by Elina Vale
"I understand,” Javid said. “But we’re walking into mortal danger.”
“My life is meaningless beside people such as Eavan and Boa,” Teron said. “Those are the ones who have the power to save the world. If I must sacrifice myself to help them, I will.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Javid said. “If we intend on sacrificing ourselves, we must be sure we succeed. We can’t walk into Shea’s clutches without a plan.”
“Yes,” Teron mused. “You’re quite right.”
Javid touched the pendant around his neck. “This thing really works?”
Teron nodded. “Boa Riverson has had it for several decades, and it is his most valuable item. I promise, you can't be magically detected while you’re wearing it.”
Javid thought for a minute. Looking at Teron, he whispered, “If I’m hidden from Shea’s magical senses, then I must only find a way to conceal myself from her physical senses. Can you create a cover image for me? I would be as good as invisible.”
"I can do that.”
“But even if we succeed,” Javid said, “How will we get away from this place? We’ll be captured before we even step outside the tower.”
Teron tapped his jaw with his finger. The faint light flickering through the small gap of the door played on his red hair. “I think I finally know how to create a traveling gate... but the last one I studied vanished quickly, and I’ve never replicated one successfully. But if I produce a cover image for you, I’m not sure I’ll have enough power remaining to create the portal,” Teron said. "Cover images are incredibly difficult."
“I remember something,” Javid said, rubbing his chin. “Doria taught me how to leech from other people’s Fountains, and how to allow others to leech from me. I can lend you the power you need to cast the gate. But Teron, we can’t create a traveling gate inside Ironflare. The city is locked.”
Teron smiled. “That’s what Shea wants us to think.”
“You believe otherwise?
“Well, can’t she create gates whenever she likes?"
"Shea? Yes."
"I surmise that it's possible to create a gate within close proximity to her,” Teron explained. “That is, we can’t gate to her, but we may be able to gate away from her. If we’re standing close enough.”
"It sounds like a theory. We need something solid.”
"Do you have a better idea?"
"Okay, suppose you’re right. We’ll need to hold her long enough for you to open a gate. Close enough for us to make use of her power, but not close enough for her to slaughter us."
"Then we’ll need to jail her somehow. But what prison could hold her?"
"I possess the talent of earth. I can lock her in the stone floor, but I can’t promise she won’t break free. Shea wasn’t born with any natural elemental talents, but she seems to have a counter-spell for everything.”
"Then we'll have to be quick. I'll handle the camouflage and the gate; you need to hold her still until we can get out. Will you be able to contain her while I’m leeching off of your Fountain?"
"Well,” Javid smirked. “I guess we’ll find out. These senatai tell me my Fountain is enormous.”
"Very well, then. Let's do it.”
Javid looked into Teron’s eyes. “Are you sure? Are we absolutely doing this?”
“Do we have any choice?” Teron asked. “Abandoning our friends to Shea’s mercy won’t help, especially when they are needed to protect Aviden. Do you suggest we leave now, when we can finally do some good?”
Javid recalled all the things he had done under the influence of the stone. He could never undo those things, but he could try to make amends. He could help to free Shri’s father. “You’re right. Let’s go.” He strode forward with firm steps. “I know where Shea keeps her most precious prisoners: in her own room. And that’s where the rumble came from. We are heading directly into the Mysk bees’ nest. And the queen of the nest is pissed off.”
Teron smirked and patted Javid’s back. “I hope they taught you well in this tower of doom, my friend.”
They snuck through the corridors and ascended the floors. The hallways were practically empty, and nobody bothered them in their pike-holder outfits. The people in this tower were scared. They didn’t dare to walk the corridors when explosions echoed from the top floors. Javid could sense Teron's amazement at every corridor, every portal. To Javid, this was nothing but a prison.
Eventually, they reached Shea’s staircase. As they ascended, Javid squeezed the pendant in his hand. Staring at the beautifully ornamented double doors, he felt the urge to run. But if Shri was in there...
