He held his hands out and lines of green flowed up from his hands to his shoulders. So he really was connected to the earth as well. Spirit, earth, water and holding a ring that gave him a connection to fire. But I saw what he was going to do and I held my hands out above us, just stopping him.
The ceiling above us groaned and the weight of the mountain pushed down on me from above.
Cactus let out a low whisper. “Shit, he’s going to squash us like bugs.”
Peta trembled. “He is an abomination.”
Sweat dripped down my arms as I held the mountain back. Gravity was on the bastard’s side, though, and that tipped things in his favor. A sharp wind snapped through the cavern, throwing all four of us back against the rubble of the door. My concentration broke for a split second and the rocks began to fall in earnest.
I couldn’t think of anything to do other than to get farther away from the ceiling. “Hang on!” I yelled as I opened the earth below us, dropping us into a slide as I smoothed the ground around us turning it into a slope that allowed us to fall without freefalling. Above, the rocks tumbled, and a few slid down the slope with us. Pushing my power out ahead like a burrowing mole, I was able to keep us out of the worst of it.
Tumbling to a stop, I looked around, or tried to. We were in complete and utter darkness.
“Cactus?”
“I’m here,” he answered.
I tried to stand but ended up whacking my head. “Ash, talk to me.”
A low groan from my left turned me around. I scuttled forward, my hands finding Ash quickly. “Are you injured?”
“No, just banged up,” he said.
The walls around us rumbled and I froze, my hands tangling with Ash’s. Peta let out a meow, as she clung to my shoulder. “Lark, you truly are going to be the death of me aren’t you?”
I reached for my power, reveling in the fact I could hold it tightly even though our situation was rather dire.
Rock and dirt sprayed around us, and I could suddenly see. A white-scaled head curled toward me. Amethyst eyes glowed as he blew a low stream of fire from his nostrils to light our space. Cactus was covered in dirt, as was Ash. Peta looked actually, not too bad.
“Scar, how did you find us?”
“Heartbeats, I can find yours easily as it beats louder than any other. Come on, I can get you out of here,” he said and turned around, tunneling away from us. I scrambled after him. Cactus and Ash hollered at me to stop, to think about what I was doing.
Peta dropped off my shoulder and scooted ahead of me. “Do you really think you can trust him?”
“If he’d wanted to hurt me, he could have let me fall when I was thrown off that damn ledge.” I crawled as fast as I could on hands and knees, and still Scar was leaving me in the dust. The tunnel wasn’t completely dark as Scar blew fire ahead.
The light grew brighter as the tunnel widened, large enough I could stand. I waited for Cactus and Ash to catch up before moving forward.
What opened in front of me was nothing short of breathtaking. The cavern was shaped like a giant bowl with tunnels branching off in a myriad of places, but that wasn’t all that different from what the Salamanders had set up. It was the deep, pool of water in the middle of the bowl surrounded by plant life and small chirping birds I heard even from my position way above.
“This is amazing,” I whispered. Scar poked his head up over the ledge.
“Are you coming? My father wants me to lead you to the tunnel that will take you back into the lizard caves.”
I slipped over the edge, Peta leapt to my shoulder with a grunt, and I shimmied down the wall before Cactus or Ash had time to protest. I looked up to see them both staring down at me. They shared a glance between them. Ash shook his head and Cactus shrugged.
Peta’s tail flicked me in the face. “Pay attention to the wall you are climbing, not the men.”
I focused on where my hands and feet were going, placing them carefully until I felt the wall open up again. Using just my arms I carefully lowered myself the rest of the way and swung into the open hole.
Scar sat on his haunches, waiting for me. Cactus and Ash dropped in a few seconds later. The young firewyrm gave Cactus a sidelong glance. “You can only take your familiar with you. The others have to wait here.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Take her with me where? What are you talking about?”
Scar flicked his head over his shoulder, his tongue darting out and tasting the air. “This tunnel leads to the throne room where the cloaked ones are currently discussing how to wipe out all of us. They have the children deep in the dungeons.”
