Knights of Light (The Conjurors Series Book 2)

by Kristen Pham

  Hoel was thrown against a wall, and Valerie leaped through the air and tackled his invisible attacker. They tumbled down the stairs, past Sanguina, whose back was against a wall as her blade flashed.

  Valerie landed on top of the man, and she was about to deliver a stunning blow when he groaned. “Please stop! It’s me, Blake.”

  Her mind spun. She remembered him—he had followed her through the Where-o-Well to Elsinore and begged to be released.

  “It was a mistake to have let you go,” Valerie said grimly, and raised her hand again.

  “I didn’t know it was you and your friends. I swear! I’ll help you.”

  She didn’t know what to think, but couldn’t take the risk of trusting him now, with so much at stake. “If that’s true, make your way to Arden when all this is over and we’ll try to help you.”

  Then Valerie head-butted him, and Blake spoke no more.

  The rest of the team was racing down the stairs. Olwain had Hoel slung over his shoulder, and Lyonesse and Sanguina were steps behind him.

  “Where’s Peach?” Valerie asked, and was met with blank stares.

  She saw a flash of blonde hair and ran back up the stairs, tripping on an unconscious invisible attacker on the way. Peach was gripping her weapon, a jeweled knife, with a trembling hand, her eyes wild.

  “It’s okay,” Valerie said softly.

  “No it isn’t. One of them attacked me, and I lashed out, and I think I killed him. I didn’t mean to.”

  There was blood on Peach’s blade. “His blood isn’t on your hands,” she said. It was an appalling fact that they were all fighting for their lives, and some would die. From now on, blood would be on her hands. The thought made her sick. She couldn’t think about that now, or she would crumble.

  Instead Valerie grabbed Peach’s hand, and they went down to the dungeon. The Knights were chopping at the locks on the cells, but they wouldn’t give.

  “Try Pathos,” Sanguina said. “The locks are spelled, and brute force will do nothing to break them.”

  Valerie drew her blade and sliced cleanly through the first lock, which offered little resistance. She briefly stared at her blade. She was only beginning to understand its power.

  “I’m Valerie, and with me are Knights. We’re all here to help you escape.” she shouted to the prisoners in the dungeon, and her voice echoed off the stone walls.

  “Are you another dream?” someone called.

  “No,” Valerie said. “Whatever has happened to you, it’s almost over now.”

  She quickly broke the locks of all of the cells, of which there were more than twenty. She glanced in each one quickly to see that the inhabitant wasn’t Darling or Oberon, and moved on, telling each person to follow the Knights to safety. She noticed that there were several prisoners who were People of the Woods, and she hoped that all of Elden’s people who had been kidnapped were now free.

  Finally, in the corner cell, she saw a shivering little creature. She didn’t recognize Darling at first because all of his beautiful, golden hair had been shorn off.

  “No,” Valerie murmured, and in a flash, he was in her warm arms. He whimpered and snuggled close to her. There was a little peach fuzz growing back, but she doubted that he had any of his powers. They had hoped he might be able to heal anyone who was hurt on the mission, but he was in no shape to do anything of the sort.

  Valerie tucked him inside her shirt, and he clung to her and burrowed close.

  “You’re safe now. We’re going to get you out of here and no one will ever hurt you again.” She swallowed a lump in her throat. It was strange to be saying the words to Darling that she had always yearned to hear herself when she was a child.

  His little body was warming from its contact with hers. She made her way back to the stairwell, checking each cell to make sure no prisoners had been left behind. But everyone was leaving, the stronger helping the weak along.

  There wasn’t a trace of Oberon in the dungeons, and when she asked the other prisoners if they had seen him, she only received blank stares. That left only two possibilities. One was that he had miraculously escaped. The other she refused to contemplate in the middle of a battle.

  Valerie quickly passed everyone so that she would reach the top of the stairs first, her heart thrumming fast in her chest in terror at what she would find. A face popped in front of her, and she bit back a scream. It was Alex, one of Gideon’s Knights.

