Darkborn (Shattering of the Nocturnai Book 4)

by Carrie Summers

  Still held aloft by our enslaved friends, we were being carried up the mountainside. Mieshk marched ahead, melting her way through obstacles on a straight path toward the boiling cauldron inside Ioene’s crown. She couldn’t burn me alive with her own fire, not with my aurora-blessing repelling her magic. But not even the aurora could protect me from the lava inside Ioene’s summit crater.

  I have an idea, Paono said. I managed to bind a few sparks on my last try. I really Wanted it, and even managed to perform the weaving despite the pain I knew it caused. But the shell around the nightstrands is too strong. When I built it, I’d joined hundreds of sparks to mine, but more importantly, I killed to build the prison. The full vitality of a living person cements the walls. The only way I can shatter them is with another fatality. And I just can’t Want that, Lilik. I tried, but I just can’t.

  As our bearers marched up the glassy path created by Mieshk’s fire, I bounced in their grip. Ioene sputtered and fumed, but the smell of cinders was nearly overpowered by the heavy perfume of kivi blossoms. The night-blooming flowers spread in a massive patch on either side of our obsidian pathway. I breathed deep, memories rising in my thoughts.

  The flowers had been special for Tyrak and Zyri. I remembered him weaving her a necklace of their blossoms. In the darkness of Ioene’s night, the flowers were just ghostly hints amongst the black and red leaves. But in the light of the lanterns which had illuminated the island during Vanished time, the true colors of the petals were revealed. They took their hues from the energy of their surroundings. While still attached to the kivi plant, the flowers were a dull gray. But draped as a garland around Zyri’s neck, deep blues and purples had washed through the blossoms.

  I have to be the one to die first, Paono said, interrupting the memory.

  I lifted my head and looked up the trail. The people bearing my friend walked ahead, setting the pace. Paono was much heavier than me, and they would have been quickly outdistanced otherwise.

  I took a minute to calm my thoughts. This was just like Paono. Always the martyr. But why play into her game of making us choose?

  You don’t think it will free the strands, do you? I asked. I doubt it works that way.

  I don’t know what else to do, Lilik. I’ve tried everything.

  Try again. The dawnweaving is the key. Force yourself to realize that we’re all dead anyway. A single life lost is infinitely better than seeing the whole world destroyed.

  I know Lilik. I do. I want to make that choice. But when I attempt the weaving…

  Your heart betrays you. I know. It’s hard for me, but I’m trying to understand.

  It’s hard because you’re so frustrated, he said. It’s okay, Lilik. You forget that I can sense your spark. I can know what you’re feeling. Everything if I wish.

  I grimaced at the reminder. I’d known he could sense my feelings—we talked about it before I left Ioene. But I’d tried to forget that detail of his life-channeling, preferring to feel as if my thoughts were mine alone.

  I respect your privacy, he said. I don’t try to listen in to how you feel. It’s just that sometimes your emotions are so intense they’re impossible to ignore. I know how much I’m frustrating you. It should be so easy to let go of my regret over what I did.

  But I’m just me, Lilik. The same boy who loved you from those first days when we played together at the beach. The same boy who let you go when he realized he wasn’t enough for you. You’re a shooting star. A crackling bonfire. I knew the best I could offer was a sturdy base for your flame. Whereas someone like Raav was the air that could help you blaze brighter.

  I lay in my captors’ grips, stilled by his words. I’d known he cared about me, but I hadn’t realized the depth of his feelings. I loved Paono too—as a friend and cherished childhood companion. But in the last months, I’d realized that he was too stable. Too reliable. Better that I’d found Raav who could stand up to my often-fiery temper, even help me channel it. My steadfast friend would only be hurt by it again and again. I thought he’d chosen Katrikki because he didn’t want to risk the friendship he had with me by trying to change its nature, but it seemed he’d let me go for the same reason I’d pulled away.

  I wondered if I’d been underestimating him. He was standing up to me in his own way right now. Standing up to the whole world and refusing to sacrifice his morals no matter who and what consequences stood against him. I had moved on, but maybe I didn’t quite understand my own reasons.

