"No," Nicholas backed away. He wrapped his arms around himself. He didn't know where his Link to Arianna was visible, and he didn't want to know. He just didn't want the Shaman to touch it.
"You can trust me," the Shaman said. "You've always been able to."
"And you just suggested killing my daughter as a way to get us out of this predicament," Nicholas said. "I can't let you near her."
"You said no, Nicholas," the Shaman said, "And I cannot do it. I would lose my magick. But I can travel through your Link, find the Black King and see if I can eject him."
"Without killing him."
The Shaman did not answer.
He hated her silences. They were terrifying.
"Would you kill him?" Nicholas asked again.
"I can do it," she said. "I am not of Black Blood."
"But you would lose your magick."
"I would," she said.
"While you were Linked through me to Arianna. What would happen then?"
The Shaman bowed her head.
"You would stay, wouldn't you? Or do you know? Would you die? Would Ari die?"
"This has never been tried, Nicholas," the Shaman said.
"And you want me to try it now?" he asked. "Now, after you suggested killing my daughter?"
"It may save her."
"Save her." He glanced at the lizard that was Arianna. She hadn't moved. He wanted to go see if she was dead, but he didn't dare. Not yet. "Save the Fey, you mean."
"No," the Shaman said. "Save her. You don't understand what's happening to her."
He took a deep breath. The Shaman was right. He didn't know. And it was driving him mad. Ari had Shifted before. She had stopped Shifting. Did that mean the Black King had won? Did it mean she had lost control of herself? Did it mean she had won?
He didn't know.
"What is happening?" he asked and managed to somehow sound calm.
"When someone travels uninvited through a Link, they often do it to observe. But Arianna caught Rugad. Or he hadn't come to observe."
Her tone sounded ominous. Nicholas was in such a habit of trusting her, such a habit of believing her, of listening to each nuance in her voice, that he did so again.
Even though she had suggested killing Arianna.
He realized, at that moment, that the Shaman — who had brought Arianna into the world, who had enabled Arianna to survive — might have had her reasons for saying what she did. And, he realized, the Shaman was probably the only person he knew whom he would listen to after such a monstrous suggestion.
"If he hadn't come to observe —
"He would take her over," the Shaman said. "He would, as best he could, become her. And we wouldn't have known. But Arianna's a Shifter. She's doing the Shifts. And she's controlling the body. For now."
For now.
"And if she loses, he could stay there forever?"
The Shaman didn't move. "There's no record of that. And it might not be wise for him to do so."
"Or maybe it would," Nicholas said softly.
If the Black King died — and if Gift were out of the way — Arianna would be the head of the Black family. She was a direct heir to the throne. The Black King could continue to rule, using her body as a pawn.
"No, Nicholas," the Shaman said. "For his own body would be vulnerable. And when his body dies, he dies."
"So right now, his body is in danger because he's not in it."
"Yes," the Shaman said.
"And all we have to do is find it."
"He's probably not here," the Shaman said. "Links have no geographic boundaries. I thought I had explained that to you before."
She had. He just hadn't completely understood. "So we don't have to kill her," Nicholas said. "We just have to find him."
"It won't be that easy."
"Neither will killing my daughter," Nicholas snapped.
The Shaman backed away from him. "I had to tell you that option," she said.
"Because it's logical?" he asked.
"Because," she said, "the decision was yours, Nicholas, and you needed all the facts."
"But you knew I wouldn't do that."
He couldn't see her eyes in the darkness, but he could feel them, looking at him with that compassion that she had always had.
"You are the closest to Fey of any non-Fey I have ever met," she said. "I do not know what you would choose to do. I only know that I had to give you the option. The decision is the decision a leader must make, not a father."
"This leader is a father," Nicholas said. "You can't separate us."
"I know that now," the Shaman said. "And I will forever remember it." She came closer, her movements tentative, and then she took his arm.
"It is," she said, "what makes you different from us."
"You're saying a Fey would kill Arianna. You're saying Jewel would have killed her own daughter in this situation."
"Rules are not made idly, Nicholas," the Shaman said. "The injunction of Black Blood against Black Blood is a necessary one because Fey will kill if they have to. They will even kill the ones they love."
Nicholas glanced at the lizard. It — she — it still hadn't moved. He crouched beside it but did not touch it.
"That is a rule you need to remember, Nicholas," the Shaman said. "You have raised a child who is pure Fey."
"She has Islander in her."
"But it may not be enough," the Shaman said.
"What does that mean?" Nicholas asked.
"It means," the Shaman said softly, "that someday you might have to watch your own back."
"That Arianna might kill me?"
"If it gives her this kind of advantage."
Nicholas shook his head. "She loves me."
"I know," the Shaman said.
He felt the anger flare again at her calmness. "If you're telling me this to get me to take action against the Black King, it won't work."
"I know," the Shaman said again. "But remember this moment. You might live to regret it."
