“I’ve never known any different. I am too full of love for you to ever feel empty,” Roen whispered back, planting a soft kiss on her cheek.
Eloryn warmed, her own love for him spreading through the emptiness.
“I love you, too,” she sobbed.
Erec groaned from nearby. “Lovebirds, would one of you be kind enough to come and untie me shortly?”
Eloryn sighed and rolled away from Roen. Getting to her feet, she saw that they were back in Memory’s chambers.
“Memory didn’t make it through,” Eloryn said, a harsh shiver making her hug herself.
“Not Will or Shonae either,” Roen said, as he crouched down beside Erec and started cutting him free with his slim electrum blade. They had all lost their iron during their fighting and capture. “She used her magic to send us back here, to save us. She’s broken her oath and there will be no safe place for her from the fae now.”
“There is one,” Eloryn said. “She could go home.”
Eloryn hoped her sister had escaped the chaos of the Unseelie Court, but there was nothing she could do now to find out, or to help her. Besides, she had other work to do here in Avall.
The world trembled, and through the window the sky was a thick gray, blocking the sun. Jagged streaks of electricity webbed through the clouds and smote the ground, setting trees alight and crisping the fields and grasses around the castle.
The day was darkened like night, and Eloryn could see the Veil, ripped and torn, fluttering like ragged mist across the sky. The lightning turned red, green and violently purple before going back to silver as it arched across the sky.
Roen cut the last of the webbing off Erec and helped him to his feet. For a moment, they all stood in silence and watched the destructive light show through the window.
“Come now. We must hurry,” Eloryn said.
Candles flickered here and there through the palace, but a bitter wind blew windows open and rushed through the corridors, putting them out quickly. Servants and guards ran by, as other guests of the castle called for assistance. A maid recognized Eloryn amongst the crowds and ran to her, asking for help, but she could not give it. There was no magic left for her, or anyone. Even when Thayl was in power, banning all but the most basic of magic, the people still had light, and warmth. Now, the land felt dead and flat, missing its very heart, and Eloryn knew time was running terribly short. War was coming, and with it death.
“Where is the Council?” Eloryn asked.
“The Round Room, Your Highness,” the maid replied, her eyes wide and voice shaking.
“Keep calm, and head to the throne room,” Eloryn said, and sped up her pace. “Erec, I need you back on duty. I need information about what is happening out in the city, and I need the guards organized and helping the civilians. I need them moving everyone into the throne room and old keep.”
Erec nodded, and split off from them. Eloryn and Roen reached the Round Room and found all of the Wizards’ Council there, for once in silence. They stood in a circle, faces grave and gray as their hair, bodies bent like a ring of ancient stones.
Bedevere was the first to see Eloryn, and his back straightened. “Your Highness, by the fae, you are safe. But what of your sister?”
Eloryn shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“What happened?” Madoc spluttered, coming to life as well. “The Pact has ended, we all feel it, as we can feel Avall tumbling back through the Veil into the world of hell we left behind.”
“It’s true,” Eloryn said. “Finvarra is dead. Nyneve has taken the unseelie crown, ended the Pact, and declared war upon humans.” She stopped there. Memory’s actions, all of their actions that had led to this point poisoned her with guilt.
“What can we do? We are powerless,” Madoc sighed, dropping into a seat beside him.
The room brightened slightly, and out from the darkness, Yvainne appeared. The sprite princess’s face was as solemn as the humans around her. Her normal glowing presence was dulled, her gossamer dress more like rags, and her hair hanging lifeless.
“Maellan Princess,” she said, turning to Eloryn. “You should have remained the one to rule the humans. Now we all face destruction.”
“Is this Memory’s doing?” one of the Wizards’ Council blustered, and a murmur of gossip spread through the group.
“She played a part,” Eloryn admitted.
Yvainne hissed, “She killed Finvarra with iron! And broke her oath not to use her magic, then fled to the human hell to avoid her punishment.”
So she did escape. Eloryn took a shaking breath, trying to inhale hope back into her. “Yvainne, will the seelie fae stand beside humans for what is to come?”
