by Kristen Pham
“Lake of Knowledge?” she asked, and Henry nodded.
They jogged in silence, but with minds open to each other. As long as she had Henry to anchor her, could her mind really slip away?
They found Elle pacing the shores of the lake, chewing her lip. Her words tumbled out without her usual poise. “Will and I have never communicated mind-to-mind like you and Henry, but I think—I’m almost sure—of what he’s trying to tell me.”
Henry’s voice was soothing as he moved closer to Elle. “It’s okay. You don’t have to be sure. Tell us what you think you’re getting from Will.”
“We have to attack the Fractus soon, or it will be too late. Reaper somehow got word from Gabriel of knowledge in the Akashic Records on how to harness the dormant power that the flame released when it went out. He’s going to use it to remake how magic functions.”
“That’s possible?” Valerie couldn’t fathom what Elle was saying.
Elle took a breath. “Reaper’s power is to manipulate the very physics of how elements work. Magic is another element. With the help of all this additional power, he can make sure that magic is only passed to those he deems worthy. Essentially, he can snuff out the spark of magic that lives in us all, human and Conjuror alike, and amplify it in those he thinks are worthy.”
“We knew we’d have to attack Reaper soon. This doesn’t change our plans,” Henry said.
“How much time do we have?” Valerie asked.
“He’ll seize the power tomorrow as soon as darkness falls. At least, that’s what I think Will is trying to tell me.”
Henry sucked in a breath. “Less than a day.”
Valerie’s heart, which had been racing, slowed, and her mind sharpened into focus. “Thank you, Elle. You’ve given us a chance.”
Elle’s grin was fierce. “I’ll see you on the battlefield.”
The rest of the night was a blur, as Valerie and Henry spread the word to the generals of the Fist about the new timeline for the attack on Silva and the Atacama Desert.
Valerie had to redraw many of her plans because she didn’t have the additional days she’d planned on to prepare. She’d never been less sure of victory, but the Fist would give the universe a chance.
By dawn, Valerie was alone in her kitchen with Chisisi. Everyone else had scattered to execute their assignments as she finalized the details on the Atacama front.
“I will keep the human soldiers Dr. Freeman has recruited away from the front lines, but their numbers will be an asset,” Chisisi said.
Valerie forced herself not to rub her temples. “I wish we could spare them from this fight, but we must throw everything we have at the Fractus now. I’m starting to believe there won’t be another fight if we don’t have at least a partial victory tomorrow.”
“We will slay Reaper, and the rest will follow,” Chisisi said with confidence.
Ordering Reaper’s execution wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be, but it seemed wrong that the act wouldn’t be performed by her own hand. If she wanted to avoid fulfilling Reaper’s prophecy, it couldn’t be.
“Maybe I’m fulfilling the prophecy in spirit, if not in fact, by ordering his death,” she said.
“Your heart has not guided you in the wrong direction yet,” Chisisi said. “Will young Juniper be ready to bind Earth’s magic?”
“I hope so. He’s with Elden and North now. He’s nervous, but my instincts tell me he can do it.”
“Then he will. I’ll leave you now,” Chisisi said, his attention caught by something over Valerie’s shoulder.
Valerie followed his gaze and saw Cyrus standing in the doorframe. Cyrus’s eyes were alive with a little of his old mischief. She hadn’t seen that much warmth in them in a year.
“Come on,” Cyrus said. “I’ve got a present for the battle tomorrow.”
She followed him outside, into her garden. In the corner, she saw that a big boulder that was part of one of Oberon’s old wards was glowing.
Cyrus shrugged. “Your destiny awaits.”
Valerie approached the boulder and grinned when she saw the hilt of a golden sword sticking out from it.
“What are you waiting for? Don’t you want to see if you’re the one who can pull it out?” Cyrus teased.
Valerie grasped the hilt, and her hand was bathed in warm light. Gently, she pulled, and it slid effortlessly from the stone. She gasped as she examined the blade.
“Pathos! Cyrus, how did you repair it?”