Teron gave him a glance and nodded. The camouflage was on and Javid was invisible. Now, Shea would detect only one pike holder. Javid magically opened the lock, and Teron hurled the doors open with a burst of air.
A grey woman lay on the floor. It was the same woman who had contained Javid’s memories. Eavan Firestone. She wasn’t dead, but she had clearly been ripped.
No... That’s why my memories returned.
A man stood over her, defending her. His legs were spread over her shoulders, and he pointed two blades at Shea. Shea’s hair was frizzled with magic, her eyes shining a wicked light.
Javid knew that Teron couldn’t hold the camouflage much longer, so he had to act fast, but what was his first move? In addition to Boa, Shea, and Eavan, he saw a girl with no legs, strapped in a chair, her eyes filled with terror. He also saw Merrilon, Shri’s father, standing near the legless girl.
He began to gather from his Fountain.
"What are you doing in my personal room, pike-holder?" Shea hissed at Teron.
Javid ordered the sparkles under Shea's feet. Like a beast, the floor swallowed her in an instant, trapping her head beneath the surface and locking her in place. When she pushed back against him, Javid held tightly to the streams. Teron dropped the camouflage and entered the room alongside his friend.
“Teron!” Boa said, giving a glance at Javid. “Get out of here!”
“Boa...”
“Get out! She’ll kill you!”
“Not without you and Eavan!” Teron ran to them and knelt down before his fallen teacher. “No. Oh, no. She has become a ghost!”
Boa pulled him up. “This is my fight! You were told to find Shri! Now, everyone, get out of here and leave Shea to me!”
"I can't hold her much longer!” Javid shouted, his face clenched with the strain of keeping Shea prisoner. The floor shook, and Javid’s mind was torn by the sheer volume of hostile magic pushing back. “Hurry, Teron! Even my Fountain is finite!”
“All right!” Teron shouted, taking Javid’s hand and envisioning the sparkles needed to create a gate. “Give me your energy... I will do what I can!”
“Moongale...” Javid gasped. “Come with us...”
Merrilon paled. “No! No, I... I must stay! My work here is not finished.”
A small trickle of blood dripped from Javid’s nose. “I don’t have time to argue with you...”
“Tell Shri that I love her, son,” Merrilon said. “Tell her that I love her, and that there is too much at stake for her to worry about an old man like me.” He gestured to his other daughter. “But please, take Susu!”
Javid looked at the legless girl with desperation. How could they take care of a cripple when they had no idea where they were going? He could feel his Fountain flowing in Teron’s direction, and he struggled to keep hold of it. “Can’t... Javid muttered. “She’ll die if we’re forced to look after her...”
Cracks emerged in the floor. Shea would be free any second.
A beam of light appeared before Teron, and the gate began to form.
Dropping the stream he was using to hold Shea inside the floor, Javid opened his Fountain to Teron. When Teron got hold of Javid's Fountain and started to draw power from it, the gate widened and grew faster.
The floor exploded, shooting rocks across the room. Amongst them flew Shea, twirling in the air and landing gracefully on
both feet. She crouched with her hands high, like a bear’s claws, hissing like an animal. Magic raged wildly around her, black strings and spurts of smoke slithering like a nest of serpents.
“JAVID BOUDOT!” she screamed. “You bad, bad man! I was willing to offer you everything! EVERYTHING! AND YOU DECEIVED ME!”
“Take Eavan and GO!” Boa charged at Shea, but she pushed him away with a burst of concentrated force.
Javid was sweating, frozen with horror. Shea’s magical stare drilled into his soul and glued him to his spot.
Summerhaze threw herself from the chair and dug her fingers into the floor, ripping her nails as she pulled herself across the room. Shea had forgotten her. The crippled girl with a fading will. What threat could she possibly pose? Throwing herself at Shea’s feet, Susu wrapped her hands around the High Mistress’s ankles and pulled her down to the floor. The second she hit the cold tiles, the magic vanished.
“Go! Help Shri!” Summerhaze yelled, struggling with Shea on the ground.
