Full Circle (Avalon: Web of Magic #12)

by Rachel Roberts

  FULL CIRCLE

  Copyright © 2014 Red Sky Entertainment, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except where permitted by law.

  Electronic Edition

  Published by Premiere Digital Publishing, Inc.

  Made in the U.S.A.

  ISBN-13: 978-1-938582-66-0

  Cover and interior illustrations by Allison Strom

  THE DARK MAGE sat astride her paladin, overlooking the new magic web like a commander surveying the battlefield. Glimmering strands formed perfect diamond patterns that stretched to the horizon and beyond. With her magically enhanced vision, she could see the entire structure, a vast spiderweb of highways that connected worlds.

  Hundreds of unicorns surrounded her, pawing the ground, eager to run the glowing strands and spread magic wherever she desired. The dark power of Avalon swirled above them in a seething cloud of ruby, emerald, and amethyst. The dark heart jewel upon her wrist pulsed in sync with the luminous, shifting hues.

  Glints of light flecked across her hazel eyes. Emily. That was her name, or had been. She’d once been a healer, that much she knew—but now, lost in the dark weaving spell, she could not remember the events that had brought her here. Something had happened to change her from a girl empowered to heal, to some thing altogether different: a mage who practiced evil.

  Deep down, in a shadowy place, Emily’s mind and soul were locked away, full of memories she could no longer find, feelings she could no longer touch. The only thing she saw clearly was the malevolent perfection of the web in front of her, waiting to be filled with power. Dark power that belonged to her.

  This was not the ancient web spun long ago, designed to spread good magic to many worlds of wondrous creatures. Ravaged by time and not enough magic, that web had withered and collapsed. The perfect prey for the perfect predator.

  The web that the dark mage gazed upon was new, woven by a monstrous aberration of spider and human. Unlike the free-flowing strands of the old web, the Spider Witch’s new weaving was cold and unyielding. But it was strong.

  “Let them run!” A sharp voice rang in Emily’s mind. “Bring the web to life!”

  Her unicorn paladin—she used to call him Indi—reared, his crystal horn sparking red. She waved her hand, and the unicorns charged. Fountains of red steamed from hundreds of crystal horns as Emily directed the unicorns along the pathways, weaving the magic with cool, calculating precision. Her ears filled with the drumming of hooves and her vision expanded in a shifting swirl of colors. It was like she was seeing through hundreds of eyes at once. Glorious scarlet swept over the new web like a raging fire as the unicorns ran, doing what they were supposed to do—infusing the web with the ancient magic of Avalon.

  “Keep the magic flowing!” The Spider Witch, far away at her lair in the Fairy Realms, tightened her grip on Emily’s mind.

  Emily’s heart stone dimmed. The magic she had taken from Avalon was running out as the unicorns spread it across the web.

  Latching onto the thinning strands floating around her, Emily tried to see the magic of Avalon itself.

  The sheer power of the aura overwhelmed her senses, catapulting her mind and emotions into a maelstrom of twisting lights. But Avalon’s aura slipped through her fingers, no more solid than fading memories. Again she tried, struggling with all her will to see an image, a glimpse.

  Suddenly the lights shattered, a brilliant explosion in her mind’s eye. Emily gasped, fighting to control her breathing.

  All at once she saw everything clearly: the skyline of a glorious crystal city sparkling under blue skies, towers and spires glittering in the golden sun. She felt herself fly over meadows of green where magnificent animals ran free. Griffins, unicorns, dragons, mistwolves, cats, and creatures she had never seen, their dazzling auras dancing before her eyes.

  But something was wrong; the aura felt empty.

  Her vision zoomed into the center of the city, to a round, stone-rimmed well. Though it was inconspicuous amidst the gleaming towers, it was unmistakable.

  The happy images faded like ghosts, leaving only the solitary well.

  Something had happened here. Something that had changed Avalon forever.

  Abruptly the vision went black and she was jarred back to the web. She reeled, her head swimming, her body numb. Her shaking fingers clawed frantically at the air, but the magic was gone. Only a fraction of Avalon’s magic had been set free before the Dark Sorceress had shut the gates, cutting off the flow.

