“Are you ready?” Zordan asked gruffly.
“Yes,” she replied, gripping tightly.
“Then hang on.”
To her surprise, he began to run. His stride was fast and smooth, as wind rushed by her face and her hair streamed out behind her. His steps were quick and sure.
There was absolute silence once more, save the pounding of the cyborgs’ feet. Footsteps behind them told her Mordjan and Roihan were right there, keeping pace with Zordan. He made it look easy, as long, loping steps took them down the corridor, closer to their destination.
“Damn,” Zordan said after quite a while. “The Ardaks are abandoning Garthurian.”
“Do you think it’s for the Crystal Cave?” Mordjan asked from behind them.
“We’ll find out in a few minutes, I’m sure,” Roihan answered.
As they waited to hear where the Ardaks were going, she began to worry about her part in this plan. What if the device wasn’t at the center? What if she couldn’t find the crystal to use it? Even worse, what if it didn’t work after all this time? Her fears began to grow, even though she tried to push them aside. Everyone was depending on her to start the device.
When she could bear it no longer, she leaned forward. “How much farther is it?” she asked urgently into Zordan’s ear.
“We’re almost there. In fact, we should be reaching it any second,” he replied. “We were just discussing it over the frequency.”
He quickened his pace slightly, but all of a sudden, the entire tunnel began to tremble around them.
“That can’t be good,” Mordjan growled from behind them.
“No, I’m sure it’s not,” Zordan replied.
The tremble grew to a shake, and dust and rocks fell from the ceiling a second before a boulder shook free and landed in front of them. Zordan jumped on it and continued over, unbelievably changing his pace to a full-out sprint.
There was an enormous roar in front of them and dust came rushing down the tunnel, obliterating her ability to see, and she drew up her shirt so she didn’t choke. Zordan closed his helmet and kept running for long moments, until abruptly, he stopped and crouched.
Lielle climbed down and crouched beside him, waiting for the dust to clear. When it did, she saw an enormous cavern. It was larger than the entire palace and grounds of Renwyn, enormous stalactites the size of towers hanging from the ceiling.
There was an enormous hole in the top of the cave, and the sun shone through the clearing dust on a platform in the center. She knew the device was there, and from the hundreds of Ardaks sliding down ropes to land on the platform, so did they. The moment their enormous boots hit the floor, they spread out, a ring that expanded ever outward in all directions. The Ardaks kept coming, and the predatory silence of their movements frightened her more than anything else.
“High Queen, protect us,” she breathed.
“It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than that.” Roihan’s attempt at sarcasm was bleak.
“Can you portal us to the center?” Zordan asked.
“Sure,” she shrugged angrily. “But we won’t live very long.”
“We need backup,” Mordjan said.
“At the rate they’re coming, it isn’t going to matter how much backup we have,” Roihan pointed out.
Zordan remained silent, but she could tell his mind was working.
Panic clawed at her throat as she stared at the platform in the center. Even if she got them there, they still needed to find the fifth crystal. Then they had to raise the device and get it to work.
She almost wished she would have another vision that would tell them what to do. But if she did, she might not have enough magic left to turn it on.
Chapter Forty-Five
Zordan
Zordan ran through the list of scenarios they could use to break through the Ardaks surrounding the device. The Ardak general was smart; there was not an inch of the platform that was empty.
“Zordan, are you there?”
“This is Zordan.”
“Good.” The voice indicated relief. “This is Chihon. I’ve got about two hundred cyborgs from Renwyn and quite a few elves. We’ve just arrived at the edge of a huge chamber, and the center is crawling with Ardaks.”
“We’re here as well,” Zordan replied. “Hang back for a moment while we figure out a strategy.”
“We have some portalers,” Chihon offered.
“So do we. But even if we start the device at the center, if it’s only a shield, we’ll still have to fight all the Ardaks inside.”
“Then you’d better hop to it.” The voice was Tristin’s. “There are more Ardak ships arriving every minute.”
Zordan looked back at Mordjan’s mate. “Fayelle, would you mind going to Garthurian and bringing back some air elves? We need some tornadoes up there.”
Fayelle looked startled. “Sure. But don’t you need me?”
“We do, but we need tornadoes more. And no one from Garthurian knows where we are.”
She nodded and disappeared into a portal.
Mordjan looked relieved. “Now we have to figure out what to do. The cyborgs from Renwyn are directly across from us.”
A howling and screeching came from their left, and they turned to see King Nirjhar leading a veritable army of mermen into the chamber. He raised his three-pronged weapon aloft! “For our ocean! For Aurora!”
A thunderous roar filled the chamber as the mermen echoed him, and they attacked the Ardaks with bursts of magic and three-pronged weapons.
“Those mermen have more balls than brains.” Mordjan shook his head.
Chihon’s voice came over the frequency. “The mermen are fighting—we’re going to join them. We’ll see you at the center.”
