The Silver Star (Kat Drummond Book 11)

by Nicholas Woode-Smith

  “Allandrea, what should we do?”

  Allandrea smiled, perhaps at what she perceived as eagerness. But knowing her empathic abilities, perhaps she did it because she knew Candace was not well.

  “Please take a place on one of the smaller circles arrayed on the larger circle,” she said, taking her own spot.

  “The wey’thuon?” Pranish asked.

  “That is correct. The Place of Power. Or place of magic. The larger circle, the wey’thyacc, focuses the magic. Harnesses it. The wey’thuon surrounding it help the casters control the magic.”

  Allandrea spoke for my and Treth’s benefit. Candace and Pranish, no doubt, already knew all this.

  “You said last night,” Allandrea continued. “That you use neither spark nor weyline with your magic. That explains how you were able to use such light magic in a dark weyline yesterday.”

  “The pyre of Kath’uon?” I asked.

  She nodded. “It is an advanced spell. One of Sintari origin but refined by the monastic orders of Avathor. This makes sense, as this Vessel of yours contains a spell-user from Avathor.”

  “Gorgo was…is a skilled mage, Your Majesty,” Treth interjected, insisting on using her formal title. “But she never performed magic as advanced as this.”

  “But would she have hypothetically studied such magic?” Allandrea asked.

  Treth pondered the thought then nodded. “She was an adept scholar and mage.”

  There was pride in his voice.

  “As we hypothesised last night,” Allandrea said, while retrieving a staff with a stick of chalk at the end. “You are a focus, Kat. A focus of the magical powers and knowledge of beings from across the In Between. This still does not explain what powers your magic, however. But, that is a question for further study. Today, I want to train you, all of you, in a technique of my people. It is of light magic. Your mages would categorise it as purification, but magic cannot be so easily systemised. The spell must be performed by four casters. It is called Pa’thress Ty’rai.”

  “Banish the Dark?” Candace asked.

  “Almost. It does not mean banish, for the darkness can never truly leave. But it can be stifled by the light. Like how the sun coats the shadow.”

  “I am not a wizard,” I said, frowning. “I’m not sure how well I’ll perform an incantation.”

  “Two of the casters do not speak,” Allandrea explained. “They channel the weyline and feed it to the wey’thyacc. But I don’t want you to channel the weyline, Kat. I want you to look inside yourself, towards the Vessel, and use that as the well of power to power this ritual.”

  “What does the ritual do?” Pranish asked.

  “It purifies weylines.”

  “I thought only fae could do that,” I responded.

  Thoughts of not having to rely on my pixie friends were tempting. It would give me more bargaining power.

  “We learnt this technique from the fae. It is not as refined as their methods. And costs wey when their presence naturally cleans the weyline. But, it is useful in those dark places of the world, where the fae do not tread. This is a violent land. And even the dryad wood struggles to keep back the darkness and menace that the threat of war brings. A small conflict could throw the equilibrium out and cover this palace with darkness. Rituals like this help to keep the palace clean.”

  Allandrea used the chalk on the staff to trace some Sintari script onto the stone floor. The chalk intermingled with the stone runes, creating overlapping sentences that I still couldn’t read.

  Finished, the queen retrieved a small scroll from her sleeve and handed it to Pranish.

  “Ms Evergreen, could you help Kat channel the weyline?”

  I felt hesitation and nerves, but Candace nodded. Allandrea stood opposite Pranish. Candace moved to face me.

  “Ready?” Allandrea asked. I didn’t know if I was but nodded all the same.

  Pranish read over the scroll, closed his eyes, then placed it in his back pocket. I couldn’t understand how he managed to memorise things so fast.

  Candace fidgeted, but then closed her eyes, muttering. I didn’t know what I was supposed to mutter. Channelling weyline wasn’t an incantation itself. It was more a matter of feeling. Reaching out your senses to discover the magic around you, and then grasp it.

  But I had to use the magic within myself. No. Not within me. I wasn’t a sorcerer. Within the Vessel.

