Revelation

by C. A. McHugh

  Aerrin tried to scramble to his feet, but a wave of blood-red magic assaulted him. His body burned in pain.

  Then everything went black.

  Chapter 29

  Seroney stood in the corridor of the challenge chambers, waiting for her turn to breeze through what would once again be an insult to her intelligence. Once again, she would have to dumb down her abilities to make sure she didn’t perform magic that was beyond a fifth-year level.

  Or piss Nyssa off by getting a higher score.

  The goddess help me if I have to pretend to be an apprentice next year. I may have to come clean before that.

  And she was ready to come clean. Aerrin would no longer have to attend the Academy next year, especially if he opted to apprentice himself under a master mage in Dromore. It made sense. He could continue his training while still taking care of his royal duties. She’d no longer need to pretend to be a teenage student after that. She could finally tell him the truth and go after the Raven Bringer.

  Her skin tingled, and the hair on her arms rose in a silent warning. She looked around the room and discovered the source of her sudden unease when she glimpsed Master Philgus slipping what looked like a small crystal into the doorframe of the room Aerrin had just entered.

  Then the ground shook, and an explosion rocked the room. The wall crumbled, burying Master Philgus under it, but she had little time to worry about him.

  Not when a dozen pair of glowing red eyes appeared through the smoke and dust.

  Demons.

  Screams filled the air, but she couldn’t run. These children had no idea how to battle these creatures. They were like the sacrificial offerings of livestock chained in front of a dragon’s den.

  She cast one anchoring spell, then another, then another. If they couldn’t blink, then they were less likely to get away and cause more chaos.

  Two other anchoring spells blasted past her in a stream of blue sparks. Leandros and Nyssa stood on either side of her, casting with everything they had in them.

  Master Karena rushed in and cast the first vanquishing spell.

  A demon went up in flames.

  Then another.

  And another.

  Before she knew it, they were surrounded by almost twenty master mages, and the demons were nothing more than piles of ashes.

  Sobs replaced the screams, and Master Eamon and his apprentices started sorting the wounded.

  Seroney assessed her friends. “You two hurt?”

  Leandros shook his head, even though he was as pale as a ghost.

  “Luckily, we were far enough from the explosion,” Nyssa started to say before gasping.

  What had once been the chamber Aerrin had entered was nothing more than a hollow shell of crumbling walls.

  And Aerrin was nowhere to be seen.

  Her heart stopped for what felt like an eternity, and she stumbled back, unable to accept that he might be dead.

  Leandros wrapped his arm around her waist. “Don’t jump to any hasty conclusions,” he said, even though his voice was higher than normal.

  Seroney rushed to Aerrin’s chamber. It was practically empty with the exception of a few stones. No bodies. No evidence that he’d even been there at all.

  The explosion had blasted out from the center of the room, but it had left behind a telltale signature of magic. Seroney analyzed it and recoiled from the death and chaos it contained. But beyond that, there was something else.

  Something she recognized from Oudesta. The familiar residue created by a teleportation gate. The crystal!

  She cursed when she finally realized what Master Philgus had done and whirled around. Aerrin wasn’t here because Philgus had turned the room into a gate.

  She ran back out to question the traitor, but when Master Eamon managed to unearth Master Philgus from the rubble, he shook his head. Even the best healer in the Academy couldn’t cure death.

  She cursed. Philgus had taken his secrets with him. There was only one thing left to do. If she wanted to find Aerrin, she needed a map.

  She ran toward the library, ignoring Leandros’s and Nyssa’s cries for her to stop. Thank the goddess she’d convinced Aerrin to put on that bracelet. She started unraveling the knot on her own bracelet as she raced through the corridors. It was her link to him.

  She tore the map of the kingdom off the library wall and spread it on a table. By the time Leandros and Nyssa caught up to her, she was already dangling the crystal over the map and murmuring the incantation.

  “What are you doing?” Leandros asked.

  Nyssa elbowed him. “She’s scrying, you dimwit, and she needs to concentrate.”