For a moment, Eloryn thought she saw a look of sympathy on the normally aloof face of the sprite princess. “We will not. I was sent here to tell you as much.”
“We have no magic left,” Madoc cried, standing up and grasping for Yvainne. “If the unseelie fae come for us, we will be slaughtered!”
The sprite shook him off in a shower of fairy dust. “We shall all die if Avall smashes back into the human world unchecked. The seelie fae will be doing what we can to stabilize our refuge as it returns through the Veil. That is all we can do, for the humans and for ourselves.”
“Can you not stop it returning?” Eloryn asked.
“It took the combined power of the seelie and unseelie fae together to draw Avall into the Veil when the Pact began. Without the help of the unseelie monarch, without Nyneve, all we can do is stem the damage as we prepare for the end of the fae.” Yvainne turned away. “I am sorry.”
Eloryn lowered her head as the sprite faded away. “Me too.”
“We are to face the unseelie armies alone then,” Roen said, his voice empty of emotion.
A dramatic gasp broke the deathlike silence, and Clara ran into the room, her face covered with tears and her red hair loose and streaming across her shoulders.
She huffed and pounded softly on Eloryn’s arm with a fist. “The pastries went cold and none of you came back and I’ve been so scared for you all and I’ve been hearing all sorts of terrible things through the speaking mirror and NOT ONE OF YOU SPOKE THROUGH THE MIRROR AND TOLD ME WHAT WAS HAPPENING!”
“Oh Clara, I’m sorry,” Eloryn said, and pulled her in for a hug.
“I… I couldn’t do anything. I know I am not a hero but I wish there was something I could have done. Now the Pact is gone and everyone is totally freaking out.”
“Totally freaking out? You have been spending far too much time with Mem,” Eloryn’s smile felt false and wobbly. “I think you will be able to help Clara. Tell me, are you still hearing anything through your piece of mirror?”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Net Nest was jam packed. People were staring down at their laptops, tablets and the few desktop computers around the room, glued to the news as it came in from around the world. Another small tremor shook the ground. A few people shrieked or stared white faced at the shuddering walls of the internet café then turned back to their screens to type in new search codes or status updates.
Memory spotted a table where some empty coffee mugs hadn’t been cleared away. The staff seemed too busy gossiping and looking at their own screens to be servicing the tables. Walking past, Memory swiped two cups in a casual movement, and took them to where a dripolator sat beside a sign reading “Free Refills.” She poured herself and Will a healthy dose of coffee that she liberally doctored with milk and sugar.
A desktop PC became free as a man took a call on his cellphone and left in a rush. Memory indicated to Will across the room, and met him and Shonae there, handing him his coffee.
“Sorry Shonae, only two hands. Also I figured you wouldn’t be interested.”
Shonae sniffed. “Quite right.”
Memory and Will each took a sip and sighed deeply.
“Oh, bad internet café coffee, I’ve missed you so much,” Memory said to her mug, stroking it tenderly. That first sip helped stea
dy Memory, but her stomach still ached. A sandwich lying on a table, uneaten while its owner stared at his laptop, drew her eye. She looked from it to Will and nodded, hoping he’d remember their old tricks.
Stretching his arms in a wide yawn, Will shielded Memory with his body while her hand snaked out and grabbed the sandwich. She split it, handing Will his share of the booty. She offered some to Shonae who turned up her now human nose at it. By the time the owner of the sandwich looked at the plate again, Memory and Will had bellies filled with rare roast beef, mayo, and rye bread.
“Remind me I hate rye,” Memory said tilting her cup toward her mouth.
“Shame there are no cakes unguarded.” Will grunted.
Memory looked at the glassed in display counter with a twinge of greedy regret. “I know, that pumpkin cheesecake looks good.”
“I was thinking the scone.”
“Go get it then,” Memory challenged. “Bring me back the cheesecake.”
Will surveyed the room and ducked his head, muttering something about not being a cake commando. That made Memory laugh and she squeezed his hand. The warmth of his flesh below hers strengthened her more than the coffee and food ever could.
