“You need to stop him. Stop the queen. But you should know that she will call the creatures to you.”
Imogen glanced back at General Derashen, Jorend, and the other Leier. They were fighting the branox, and they hadn’t reached the full horde of them. Yet.
She needed time.
“You have to draw them here,” she said. “I don’t know if you are willing to, but if you do this, then the others can continue to fight them. Work with the Koral, show them what protections they need to use, and give the Leier a chance.”
Benji held her gaze with his silver eyes. “You may not survive this, Imogen Inaratha.”
“Is that something you see?”
He cocked his head to the side, and his eyes went blank for a moment. “No. But I can see that you might succeed.”
She wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not, and at this point, it no longer mattered. She had a chance. That’s what she needed, and she had to take it.
Benji smacked one hand on the stone, which trembled in response.
The air crackled with energy. Whether it was Toral magic, the Koral, Benji, or even the branox, Imogen didn’t know.
All she knew was what she had to do. Find the queen, and she could follow Timo too.
She scrambled down the rock, scraping her hand as she hurried down steep inclines, flowing with the sacred patterns as she went. Dark shapes slithered past her, but none noticed her. When she had an opportunity, Imogen cut through them as quickly as she could.
She reached the flat section of the ground but still hadn’t seen her brother. Where was he?
The branox swarmed all around her. Too many. Far too many.
Imogen focused for a moment, gathering herself and finding her center. She had to fight. She used Stream through the Trees, Petals on the Wind, and Axe Falling, one after another as she carved through the branox.
The fighting itself wasn’t the challenge. The branox fell beneath the power of the sacred patterns as they had since she’d first faced them. It was the numbers.
There were thousands, and each time she cut one down, two more seemed to replace it. Imogen fought, but there were too many. She stayed with the sacred patterns, though, keeping her mind focused. What was this but another opponent?
Imogen could not move forward. Each time she killed one, more branox replaced it.
The sacred patterns might not be fast enough, she realized. What she needed was to find some way to enter the unity, but she couldn’t force herself into it. She had happened upon it naturally, and she didn’t feel as if she could do so again.
Maybe there was another way.
Master Liu had given it to her. The key. The secret.
Tree Stands in the Forest. It was the basis on which all sacred patterns were built, the only one she thought might be effective.
The branox slammed into the barrier formed by the pattern. She attempted to mix it with Lightning Strikes in a Storm, pushing down to the ground the way she had when facing the Sul’toral.
A thunderbolt of energy sizzled around her as the nearest branox were thrown back. Imogen darted forward in Petals on the Wind, then retreated as the branox started to converge again. She used the combination of Tree Stands in the Forest and Lightning Strikes in a Storm, and she surged ahead once more.
Imogen did it over and again, using the sacred patterns to find her way forward.
The air crackled all around her with the energy of the branox.
Not just the branox, she realized, but sorcery. Timo.
An explosion thundered, and she was freed, with no more branox around her. She raced forward, streaking toward where she knew her brother had to be just up ahead.
His sword was a blur. Timo mixed magic with his blade, flowing through the traditional patterns, pushing back the branox. Was he helping, or was he trying to get to the queen?
Imogen fought her way toward him. His face was thinner than it had been when she’d seen him last. A scraggly beard covered his face, and his clothing was tattered.
He had suffered.
They pushed back the creatures, giving her a moment of reprieve.
“What are you doing here?” he snapped. “You’re here to interfere again, aren’t you?”
“Interfere?” She looked to her brother, and she pushed outward in Tree Stands in the Forest. The barrier it formed gave her a moment to talk to him. She needed that time. “What do you mean, interfere?”
“I lost my last opportunity.”
“Your opportunity to do what? To be raised to Sul’toral?”
“Yes.”
There was a darkness in his voice that hadn’t been there when he was younger. Within it, she could feel bitterness, anger, and rage. All of it felt so different, so wrong, compared to the person he had been.
“You weren’t going to be able to kill Benji,” she said.
“Why do you care about a Porapeth?”
“I care because it was wrong.”
“Wrong? I have tried to serve the Leier my entire life.”
“You took off on your own bond quest,” she said.
“My bond quest,” he scoffed, and he didn’t meet her eyes. “A bond quest that tore me away from my people. A bond quest that kept me from offering the protection they needed.” He turned to her, his face contorted. He was no longer her brother. “Now I will offer the Leier what they could never have done on their own.”
“What have you done?”
“Our people have battled with the Koral for generations. I will put an end to it. It was easy enough to force them here. They are impressionable and simpleminded. They see a hint of sorcery and think it is some grand power they want to follow, so they followed me, thinking I could teach them.” He laughed, bitterness dripping from his words. “But they will be something more. They will serve as the feast, and they’ll allow me to find what I want—and what our people need.”
“None of this is about stopping the Koral. This is about you wanting to become a Sul’toral.”
He glowered at her. “You don’t understand.”
“I understand what you’re trying to do. You’re going to kill human beings because you want power. That is the opposite of what our people have trained to do our entire lives.”