  All across the web, the unicorns came to a halt, stomping and snorting in confusion.

  “No!” Emily heard the Spider Witch’s scream echo across the void. “Find more magic, dark mage!”

  Portals flashed around Emily as the unicorns returned. Red magic sparked along their horns and hooves, then flickered out like spent candles.

  “We need magic,” the unicorn Lorelei said as the others crowded close.

  But there was no more magic. Emily’s connection to Avalon had been severed. She had to find more or the new web would be empty, like a pipeline without fuel.

  Images of animals flashed through her mind, creatures that depended on magic, who were counting on her to save them. Once upon a time they had given their magic to her freely, trusting in the goodness of the healer. But this time they recoiled from her touch, terrified of the dark mage.

  Emily lashed out, reaching for the magic of the animals—and found something else.

  Something on the web, dark and ferocious, had followed the unicorns—and it was coming for them.

  Her gaze moved to the horizon. A black cloud roiled toward them like an advancing storm, devouring the light of the glowing strands. Monstrous shapes flickered in and out like smoke.

  Fear rushed through her.

  The unicorns shuddered, the younger ones whimpering and mewling.

  “Help us!” the unicorns cried, terrified of what streaked across the strands—shadow creatures.

  In a swarm of beating wings, flashing red eyes, and terrible shrieking, the shadow army of the Dark Sorceress attacked.

  Two unicorns went down, nightmarish creatures attached to them like leeches, ripping their magic to shreds. Emily whirled her paladin around as more unicorns fell, their magic vaporized into bursts of red and black. Dozens of gruesome creatures started to feed on the thrashing bodies. The unicorns could only scream, powerless to fight the monsters.

  Anger rushed through the dark mage. All the magic she had spread onto the new web was being consumed by the sorceress’s creatures. That magic was hers. She had sacrificed everything for the dark power of Avalon.

  Jewel raised, she fired. Streaks of red lightning struck the creatures but their shadowy bodies only absorbed her magic, becoming stronger.

  Sensing a new source of food, the monsters swarmed. They were all over her, sharp claws ripping at her magic. Shreds of her aura were sucked into gaping maws. Indi tried in vain to throw them off as the dark circle tightened. Emily and the unicorns were helpless, no match for these hideous creatures.

  This was going to be a massacre.

  Suddenly howls echoed across the web, reaching a deafening crescendo that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Out of thin air, hundreds of mistwolves leaped into the fray, attacking the shadow creatures in a frenzy of snapping jaws. Soaring above the mistwolves, a red dragon careened from the skies, a girl in black riding upon his back. The warrior leaped from the saddle, somersaulting through the air, silver fire blazing from bo
th fists. She landed beside her packmates, wolf fire slashing through clouds of red and black. Dreamer shifted in and out of mist, tearing into a mob of ghastly creatures.

  In a blast of silver, the attackers were thrown back—a great silver wolf had joined her packmates. Stormbringer roared in fury, leaping into the next wave of monsters. Acknowledging her paladin, Adriane took command.

  “Moonshadow!” the warrior ordered. “Keep the pack in mist form, it’s the only way to fight them!”

  Instantly, the pack dissolved into shimmering mist. Blurs of shadow and light collided as the protectors of magic drove the creatures away from the unicorns.

  At Adriane’s signal, Dreamer sprang over the unicorn herd, covering them in a cloud. Emily and the unicorns vanished.

  The horde of shadow creatures wailed, searching for their victims.

  Amid the chaos, a fiery stallion reared, sending licks of flame skyward. Kara leaned forward, head against Starfire’s neck as they charged into battle. Soaring above her, a fierce flying leopard slashed at hideous shadow monsters.

  Like moths to flame, the monsters could not resist the magic of the blazing star. They swarmed as diamond white flamed through the shadows. The blazing star gasped as the hungry eyes and snapping jaws of a vicious shadow creature obscured her vision. She had seen this creature before. The gargoyle-like monster remembered her too, hungry for the magic of her unicorn jewel.

