“Wait, you think Mori is part of this?” I asked.
“Three must rise… three rings… rings abound,” she whispered, holding up our tattooed hands. “Maybe, maybe not. The riddle does talk about three and my vision, there were six of us. You, Craig, and Forrest. Then me and Kate… and someone I couldn’t see just yet.”
“If Mori is part of ending this war, she best be alive.”
“And if she is alive, we can’t leave Baladon’s dimension until we save her,” she added. “This might not be the easiest rescue mission in the world.”
“You thought it was going to be before?” I asked surprised.
She opened her mouth, shut it and frowned. “No, but now we have to go in looking for someone instead of just getting out who we can.”
I got us moving back toward the gardens again. “Can’t do anything easy.”
“Never.”
She rested her head against my shoulder, holding my arm and my worry for what might happen over the next few hours dissipated. All that mattered right now was that Sabella was here with me and we were together. Facing this unknown together.
“When this is all over, officially over, you owe me a honeymoon,” she decided.
“Done,” I promised. “I’ll take you to the Darrah lands and the mountains to the south. There are some great hunting grounds down that way.”
“Oh yes, hunting. That’s what I’m interested in.”
We laughed and meandered through the garden, talking and planning for what we would do once the sun shone again, and we could see the stars. Talking about a happy future relaxed us both, and by the time an elf guard came to fetch us to return to Hansi in his tower, Sabella was calm and looked more than ready to create this orb.
When we entered Hansi’s tower, only a few candles were lit in the middle of the floor that had been completely cleared of furniture.
A symbol was drawn out in chalk, a crescent moon surrounded by a vine with thorns and leaves, one of the many symbols of the gods.
Kate, Craig, Forrest, Drake, and Ashan came in after us, followed by Greyson, Hank and Danielle. Hansi stood on the other side of the symbol and motioned for Sabella to take a seat in the center. When she went to let go of my hand, I held on and pulled her back for one quick embrace and a kiss.
“If you don’t think it’s going to work, you get out of there, promise me,” I whispered.
“If I can,” she said.
I glowered at her.
“What? Just being honest.”
“Maybe do not be so honest.” I hugged her again and then let her go, stepping back to stand beside Forrest and Craig.
Sabella took her seat, sitting cross-legged on the floor, and waited for Hansi’s instruction.
“Hold your hands out before you,” he said, and she copied the action, so she held her hands, palms facing each other, as if ready to hold something. “Close your eyes and focus on your mother, on the gods, their blood running through your veins. Find them and when you have them in your sight, tell me, and we will begin.”
She looked at me one final time then shut her eyes.
I had to remind myself to breathe as I waited for her to force herself to have a vision. As far as I knew, they just came to her at random times, and here she was, trying to make herself get one.
For a few minutes, nothing happened. The only sound was Sabella’s deep breaths in and out. I was ready to ask Hansi if there was another way to do this when the air grew cold, and the candles flickered around Sabella. Her shoulders went rigid as did her back and I didn’t have to see her eyes to know they were fogged over.
Hansi knelt in front of her, outside the circle, a stone bowl filled with herbs near him and a knife in his hand.
“Sabella?” he asked gently, but she didn’t respond, at least not at first.
But when the words came out of her mouth, my first instinct was to go to her.
I was a few inches away from the circle when Hansi yelled for someone to grab me.
Craig and Forrest each took an arm as I growled, wrenching against their hold.
“Sabella!”
“I’m… I’m fine,” she gasped, but she looked anything, but fine. Her body shook from the effort to hold onto whatever she was seeing. “So much pain… so much pain.”
“The gods, do you see them?” Hansi asked as I snarled.
“Yes, they’re here… Farrah… I can almost make her out… but I can’t get to her.” She cringed then flinched as if she’d been struck. “I’m here, Hansi… do it now!”
He slashed that blade on both her palms and shoved the bowl of herbs beneath to catch the dripping blood. With each drop, white smoke billowed up from the bowl and surrounded her body starting at the floor and moving upward. It continued to swirl as her whole body glowed, pulsing as if there was light trying to explode outward from her body.
She cursed as she forced it into her arms and each stream shot toward her palms, then outward, bouncing off the other. The light continued to grow until it started to take shape between her hands. Sweat beaded her skin even as she shivered as though she was freezing.
I tugged harder against Craig and Forrest, pulling them forward with me until Drake stepped in to help.
“She’s going to be fine,” he swore, but all I could focus on was the pain she was in.
“Almost… there,” she whispered, her voice ragged. The orb grew in size, and the light became so bright it blinded me. I couldn’t look away, not until she came back to me. The light pulsed faster and faster and then she shook her head hard, her body jerking to the right. “He’s here.”
“Get out of there,” I yelled. “Sabella!”
“I can’t… it’s not finished.” Her head flew to the left and blood dripped from her nose.
The orb in her hands was the size of a large melon, and the light was slowing down.
Her head was thrown backward, and she cried out from the hit, but never lowered her hands.
I shouted for Hansi to do something, but he ignored me, his eyes glued to the orb.