Timo tried to take a step toward her, but she focused on Tree Stands in the Forest, and he couldn’t get to her.
“She needed to be well fed for me to acquire what I want,” he said. “And once I take the queen, I will become Sul’toral. It will be a simple matter to destroy the rest of the creatures—and anyone else who opposes me.”
“I stopped Dheleus,” she said.
It was the first thing that gave Timo pause.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Imogen. You’re my sister.”
He stepped forward out of his pose that reminded her of her own, and he strode toward the creatures. With the power of Timo’s sword and his magic, he carved through them, unmindful of them. He moved in a fluid torrent of power, and she would’ve marveled at it were it not so terrifying.
And here she had always thought her brother rigid in his movements. Finding magic had changed that.
If only she could save him.
She darted after him, but branox got in her way. Imogen focused again and used Tree Stands in the Forest.
She needed to find the unity. If she could, then she could be done with all of this. She had to find some way.
Her mind went blank. The patterns came to her, allowing her to flow through the branox. She ignored the shouts and screams behind her. She ignored everything around her and saw only the creatures between her and her brother. She had to get through the resistance in front of her.
She could see Timo in the distance moving like a terrible storm, cutting through the branox. Their shrieks filled the valley, the sounds of their dying echoing around them. The air stunk of their blood and their horrible, foul stench, but Imogen ignored all of that. She had no other choice.
She stayed within the unity as
she moved, but she stopped in her tracks at a sight in the distance. A line of pale-white glowing power emanated from the far end of the valley, opposite where she’d entered.
She cut through the three nearest branox and stumbled as she tried to look and see what was out there: sorcery strong enough to push back the branox. She could feel the tension that came from enormous power, but she knew it wasn’t Timo.
Was it the Koral?
That thought gave her strength. If Benji had done what he agreed to—helping the Koral find the power within them—then perhaps they could succeed.
She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on Tree Stands in the Forest. As power and her connection to the pattern built, she could practically see what she had to do.
Once again, she found the unity. And then she moved, one with the sacred patterns.
Still, she felt as if she was not fast enough. Imogen didn’t need only the sacred patterns. Within the unity, what did it matter what she used?
She shifted into the traditional patterns, which were faster and more precise. Imogen moved within those patterns, carving through the creatures. A swath of dead and dying branox lay all around her in her wake, and she raced ahead until she reached the clearing.
The queen came into view, enormous and terrifying, the air crackling around her. She was surrounded by branox, which were horrible-looking creatures themselves, though they were so enchanted with magic that it made it difficult for Imogen to see them clearly. The queen, however, was something else entirely. Inky hair hung limp around her face, and a row of teats dotted gray skin. Her six arms made her look like a spider, and her strangely shaped head twisted around and revealed massive fangs.
It took Imogen only a moment to realize what the queen was doing: laying eggs.
Timo strode forward. Filled with his Toral sorcery and the knowledge of his Leier swordsmanship, he cut through the branox surrounding the queen faster than what should’ve been possible.
But when he reached the queen, it was not as easy. She fought with a terrible fury, claws and fangs ripping at Timo. He ducked, flowing and gliding in the sacred patterns.
Imogen’s breath caught. Could his Toral magic have helped him find the truth of the sacred patterns, or had he learned some other way?
She wished she had time to understand, but she could only watch.
The queen reared and stabbed down with one leg. Timo shifted and jumped out of the way, sweeping his blade toward the queen’s leg, but she thrust one of her other legs at him. It carved through his shoulder, but he didn’t cry out. He simply switched his sword to his other hand, and he continued fighting. He was moving faster than Imogen thought he’d be able to, his blade practically glowing. That had to be her imagination.
As she stared, she wasn’t sure if she should help him or stop him. Either way, the queen had to die, but Imogen didn’t know if she would be able to defeat a creature like that. And she didn’t know if she could stop Timo either.
She walked forward and quickly met invisible resistance. Was that the queen’s doing, or was it Timo?
She focused on Tree Stands in the Forest, then shifted and used Lightning Strikes in a Storm. Power exploded out from her blade, and she slammed into the barrier, crashing through it.
Imogen tripped, stumbling onto one of the branox eggs that writhed beneath her, and she swept at it with her blade. She ignored the low mewling sound that came from it.
Then there was another shriek.
She turned and faced the queen, which stabbed one leg at her. Imogen braced herself and focused on Tree Stands in the Forest, and the queen’s leg bounced off the invisible barrier.
Timo jabbed his blade, catching the queen in the back, and she shrieked again. She scratched at him, piercing him in one thigh, but Timo barely moved. He brought his sword up, then down, slicing into the queen’s body.
Her horrible death scream reverberated as her blood sprayed all over Timo.
Imogen watched in horror as Timo seemed to be absorbing the queen’s blood, and she could see that it was making his own skin start to darken, becoming tinted with a deep maroon as it changed him.