  He wouldn’t get it, though, not this time.

  The monster disintegrated to a pile of smoldering ash under the fiery hoof of Kara’s paladin.

  Warrior and blazing star pushed forward in blasts of silver and white light, clearing a path to Emily.

  “Emily!” the warrior shouted. “We have to get the unicorns out of here!”

  Surrounded by protective silver mist, the dark mage gave no sign that she heard the girl who was once her friend. The need for more magic burned inside her like a fever, consuming every thought.

  The shadow creatures continued to pull and rip at the cloak of mistwolf magic.

  “We can’t hold them off!” Kara yelled, her blue eyes wide with terror as she looked toward the horizon.

  Another black wave rolled toward them. Bigger shadow creatures were coming.

  The dark mage’s eyes, cold and vacant, stared at the others. “The web needs magic.”

  “Emily, we have to get the unicorns out of here while there’s still time!” Adriane cried.

  “Send them to Ravenswood!” the blazing star ordered as Starfire snorted licks of flame. “They’ll be safe there.”

  A flash brightened the dark mage’s eyes. “Yes,” she agreed. “We must go to Ravenswood.”

  She raised her wrist and the unicorns all turned to her, horns glowing.

  Bright flashes electrified the web as hundreds of portals burst open. The mages and their friends vanished, leaving the web to the marauding army of shadow monsters.

  PANDEMONIUM ERUPTED AS mistwolves, unicorns, a dragon, and three mages materialized in the portal field at the Ravenswood Wildlife Preserve. The unicorns whimpered and shook, too stunned to move. Dark magic swirled from their bodies like coils of steam. The magic agitated the mistwolves, still caught in the fever of battle.

  A cry rang out: “Packleader!” Rasha, Roniff, Balthazar, and the other magical animals of the Ravenswood Preserve raced toward Adriane, shocked by the sudden appearance of the dark unicorns and snarling mistwolves.

  “Get me a head count,” Adriane shouted. “I want to know exactly who’s here. Rasha, you know what to do, most seriously hurt first. Go!”

  Her pack of animal friends moved out, organizing the mistwolves and unicorns just as they had done so many times before when wounded animals had arrived at Ravenswood.

  Kara checked Lyra from nose to tail, searching for any sign of a scratch.

  “I’m fine,” Lyra insisted, golden wings folding back and vanishing.

  “You’re fine when I say so.” Kara lifted the cat’s rear paw for inspection.

  Her paladin Starfire had vanished, retreating to his elemental home now that his bonded was out of danger.

  “Over here, healer!” a pair of duck-like quiffles pleaded, leaning over a mistwolf with a wounded foreleg.

  All eyes turned to the dark mage, who stood off to the side and watched the chaos icily. Her dark paladin had vanished, but the twisted unicorns gathered around her, red magic glimmering from their horns.

  Adriane planted herself in front of the girl she’d known as the healer. “Emily, these animals are hurt!”

  But the healer was oblivious to everything except the cold, rasping voice in her head. “The web needs magic!”

  Adriane saw that Emily was not going to help and took charge. “We need first aid kits and blankets!”

  Quiffles and brimbees raced from the field to get supplies.

  Kara dashed from unicorn to unicorn. “Calliope, Ralphie, Violet, are you okay? It’s me!” But these magical friends were caught in the dark spell; they did not recognize the blazing star.

  “You found the unicorns!” Tasha, the goblin sorceress, exclaimed as she made her way through the mass of animals toward Kara. “What are you doing here? We thought you were inside Avalon.”

  “We didn’t make it,” Kara said brusquely.

  “But the gates opened. Who went in?”

  The blazing star could barely answer. “The Dark Sorceress.”

  Tasha gasped. “How?”

  Adriane’s dark eyes flashed with anger. “She used us to open the gates and walked right in.”

  “I don’t understand,” Tasha said. “With the power of Avalon on your side, she would have been no match for the three of you.”