Even the words of the prophecy binding her to Henry, Cyrus, and Kanti were elegantly etched into the blade.
“Pathos is gone. This is a new blade, made entirely of light. I tried to keep it in the spirit of Pathos, but with some tweaks that make it way better.”
Valerie didn’t laugh at Cyrus’s swagger. Instead, she took some practice swings. It was lighter than Pathos, but had the same even balance. It fit in her hand like an extension of herself.
“It will glow for a thousand years, even in a place entirely devoid of light. Out in the world, it can continually recharge itself. It’s unstoppable.”
“How did you manage it?” she asked.
“All of the lightweavers lent me their power to make this a reality.”
But Valerie examined him closely and saw that a little of his usual glow was absent. “There was a price, wasn’t there?”
“If you’re going to get all guilt-tripped about it, I’m not going to tell you.”
“Okay.”
“Fine, you convinced me. I had to sever a piece of my power in order to form this weapon,” he admitted. When Valerie gasped at his words, he hurried to continue. “It’s not like I don’t have my magic or anything. When you saved me with your vivicus power, you enhanced my powers. I’m just giving you back what was yours to begin with.”
Valerie swallowed twice to keep her tears from rising. “Thank you.”
Cyrus shrugged. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”
Valerie hugged him, wishing she could pour everything she felt into his heart and fill the hole that she had put there. A hole that she was afraid would always be there.
“I love you,” she said, even though she knew that for Cyrus, it would never be enough.
“I’m your best friend. I always will be. I won’t leave you, Val,” Cyrus said.
Valerie couldn’t trust herself to speak without her voice breaking.
Cyrus reached out to brush her cheek, and then he cleared his throat. “Elle thinks this sword will gain me an invitation to Illyria if it helps end this war. I think I might like it down there, bringing light to the ocean’s depths.”
“Then I wouldn’t see you anymore.”
“That’s kind of the idea. I’d visit, but I want you to live without feeling guilty every time we bump into each other. And that far away from you, maybe I’d find someone else. Miracles happen.”
And they did. Valerie knew, because Cyrus had given her proof.
Chapter 39
Valerie hadn’t slept in twenty-four hours, but she’d never been more awake. She carefully re-braided her hair and wrapped it around her head so it wouldn’t get in her way while she was fighting. Her new sword was strapped to her side, so weightless that she kept checking to make sure her sheath wasn’t empty.
“I thought a key part of the plan was for you to not be too recognizable so you don’t get targeted,” Thai said, startling her.
She whipped around to face him, and then looked down at her blue jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers. “What do you mean?”
Thai stepped closer. “You’re beautiful. Anyone who sees you is going to recognize you. Why not get a glamour disguise from Roza?”
Valerie blushed. “My soldiers will want to see me, to know I’m fighting at their sides.”
“Lucky soldiers,” Thai said, and he stepped even closer. “I know we have things to discuss, but right now, I’m going to kiss you like it’s the end of the world, because maybe it is.”
Valerie knew there were ab
out a million other things she should be doing, but the force drawing her to him was a kind of magic she couldn’t resist.
As their lips met, the burden she carried dropped from her shoulders. In another universe, maybe they’d be kissing at prom or at the end of a date. For now, she’d pretend they were.
Henry’s mind touched hers, and then recoiled. But it was too late. The weight of reality was back, and she pulled away.
“Not yet,” Thai said, and his fingers were back in her hair. “What if this is the last one?”
Their lips connected again, and the kiss lost its sweetness and became desperate. When Valerie pulled away again, there were tears in both of their eyes.
She took his weapon out of the sheath at his side and checked to make sure it was sharpened and fully charged with light, and he tucked a lock of her hair that escaped her braid behind her ear.
With a breath that steadied the shuddering inside her, Valerie mentally reviewed her plan. She was ready to fight.
Valerie strode into The Horseshoe like she owned it, holding her blazing sword in her hand. Her army was striking here first not only to retake Silva, but also to divert Reaper’s attention and forces from Earth. It was a distraction, so she had to make it a good one.