  “It’s safe. We took down nine of the boys and the rest fled. Zunya ran with them, deeper into the castle.”

  “Should we follow?” Gawain said, and his eyes glittered eagerly in a way Valerie didn’t entirely like.

  “No. This is a search and rescue mission. There aren’t enough of us to take on everyone who’s guarding this castle. Where’s Gideon?” Valerie asked.

  “Here,” Gideon said, his voice weak. He was cradling Galahad in his arms. “He’s gone. Past saving,” he added, obviously for her benefit. Even a vivicus couldn’t bring back the dead.

  Before Valerie could choke it back, a sound of pain escaped her. But everyone was looking at her. More would die if she didn’t hold herself together, she knew. The guilt could eat her alive later.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Valerie said.

  Alex and Gawain sighed with relief. Gideon held out his arms for Darling, and reluctantly Valerie released him. According to her own plan, she would be the first one to emerge from the castle, and Darling had to be protected in case they encountered any stray Fractus guarding the castle from the outside.

  Sanguina went over to the crank that let down the drawbridge. Because of the magic Reaper had woven into the castle, she was the only one who could open it, and probably for the last time. After today, it would likely be re-spelled to not respond to her touch.

  Despite the horror of one enemy and one friend dead on the mission, not to mention a missing Oberon, a guilty relief that it was almost over made Valerie suck in a deep breath of air. That was, until the drawbridge crashed down and revealed over a hundred Fractus in black robes—the ones who could control electricity—waiting for them on the outside.

  “Draw the bridge back up!” Valerie yelled, but it was too late.

  Lightning crackled from the Fractus’s hands and rushed toward Valerie and her army in a blaze of light. Acting on pure instinct, she drew Pathos and held it high in the air, hoping it would divert the path of the electricity.

  The lightning hit her sword, sending her staggering backward. Pathos glowed blue, and a wave of heat shot through her palm into her body. It passed through her heart and she fell to her knees.

  “Listen to me,” Henry’s voice was back, calm in her brain. “You have to use your vivicus power to save yourself.”

  Part of her wanted to ignore him. She hadn’t been able to save Zaki or Jet or Galahad—did she really have the right to use her power on herself? But her magic seemed to be following Henry’s order without her consent. It rushed through her in a torrent, catching her up in it. She let herself be drawn away by its current, and it would have carried her away if Henry’s mind hadn’t forced her magic to subside.

  She sagged, and Sanguina caught her before she hit the ground. Valerie forced her eyes to remain open. She saw the Knights, and even some of the stronger prisoners, fighting the Fractus.

  “We must press our advantage,” Sanguina said. “It will take them time to recharge and release the lightning again, but one more burst of electricity will kill us all.”

  Valerie nodded, and reached for her magic for strength. It was completely gone, burned out from saving her life. So she drew on something else, a strength she had before she even knew about her power.

  With a battle cry that she didn’t know she was capable of making, she rushed into the fight. The prisoners only had the weapons they had taken from the boys who had fallen in the threshold of the Black Castle, but they fought with a fierce hatred that seemed to give them additional strength.

  Many of the Fractus seem
ed confused, walking around in circles or voluntarily throwing their weapons to the ground. This must be the effect of Elle, Will, and Henry. Her plan had been for them to use their psychic powers to deter anyone who followed them out of the castle—she had no idea that the enemy would be waiting for them. Ceru took advantage of their confusion, and called winding vines to emerge, tying the Fractus’s ankles tightly to the ground.

  Amidst the growing confusion, a majestic centaur came racing through the battlefield, trampling Fractus beneath her hooves. In battle, Summer was nothing like the old, defeated shell Valerie had met a few days ago. Even with her handicap, she had an innate skill for battle, stepping carefully so that she caused maximum damage.

