By Destiny Bound (The Lost Shrines Book 2)

by Amberlyn Holland

  -11-

  "MADDYN, now!"

  Yve's voice was hoarse with fear. Time had run out before she was ready. She'd hoped to keep the seneschal gloating a little longer. Long enough for her get close enough for her to figure out how to wrest back control of the ley-pool. The lines of power were so closely woven together, she had to be practically on top of one in order to manipulate it at all. Her awareness just skated over the surface of the pool like it was glass. She couldn't get purchase, let alone seize back the power he'd stolen and defiled.

  Now, she had to depend on Maddyn to keep Lennar's attention divided while she figured out how to wrest the magic away from an experienced, ruthless sorcerer.

  The collision of bodies echoed with horrifying sound as the Hound crashed into Lennar. The slight seneschal stumbled backward under the weight but did not fall.

  Yve pressed her hand to her lips, terrified for Maddyn, but forced herself to turn away. He was doing his part. Just like in her vision. Now it was time for Yve to do hers and save the pool of the Goddess from the darkness threatening it.

  Even grappling with the massive Hound didn't seem to be enough to get him to loosen his death grip on the ley-pool. The blood had seeped into the altar and given him a profound connection to the magic. A thick, crimson rope of power stretched from Lennar's hand down into the middle of the pool where it turned the magic at the center a putrid orange. From there, it rippled out as a pale and sickly yellow into the golden pool. The spreading corruption moved slowly. Yve had no doubt, though, that if the seneschal brought his full focus to bear, the room, and the magic beyond, would quickly be subsumed with the sorcery.

  Desperate, Yve tried to plunge her awareness into the pool's center, but a whirlwind of nausea-terror-pain repelled her. She stumbled backward, driven to her knees by the overwhelming rush of wrongness. Tears burned her eyes, and she gasped to get her breath back. She couldn't do this. The sorcery, the dark, caustic magic was too powerful. She'd failed. Now Maddyn, the Order, the entire world, were going to suffer because of her weakness.

  Trust the gift and trust in yourself.

  The memory of Orra's words whispered through her. A cool, healing breeze in the midst of chaos, pain, and despair. The gift was passed to her for a reason, and she wasn't going to give up without a fight.

  With a deep breath, Yve grasped at the closest untainted leyline.

  She knew on an instinctual level that she needed to disrupt the blood-line connecting Lennar and the pool. She just wished those same instincts would give her an idea how she was supposed to do it.

  She heard the heavy crack and sharp claps of flesh meeting flesh as the Hound and Lennar continued to battle, but she didn't dare turn away from her task. Not even when she heard Maddyn whimper.

  The blood-line was thicker, now, than most of the leylines she'd seen. Even if she knew how, Yve doubted she had the strength to snap it. She'd need to find another way.

  Yve crawled forward, following the untainted line she still held in her grip until she pressed up against the altar. Poised at the rim of the ley-pool, she sought out the leyline that made up the outer edge of the pool. The corruption had spread to it but hadn't overtaken it completely. Heedlessly, Yve plunged her awareness into power, careful to keep to the shallow edges still golden and unadulterated. Drawing on the cool, pure magic of the unsullied leyline, she eased deeper and deeper along the poisoned line.

  For a moment, when her perception slipped into the depths of paler yellow, Yve felt like she was drowning. Choking on the stagnant, murky sensation of the contaminated power. But she fought the urge to flee back to safety. Instead, she strengthened her hold on the safe leyline and poured it's pure, raw power into the pool.

  Despite her intentions and efforts, Yve was still shocked when it started to work. When the pallid yellow deepened to gold and then began to feel healthier in her grasp.

  Emboldened by success, Yve followed the now healed ripples of magic into the spiral and touched the next tainted line. Bit by bit, line by line by line she persevered. Each leyline, though, got harder and harder to hold.

  When she reached the putrid orange, a foreboding rush of rotten-carrion-disease nearly drove her away. But Yve only held on tighter rather than following her first instinct and dropping the slimy feel of the orange line.

