Kai opened his mouth and then closed it again, probably uncertain how to argue with a dragon without being eaten. But Aris saved him. “That would not be safe in the human world,” her husband said, resting a hand on Kezari’s shoulder. “They have technology that can fire into the sky.”
Kezari scowled. “I can fly higher than arrows.”
“Aris is correct,” Kai finally said. “Humans have created machines that fly, and some of them come equipped with weapons. I’d rather not see how you fare against them. And vice versa. We have more important things to worry about.”
Selia had no clue if dragons pouted in their natural forms, but Kezari’s bottom lip took a definite turn downward in this one. Even so, she waved her hand regally toward Selia. “Let us proceed, then. This skin itches. I want to shift.”
Before the dragon could change her mind, Selia tightened her grip on the energy crystal and connected to the power within. With a quick tug, she spun the magic into the travel spell. A thin line the height of a person appeared and widened, and as she formed the image of her destination in her mind, it filled the gap she’d built. But the cavern on the other side wasn’t empty this time.
Kai cursed. “What is my father doing there? Let’s move. Now.”
Selia held the spell firm, channeling power from the crystal straight into the gate, as Kai, Kezari, and then Aris rushed through. The small portal flickered slightly, but it steadied a moment before Selia followed. Her head spun as she was wrenched across space. Shouldn’t she have had to change crystals by now? Even as she settled on the other side, she examined the spell for flaws, but it had no obvious problems. The energy didn’t sputter until just before she closed the spell.
What had changed? Suspicious, she reached out for Earth’s well of power and gasped. Still difficult to access, but not as much trouble as it should be. The cracks in the wall must have widened, letting more energy through.
Aris froze at her side, Kezari standing in front of them as Kai strode closer to the small group in the center of the cavern. The youngest one was on the floor, writhing, a blood elf crouched over him with fangs extended. A Sidhe man with bright red hair paced anxiously while a second Sidhe male hovered at the writhing man’s feet. Kai headed straight for the second Sidhe lord, and though his hair was pale, she could see some resemblance between the two.
Must be his father.
Selia’s heart lurched, and she jerked another crystal from her pocket. But her view was blocked as Kezari grew in size, her body contorting in a swirl of energy that crashed like a gale against Selia’s shields. She winced and shaded her eyes until the blur of motion ended. Once finished, the dragon stood in her natural form, though a quarter of her customary size.
At a brush against her hand, Selia glanced at Aris. He’d gone deathly pale, and his chest heaved rapidly with each breath. The cave. Ignoring the others, Selia stepped in front of Aris and grabbed his face between her palms. Kezari would protect them. Aris having a breakdown could only make the situation worse.
“Stay with me, Aris.”
“I’m trying.” His throat bobbed. “Go help Kai. This may take a moment.”
Selia brushed her lips against Aris’s. “No. You can do this. Let yourself feel the cave. The life is different here, with a different rhythm. Do you sense the heartbeat? The creatures here need you.”
His eyes glazed, and she feared she’d lost him.
Then green flared around his pupils as he pulled his head free from her hold.
The physical world ceased to matter.
Aris glided across the cavern floor, barely noticing Selia as he circled her to stand at Kezari’s shoulder. He formed a loose link with the dragon, and the cry of stone joined the discordant song of the creatures living inside the cave. Nearer still, two lights beckoned, one of them pulsing with the darkest sliver of death.
Pressure built, ringing in his skull, and then snapped. A rough scream echoed through the chamber, but that hardly registered. His attention was on the sick energy within the light. He advanced toward it, his feet finding purchase without conscious effort. The Earth would cradle him no matter where he went.
“Don’t merge too deeply, skizik.”
He shrugged aside the dragon’s words and kept walking.
Something tightened on his physical form, and he shook his arm to try to break free. A sharp tug, then. “Aris.”
