Uncle appears through the fog with his torch. “Believe in yourself. We all have a special purpose.”
Sorrow and resentment boil inside me. “What is Daniel’s purpose in being stranded on this island?”
“Maybe saving your life,” Daniel says.
“So I can die?”
Mist smothers Bryntar.
“If transforming is painful, better control your feelings,” Daniel says.
I will not let her go through this alone.
Bryntar suddenly shrieks, a long, unending, terrifying howl.
I stiffen and crumple to the ground. Strong arms enclose me, but overwhelming pain stops all thought.
Her body writhes in convulsions. Stop! Stop! Bones grind. Marrow freezes. Nerves twist and burn, hotter, hotter. I cry out in scorched agony.
Muscles squeeze away my breath. Erratic heartbeats slam into mine. Tendons rip, rebuild. Skin stretches, tears, and reforms. I feel it all and screech in anguish. Please, please. Let me die. Tears cannot drown the pain. I am hopeless, mindless, breathless.
The torture sweeps us closer and closer to death. My heart stops beating. Weakened, I feel energy float from my body. I am so sorry, dear mother. Daniel please forgive . . .
Bryntar roars, a cry so mournful, I think our hearts will break.
Then there is only silence.
I gasp, heart pounding into life. And breathe in painless relief.
Dazed, I awake in Daniel’s arms, worry and horror in his eyes. “Y-you okay?”
Uncle holds my hand. Shaken to his core, he has no words.
A moan filters from the mist, a sound completely unlike Bryntar. The vapor shifts and uncovers a small, clawed hand lying out of the water.
I crawl forward. “Please forgive me, dear Bryntar.”
A perfect hand appears. Shocked, I can only watch as the mist lifts to unveil a stranger.
“My God.” Daniel’s face is whiter than the ash.
Uncle bows his head. “Never did I expect to see such a miracle.”
I whisper, my throat raw. “Do not touch her until she is out of the water.”
Bryntar emerges from the lagoon on shaky legs, no longer the monster I know.
Long black hair hangs in her face. Leather boots and fur clothes cover her body. She is what she once was, a statuesque Ice Lord. Her blue eyes have not changed. They meet mine as she pushes the hair from her breathtaking face with a wan smile. “My Elandra.” Her voice murmurs in unaccustomed softness. Torchlight flickers over a line of delicate, shimmering scales that trail down one cheek.
It does not matter to me what she looks like. I clasp her in my arms. “You are alive.”
She hugs me, her love thrilling every cell of my body. She sighs when she sees her small, clawed hand.
“I am sorry, Bryntar. Part of your cheek and hand were not submerged in the lagoon. I was afraid to touch you in case I interfered with the transition.”
She touches the scales on her face. “A small reminder of my past.” She speaks in a whisper as if afraid to form the words. Her legs tremble and I catch her before she falls.
Uncle passes his torch to Daniel. “Give her to me.” He lifts Bryntar into his arms.
“It is not necessary,” Bryntar says. “I am quite capable.”
“When you regain your strength,” he says.
“You still planning to transform?” Daniel asks me.
I stare at the lagoon and remember the all-consuming greed when I touched the water. The entity that resides within wants me. I can withstand the pain, but cannot be sure my powers will not kill me in the direct transformation process. I also cannot guarantee what will happen to everyone if the lagoon gains my powers.
With resignation and the finality of letting go of my dream I say, “I will not enter the lagoon.”
Daniel sighs. “That’s a relief.”
Uncle carries Bryntar toward the tunnel. “Let us leave this place.”
Lava bursts out of the wall behind the lagoon and spills into it. The cavern rumbles. Rocks crack and smash into the water.
My mind touches the defeated intelligence in the lagoon before it rises into the fog and vanishes in envy.
Daniel snatches my hand. “Come on!”
We hurry across the uneven ground, coughing through the thick smoke. The wide crack in the ground blocks our way of escape.
“How did you get over that?” I ask Uncle.
“Jumped.”