Sabella screamed one more time, light exploded from her body, sending all of us to the floor, and blowing out the candles.
I was the first one up and moving toward her prone body, in the center of the symbol.
Blood trickled from her nose and lip, and her hands looked like they’d been burned.
But there, resting on the floor a foot in front of her, was a silver orb glowing with luminescent blue light.
“Sabella?” I tapped her cheeks softly and lifted her into my lap. “Open your eyes, Red. You have to open your eyes and look at me.”
One blinked open, followed by the other. “Tristan?”
My head fell forward in relief to hear my name. “You alright?”
“Think so. Did it work?”
I helped her sit up and pointed to the orb Hansi was carefully picking up with a silk, black cloth. “I would say yes. You sure you’re alright?”
She winced as she nodded. “One hell of a headache though.”
I went to wipe the blood away from her face, but she did it first, cursing at the sight of it on her hand, then at the state her hands were in. They were a bit raw, but the wounds were already healing as we stared at them.
“I almost got out of there in one piece.”
“You think he’ll come after her?” I asked Hansi. “Can he use that?”
“No, he cannot. But if he chooses to attack here, that I cannot say.” He carefully set the orb on a pedestal sitting on the far table. “This tower is heavily warded against the darkness, so we would have some warning if he decided to show himself.”
I supposed it was better than nothing.
“He has so many,” Sabella told us as the others gathered around her. “And Farrah, her light was so faint, it was hard to make her out through the shadows.”
“As soon as you get your strength back, we’ll get a plan together and go after her.” I held her in my arms as I stood. “But for right now, you ne
ed rest. You’re finished with her, yes?” I asked Hansi when he glanced our way.
“Yes, rest is the best thing for her right now. You should be very proud of yourself, Sabella, I believe your mother will be.”
Sabella managed a nod, but I sensed her exhaustion, and before anyone else could question her about what she saw while creating the orb, I took her from the room and headed downstairs to the one we shared.
She shifted in my arms, curling against my chest as her eyes closed. I said nothing the whole way, but my hands protectively held her closer, remembering how much pain she’d been in for those few moments and I’d been unable to stop it.
Once inside our room, I gently closed the door with my foot and laid her on the bed, tucking the covers in around her to keep her warm. I dabbed the rest of the blood from her face and kissed her forehead. She was already asleep, and I backed away from the bed, pacing slowly around the room.
Her wedding dress from the day before was draped over a chair in the corner. I ran my fingers over the fabric, smiling faintly as our wedding and the evening that followed filled my mind. Happiness, hope, those were the keys to keeping out the darkness.
But how could I keep a smile on my face when Baladon was out there, and now he knew Sabella had found him. He would know we were coming for him.
No matter what move we made next, it’d be a trap.
Blood would be spilled.
Lives would be lost.
All I could do was pray to whatever gods were left untouched that it wouldn’t be hers.
14
Sabella
A warm hand rested in mine, but then it was gone. My head throbbed, and I couldn’t bear to open my eyes to see what was happening. I remembered Tristan carrying me out of the tower and him saying something to me, but then I’d fallen asleep. How long had I been out? A few hours, a whole day? My mouth was dry, and I thought I should eat at some point.
Waiting for the pain to set in worse, I opened my eyes and looked around the room.
“Tristan?”
A few candles were lit, but there was a chill in the air. No fire burned in the hearth and Tristan wasn’t in here. Figuring he was with the others, making plans for when we moved to attack Baladon, I got up to go find him.
The air grew colder with each step I took, and I snatched up one of the furs to wrap around me before I opened the door to head into the corridor.
On the threshold, I paused, sensing how wrong the air felt, but I wanted to find Tristan and let him know I was awake at least. I walked along the corridor, expecting to see elven guards, but I passed no one.
And the hall stretched on far longer than I remembered.
My feet stilled as I started back the way I’d come, but the open door to our room was gone.
“No,” I whispered, heart pounding as the cold seeped into my bones. “This is just a dream. It’s a dream, and that’s it. You’re fine, you’re perfectly fine.”
“Are you?”
At the sound of his voice, I shut my eyes, refusing to see whatever shadows were drawing closer and closer. Not that I needed to see to know what was there with me. The temperature dropped even more, and my bare feet burned at the sharpness of the frozen stones beneath them.
“This is no way to treat family,” Baladon hissed, so close now I could smell the decay on his breath. “You, my sweet, sweet niece, think you can outsmart me. Is that it?”
“You are not real,” I stated, keeping my eyes closed. “You are in my head and nothing more.”
“Everything in your head is real. Even those voices that damned elven queen thinks she can silence. Or your filthy dog. How you brought yourself to marry him—pathetic.”
I shook my head, curling in on myself as I felt him move around me.
“You know, it’s funny how everyone hears god of monsters and darkness and assumes it only means the monsters in the physical world,” he mused, and my gut churned in anticipation of what was about to happen. “They never think of the monsters that traipse around in their own minds, out of sight. Out of reach.”
