Untethered

by KayLynn Flanders

  No. He didn’t have enough magic. Not after healing me. Not after everything. It would kill him.

  “Do not waste your magic on him,” Koranth said from across the camp. “If you touch him, you won’t be able to wake your sister.” His black sword was at Jenna’s neck. “And if you so much as touch that sword or knife, she dies.”

  Ren stopped, hands hovering over his friend as the last of his blood seeped out. His shoulders rounded. His eyes shut and he released a deep, long breath. “Don’t hurt her,” he whispered in a broken voice.

  Water lapped at the shore. Someone in camp shuffled their feet. I thought my heart had maybe stopped. I would give anything to take back that cursed gasp. It was only cold water in my shoe. Such a small thing shouldn’t carry such a price.

  Koranth sheathed his sword and brushed off his hands like he’d been hard at work all morning. “Well, since we’re all awake, we might as well get climbing.”

  We were so close to the Black Library. Too close. Not enough time, not with Ren broken, Jenna poisoned, Enzo still healing.

  The crew started gathering their packs and supplies. Ren pressed his hands into the ground to force himself to stand. I didn’t reach to help him. He wouldn’t want my help. It was my fault he’d turned away. My fault he hadn’t seen what Cris intended.

  No one muttered about skipping breakfast. Not when Cris lay still next to the bank and Ren stared at the cliffs, unmoving, in the exact spot he’d tackled Cris. He lowered himself to his knees, using one hand, then the other, as though he were an old man with a bent and broken back. He wiped his hands in the grass. There was still blood on them when he stood.

  When they were ready to start searching for a path up the cliffs, Koranth went to Cris and pulled the blade free from his chest and cleaned it. “It’s a Hálendian blade. Worth too much to leave here.” He tossed it to one of the crew, who reluctantly caught it. Then he dug the toe of his boot under Cris, and rolled him over once, twice, until the water carried him away.

  I swallowed and turned my eyes away. Enzo’s arm came around me; Mari’s hand slipped into mine. But Ren stood apart from us. Just a step, but still apart.

  Ren

  I’d killed him.

  “Keep up,” the man behind me said, kicking my leg.

  I sidestepped away from him and shook my foot. The Medallion settled lower in my boot, by my ankle. When Cris and I had fought, I’d pulled at the chain. I’d found it lying there in the grass after…after…

  Glaciers.

  Long grass brushed against my knees as we trudged along the base of the cliffs. If the mages wanted to get up so badly, they could find the passage without my help. Kais had been a land mage—he could have formed a stairway up, then erased its presence just as easily.

  “What if there is no way up?” Mari grumbled from her spot in line. They’d left my hands untied. Perhaps they were optimistic to find a way up the cliffs. Or maybe they could see how useless I was in my current state. Either way, crewmen separated all of us. Jenna was still slumped over a crewman’s shoulder at the back of the line. Enzo barely kept up, limping.

  Koranth heard Mari’s question from his place at the front. “Then your sister dies.”

  Chiara didn’t react to the bait. She’d been the only thing stopping me when my rage at Cris had taken over. Cris’s life force had been bright and powerful; I’d wanted it for myself, on some deep level. But Chiara had been there, had stopped me.

  If I’d been wearing the Medallion, it would have gone the coldest it’d ever been.

  My magic had never felt like that before. Dark. Heady. I’d almost done to Cris what Redalia had done to my father.

  And while there had been a time I’d wanted to kill Cris, I realized how wrong I’d been. I wanted him to be held accountable for his actions, but not like this.

  Bile rose in my throat as the vision of Cris lying half in the water, half out hit me again. The horror in Chiara’s eyes, the weight on my sword.

  His death didn’t fix anything. My father was still dead. Our friendship was still destroyed. I was still alone. And I’d almost become like Redalia.

  Cris hadn’t been wearing a mask as my friend. He’d worn the mask when he turned away from me.

  I stumbled to the nearest bush and retched behind it.

  “Stay in line,” the gruff voice behind me commanded.