  It was no longer a matter of pouring the clean power into the line. She had to push, forcing it inch by grudging inch. Panting and exhausted she refused to give up.

  Lennar shrieked, an unholy sound that reverberated through the cavernous room. The blood-line darkened, the air compressed around them until everything hovered on the edge of suffocating. Then it released in a single, concussive wave that sent the Hound flying.

  The seneschal turned on Yve, eyes wild.

  "What are you doing?" Lennar screeched. "That's not possible. You're an untrained nobody."

  "And yet, I'm beating you."

  Now that he'd discovered what she was doing, Yve's only hope was to brazen it out. Use his own fury and instability against him and pray Maddyn could distract him again long enough to finish the job.

  "You are nothing. You will not win. I will destroy you and use your blood to paint the walls with my victory." Lennar lunged for her, hands curled into claws.

  A primal, bloodcurdling sound tore out of Maddyn. He flew across the intervening space like it didn't exist, teeth closing around Lennar's shoulder, driving them both to the ground and away from where Yve crouched at the base of the altar.

  Worry for Maddyn besieged her, but she couldn't let his distraction go to waste. Diving back into the magic, she gave up on finesse and poured every ounce of energy she possessed into forcing back the orange infection, chasing it up the blood-bound line.

  As the color shifted, the line connecting Lennar to the pool got thinner, and Yve bit back her triumph, knowing she was close, but she wasn't done yet. She heard the thump and wails and violent surges and knew she couldn't depend on Maddyn distracting the seneschal forever.

  The last of the blood-red vanished, and she grasped the edge of the leyline where it connected.

  "No!" Fury and desperation reverberated in Lennar's shout.

  Yve ignored it, focusing everything she had left in her on tearing, snapping the last of the magic binding the sorcerer to the ley-pool.

  The air in the room vibrated with power, building up as the seneschal called on whatever reserves he still had.

  Yve closed her eyes, blocking out the curses and sparks while she worked furiously.

  Bright white flashes sparked behind her eyelids and everything happened at once.

  Lennar's magic exploded in a concussion of power and the Hound yelped before the sound of something thudding against the wall. Then the blood-bound line snapped in Yve's grasp, returning the pool and all the lines to their natural, pure state.

  The seneschal cried out, and his breath rattled in one final exhale before the room plunged into silence.

  Yve forced her eyes open to see Lennar's still body, staring lifeless and blank at the stars. Maddyn lay crumpled and still against the wall.

  "No, Maddyn. NO."

  Desperate fear sent a second wave of energy coursing through Yve, and she scrambled to the Hound's side.

  "Maddyn," she whispered. "Maddyn, please be all right."

  Her fingers gently brushed through his fur. His blue eyes blinked open and he whined softly. Then he shifted to press his head onto her lap. His pain and exhaustion shivered along the bond, but he forced himself to his feet.

  He nuzzled her once then padded with a painful, deliberate pace over to check Lennar's still form.

  "He's dead. I think I killed him."

  Maddyn snorted, the sound filled with disbelief.

  "Or, well, I think it was the backlash of snapping his connection to the ley-pool. But I did that."

  Apparently satisfied the seneschal was no longer a threat, he paced back over and dropped down on his haunches beside Yve. A soft white blur engulfed him,
and Yve straightened in alarm, trying to protest.

  It was too late, though. Maddyn's form slumped forward, arms protectively cradling his still bleeding side.

  "You didn't kill him. He chose his path a long time ago. Sorcery, ambition and greed killed him."

  She knew that. Understood that the second he'd dropped the vial of blood there had been no turning back for any of them. But she'd always feel the weight of his last breath, anyway.

  "You need to shift back," Yve insisted, changing the subject. "You'll never make it back to the Temple this way. Unless your other form is hurt worse?"

  Fear trickled cold and numbing down her spine at the thought.

  "The Hound is hurt, but he'll be fine. Some rest and a good healer and we'll both be as good as new in no time."

  He pressed his lips against hers with soft, barely there pressure. Offering comfort and an unspoken promise.