Memory poked the keyboard in front of her but the screen only showed a login gate. “Forget the cakes. What we need is cash. I want to check on something online, but we have to buy the minutes.”
“The usual way?” Will asked, dark eyebrows lowered. Memory frowned back. He never was happy about her thieving ways, but he always went along with her, even when he was so much younger. Wow, I really took that kid’s innocence didn’t I?
“Don’t worry, I won’t make you do it this time.” Even Memory wasn’t too happy anymore about stealing. It used to be a rush, the thrill of the risk and the joy of new possessions drove her to fill her pockets in every store. She didn’t need those thrills and superficial joys anymore. She’d found true happiness, and known true danger, and somehow developed a conscience amongst it all. If they weren’t in real need of food and information, she wouldn’t be up to her old tricks.
Squeezing through the crowd to the counter, Memory smiled to the assistant there who glanced up at her from his own screen.
“If you’re after more coffee you’re out of luck. The water is off,” he mumbled.
“Can I get the bathroom key?” she asked.
“I said the water is off.” The scrawny young man looked at her over his thick brimmed glasses.
Of course it has to be difficult, Memory grumbled in her head.
“That’s okay, I just need a private place for a moment, you know, for lady things,” she said.
With a small humph, the man turned to grab the key off the wall. While he did, Memory leaned over the counter, her hands a blur as she plucked a few bills from the shallow tip jar. By the time the key had been handed to her she had almost twenty bucks up her jacket sleeve. The assistant went straight back to his screen before Memory could say thank you.
A noise distracted Memory as she turned away from the counter. A sound like her own voice, calling out quietly amongst the chatter and clamor of the busy room.
“No way,” Memory said under her breath. She plunged her hand into her pocket so fast she sliced her finger on the mirror shard there. Swearing softly, she pulled the mirror out and held it up to see what looked like her own eye, but shadowed by thick ivory bangs.
Her heart thudded. The speaking mirror was still connected to Avall, and her sister was there.
Speeding back across the room, Memory slapped the money on the desk beside Will.
“Get online, I’ll be right back. Gotta take a call,” she said, angling the mirror so Will could see the tiny view of Eloryn there.
Memory’s hands shook as she tried to fit the key in the lock and get into the customers only bathroom. On the third try, the key slipped in and she pushed the heavy door open.
The bathroom was tiny, and a strong smell of lemon disinfectant overpowered the room. Memory put her hands on the cold sink and took a deep breath to steady herself, then looked at the speaking mirror. She could see only the ornate ceiling of Caermaellan palace now.
Her heart sank, and with it her body. She slouched against the tiled wall, sliding down to sit on the floor, wedged between the toilet door and basin pipes.
“Eloryn?” Memory called out, holding the mirror close to her face.
Her voice caught and tears prickled under her eyelids. Part of her almost hoped Eloryn wouldn’t answer. As though talking to her sister would somehow make the grand weight of her failure more real. I’ve screwed up everything.
Nyneve’s betrayal stung and confused Memory. It was all so obvious now, too obvious. She should have been smarter, she should have wondered why Nyneve was trying to help her, instead she had simply assumed she had a kind heart and wanted to see peace restored to the lands. But it was clear now Nyneve had no love for humans. Something in her past, something to do with her relationship with Myrddin, Memory thought, had twisted her into a creature of hate and vengeance.
“Mem! Please, Memory is that you?”
“Lory?” Seeing her sister looking back through the mirror at her made the fresh tears building in Memory’s eyes spill out. “I’m so sorry. I’ve really pooched things.”
Eloryn was silent for a moment. “Are you well? Are you safe?”
“For now. How bad is it? Over there?”
Memory heard Roen and Erec’s voices in the background, then Eloryn spoke. “There is a lot of panic. The Spark of Connection has left every human in Avall. It is dark, and everyone is scared.”
“Lory, listen. Nyneve was Providence all along, not Finvarra. It was her that gave me my iron knife.”