  Treth demanifested and appeared, once again, in that space in my mind where he was so awfully familiar. Comforting. I focused on him. His virtues. And his very essence. And then past him. To the place he resided.

  Allandrea and Pranish began incanting, their voices blending into a harmonious duet. I felt a warmth from my left and right. Where they stood. That warmth became a tug. Not demanding, but beckoning.

  Whenever I had to use my powers, I felt something. Something great, kind and powerful. The feeling of love. Of life. And of a golden light, cresting the horizon…

  With a gasp, power began to flow outwards from within me. I sensed Pranish’s shock, and Allandrea’s satisfaction as they felt my power reach them and infuse their words with magical passion. Like a burst dam, my magic gushed towards them. It lent a resonant ring to their spell, giving it the power of an orchestra. Rising, rising but then the incantation began to falter.

  I opened my eyes, catching a glimpse of the golden circle of light that had begun to spiral around the circle. But, as it hit an invisible bubble around Candace, it shattered. The room went dark without the golden light to illuminate it.

  Candace kept muttering, even as Allandrea and Pranish fell silent. She opened her eyes. Paused. Then her lip quivered. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

  I took a step forward, feeling the pain and sadness in her, but Allandrea outpaced me. I froze, as the flutter of white and silver fabric engulfed Candace.

  Allandrea whispered some elvish to my soul-sister.

  “It is still there…” Candace whispered back.

  “It is in all of us,” Allandrea explained now in English, her voice soft. “But you aren’t the darkness. You are too precious to let it hurt you.”

  “I…I just want it to stop.”

  Allandrea placed her arms around Candace, holding the back of her head as Candace wept against her breast.

  I couldn’t speak. Not with the tidal wave of despair, depression and resignation that I felt coming from my sister. Tears streamed from my eyes. I didn’t know it was this bad. Not even close.

  “You are a Child of Light,” Allandrea said, soothingly. “And there is a splendour and goodness in you that the darkness cannot extinguish. But, it is choked. Will you let me help it?”

  I felt hesitation, but then…

  “Please…” Candace squeaked.

  Allandrea turned to us.

  “Rub away the ritual circle. Pranish, can you retrieve the ilyth…the holy salts. They’re on a shelf just over there.”

  With a sudden urgency, I got to work rubbing out the chalk markings with my shoes and then my sleeve. Pranish came back, carrying a glass mason jar filled with golden salt.

  Allandrea guided Candace towards the centre of the circle, and then lowered her to the ground as she sat upon the stonework. Candace’s head fell against her legs, like a cushion.

  “Spread the salts around us, please.”

  Pranish did so, carefully taking pinches of the precious looking salt and spreading it in a circle around the elf queen and my friend.

  “I can help guide you towards the light,” Allandrea explained. “But it is up to you to let it in. Are you ready?”

  Candace stifled a sniffle, then nodded.

  Pranish and I took a step back, as Allandrea began to incant. There was no delay between the opening of her lips and the demonstration of power as the golden salt began to glow, and then rise into the air. They spiralled around the pair, as Allandrea’s incantations grew louder and louder. More determined. A one voice choir.

  Her skin went gold, as Candace
’s did the same. But, within Candace’s gold, there was a strong hue of black. She started to convulse. I took an involuntary step forward, but Pranish stopped me, holding out his arm. He shook his head. I saw concern in his eyes, but also understanding. Candace was also his friend. And, for that reason, we had to let her suffer now. Suffer so she could get better.

  I felt a whirlwind of emotion within my soul-sister. Pain, trepidation, fear, self-loathing, and desperation. She wanted to get better.

  The black started to spread across Candace’s skin, coating her. That couldn’t be right. Could it? Like the thick bloody ooze of necroblood, the darkness started to engulf her.

  I tasted blood as I realised, I had been biting my own lip. Treth appeared by my side and forced open my tensed hand, grabbing it to steady me.

  Candace started to scream, as the darkness entered her mouth, choking her. It took everything within me, and the grip of Treth’s hand on mine to stop me from intervening.