“Bryntar cannot jump in her condition,” I say.
She moves out of Uncle’s arms. “We jump together. It is our only chance before the cavern collapses.”
I look back at the lagoon. It gurgles and disappears under hot rock.
“Me first.” Daniel hands our one torch to Uncle.
I hold my breath when he yells and leaps the chasm.
Uncle throws the torch to Daniel.
“You next,” I say to Uncle and Bryntar. If they cannot make the jump, I do not know if I want to live. Until I see Daniel’s face. How could I leave him alone on the island?
Uncle takes Bryntar’s hand. They back up. Run. Jump.
My heart leaps with them.
The ground gives way under Uncle’s feet as he lands on the edge. Daniel barely grabs his hand causing Bryntar to dangle over the abyss.
“Do not let go!” I scream.
Bryntar claws her way up the side of the chasm still holding Uncle’s other hand. Daniel heaves them over the side.
Rocks explode from the walls.
“Come on, Elandra!” Daniel races to the rope.
Dizzy with fear, I stare into the dark crack and jump. It almost seems as if hot air propels me over. I run to the others who are barely visible in the increasing smoke.
“I will haul you both up,” Uncle says, “then send the rope down for Daniel.” He jumps to the end of the rope and climbs quickly. I feel his refusal to acknowledge the loss of his finger.
“Go,” Daniel says.
Daniel lifts Bryntar up to the end of the rope. Her muscles shake as she takes it and starts to climb.
An explosion bursts overhead. The rope drops and Daniel barely catches her. With a shattering boom, the ledge hurtles toward us. Daniel shoves us against the wall and covers our bodies with his. The ledge shatters when it crashes into the ground. He flinches as pieces hit his back. Then all is quiet and so dark it is impossible to see anything.
I summon the light within, but my hair radiates little light. Large rocks fill our escape tunnel. “Uncle, Uncle! Where are you?”
The ground rolls under our feet.
“If the sloats got in here, we can get out,” Daniel says. He pulls our rope from the rubble and gathers it together. “Come on.”
“We have to find my uncle!”
Bryntar lays her hand on mine. “He is gone.”
“No. He is alive. He has to be.”
Daniel grasps my arm with an iron grip. “Come on. Let’s check that hole and hope it goes somewhere.”
I yank away. “You expect me to leave without him?”
Tears glisten in Bryntar’s eyes. “I would want you to leave if it were me.” She takes my hand.
Tears slide down my cheeks. How can I leave Uncle behind?
Daniel drags us around fallen rock to a small crack in the wall. “We’re in luck. I feel a draft of cold air.”
“What if those creatures are in there?” I ask.
“The lava is rising,” Bryntar warns.
“What if Uncle is trapped and still alive?”
Bryntar’s regret sweeps into me. “We cannot know if he escaped. Try to feel him.”
Desperate, I close my eyes and search for any feeling from him. Uncle. Uncle. My heart twists. “There is nothing.”
“Let’s go,” Daniel says.
“We cannot desert him.”
“Your uncle wanted you to save the island.”
I glare at him. “He never said so.”
“He hoped you would change your mind.”
How can I live knowing Uncle died because of me?
My light fades, leaving us in darkness. Never again will I put myself before those I love. Ever. Facing the consequences of my selfishness is a brutal kind of dying.
Daniel pulls me into the narrow fissure. “We need some light.”
“You go first,” I tell Bryntar. Dull light encircles my hair. I am thankful the lagoon transformed her, for she would not fit in this rock cleft otherwise.
Daniel leads the way deeper into the passage. To our freedom or our death?
The dead cold shocks me. Thoughts tumble through my mind of Uncle, my new Bryntar, getting trapped under the ice. Starving instead of fighting Aru. I am too numb to feel anything. Behind us, rocks burst in the quickly rising lava.
“Climb!” Daniel yells.
Chapter Thirty-One: The Climbing
We squeeze farther into a crevice that is little more than a slit of space with ledges, rocks and cavities lifting to unseen heights. Only wind sweeps in unrestricted.