A dull roar started in my ears, but I ignored it, thinking of Tristan and our wedding, the evening we spent together. I pictured it all clearly in my mind, but the darkness encroached, pushing against the bubble of light within me.
“One last chance, Sabella. Join me or fall forever into madness.”
“I’ve been mad all my life,” I snapped, finally opening my eyes. I mentally patted myself on the back for not flinching at discovering his red eyes a few inches from mine, him bent down so we could be eye level. “What could you do to make it any worse?”
His smile stretched wider than should’ve been possible, sending a shiver down my spine.
He ran his fingers down my cheek, burning me; they were so cold. He opened his mouth and cackled in delight. The sound intensified until I feared I’d be deaf from it.
He raised his staff and slammed it into the stones between us. A bright red flash filled my vision, and I fell backward, but there was suddenly no floor. I was falling and falling into nothingness.
Baladon’s cackling followed me down. Just when I thought I was going to be cursed to fall forever, I hit the ground, grass, and dirt beneath me.
I spat a clump of leaves and grass out of my mouth and looked around to see if I at least knew where I was. The trees looked like all the other trees I’d run through the last few months, and there was nothing else to give me a hint. No buildings, or roads. No streams. Just trees and fog swirling around me.
“Hello?” I yelled, wincing as my word was thrown back at me. “Yeah, this is horribly scary.” I cursed when those words echoed back as well, hurting my ears. “Whatever. You want to throw me in a foggy tree maze? Fine, I’ll wander around a foggy tree maze, and I’ll get myself out.”
I tugged the fur around my shoulders, picked a random direction, and started walking.
There was no sound, not my steps, or wind. Nothing at all, only utter stillness. I yelled again just for the hell of it, but the words only echoed back to me even louder, so I gave that up.
I told myself that Baladon had trapped me in a dream. That’s all this was so I just had to find a way to wake myself up, right? A doorway or an exit. I was inside my own head, and I knew my own crazy mind better than some damned god.
“You hear that, Baladon?” I whispered, the silence eating up my words. “You are not going to beat me down, not now.”
I had too much going for me. I’d be damned if I was going to let that bastard take it all away.
“Sabella…”
My mother? “Mom? Farrah?”
“Sabella… Sabella…”
She was close, she had to be. I heard her call my name again and took off at a sprint in that direction, but then slid to a stop. A trick, all of this was a trick meant to trip me up. She wasn’t really here. She was trapped with him in his realm. I couldn’t save her, not yet.
“Sabella…”
The voice was closer that time, and the sound of a cloak dragging over leaves made me freeze. The last time I saw Farrah, she was held fast in a chair being drained of her powers. She couldn’t be here now. It wasn’t possible.
“Sabella, you have failed us.”
A bony hand reached out and grabbed my shoulder, whipping me around.
“You… you’re not real,” I whispered, the words barely able to get out of my mouth.
Farrah stood there, her once bright eyes darkened and her skin grey and dead looking. And she wasn’t alone. More figures emerged from the fog, cloaked in black, their eyes black pits. Gods, all the gods I’d seen trapped, and so many more I hadn’t even seen. I wanted to back away, but Farrah’s fingers dug into my shoulder, pinching the nerve. A shooting pain jolted through my arm and back.
“You have left us to die. Do you see what you’ve caused?”
“We’re still trying to save you,” I insisted. “Let me go.”
“You’re too late. Baladon has killed us, he’s killed us all. You
are nothing to me, nothing but a worthless daughter I never should have borne.”
Tears stung my eyes, but I wiped them away and tore myself free of her.
“You are not real. None of this is real. It’s all in my head, just in my head.”
I repeated the words over and over as the gods closed in around me, boxing me in, preventing me from escaping.
They called me a failure, a plague on this world, a seer too blind to see the future right in front of her. Their hands grabbed at me, bony and dead as I fell to the ground and screamed for them to leave me be. But they blocked out the trees overhead, and my attempts to fight back were useless.
I screamed and screamed, but no one was coming to save me.
I thrashed, fighting against the hands holding me down.
“Sabella. Open your eyes, damn it,” a voice growled. But that name, that wasn’t my name. Who were these people?
My eyes shot open.
Five or six people stood around me, holding me to a bed.
“Get off me. Get away.” I had to get away from them before they hurt me. None of them were familiar. Strangers. All strangers. I kicked and hit, making contact. Several grunts and curses resounded in the room, but the snarl that drew my attention came from the man to my right, his hands holding my shoulders as his eyes flaring yellow.
“Stop, just take a breath and let yourself remember,” he growled.
Why did he sound more like a beast than a man? He was one of them, one of the ones after me. I screamed at the top of my lungs, fighting even harder until I managed to break free of them all and sprinted for the door. The man yelled for them to stop me, but too late. I was in the corridor and running blindly, shoving bodies out of the way as I searched for an exit.
A din of voices rose up in my mind, and I clutched my hands to my ears to drown them out, competing with the yells following me through the palace made of glass. The voices in my head turned into screeches.
Visions (Dragon Reign Book 7) Page 13