  Candace was covered in darkness. I felt nothing from her.

  Tears fell freely from my eyes.

  Allandrea fell silent.

  Candace lay still. Like the dead. Coated in black.

  The elf queen looked at my friend’s darkened face with something more than pity. It was as if she felt Candace’s pain herself. But, then why put her through this?

  Allandrea traced a symbol onto Candace’s head.

  Then I realised it.

  Healing required pain. Good required sacrifice. And the light was fire.

  Candace screamed, her body suddenly spasming, as the blackness rushed into her, and then exploded outwards. A pillar of black smoke and essence rushed into the sky. Pranish took a step back, almost stumbling. I stood still. Watching. Waiting.

  I felt nothing through my connection to her. Nothing. Nothing. And then…

  A palpable, profound relief. As if the storm had lifted, sparing the land its downfall and assault.

  Candace, her skin and hair back to its usual hue, opened her eyes. Allandrea looked down onto her face and smiled. Candace smiled back. A genuine, pain-free smile. My heart felt lighter. Gladder.

  I rushed forward, stepping over the salt which had become infused with the blackness, and embraced Candace and Allandrea. Both the elf queen and my sister accepted the hug, as we wept together.

  Candace was exhausted after that, and Allandrea helped her to her room.

  I beamed as Allandrea and Candace left. My sister was free!

  But, as I turned to Pranish, his frown and lack of visible excitement worried me.

  “What is it? Candace is cured!”

  Pranish shook his head. “For now, perhaps. It is a band-aid, Kat. You don’t go through what Candace has and expect to be cured.”

  “But…”

  Pranish sighed, cutting me off. He smiled, weakly. “Candace will feel a temporary relief, I am sure. And I’m happy for her.”

  He didn’t seem like it.

  Some elf servants entered, nodding in greeting, as they began to use telekinesis to lift the corrupted salts into silver containers. The salt hissed as it made contact with the purified metal. We exited the training room in silence.

  Pranish was brooding. He had been for a long time now. And just because we were with the elves didn’t mean the drama of the ship hadn’t disappeared.

  “How are you and Trudie doing?” I asked, carefully as we wandered aimlessly through the Star Palace’s halls.

  “Fine…” he replied, not sounding fine.

  We may have landed on new shores, but the issues from before remained. But I couldn’t let it. I stopped and, after a few steps, Pranish noticed and stopped too.

  “I spoke to Senegal on the ship,” I said. “I’ve seen the way you look at him. But, you don’t have to worry. Senegal doesn’t seem to have any of those sorts of feelings for Trudie. She loves you, Prani. Always has and always will.”

  Pranish looked at me intensely, blinked, then laughed. The suddenness of the laugh made me flinch and, by the time he finished, I was cocking my head like a curious dog.

  “Did you…did you think that I was jealous of Sen?” he managed to choke out, between bursts of genuine and surprised laughter.

  “Well…I saw how you look at him. Especially when Trudie is doting on him.”

  Pranish looked honestly confused, furrowing his brow, but then his face relaxed and his mouth went into the shape of an O. He nodded.

  “Because I find it irritating. He’s a grown man! Not some puppy. I spent a lot of time with Gareth when Trudie was in the Constantia Pack. An alpha isn’t supposed to be some irresponsible godmother. She needs to discipline him more. Stop the babying.”

  I froze, silent, as I considered the words.

  “So…you aren’t jealous?”

  He smacked me on the back and grinned.

  “Not at all! Sure, I’m irritated and worried. But Sen isn’t competition. It feels wrong to even think about it that way.”

  “Wait…so all this time I’ve thought…but it’s just been disagreements over how you raise the pup?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t put it that way, but yes. Rifts, Kat! Have you been worrying about us this entire time? You have enough on your plate already without playing relationship counsellor.”

  I couldn’t help but cover my face with my hands, continuing the walk with long strides to escape embarrassment. Pranish was grinning like an evil idiot.

  “Can you blame me?” I said, as he kept pace. “Trudie was at Candace’s throat and you were taking Candace’s side.”