“Then why doesn’t your father go get them?” I asked, stepping up beside him.
“Because whenever we get close to the cloaked ones we lose our memory of what we do. That is why we’ve been attacking the Salamanders. We didn’t want to, they were making us.” Scar shook his head. “You are the only one who can go in, Spirit Walker. The males must stay here if they are to be safe; they could be forced to hurt you too.”
I translated quickly for the two men, relaying what Scar had said.
“No, we aren’t leaving her.” Cactus shook his head.
Ash nodded to me and said, “Understood.”
Cactus stared at him. “You would leave her to do this on her own?”
“She has to. What if the other Spirit Walker takes control of you, makes you fight her? What is she supposed to do then?” Ash shook his head. “I know all too well how hard it is to fight the compulsion, and the only way to break it is to be touching Lark physically. How do we fight when we can’t let go of one another?”
Ash’s words made total sense. Cactus was still not convinced. “Then how come Peta can go?”
Peta sniffed. “I’m her familiar. I’m protected by Lark’s abilities, Prick.”
“No more arguing, the longer this takes the more chance we have of them escaping,” I said. I didn’t look back, just walked away. There was a grunt and the sound of bodies hitting the ground.
“Lark, don’t do this, they’ll kill you,” Cactus called out. I straightened my back and kept walking.
Peta swayed on my shoulder. “How little faith he has.”
“No, I don’t think it’s a matter of faith.” I followed the shimmering white scales of Scar’s back. “I think it’s a matter of love.”
CHAPTER 24
he tunnel Scar took me through opened outside the main doors of the throne room where the firewyrm etched into them seemed to wink at us. I was flat on my belly, barely able to squeeze through. The two large statues were directly in front of us and we were concealed behind the queen’s flared skirts. Ironic that she’d been hiding the tunnel all along.
“Good luck, Spirit walker,” Scar said as he backed away from me, disappearing back the way we’d come. In the semi darkness, the entrance was invisible, perfectly disguised.
Peta shifted to her snow leopard form and padded ahead of me. Her rounded ears swiveled back and forth as she tipped her head to one side in front of the doors. “There is only one left in the room,” she whispered.
Swallowing whatever trepidation I had, I eased the door open a crack and peered in. The smaller of the two cloaked figures sat on the throne, drumming her fingers on the arm rest.
“I will be queen here and this time no one will stop me,” she snapped into the air and the words echoed around. Sliding from the throne she strode forward, her cloak swirling out behind her as she slapped her hands on her thighs. Everything she did looked familiar, like someone I’d . . .
“Cassava,” I whispered. That was whom she reminded me off. Her inflections of words, the way she walked, and that thigh slapping. All were idiosyncrasies of my stepmother.
She walked away from me, heading to the far side of the room in the opposite direction of the dungeons. I had a choice. I could follow her and see what she was doing, or I could go after the children.
“Peta, get the kids, lead them through the tunnel. Can you do th
at?”
“I can. But then you will go after her alone, won’t you?” Her green eyes crinkled with concern around the edges. “Won’t you?”
I wouldn’t lie to her. “Yes, but I’ve stopped her before, I can do it again. Just hurry. Get those kids out.”
Peta slipped through the door ahead of me and slunk toward the dungeon as I hurried after Cassava. The door to Fiametta’s personal rooms was ajar. I peered through. Cassava was flinging things everywhere, searching . . .for what? Whatever it was Fiametta had hidden. Whatever her ex-lover Coal had been searching for. He must have been working for Cassava and Blackbird.
“Damn you, Fiametta, where did you hide it?” She grabbed the mattress and flipped it off its supports. Taking a swing with one foot, she kicked at a vase to the left of the bed, shattering it. Glass went everywhere, and I saw what she was looking for. Glass pieces settled into the faintest of depressions in the floor. A very subtle handle.
