by Amy Bearce
The arrow, strengthened with three forms of magic, soared through the air in a heartbeat and crashed through the icy maelstrom brewing around Shane. The sharp point plunged into his chest. Red bloomed against him like a flower in winter.
Corbin shouted, and triumph surged through Nell. Then Shane laughed.
Grabbing the arrow by the fletching, he said, “That’s the best you can do? Too bad. You had so much potential.”
Shane yanked the arrow from his body, and blood seeped down his chest. The wound gaped open, and wisps of smoke lifted from blackening edges of the hole.
The sword could defeat the enemy and his frozen wasteland, the voice had said. But if she herself was the sword, then she would have to take his magic back directly. The arrow could only do so much.
The choice remaining wasn’t one that Corbin would like, not at all.
She sent an image to her windsteed of what they needed to do. The steed shook her head and stamped her foot mid-air but did as Nell asked.
Nell winked out of existence before appearing directly next to Shane. She reached over and snagged him right off the back of his dragon and disappeared again before his dragon could respond.
Take us far away, Nell thought to the windsteed. The blackness was as dark as ever, and she shivered at the thought of being lost inside it with a madman.
Before she could take one full breath, they reappeared in a blue sky, above a remote island in the middle of the sea. An unfamiliar single mountain peak edged by cliffs stood alone in the icy water. The sun dazzled the sky above them, not hidden by a single cloud.
The land was high in the air, surrounded by water. Nell had no idea where they were, but Shane wouldn’t be able to leave this place without her. She landed and pushed him to the ground.
“If you wanted to duel with just the two of us, you had only to ask,” Shane said, climbing back to his feet and drawing one sword. He laughed, but under that laugh Nell could hear it―he was finally afraid.
“Why don’t you give up?”
“I’ve defeated you without my dragon before. Come down off that horse, and I’ll do it again.”
The battle rage she’d once leaned on for strength had disappeared, and she was glad. She didn’t need it. It was just about the mission now.
Nell eyed the black smoke seeping from Shane’s chest. The arrow wound seemed to be weakening him. She patted Brigid in thanks and slid to the ground. “I’ll offer mercy if you lay down your swords.”
“I don’t need your mercy.” One corner of his mouth lifted in a sneer.
Who was this man, really? The brilliant weapons instructor she’d known seemed to have been swallowed up entirely by hate.
“Let’s try this again. Will you give yourself up? Set your dragon free? The other dragons are free now, but yours remains bound, and your wound will weaken you enough for me to win.”
“I couldn’t set my dragon free if I wanted to. He’s a part of me and has been since he bit me. I didn’t ask for that, but I’ve lived with it.” Shane reached up slowly with his free hand, and Nell backed away, drawing the sword she’d come so far for.
He pulled his mask from his face.
Shane was handsome many years ago, she remembered. He could still be so today. The thick white scar marred his cheek and neck, but the fierce scar didn’t make him frightening. His eyes did. She swallowed hard.
His eyes were black, full of magic, even darker than the last time they’d fought. Her long-ago sword master had also become a master of magic, but the kind that had slowly destroyed his soul.
“You never told me what happened, Shane. All this time, I thought you were dead.”
“Aye, I was a potential threat to their little thrones. They thought they’d kill me off with poison, since none could touch me with a blade. Of course, I’d known that day was coming and had built up a tolerance to Jack’s poisons over the years. I escaped but knew there’d be no rest for me while they hunted for me, so I left for the wilderness to make my fortune and show Bentwood his mistake in tossing me aside. I found myself attacked by a dragon instead, and when he bit me, he set something free in me that must have been waiting. I had magic, like none I’d ever heard of.”
Nell didn’t lower her sword, but she listened.
“I bided my time, here in the Ice-Locked Land, gathering strength, and then I heard stories of you. How well I remembered you, Nellwyn. Such a fighter, working for that gutter snake Jack.”
“Jack respected you.”
“Jack respected no one. But he knew how to use people, like he used you and me. You had more talent in one sword arm than he had in his whole body. I was pleased to see you come into power, until you started convincing people they were second-class citizens to magical creatures.” He scowled, tossed the mask aside, and drew his other blade with the ringing of metal on metal.
She took a step back. “That’s not our message. We say only we’re all equal.”
He could attack at any second, but she didn’t want to fight him if she didn’t have to. Not now. She couldn’t leave him here―he could call another dragon and escape―but she’d rather give him a chance to change his mind, out of respect for the man he’d once been, the mentor she’d needed as a fatherless girl fighting for her family.
Shane said, “You’ve taken our dignity.”
“Equality only feels like a loss of freedom when you’ve had all the privilege and power.”
She studied his expression to discern if he understood at all. He would have, once upon a time. But now his eyes weren’t quite right, even beyond the magic.
The voice from the sword whispered, You did well, Guardian. But now do what you must. You are free of reprisal.
“So, trading human dignity for magic, is it worth all you’ve suffered, Nellwyn? Having a responsibility no one else can fathom as the so-called prophetess? You’ll never be normal. Is it worth being alone?” He gave her a slow, horrible smile.
