My father had taken it from me, saying it wasn’t needed. I had no doubt Ash would have recognized the sword as something I made, and if he’d seen it, he would have done his best to take it from my father.
Which would explain why Ash was also banished or more likely in an oubliette.
Ash would’ve defied my father and buried the weapon in the woods. A part of me wasn’t surprised. Ash always had kept a step ahead of me. Even though I didn’t realize it until after I’d been banished.
The clearing opened in front of me and my feet stumbled, despite trying to move faster. It seemed that my body remembered the place too.
“You know, I’m surprised you’d come back here.”
I dropped to a crouch as I spun around, swinging my spear out in a wide arc. The figure who’d spoken drifted through the forest toward me, hidden underneath a solid black cloak. Not one of his features visible, but I wasn’t surprised. We’d met more than once, and the bastard always seemed to be around when things went wrong.
“What are you doing here, Blackbird?”
He laughed softly. “Not what you think. The sword is deep within the ground and encased with several spells. Your friend, Ash, did that to protect it from me.”
Ash’s name on his lips was like a blow unto itself. I clenched the haft of my spear tighter and started toward him. “We end this now, Blackbird. You’re the reason Ash and I were banished.”
“Ha! You did that on your own; you didn’t need my help. But I think you need it now, little Larkspur of the Rim. Half-breed princess. Ender. Destroyer.” My many names rolled off his lips with an intimacy I didn’t appreciate. He moved with me, keeping always the same distance between us.
He was the only elemental I’d ever met who was able to contain not one or even two elements like I did, but all five. All five elements, and he was powerful with every one of them.
In the past, I would have told him to go to hell . . . but I’d had time to mellow in the oubliette. He would make a strong ally, if I could figure out what he was up to. “Why do I need your help, exactly?”
“Because the demon hordes will wipe out this world if we don’t all step up and take our place in the battle.” His words were deadly serious, and they chilled me through and through. He said what I already knew, but still, it was hard to hear the truth from him after all the lies he’d spewed.
“You’re offering to fight against them?”
His head bobbed. “Yes. But I want Rylee’s sword when it’s over.”
I thought about the sword. I’d made it, and with the making of it had unintentionally imbued it with a few abilities I shouldn’t have. In particular, the ability to open and close the Veil like a key.
“I can’t make that deal. You’ll have to ask her.”
“She’ll be dead, we both know that.” He came to a stop over a patch of wildflowers. A softly bobbing cluster of white and blue petals: larkspur, my namesake.
Blackbird folded his arms over his chest. “Aww, how sweet, he planted your flower for you.”
“How do I know you will keep your word and help?”
Blackbird held a hand out. “A simple handshake. When this is done, we will go back to being enemies.”
I reached out and took his hand, clamping down hard as I wove Spirit over his fingers.
“Say it then, make a vow.”
He tried to pull away from me, and while he was stronger in the elements, he was not physically stronger than me. A sigh slipped out of him. “I swear to help you in the fight against the demons, Larkspur.”
It would have to be enough. I let him go and dropped to one knee.
My jaw tightened as I put a hand to the earth, feeling the sword encased in cement about thirty feet down. Like its own miniature oubliette.
There were spells around it for sure, but beside me, Blackbird did his thing, breaking them up. A spell for every element and he disabled them. Which left me wondering why he’d waited on me.
I closed my eyes and worked the earth around the sword, bringing it up with a speed that rumbled the ground.
“Impressive,” Blackbird muttered.
“You couldn’t manage it?”
“I could. But you and I are probably the only two who could, except for perhaps Basileus.” His words were light, but there was a hesitancy in his voice that gave light to his lie. There was something he wasn’t telling me.
I didn’t say anything more. He might be working with me for the moment, but I had no doubt we’d be on opposing sides soon enough.
The cement box spit up out of the ground, and with it came something I didn’t expect.
The reason Blackbird had waited on me.
Sandlings. Creatures made from the earth, like animated golems, that were quite literally un-killable because they weren’t truly alive. They looked human, moved like humans, but were faster and stronger. They had teeth made of sharpened stones and their hands were tipped with nails made of old bone filed to points. Normally they were used for training in the Enders Barracks.
But this was not the first time I’d encountered them in a situation that was most definitely not training.
Blackbird took a step back. “You think your friend set this up?”
“No.” I breathed out, counting the Sandlings as they continued to emerge from the ground. More and more, until the ranks filled the clearing.
“You think they want to be friends?”
I stared at Blackbird. “This is not the time for jokes, you idiot. Even you can’t kill them.”
Whoever made the Sandlings had to un-make them; that was the only way.
Which meant we were screwed.
“Keep them off me!” I bent and put my hands to the cement box, knowing that whatever kick-back it had wouldn’t be aimed at me. The power of the earth roared through me and into the cement. I broke the molecules apart, tearing the stone away to reveal the prize I sought.
Around me, Blackbird whirled, his cloak swirling around his legs as he protected my back. Fire and ice, earth and wind, ripped through the clearing, blowing the Sandlings to their knees. But they slid into the earth only to reemerge a few feet behind Blackbird.