  I wiped my face on the hem of my shirt and stumbled back. We’d been walking for at least two hours, and the sun had just barely risen.

  But a sliver of an opportunity had arisen with the artifact scraping against my calf.

  Chiara had studied the map, and I had the two keys. If I could keep the mages from realizing that, we could sneak away tonight after everyone slept—find the Black Library first. Destroy it before they realized what we’d done.

  “Here!” Brownlok called from ahead. “I’ve found a stairway!”

  We all trudged forward, and sure enough, around a slight bend in the cliff wall, long, narrow stones marked a path upward, one that switched back and forth and looked like it had been preserved perfectly despite the ages it had been there.

  How close was the Mages’ Library to the top of the cliff? How much time did we have?

  Koranth’s eyes lit from within, a black fire behind them. Redalia grinned her most terrifying grin, and Brownlok had found a place next to Mari once again.

  Glaciers, I needed to find a way to keep him away from her, needed to warn the others of his plan.

  “All right,” Koranth said, turning his glare on me. “Wake your sister.”

  The crewman who had been carrying Jenna over his shoulder dumped her on the ground next to me.

  Before anyone could react, Brownlok whispered something in Mari’s ear, then put a knife at her throat. “Don’t try anything heroic,” he said to me. “Just wake her.”

  Enzo lunged at Brownlok despite Chiara trying to hold him back. Redalia drew her golden dagger and stepped between them.

  Koranth’s chin lifted. “Well? What are you waiting for?”

  I went to where the crewman had dumped Jenna and gently rolled her onto her back. A bruise was growing on her forehead, probably from being carted around like a sack of grain. But other than that, she appeared whole, if thin.

  “Have you been giving her food and water?” I asked, brushing her hair out of her face. “Because she won’t be able to climb if she’s weakened from hunger.”

  Koranth gestured to one of the crewmen carrying a huge pack, and he tossed me a bag with dried fruit, meat, and a waterskin. “Then it’s your responsibility to make sure she can make it.”

  Redalia’s eyes flashed, and she folded her arms tight. “We shouldn’t waste food on someone who will die soon anyway,” she muttered, but loud enough that everyone heard. Chiara’s hand wrapped through Enzo’s arm, keeping him from lunging at Redalia.

  Chiara hadn’t looked at me since I’d killed Cris.

  I shook away the thought. Heal Jenna. I slipped one hand into hers, then rested my other palm against her cheek. Everyone watched. Would they be able to tell I’d lost awareness? Would I even have enough energy within me to heal her? Or would she wake and I…not?

  My eyes fell closed and I released the magic within me. Sparks prickled against my palms. A pocket of cold, of darkness, lay in her middle, and while most everything else was whole and healthy, the poison kept sucking and sucking at my magic.

  She gasped and startled awake, breaking the connection between us.

  “Ren?” she asked. The world tilted under me, and she steadied me. She took in the cliffs rising above us, the cold wind whistling in the canyon. “Where are we?”

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” I whispered, pressing a hand to my head to stop the spinning.

  “Welcome back, Princess,” Koranth sneered. Jenna tensed. I squeezed her arm.
Redalia’s smile had faded and Brownlok still held Mari apart from the others.

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” I whispered again, nodding toward Mari and Brownlok. Her eyes found Enzo and stayed there. Everything in her gaze softened, and if she’d been able to walk, she probably would have jumped up and run to him. “Drink,” I told her. “Then food. Then we climb.”

  She gulped down water, then pushed the waterskin away with a groan. “Climb?”

  I nodded up the cliffs, my stomach sour and hands clammy. “We get to see the Black Library. Do you think the treasure hunters back home will be impressed?”

  She ignored me, her eyes still on her betrothed. She took my arm and I helped her stand and hobble over to the others. Enzo wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck.

  “Your men first, Captain,” Koranth growled. The captain didn’t look happy about it, but he and his men complied, taking careful steps on the smooth stones. “Now you four. We’ll be keeping Mari with us.”

  Brownlok tucked Mari to his side, and though her brows were furrowed, she wasn’t scared. She wasn’t, but I was.