“I’m never alone,” she replied without thinking, and the windsteed billowed its wings. Flame surrounded them both, spread to cover Shane as well.
Shane stumbled back, dropping his swords as the handles glowed bright red from the heat. He raised his hands, and ice formed around him like a shield, but Nell aimed her sword at him, and flames shattered the ice. He collapsed with a roar, palms up, burn marks clear.
She walked toward him, and he scrambled back to the edge of the cliff.
Can I take his magic? Leave him without fangs? Heal him? she asked the voice through the sword.
Possibly. He’d have to want the healing.
It was worth a try. His magic had been wrongfully taken all these years, and Nell was a creature of the air now too. She could end it.
Nell reached out her empty hand to him and concentrated. She envisioned the magic lifting from him, pouring out from the arrow wound. Red mist rose slowly like steam from the wound, coiling and twisting.
“What are you…What are you doing?” Shane cried out, frantically grabbing at his chest, trying to hold the magic in.
“I’m taking back what you stole,” Nell replied softly. The red mist floated to her in a delicately curling line and disappeared into her hand in a steady stream, tying the two of them together.
She felt no hatred. No anger. This was simply justice, calmly administered. Shane wasn’t safe with this much power. Their world would be safer because of her choice right now.
“Nooo!” he cried.
She felt his hold on the power, but it wasn’t enough anymore. The magic continued to drain from him, his eyes fading from black to a dark brown, then to a deep green. They were lovely eyes, or would have been, if it wasn’t for the grief and fury in them.
As the last red ribbon of magic was pulled from his body, her new tattoo flared red before fading back to silver. She would give back this magic to his dragon and hope it healed the beast.
Blood shined deep red on Shane’s chest. He blinked and groaned, pulling himself to a kneeling position, hands
pressed hard against the ground near his dropped blades.
She readied her sword, but she heard one whispered word.
“Free…”
She froze. “Shane?”
“To be… finally… free of the madness that came with the bite.” He looked all around, no longer glaring. Relief filled his face instead of rage.
He continued, shaking his head, “It’s… incredible. A glimpse of the sky after years in a dark dungeon. But my dragon is still captive to me from our binding. My power over him is too complete for him to be freed while I yet live. I never intended it, nor did he, but we’ve lived with what the magic wrought between us.”
This man sounded like the one she remembered from years past―tough, but fair. Honest. Respectable. Perhaps without the dragon’s magic in him, he’d returned to sanity. She’d seen stranger things. Compassion and hope softened her heart. He had not asked for the burden of power, just as she hadn’t.
“We can do a lot of things to help you―”
“You’ve done enough. Thank you, Nellwyn… Nell. I know what needs to be done.”
Shane straightened his shoulders, his eyes bright with a new light. “My dragon has earned its freedom. And this way, I will always fly!” With those words, he jumped to his feet and dashed away from her outstretched hand.
“No, wait!” Nell shouted.
Shane leapt off the cliff and extended his arms as if they were wings. He seemed to hover for a moment, as if he could truly soar through the air through sheer determination. But then he fell. He fell far and fast, landing in the icy water at such speed not even a true dragon would have survived.
Nell breathed hard, staring down at the dark spot in the ocean. The sea would claim his body and use it to nourish life. She picked up his mask, tracing the wooden carving.
She imagined him as he had been years ago, laughing, strong, arrogant, determined. He’d helped her believe in herself, gave her skills she’d needed to survive and thrive.
With a sigh of regret, she shook her head. She’d always feared losing everyone she loved like she’d lost her father. Being left completely alone. But Shane really had been alone all these years, alone in his power and strength in the Ice-Locked Lands. Power and strength weren’t enough to keep you warm.
That’s what friends were for.
She slid onto the back of Brigid, caressing her neck. “Thank you,” Nell whispered to her beautiful mount. The beast whinnied, and the two of them disappeared.
Back at the tree, Nell found mass chaos.
The windsteeds and fairies had penned in Shane’s dragon, keeping its icy mist from reaching anyone. The fairies lined the windsteeds’ manes, so the manes appeared to be entwined with tiny lights.
The beast was screaming, tossing its head. Its connection to Shane had been destroyed, but it still lacked its own magic. Windsteeds, as agents of the air, had authority the dragon would obey, once the corruption of Shane could be healed and the dragon’s magic restored.
“Nell! It’s Nell!” cried out someone, Sierra from the sound of it. And then Nell was lifted off the back of Brigid and engulfed in a tight hug against a familiar chest. Corbin’s sweet scent of honey and cinnamon wafted around her. She laid her head against him.
“I ought to kill you!” he said into her hair.
“If Shane couldn’t kill me, you sure can’t,” Nell countered.
He stiffened. “Where’s he now?”
“Dead,” she replied, meeting his eyes. “After I took away the magic that drove him mad, he jumped to his death to free his dragon. He sacrificed his life for this poor creature, but I suspect Shane didn’t want to live without his magic, either. It was all he’d known for so long.”
“What a sad decision,” Phoebe said, who’d chosen life without magic herself for the sake of merfolk.
“Not everyone is as fortunate as we are,” Nell said. “We’re together. We’ll never be alone. And I, for one, intend to make sure it stays that way!”
