Grave Chance

by D. D. Miers

  “Then I’m ready to go back. I’ve gotta get to the guys as soon as possible.”

  He bobbed his head as though he’d always known what I would choose. “Then we must move quickly. While time does not exist here, it is still rolling forward in the earthly realm, and we can only take you back to the exact present.

  “Right. We can bring me back to life, we just can’t take me back in time to stop Aethon before he starts. Bummer.”

  He gave me a head tilt. “We also cannot bring you back to life. As I said, you will be…changed, and we are not able to control how. You can only control your choices to shape who and what you will become in the end.”

  Mort bumped a piece of chalk across the downtrodden grass to me and trotted back toward the beach. We stopped at a large, flat black rock that stood taller than those around it. I stepped up and transcribed symbols, at first as Mort directed, but soon I realized the symbols were already in my head and I could finish on my own. The magic was

  I traced the last symbol, a simple star bisected by a triangle. The runes lit up and ahead of me, a portal opened. “Thank you, Mort.” I stepped out of the runic circle and almost to the portal.

  It occurred to me to ask if my hands would still work on the other side, or if my injuries would return the moment I stepped out of paradise. The pain memory made me shudder, but it didn’t really matter either way. If I had no hands with which to beat my insane ancestor, I’d find another way, any way necessary to save the family I’d created for myself.

  I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and stepped inside.

  Chapter 16

  When I opened them again, I was in the Dwarven Undercity, standing just short of where Ethan had almost lost himself to the wolf because of our magic. Standing before the now finished portal was Aethon, candle in hand as he paced back and forth in front of his captive audience.

  My heart broke at the sight of what remained of my little family, on their knees in front of him, forced to bear witness to his victory over us and over death itself. I crept closer, searching for a vantage point that would give me some tactical advantage, or if nothing else, cover from the immense power he could lob at me as easily as any other weapon.

  Of course, the massive stone portal etched in runes reached nearly floor to ceiling, and nothing bigger than some stone chips and debris stood between me and Aethon's hostages. The floor sloped down to them, wide and open, giving me the perfect view to witness the horror that was the first necromancer, his eyes, and hair wild, face twisted in the mask of a transfixed zealot.

  In fact, he was so mesmerized by the creation that signified his success that he didn't see me standing above them. I glanced around for his backup, but with Gil dead and the dwarves seeming to be elsewhere, at least for the moment, I might have a chance to delay the inevitable, if not stop it by myself. I weighed my options, blessedly, or frustratingly few, I couldn't decide and chose the path that I knew would irritate every male in front of me the most (except maybe Ethan, who I know loves me exactly as I am), short and straight to the point.

  “Hey, Uncle. Why wasn’t I given an invitation to this party? Sausages only?” I strode down to him, still in the clothes I’d been wearing when he threw me down the well, though somehow, where they’d been torn and burnt, they were as unblemished as the skin beneath. “I’m just glad I made it in time anyway.”

  I took no small pleasure from the surprise that flashed in his eyes, but it faded as soon as I was close enough to see Ethan’s battered face. His left eye was swollen shut, right nearly so, his jaw hanging at a funny angle. Ethan, now the weakest of us, was the most injured, because magic or no magic, he’d refused to hide behind others and let them go into battle alone.

  “Vexa, get back.” Gwydion groaned at the effort of making words, held fast by a circle of power like the traps we’d found in the Endless City, his body slowly turning to stone. The spell had already reached his waist and was climbing too fast for comfort.

  Cole hadn't fared much better. His face was drawn and hollowed out, skin nearly grey, his pallor telling me he was physically and magically spent from the battle. He said nothing to me, his gaze barely flickering over me, all his hate and his attention pinned to Aethon and the enormous portal behind him.

  "Do you like it? I had Gilfaethwy commission it from the dwarves. It took some time and a great deal of gold…they still deal in gold, isn't that quaint? It took a great deal of time and gold to get this built, and well, you saw it when you were here before."

