Back in the royal holding hall, I saw the number of guards had lessened, probably because they’d been dispatched downstairs. Most of the magic users were still there, giving Jasmine and I quite the fight. One of the first soldiers I took out was someone I recognized as the chief jailer.
“Get his keys and start freeing the others,” I told Jasmine. “I’ll handle this group.”
She didn’t hesitate, and I made sure to make such a spectacle that I drew all the attention. The magic users who’d been left on duty ran a wide gamut of powers. Some I was able to toss around with wind before they even struck. One sent a wave of fire at me, inadvertently singeing one of his colleagues. As the fire raced toward me, I called on the moisture around me. The air around us went bone dry, but a wall of water materialized to stop the fire. I followed it up with a gust of wind to ensure he didn’t repeat the act.
The hall’s space limited me in some ways. Normally, I would’ve kept hurricane-worthy winds churning nonstop, in an effort to stop my adversaries from even standing. I couldn’t do that easily without affecting Jasmine, however. Likewise, I was hesitant to use lightning in such a confined space. I was pretty good at controlling it—and it was an excellent weapon—but it had the potential to get out of control. Again, I had to consider Jasmine and the prisoners’ safety.
So, I stuck to wind and water, which were effective but took a little more time in these quarters since those powers had to be wielded carefully. I’d gotten down to just one magic user when something hard, big, and solid slammed into me from the side. One of the doors of the cells had been ripped off its hinges and thrown at me. I stumbled to the ground. Judging from the satisfied look of the gentry advancing on me, that had been her doing. She must have some affinity to trees or wood in general. I would’ve sensed air magic and had warning.
I scrambled to my feet and reached for my power. Before I could do anything, what looked like a net of blue light flew out and wrapped her up like a cocoon. She screamed in pain as the net contracted tighter and tighter around her. It enveloped her torso—as well as her neck. Soon her screams quieted as her oxygen was cut off. She fell to the ground, dead or unconscious I couldn’t say. I was reminded uncomfortably of Dorian.
Looking around, I saw a tall man with shoulder-length black hair and a pointed beard standing in the doorway to one of the cells. He made a small motion with his hand, and the net of light disappeared. He surveyed his victim for a few moments and seemed satisfied with what he found. He then glanced up and gave me a nod of acknowledgment.
“Thanks,” I said.
“You’re Eugenie?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m indebted to you,” he said gravely. “I’m Hadic, King of the Hemlock Land.”
“Oh man,” I said. “I know some people that are going to be glad to see you.”
We were soon joined by Jasmine and the rest of the monarchs. There was no time for extensive introductions, but I quickly understood what Volusian had meant about the variety of attitudes. A few, like Hadic, looked ready to take on Varia singlehandedly. The others seemed dazed, like they had just woken from a dream. Still, as they took in their surroundings, I saw sparks of life in their eyes that I hoped would grow. All looked thin and worn, no doubt the result of a long time of eating prisoner rations and being deprived of their lands.
“Come on,” I said, not waiting to see if they would all follow. “We’ve got to defeat Varia and get rid of this blight once and for all.”
I’d memorized Kiyo’s directions and found running downstairs was much like the journey up—a mixture of obliviousness and challenges on the parts of the soldiers. One thing that had changed was that the situation had grown increasingly chaotic. Guards and civilians alike were in a panic. I guess when you were ruled by a powerful despot like Varia, you just didn’t expect many challenges to the status quo.
The torture chamber had been one floor down. There was a big temptation to go check on the situation there, but I’d already deviated from the plan once today. So, I kept going down the stairs, down to the fourth subterranean level. We met little resistance on the stairs but were swarmed with guards as soon as we headed down the corridor toward the room holding the gifts. It was closed with double doors, just as Kiyo had described to me. Hadic’s hands blazed with blue light.
“You know how to stop the blight?” he asked me.
“I think so.”
“Then do it. We’ll hold them off.”