“Morning, Fractus! We’ve brought the fight to your doorstep this time. Who wants to come out and claim the title of the Fractus who slayed the vivicus leader of the Fist?”
Her words had the desired effect of drawing Fractus from the guilds and the winding streets of Silva. A crowd was gathering, but no one came within reach of Valerie’s blade.
Kellen zoomed from the window of the crumbling Weapons Guild. His eyes were manic when he saw her.
“Is the vivicus finally ready to shed blood? We relish it!” he cried. “Kill her!”
There was a ripple in the crowd as a bear charged through. The Grand Master of the Illuminators’ Guild roared as he approached. Over his giant paws was a pair of black mitts that exuded power.
As soon as the light from her sword touched his gloves, they disintegrated on his hands. The bear hid his surprise well, but he was off kilter. Valerie met his charge with a fist to his face, holding back her full force so she didn’t kill him in a single blow.
She unleashed enough of her magic to knock him unconscious, and the crowd erupted. Kellen’s screech of dismay was close enough that she knew he’d try to shower her with his dark dust soon. Before Kellen reached her side or the crowd of Fractus mobbed her, Valerie made eye contact with Mira, who pumped his fist in the air once.
“At last, Knights, our hour has come!”
“What’s this?” Kellen asked, stopping midflight.
A shower of golden arrows of light shot into the crowd from the sky. Cyrus had made them more powerful than any that had been used before, and everywhere dark weapons turned back to metal.
In the resulting chaos, all of the Knights who had patiently remained embedded in the Fractus for months now unsheathed their blades of light, to the dismay of their ex-comrades. Cyrus had equipped all of the Knights with basic light weapons, and a few, including Mira, with weapons that had more complex light patterns woven into them.
“My Knights! What are you doing? Stop this now!” Kellen cried to no avail. His tiny hands were tearing at the hair on his head, reminding Valerie of Rastelli when he’d descended into madness.
Lyonesse reached up and swatted him out of the air.
He buzzed toward her face. “You are loyal to me, to the Fractus. I know you are!”
“Not anymore,” Lyonesse said.
They were the last words Valerie could make out as screams of rage filled the air and weapons clashed. The fighting was fierce and bloody as Knights unleashed the rage they had kept on a tether for so long, and betrayed Fractus lashed out against those they had trusted.
Valerie reined in her own horror at the ferocity of the fighting, which she had not anticipated. The death toll would be immense. But she didn’t have time to analyze her miscalculation as she dodged the blows of the multiple attackers who surrounded her. They were no match for her blade, which made short work of their black weapons.
The sound of a loud caw reached Valerie’s ears over the fighting, and she saw Dasan’s great red wings beating as he flew over the battle. From his wings drifted something that looked like snow. It fell on the fighters below. A bit landed on Valerie, and a measure of peace came over her.
Dasan was using his power to calm the crowd, and she was grateful. Maybe it would ease the intense bloodlust that was making this battle so bitter. He landed on the roof of the Empathy Collective, his signal to her that the Empaths were inside, using their power to confuse the Fractus. Valerie hoped that Elle would be safe.
Henry’s mind touched hers. He’d spotted Reaper in one of the towers of the Weapons Guild, observing the mayhem. That was her cue.
Valerie gripped her vial of sand and was transported to the Atacama Desert. She raised her sword above her and sent a bolt of pure light into the air, her signal to Chisisi that she was on Earth. She soon made out Sanguina, Chisisi, and Cyrus on the horizon, in front of a crowd of human and Conjuror soldiers.
There was no way to sneak up on the Fractus on Earth, so all they could do was charge. The Fractus in the camp attacked before Valerie could even make out their forms in the distance, sending bolts of lightning into the rushing body of soldiers.
Most bounced off the shields that Leo had specially designed to deflect the lightning that the Fractus wielded, but a few met their mark, and the smell of blood and charred flesh was released into the air, choking Valerie.
