by Krista Rose
“A day?” Lanya gaped at me. “Tanner, you’ve all been gone over two weeks!”
“What? No.” I shook my head at her. “No, that’s impossible. We were just…” My words trailed off at the look on her face. “Two weeks?”
“They- they thought I had something to do with it. With your disappearance. There was a trial.”
“Trial?”
“Tanner.” Lyrel’s voice was stern as she interrupted. “Do you know what this is?”
“A crazed book that drags you places when you shout at it?”
“It’s the Book of Unmaking.” She looked unamused. “It allows one to travel through the Abyss without the use of World Gates.”
“Aillel didn’t know its name.” I winced as I pushed myself to my feet. “But she said pretty much the same thing while we were in the Temple.”
Lyrel sat on the bench beside Lanya, her eyes intense upon my face. She still held her dagger, as well as the book. “Tell us everything.”
I did, starting with our plans to break into the library on the night of Lanya’s party. I recounted our arrival in the Temple, the statue of Phenos that had told us where we were, and our search for the Pool of the Damned. I showed them the jar containing Felice’s soul, and told them of the horrifying fal’en that had stalked me as I had struggled to escape the icy water.
At last, my words ran dry.
Lyrel relaxed and nodded. “He’s telling the truth.”
“How can you be so sure?” I asked before I thought better of the question.
“My dagger is spelled to glow red if it hears a lie,” she explained, gesturing with it. She resheathed it at her hip.
“Convenient,” I managed, and gulped.
“But- but if this is true, then my brother is trapped in this Abyss with no way to escape.” Lanya’s eyes were wide and frightened. “He may never come back again. He could end up anywhere, at any time, and I would never know-”
“I did not say it was good, mor’in,” Lyrel interrupted mildly, “only that he did not lie about it.”
“What do we do?” She bit her lip. “The Cedrani will be furious that Aillel is trapped in the Abyss. They’ll look for someone to blame.”
I sank heavily back onto the grass. “It’s my fault. I should have left the Temple when they asked me to. I risked everything for-” I choked off, staring down at the jar in my hand. It seemed so small to have cost so much.
Lyrel shook her head. “That is not the way of the Cedrani. We shall take you to Prince Sotiris, and hear his judgment. None of you could have known the dangers of using the Book. It is unlikely that he will punish you for what is not your fault.”
Lanya started to stand, then hesitated. “Aleydis said-”
“Aleydis will understand.” The other woman brushed aside her concerns with a wave of her fingers. “He did not know that Tanner would arrive in such a manner.”
“Do you think-” Lanya began, then froze, her face turning white as death as her knees buckled. I leapt forward to catch her before she could fall.
“What? What is it?” Lyrel demanded as Lanya clung to my tunic. “What is wrong?”
“Reyce,” she whispered. Her eyes were nearly black with sudden fear. “Reyce is in danger.”
LANYA
Cedralysone
We raced back to the city, my heart pounding in my chest as I tried to determine the source of my brother’s fear. His thoughts were still confused and fuzzy, and it made my head ache horribly trying to interpret them.
Lyrel found another Lysone as soon as we entered, commanding her to sweep the city for Reyce, starting with the upper floors. But the city was immense and my brother’s fear immediate, and I could not stand by and wait for them to find him too late. We headed into the lower hallways. Tanner and Lyrel followed close behind me as I located a slightly less irritatable Kylee in my mind.
Reyce is in danger, I told her flatly.
I felt it, too, she answered. Where are you? Have you found him?
No. I opened the first door we came to, looking in briefly before returning to the hall. We’re searching the halls on the first floor.
Where’s Vanderys?
I don’t know.
I’ll go find him.
It’s a waste of precious time. I bit my lip, my anxiety and Reyce’s nagging fear pressed against my chest. We have to find him now.
Lanya-
Trust me. Something is very wrong. I tried to sense his thoughts again, but only had a fuzzy impression of violet. Where could he be?
Lyrel stiffened in front of me, her eyes widening at a thought.
Tanner grabbed her arm. “What? What is it?”