The only problem was, she saw it the same time that I did. I burst into the room as she opened the secret compartment.
“No!” I screamed startling her.
It wasn’t enough though. Her hand dove into the hole and came out with a necklace with a big fat emerald teardrop hanging from it.
“It’s mine!” She tipped her head back and howled the words.
The lines of power ran a deep dark green up her arms as she yanked the earth out from under me. Or tried to. I saw her intention and scrambled backward, all the way into the throne room. She stalked out after me, the emerald hanging around her neck.
“You aren’t strong enough to stop me now, Larkspur. Not when I hold this.” She said, touching the large emerald.
“Doesn’t mean I’m just going to roll over you dumb cow.” I swung my spear out. “Last I checked, you couldn’t fight worth shit.”
Her whole body stiffened. “How do you know who I am?”
“I’m no fool, I would know you if my eyes were closed, bitch.” I circled her, watching, waiting for her to use the depth of power she carried.
The flicker of green at her fingertips and the slight softening of the ground below was the only warning I had. I leapt at her, spear raised and swinging through the air in a perfect arc as the footing below me dropped away.
She squealed like a stuck pig and scrambled backward, flinging her hands at me, the lines of power going wild over her entire body. It was too much, even for her. The earth exploded through the golden floor, rocks and gemstones flying everywhere. One caught me on the back of my hand, numbing my fingers and making me drop my spear. I landed on top of her and rolled us both across the floor.
Physically I knew she couldn’t beat me.
A blast of wind smashed into me, tearing me off her, tearing my fingers away from where I’d gripped her cloak. I was thrown hard and pinned against the far wall. I stared at Blackbird.
His body hummed with power, all five colors swirling. Red, blue, white, green and pink.
“Mother goddess have mercy,” I whispered. He carried all five elements, he was the child Requiem had wanted to produce with his breeding program. “How are you even possible?”
The question slipped out of me, unbidden as my mind tried to make sense of the impossibility of what he was. He shrugged.
“I have no say in who made me. I was born though, I can assure you of that.” He tossed his ruby ring to Cassava. “Here, use this and kill her. I am off to the Eyrie. I expect you to clean this mess up and take control.”
Cassava nodded, shocking me. She was taking orders from him? He bent down and kissed her on the top of her head. “Do not disappoint me.”
“I won’t.”
He walked away, humming to himself as he wove all five elements around his body. Five, even without the use of the ring. As he disappeared, I dropped to the ground.
Cassava crept toward me. “You are finally going to get what you deserve, you stupid half breed. And then I will be queen here.”
“Big words coming from someone who is bowing to an abomination,” I said, keeping my voice even. This was not the time to panic.
She lifted her hands and fire raced from her fingertips to light up the wall around me. The heat was instant, sweat popping out along my bare skin.
Maybe this was the time to panic.
I pulled the earth upward, dousing the flames, but she ignited them as fast as I put them out. Flinging her left hand, the ceiling collapsed on top of me and instantly lit on fire. I pushed the rock off, but the fire crept closer, igniting my hair in places, singeing my clothes.
“This can only end one way, half breed,” she laughed, “and that will be with me dancing on your grave.”
I had only one option left, I had to use Spirit to stop her. I called that power forth as the fire super heated around me, gold melting into puddles on the floor. I put everything I had into directing Spirit toward her. It’s essence wove through me, melding with the beat of my heart, the thrum of my own blood pumping in my veins as I focused on breaking her hold on the two elements.
“Stop!” I yelled at her.
Her feet stumbled to a stop and she went to her knees.
“You will not harm me or anyone else ever again!” I said, and even to myself my voice reverberated. I kept pushing Spirit into her, fear driving me. Waves of Spirit crashed out of me and into her and for a moment I thought she would fall down. Her body went slack, and she dropped to her knees.
She lifted her hands and the fire went out. “No harm, no harm, no harm.”
Spirit danced along my synapses, humming softly, a steady warmth that felt so good. A sigh of relief slipped out of me. It was over without anyone being hurt. If I didn’t count the burns and bruises on my body.