Sudden awareness washed over him at the frantic cry of his name, and he halted, blinking rapidly to clear his thoughts. The world returned to clarity. It was Selia clutching his arm, and the group he’d seen in the center of the cavern now stared at him, save the one stretched out on the floor. Gods. He hadn’t been that pulled in by his magic since his first half-century of life.
“He is poisoned,” Aris said, his voice rough to his own ears.
The blood elf hissed. “What do you know of this? If you think to harm Fen, you will have to reckon with me.”
“You will not threaten one of my people, Vek.” Kai stepped partially in front of Aris. “Your nephew knows me. I’ve spared him once already.”
“I will not trust anyone who brings a dragon to undo the ancient pact.” The anger Vek’s expression didn’t ease. “I don’t care if you’re the king of Moranaia. Clearly, you do not understand the intricacies of what is happening. Remove yourself, or I will remove you.”
Kezari let out a warning rumble, and the air warmed with her anger.
Equally upset, the blond Sidhe lord leaned forward as though he wanted to spring. “I’ll send you to your father in pieces if you threaten my son again.”
“Enough!”
A crack of magic accompanied Selia’s sharp command, and all three men froze. Not voluntarily. Aris couldn’t hold back a slight grin at the sight of his wife marching over, not even when the red-haired Sidhe lifted a ball of flame in his palm. The stranger met Selia’s eyes for a moment, and then his hand lowered, the fire winking out. But he remained tense. Ready.
Selia undoubtedly was, too.
“Caolte,” Selia said, nodding her head at the Sidhe man glaring at her. “Explain what is going on here. Since all these three can do is trade threats while Fen writhes in pain.”
Even Caolte looked abashed. “Naomh and I were investigating the energy rift when Fen and Vek arrived. We…might have had some disagreement between us. Then a pulse from the rift struck, and Fen collapsed. We’ve been trying to determine what to do.”
Beneath his feet, Aris sensed the hum of energy increasing. Slightly, but enough to give him cause for concern. “If the pulses are hurting him, you’d better get him out of here. There will be another soon.”
Selia narrowed her eyes at the three men frozen in place. “I will release you, but if you begin arguing again, I make no promises.”
A cool wash of power flowed around them, and her spell dissipated. She must have been feeling kind, for the slow dissolution gave the three time to regain control of their muscles. Naomh wobbled, his feet almost touching the ground before he righted himself, and Vek jumped up, glaring, but Kai tucked his hands behind his back and attempted to appear repentant. The wiser move when faced with a master mage who was thoroughly tired of one’s attitude.
The blood elf snarled. “If you ever do that again, I will drain you—”
“I recommend you keep your fangs far from me,” Selia said coldly. “I did not shirk my training when it comes to your kind.”
Amazingly, Vek’s mouth snapped closed, though anger still lined his face.
Another pulse of energy thrummed through Aris. “If you care for your friend, get him out. Now. Take him as far from here as you can manage. Once we have healed the rift, we can see what we can do for him.”
“You have no intention of healing anything,” Vek said. “Or at least your dragon doesn’t.”
Kezari’s breath puffed out, filling the space with an acrid scent as her voice shoved into their heads. “The poison must be purged, but we both know that might widen the crack. I do
not intend to dissolve our pact. However, I may not be able to control the results of what has been wrought. I didn’t create this rift or the poison infusing it. I can only try to fix it.”
Vek shoved his shoulders back. “Give me a bit of your blood, and I will go seal the rift.”
“Impossible without trapping the poison inside,” Kezari sent. Aris’s blood chilled at the terrible finality in her tone. “That’s too much to risk. The sickness would only gain strength behind the shield holding back the magic, and if your fix fails, the blight would pour free all at once, killing everything it touched. Besides, the wall is permeable in places to allow for the natural ebb and flow of magic. We don’t know if the poison can seep through those thin areas.”
“Fen believes he can purify the blight since he helped Kien—”
“That boy will not live beyond a few days if the poison is not purged, and well you know it.” Pieces of fallen stone rattled as Kezari lumbered forward. Her golden eyes stared at Vek as though he was her prey. “This was no accident. It was punishment. When the wall shatters, he dies if the darkness is not removed.”
