I collapsed back against the rail as hot pain stabbed through my leg. I pressed my hand to my thigh. Blood seeped through the bandages.
Niskian raised her sword. “Now answer my question! Where is the Golden Arrow?”
CHAPTER 31
I stood alone on the top of the bell tower, my friends gone, thick fog swirling around me, and stared straight into the flashing black eyes of the Dark Archer.
She trained her sword on me. “Where is the Golden Arrow?” she repeated.
I clenched my teeth against the throbbing pain in my leg and raised my weapon. “How am I supposed to know?”
“I know Rowan Tyler found it. Where is it?”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She lunged forward. I dove aside, swinging my blade up. She whipped around and caught it, throwing me backward. She raised her hand, and dark smoke curled up her arm. Her Shadow twisting through my injured leg stabbed sharply, and I lost my balance and fell back against the rail. My head reeled.
“Stop lying to me.”
“Why have you been following us?”
“Because you know where it is!” A blast of dark energy shot from her hand.
I spun away. Wind whipped around me, swinging the bell. A clang echoed through the air. I glanced down at my hand, red from my own blood.
Niskian lunged once more, shoving me back into the railing. “Do you have any idea what stakes are riding on this?” she hissed.
“How could I possibly know where a thousand-year-old stick of gold is?” My voice cracked in a fresh wave of pain.
She leaned into me, her face inches from mine. “There are things going on you have no idea about, dear Jackson.” Her breath rushed past my ear, hot in the cold air. “Why do you think the Ealdra seized Fort Calmier? Why do you think they’re hunting you? How do you think the Ealdra were able to get in, in the first place?” She grabbed my arm. “There’s a spy, Jackson. A spy who’s been feeding the Ealdra and the Hunters everything about you and the Áccyn. He’s so much more dangerous than you could imagine ... and he’s been right in front of you!”
I pushed her away, getting lightheaded from the pain. “I know about the spy!” I pulled away from her and limped around the bell, putting some distance between us, gripping my sword tight. Cold wind whipped the fog around me into a small tornado.
She ducked under the bell. “The Ealdra found a weapon, Jackson. But to get it, they need you. They need your power. That’s why you’re being hunted.”
“You really need to rethink your information sources. I know all this. Everyone does. Common knowledge, dear Archer.” I shrugged, my heart pounding in my chest. As I backed away from her, her Shadow pierced my injury again. I muffled my grunt of pain.
“Once they find out what this Golden Arrow can really do,” she whispered, “they’re going after it too. They’re planning a war. After almost a thousand years, they’re mounting their power, they’re about to wipe out the Áccyn and everyone else.” She raised her dark blade, Shadow twisting around it. I stopped, cornered against the railing. “So, I need you to tell me where your sweet grandpa hid the Arrow. Because you’re right in the middle of this, and you don’t want me as your enemy.”
In the courtyard below, Rangerians appeared in the fog, and I saw the stone rubble blow apart. I tightened my grip on my sword and took a deep breath, letting the pain drift away.
There was no one to get me out of this one.
I was going to have to fight my way out.
Niskian strode toward me, her hood fallen, her long braid tossed behind her. Her sword twisted with darkness. She suddenly lunged, stepped up onto the rail, and leaped toward me, falling through the air.
I dropped and whirled away, bringing my sword around in a wide arc. Niskian ducked away from my cut. I sprang to my feet, slashing again. She threw up her blade. The metal hit with a resounding clash. I saw the dark smoke forming in her hand. I spun aside. It shot past my head and exploded against the bell, sending another ringing toll across the ruins. I dove forward, caught her sword, and kicked out. She staggered back.
I summoned all of my power and screamed, letting all the anger and terror and pain rush out. A monstrous blast of cold air jetted out from me. Niskian flew backward, hit one of the support posts, and slammed into the floor. She lay, dazed. The Shadow seeped from my wound and vanished into fog, and my pain with it.
I grabbed hold of the rail and swung over, dropping the eight feet through the air. I landed on the castle walls, my injured thigh slamming against the stone battlements. If only I could make it to Perry...