  Seroney dangled the crystal over the map, moving it from side to side as she moved away from the southern realm of Arcana. She choked back her fear. The last time she’d used scrying to find a loved one, she’d been too late. She refused to let Aerrin suffer the same fate. Her mind continued the incantation when her lips fell silent. Her attention remained fixed on Aerrin, and she focused her magic into the tiny piece of pale blue sepharium at the end of the cord.

  As the crystal neared the foothills of the Craigars, it started to glow. She slowed her movements, using the brightness to pinpoint the exact location of the sister crystal.

  The crystal stopped swaying and fell on the map like iron to a magnet right on the border of Highmounte and Edensdowne.

  For the first time since the explosion, Seroney experienced a sliver of hope. “Expand,” she ordered the map, and it doubled in size. She repeated the command again, hoping to get as precise a location as possible.

  The map swamped the table and unfurled in every direction, curling at the bookcases, but she ordered it to expand one more time until she had an image of a hollowed-out peak in the mountain range.

  She let the bracelet fall and pointed to the still-glowing crystal. “Nyssa, you’re from Highmounte. Do you recognize this place?”

  “That’s called Sgùr Slaugh—The Undead Mountain. It was once a volcano, but the locals say that when it went extinct, it became a haven for evil spirits.”

  No wonder the Raven Bringer was drawn to it. “That’s where Aerrin is.”

  Nyssa’s chin quivered. “And is he still…”

  Her voice broke, and Leandros pulled her into his arms.

  Now was not the time for tears, or for comfort. Seroney needed to act now if she wanted to save Aerrin. “Those bracelets I gave you—they are all made from the same piece of sepharium, and I cast a location spell in them in case we were ever separated from each other. Call it a grim premonition, but because of it, we were able to find him. I need you to bring my uncle here and show him the map.”

  She left them behind and dashed toward the front gates. She couldn’t teleport until she’d cleared the protective wards, and every second that passed meant Aerrin was one step closer to dying.

  She prayed to the goddess for protection.

  And for luck.

  She stepped out of her teleportation spell into the peak in her vision and shivered. The place the map indicated was the stuff of nightmares. Death and chaos hung heavy in the air like thick smoke, choking any joy she might have had left. No wonder the locals called it the Undead Mountain. The black granite peaks of the Craigars surrounded her, the mountains reaching up past the low-hanging clouds. Ravens cawed overhead.

  This had to be the place.

  She shifted before anyone could recognize her as an intruder, shrinking until she was the size of Bhasha. A human would raise an alarm. A simple black housecat wouldn’t. But to be safe, she clung to the shadows while creeping toward the entrance she’d seen in her vision.

  Whispers in an infernal tongue followed her from another realm, but nothing stopped her from entering. She prayed the Meritis family trait would be strong enough to disguise her presence. Anytime she heard footsteps, she scurried to the nearest hiding spot. She was Aerrin’s best chance, the person who had the most hope of making it to him in time, and she refused to screw up her cha
nces by being careless.

  She just prayed her patience would pay off in the end.

  Chapter 30

  Ceryst didn’t like the look on Raimel’s face when the letter poofed out of nowhere. He hated it even more when Raimel paled after reading it. The last time they’d gotten a poof-note five weeks ago, the undead had attacked the Academy.

  His gut told him this was worse. “Tell me,” he ordered.

  Instead of answering him, Raimel handed him the note.

  Academy attacked by demons, Master Binnius’s spidery scrawl said. Aerrin missing.

  The last two words knocked the air from his lungs like a kick to the nuts.

  “Come on.” Raimel grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into the shimmering magical veil of teleportation.

  Seconds later, they were standing in front of the Academy.

  Raimel ran through the front gates, uninhibited by any of the protective wards that were normally in place. A worried crease formed between his brows. “This is bad if I can prance in here with nothing stopping me.”

  Ceryst pulled his hood low over his head and marched into the Academy, not caring if anyone recognized him. “Where’s Master Binnius?”