Zordan was impressed despite himself. “Let’s go. This is our best and probably only chance to get to the device while they’re causing a distraction.” Over the frequency, he told the others. “Portal whoever you can to the center, tell the rest to start fighting toward the mermen. You’ll have a better chance of reaching the center if you join forces, and we’ll try to clear the way from the inside.”
He turned to Lielle, finding her staring wide-eyed at the chamber before them. “It’s time. We need to portal to the center.”
“But even if we do that, we don’t have the crystal. We don’t know how we can turn on the device.”
“Yes, but we don’t know where the crystal is either. It might be hidden near the device, or even in the device. Or it could be that this center device doesn’t even need a crystal. But we need to get there to find out.”
She turned to him and nodded, but he stopped her before she could make the portal. Pure terror shone in her expression, her face pale, her pupils dilated.
He squeezed her shoulder hard. “Lielle, look at me. You can do this. You have three cyborgs to protect you, and we don’t plan on dying. Portal us in and trust us to take care of you. Trust me to take care of you. Your only job is to focus on the device.”
Her eyes began to focus on him. “The device.”
“Yes. Are you ready?”
“Yes.” She raised her hand.
He shot Mordjan and Roihan a look as she created the portal. “We’re all she has. Protect her.” He drew his sword. “I’ll clear the closest Ardaks so they don’t explode when you fire. Then you two fire the lasers and clear the platform. Whatever you do, keep firing.”
He ran through the portal, swinging his sword in a high, wide arc with all his strength. He severed two heads and several arms, the yowls of the Ardaks drawing the attention of the others. He kept swinging, and then Mordjan and Roihan were there, firing the lasers around him, dropping twenty at a time, clearing a path toward the mermen and cyborgs from Renwyn.
Lielle stepped through, and he stayed to cover her. “Don’t go too far, Mordjan, Roihan. I may need you.”
“We have to!” Mordjan said sharply. “Nirjhar is holding up a crystal, and I’d bet almost anything it’s the one we need.
”
Zordan magnified his vision and saw that Nirjhar was, in fact, holding up a crystal, and it matched the others perfectly.
Chapter Forty-Six
Lielle
Lielle was as close to the floor as she could get, trying to be invisible as she pushed in the buttons to raise the device. Once it was up, she searched the platform, but there were Ardaks everywhere.
“I don’t see the crystal!” she cried to Zordan. “I have no idea where it could be!”
“Nirjhar has it.” Zordan pointed to a location across the cavernous space with his sword before turning to fight another Ardak. “Can you portal to him?”
“How does he have it?” she cried.
“I don’t know! But it looks like the one.”
She stood on her tiptoes, staring into the twilight of the edges of the cave. “I can’t see where to go.”
“Come here!” Zordan swept her up with one arm, shooting his lasers with the other to keep the Ardaks back. “The mermen are almost here. Look!”
She stared in the direction he indicated, seeing the king holding up a crystal. Without hesitation, she created the portal and jumped off Zordan’s shoulder into it.
She emerged at just the right height to grab the crystal from Nirjhar. Quickly creating a second portal, she placed the crystal in the device.
A kick from above knocked her away from it before she could activate it with her magic. She spun as she fell, looking for the source of the roar that split the air.
She found herself staring into the slitted eyes of the largest Ardak she had ever seen. His whiskers twitched with rage and he flexed his claws as he took in the device. She stayed down, not moving a muscle, hoping he ignored her.
She didn’t need to see the others bow to him to know that he was, in fact, the king.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Zordan
Zordan’s heart stopped for a moment when he saw Lielle fly away from the device.
“That’s the king!” Mordjan shouted across the frequency.
“No kidding.” Zordan bent down and picked up a red-bladed sword, jumping up onto the platform between the Ardak king and Lielle before he thought the better of it. He aimed his lasers once there, but the king’s red-bladed sword came down and cut off the end of his left arm before he could fire.
Agonizing pain went through him but he forced the chip to halt it. He swung his own red-bladed sword with his other arm, meeting the king’s.
The king swung his sword in a wide arc, gracefully sidestepping a jab from Roihan’s sword before sending the cyborg flying with a single kick. They sized each other up for a moment.
Zordan had no idea of his age, but the intelligence behind his eyes and the graceful, predatory way he moved spoke of years of training, perfecting a fighting style that was more fluid and graceful than any Zordan had ever seen. His only hope was distraction.
“How did you find this place?” he asked the question in Ardak.
“It isn’t hard if you have technology.” The king bared his fangs in what could only be a satisfied smirk. “This cavern shows clearly on our ground-penetrating radar.”
“Then why attack Garthurian at all?”
“I wasn’t sure whether I needed to control all five of the locations on the symbol. But when the troops began to retreat and disappear, I figured I would take a contingent and try my luck at controlling the center.”
For a moment, no one on the platform moved as chaos reigned around them. Bursts of magic split the air, echoed by the shouts and yowls of cyborgs, merpeople, and Ardaks. But the platform was completely still.
Then everything happened at once.
With one swirling motion, the king came toward him and thrust his blade. He raised his own to counter, thrusting the blade away.
But the king countered much too quickly, almost impossibly fast.