But Niskian was strong. She pushed herself to her feet up above me, picked up her sword, and leaped over the rail. She hit the wall behind me and spun. The hilt of her sword smashed into my shoulder. I slammed into the battlement wall again and bounced off. Her sword clanged off the stone.
I rolled my shoulder in its socket with a grimace. It felt bruised from her strike. Very bruised. She swung. I jumped back and stabbed. She caught my blade and threw me off again.
The air was buzzing with Rangerian energy. I had lost sight of the others long ago. I could only hope they were still safe. “You used to be Áccyn, right?” I called.
She laughed. “You should listen to me. Tell me where it is.”
I backed away around the corner and down the walkway. “I told you, I don’t know.” I noticed that most of the roof was gone and several pillars had toppled in the middle of the path. The walkway itself stopped halfway to the other side of the courtyard. The rest of it lay in pieces on the stone.
I stopped in my tracks. There went that plan. I could see the hall I needed to get to twenty feet on the other side of the gap. That hall was the only way down to Perry. I frantically glanced around for another way, my stomach dropping.
Niskian advanced, raised her sword, and struck. I spun around and threw up my blade, knocking hers away. It bounced off the stone.
She swung again. I knocked it away. Again her sword rang off a column. She lunged forward and slashed. I sidestepped, spinning to face her. My foot caught the edge of the walkway, and I slipped. I grabbed a column, steadying myself. Not again. I can’t fall again.
“I warned you.” Her eyes flashed dark. She threw her arms forward with a shout, hurling all her might into her power. A dark jet blasted from her hands and slammed into my chest. I flew back through the air.
I saw the floor drop out from beneath me.
My heart stopped. I threw out my arms and caught hold of the edge of the walkway at the last second. My shoulder, bruised from her strike, screamed in pain. It had to be fractured, at the very least. The stone began to crumble beneath my hands. My sword clattered to the stone thirty feet below. My heart was racing against my ribs, but I couldn’t give up now.
With what was left of my strength, I threw my arm over the top, took a breath, and started to pull myself up, straining against the pain. More stone crumbled beneath my hands.
The Dark Archer appeared above me. She sheathed her sword, unslung her bow and notched an arrow, drawing the string back. “Fine,” she growled. “Don’t tell me.”
I saw the shining tip, the sharp edges glinting.
The black feathers rippled in the wind.
Her eyes narrowed, filled with rage.
I could smell the air burning with energy, feel the rough stone against my arms. Her leather boots creaked as she braced her foot on the stone. The wind blew back the loose strands of her braid. The stone shifted beneath my hands.
She let out her breath.
The stone gave out under me.
CHAPTER 32
The Dark Archer’s arrow whistled past, the black fletching brushing the top of my head. I was falling through the air, fog swirling up around me.
Then I slammed into something, and I felt it push me upward. The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air, circling low.
The world came back into focus. Perry twisted around, staring at me with
one shining eye. I couldn’t move, frozen in shock, my heart still racing from the fall. An Ealdra archer below raised his bow. Perry banked sideways. An arrow sailed by. Perry turned upward and accelerated, rising high above the castle and the fog.
From my perch, I saw Nick battling Daniel, lightning flashing through his water across the ruins. Natanian and Bancroft were backing slowly, standing between the stables and the oncoming ranks of Rangerians. I couldn’t find Kara in the chaos.
There was someone else standing there in the fog. A dark shadow that had just appeared. I glanced back over my shoulder. Niskian stood at the edge of the walkway, watching me fly away. A shiver ran down my spine. The person in the courtyard below me was not the Dark Archer.
Whoever it was raised her hands and blasted the fog away, leaving only curling tendrils on the stone at her feet. The Áccyn forces were being repelled by the Ealdra Rangerians. Behind the woman, Androuet stood guarding my Master Kane.
I swallowed the bad taste in my mouth. “Perry, down!” We dove for the courtyard. The woman turned around. A towering, red crown rose on her head.
“No, Jackson, get out of here!” Bancroft shouted, waving at me.