FIFTY-ONE
Arianna stood beside her great-grandfather. He was staring at her. Outside, faraway, her father and the Shaman were talking, but she couldn't make out the words.
She didn't try.
Her great-grandfather was watching her. She had never seen eyes like that. She had never seen a face like his, all narrow and angular, and so powerfully handsome. The man she had met — decades older — was striking, but the handsomeness was gone. It had been replaced by a cruelty that had etched itself into his features, a toughness to the skin and body that spoke of strength and age and power.
You cannot kill me, little girl, without destroying everything.
She smiled.
I can, she said, and I nearly did. The last time we met.
Then her great-grandfather turned, as if he heard something. She didn't hear anything, but she felt something. A presence. Another one. A different one.
She looked up too, as her great-grandfather floated across the open space toward some doors she had never seen before. The doors opened before he could reach them and he cursed in a tongue she had .heard all her life but did not understand.
A boy burst through the doors. A boy who was not really a boy, but a man. A young man. One who looked like her and like her great-grandfather. Only his eyes were light-colored and his face shaped like her father's.
Gift.
She growled deep in her throat. She did not want that boy here as well as her great-grandfather. Had they teamed up?
Her great-grandfather didn't think so. He shoved at the boy, who shoved back. Her great-grandfather fell aside with a look of surprise. The boy started to reach for him, then stopped and looked at Arianna.
His eyes weren't just light, they were gray. Gray, not blue, and there were lines on his face that no young man should have.
Sebastian? she asked, and her voice came out in a whisper.
Ari. She felt joy like she hadn't felt in a long, long time. His joy. He reached for her, then he
r great-grandfather stood. He ran for Sebastian and shoved him at the door, but Sebastian held on. Here, in this place, Sebastian moved quickly. There was no stutter in his speech or hesitation in his manner. And he seemed to know how to function.
It was as if he had been born to live in a place like this.
Help me, Ari, he said. Help me help you.
She ran to his side and yanked on her great-grandfather's shoulders. Sebastian pushed at the same time, and her greatgrandfather fell back, landing on top of her.
She felt the air rush from her body, then she remembered she had none. She pushed him off, and Sebastian stood on him, holding him down for a brief half moment.
You're alive, she said. Where are you?
With him, Sebastian said. Her great-grandfather grabbed his foot and pushed, but Sebastian couldn't be moved. Ari, when you find me, realize that Con will know what to do.
Con?
He saved me before. And then Sebastian grabbed her greatgrandfather and shoved him through the door.
Close this! Sebastian shouted. She could feel him float away. He had rescued her. He had known what to do. A place where Sebastian was stronger, more alive than she was.
But her great-grandfather was wily and powerful. No matter what Sebastian was in here, he might not be able to outthink her great-grandfather. Arianna peered through the door. She couldn't see them, but she could feel them, struggling ahead of her.
What she did see was light. Multicolored light that opened into a tunnel. He had come through this. Both of them had. It was part of her and she hadn't even know it was there. What had her great-grandfather called it? A Link.
She had others. Other Links. And people could invade her through them.
How had Sebastian known and she hadn't?
And then she remembered that time she first saw Gift, standing beside Sebastian, eyes blank. They had been traveling along their Links. She had gathered that from what Sebastian had said in the tower room that horrible day the Fey burned Jahn.
I'm … all … by … my-self, he had said in a very small voice.
And she had tried to correct him. She had said, You're not alone, I'm with you.
But … not … in-side.
But not inside.
Gift and Sebastian had shared this from the beginning.
And someone had cut it off. For a moment, Sebastian had said, he had felt four presences inside himself.
Me … Gift … and … two … others. A … big … presence … and … then … the … snip-per.
A big presence. Her great-grandfather?
And someone to cut the Link. Was that what Sebastian wanted her to do? To close the door?
But if she went through it, and traveled on this trail, she would find her brother, the brother of her heart, and her greatgrandfather.
And maybe she could stop him, once and for all.
Maybe she could surprise him, and stop him with Sebastian's help.
Without invoking the Black Blood curse.
Maybe.
It was worth a try.
She stepped into the tunnel of light, and hoped she was making the right decision.
FIFTY-TWO
The golem knew how to travel a Link. And how to work it. The golem had him by an imaginary grip that felt real even to Rugad. No matter how much Rugad fought it, he couldn't seem to get away.
He wanted to get away.
But the golem had a hold on his imagination, on his real self, and that worried Rugad.
Twice the golem and the girl had outwitted him.
Twice.
Rugad struggled, but the golem kept tugging him forward. Halfway there, Rugad figured what was happening. They were traveling inside the golem's Link, not along it as Rugad had. The golem had complete control here.
And it knew it.
Rugad had to get to the outer rims of the Link. He had to move beyond it, had to fight it somehow. But he had never encountered this before. He didn't know if anyone else had either.
If they had, they hadn't lived to tell about it.
The golem would take him inside its body, and then what? Trap him there? It was conceivable. Rugad had no Link to it. And if the golem moved away from Rugad's body, then Rugad had no way of escape at all.