Javid woke up from his haze and raced toward Eavan. He grabbed her grey body, seizing her under the arms just as Teron’s gate was ready.
Dragging Eavan across the tiles, Javid and Teron stepped into the Gate.
Shea screamed and released a burst of flame that exploded before them just as they threw themselves into the portal.
The Spike trembled.
The gate flashed, and they were gone.
CHAPTER 27
THE PATH BACK TO THE city felt long. The trail was dark, and there was no illumination when the clouds covered the moonlight. Shri could hear Jogen behind her, and his every step was a stab in her heart. The wand was safely tucked under her shirt, but she felt like tossing it away. What if she climbed those high rocks above the shore and tossed it as far as she could? Her childish dream of magical powers seemed foolish now. Who wanted magic when all it brought was misery? But even if she doubted herself, the truth remained: it was up to Shri to solve this.
The Mairas seemed content with their lives on this island. Despite the dissatisfied talk about being regarded as the bad guy, the pirate, the scum, they were able to live and raise families. It was better than living as a captive in the Pit, that was certain. If Shri could convince them to come with her, many of them would die. Children would lose their parents. Could she live with any more deaths on her conscience?
Roxana stood right where Shri had left her. When Shri nodded, Roxana’s face lit up. “Let me see!”
Shri rolled her sleeve. The markings shimmered in the moonlight.
Roxana gently slid her finger along the lacy, silvery markings. “I have never seen them so large,” she whispered. “They travel all the way from your fingers to your elbow. Do you know what this means?”
“I have no idea, Roxana.”
Roxana took a step back and looked into Shri’s eyes with a confidence that Shri only dreamed of having herself. “It means that you have a righteous claim to the throne of the Thunder Islands.”
Shri lifted her hands. “That wasn’t part of the deal! I’m not capable of ruling. I am doing this because I need to save my father.”
The feathers in Roxana’s hair flapped against her ear as the breeze picked up. “That’s it, Shri, your father... he is our rightful clan leader! He should be sitting on that throne.”
“I doubt he would want that kind of honor.”
Roxana turned the other way and gazed at the flickering lights of the city. “Sometimes life chooses our path for us,” she muttered.
The words startled Shri. She remembered Eavan Firestone speaking the same message not so long ago.
“What... Who’s that?” Glancing over Shri’s shoulder, Roxana pulled out her dagger. “Is that... Jogen?”
“He followed me to Emba,” Shri whispered. “Something happened... He claimed he’s working for the High Mistress. He assailed me and... I don’t know. I’m not sure how...”
“What?” Roxana’s eyes widened. “Emba is a sacred place. No one can be harmed there. What happened to him? He looks... odd.”
Jogen stood about ten feet away, sulking in the shade. He was almost invisible, swaying gently like just another tree.
“He is a ghost, Roxana,” Shri explained. “His soul has been magically ripped out of him, leaving an empty shell that does nothing but breathe and obey.”
"I don’t understand,” Roxana said. “This happened to him in Emba? Who did it?”
“I know someone who might be able to help him,” Shri said, avoiding the question, “but he lives on the mainland.”
“You don’t need to save someone who meant you harm,” Roxana said. “Especially if he attacked at Emba! Only the evilest and most selfish would dare to do something so sacrilegious! Speaking of saving him will make you weak in the eyes of the Mairas!”
The guilt burned inside Shri. “But I have to help him! Don’t you see? It’s... It’s my fault that he is like that!”
"So, it was you,” Roxana said. “Shri... I don’t know how you did this to him, but if he followed you to Emba with intention of causing you harm, he deserves his fate.”
“Nobody deserves that!”
Roxana stared at her. “Look, from what you’ve said about that vicious witch in the tower and that dreadful city with its thousands of slaves... this is war. And in wars, people get hurt and die. Will you try to save every enemy you kill?”
“No! Of course not, but this is different.” She looked at Jogen. “He’s... He’s not even dead! He’s just... existing. Barely.