  She closed her eyes to savor the reassurance.

  When she finally looked up again, the Hound stood right in front of her with his head tilted.

  Along the bond, something pushed between them. A fleeting sensation that felt like Madd was saying let's go home and Yve wanted to hang on to it.

  For a moment, she let herself forget their homes were leagues apart.

  *****

  Without the missteps and imminent danger, the trip back through the Labyrinth went faster even with the slower pace mandated by Maddyn's injuries and Yve's exhaustion.

  She couldn't help continuing to reflect on the meaning of home. She hadn't considered her family's residence a home in a long time. Probably even before she left it, if she was honest with herself. It had been the place she grew up. The place she lived. It had never been the place she belonged.

  The Temple had been that place. It had been a home. As a novitiate, the Order hadn't been all she'd been hoping to find, but it had been closer than she could have hoped for anywhere else.

  The past few days, her home, her world, had been turned upside down. There'd been moments where she'd known she was exactly where she was supposed to be. That she was doing what she was supposed to do.

  And there had been terrifying, soul-rending moments where everything felt wrong. Where she'd felt like a fish trying to fly and failing badly as she struggled for breath.

  Home. She had no idea where that was for her. She had no idea, still, where she truly belonged. She wasn't even sure what normal was anymore.

  And fog of exhaustion enveloping her, Yve continued to chase those thoughts in circles until she stumbled up the steep staircase to the library.

  Relieved and ready to collapse into the first bed she came to, Yve pushed everything aside, determined to think about them after she'd slept for a few days.

  She'd worry about finding normal when she wasn't fighting to keep her eyes open.

  Before she could do any of that, however, she needed to get Maddyn to a healer.

  As much as he tried to block the worst of the pain and soreness from her, she knew the Hound was suffering and straining with every step.

  And his human form was in even worse shape.

  At the door, Yve paused for a moment, hand hovering over the handle. Everything was different now. At least for her. She was Kelan. She knew it, deep inside. She had the gift. And she'd used it.

  But she still wasn't sure she wanted it. This still wasn't the life she'd been longing for since the first time her gran had told her the stories of the old Seryts and the origin of the Order.

  Unfortunately, it was too late now. It may have always been too late. For a moment, when Mother Orra first gave her the medallion, she'd had a choice. She could have refused.

  Orra might have accepted that, might have tried to pass the gift on to Brynna. But Yve wasn't sure the gift would have complied. Destiny wasn't set in stone. But she was beginning to understand there were moments that destiny would move mountains, and stubborn novitiates, to make sure happened.

  The library was a mess of dislodged books and artifacts cluttering the floor, stained with blood from Maddyn's fight with Lennar. Yve blinked down at herself, noting for the first time how disheveled and ravaged she must look.

  Ripped and dirty from her own encounter with the seneschal, she was also smeared with blood from the wound Maddyn's human form had suffered. She sighed in despair, knowing her favorite dress was a lost cause. Deciding the mess in the library could wait, she trudged quickly through the room, hoping to sneak back to her own chamber without letting anyone see the state she was in.

  As soon as they stepped out into the Temple, however, the shouts echoed down from the main floor and thoughts of escaping unnoticed evaporated.

  So far past her second wind Yve had lost count, the sound spurred a final burst of energy she would have thought impossible moments before.

  Gathering her skirt, she rushed up the staircase, Maddyn's white form out-pacing her by a few steps.

  At the top of the stairs, it took Yve a moment to catch her breath and sort out the chaos in front of her.

  Brynna had planted herself firmly in the Temple entry, barring Daen and a squadron of his guards. Several of the Seryts stood in a loose semi-circle behind her trying to look stern and supportive while casting confused glances at one another.

  "...I don't care." Brynna spoke with a calm evenness. She didn't shout but her voice carried through the Temple, and there was no doubt she was adamant and steadfast.

  "Galwei law and tradition says that no, not even the prince, is allowed in the inner sanctums of the Temple without invitation. The Kelan said not to let anyone down there no matter what. I will not allow you to pass."