Imogen fought through the branox surrounding her and caught up to her brother, flowing toward him. He turned toward her almost leisurely and held out his hand. It was a simple movement, yet it seemed to carry with it a hint of the Petals on the Wind technique, and she was pushed back.
“You cannot stop this now,” he said.
“Why?” She focused on Tree Stands in the Forest. There were branox all around, but now that the queen was dead, the creatures no longer moved with the same intensity as they had before.
“You cannot understand.”
“You won’t become a Sul’toral this way,” she said.
He raged at her, and he brought his sword down in Axe Falling.
Imogen braced, but she maintained her barrier enough that his sword didn’t cut through her protection. She breathed out a sigh of relief, but the shock that her brother had attacked her was almost more than she could bear. This was someone who had looked up to her. She had helped him learn his earliest patterns and understand what it would take to be promoted through the lowest ranks of the Leier. She had mentored him, until she had reached too high a level and could no longer do so.
Now he had a longing for power.
Only… it wasn’t all that different than what Imogen had once felt.
“All this does is turn you darker,” she said.
“I am close. So close I can feel it.” He turned back to the queen’s body and leaned forward as if to drink her blood.
Imogen cried out. The rock around her started to tremble, and boulders fell from overhead. She glanced behind her and saw Benji crouched, holding his hands out, pressing them against the stone. An energy radiated from him, causing the rock to cascade down. The boulders landed near Timo and the queen, forcing him back.
He held his hands up as if to try to shield them, but the avalanche was too much. The queen’s body was buried beneath the rubble. He staggered back with rage-filled eyes, and he brought his blade down over and again as he chopped at the stone.
Benji had slowed Timo from reaching his goal.
Timo growled at her. “This is your fault. This could have been over. Now I have to return to the crypt and find another.”
The crypt?
“There’s another queen?” she whispered.
“Did you think she was the last?”
Imogen wanted to ask Benji about that. He had certainly believed that to be the case.
“You can’t do this,” she said to Timo. “This power is not meant for us. It’s not meant for you.”
“You have no idea what is meant for me.”
He brought his blade back. The ground beneath his feet trembled, and he staggered. Imogen hurriedly pushed out, mixing Tree Stands in the Forest with Lightning Strikes in a Storm. She would never have imagined she would need to use the sacred patterns against her brother, but then again, she would never have imagined that Timo would chase magic like this.
The patterns struck him and threw him back. He scrambled to his feet, but Imogen flowed forward in Stream through the Trees, switched to Tree Stands in the Forest, and blasted again with Lightning Strikes in a Storm.
The techniques sent Timo flying again, and he crashed against the rock. After a few moments, he staggered to his feet, the air around him crackling—just like it did with the branox.
He had taken on some of their strange magic.
Timo took a step toward her, but this time, the boulders that cascaded around him missed and bounced in front of him, separating him from Imogen.
“This is not over,” he called.
The air crackled, then fell still.
Imogen looked around, searching for her brother, but she saw no sign of him. She stayed focused on Tree Stands in the Forest, and her breathing became steady and regular. She needed to be prepared in case Timo appeared out of nowhere. This was the only pattern that wo
uld protect her.
“He’s gone,” Benji said. His eyes were drawn, and something about him seemed off. He examined the fallen rock pile that had crashed down on the branox queen.
“He was trying to use her,” Imogen said. “Would it have worked?”
“Taking that kind of power?” He shrugged. “For a sorcerer, I would’ve said no. For a Toral, it would be possible.” He looked over to her. “Toral can learn any kind of magic. The ring they wear grants them a connection to power, and they can draw the magic through themselves to become something else. Something more. In this case, taking magic from a branox queen may have helped him elevate to a Sul’toral, but hopefully we interrupted him before he had that opportunity.”
Imogen had seen how Timo had already started to change, the way the branox queen’s blood had modified him.
“He’s not going to stop chasing power,” she said.
“Perhaps not.”
“I’m going to have to stop him.”
Benji snorted. “An understatement if I’ve ever heard one. I thought you knew you were going to have to.”
“I think… I think I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that.”
“Even after what he did?”
Imogen nodded. “Even after everything.”
“You will have to find a way.”
He scrambled away and headed up the rock, pressing his hands down on either side of it. The ground rumbled, and Imogen could feel something within the valley starting to change. Whatever he was doing consumed the fallen branox.
She weaved through, quickly cutting down the few remaining branox that came toward her. They all seemed confused, as if intoxicated. By the time the creatures were felled, the air stunk.
A faint tremble of the earth began to pick up. She looked at Benji, wondering what he was doing, but it wasn’t him. He was holding one hand to the stone.
The sensation intensified.
“Avalanche,” Benji whispered.
“What happened?”
He stood, shaking his head. “Your brother.”
As the avalanche rained stone down onto them, she realized what Timo had done. They were trapped in the valley.
“Why?” Imogen asked, not expecting an answer.
“The way out will not be easy,” Benji said.
Unseen (First of the Blade Book 2) Page 26