The red lady looked around at the Áccyn soldiers and smiled, an evil expression that sent cold shooting out through my veins, one in which I saw a thousand lives lost.
I landed in what had once been the practice arena and slid off Perry. One by one, Daniel and the rest of the Ealdra Rangerians dropped to their knees, bowing their heads. The Áccyn soldiers edged away, watching nervously. Nick lowered his sword, falling back beside Bancroft. He brushed his hair out of his eyes, staring at the red lady. Kara burst from the Áccyn ranks and skidded to a stop. Her sandy hair was blackened with soot.
Now what? I looked around, my heart pounding. I saw my sword lying a good fifteen feet beneath the walkway, with three Ealdra Rangerians between me and the weapon. Above me, Niskian was silently watching, sizing up the lady. Then she pulled up her hood and faded into shadow.
“Awesome,” I muttered to myself. If the Dark Archer was afraid of this woman…
I sidled around to the others, “Who is that?”
“The Ealdra queen,” Daetho murmured, stepping from the ranks with Khadija and Colton.
“What’s she doing here?” I whispered.
Then she spotted me.
“Hi, Jack.” She began moving toward me, seeming to glide above the stone. “I can feel the power inside you.”
My fingers felt cold. Wind whispered across my arms, chilling my skin.
Thick vines burst from the stone, tangling around the others’ legs, dragging them back. Fire flared around Kara, searing through the vines, but more of them twisted around her, more tightly. Ice curled in sharp patterns over the wood as Natanian struggled.
I scrambled away from the woman, grabbing at the vines, trying to tear them off. I saw the Rangerian responsible standing behind the Hunters, thin vines twisting up through his long, red hair.
“Jackson, leave us!” Daetho shouted. “Run!”
“No!” My voice tore at my throat.
The queen raised her hand, and a wall of darkness burst up between us, throwing me backward. It shot around the courtyard, twisting black. We were enveloped in the eye of the storm. I regained my balance. The queen, Androuet, and Orin stood a few feet away. I was alone with them, cut off from any help, all outside sounds muffled. My sword was gone.
Thick vines shot from under the wall of darkness and lashed around my legs, pulling me to the stone. My hands hit the ground. The branches cut into my injured thigh. I screamed in pain and fear, jerking against the vines. They snaked up around my body, twisting around my arms and chest. My wind whipped around me, churning the wall of darkness in twisting tendrils, spiraling up all around us.
The red one crouched down in front of me, my wind rippling through her hair. She raised her hand toward me. I saw her smooth fingers, tracing up to her thin lips, her high cheekbones, her dark eyebrows, her wide eyes. I struggled with all my might against the vines tightening around me.
“You’re so cute,” she whispered cruelly. Her fingers brushed my face, trailing down my throat, pressing into my chest, reaching for my power. “You’re just a tiny baby. But you’re so strong. Can you feel it? Inside you?”
My muscles tensed to the breaking point. “Let me go,” I croaked.
The wall of darkness behind me seemed to suck up all light and sound. It was sorcery as I had never seen before.
“So strong,” she repeated. “How long has it been, Jack? How long have you had this power? Not long, right? Not long enough to control it.”
She stood up. My swirling wind pooled in her palm. I struggled with all my might, straining against the vines that lashed me to the stone. It was all done. It was all about to end here. All these days of running and fighting for my life, it was all about to end. My eyes moved past her to Androuet and Orin.
“You were so scared of them.” Her words echoed hauntingly in the vortex around us. “Or didn’t you realize what was going to happen when they brought you to the one who commissioned them?”
I couldn’t breathe, the cold air straining through my throat, the vines tightening around my chest, around my injured shoulder, squeezing the pain. I was going to die here.
A familiar voice shouted in anger. Two Hunters brought Khadija, struggling, through the wall of darkness. They forced her down in front of me. Vines began lashing around her arms and legs. She strained, gasping.
The queen stepped back as Orin moved around us. I heard him draw his sword. He bent forward, touching the tip to Khadija’s neck. She froze, shaking, and my wind whipped up in a swirling tornado around us.