  You are only telling me this because you think we’re going to die, I said.

  I’m telling you this because I want you to let me die for you. I think it will work. I’m a vessel for the nightstrands’ prison. When I’m gone, they’ll be free.

  No, I said abruptly. That’s now how we solve this. I have an idea, but I need to wait until Mieshk tries to make us choose.

  As I spoke, I did everything I could to hold my emotions close. I couldn’t let Paono feel what I planned. Tyrak’s words had finally sparked a realization. Paono’s ability surfaced only in the noblest of people. He could never Want to kill someone to power his dawnweaving—unless he reached a point of utter despair. He needed to feel that no choice remained.

  Weeks ago, Peldin, the speaker for the Vanished civilization, had spoken of Paono with awe. He’s a life channeler, Lilik, he’d said. He can heal the island.

  One of us might need to die to save Ioene and our world. But it would not be Paono.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  NEAR IOENE’S SUMMIT not even Mieshk could craft a straight trail. Deep cracks gouged the jagged, black stone. Steam and sulfurous vapors vented from tiny fissures and yawning pits. Lava oozed from gaps in the crater rim, folding over itself in great, bulging waves. Heat hazed the air, and the acrid smell of burning stone stung my nostrils. Our bearers stumbled over sharp rubble, rocks so fresh and raw that each edge could slice flesh.

  Ahead, Mieshk halted at a gash in the earth so deep that lava glowed in its depths. She peered down as if captivated. Intoxicated by the sight of so much fire, maybe.

  I thought of the Hollow One below. At least Mieshk still had emotions, no matter how crazed and vile. That thing at the harbor was entirely different. Nothing could describe the deep, aching evil it had exuded. Our human words—hunger, avarice, evil—were nothing but poor attempts to classify what the Hunger and its Hollow Ones embodied.

  After a moment, Mieshk shook free of her daze and turned for the summit. A narrow rock rib thrust up from the jumbled and steaming slope. The ridge speared straight for the summit, a knife of black stone. Mieshk looked from the serrated rib to her groups of porters carrying her prizes. She seemed to be contemplating whether they could navigate the rib without dropping us or losing some of their numbers to falls.

  “Let us walk,” I said.

  She curled her lip at me. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

  I tried to sit up to better speak to her, but the thief holding my shoulders kept me flat.

  “I don’t want any of my friends to die trying to maneuver me up that climb,” I said. I meant it. Gritting my teeth, I continued, “Wrap us in your fire. Force us up if necessary.”

  Behind Mieshk’s eyes of blackened stone, I sensed her thoughts working. Commanding the fire used her power. I suspected that her strength could be exhausted without a new supply of nightstrands to feed it. After a moment, she shook her head. “Carry them,” she said.

  I closed my eyes to avoid looking at the drop. The ridge was too narrow for my bearers to walk even two abreast, so they formed a line and passed me up, holding me firm while those from the rear scrambled around and braced themselves to take my weight again. I didn’t resist. If anyone fell, they might knock the whole group off the ridge.

  Stone clattered as fragments broke away. The rock here was brittle and sharp. When I dared peek through cracked eyelids, I saw blood slicking the hands of my captors. Burgundy handprints dirtied my tunic and trousers. But eventually, I felt my body rotated upright as a wave of heat
and steam crashed over me. I opened my eyes and looked down Ioene’s throat. We stood atop a sharp spire overhanging a lake of lava many times the size of Istanik. Around the rim, other towers and pinnacles of stone looked like gargoyles defending the pit beneath. Crusts of black rock floated on the lake’s surface, joining in places, cracking in others. Gouts of flame and molten stone bubbled and sprayed from hotspots in the sea of fire.

  It was strangely mesmerizing. Ever since I was a little girl, I’d felt a strange kinship with Ioene. Stories of the volcano had always captivated me, and the Nocturnai had been both a dream fulfilled and an unimaginable nightmare. But I’d never envisioned myself standing over Ioene’s fire like this. Through the cloud of ash and smoke that hung over the peak, I glimpsed the aurora. They’d worked their blessing during our climb, and my vision was nearly clear again. At least I would meet my last moments with my eyes wide open.