She paced to Shane’s dragon through the windsteeds and fairies without fear. None of their magic could hurt her. The dragon paced with agitation, roaring every few steps. It looked at her with eyes made ancient from years of servitude. Nell’s heart cramped with pity, and she called her magic to surround her with its flames. Her own light reflected in the beast’s white eyes. Then Nell touched its cold flank and let the magic she’d taken from Shane flow back into the beast.
Without Shane’s connection keeping the power locked away from it, the magic knew its home and rushed into the dragon with relief. The beast’s scales warmed to the touch, and when she opened her eyes, the dragon was bright red. It bugled and a plume of flame rocketed into the sky. It touched her head with its snout, perhaps in thanks, then shook off her touch and rose to the sky, flying off, Nell presumed, to its home. Dragons should be free, like all creatures of Aluvia, magical or otherwise. But the windsteeds would watch over them now to keep them from destroying what they shouldn’t.
Nell lifted her palm and concentrated. Red and silver mist lifted from her hand, and the rest of Shane’s stolen magic dissipated into the sky, where it belonged. She didn’t feel empty. She knew the magic of the air would come to her call whenever she needed it. It belonged to her, and she belonged to it in a way Shane had not.
Without the presence of their master, many of Shane’s men had revolted and escaped. But, happily, Jasper hadn’t. He was tied against the Tree, crying like a baby.
Nell aimed her sword at him, allowing a few tendrils of fire to lick down the blade and curl right under his nose.
“Well, Jasper. Do I need to remove you permanently from our world, or can you agree to stop making trouble?”
He shook, gazing up at Nell. She let the fire engulf her once more and stood before him, shrouded in red and silver flames, sword extended.
He wept harder. “I promise, Nell. I promise!”
Corbin said, “You’re gonna trust that weasel?”
She glanced at him. He was smiling at her, awe and love shining clearly from his eyes.
“I know where he lives if he ever changes his mind.”
Carrick sat on a rock nearby, head clasped in his hands. The older alchemist had turned himself in after Nell had taken off with Shane. Carrick’s boney shoulders slumped; his scarred hands trembled.
Pursing her lips, Nell moved to his side. “So, you survived.”
“I’m sorry, Nell. I should’ve been brave enough to stand up to Jasper, not get all caught up in my elixirs, but I was a coward.”
She’d walked the same path he did, for much the same reasons. He used to have a family. By the time they died, he was trapped in the Flight crew. For a crew member, he was as honorable as he could be and still live.
“You know, Carrick, if you want to make it right, we could use someone with skills like yours.” The words fell from her mouth before she could consider them. Apparently, mercy was easier for her than it once had been. She offered him her hand. His eyes widened at the tattooed tree along her arm. Her palm still held a silver scar line, a reminder that it was never too late for redemption, not for anyone.
“I’ll teach you the ways of balancing and healing without abusing our world’s magic. Treasures we’ve barely touched and centuries of knowledge are stored in their ancient temples.”
The voice spoke to her sharply. The guardians have always been women.
Nell thought back to them through the sword: Didn’t you say it was time for a change? If I can have a second chance, so should he. I’ll take on this job, but I’m doing it my way. We’ll live among others, too, including as many who wish to learn, so we never forget what we once knew.
A feeling of surprise came from the presence of the guardian voice, which sounded again like the single deep, rich voice of the last four years.
And so the newest of us teaches the oldest, the voice whispered, with a feeling of quiet acceptance… and pride.
Nell stood taller as joy pressed inside her like a bubble expa
nding outward. Her eyes stung at the stunned hope on the man’s weathered face.
“Me? But, Nell―”
“You can choose a new path now, Carrick.” Her windsteed whickered behind her and touched her soft nose to Nell’s cheek.
He wept, this jaded man still broken inside, but Nell knew he could be healed.
She had been, after all.
And the Tree of Life stood tall and vibrant, healed and made new, tying together all of Aluvia’s magic, balancing the ebb and flow of the three strands.
Magic could heal them all.
Corbin stood alone, a short distance away. Nell couldn’t stop thinking of how he’d looked rising into the air on his windsteed, eyes bright with determination. He’d risked his life for her. For all of Aluvia.
She walked to him and simply wrapped him in a tight hug. “I’m sorry for the things I said to you, before. I might have been right that time, but you were right to be worried about me. Thank you for telling me the hard things I needed to hear.”
“You’d do the same for me. We all watch out for each other. Everything’s going to be fine. In fact, shall we go check on your family? I imagine you’d like to make sure all is well with them.” He stepped back with one last squeeze, and motioned toward Brigid, who could take them back to Covenstead in the blink of an eye.
“Soon,” Nell promised. She couldn’t wait to invite her sisters to join her as guardians, but there was something she needed to do first, something long overdue.
Taking a deep breath, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the dried steel thistle flower. Holding it out to him, she said, “Corbin Lannon, you’ve wanted me to lay down my sword for the longest time. Now that I’ve picked one up that will stay with me always, are you willing to accept me, steel and all? Because I love you more than words can say and would be honored to spend my life with you.”