“Aleydis,” she whispered, pulling her arm from his grasp to look at me. “He- he said-”
“I can fix everything,” I finished, and the blood drained from my head. My ears rang. “He- he wouldn’t-”
“Wouldn’t what?” Tanner demanded, but Lyrel and I were already running back down the hall, headed for the stairs.
Kylee! My heart was hammering against my chest. Kylee, the Aurelion!
The what?
The bottom of the stairs, in the cellar! Hurry!
I tried to keep my mind blank of the nameless fears that threatened to paralyze me as we descended toward the Aurelion. The stairs were as slick as I remembered, though ominously darker; someone had doused the torches.
“Where’s Brannyn when you need him?” Tanner muttered.
My jaw was clenched too tightly to answer him. I’m imagining things, I told myself, trying to convince my heart that the dread I felt was unfounded. Aleydis wouldn’t.
But when we rounded the corner into the Aurelion’s chamber, the violet light illuminated everything- and my heart stopped.
TANNER
Aleydis didn’t notice our arrival, as he was too busy restraining Reyce, who struggled desperately to escape him. The boy’s hands had been tied behind his back, the terrified “gug-gug-gug” noise he made the only sound in the otherwise silent room. The Aurelion pulsed beside them, its violet light sickly-looking as it danced over their faces.
“My lord!” Lyrel’s voice was shrill, ringing against the damp walls. “My lord, what are you doing?”
“Saving our people,” he replied without looking up. He grabbed Reyce’s shoulders and pushed him roughly against the Aurelion. The boy stared up at him, his eyes wide and pleading.
“You cannot do this.” Lyrel took a step forward, pulling Aleydis’ attention away from Reyce. “It is forbidden.”
“She is the Chosen, Lyrel. ‘The blood of the Chosen will preserve us.’ The same blood runs through his veins as well as hers.”
“This is wrong.” Lyrel shook her head. “You cannot kill an innocent. It will destroy everything we are trying to save!”
“Do you still not understand, Lyrel? The prophecy has said the Cedralet will return. If I do not do this, there will be nothing left of us to fight them. Nothing left for them to destroy.”
Kylee sidled around the edge of the doorway, and her eyes met mine. I read the idea on her face, and nodded. We began to edge around the walls.
“Aleydis.” Lanya’s voice was broken. “You can’t do this.”
“Lanya, please.” He lifted a hand toward her, still using the other to hold Reyce against the star. “Understand, I beg of you. He is the one who infected our star, and, without it, we are worse than dead. We will sicken, we will die. There will be no strength left, no magic. This valley will become a wasteland. Is the life of one boy worth the deaths of hundreds? Is that what you wish for us?”
“No, but there has to be another way.” A tear slid down her cheek, glittering in the violet light. “Please, Aleydis-”
Kylee was almost close enough. I prayed for a few more seconds.
“I am sorry, Lanya.” Aleydis’ voice held sadness, and terrible determination. “Forgive me.” And in one swift movement, he drew the dagger from his belt and drove it into Reyce’s heart.
LANYA
“NO!” The shriek was filled with such anguish, it took a moment to realize it had come from me. I leapt forward, though Kylee reached them first. She wrenched Aleydis away, his hands dripping with our brother’s life-blood, his expression of mixture of despair and triumph.
Reyce gasped, his hand fluttering uselessly as he slid to the floor. The dagger had pierced through to his back, and screeched unbearably as it scraped against the Aurelion. A smear of blood trailed across its surface, matching the dark stain spreading on his shirt.
I caught him before he could collapse completely, lowering him gently as Tanner and Lyrel stood over me. I drew the dagger out and placed my hand over the wound. The Aurelion throbbed, pulsing like a heartbeat as it blinded me with brilliant light.
Aleydis laughed. “See? See that? It has saved us, Lyrel! I have saved us all-”
A sharp snap filled the air as the Aurelion cracked, a jagged line through the smears of blood on its surface. We gasped as the crack spider-webbed, the star pulsing wildly as it glowed brighter and brighter-
“No!” Aleydis shouted. “No, no, no-”
The star shattered into thousands of pieces, spraying across the chamber like shards of glass. The others cried out as I covered Reyce, shielding him from the blast with my body.