  Mieshk was busy preening and soaking in the power of the fire. Even I could feel the raw energy. But it wasn’t fire that brought evil to the world. I understood that while staring at Ioene’s naked heart. It was greed and madness and selfishness wielded by those who hungered for power and disrupted the balance between fire and aurora in their quest. A rift had opened before, bringing about the cataclysm that destroyed the Vanished civilization. I couldn’t say how I knew it, only that it was true. And somewhere amongst the nightstrands, someone knew how the breach had been sealed. Paono would find out the truth. He’d lead the others through whatever steps were necessary to close the gate and force the Hunger from our world.

  Peldin had foreseen the truth long ago. Paono would heal the island.

  Still enthralled by Mieshk’s command, my friends and allies stood back in a semicircle, ready to stop any attempts at escape. I searched their eyes, wondering who had been shielded from the compulsion by Paono’s channeling. I imagined I glimpsed the light of free will in a thief’s eyes. But I couldn’t be sure. With my gaze roving over the whole group, Paono included, I swallowed.

  “You can still go back from this,” I said to Mieshk. “We can figure out how close the rift together.”

  I didn’t expect anything out of her, but I had to try.

  Mieshk simply snarled. “Fool gutterborn. So weak she can’t even understand the power in what I’ve done.”

  “Last chance,” I said.

  Her lips drew back. “Or what? You stab me again?” She laughed.

  I shrugged. “Tell Raav I didn’t see any other way,” I said as I started to turn. As my gaze passed over Paono, I saw realization strike him.

  “What?” Paono snapped. “No!”

  He wasn’t fast enough. Whirling, I sprinted the final distance to the brink. At the last moment, I yanked Tyrak from his sheath and threw him over the heads of the group. Distantly, I heard metal ping off stone as he tumbled down the slope. Someday, someone would find him again. Maybe even reunite him with his beloved Zyri.

  With a quick inhalation, I whirled, teetered on the crater rim. Dug my toe against sharp rock and pushed off into open air. Arms wide, I dove for the burning lake. Time stretched out as I fell, wind scouring my face. I spun, lazily flipping head over heels. Sky and fire, sky and fire. In the instant before I impacted the molten stone, I saw Paono silhouetted against the aurora. Three figures—the few he’d shielded from Mieshk’s command—held him back from the drop, preventing him from following me to my death.

  Peace flooded my heart as I fell into the lava. To the deepest core of my soul, I knew I’d chosen the one act that would allow us to win. Paono would despair. He’d failed to protect the girl he’d always loved. Finally, he would truly Want to destroy Mieshk forever. No matter what.

  Molten stone closed over me. Excruciating heat. Fire poured down my throat.

  I felt nothing else.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  LIGHT, CRYSTALLINE, ENTERED my eyes.

  Glints.

  Shards.

  An infinite glimmerscape stretching in all directions. A white-gold sky arched overhead.

  I looked down.

  My body was a lacework sculpture, spun of sugar and salt and glowing from within.

  This wasn’t right. I remembered the aether and how my body had appeared. I’d projected an image of the gutterborn girl from Istanik, ragged clothing tattered at the hems. And there’d been others, their spirits likewise manifesting as shades of their former physical existence.

  The nightstrands were imprisoned. Had I somehow been sucked into Paono’s crystalline shell?

  I turned at the sound of water lapping. To my left, a quicksilver sea kissed the crystal shores. Pearls rolled at the tide line. As I stood, bewildered, the colors of the landscape shifted from iridescent white to the welcoming tones of chocolate and through the many moods of the sea I’d loved to watch on Istanik. Deep azure beneath a creamy sun. Steel-gray as wind and rain lashed the surface.

  And back to white.

  “Hello?” I called.

  My voice spilled across the landscape, setting the crystals in the sand shivering.

  No response.

  I turned for the sea, my light-spun body shedding salt as I moved only to collect grains of sand that rolled up my shape to replace what was lost. I crouched beside the silvery water and dipped in a finger.

  Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to dive into that silver sea. Two quick steps, and I leaped, my body soaring in a graceful arc before plunging into the water. It was neither warm nor cold nor any temperature at all. Surfacing, I began to tread water. A current rose from the deep, pulling me away from shore. Faster and faster, and as the land faded from sight, I glimpsed other figures.

  Like me, they glowed, colors shifting and shimmering over the surface of their flesh. Yet these were not whole. Not like me. How did I know that?

  I blinked, dove beneath the surface again, and peered through the wavering silver liquid. Glowing threads trailed behind the others, leading to distant places.

  To distant sparks.

  I gasped, inhaling the flowing silver. But rather than making me cough and sputter, it filled me with tranquility. I swam for the surface and found myself pulled toward a central pillar, an obelisk containing all the colors in the world.

  When I touched the nexus, I knew. The sensation was the same as feeling him over our link.

  “Paono?” I said.

  Shock rippled through the air.

  Lilik! His thought boomed across the sea. You’re alive!

  “I—Paono, I don’t know where I am. Or what I am.”

  More lights drifted toward the pillar. Toward Paono. Confusion over my answer haloed the obelisk, a swirl of aquamarine fog. The lights drew closer, vitality radiating off them.

  “Is this a dawnweaving?” I asked. It seemed to fit. Paono was calling energy from living sparks, and the threads that streamed behind them kept the fragments from being severed from the bodies.

  I dove beneath the surface and twirled, looking for my own thread. But there was nothing.

  Yes, he said. I didn’t know what else to do. I had to save you. I Wanted to save you. And you’re here.

  Hesitation colored his final thought, a wave of blue-gray trepidation spilling over the water.

  But I saw the lava pull you down… he added.

  I ran my hands over my body then pressed. My fingers dove into the light as if I had no substance at all.

  I was dead. I’d felt the lava take me inside it. The flash of pain had been so quick I’d hardly noticed it. But my body had burned. All that remained was my spirit.

  I’d expected to wake in the aether. But this was different.

  “Paono, can you feel my spirit? Can you sense which spark is mine?”

  A gentle tide washed from the pillar, probing. Abruptly, the water hardened, turning to stone.

  I… Oh tides. Lilik, I pulled too hard. I took too much. It’s like before.

  “What do you mean? What is it, Paono?”

  I killed you.

  The stone
collapsed, returning to water. But now, the sea roiled. Waves lashed the surface, throwing anguish-colored spray across the landscape.

  “Wait, Paono. No! The lava killed me. Not you!” I could scarcely hear my voice over the crash and spume of Paono’s despair. But I knew he could hear me.

  Lies! I have your entire spark. It’s joining my weave. I did this to you.

  Water thick with self-loathing slapped against my face. Paono’s grief poured down my throat. I understood now. This world lived within Paono’s mind. It was the foundation for his ability. Beautiful and boundless, and now as full of despair as deep as the Hunger was fathomless.

  But if I was here, a complete living spark, did that mean I was alive? Dead, but simply waylaid on my journey to the aether?

  “Stop!” I screamed. “Stop, Paono!”

  I didn’t know what else to do, so I swam for his pillar. Waves threw me against the sides of the obelisk then sucked me away only to pound me against its hardness again. But I persisted, and finally, I caught hold of a corner of the obelisk. I closed my eyes, visualizing my bond with my friend. I had no body. I had no bounds. Focusing all my will on believing I was immaterial, that this sea and sky were nothing but illusions, I slipped inside Paono’s mind.

  Look out! I screamed.

  Paono’s skin was alive with the power flowing into his body from the gathering sparks. Colors shone brighter and the crunch of feet on stone grated in his ears as our friends—Mieshk’s slaves—advanced.

  The three people he’d shielded from Mieshk’s compulsion were warm presences against his mind. He’d maintained the links, but his concentration was wavering. For now, his trio of defenders, a male smuggler wearing spiked leather gloves, Captain Altak’s navigator, a slight woman who looked as if she had little experience fighting, and an oarsman with muscles to make up for his lack of a blade, formed a wall between my friend and the advancing attackers.