I walked over to her as I released my hold on Spirit.
There was a pull within my own soul, like something took a long drink of me. It was there and gone so fast I wasn’t sure I hadn’t imagined it. I sagged for a split second then stood up straight, forcing my body to obey me no matter how badly it wanted to lay down and rest. I would not look weak in front of Cassava. I strode toward her, my legs like jelly.
“You might as well take the cloak off now. It’s not like you’re hiding from anyone.”
Cassava didn’t move; she stood like a statue. Defiant to the end.
“Take the damn cloak off,” I snapped and still she ignored me. “Fine, do whatever you like. Father will deal with you soon enough.” I didn’t dare take my eyes off her for fear she would suddenly grab at one of the powers open to her.
With that in mind, I darted forward and jerked both away from her. She didn’t protest, barely even flinched as I took both the emerald and the ruby, tucking them under my vest.
No reaction at all. What was going on? Why wasn’t she at least saying something?
The doors to the throne room creaked open and I glanced quickly to see Peta creeping in.
“It’s safe. She’s taken care of,” I said, motioning to Cassava. “Actually, she’s playing some kind of game here. Won’t talk, won’t respond to anything I say.”
Peta sniffed the air. “I still can’t smell her. Can you take that cloak off?”
I reached out and grabbed the cloak . . . or tried to. It dissolved as my hand passed through it, as if it never were. The cloak vanished and what I was seeing couldn’t have stunned me more.
Shock hit me like a lightning bolt and I stumbled backward. “No, no it can’t be.”
In front of me stood not Cassava but my younger sister, Keeda. Her mouth was slack and her brown eyes empty of any emotion, long tendrils of dark brown hair flowed around her face. She looked like a doll, empty and vacant of any sort of life. The ticks I’d seen her, so like Cassava, they were just a daughter’s habits learned at her mother’s knee.
Queen . . . she’d been fighting to be queen here.
I struggled to breathe and ended up on my knees in front of her as tears trickled down my cheeks. Peta moved to my side. “You used Spirit on her, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “What have I done?”
CHAPTER 25
eta let out a sigh as she drew closer to me. “My first charge, he learned to use Spirit, but it is tricky. A powerful tool. When you use it without really knowing, it can burn someone else out.”
“Burn them out?” I stared at my little sister, the blank gaze in her eyes, the dribble of drool falling from her lips. I’d done that. I’d destroyed her mind. “Can it be reversed?”
“I don’t think so.” Peta butted her head against me but I pulled away. I didn’t deserve any comfort. I stood and walked to Keeda.
“We’ve got to get her out of here and back home. Maybe Niah can help, she knows more than she lets on.” Niah was a storyteller in the Rim, but she also knew a lot about things most Terralings had forgotten. Legends, myths, stories that seemed impossible yet were not.
“Perhaps,” Peta said, but I knew she only spoke the word I wanted to hear.
Peta turned and walked away, leading the way. I hooked an arm through Keeda’s and tugged on her. She took a step in the direction I urged.
We reached the wide doors, stepped through and the skin on the back of my neck prickled. I spun and looked back into the throne room.
No one was there, no one I could see. And yet I felt eyes on me. I looked up at the doors.
All who enter shall be judged, and those found lacking shall be destroyed.
Was that what had happened, some sort of judgment? I looked away from the words, feeling them burn into my soul. Destroyed, that was how I felt, like a piece of me had been pulled apart and smashed in front of my face. Peta shrunk to her housecat form and slipped into the tunnel behind the statues that would lead us back to the firewyrms. I pushed Keeda ahead of me and she went willingly.
Mother goddess, what had I done? What kind of monster was I?
We emerged into the opening where the firewyrms, Cactus, and Ash waited.
Except they weren’t the only ones. The missing children were there too. Tinder saw me, his eyes sparkling with mischief. Waving wildly, he ran to greet us.
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