His eyes were going dim as I sat up, violet shards raining from my hair and clothing onto the floor around us. I could feel death stealing him from me as his blood leaked between my fingers.
No, I thought, silently echoing Aleydis as I poured my healing into him. No, no, no-
My chest grew warm, then burning. I choked as sharp, agonizing pain flooded me. I toppled over, my hands clutching at the gaping wound above my heart.
Reyce sat up, his eyes wide. Blood smeared his unmarked chest. He shouted something- perhaps my name- as he rolled me over onto my back.
Aleydis was crouching over me, his face filled with fear and heartbreak. His mouth moved as he spoke, but I could not understand him, his words flowing over me like the music of a foreign language. Out of the corner of my eye I saw more Cedrani appear, only to stand frozen in the doorway.
I was dying, and, for some reason, that knowledge made me angry. It was unfair that I was going to die because he had decided to kill my brother. The prophecy had not said death- why then was such a sacrifice necessary?
Someone began shouting as I struggled to hold onto Aleydis’ wrists with my blood-soaked hands. The pain was intense, turning my vision to grey haze and smoke. I was choking on my own blood and fear.
I do not want to die.
The pain lessened. I took a deep, shaking breath as my vision cleared. Aleydis was staring at me, his mouth open. I could feel the wound in my chest healing as I smiled up at him. “Aleydis-”
He coughed, and looked down at his chest. Blood spread across it in an intricate line, even as the hole in my own chest closed. I reached for it as he glanced back up, his eyes wide and afraid before they rolled back in his head. His body jerked as a last breath shuddered out of him, and then he collapsed on top of me, dead.
KYLEE
Cedralysone
Tanner dragged Lanya from beneath the body. Her chest and face were black with blood, her skin deathly white against it. The glowing shards of the shattered star were scattered around her like forsaken jewels.
There was a broken cry from the doorway: Prince Sotiris had arrived. He pushed through the gathered Cedrani, his boots crunching on broken shards until he reached where his son had fallen. He collapsed to his knees, his hands shaking as he rolled Aleydis over. His son’s eyes stared up at him, empty in death.
Lanya was shaking, and I tried to reach her, hoping to comfort some of the enormous pain roiling inside of her. But her wall of grief was too huge for me to overcome, driving me back and keeping me at a distance.
Lyrel was explaining things to Vanderys and the others at the door, whom I guessed to be other Valariels by their armor. I stood to one side with Reyce, forgotten amongst all the grief.
Aleydis was dead.
But Tanner is here, a random, reasonable thought intruded. So where is Alyxen?
“Tehk et la?” an angry voice demanded from behind the gathered Cedrani. “Tehk et Vi e’var?”
“Lord Rathis.” Lyrel lifted a hand as the tall Cedrani pushed through the others. “My lord, please-”
He cut her off with a sharp wave of his hand, his eyes dangerous as he stared at the blood covering our clothes. His scowl deepened as he looked at the shards of star scattered haphazardly across the floor. Then he saw the Prince, still kneeling over the body of his son, and his face turned deathly white. “Dione, mor.” He took a step forward, his hands outstretched, then clenched them into fists as he clenched them into fists. “Who is responsible for this?”
Lyrel stepped forward again. “My lord, please, listen-”
“Who is responsible?”
“ALEYDIS!”
Lord Rathis froze, and the color that had been building in his cheeks drained out once more.
“Aleydis tried to sacrifice Reyce,” she continued more quietly, “to save the Aurelion. To save Cedralysone.”
“No.”
“Yes,” I argued, stepping forward. “Aleydis stabbed Reyce. I pulled him off my brother so Lanya could heal him. But she- I didn’t know-” My words faltered beneath the hostile stares and my sister’s overwhelming grief.
“Didn’t know? Didn’t know?” Rathis looked as if he might explode. “How is it that Lord Aleydis is dead, and your brother and sister stand there covered in his blood?”