“How—?”
Memory kept talking. “She’s resistant to iron. It was her drinking human blood and that was why. And I think she will use the people of Avall as a blood farm to make her unseelie fae army also resistant to iron as Avall shifts back into the rest of the world.”
Memory heard Eloryn draw a long breath. “We always knew Providence wanted a human monarch with great power in her debt, and this was why. She wanted to use them to kill Finvarra, bringing her into power and letting her break the Pact and start a war.”
“When Hope couldn’t get a deal out of me, Nyneve started messing with my head, working me into killing Finvarra in a different way, making me think he was Providence, was the one who had done everything bad to me.” Memory leaned her head back against the cold tiles. “She knew I would be angry. She counted on it. She had to make me angry enough to want to kill him. Nyneve let us find the blood lair and set it up to make us think Finvarra ran it.”
Eloryn followed on, the two of them thinking in harmony. “As Princess of the Unseelie Court she had control over the knights who captured and branded us, to drive you to Finvarra.”
“She told me to challenge him then slipped me the iron knife mid-fight so that Finvarra would die in front of the entire court at my hand.”
They both fell silent.
From outside the door, Memory heard sirens wailing and a thick scent of blood was building in the air, overpowering even the lemon disinfectant around her.
“You have to come home. You can explain to the seelie fae what happened. There has to be a way we can repair this.”
“I did this, so I will fix it. I just have to work out how. Until I do, just please try to keep everything from… from…” She squeezed her eyes shut. What could she say? Everything had already fallen apart.
Eloryn’s voice was small. “I don’t have my magic anymore. I don’t know what I can do.”
“You can kick ass is what you can do. Sis, you’re the smartest person I know. Trust yourself, believe in yourself. I know you will work something out.”
The mirror shifted and Memory saw the hint of a smile on her sister’s lips. “Okay. I’ll do what I can here in Caermaellan to keep everyone safe while you save the world.”
“No pressure,” Memory giggled.
&nb
sp; “Dear sister, I hope you know how much I love you.”
“I love you too,” Memory said, wiping tears from her cheeks. “See you soon.”
The mirror went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Eloryn tucked the shard of speaking mirror away into a pocket. Her clothes were still stained with the black ichor of the vines they had fought through in Tearnan Ogh, and with her own blood. Her hair was loose, tumbling down to her hips in long tangled falls, and her scalp tingled as though the air was filled with static. She picked up the ends of her locks and rolled them into a knot at the back of her head, pushing damp strands clear of her face. Memory is right. I can do this. There were people who needed help, and she knew she could offer it.
Erec had returned a while ago and brought her news from the city. Unseelie fae were already in the streets, and there were reports that they were snatching any human they could find. Eloryn shivered. The people must be so scared, without light, without magic, being hunted in the dark.
Erec remained in the room, silent and at attention with a small group of guards. Awaiting orders, but also there to protect her, Eloryn knew. Without Memory here, Eloryn was the only Maellan blood left to protect, not that she had any magic to show for it anymore.
Eloryn called order in the room and had the Council members take seats. Placing her hands on the repaired round table there hardened her resolve. She knew she had done that, repaired the ancient table from the splinters it had become after the explosion. If it could be fixed, maybe the shattered Pact, the breaking worlds, could also.
Eloryn sent Clara to fetch a book for her, then addressed the aged men. “I think you all heard what Memory said. I trust that she has a way to save us, but we must protect ourselves in the meantime however we can.”
One of the wizards cleared his throat. “We are helpless without magic. We know what happened, and we know it was not Memory’s fault, but what can we do against the fae? We’re nothing but old men now.”
“It is hopeless,” another muttered.
“You are not defined by your magic alone,” Eloryn said. “I am sure you have wisdom that can help us. When in hiding, Providence, or Nyneve rather, was sending unseelie fae to hunt down wizards as well, and yet you remained hidden from them for years. The fae see through glamour more easily than humans. How did you remain unfound?”
Memory's Wake Omnibus: The Complete Illustrated YA Fantasy Series Page 73