“You expect us to climb these steep rocks?” I ask Daniel.
He ties the rope around his waist and hands it to me. “Yep.”
“I should go first so you can use my light.”
He shakes his head. “Me first, Bryntar, then you.”
“Why?”
He fingers my lackluster hair. “We’ll pull you up to conserve your breath.”
Bryntar and I tie the rope around us, binding our fates together once again.
“What if we cannot get out?” I ask.
“We will.”
“You cannot know that.”
“I’m not going to die on this island.” Daniel searches for handholds and pulls himself up until he reaches a small ledge. “Hold the rope tight at the bottom. Use your feet against the rock, Bryntar.”
She grabs the rope and makes it look easy, although she hunches her tall body.
I gasp with the effort of conserving my breath and providing dim light. As soon as I put my boots on the rock, they haul me up. Our climb becomes a repetitious trial of straining muscles and frayed nerves, bangs and bruises. Rock does not forgive mistakes. We finally reach a split in the passage.
“Stay here,” Daniel says.
He disappears into a dark recess and my senses alert for danger. Over my weariness, I feel his steady heartbeat and relax.
“Can’t get through this way,” he yells.
It feels like forever until he returns.
“Elandra needs rest,” Bryntar says.
“How long does she have if we don’t get out?” Daniel does not wait for an answer and continues up the other cleft.
I worry about Bryntar’s exhaustion. “Are you all right?”
“There is much to think about.” She turns to me. “Did you control your feelings during my transformation?”
“No.”
She touches my face. “I would not wish that kind of pain on anyone. Especially you. I am sorry. It was so unexpected. I never dreamed . . .”
“Are you sad that you changed?”
“No. It is strange after such a long time. I almost forgot what it feels like.” She looks at her clawed hand and touches her face. “Am I hideous?”
“You will always be beautiful.”
She frowns. “I cannot protect you in the same way.”
“It is time I protect you.”
“We have no weapons. Until we reach the surface, I do not know where we are. It will be dangerous to return home.”
Home. Waves of longing fade. There is no home for an Enchantress.
Her next words slam into me. “You must learn total control or there is no hope for any of us.”
“I do not know how.”
“Find something to hold onto that makes you strong enough.”
Daniel tugs on the rope, his voice echoing off the rocks. “It’s a tight squeeze. Go slow and be careful.”
Bryntar pats my arm and vanishes.
When I crawl inside the cramped space, the wind howls and whips my face. I look up at a maze of gaping black holes and sharp rocks covered in slick ice. Unable to see Daniel or Bryntar, I am thankful for the insistent tug on the rope for I do not want to imagine being stuck in this narrow, tangled mass of rock. They can no longer offer help in lifting me. My heartbeat thumps in my head as I worm through a tight hollow tube. It is barely big enough to squeeze through and I bump my knee on an unseen rock. I twist and wiggle on my back over a flat shelf, the ice inches from my nose. How did Daniel do this?
I breathe heavily, the light diminishing quickly. The small light around my head shines on a mass of beady red eyes. Thick, furry creatures squeal and leap at me. I scream and cover my face, but instead of attacking me, they run over my head and down my body. I shiver in revulsion.
“Elandra?” Daniel’s voice sounds far away.
“I-I am all right.” Reeling and light-headed, I creep through another gap. A straight shaft rises to a tiny wedge of light.
“Hold on. We’re pulling you up.”
“Wait.” My legs are sluggish and unable to tighten around the rope. The air brightens around me. I float into a strange land of quiet murmurs. A figure materializes and I smile in recognition. “What are you doing here, Taroc?” I try to hug him, but cannot seem to find my arms.
He glares at me. “What are you doing here?”
“Where is here?”
“Do not think you can leave your responsibilities behind, Enchantress. What you have faced is nothing compared with what lies before you.”
Weightless, I giggle. “Did you know I tried to become normal and Bryntar was thrown into the lagoon instead?”
His black eyes grow even blacker. “No!”