  Raimel closed his eyes. “In the library, I think.”

  “Then that’s where we’re going.” He moved with purpose, ignoring the glances of fear the students gave him as he passed.

  They didn’t encounter a single master on their way. When they reached the library, he found out why. The headmaster must’ve ordered every master mage in Arcana to report there. The library was packed with blue-robed spell casters.

  Ceryst pushed his way to the front and confronted the old man. “Where is he?”

  Master Binnius pointed to where a small crystal lay glowing on the largest map he’d ever seen. “There.”

  “I’m going with you,” he said in a tone that allowed no room for argument.

  “As I assumed you would.” The headmaster then looked up to those gathered in the room. “The king has been kidnapped, and I fear the person behind it was the enemy we feared fifteen years ago. The Raven Bringer has returned.”

  A murmur rippled through the crowd, and a shock of warning zipped down Ceryst’s spine. If someone recognized him…

  “I need every able-bodied master I can get to rescue him,” Binnius continued. “Of course, I can’t force you to do something you don’t want to do, but I would gladly welcome any assistance you can give. Those who choose to stay behind are charged with protecting the students in my absence. Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s move past the gates so we can teleport en masse.”

  Chapter 31

  Pain jabbed through his head when Aerrin opened his eyes, and his stomach heaved. Bit by bit, his senses slowly came back into play. Voices murmured a language he didn’t understand, followed by clear shouts in one he did. The air reeked of sulfur and decay. Rough rope bit into his wrists and ankles, and his arms had been stretched as far back as possible, bound around what felt like damp rock. The metallic taste of blood lingered on his lips.

  But nothing frightened him more than the figure kneeling before him when his vision came into focus.

  “Have a nice nap?” the Raven Bringer asked from behind his mask.

  “Drop dead,” Aerrin spat back, his voice hoarse.

  The Raven Bringer made a chiding noise. “That’s no way to talk to your new lord and master.”

  Every breath hurt, but he found the strength to ask, “What do you want?”

  “I want what I’ve always wanted—what is rightfully mine.” He stood and pulled out a crystal orb, rolling it between his fingers as he spoke. “I almost had it all, but mere minutes robbed me of what I deserved.”

  “You have such a long history of failure, I’m having trouble recalling which instance you’re referring to.” Aerrin tugged on the ropes, but they only dug deeper into his skin.

  “You’re as arrogant as your father, and look what happened to him.”

  Anger rushed through Aerrin, and he pulled even harder on the ropes, ignoring the sting of raw flesh.

  The Raven Bringer chuckled. “Patience, boy. I’ll send you to your parents soon enough.”

  “Why haven’t you done so already? Are you too much of a coward?”

  The fiend’s eyes flashed, and a wall of dark magic slammed into Aerrin, punching the air from his lungs. “I’ve been ready to kill you, and you will die before this day is through.”

  “Then get on with it, you lousy piece of shit.”

  The Raven Bringer paced the width of the small stone chamber, still playing with that crystal ball. “You’ve been taking lessons in manners from Raimel, haven’t you?”

  “What is your endgame?” Aerrin tried to channel as much kingly authority as he could.

  “To terrorize the kingdom, naturally.” The Raven Bringer held the crystal ball in front of Aerrin’s face. “Do you have any idea what this is?”

  “A prop used by a fake fortune-teller?”

  “Wrong. This simple orb can magnify my power. And as soon as the sun sets, I’ll bring you to Dromore to see the destruction I’ll unleash right before I publicly execute you in front of all your subjects.” He tucked the crystal under his cloak. “So you see, Aerrin, I’m not a fool. I’ve been planning this for a long, long time. And now, you’ll get to witness me ushering in a new era of darkness.”

  Aerrin thought hard, refusing to let fear consume him. Keep your head on straight, and maybe you can outwit him. “So what you’re saying is that you truly are a weakling during the day?”