  Valerie saw that Kanti and Cyrus had also joined the battle, each pairing up with a Knight. They were only supposed to join the fight in a worst-case scenario, but they must have decided this was it.

  Cyrus was paired with Alex, and they were an effective combination. Cyrus blocked blows from the enemy and blinded them with his shield of light and then Alex knocked them unconscious.

  Kanti and Hoel fought back to back. She had a staff that she had been practicing with, but she used it more as a diversionary tactic than a weapon, shooting flowers and rainbows while Hoel took out their distracted attackers quickly and effectively.

  Valerie was thankful to see that Gideon gave Darling to Peach, who slipped through the fray toward the place where Henry and the Empaths were hiding. Peach was in no condition to fight, and her voice probably wouldn’t be heard over the sounds of battle. Relieved of his burden, Gideon was immediately set upon by two Fractus, but Valerie could see that even their combined effort would be no match for her mentor.

  Chrome, powered by his rage and grief, leaped on his enemies and tore at their flesh with a ferocity that was terrifying to behold.

  As for herself, Valerie fought next to the last person she ever expected to have her back—Sanguina. Together, they deflected blows from the robed Fractus, who wielded metal staffs with pikes on the ends.

  Valerie was running on pure adrenaline, and had the strangest sense of floating above the battle, watching it, as she fought. She saw herself duck beneath a gleaming staff which crackled with electricity. Though the attackers might not be able to cast lightning again yet, their weapons were dangerous.

  Luckily, Pathos didn’t conduct the minor current, and Valerie was able to chop through the Fractus’s weapon. Her attacker cast aside the useless staff with a grunt and leaped at her with his bare hands, directly at her sword. She was startled and dropped Pathos just in time. Another instant, and he would have killed himself on her blade, and she would have another death on her hands.

  “Cut me down!” her attacker yelled, holding his arms wide and leaving his heart exposed. She didn’t understand. Why would he want to die? “Kill or be killed, that’s what Reaper’s orders are. It’s better to kill me now than to leave me with him after a failure.”

  Valerie shook her head, uncomprehending, and missed the crackle of electricity that would have warned her that a blow was coming from another source. Sanguina deflected the staff inches from her head. But saving Valerie cost her—the Fractus quickly regrouped and stabbed her in the side. Sanguina crumpled to the ground.

  Valerie tried to lift her, but her adrenaline had run out.

  “Sorry, Henry,” Valerie said, touching her brother’s mind as another Fractus raised his pike and prepared to cut her down.

  A fierce, protective wave of emotion passed through Henry. Valerie almost lost her connection with his mind as a blast of magic passed through him like a tornado. It reminded her of when she was using her power as a vivicus—as if he would be carried away by it, never to return.

  All around her, the Fractus dropped to their knees and then completely collapsed, some of them onto their blades. She watched in horror. Surely this wasn’t what Henry had intended. The power continued to course through him, threatening to sweep him away. She had to help Henry stem the tide, just as he had helped her.

  She concentrated, imagining a funnel with his magic pouring through it. She forced the funnel to become more and more narrow, slowing the flow of his magic. At first, it was like trying to tame a hurricane, but gradually he pushed back against his power with her, and they forced it to subside.

  Only then did Valerie realize that she was curled in a ball next to Sanguina, unable to move or even open her eyes. Vaguely, she knew that someone was lifting her, grunting, and carrying her away before she passed out.

  Chapter 40

  A gritty, metallic taste filled Valerie’s mouth when she awoke. Her eyes felt as if they were stuck together. She reached up to rub them, but the bones in her hand had apparently turned to lead.

  “Please tell me you remember my heroics as I carried your unconscious body across the battlefield,” Cyrus’s voice greeted her.

  “Cy…is it over?” she asked, trying to focus on his blurry face.

  “Yeah, it’s over,” he said, his voice turning soft and serious. “You’re safe now.”

