the staff and sword over her head, pausing long enough to smile maliciously down at Malene. The weapons plunged toward Malene as Armir cried out her name. Brom couldn’t look away. He watched in utter shock as the Lady of the Varroki stopped Sybbyl by blinding her with the blue radiance from her palms. Sybbyl shielded her face and turned her head away as she stumbled backward and fell into the snow.
“The time of the Coven is over!” a woman shouted as she ran through the forest in a tattered cloak and gown.
“It’s Elin! Someone get her,” shouted a witch.
Synne put her hands over her ears, hoping to stop the Giras’ bone-chilling screams. Lachlan tried to keep her from looking back as they climbed higher, but she was having none of it. She wanted to know where
Asrail was.
When Synne did look at the loch, she stood in numbed silence as beings rose from the water. Except they couldn’t exist because they looked like the water itself, simply shaped like a person.
“We need to go,” Lachlan insisted, tugging on her arm.
Synne searched the group of Gira for Asrail. “Not without my grandmother.”
“She knew what was coming. She wanted you out.”
Synne shot him a glare. “She was coming. I saw her start toward us.”
Lachlan’s nose flared as he turned Synne to the camp. “Those things from the loch are killing the Gira. Asrail was by the water. Lass, I want nothing more than for your grandmother to be here, but I doona think she is. No’ anymore.”
Synne wanted to argue that he was wrong, but she knew he wasn’t. The water creatures were swift and vicious as they cut the Gira down as if they were nothing. A tear escaped, and Synne hastily wiped it away.
“We need to go,” Lachlan whispered urgently in her ear.
Synne said nothing as she turned and started racing up the hill. There was still time to find the others and join the battle.
29
Brom stared in shock as the snow began to shift and come alive. One pile near him formed into a person that slowly rose from a squatting position to stand and face him. He swallowed as he stared in awe and wonder. He’d never seen anything like it before, and he wasn’t sure if it was friend or foe.
More and more snow beings appeared and started attacking the Coven by wrapping their arms around the witches and essentially smothering them in snow. Within moments, there was nothing but ash left of the witches.
One of the beings stopped near Brom and smiled. Brom looked into its eyes of snow and nodded his head.
“We told you that you would know when it was time.”
Brom recalled the conversation in his head. “What are you?”
“Snow nymphs,” it said and turned to stop a retreating witch.
Brom’s gaze swung to Runa. He didn’t know how he knew, but he knew he had to get her out of here. He ran toward Runa, dodging the snow nymphs. Brom tripped on a rock hidden in the snow and tumbled to the ground. He found his gaze on the giant blue bubble that held Malene and Sybbyl.
He rose up on his elbow when Malene got to her feet and stood over Sybbyl, much as the witch had done to her moments before. Sybbyl tried to raise the sword, but Malene knocked it aside with her magic. When Sybbyl attempted to use the staff, Malene waved it away with her hand, leaving Sybbyl with nothing but her magic to use against the Lady of the Varroki. Brom wasn’t the only one watching. Even the snow nymphs were enthralled.
Malene threw back her head as her arms went out to her sides, and the blue radiance intensified. Armir shouted her name, beating on the bubble. The frantic fear in his voice caused Brom to frown as he climbed to his feet.
The light grew brighter and brighter until Brom had no choice but to look away. Then, suddenly, it was gone. He hurriedly looked up, but there was no sign of the bubble, Malene, or Sybbyl. Armir dropped to his knees, dismay etched on his face.
Brom shivered, not from the cold but from the eerie silence that filled the forest. He looked around, noting there were no more Coven members. Only the other seven members of his group, Elin, and the snow nymphs remained.
“Where is Malene?” Jarin asked.
Brom swallowed, sorrow filling him because he suspected that Malene had given herself to the magic when she took out Sybbyl, which had killed both of them. Given how Armir sat on his haunches in the snow, he had come to the same conclusion.
Brom glanced at Armir once more as he rushed to Runa’s side. He put a finger beneath her nose and felt the soft brush of her breath. It was faint, though, too weak for his liking. He gathered Runa in his arms.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered just before he began the healing spell.
Someone tugged at her. Runa could feel the pulling, but she couldn’t tell what it was. The darkness had yet to recede, which made everything even more frightening. She couldn’t see or speak. She couldn’t hear, either. But she could feel.
“Trust us.”
It was the same voice as before, but it spoke in her head. That alone made Runa uncomfortable. She didn’t know who the voice belonged to or what they wanted with her, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t want anything to do with them.
“It’s nearly over. Then, you can finally be free.”