All five monarchs seemed to be on board now, much to my relief. I had to assume their powers, even a little weakened, were more or less comparable to mine and Dorian’s. Could the two of us have taken on this force of soldiers? Probably. Or at least made a damned good showing. That seemed to favor the odds of this group handling everything.
“The room’s at the end of the hall,” I said. “Come to us when you can.” If the incantation didn’t work, I was going to have to try the brute-force method to shatter the enchantment.
Jasmine and I had to squeeze our way past the mob of guards and magic users, but fortunately, the monarchs did a good job covering us. Once we reached the double doors, we encountered a few more sentries, but the bulk of the forces were engaged elsewhere. Jasmine and I easily took this handful out and tried to open the doors. Unsurprisingly, they were locked. Rather than search for keys on the guards, I simply blasted the doors open. It was kind of therapeutic after my recent frustrations.
We hurried inside and came to a halt. It was exactly as Kiyo had described. A wide vault of a room with high ceilings. Two piles of objects sat before us, ranging from statues to jewels to cloth. One collection was quite small, the other sickeningly large. Each of those objects represented a kingdom held in thrall by the blight, every single one of those kingdoms suffering as badly as my own.
Jasmine darted toward them, the desire for destruction written all over her features. “Wait—” I called.
Too late. She hit one of the invisible walls protecting the stash and bounced off it, stumbling back and hitting the floor. Flushing, she got back on her feet and glared.
“It’s really there, huh?”
“Yup.” My ability to sense various types of gentry magic was erratic, but I could feel this, even though I couldn’t see it. It was strong—very strong. I wondered again how many it would’ve taken to build it.
Reaching for the scroll in my pocket, I cleared my throat. “Let’s hope this knocks it down for us.” I had to squint again to read the incantation, most of which was nonsensical syllables in an ancient language of magic. When I finished, I looked up at the objects. Nothing had changed, to my senses. That powerful magic was still in place.
“Shit,” I said.
“Maybe you didn’t pronounce it correctly,” said Jasmine.
“Maybe,” I said skeptically. It was written pretty much like it sounded, and Volusian had listened to my recitation in my cell, correcting me when needed.
“It’s because you weren’t born in the Yew Land,” said a voice behind me.
I spun around, instinctively reaching for the only weapon I had—which was the crappy wand. Varia stood in the doorway, wearing a sensible dress for a change, as she regarded us with that annoyingly condescending expression she excelled at. So help me, those ridiculous dogs were at her feet, wearing their bows, barking at us.
“Whatever spy got you that charm did an excellent job,” she continued. “I don’t know whether to be impressed or annoyed. It’s perfect, word for word. Unfortunately, what he or she failed to discover is that it must be performed by a magic user of significant strength—one who is from the Yew Land. You don’t really think I would have gone to all this trouble so that anyone could come along and destroy it with a little chant? Everything you see, everything having to do with the Winter Enchantment has been the result of years of preparation.”
“Fuck,” I said, realizing this needed an upgrade in profanity.
There was nothing to be done now but hope the monarchs and I could
simply blast our way through the shield. Well, that and I could also take out Varia while I was killing time. She certainly wasn’t going to stand by when the rest of us attempted to destroy the gifts. Besides, after everything she’d put me through, I was kind of—
My thoughts grew disoriented as a wave of dizziness hit me. I shook my head to clear it and readjusted my stance. Too much exertion today, I supposed. I focused back on Varia, who was watching me with an amused curl of her lips. Beside me, I heard a surprised cry from Jasmine. She took a few steps forward and suddenly fell to her knees. She clasped her hands to her head and winced, as though she was being subjected to some terrible noise.
As for me, the disorientation returned, again messing with my sense of balance. I nearly joined Jasmine on the floor but just barely managed to stay upright. I didn’t do so gracefully, however, and probably looked like some kind of drunken ballet dancer. With only Varia for an audience, I didn’t really care.
“What ... are you doing?” I asked through clenched teeth, still fighting to keep control.