For a breath of a moment I stared at the sword laying on the dirt in front of me. A katana, made with hundreds of folds of steel to create a hardened and yet flexible blade. The edge was tipped in silver, and the handle was a perfect fit for Rylee’s hand. Three diamonds were inset in the handle and a large chunk of blue amber finished the touch at the end of it. I picked it up and cut through the Sandling closest to me. The blade whooshed through him, sparking against the rough material the Sandling was made up of.
But even with the sword, the creature reformed at my feet, clawing itself out of the ground.
“Larkspur, while this had been fun, it truly is time for me to go. I will be there, on the battlefield. That is all I can tell you.”
Blackbird lifted a hand to me and then shot into the air as a violent snap of wind lifted him out of harm’s way.
“Coward!” The world went silent and I stared at the Sandlings. They stared back at me for a heartbeat, and then they ran at me.
I spun and bolted from the clearing, the sound of crashing underbrush behind me. Pumping my arms and legs, I called the power of the earth to me, sending it out behind me in a wave. The earthquake rippled backward, the strength of it shaking the foundation of the trees around us, sending leaves and branches flying to the ground.
That move would buy me time, but not a lot. To my left, a Sandling sprung out of the ground, reaching for my legs even as I leapt away. Its hand caught my ankle and yanked me out of mid-leap.
I hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of me, but still, I kept moving. Hands came out of the ground like a freak-show zombie cache gone wrong. I plunged my hands into the earth and loosened it up, turning the area all around me into quicksand. The Sandlings struggled, giving me time to stand. Each step I took, I firmed the ground under my feet until I was farther away.
> But again, they dissolved and reformed near me.
“Mother goddess, this isn’t funny anymore.” I ran for the Rim, knowing the only chance I had was to get as far away as possible. I was fairly certain I knew who’d left the Sandling trap for me.
Cassava. That scheming bitch was still at it; and this had her name written all over it. My stepmother would never rest until she had her hands on at least one throne within the elemental world, and she didn’t give a flying rat’s ass who she hurt in the process.
I burst into the Rim, but didn’t slow. “Peta, Cactus, Pam, Griffin. To me, now!”
Pamela spun around, Peta in her arms. Griffin grabbed her and dragged her toward me. “Where the hell is Cactus?”
He came running around the corner, Sandlings hot on his trail. He had blood running down one side of his face and he wasn’t moving as fast as he should have been. “Lark, we’re surrounded.”
“Where is Bella and the rest of the family?” I barked out as I backed toward Pamela, Griffin, and Peta. The Sandlings kept their movements slow as they stalked our way. Like they knew they had us.
Which, if it weren’t for the sword in my hands, they would have.
“Already gone. Everyone’s on their way to the meeting grounds outside the farm.”
A breath of relief flowed from me. That was at least going right.
I held the sword above my head and made a perfect slash downward until the tip of the sword was buried into the ground, whispering the Latin to go with the invocation. “Velata facie terroris. Take us to The Pit.”
The Veil ripped open in front of us, shimmering for a moment before revealing the interior of the Pit. Home of the fire elementals and Queen Fiametta.
I only hope she remembered she owed me her life.
I took a deep breath and stepped through the opened Veil. Somehow, I doubted it was going to be as easy as I was hoping.
CHAPTER 31
ALEX
EVERY STOP WE made, more wolves joined us. They saw me shift, they’d heard how I had been submissive and now wasn’t, and that it was Rylee’s love that helped me make the change. We’d gathered at least two hundred werewolves, and a few other shifters along the way.
Unlike some of the other supernaturals, they’d stayed out of the cities as the pox hit and had kept their people safe.
More than all that, though, was the number of submissives that came along with the packs. Apparently, not all the packs killed their weaker members.
What I didn’t tell them was that Pamela was a big part of me being able to shift. Maybe the only part when it came right down to it.
“Why aren’t you telling them about Pamela?” Eve asked as we dipped through a cloud bank, staying low enough so the ever-growing wolf pack was able to keep us within sight.
“Because what if it was just me? We don’t know if she can heal the rest of them, Eve.” I rubbed a hand over my head and scratched behind one ear. “I mean, maybe it’s because she cares for me.”
“You mean because she loves you.” Eve grinned back at me, and I couldn’t help the heat in my cheeks.
“Not like that.”
“You want to kiss her.”
“Evie!” I couldn’t help the choked laughter that escaped me.
Marco laughed with me, his wingtips touching Eve’s. “Stop teasing him, Eve. His face looks like a tomato about to burst.”
I shook my head, still smiling. “Is it that obvious?”
“No,” Eve chuckled. “I only know because Rylee and Liam were discussing you. I will make sure you don’t let our Pamela know you love her until it is time.” She clacked her beak at me and I held up my hands.
“I’m not arguing with a protective Harpy.”
“Smart man, don’t ever argue with a Harpy,” Marco said softly. Eve snapped her beak at him and he settled a few more feet between us.