  Yve winced a little at that. She had only meant for Brynna to keep the other Seryts from following out of curiosity and stumbling into danger.

  Daen drew himself up to full height, matching her intractability and determination with his own. "There is an assassin on the loose who has already murdered one Kelan. Maddyn was certain Matriarch Yve was in danger. You will step aside and let us go to their aid."

  Before the confrontation escalated, Yve cleared her throat and pushed her way through the ring of Seryts avidly watching the argument at Brynna's back.

  "That won't be necessary. The danger is past."

  "Did the assassin get away again?" Daen demanded. "Which way did he go? Even with the delay, we might still be able to catch him."

  Daen shifted his glare briefly back to Brynna, who lifted her chin but otherwise ignored him.

  "There's no need for a search. He is...no longer a threat."

  Yve swallowed back nausea, and fresh tears swelled at the memory of the sightless eyes and motionless body.

  A dozen questions assailed her at once. Yve held up her hand, swaying with exhaustion. If anyone noticed, it did her no good as they continued to demand answers.

  The Hound pushed his large form in front of her and snarled until the voices fell silent around her.

  "Thank you," she murmured to Maddyn, resting her hand on his back. "It might be better if the four of us retired somewhere quieter to discuss."

  Brynna and the prince glared at one another a moment more before relenting and following Yve to the Centrum. Maddyn planted himself in the doorway snarling at anyone who even looked like they might shuffle close enough to overhear.

  It took longer than expected to share the whole story. Every few minutes, she'd have to stop and explain to Brynna how she'd been helping Maddyn. Or tell Daen about the secrets of the Order she'd uncovered. Eventually, she got to the point of describing their trip through the Labyrinth. And the confrontation with Lennar. Holding back the anguish and shock of the whole nightmare, Yve described it as succinctly and dispassionately as possible. By the time she finished, her voice was hoarse and she swayed with weariness.

  She could see that Daen and Brynna had a couple hundred more questions for her, but, thankfully, they restrained themselves.

  Instead, Daen simply asked with disbelief. "Lennar?"

  "I'm afraid so.
"

  "And he's dead?"

  "Yes. I'm sorry. He's still at the center. We'll need to get him out of there without revealing the existence of the Labyrinth. I think it's best if it remains a secret."

  "My personal guard keep state secrets on a daily basis. We'll take care of it."

  The entire time she'd been talking, Yve kept half of her attention on Maddyn. He sat strong and immovable in the doorway, but she knew how much he was hiding. He'd been buffering his pain and discomfort from the bond, but they were both too exhausted to keep much of anything from each other.

  "Before that, though, we need to get Maddyn to the healers."

  "Is he injured?"

  "Some, in this form. But it's his other form I'm worried about. He's lost a lot of blood. If he changes back without healers present, I'm not sure he'll make it."

  "Right away." Daen walked back to the main entrance where his men waited, Yve, Maddyn, and Brynna trailing a few feet behind. He immediately began assigning tasks. Several of the guards would stay and secure the Temple.

  "Outside," he added when Brynna opened her mouth to protest.

  Three others he ordered to escort Maddyn to the healers’ rooms in the Keep. The Hound pressed hard against her side, and she knew he was torn. Ignoring the multitude of eyes on her, she knelt down and sank her hands into his fur.

  "I'm fine, now. There's no more danger. You need to go to the healers."

  He huffed, nudged her off balance until she laughed then he padded over to the guards.

  Yve watched Maddyn walk out of the Temple, pausing to look back at her in the doorway before walking out and disappearing from sight.

  She wanted to chase after him, wrap her arms around him and keep him close. But she stood still, back straight, the picture of a serene Kelan and let him go.

  When he was gone, though, there was a part of her that wondered if she'd ever see him again.

  Which was melodramatic and ridiculous. He'd have days, if not weeks of healing and recovery before he'd be capable of travel. And he was too honorable, too considerate to leave without saying goodbye.

  "I know you're ready to collapse," Daen murmured, interrupting her melancholy thoughts. "It would best, though, if we took care of Lennar tonight."