Vek’s jaw clenched. “I cannot heal Fen.”
The floor vibrated softly, although Aris wasn’t sure anyone besides himself and Kezari detected it. “He might survive until we can return to help if you go now,” Aris said.
Fen let out a low moan, and his uncle knelt beside him. The Unseelie’s skin was paler than the snow coating the northern mountains as he studied his nephew’s face. “Or he might not.”
“Caolte and I will go with you,” Naomh said softly.
Vek’s expression went blank. “You? Why?”
“I bear some of the same talents as the dragon and her rider,” the Sidhe lord answered, no sign of concern in his tone. Only the tense, high set of his shoulders gave his agitation away. “As well as a touch of the healing gift. I may be able to help.”
“But you’re a Seelie lord,” Vek began. “I—”
“Talk it out later,” Aris said as his head began to throb with the rising energy. “Selia, can you build another portal to help them get them farther away?”
Nodding, she extended her hand, and a different, more focused power built at her direction. Vek lifted Fen into his arms, and Naomh and Caolte shifted close. Kai barely had a chance to exchange a few words with his father about contacting someone named Maddy before the unusual group slipped through the transportation spell.
Selia let the portal drop, and the four of them were alone. Just in time for the next ragged wave of power.
Chapter 25
This time, Selia didn’t try to shield herself from the wave. She’d been caught off guard last time, and instinct had led her to protect herself. Now she was ready. She lifted the empty crystal in her left hand, and as the pulse of energy crashed into her, she channeled it into the stone. Unlike the energy fields themselves, these waves were pure power. Infinitely useable.
“What did you do?” Aris asked after the magic waned.
Selia shrugged. “I was being practical. Don’t worry, though. I filtered against the poison.”
She tucked the crystal in her pocket and joined Aris and Kai in the center of the cavern. Kezari advanced, too, her slow steps rattling the ground. The dragon lifted her head over Aris, practically settling it on his shoulder as she stared at them.
“I will smooth the path to the rift,” Kezari sent.
Selia expected her to grow larger, closer to her natural size, but instead, she shrank until her body was the size of Iren’s. Selia’s lips twitched. She had a feeling it would be a terrible idea to call a dragon cute, but…in her small form, Kezari was adorable. Her little wings flapped rapidly as she arrowed toward the tunnels they’d used to reach the energy fissure.
Aris’s eyes met Selia’s, and for a brief moment, they shared a grin. Then they joined Kai in following Kezari. When Aris reached for her hand, she took it, startled to feel him trembling. His expression might not show it, but he was uneasy about being in the cave. She entwined her fingers with his and gave a comforting squeeze.
Kai glanced at them over his shoulder. “I wish I’d had a chance to speak with my father about Kezari’s claim. I’m not certain what I’m supposed to do to guard the strands between worlds.”
Selia smiled sweetly. “Perhaps in the future you will not waste time arguing.”
“You’re right.” Kai shrugged one shoulder. “Though I admit that I’m surprised you reprimanded a Seelie noble and an Unseelie prince so…stringently.”
Her steps hitched, but she forced herself to keep moving. She hadn’t been thinking about status at the time, only their useless arrogance. She might very well have caused an incident between their peoples by immobilizing those two. Talk about a breach in etiquette. But blast it, Fen had been thrashing in pain while they’d exchanged barbs.
“I wasn’t considering the ramifications.” She winced. “I hope I haven’t created another problem.”
“Don’t worry about it, Selia,” Kai said. “We’ve dealt with worse.”
With a sigh, she tried to ease the concern from her expression. It must have worked, for Kai stopped sending glances her way and concentrated on his steps. Or perhaps he worried more for the low ceiling in this tunnel. The walls had grown wider and smoother thanks to the steady thrum of power directed by Kezari, but she hadn’t paid much heed to height.