  Enzo led the way, with Jenna next, then me, then Chiara. I didn’t like her behind me, where I couldn’t help if something happened, but Jenna needed both Enzo and me. Her legs were shaking by the first switchback.

  “Here, drink more,” I told her, pulling the waterskin up and helping her drink while Enzo steadied her. “Maybe we can get to the library first,” I muttered. “Destroy the artifacts before they get them.”

  “Maybe,” she whispered. But she was too weak to outdistance any of Koranth’s men. And we couldn’t leave her behind.

  “Keep moving!” Koranth barked from below us.

  “You should have gone ahead of us if you didn’t want to wait,” I snapped back. “Or you should have let me wake Jenna sooner.”

  I closed the waterskin and we started moving again. As we rose, the rocks and dirt turned a shade of red I’d never seen before. By the time the sun burned directly overhead, a shout rose from the crewmen ahead of us.

  Enzo had his arm wrapped around Jenna and was supporting most of her weight. My legs burned, and I both wanted to stop climbing and to never reach the top. If we reached the library before nightfall, we’d need another plan.

  My eyes were glued to the next step, my lungs focused on taking the next breath, when the stairs evened out. The land opened before us, a wash of crimson sand blowing over packed dirt. Black rock peeked out from scrubby brush like patches of diseased skin. The entire earth appeared to list to the side, sloping to the left, all the way to the looming red rock mountains on the horizon. They rose in peaks, shadows, and harsh lines like the rock had been thrust out of the ground recently.

  On either side of the stairway, huge red rock formations rose from the ground like statues carved by the wind itself, a strange, twisted mimicry of the twin peaks at Riiga’s border.

  “Whoa,” I whispered. Up here, the wind carried the day’s heat, and the sun beat off the ground in shimmering waves.

  But…there was nothing. No library, black or otherwise. No trail marked. A tiny drop of relief cooled my fear: we had more time.

  Chiara climbed up behind me, and her mouth dropped open at the view. Dark circles marked her eyes, and exhaustion stooped her shoulders.

  Brownlok came next with Mari, guiding her away from us. Chiara and I moved closer to Enzo and Jenna as Redalia and Koranth crested the final stairs.

  The three mages stood in a line, taking in the expanse before us, and some insane voice in my head whispered to push them off the cliff. Redalia blew me a kiss, as if she could read my thoughts and dared me to try.

  Koranth’s maniacal grin melted away. “Where is it?” He pointed a long, bony finger at Chiara. “You said it would be at the top of the cliffs!”

  “No, I showed you how to find the inlet,” she said with a big swallow. “It’s up here somewhere—check the map.”

  He pulled the map out of his bag, almost ripping it in his haste. He, Redalia, and Brownlok studied it, while the captain and his crew drank from their waterskins.

  But the mages didn’t ask Chiara to advise. She bit her bottom lip, brows furrowed. I shook my head and whispered, “Let them try to figure it out on their own first.” Then she’d appear even more useful if—when—she figured it out.

  I sat on the rocks to wait by the red monoliths guarding the stairs, and the others followed. How was it so cursedly hot up here this close to winter?

  The waterskin I still carried didn’t have much left, but I passed it to the others anyway. They each drank, and then Chiara handed it back, her fingers brushing mine. I flinched. How could she stand to touch me? Not when I’d—

  I lifted the opening to my mouth and took one swallow. It wouldn’t be enough. Not for this desert wasteland.

  “I have an idea,” I started quietly. I stretched out my legs and kept watch on our captors. No one paid us any attention. “I have the Medallion and the ring. Chiara, do you remember the map well enough to guide us?”

  She bit her lip and dug the toe of her boot into the dirt. “I think so, but how—”

  “It was in the grass,” I said, cutting her off. Jenna studied me carefully. I cleared my throat. “The mages don’t know I have it, don’t know its worth. Tonight, we can sneak away after everyone is asleep. If we get to the library first—”

  “What if we reach it today?” Jenna asked, resting her elbows on her knees.