“What I do naturally,” Varia replied. “Come now. Did you think that I had no power of my own? That I only organized others into doing my errands?”
To be honest, I hadn’t thought much about it. We’d talked a lot about the complex group spells worked in the Yew Land. The fact that she ruled a kingdom implied she possessed considerable magic, but the specifics had been less important in the face of the blight’s greater threat. Now, as a grating buzzing filled my ears, I realized Varia must have some ability to affect a person’s equilibrium and neurological functions. In less scientific gentry terms, she could “mess with your head.”
It was astonishing and frustrating how crippling this was. In some ways, it was a lot like my helplessness with healing. Gentry magic expressed itself in a wide variety of forms, and mine was primarily a physical manifestation. If she’d started hurling fireballs at me, I could’ve answered her in kind with tangible elements. This kind of attack—invisible and almost psychic in nature—wasn’t anything I could throw a lightning bolt at. I could throw a lightning bolt at her, but that was going to require me pushing back against this mind melt—and right now, that was pretty damned difficult. The best I could hope for was that the others in the hall would show up before she killed us. Surely she couldn’t exert this kind of control over a bunch of people, and maybe someone would be more resistant than—
I gasped as a revelation came to me. Mustering my strength, I tried to ignore her mental attack as best I could in order to extend my homemade wand. I managed to recite Volusian’s summoning words, unsure if I could actually get him when I was in such a compromised state. Miraculously, he appeared.
“Volusian!” I exclaimed. “Help us.”
Volusian didn’t respond right away. He didn’t even look at me, really. Despite his shifting, flickering form, his red eyes burned bright and steady as he fixed them on Varia.
“Varia, daughter of Ganene,” he said, almost politely. “You resemble your mother.”
Varia frowned, and I felt the slightest easing of the magic she was working on me. Apparently, she could only focus on a limited number of things, which boded well for when my reinforcements arrived. Which I hoped would be soon.
“Who are you?” Varia demanded. “What are you? There’s something about you ... familiar and not familiar.”
“I should be familiar, as I still bear the brand of your mother and grandmother’s magic.”
Her eyes flicked to me, as though recalling my words when I’d called him. “Volusian? Surely not ... not that Volusian. He died long ago.”
“Dead and not dead,” he said. “Per the terms of the curse.”
While I was sure Volusian’s life history was fascinating, we had no time for it. “Volusian, enough small talk! Do something to help us!”
“Gladly, mistress.”
Volusian moved as though to attack but didn’t get far when Varia shrieked, “No!” Her mental attack on me disappeared, and instead, I felt a ripple of invisible power go through the air and threaten to unravel the bonds that held me and Volusian together. His image flickered, and I could barely believe what was happening.
“Impossible,” I murmured. “She’s trying to banish him.” Considering I couldn’t even banish him alone, I at first thought this must mean Varia was far more formidable than I’d suspected. Then, thinking about the conversation I’d just overheard, I reconsidered. If she had some sort of familial connection to Volusian’s curse, she might also possess an inherent ability to shatter it and send him from this world. Volusian was a pain in the ass, but I couldn’t risk losing an ally like him—especially now. I was in possession of my powers once more and used them to slam Varia into a wall with a blast of wind. At the impact, her grip on Volusian loosened, and my bonds to him reestablished themselves.
“I’m doing you a favor!” she hissed to me. “You want nothing to do with a black wizard like him! He’s evil and traitorous!”
“You can thank your mother and grandmother for that,” returned Volusian smoothly. “I would have been the most loyal of servants if they hadn’t betrayed me. Had I been able to then, I would’ve made them pay. Instead, I had to wait all these centuries until I was bonded to someone strong enough to bring me back to this wretched land. I would rather take my revenge on Ganene and Onya than you, but I’ve long learned to make do with what I have.”
I thought for sure that Volusian was going to rip her apart with his bare hands, just as he’d threatened to do to me on countless occasions. I wondered if I should stop him. Before he made any more advances, however, he paused and glanced at me.