Selia and Aris came to a halt beside Kai inside the small room with the shelf hidden behind stalactites. After getting scratched during the climb on their first trip, Selia wasn’t relishing the thought of going in again. But the dragon flew closer, and the stone shifted away from her snout like a waterfall from a shielding spell, exposing the tunnel hidden by the stalactites. Even that began to widen as Selia watched in fascination.
But they would still have to crawl.
The dragon glanced over her shoulder. “It would take too much energy for me to widen the tunnel enough for walking. I will do my best.”
Aris shivered against her arm, but if he made a return comment to Kezari, it was private. His gaze was pinned to the shifting stone, his expression drawn and pale. How would he bear going through the tunnel, not to mention the crevice they’d have to descend later?
Before their eyes, several stalactites and stalagmites appeared to melt and flow downward into a rough set of steps. Selia blinked in disorientation as the stone heaved and shifted before settling. Gods of Arneen. She could manipulate earth a little herself but nothing on this scale. As far as she could tell, it didn’t even cause the dragon strain. Kezari hovered easily, her wings flapping steadily and her talons hanging lax as she studied her work.
Not that Selia was an expert at judging a dragon’s body language.
Finally, Kezari flew back to them, hovering in front of Aris. “This is the best I can do. Connect fully with me, Aris, and I will help you. Please stand guard, Selia.”
Aris’s breath hissed through his nose as he peered at Selia. “If you need to immobilize me, I will not complain.”
“I will not need to,” she answered, her voice ringing with more confidence than she felt. “We can get through this.”
His nod was slow in coming. “I suppose we’ll see if you’re right.”
Perim understood little of what she’d seen in this strange world so far, but power she comprehended. As she pressed against the stone wall of a small building, another wave of energy flooded her senses, blinding her for a few precious heartbeats. She was getting closer. She’d run for most of the day across a seeming island’s worth of uneven, sometimes mountainous terrain, dodging unusual boxes on wheels and avoiding an endless series of strange habitations.
And humans. Like insects in summer, they swarmed everywhere.
Once her vision, and the energy, had cleared, she pushed away from the wall and started jogging once more. What a terrible, barren waste of a planet. She was no mage, but she used simple magic like any self-respecting fae. Here, it was difficult to light so much as a camp
fire without severe strain, except when one of those strange waves rushed through. And although there were many trees, they were much smaller. The air held an odd, chemical tang, and constant lights and noises ruined the serenity of many of the places she passed.
Who but humans could live in such a place? Even the island she hated was better.
Perim reached another road made of smooth, smelly stone. It held strange markings—white lines and yellow dashes. In some places, there were two center lines and in others, one line and a bunch of dashes. Were they magical symbols? Maps? So far, she hadn’t been able to make sense of them, but if she grew desperate enough, she could capture a human for answers. Not that humans would provide much sport. She was too spoiled after Aris’s resilience.
As she darted across the road, careful not to let her foot touch one of the lines—just in case—one of the rolling boxes flew around a corner. Perim yelped and jumped out of the way, barely in time to avoid being crushed. The wake from its passing shoved at her back, and a screeching sound chilled her heart.
She stumbled to a halt, glancing over her shoulder as a thin, clear panel moved downward on the box. The human inside shouted at her, but the words made as much sense as the device he controlled. Shrugging, she darted away without bothering to speak. He wouldn’t understand, anyway.
Her laughter floated behind her, mingling with the human’s incoherent remonstrations.
The closer Aris came to the hole in the cave wall, the harder his heart squeezed. Kezari had flown through first, and now Kai lowered himself to the floor and began to crawl through. Aris barely felt Selia’s hand rubbing gently between his shoulder blades. Despite all of the mind-healer’s work, this might be too much.
No. I can do this.
Aris sucked in a breath to center himself. Then he merged with Kezari. This time, he was prepared for the scope of the pain, the damage to the Earth that had almost swept him into madness when he’d accidentally connected with her before. He let it flow into him before pushing it to the back of his awareness. He sensed something deeper. More fundamental.
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