What had it said to his great-granddaughter?
Ari, when you find me, realize that Con will know what to do.
Con?
He saved me before.
He had saved the golem before.
The golem had exploded before. Con must have been the name of the Black Robe who had reassembled him. Con.
Exploded.
If the golem exploded with Rugad inside, and no Link to jump through, Rugad would truly die.
He felt something that was not quite fear. It was excitement, and an odd euphoria. A challenge. A brain that really could challenge his. In combination, his great-granddaughter and her stone man could defeat him.
Only if he let them.
He could feel himself moving at a rapid clip, sliding through the Link. If he pulled back, he would reenter the girl, but he would be trapped there. And the Shaman knew it. The girl hadn't paid attention to what they were saying, but Rugad had. The Shaman wanted to kill him, and she would.
With or without that sentimental fool of a King. The Shaman would kill Arianna, and thus kill Rugad.
He would not be able to hide in the girl well enough to fool the Shaman. And he would not be able to control the girl's magick.
But if he went into the golem, and the golem exploded, he would die.
He would die.
Or he might be trapped in the creature. It was made of stone. It moved slowly and it had no real power.
Except the power it had created for itself. And there was no way to know what that power really was.
Its arm had lengthened. It was keeping Rugad back as it sped to its own body. He could feel the pull now, the pull of a soul to a body, its own body. He was reaching the end.
He had to decide.
He had to decide now.
He only had one choice really. Only one option that would allow him to survive.
And not even that was guaranteed.
An open-air leap.
He would have to leap from the Link to his own body, exposing himself, his consciousness, his soul to the air itself before it slipped into its own body.
There were so many risks: they flashed before him as he considered it.
He could miss entirely, leap too early and end up landing on ground miles away from his body.
He could leap into someone else, someone standing too close, and he would be trapped there.
His body could reject him.
So many possibilities, and no time to prepare for any of them.
He wasn't even sure he could break through this Link.
The key would be not to separate himself from the golem. Let the golem think it had Rugad, and then, at the last minute, just before entering the golem's body, Rugad would break through. The Link was always weakest at the attachments.
He would use that. He would ram through the light of the Link as if he had stuck a finger in it.
He could open a Link with his finger. Surely he could break into one with his mind.
After all, Links were created by the magickal brain, and used only by magickal brains.
He would be able to do it.
The pull had grown even stronger. He could feel himself spiraling. He let himself get tugged, felt himself move faster.
Then the golem disappeared before him. He could feel it, feel the coldness of the stone. He felt the golem's stone self envelop him —
— and then he pushed off the entrance with all his strength.
The light of the Link was like glass. He bounced off it. Part of the golem was tugging at him. The other part had moved inside. He could feel it, getting ready to destroy itself. The golem's thoughts were leaking into his, so therefore his had to be leaking into the golem's.
He tried to shu
t off his mind and push away at the same time. He imagined himself breaking through. His hands — his imaginary hands — slapped the glass.
And then he realized he was close enough to his own body. He had to time it right. He would have to slip into the golem's head, escape the golem's grasp, and find the golem's ear. His own finger would be there, and he would be able to slip into it, return to himself.
He let the golem pull him. Light was pouring inside the golem, filling him. Rugad flashed on the golem's previous shattering:
The golem's eyes glowed, and light streamed out of all the cracks in its body. For a moment it looked like a man who'd swallowed the sun.
King Nicholas pushed himself up, and reached for the golem. It extended its hand — it was glowing too — and then it mouthed something Rugad didn't understand."
Rugad's eyes were nearly closed. He could feel the sword in his body, the pain the King had caused. Through his half-closed eyelids, he could see Nicholas take the golem's hand. Light traveled up Nicholas's body.
Then the light grew even more. It was blinding. Too much. Nicholas tried to pull the golem away from it —
And the golem exploded.
From the inside, the light felt like a pressure, like the sun the golem had swallowed was growing, about to burst. Rugad could barely move with it, could barely feel himself. He couldn't see the golem's ear.
The golem held him tightly. Rugad kicked at it, pushing as hard as he could. The light was crushing down on him. He knew it had to be breaking through the cracks like before, seeking a way to escape. The first time, the golem hadn't planned the explosion.
This time it had.
It was sentient.
If Rugad had ever thought otherwise before, he knew he was wrong now.
It was sentient, and it wanted to trap him.
But not kill him.
It hated killing.
That was the weakness. Rugad pushed through it, through the golem's doubts, past the light and to the ear.
The pressure continued to grow. He could see his finger, but he wasn't sure how to enter it. He had never done this before. The finger looked large, a foreign object in the delicate workings of the stone ear.
Light was pouring out around it, sliding past the finger, pushing Rugad in that direction. He felt smaller, as if the light were crushing him. If he needed to breathe in this form, he wouldn't be able to. It was crushing him against the stone walls of the ear.
The Resistance: The Fourth Book of the Fey (Fey Series) Page 33