“Welcome, Princess Krom.” Orin tilted his head. “Or, should I say … former princess. You deserted your court, didn’t you?”
The final Wind Rangerian—Dillon—was brought through the wall of darkness and shoved down beside me. He looked beaten. The boy who had disappeared only a few days before my Manifestation… I knew him. Recognized him from Fort Calmier. I think he served guard duty the shift after me. He lived a few floors up from my room.
“Good work, Orin.” Androuet flashed him a degrading look at moved forward. “Now let’s finish the job, my queen.” He nodded to the lady.
“Androuet!” Orin shouted, rage flashing across his face.
The queen shot them a dangerous glance. They backed away from each other.
Orin sheathed his sword, strode forward, and seized hold of the vines twisting around my wrist. More vines curled around Khadija’s wrists. He grabbed hold, wrapping them around his own, so his fingers brushed mine.
“Khadija,” I whispered. She looked up, her eyes wide in terror. Her chest was heaving. Sparks of ice and fire flickered around her. I nodded as if to say, It’s going to be okay.
Androuet lashed Dillon to the rest of us.
We knelt on the cold stone of the courtyard, the queen’s wall of darkness twisting around us, bound in a circle by dark vines. I strained against my bonds as they tightened around me, pain aching in my shoulder and leg. The queen moved forward, reached into the folds of her robe, and pulled out an old, torn piece of paper. I took a shallow, shaky breath.
She smiled at us, her thin lips drawing back from her teeth, and began to read, words I could not make out rolling beneath her breath. Fog seeped from her robes, pooling at her feet. I couldn’t get free. I couldn’t get out. I didn’t know if we were going to make it out alive … or if I had just lied to Khadija. Maybe it wasn’t going to be okay…
The cold in my chest began to press painfully hard against my ribs. We were going to die here. I could feel Dillon straining against his bonds. Orin clenched his fists tight. The pain in my chest grew worse. I clenched my teeth and shut my eyes. Wind whistled in my ears. It felt like something was in my chest, pounding against my ribs with a stone.
I cried out. A pulse of cold wind burst from me. My eyes flew open. Wind was twisting up around us, occasio
nal flickers of fire and ice shooting up the twirling cyclone. The queen’s voice rose, and she took a step closer to us.
The pain in my chest faltered a moment, then renewed again, twice as strong. My head fell to my chest; I was no longer able to hold it up, and I groaned through my teeth. I strained against the vines holding me in place. The wind, the energy, pulsed from the four of us in rings, rippling through the haze.
Then I felt another energy. One that was hot, powerful, sucking in everything around it. I slowly raised my head, straining against the pain. A brilliant, golden light ricocheted in the space between us. A shape shifted in the center of the light, wisps of our wind being sucked together to form a human figure. The pain stabbed into my chest, and I doubled over with a cry.
My power was being ripped from my body. I couldn’t let that happen. I was just beginning to find control! I was only running from the Hunters.
I couldn’t run anymore. No one and nothing was going to save me. Not any Master, not my great-grandfather’s legacy, not the Áccyn. My sword was gone. Fort Calmier was destroyed. My friends were being held captive. The Ealdra did not care if I lived or died.
But I had escaped from the Ealdra palace. I had escaped from the Dark Archer. I had to escape from this.
The golden light between us grew brighter. Khadija’s unrestrained power was sending sparks of energy shooting into the tornado around us. The Ealdra queen raised her hands, and the golden light flared. Searing pain stabbed my chest. My heart was being torn from its cage.
I threw my head back and screamed. My power burst free in a tremendous blast. The roots binding me shattered. I fell onto my hands. The whirling cyclone dropped. The wall of darkness flickered. The golden light glowed alone in the darkness.
“No!” Orin screamed. He was on his knees, his face ashen-white. He grabbed at my wrist, trying to connect us again. I gritted my teeth and slammed my palm into the stone. A shockwave blasted out, throwing the Ealdra queen, the Hunters, Orin, Khadija, and Dillon flat on their backs.
Guardian of the North Page 12