  Aethon was babbling as he cupped the candle in his hands and strode back and forth between my guys and the portal. Every once in a while, he’d go all the way to the end of the row, where one last prisoner knelt with a hood over their head. Blood and sweat dripped from the hood into a puddle forming on the floor between their knees, and Aethon seemed to grow even giddier when he taunted them.

  “Julius?” I recognized the plaid button-down shirt he’d been wearing when the rest of us had gone back to Gwyd’s house. The hood turned slightly toward me as though he was listening. “Oh God, Julius, I’m so sorry.”

  “Do you know why you’re sorry, Vexa?” Aethon laid a hand on Cole’s shoulder as he met my eyes and my heart tore as Cole flinched away from him. “It is because you came too late, or because you didn’t do as you were told in the first place and you’re the reason your friends got hurt?”

  I balled my hands into fists at my sides. “I’m just sorry that I didn’t get to kill you the first time that I laid eyes on you. I won’t let you escape with your life again.”

  He threw back his head and laughed at me, then walked backwards toward the portal. "You haven't told me how you like my creation, Vexa. It's the most powerful doorway ever fashioned from any kind of magic. The portal used all my research on death and all the Dwarves' finest technology. Imagine, in a moment, I will walk into Death's parlor and destroy it."

  The portal was beginning to work, the runes around the outer edge spinning and lighting up in order, magic humming through the stone and into the soles of my feet. There was a thrill of power that shot through me, giving me an idea.

  When Aethon turned away from me to gaze upon his ‘creation,' I ran the rest of the way down to the guys, my bare feet nearly silent on the dusty stone.

  Gwyd shook his head at me and jerked his head toward Ethan. “Don’t worry about me. I’m immortal, remember? I will survive this longer than they will.” He bit his lip in an all-to-human

  I swept the circle away at his feet, and his body began to soften. "Please take care of the others." He glanced up at my whispers but didn't argue. Aethon was still distracted, but he meant for none of us to partake in his so-called gift to the world. We no longer mattered to him, one way or the other.

  The iris of the portal began to open, glowing brighter by the second. I took a knee, holding my forearm over my eyes to protect them from the light as it brightened. Aethon continued to ignore me, disinterested now that I wasn’t fighting him. Besides, he’d probably paid the dwarves to clean up the mess he made in their city long before he even knew we’d throw a wrench or two in his plans.

  When the portal opened fully Aethon stepped through, and I followed, praying for a second or two more of his distraction as I crept closer to his back. At the last possible moment, I leaped and grabbed him around the neck, jerking his head back, so he fell away from the doorway.

  He threw me to the floor, and I skidded back to a stop, reaching for my power. Without the candle inside me anymore, I felt hollow and powerless. But Gwyd had been willing to kidnap me and take me to the Seelie Court because he believed I had the power in me to be as strong as a fae.

  I ignored the voice of doubt and slashed out at him with unrefined magic, enough to physically push him back. “You will never win, Aethon.”

  "I win if you die." The flame on the candle burned higher, and I felt death riding my body like a ghostly possession. But it shimmered over me, a second skin that couldn't penetrate my body until I scramb
led to my feet and brushed it away like cobwebs.

  “I guess there’s, like, a chance I can’t die anymore, either. Is that supposed to be, like, hard or something?” I used my best ‘valley girl’ impression, mocking him as I lashed out again with that unrefined power that frustrated Cole in our lessons, picking at my ancestor by striking out at different parts of his body until he was thrashing around like a swarm of yellowjackets had attacked him.

  When he was unbalanced and overcorrected, I gathered everything I had and pushed it into the center of him, trying to make him drop the candle. It didn’t fall, but I shrugged as he hissed out a curse and slammed his hand against the frame of the portal to stay upright.

  “There’s no way on this earth that you have vanquished death on your own.” He hissed.