  He came into focus, and she saw that he was covered in dust and grime. They were in a large, tan tent that she had never seen before.

  “Have you been with me the whole time?” she asked.

  “Of course. Henry’s here, too, but he’s mostly been out cold, like you,” Cyrus replied.

  The image of the Fractus collapsing, some dying, flashed through Valerie’s mind, making her shudder at the horror of it. She tried to push herself up, but she didn’t have the strength. Cyrus put his arm under her shoulder and helped her shift position.

  “Is he okay? How long have I been unconscious?” she asked, trying to focus her vision.

  “Two days,” Cyrus said, and now that she was really awake, she could hear the bone-deep fatigue in his voice. “You were starting to scare us.”

  “I’m fine. My magic is completely drained, though,” Valerie said, recognizing the familiar emptiness that she’d noticed after saving Azra’s life with her vivicus power.

  “It’ll come back. It always does,” Cyrus assured her.

  “And how’s Henry?” she asked.

  “He woke up a few hours after the battle. He’s still weak and sleeping a lot, but he’s going to be fine. He says his magic is already returning.”

  Valerie let out a breath of relief that Henry was healing. Had Darling helped him? The little creature was nowhere to be seen.

  “Is Darling okay?” she asked.

  Cyrus shrugged. “He took off shortly after he was brought to camp. We figure he must have some of his magic back or he wouldn’t be able to do that. I guess he wanted to be alone.”

  “I wish he’d let us take care of him for a change,” Valerie said softly.

  “I guess he’d rather be taking care of others than be taken care of—reminds me of you.”

  Cyrus’s words were sweet, but they were also a reminder of what she could eventually become if she used her vivicus power often enough. This time, she’d saved her own life with her power. And just like when she saved Azra and Sanguina, she didn’t regret it.

  That must be how Darling had lived so long—using his vivicus power on himself whenever he became sick. She shivered. The thought of living forever—especially without her mind intact—made her a little sick.

  She shook her head to push away the thought. Now that her vision had cleared, she could see Henry was passed out and Kanti was asleep on the foot of his bed.

  “I can’t believe how lucky we are to have you guys,” Valerie said, reaching for Cyrus’s hand.

  Cyrus smiled and laced his fingers with hers. “Sleeping Beauty over there and I feel the same way.”

  “I heard that,” Kanti grunted without opening her eyes. “You’ll pay for it later.”

  Valerie’s muscles relaxed, and she smiled. It was good to be loved.

  The next day, Valerie and Henry were ready to face the world. When they woke up, they were alone.

  “Are you okay?” she asked
her brother.

  “I should be asking you that,” Henry said, biting on his already ragged thumbnail.

  “I mean because of what happened with the Fractus. It wasn’t your fault, you know. You couldn’t have known they’d fall on their weapons like that.”

  He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes more tired than she’d ever seen them. “I know. But I can’t help feeling guilty, even if they are the bad guys. I was so amped up because once you went inside the castle, I couldn’t sense your mind. I was so scared you’d been killed. And then you almost died from the lightning. By the time you collapsed, all this energy had built up inside of me and it exploded out.”

  “I know how hard it is to control that much magic,” Valerie said.

  “Yeah, but when it happens to you, you save a life. You don’t take one,” Henry said, his voice heavy.

  “You were trying save lives, too—we might have died if you hadn’t disabled those Fractus.”

  “What scares me is that I didn’t care if they lived or died. I only cared about saving everyone I loved.”

  Valerie considered her brother’s words and took a deep, shuddering breath before she replied. “I think we have to face the fact that, whether we like it or not, people want us to lead. And there will be times when we have to make terrible choices. We can’t afford to let every mistake, every death, eat away at us. We have to try to save lives as much as we can and grieve for those we’ve lost, but always keep moving forward to make the Globe—and Earth—better.”

  Henry stared at her, his jaw loose with surprise.

  “What?” Valerie asked, hugging her arms around her body self-consciously.