  The Raven Bringer gave a furious roar and hurled a ball of black magic toward him. Aerrin braced for the impact, realizing he might’ve pushed his enemy too hard. But the spell collided with a golden dome that suddenly surrounded him, and fizzled out.

  Even with the mask concealing his face, the Raven Bringer couldn’t fully hide his shock. His jaw fell slack. “How is this possible?”

  It was the second time Aerrin had seen that golden shield of protective magic. The unicorn’s magic had come in handy once again. He checked to make sure the ring was still on his finger.

  The Raven Bringer conjured the same spell again with the same results.

  “Impossible.” He grabbed Aerrin by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward, stretching his bound arms until it felt as though his arms would pop out of their sockets. “What kind of magic are you hiding?”

  “Perhaps Mariliel is interceding for me. After all, I was born on her feast day.”

  “You’re lying.” The Raven Bringer flicked his glowing red gaze over him before releasing him. “But it doesn’t matter. When the sun is gone, Zelquis will give me all the power I need to break you and this kingdom.”

  The Raven Bringer whirled around, his cloak flapping behind him. When he left the room, the door slammed, and everything plunged into darkness.

  Aerrin’s bravado finally fled, and his head slumped down. His eyes stung with tears he refused to shed. He was still alive, and as long as he still breathed, he wouldn’t give up.

  It’s just like the challenges at the Academy, he told himself. I’m trapped, and I need to use my magic to escape.

  But every time he tried to conjure a spell, his magic was trapped within him. After several failed attempts, he was exhausted and forced to accept the idea that the Raven Bringer had blocked his magic. He was about to give up when a swath of silky fur brushed against his fingers.

  He tensed as images of hideous creatures flipped through his mind. The wraith. The deformed baby. The stuff of legends that chilled grown men’s blood. What if the Raven Bringer had sent something in to torture him while he waited? What if it tried to gnaw off his fingers? Or rip his flesh from his bones?

  But then, it stared purring. The soothing vibrations alleviated his fears. It was just a cat.

  A cat!

  “Seroney?” he whispered in the faint hope she’d found him.

  The cat slipped from his grasp, but a few sec
onds later, a single question brought a glimmer of joy into his day.

  “Miss me?”

  “Thank the goddess it’s you.” The breath that had been trapped in his lungs slipped out in relief. “How—”

  She shushed him and tugged on the ropes. “Talk when we’re out of here.”

  He nodded and sat quietly as the bindings loosened and fell away.

  She took one hand and helped him to his feet. “Can you walk?”

  His legs had gone numb from being tied together so long, and each step ended with a painful hiss. “Give me a moment.”

  “We don’t have a moment.” Pale blue magic shimmered around his legs, driving away the aches. “Better?”

  “Yes, but how are we going to get past—”

  “Leave everything to me. I managed to scout the place, and I know the way through the tunnels to the exit.”

  He was about to ask how she’d managed to do that when he realized the answer. “Nobody pays attention to a cat, huh?”

  “The Meritis family trait has its advantages.” She paused in front of the door and cast a spell on the lock. When it unbolted, she opened it a crack and peered outside. “When I say go, we run. Don’t let go of my hand.”

  He nodded, even though he didn’t fully understand her plan. He trusted her.

  “Ready?” she whispered.

  Magic wrapped around him, but it wasn’t until she pulled him out into the corridor that he realized she’d cast a camouflaging spell. No wonder she’d told him to remain in contact with her.

  The bright light blinded him after being the dark so long, but Seroney had no trouble navigating the terrain. She darted forward into what looked like a massive underground network of caves and tunnels, diving into crevices whenever something came near and concealing him with her body. They took it a few steps at a time, slowly making their way through the narrow tunnel and into a larger room.

  Aerrin fought the urge to gasp. They were inside an extinct volcano. The conical cavern was three times the size of the grand ballroom in Dromore, packed with both humans and various demons. The high jagged walls opened to the elements and the cloudy sky above. The yellow glow that streamed into the room signaled it was still daylight, but he had no idea of the hour, nor how much time they had left.