  Pranish’s grin wilted into a frown. “Yeah, that did cause some arguments, but we sorted it out. Kats…we can fight our own battles. You don’t have to carry everything on your shoulders.”

  I stopped by an open balcony doorway, looking in on one of the palace’s many atria. Flowers of various shades and splendid colours snaked their way across trellises, reaching up to the highest floor.

  I sighed. “I know, I know. But it’s a habit. I just…I don’t want things to fall apart.”

  “They won’t. And if they were going to, you wouldn’t be able to stop it.”

  “Always ready with encouraging words,” I snorted, and gazed into the gardens below.

  Blood red hair and more human ginger caught my eye. I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Perhaps, things are getting better,” I said.

  Pranish stepped closer and looked over the edge of the balcony.

  “Trudie’s boy is growing up,” I said. I could practically feel Pranish’s relief.

  Chapter 24.

  Family

  Candace was resting, with Allandrea sitting by her side. I didn’t wish to disturb them, despite my worry for my soul-sister. While I tried to maintain some scepticism about the elf queen, I really couldn’t. She was beautiful. Not just on the outside, but on the inside. Conrad had once cautioned against trusting those who looked too beautiful. It’s why he cultivated the image of a scumbag. But, the angel was wrong in this case. Allandrea was beautiful on the inside as well. I didn’t have to believe that. I didn’t delude myself into thinking that. If anything, I tried to keep my guard up. But the queen was naturally disarming.

  She was like a mother. And Candace needed one.

  At the periphery of my mind, a voice told me that I needed one too.

  Trudie had arrived back from the dryad wood stinking of mud and moss. There were far worse things to smell like, admittedly. She then insisted on dragging Pranish back into the wood. She’d grown to like the tree-song. I was glad. Pranish and Trudie were doing well. And Senegal was spending more and more time with Ari. While temporary, Candace would also feel some relief from the darkness. Brett and Kyong were also healing from their more physical wounds. Some elf mages who sounded like therapists were seeing to Kyong’s mental health after his run in with the brain-leech.

  I should be happy. And for the most part, I was. But there was something else that kept bringing back the melancholy. A feeling of missing out. Of regre
t.

  I sat on a stone bench on a balcony garden overlooking the dryad wood. Silence. Perhaps, not the best backdrop for my mood. There was an overwhelming calmness to the palace and its surrounding area. The type of tranquillity that would be good for many, but also allowed much room to brood.

  Treth manifested onto the balcony, looking over the edge.

  “Candace is fine. Still sleeping. Allandrea is sitting by her side, reading.”

  I smiled, faintly. “Thanks, Treth.”

  “Allandrea is trustworthy, Kat. You don’t need me to keep checking up on her.”

  “It’s not that. It’s just…”

  “You want to protect Candace.”

  I nodded, frowning. “I didn’t know she was in so much pain.”

  Treth took a seat by my side, stowing his spectral sword and shield by a potted fern. There were all manner of different plants in the palace gardens. I wouldn’t be surprised if anything could grow here.

  “When my brother was practicing dark magic,” Treth said, sombrely. “I had no idea. I tell myself now, in hindsight, that I should have noticed the changes. And maybe I should have. But I didn’t. I thought he was just grumpy. That the weight of the world was pressing down on him. I ignored the signs. Because I didn’t want to see his suffering. Because knowing he was in pain would have been too painful for me.”

  “I know Candace used dark magic, though. I saw how she acted when she was under its influence. But…”

  “There’s nothing we can do for her beyond what we already do. Kat…you have to let other people help. You can’t take on all the burdens of the world.”

  “I’m not. It’s just…she doesn’t have anyone. She suffered. Like me. I managed to escape the darkness. I got away. But what if I hadn’t? What if it was me with the voices in my head and the pain when I was around things of goodness? Would I have been able to be saved? Would I have been able to escape?”

  “You didn’t accept the darkness. That’s what matters. There’s no use tearing at yourself over something that didn’t happen.”