“She changed back into herself. Well, almost.”
He cannot hide his relief. “Thank you, Enchantress,” he says gruffly. “Go back and
complete what you were born to do.”
“I still cannot control my feelings.”
“Detach yourself from them. Observe yourself as if you were someone else.” He shimmers and blows blinding light into my face. “Live.”
I choke and awake to sunshine and biting cold.
Daniel hovers over me while Bryntar holds my hand.
“Thought we’d lost you,” he says, collapsing next to us.
“I saw Taroc.”
Bryntar flinches, her eyes wide.
Daniel wipes the hair from his face. “An illusion, due to your lack of, light.”
“He was as real as you are. We talked before he sent me back.”
“Back from where?” Bryntar asks in a whisper.
“I do not know. There were others, too. I heard their voices.”
“They tell you where to find food and water?” Daniel asks.
Scowling, I say, “I can provide water.” Careful to control the heat in my finger, I melt ice that forms a small puddle. It takes several times to quench our thirsts, for the water freezes fast.
A flat plain of ice stretches before us with only a few rocks or pieces of glacier protruding from its surface. The mountain home of the Ice Lords looms closer than I thought possible. “Can we return to the canoe?”
Bryntar rises. “Too far.” Her voice quivers with rawness. “The Ice Lords patrol here. We need to find a suitable hiding place.”
“You know where to find food?” Daniel asks.
“There is a protected valley to the south.”
“Let’s go.”
I drag myself up, muscles protesting, and trudge after them.
The ice is so hard that we do not leave prints. Freezing wind throws clouds across the sky and worms its way through my fur clothes. I stop abruptly when it also carries faint rumblings, whoops and yelling voices. Bryntar and Daniel look at me and we start running.
Chapter Thirty-Two: The Storming
Daniel tugs on the rope that connects us. “Hurry. Hide in those ridges!”
The wind blows harder, tossing snowflakes in a gray sky. I slip and crash to the i
ce.
Bryntar reaches out her hand.
“You are as tired as I am,” I say. “How can you keep going?”
“To ensure our survival.”
The glacier vibrates with the thundering of hundreds of hooves. A herd of strange creatures appears out of the snow and pounds toward us. Huge horns curve and twist to sharp points over their backs. Shaggy brown hair hangs over and under their massive necks and covers long muscular legs.
The yells and whoops behind the creatures grow louder.
“Hurry or we will be trampled,” Bryntar says. She drags me up and I cling to her hand.
We race to the stark ridge ahead of us. The creatures run faster than I can imagine. Their hooves smash through snow, snorts fill the air, hearts beat into mine.
“We are not going to make it,” I say.
Daniel sprints back to us and grabs our arms. “Faster!”
The herd thunders closer. We leap over a lower ridge and hit hard. The creatures split
and race around us.
Voices whoop behind the herd.
“Come on, Jyrr! Before the blizzard swallows us.”
I cringe and hope we are concealed in the ridge.
Jyrr laughs. “That was more fun than attending Council.”
“Not if they find us missing. Beat you home.”
I peer through the snow to watch two shadows race away, riding on the same kind of creature that almost trampled us. My thumping heart slows. “What kind of animal allows a rider?”
Bryntar eyes gaze into her past. “Khorbocks are quite gentle when domesticated.”
“That was the same jerk we saw at the waterfall.” Daniel sits up, breathing hard and shivering. “It’s below zero. We’ve got to find shelter.”
Bryntar wipes the snow off her face. “This is all there is for many miles.”
Muffled moans and snorts startle us.
“Wait here,” Daniel says.
“We are tied together,” I say.
“Right. Come on.”
Bryntar and I follow him as he climbs over mounds of ice to the other side of the narrow ridge. A layer of snow covers an injured male khorbock struggling in a deep trench.
Daniel shakes his head. “He looks pretty bad.”
For once, I concentrate on blocking out the creature’s pain by thinking of how to help him. “His front legs are broken.”
Enchantress Sacrifice Page 15