“The cost of me being here, of course, is that I must still serve you, mistress. You asked me to help in some way. From what I can see, the enchantment on the talismans holds.”
“The incantation didn’t work,” I said. “It has to be recited by a Yew magic user—”
Volusian was already chanting. I hadn’t been aware that he’d memorized the incantation in my cell, but he knew it word for word. Power radiated out from him as he spoke. Varia let out a strangled cry and pushed forward against the wind I was still using to hold her in place. With more strength than I’d known she had, she sent another blast of that disorientation to Jasmine and me. We lost our balance again, and I dropped the magic. Varia didn’t waste a moment once freed. As soon as she wasn’t fighting my elements, she directed all her strength into banishing Volusian. Doing so meant she had to let up on Jasmine and me again, probably hoping her last attack would delay us from acting in the time it’d take us to recover.
She was right because it took me several moments to get back to my feet and clear my head. As I did, a couple of things happened. Volusian finished his incantation, and although there was no visible indication, I felt the power that had been shielding the objects vanish. Maybe there was some residual protective force left, but it was nothing that couldn’t be broken. The other thing that happened was ...
Varia banished Volusian.
“Be gone, you wretched traitor!” she cried. I felt her magic swell, and the bonds that held Volusian and I together disintegrated. “Go to the Underworld and never return.”
“I shall see you there soon,” said Volusian, undaunted as he began to fade. His gaze turned to me. “I have served you dutifully. Now help me. Destroy her... .”
He said no more because he disintegrated into sparkles, which soon faded into nothingness. Volusian was gone from this world forever.
She’d barely finished that banishing when she unleashed another brain blast at me and Jasmine, even stronger than previous ones. I cried out as that buzzing sound shifted to more of a screech. I felt like my ears would explode. Even through it, I could still hear Varia when she spoke.
“You really think you’ve accomplished anything? Just because your minion took down the shield? Once I gather my conclave, we can have it back up in an instant. Nothing has changed. All of those objects—and your kingdoms—are still in
the thrall of the Winter Enchantment.” She took a few menacing steps toward us. “Not that it’ll be your concern before long. Know this, before I make the blood in your head burst: Your lands will suffer terribly for this insult. It won’t matter who succeeds after your death. I will strip those lands of all life, they will freeze and suffer as no other—ah!”
The buzzing and wailing in my ears stopped as one of the objects from the piles came flying over and hit Varia in the head. And when I say hit, it nailed her. There was an audible crack, and she went down instantly, eyes staring vacantly ahead. Her dogs—which had been yapping nonstop—fell silent in astonishment.
I heard a sharp intake of breath and saw Jasmine struggling to shake off the lingering effects of the disorientation. Blood ran from her ears, but she didn’t look like she’d suffered any other ill effects. I caught her hand and helped her up. Once on my feet again, I peered back at Varia’s still body and got a good look at what had hit her. It was the marble bust of Dorian that had been the Oak Land’s gift.
A tremor ran through the room, and I immediately looked up at the ceiling, afraid some earthquake was about to bring the whole place crashing down. Four floors underground was not a great place to be during seismic events. The shaking stopped after a few seconds.
“It’s just the land reacting to her death,” said a pleasant voice. “It’s now unclaimed and seeking a new master or mistress. You could add on to your empire, if you wanted.”
“Dorian?” I asked incredulously.
Sure enough, he was leaning in the doorway, looking as though that was all that was keeping him upright. He actually didn’t look much better than when I last saw him, fresh out of the torturers’ hands. The only difference now, of course, was that he was breathing and conscious. Otherwise, he still looked sickly and broken.
He glanced down at Varia. “That was rather clumsy of me to hit her so hard, I suppose. And a very brutish tactic to boot. I didn’t have much time to think and had to decide on the spot how best to stop her from hurting my two favorite sisters.” He suddenly looked very pleased. “I did, however, manage to do it without hurting those dogs. Very considerate of me. Don’t let it be said I’m not an animal lover—that wretched kitsune aside.”
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