Runa couldn’t help but feel there was a double meaning in that. For her, it meant no longer being queen of the Gira and being able to live the life she wanted with Brom. She was relatively sure the voice had another meaning in mind.
She shouted Brom’s name as loudly as she could in her head. Runa hoped that some kind of sound would pass her lips. Maybe it did, though she didn’t know since she couldn’t hear anything. Whether that was from someone preventing her from hearing or if there was nothing to hear, she wasn’t sure.
At least there was very little pain now. Was her wound getting better? Or worse? She wished she had heeded Brom’s words before she fought Sybbyl. He should’ve had the sword, but Runa had been so sure of her victory. She was so used to doing everything on her own that she hadn’t learned how to trust anyone. She claimed to trust Brom, but if she had, she would’ve listened and believed him when he warned her about Sybbyl. Then she wouldn’t have lost the sword and been wounded.
She was better than that. Morea had taught her better than that. Runa refused to believe that her stubbornness had lost the battle. She wasn’t going to give up on Brom or the others, because she knew that good would triumph over evil one way or another.
Runa fought to move something, anything on her body. She strained, bellowing her frustration in her head when her limbs didn’t obey. It would be so easy to give up. She might find some peace then. She had been fighting for so long, desperate for a place to fit in. She had found that with Brom. But now, she couldn’t have him.
She frowned then, wondering where that thought had come from. If there was one thing she was sure about, it was Brom. In this life or the next, they would be together. She’d never stop looking for him, never stop loving him.
And she knew he would do the same for her.
She would be with Brom. Runa wasn’t going to give up on him.
Her body jerked and moved, but she wasn’t the one doing it. She heard laughter as if she were in a deep tunnel and the sound was high above her.
“Runa? Open your eyes, lass,” Brom said as he gently shook her.
The spell had begun to heal her body, but quicker than he was used to. Still, it had loosened the band of steel around his chest. He called her name once more. To his delight, her eyes finally fluttered open.
“There you are,” he said with a smile.
She blinked at him before her lips curved. “Brom.”
“How do you feel?”
“Fine.”
He hid his frown. He’d seen the deep wound in her chest. Then again, his magic had healed her. There had been too much going on for him to accept anything so casually. Yet, he had the woman he loved in his arms, and she was smiling at him.
“I’m glad to hear it. I’m sure you’d like to get out of the snow.” Brom got to his feet, helping her up as he did.
Runa dusted herself off and looked around. “Where is the Coven?”
“They were decimated,” Leoma said with a laugh.
Ravyn blew out a breath and shot Carac a wide smile. “It feels so good to have them gone.”
“They’ve caused a lot of trouble for a long time,” Helena said with a nod.
Jarin linked his hand with Helena’s. “We won.”
“Won?” Runa asked as her gaze scanned the others’ faces.
Brom noticed that the snow nymphs kept their distance, preferring to stay near Armir. Brom wanted to ask the nymphs what they wanted, but he was happy they hadn’t attacked them.
“Runa!”
Everyone turned to see Synne and Lac
hlan running toward them. Both were out of breath. Synne enveloped Runa in an embrace.
“What is it?” Braith asked.
Lachlan took a couple of deep breaths. “These beings came out of the loch and killed the Gira.”
“All of them,” Synne said in a muffled voice as she clung to Runa.
Brom looked at Runa’s face, but she didn’t seem too upset to hear this, while Synne was crying. Then again, Synne had spent more time with Asrail, so perhaps their connection was stronger.
“We had some help, as well,” Carac said.
Brom nodded to the beings. “They’re snow nymphs. I bet those at the loch were water nymphs.”
“I’ve never heard of them,” Synne said as she pulled back from Runa and stepped away.
Lachlan shrugged. “Asrail did say there were beings of this world we didna know about.”
“That she did.” Brom noted that Runa hadn’t said much. She was looking at everyone, however. When she noticed him staring, she reached for his hand. He realized that he was looking for something that wasn’t there. Runa was alive, but no doubt she had suffered horribly. He needed to give her some time.
Suddenly, Synne stiffened at the sight of Elin. “What is she doing here?”
“She brought the snow nymphs,” Leoma said.
Anger contorted Synne’s features. “That doesn’t matter. She needs to pay for what she did at Blackglade.”
“What is Armir doing?” Lachlan asked.
That stopped Synne, causing her to glance at Armir. Then she looked at the others. “Where is Malene?”
“Gone,” Ravyn said in a soft voice. “She killed Sybbyl, and the magic consumed them both.”
Elin shook her head. “Sybbyl isn’t gone. She’s right there.”