“How? How is it different than killing someone with my knife and sending him to meet his demons?”
Roxana lifted the dagger. “I can kill him. Would you prefer that?”
“No.”
Shrugging, Roxana said, “It would solve the problem. And his mortal blood wouldn’t be on your hands.”
Roxana was serious. She would kill Jogen for her.
“No. I have to deal with him. It’s my responsibility.” Shri studied the flickering lights of Lighthaven. The wind ruffled her hair, which was still moist from her trip through the pond. She heard the sounds of music and laughter. The party was still going on. “I need to meet with Tarinna Goldring.”
THE GATE FLASHED, DEPOSITING Teron, Javid, and a shiftless Eavan onto the ground. Teron rolled a few times and hen lay on his back, his eyes closed, gasping. He felt used, like a wet rag. All of Javid’s extra energy had left him the moment he had jumped through the gate, and all he could do now was focus on breathing.
“Teron?” Javid said, shaking him. “Where did you transport us?”
“The first place I pictured in my head." He forced himself up, leaning on his hands. “Are we in danger?”
He was baffled to see the eyes of old Sambran the fisherman staring back at him. They were on Sambran’s boat, the same one that had taken them from Senatai Island to Glasswater.
“Hello, Sambran,” he said. “Do you remember me?”
“I remember,” Sambran said. “Where’d you lot come from, then?”
"A very bad place.”
Sambran studied his guests for a long time. Sighing, he clanked his pipe against the boat’s boards a couple of times and fixed his hat. He studied the clouds for a while, sighed again, and finally nodded his head. “Right, then. Let’s get you inside. Not much room in the cabin, but it’s gonna rain soon, and we can’t stay out here.”
“Thank you, Sambran.” Teron tried to stumble up but faltered back down. His strength was still gone.
Javid helped him up. Eavan lay beside them, staring into nothingness.
The fisherman scratched his beard. “You lost the white-haired girl, traded her in for this weird grey one.” Staring curiously at her, he murmured, “All worn out... She alive?”
“Yes,” Teron said. “She’d better be.”
“There’s something goin’ on, and you better tell me what,” Sambran said. “I need to know what sort of mess you've gotten me in.”
Before Teron could answer, th
e rain began to patter the deck, and Sambran had to help them into
the cabin. The small boat bobbed on the waves like a cork.
Teron didn’t mind the storm. He was used to boats and ships, though the ones he’d been on as a child were comfortable and filled with luxuries. Oddly, he felt more at home on this tiny vessel than he ever had with his family on those pompous luxury ships. As the son of a wealthy noble house, her had been entitled.
“How far from the mainland are we, exactly?” Teron asked as they entered the small cabin. He sat Eavan against the wall and commanded her to stay. She obeyed without a blink.
“Let's see...” Sambran scratched his beard. His fingers were filled with cuts and abrasions, probably caused by sharp fins, and perhaps a few teeth. There were dangerous creatures in the sea, and surely some of them would end up in his nets. “Three days away from Glasswater, five from Senatai Island. We’re quite north, I would say. But this, er, magic stuff... you people appearing outta thin air... I don’t want no part of that.”
"You live on Senatai Island.”
“I steer clear of the senatai. I wanna keep my life and all. “
“We’re not going to hurt you,” Javid growled and sat down. He looked exhausted.
“That was an enormously far leap we took,” Teron said. “I couldn’t have done it without your loaned power, my friend.”
Javid crossed his hands over his knees but didn’t answer.
Sambran pulled open a small bundle of fresh fish and dried fruit. He doled it out amongst them. It wasn’t much but they ate it. Except, of course, for Eavan.
“What’s wrong with her?” Sambran asked. “Is that some kind of illness?”
“Something like that,” Teron admitted.
"Is it catching?”
“No. No, not at all.” Teron looked at Eavan. Her once-glossy ebony hair was gray. Her sparkling, vivid eyes stared emptily, not recognizing anything. Her skin was so pallid it was nearly opaque. He imagined that a paper knife could tear her apart.