  Kara and Adriane exchanged a look.

  “Avalon’s magic is not what you think it is,” Adriane told the goblin girl.

  “Whoa!” The magic meter in Tasha’s hand screeched. The small screen flashed with bright colors.

  “The Spider Witch twisted the unicorns with dark magic,” Kara tried to explain.

  “The dark magic isn’t coming from the unicorns,” Tasha said gravely, tapping the screen to squelch the piercing noise. “It’s coming from Emily’s jewel.”

  “Emily was caught in the same spell,” Adriane said. “How do we break it?”

  The dark mage had wandered to the edge of the woods. She stood staring into the forest, her back to the field. And to the people who were once her closest friends.

  Tasha held up her magic meter to show them. “She’s way under, really deep. I’ve never seen anything like this!”

  Moonshadow limped toward the warrior, tongue lolling, his midnight coat caked with blood and sweat.

  Adriane knelt before the packleader. “You’re hurt.”

  The mighty mistwolf shook his head. “Others need help more than I do. I have ordered patrols of the grounds in case the shadow creatures try to follow us through the portal.”

  Moonshadow yelped as the blazing star poked at a jagged cut along his flank.

  “Quiet, you.” Kara wiped the cut clean with an alcohol swab.

  “I said I am fine.” The big wolf twisted away.

  “Packleader.” Kara bowed her head as Adriane looked on.

  Moonshadow nodded before padding off.

  “Kara, are you all right?”

  Kara turned to find a handsome teenage boy with spiky black hair rushing into the portal field, his arms piled with blankets.

  “Lorren.” Looking into his concerned dark eyes, Kara instantly felt better. “Yeah, but Emily isn’t.”

  “The Dark Sorceress has Avalon,” Tasha told him.

  Lorren’s eyes widened in fear, then he scowled at Kara. “I told you not to make that crystal!”

  “Lorren, I—”

  “I knew that fairy was trouble!” he cut her off angrily. “Logan is notorious for black market magic.”

  To replace the power crystal she’d accidentally destroyed, Kara had worked with a dark fairy to make another one—despite
Lorren’s strong objections.

  “Take it easy, Lorren.” Adriane stepped between the two. “Kara saved Drake with that power crystal.”

  “She did?” Lorren studied the blazing star. His expression softened. “You are so… stubborn.”

  Kara flashed the warrior a smile before taking blankets from Lorren’s arms and leading them toward the most seriously wounded animals. “Emily and the Spider Witch totally rewove the magic web.”

  “It’s amazing!” A snow owl soared over their heads. Riding on it was a small creature made entirely of twigs, leaves, and grass. Tweek hopped from Ariel’s back and projected an image of the new web from the turquoise jewel hanging on his neck. “The web’s pattern has changed dramatically.”

  Brilliant points sparkled in the air, forming a diamond grid pattern. It looked nothing like the swirling loops and curls of the old web.

  “How is that possible?” asked Adriane.

  “The Spider Witch must have been preparing a powerful weaving for a long time. Probably in the form of an elemental tapestry,” Tweek hypothesized. “Emily brought it to life.”

  “She used the dark magic of Avalon,” Kara told him.

  Emily had turned out to be more powerful than any of them had expected—and the most vulnerable.

  Tweek pointed to several sections of glowing grid. “At least the web seems stabilized. Portals shouldn’t be opening and closing all over the place anymore.”

  “But look at the center,” Tasha pointed out.

  In the center of the web, deep green and black throbbed like a dark heart.

  “What is that?” Lorren asked worriedly.

  “I’m still processing data,” Tasha replied, “but something is happening inside Avalon.”

  “What?” Adriane pressed.

  The goblin girl ran a finger over the screen, tuning the dials. “The signature is off the charts.” She hesitated, eyes wide with worry. “Look at these levels.”

  “You know what will happen if the sorceress unleashes all of Avalon’s magic on the web?” Lorren asked.

  “Every creature and animal that uses magic will turn dark,” Tweek answered. “Just like the healer.”

  Kara bit her lip.