Zordan could see that the return arc would take his blade right over the device and into Lielle. His eyes swept the room. The mermen, cyborgs and elves fought as one army, helping each other, taking down the enemy with all their might. But more Ardaks joined each moment, dropping from the hole in the ceiling faster than they could be felled.
There was only one was to stop this. Lielle had to get that device to work.
“Watch out for Lielle!” Mordjan shouted over the frequency.
Zordan couldn’t get his sword there fast enough, so he did the only thing he could. “Take care of her, Mordjan.”
Then he stepped in front of the blade.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Lielle
Lielle had just put her hand on the crystal and activated the device when she saw Zordan jump in front of her. When the red blade came out of his back, a scream poured from her, high and wordless. She felt as though it had pierced her own heart.
Not Zordan.
He couldn’t die now. He’d found the key.
He half turned toward her, meeting her eyes as he fell to his knees. “It’s all right,” he gasped, “don’t let go.”
He swayed forward, and she knew what was going to happen.
So did he, because his eyes met hers one last time. “I love you,” he mouthed.
“I love you too.” She sobbed, tears spilling down her face.
Then his fight gave out and she felt herself tearing apart as he fell forward onto the sword. She wanted to run to him, to save him, but from the first thrust they’d both known he was gone. Not even magic could fix a sword through the heart.
And she couldn’t let go of the crystal. Anguish choked her and she doubled over, keeping one hand around it firmly, tears blurring her vision as she realized he wasn’t coming back.
She met the king’s slitted eyes, hated the satisfaction and victory within them.
He hadn’t won yet.
Rage she’d never known came over her and she focused on the crystal. If he was going to strike her down, the device would have all her magic first. Knowing she had nothing left to live for, she channeled every bit of magic she had into the device. The glow began in the crystal and spread outward, filling the chamber.
“Hang on, Lielle!” It was Mordjan’s voice, and she knew he was telling the others.
The king came toward her and she expected to die.
But what she didn’t expect was that he would put his paw on the crystal above her hand. The device was almost at full power, and when the outer four devices came online, their energy streaming toward the center, it caused an explosion of energy that spread outward in a huge shock wave. A burst she knew would be large enough to shield the entire planet.
Her eyes met the king’s as they both struggled to hold on to the crystal, fighting for dominance. Somehow she knew she had to hang on, that whoever was stronger would control the vibration of the crystal, and that vibration would ultimately control the fate of the universe.
The king’s claws cut into her fingers, and the energy felt as though it were ripping her mortal body apart. She gritted her teeth and felt blood trickle from her nose, but she refused to wipe it away.
Don’t let go. Don’t let go. Zordan’s last words echoed in her head.
The raw power surged forward, and another shock wave spread outward. From the yowls and screams around them, she knew they weren’t the only ones affected. She saw Mordjan trying to reach her, but the energy from the crystal had created a ball around her and the king, enveloping the platform.
The king bared his teeth and growled, and she saw a trickle of blood coming from his nose. At that moment, she knew that no matter who won the crystal, they were both going to die.
Her gaze fell on Zordan, whose body lay between their feet.
Jaffete, she had loved him.
The king might have hatred, but she had love.
And she had to believe that love would win. She closed her eyes against the anger and the hatred, and she let herself feel the love she had for Zordan. Her heart expanded, and the love she felt for Aurora as its spirit-seer overtook her, giving her st
rength.
She reached further, finding the love she had for the higher elven realm, for all the elves. For all the beings in the universe who called it home, who sought the virtuous path that would lead them to their afterlife.
The love filled her, sustained her as the next shock wave went through the crystal and spread outward.
She opened her eyes just in time to see the king let go of the crystal, his eyes turning completely white as his huge weight hit the platform beside Zordan. He didn’t get back up.
Lielle felt herself slipping away, the power too great for her to hold.
She held on long enough to feel the vibration raise, to feel the crystal reverberate with love.
Then she let go and felt nothing else.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Tordan
Tordan strode through the portal, appearing on a platform in what looked like an enormous underground chamber, followed by Aielle, Simban and Irielle. Others began to join them, portals opening to reveal Valdjan and Ithyll, then Tristin and Kirelle.
Sunlight streamed in through a hole in the top of the chamber, where he knew the Ardaks had used an energy device to break through the rock.
He surveyed the mass of dead bodies around him. With all of the dead bodies at Renwyn, on the field at Garthurian, and here, the scale was almost unimaginable.
Then he noticed the two at his feet.
“No, dammit.” He choked back his emotions as he knelt beside Zordan and Lielle. “What the hell happened?”
He glanced up to see tears slipping down Aielle’s cheeks as she gently closed Lielle’s eyelids.
“Zordan sacrificed himself so Lielle could activate the device. Then Lielle and the Ardak king both grabbed the crystal,” Mordjan explained. “There was a burst of energy, the king died first, and then she followed not long after.”
“How did everyone else die?” Tordan asked. “I watched several elves and cyborgs collapse at the same time, for no damn reason at all.”
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