Eve shook her head and neck, ruffling her feathers. “I think you would match her well, Alex. And I think she loves you already, but she doesn’t know it.”
That’s what I was hoping. As much as I loved Rylee, and she was a part of my life and would be forever . . . it wasn’t what I felt for Pamela.
She was stronger than she realized with so much heart . . . and fire . . . and those blue eyes that made me forget that I was supposed to wait for her to get a little older.
“Look at him, he’s thinking about her right now,” Marco crowed, and Eve screeched, laughing.
I shook my head, grinning. “Yeah, so what?”
They laughed, but there was no malice to it. The wind blew around us, picking up as the currents swirled and I realized how close we were to Bismarck.
“Eve, what about the half-breed trolls?” I had to rack my brain for the name of the female who’d helped us take out Ingers and the black coven when they’d tried to get the army involved in wiping out the supernatural world.
“Tara,” Eve squawked.
“Do you think we could find her, and convince her to help?”
Marco shook his head, his eyes narrowing slightly. “You think they won’t be dead? They were susceptible to the pox too, Alex.”
I chewed at my bottom lip thinking. “But the trolls were working for Orion all along, right?”
They nodded in unison.
“So wouldn’t he have put something into play to keep the trolls from picking up the pox?” Even as I said the words I knew I was wrong. In London, right as Rylee had returned to us from Tian Shan and leaving her daughter behind, there had been a troll infected with the pox.
“Good thinking, but how do we find them?”
Already I knew it was a long shot, but we had a little time. A few more on our side might make the difference.
“We’ve got a wolf pack of two hundred. You don’t think they could sniff out a few trolls?” I grinned, already seeing the chaos in my mind of wolves all over downtown Bismarck, freaking out the general populace.
I all but vibrated in my seat.
I couldn’t wait.
Without another word, Eve and Marco dropped out of the sky so I could speak to the wolf packs about the plan.
Being wolves and loving a little chaos themselves, they agreed.
This was about to get fun.
CHAPTER 32
RYLEE
OPHELIA FLEW HARD all night long. There were demons here and there, and they came at us fast and without warning. But we destroyed them as if they were flies and gnats. Like they were nothing.
I Tracked Marcella and Zane constantly, feeling their uncertainty. The trickles of fear that flared up here and there. But no pain, they weren’t being hurt. And they were themselves, there was no possession happening. Yet.
That was about all I had to keep myself going; knowing for the moment, they were alive and as well as they could be while in Orion’s “care.”
As the sun climbed in the east, we neared my old farm. Or what was left of it.
Rylee, I have to ask. How do you know this is the place the final battle is to happen? Even your father never figured that out. Even Jack wasn’t sure, I think.
“The books of prophecy, or one in particular, I should say.” I frowned into the bright sunlight. “The book of the Blood of the Lost was very straightforward, there was no double entendre to the words. It said, ‘The Blood of the Lost shall be spilled on the steps of her home, and therein will the world see not all is forsaken, but as it should be.’”
But your home, it could be anywhere you’ve lived, couldn’t it?
“Not in this case.” We flew over the farm in a big sweep, the cornfields bending under the downdraft of her wings. “Stay up for a minute. What do you see where the house burnt down?”
Ophelia back winged, and tread the air with ease. The remnants of your home, the charred out timbers.
“And under that?”
She strained her neck forward and then shook herself. A ceremonial slab. That is where your blood will be spilt.
I nodded, a sense of relief flowing through
me. “So you see, this is the right place. I think I knew it all along, which is why I was drawn to it. Why so many fights happened right here. This land . . . I’ve been fighting for it all along.” And the loss of my home made sense now. Without being burned to ash, we’d have had a bitch of a time getting to the slab.
Ophelia spiraled to the ground, landing beside the barn.
I will clear the rest of the timbers so the pathway is clear. How soon before the ceremony starts?
“That will depend, I guess.” I slid from her back and dropped to my feet. “There is more than one factor involved here.”
The barn door creaked open and I was relieved Doran stepped out. He swept me into a hug, holding me tightly. “We’ll get her back, don’t doubt it for an instant. That girl has too much ahead of her to have it any other way.”
I squeezed him as hard as I could. “I want to believe that.”
A loud racket of wood cracking turned us both to where Ophelia was tearing the remains of the farmhouse down and away from the ceremonial slab with no little amount of glee on her face. “Dragons and their love of demolition. Never gets old for them,” I said.
Doran gave me another squeeze. “I’m going to set things up for you. To a fucking T as per your paperwork you sent.” He let go of my arms and pulled from his back pocket a tattered piece of paper with my handwriting on one side. It was only then I noticed the braided rope looped around his neck and over his shoulders. Unicorn hair. I stroked a hand down it.
“Let’s hope it holds. The book of the Blood of the Lost said it would,” I whispered.
“Believe it, Rylee. You can do this. Now go and get the job done.”
His words helped me center myself. The long road was almost finished; a little further and everyone would be safe.
Will stuck his head out of the barn. “Rylee, I’m sorry, but the crazy boy wants to talk to you.”
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