By the time they reached the camp, Valerie could see that it was crawling with hundreds of Fractus, far more than when she’d been there last time. With the benefit of even a few minutes of preparation, the Fractus were more organized than those on the Globe had been.
But Valerie had placed her most skilled fighters in the contingent of the Fist on Earth, and the Fractus would be overpowered in under an hour, by her estimate, unless Reaper diverted forces from the Globe.
Sanguina moved through the Fractus with a grim, lethal grace, in spite of her leg. She disabled one, two, three Fractus, her muscles straining as her light weapon met dark. The fourth Fractus she encountered was gored by her sword when she narrowly dodged a dagger to her side. Valerie saw the ex-vampyre’s face tighten at the sight of her kill, but she didn’t pause.
Cyrus had maneuvered to the tent with the pool of black Carne, but before he could enter, a Fractus yanked him by his collar, sending him reeling. Cyrus fell, and he scrabbled in the sand before he was able to stand. He barely had time to raise his shield of light before the Fractus pounded it with a black club, which shattered on impact.
By then, Chisisi had come up behind the Fractus and hit him over the head with the flat of his blade.
The air crackled with the peculiar energy that surrounded Reaper when he was angry, and Valerie spotted him at the edge of the camp, snarling instructions to his soldiers.
He was red with rage, but not worried, and Valerie saw why. More Fractus were popping into the camp to defend it, eating away at the slight edge the Fist had gained when they first arrived.
A cool breeze kissed Valerie’s cheek, and she recognized Kanti’s signal. The Fist’s reinforcements from Elsinore were close, with Kanti leading the soldiers.
After Cyrus went inside the tent, she gripped a piece of bark from a tree in Arden, and the world dissolved into the trees that surrounded Silva.
Skye was pawing the ground, as if he could barely contain himself to wait for her signal. Alex and Olwain were pacing nearby, but they stopped moving when they saw her.
Only Jack, who already has his blade unsheathed and held at the ready, spoke when he saw her. “Finally! Me and my boys were about to go ahead without waiting for your signal.”
“I’m here now. And it’s time to take back our home,” she said.
She didn’t speak loudly, but somehow her soldiers heard her. Th
eir battle cries were joyful as they rushed into the streets of Silva. Soldiers pounded on the doors of known Fist sympathizers to see if more people could be rallied to join the fight.
Her people flooded the streets, pouring toward The Horseshoe, where the bitterest part of the battle still raged. The Fractus had spotted the Fist’s reinforcements, and Valerie saw them all glancing up, toward a window of the History Guild.
Something was up there that they were waiting for, she knew with sudden clarity. Reaper had to know she might try to retake Silva, and he was ready.
She raced to the History Guild, touching Henry’s mind to let him know what she’d seen. An image of Thai flashed from his mind to hers.
No! She couldn’t let Thai get in the middle of this. He was meant to stay with the Healers. He and Cara were supposed to team up to deliver light treatments to those who were touched by the black blades. But Henry had already left the Globe to fight by Kanti’s side, and her only chance to keep Thai out of the worst of the fighting had vanished.
Valerie barely saw the steps of the History Guild as she ascended them, and she nearly smacked into least ten Fractus with black eyes.
She’d never encountered so many, and even her sword of light seemed less bright in their presence. Valerie swept her blade around her, and inside the circle of its light, she was safe. But two sprung at once, and her weapon slipped from her grasp as she moved it so she didn’t accidentally kill one of them.
“It’s like I told you, she won’t kill us. Attack without fear,” the Fractus nearest her said. The black eyes threw her for an instant, but Valerie recognized Ani, even with her new power blazing.
This was not magic forced into existence by Henry’s power. Valerie suspected that Reaper was testing his ability to manipulate the Carne from Plymouth in new ways, and Ani had been one of the first to benefit. The thought terrified her, but she didn’t have time to consider all of the implications.
Valerie ducked and rolled, sweeping up her blade in the process. She parried the blows of her attackers and deliberately positioned herself so that she was closer to the stairwell that led to the top of the History Guild’s tower.