  “What, did you think you were the only one to die and come back again? There are whole religions based on that stuff, you know, even ones without magic.” I didn’t dare to risk a glance in the direction of the guys, leaving me to hope Gwyd was healing Cole and Ethan while I kept Aethon distracted.

  My ancestor lobbed a few shots at me, the skin of my arm instantly turning necrotic where he hit me. He kept up a steady stream of focused necromantic energy. He backed me away from the portal’s iris abreast of the guys before he noticed Gwydion was no longer becoming another statue for the Dwarven Undercity. He gave a shout, and almost a dozen dwarves poured down into the bowl where the portal was, armed and ready for war with my men.

  “Get him, Vexa, we’ve got this.” Gwyd had even healed Ethan enough to see through both of his eyes, and I stifled the urge to beg him to stay behind.

  I spent a few precious seconds healing my wound and glanced at Cole. His eyes were bright with energy he’d regained. The time I’d bought them had only brought more enemies, but at least they looked ready to fight.

  Aethon stepped through the portal with a salute, and as the iris closed again, I dove through into a roll, praying only that I didn’t’ get stuck, and that somehow, I’d find a way to stop him before he started a ritual that would collapse the natural order forever.

  I felt the hum of magic as I interrupted Aethon’s command, leaving the portal a tiny bit ajar. It wasn’t enough to march an army through, but a man would fit, or four of them, if they walked single file.

  The first thing I saw as I crept into the realm of death was the noise. It was a quiet place, filled with the silent dead. But overhead, strange birds sang, what sounded like machinery whined away in the background, and ahead of Aethon, candles burned, each with their own tone, so it sounded like whispered music.

  It struck me that what I was listening to, was the sounds of industry, in the one place I never thought I would hear them. I surveyed the stone hall where thousands upon thousands of candles burned, flickered, wavered, and went out under the watchful eye of the guardian.

  Death stood to one side of the hall, watching Aethon walk the length of the hall to the altar at the far end. He watched Aethon without stepping in, turning to glance at me once, and the Face under the hood was Ptolemy. He nodded as our gazes met, and I bowed my head to him before following Aethon to the altar at the end of the great stone hall.

  Aethon searched among the candles for something specific, someone, and just as I and the hooded form of my uncle came abreast of him, he found the candle he was looking for.

  “Edmond.”

  The man who appeared was the same one I’d seen in the hospital bed, rail thin and emaciated, wasting away from his illness as he had been in life.

  "Edmond, I've done it. I've brought the candle back here, and when I bring the rest of the world with it, I will stop death, for good."

  Edmond coughed and shook, as Aethon took him in his arms. “Aethon. Why would you do this? Please, let me go. Let me have the peace I earned. I was done, my love. No more pain, no more illness.” His breathing was shaking and weak. “I was done.”

  Aethon clung to him, tears streaking down his face. "No. You didn't have to die. You'll never have to die now, and we can be together. I can save you."

  “Oh God, it hurts. Why would you bring me back to this?” Edmond kissed Aethon’s fingers and touched the wet tracks on his cheeks. “You kept me alive for so much longer than I should have been. The pain was finally gone.”

  His thin legs gave out, and Aethon caught him, lifting him into his arms as gently as a father would his sick child. "No. Edmond. I would never harm you. Please. Please understand. I love you."

  I felt like a monster spying on their intimacy from behind a column of candles and looked away, only to meet my uncle’s eyes again. The being of Death who looked so familiar to me continued to do nothing, silently watching Aethon and the love of his eternal life cling to one another.

  I forced myself to continue watching, my throat a desert as Aethon wept and kissed Edmond’s face and neck. “I can’t live without you.”

  Edmond sighed. “You don’t have to Aethon. But please, please, don’t make me live like this any longer. I can’t live with this pain. I’m not strong enough. Please let me have my peace and take yours as well.

  All my fighting, all the losses, Ethan’s curse developing, aunt Percy…all for this one man, who was begging Aethon to let him die. If only I’d really understood, I would’ve brought him here myself.