“We’re covered in our own blood,” Reyce pronounced carefully, as if testing his voice. “Lanya healed us. She took the wound Aleydis gave me, and then gave it back to him.”
“He speaks?” Rathis glared. “Now, of all times? He is a spy, as I have said from the beginning! He came here to destroy us! We should hae executed him when he first tried to destroy the Aurelion-”
“I am not a spy!” he argued, offended.
“My lord, he is a child.” Lyrel’s voice was patient and reasonable. “And I watched with my own eyes as Lady Lanya healed him of a fatal injury to the heart. She could easily have healed his mind, as well.”
“I didn’t mean to,” Lanya whispered, the devastation in her words silencing us. Her eyes were glassy and haunted, her skin pale with shock. “I was afraid. I did not want to die. I did not mean to hurt him. I would never have hurt him.”
Even Rathis could not argue against her pain, and looked away. “Still. Someone must be punished for this.”
“Punished?” Prince Sotiris stared up at him, his eyes as broken and devastated as Lanya’s. “My son is dead, Rathis. No punishment will bring him back.”
“But- Your Highness-”
Sotiris ignore him, and turned his gaze on Lanya. He took a great, shaking breath. “Aleydis was reckless, but he loved his people above all else. He- he would have done this unforgiveable act if it meant saving our people.”
“Yes,” Lanya whispered. A single tear slipped down her cheek, sparkling in the light.
He sighed heavily. “It is against our law for any to harm another within Cedralysone, even unintentionally. For this, Lanya Rose, I must exile you, as I would have exiled my own son for the murder of your brother.”
“My Prince.” Lyrel stepped forward. “You cannot-”
“You were to prevent this tragedy,” he interrupted, his eyes hardening as he looked up at her. “It was your task as Lysone. You have failed. For this, you are exiled as well.”
Her face turned deathly pale, and she sagged against the wall, speechless.
“Now, leave me, all of you.” He swallowed, and looked back down at Aleydis’ body. “I wish to grieve my son.”
REYCE
I was overwhelmed by all that had happened. The sound of voices, which had frustrated me for months, now deafened me. Names I did not know now belonged to faces I had memorized, but they came too rapidly for me to remember. My head ached.
<
br /> “We have to pack, Reyce.” Tanner’s voice was gentle. He held Lanya in his arms, carrying her as he would a child. “We have to go.”
“Where’s Kryssa?” The question had bothered me for weeks, and it was the first one to emerge as we made our way through the clustered Cedrani toward the stairs. Kylee trailed behind us. “And Brannyn? And Alyxen? What’s happening?”
“Brannyn is in Fallor,” he began quietly as we made our way back up the stone stairs Aleydis had so recently dragged me down. “Kryssa was abducted by slavers before we came to Cedralysone. And Alyxen-” His voice faltered. “Alyxen is trapped.”
“Trapped?” Kylee repeated, glancing back at him with a frown. “Trapped where?”
“We will talk about it later.” The vision above Tanner’s head wavered: a ghostly light floating in a jar, pulsing like a heartbeat. “Right now, we need to get your sister out of here.”
I glanced at Lanya’s face, pale beneath the blood, and agreed. We made our way in silence up the rest of the stairs, heading for the rooms that were no longer our own.
In truth, I was glad for the quiet, for the time to gather my thoughts. The visions of blood above my sister’s head and the death that had hung over the Prince’s had dissolved into reality, vanishing as they had at last come to pass. I knew what it meant now, understood that what I had seen before had been a warning. I could have prevented it, had I only understood what it had meant.
I glanced again at Lanya’s face. She could have told me, I thought, resentment welling up inside of me. She could have taught me how to use this ‘gift’. I could have helped them. I could have stopped it.
For the first time in my life, I was angry with the Lady. It was an ugly feeling, taking the one thing that had always been beautiful and marring it. Was nothing sacred, then? Was nothing safe from the darkness that haunted us?
It was a depressing thought, and one I was not ready to handle, not when there was so much else to do. We had left many places in a hurry; there would be time after to consider the possible treachery of my Lady.