  Enzo handed her more food from the almost-empty pouch. “Are we close?”

  Chiara shrugged. “The map didn’t show a clear path from the top of the cliffs to the library. I’m not sure.”

  I ran my hand through my hair to dislodge the dirt and sand. “So we keep to our first plan if an opening arises. Jenna, you can access my magic through the tethers, right?” She nodded, rubbing her hand against her leg. “What if you use my magic to shield yourself, knock Koranth’s sword away, and take Redalia’s blade?”

  Enzo scratched his jaw. “Ren and I can get the crew’s weapons. Chiara and Mari would have to stay close so they couldn’t be used against us.”

  Chiara winced a little, but nodded.

  Jenna scrubbed her hands over her face, like she was trying to wake up fully. “Brownlok has been sticking too close to Mari.”

  I wiped the sweat from my forehead, the sand gritty against my skin. “Mari said something to me earlier, when we were on the ship. Brownlok told her she helped him feel like he wasn’t fading away. I felt the same way when she touched my hand, like she amplified what magic I had left.”

  Chiara frowned. “So Brownlok needs her to keep his magic strong? Mari has magic?”

  “I can see magic,” Enzo said with a shrug.

  “And magic usually runs in families,” Jenna added. “When that shade attacked me in the dungeon, there’s no way I could have made it, not with my wounds. But Mari was there the whole time. Holding my hand, helping me along.”

  Chiara dug the toe of one boot into the dirt and muttered something I couldn’t hear. But the mages would need Chiara to interpret the map soon, so I had to spit it out now. Had to warn them.

  “It’s not just that.” I leaned my elbows on my knees. “When Brownlok first approached Chiara and me, he offered us a trade—he gave me the Turian ring and said he’d trade Mari’s life for one artifact if we helped him find the Black Library.” I swallowed and rubbed my hands together. “But I think he meant literally—that he wanted to use Mari’s life and something in the Black Library to create an artifact for himself, like Redalia’s dagger.”

  Jenna turned a little green. “To create an artifact like that you need—”

  “Blood,” I finished. “A lot of blood.”

  Chiara put her head in her hands. “But Koranth and Redalia don’t know,” she whispered. We leaned closer. �
�Brownlok has kept Mari away from them this whole time. I think Brownlok knows Mari amplifies magic, and the others don’t.”

  The closer we got to the Black Library, the more I had to face the reality that I might have to choose between them all. Choose who to save. Jenna or Chiara? Enzo or Mari?

  A wave of chills skittered down my back despite the heat. “We can’t let Korenth and Redalia figure it out. Can’t let Brownlok hurt Mari.”

  “This way!” Koranth finally yelled, bunching up the map, eyes darting around like maybe if he looked hard enough the Black Library would appear.

  They hadn’t consulted Chiara. She stood and brushed the dirt from her trousers and tried to smile. We’d need to find our chance to escape soon. Before our usefulness expired. Before we escorted the mages to the Black Library. Before I had to choose between them.

  We followed, the crewmen in the rear. The four of us stayed close, Brownlok and Mari walking behind.

  My first steps into the red sand had me stumbling to a halt. My magic trickled down, leeching into the ground.

  This wasn’t regular sand—it was a demon version of the sand in the cave behind the waterfall where we’d found the map.

  Jenna paused, too. Enzo and Mari didn’t seem to notice any change.

  I lifted a shoulder, and Jenna shrugged in response.

  “What is it?” Chiara asked softly.

  I frowned. “It feels like the earth is trying to swallow me. Do you feel it?”

  Her eyebrows pinched together. “It’s hard to walk in the sand and with the tilt, but not bad. Not like before, when—” She shuddered, then studied me, squinting. “Do you feel okay? You look tired.”

  I rubbed my hand along my face, the rough stubble scratching against my palm, grains of sand trickling down. “I’ll be okay,” I said, though I was tired. I hadn’t had time to recover from healing Jenna, and whatever new trick this was made it worse. Moving my legs turned into a chore, like rocks had been tied to my ankles.