  Aethon gently laid Edmond down on the stone floor, pulling his lover’s gaunt body into his lap and sobbing over him. “I wanted to save you. If you give me time, I can stop the illness and make you whole again.”

  The candles along the walls wavered as though a breeze had come through the great hall, and Aethon snuffed out the flame on Edmond’s candle once more, letting out an animal wail as Edmond faded from his lap.

  Tears still wet on his face, he rocked himself, his own candle forgotten at his side, and I crept forward to claim it. But before I could snatch it up, he clambered to his feet, a wild look in his eyes.

  “Vexa. Good. You said you cannot die? Then witness the death of everything and everyone around you.”

  “Aethon, I know that you’re grieving. Just stop. Think of what Edmond would want.”

  “I am doing exactly what Edmond wants. I’m ending it all. If I cannot stop life from ending, then everything and everyone can join him in death. This world never deserved him,” he added in a whisper. “I never deserved his goodness and his light.”

  He threw me back with a wave of magic, and I flew several feet and landed on my ass, the stone jarring me to my bones and making my teeth clatter. The candle flared and ebbed as he drew magic from it, pulling all the other candles into itself.

  I glanced down at my hands, already beginning to lose their physical form, and at Aethon was changing too. Inside, I saw a form as monstrous as the ancient hunter had been, the image overlaid Aethon's human body. As he forced the candles to merge, the overlay began to take solid form, and Aethon began to fade away inside it.

  He was bringing the physical plane into the realm of Death, and I didn't know how to stop him.

  "Aethon, stop!" I ran at him and launched myself at the man/monster he'd already become, grappling at his arms for the candle as his body continued to change around me. "Let go already. This won't bring him back."

  He ignored me even though I was hanging from his arms, the candle changing him the way it had changed Aunt Percy.

  I was helpless to stop him.

  "Why am I here?" I raged. "Why was I spared if this is the only outcome?" I scrambled to my feet to try again when my uncle's form approached.

  “Take the candle, the ghostly being whispered the words to me without meeting my surprised gaze, “Take the candle now.”

  I reached out for the candle, and the presence of Death touched Aethon at the same time. Aethon gasped and released his hold on the candle. I caught it as it dropped, the magic still pulsing and pulling at the human realm, dragging them together like sand being drowned by the tide.

  Oblivious to Aethon and the man who was my uncle Ptolemy, but not him, wh
o embodied the forms of every necromancer who had passed, took Aethon into himself.

  The power had built so great that I was overwhelmed, and I forced every ounce of my energy back into it, envisioning it small and solid and whole, and the great hall itself calm and quiet once more.

  I saw each of my men in my mind’s eye, Ethan with his easy smile, Cole with the pain he hid so deep, Gwydion, who loved humanity in spite of himself. Even Julius, who was our father and protector in so many ways.

  They were calling to me, looking down at me as I fell into an eternal abyss, their faces growing further and further away as the candle swallowed me whole.

  But a cool touch on my back buoyed me up, and another, so warm it was almost hot, and a third, hesitant, but sweet.

  “Don’t let go of her,” Julius’ voice said somewhere in the distance. “She won’t find her way back without you.

  A last hand rested on my forehead in a touch so familiar I felt the ground rushing to meet me as it jerked me from the nothing of the candle and back into reality.

  I heard a high keening and realized it was coming from my mouth, the men gathered around me, holding me in a big ball of bodies as they shared their strength and grounded me.

  Above me, Julius was casting, one hand on my forehead, his lips moving as he shielded us all from the fractured magic that was trying to reform itself.

  "Julius, it's done." He glanced down at me, and I tried to smile, but my body shook like I'd been struck by hypothermia and I closed my eyes, trying to stop my teeth from banging together before they broke.

  The incantation he’d been chanting changed, and in a moment, warmth crept from my toes up my calves to my knees. My guys didn’t speak, and they didn’t let go, all of us clinging together as though we’d disappear if one of us let go.