The smaller fissures were closed, but the larger ones were only about halfway shut. I hopped through the nearest crack in the floor and a few seconds later I was ejected into the rock labyrinth cavern. Good. But I was fifty feet above ground and falling. Bad.
Thank Book for Ozma. By some stroke of luck, she spotted me and hurled a rush of water in my direction, cushioning my fall by means of a twisting waterslide that guided me to the ground. When my boots hit the floor, the water shot back across the cavern; Ozma was still using it I guess.
Hm. That was—
“Argh!” I dropped to my knees.
The magic was angry that I’d stopped using it and it burned through my system—my arm veins glowing bright gold and their light spilling out of my jacket.
The power was fighting back, fighting to get out. Gone were those glorious moments earlier in the hour when using power left me feeling feistier. I’d peaked. I’d used too much magic and now I was experiencing the repercussions bundled together. Pure Magic was only getting stronger as the Aurora progressed and in tune, my ability to control it was decreasing. So much so, that now I was feeling physical punishment for cutting it off.
The pain seared inside of me, but I took a deep breath, thinking about my months of training with Liza.
You control the magic; the magic doesn’t control you.
Focus.
It was difficult, but I swallowed the ache of power. I released a great exhale and my concentration paid off. After a beat, I managed to center myself enough that my glow subsided.
You got this.
A residual shudder quaked my body, as if doubting that I actually did.
I gripped my wand tightly and glanced around. I couldn’t see Ozma, Merlin, or Arian and company. I had landed in between two taller rock ridges and the sound of battle was faintly muffled. While my allies and enemies fought off the remaining flying monkeys—no more replacements would be coming, thanks to me—maybe I could make a run at the memory stone. Then I mentally smacked myself.
Great plan, genius. Too bad you don’t have Excalibur. You need to find Arian first.
I morphed my wand into a spear and set off racing through the rock reef in search of my longtime enemy. After turning one short corner at full stride however, I ran into a newer enemy: Julian—Wizard of Oz, Ozma’s older brother, and treacherous liar who’d sold out his own sister.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, scrambling to my feet and not helping him up.
This was the first time I’d seen Julian wearing something other than a precocious suit. His regular jacket and pants still had trimmings of gold and details of regalia, but in general he looked ready to fight. I was ready to fight him.
“We’re here to help,” another voice responded behind me.
I spun around to find Blue. Her hunting knife was bloody, her blue cloak was torn, and there was a long cut along her leg. It was bleeding, but she either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“Apparently Ozma used a Mark Two to contact Julian and Eva before we met up at the base of the mountains,” Blue explained. “Little ruler thought we could use the backup.”
“It would’ve been a good call if I wasn’t worried about that backup stabbing us in the back.” I said, glaring in Julian’s direction.
“Who, me?”
“Yes, you,” I said. “I know you left Ozma to rot in Camelot, Julian. Rampart said Oz’s rulers knew she was there and didn’t mind him keeping her prisoner in his dungeon.”
A huge surge of electricity lit up the roof of the cavern, accompanied by the screams of a flying monkey. Mauvrey was close.
“Crisanta, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Julian protested. “I didn’t—”
“Incoming!” Blue leapt in front of me and fired several throwing knives, downing two out of three charging monkeys.
Shield.
I flung my weapon discus-style at the third and spanked the monster in the head. The monkey veered off course and Blue chucked two more throwing knives, which sliced through its wings. The monster plowed into the ground between us. Julian finished it off with the sword he’d brought along.
I sped forward and picked up my shield. The other pair of monkeys Blue had hit were injured but circling for another dive.
Spear.
I launched my weapon and the sharp edge went straight through one of the creature’s wings, pinning it to the rock. I dropped and rolled as the last of the monkeys dove after me. Julian slashed his sword into its torso while Blue plunged her hunting knife into the one I’d trapped. Death: party of two.
Blue ripped my spear from the rock and tossed it to me. I cringed at the blood on the tip but swallowed my disgust.
“You and I are going to talk about this later,” I said, pointing an accusing finger at Julian. “For now, go help your sister. You have water magic like her. She’s using the river in the center of the cavern to finish off the monkeys. I sealed off the hub they were coming from, so these are the last ones.”
“How’d you do that?” Blue asked suspiciously.
The mountain rumbled noticeably at precisely the wrong time.
“Never mind,” I replied curtly. “You said Eva was here too?”
“She took my place in the big cavern where the others are fighting,” Blue replied. “The flood of flying monkeys was getting ridiculous and we started to lose steam, but her fireballs really saved us. We thought her magic would continue to do more good there, while I could do more good with you.”
“Fine then,” I said. “The memory stone is in here and we need to get Excalibur back from Arian to pierce it. Let’s go through the rock reef and see if we can cut him off.”
“Right,” she said.
“Right,” Julian seconded. “But, Crisanta, I just want to say again that I—”
“Julian. Go!” I gestured angrily at the center of the cavern.
For once, the Wizard of Oz didn’t look confident. In fact, he looked a little remorseful, but he ran off to find Ozma anyway. The mountain kept shaking as it continued to fight back against flying monkeys as I’d vaguely ordered it to do.
“I can’t believe you brought him here,” I said to Blue as we ducked and crouched behind ridges of rock to avoid attracting the ire of any more monkeys. It was safer, but it made for slow going. My anxiety twitched; Arian could reach the stone any second.
“I can’t believe you clearly used magic after I told you not to,” Blue responded.
“Blue, I didn’t—”
“Don’t lie,” she said. “You’re glowing.”
I glanced down. The faintest shade of gold still pulsed through the veins in my hands and could be seen coming out of my sleeves. It must’ve been reignited a bit by my anger toward Julian.
“You don’t understand,” I tried to explain. “I had to—Look out!”
I pushed Blue aside as a mighty stalactite plummeted down and speared the ground between us. Rock rained across the cavern, which we dodged as we moved.
“This is you, isn’t it?” Blue said.
“I told the mountain to fight back,” I replied, my voice rising in frustration. “The monkeys were only going to keep coming.”
“Well, now we have avalanches to deal with. Real upgrade.”
Blue’s comment stung. I knew I would have been mangled if I hadn’t used magic to stop the monkeys, and I knew trapping them was a good play. But I should’ve been more careful. How could I pour life into this mountain without being stricter with my directives and more wary of the consequences?
I couldn’t stop it now. Blue knew that as well as I did. Taking away any kind of life energy, even from a previously inanimate object, after the magic hunter incident was a risk beyond what I felt comfortable with. Furthermore, I wasn’t even sure how deeply my magic had been unleashed when I injected it into the mountain. I was too powerful right now. What if I’d infected more than just that cavern?
We approached a break in the rock reef and Blue banked the turn ahead
of me. I followed swiftly but was in for a rude surprise.
“Crisa, move!”
Blue’s warning came too late as a shimmering wire ensnared my neck.
Aw, dang.
Electricity surged up the wire. I screamed and the next thing I knew, my face hit cold stone. I braced for another surge; much to my surprise the wire released me. I woozily raised my head to see Blue and Mauvrey fighting intensely.
Blue stabbed at Mauvrey. Mauvrey launched a fresh set of wires, which Blue spun to evade. Mauvrey reeled in the wires then clapped her hands together, activating the electricity of her gauntlets. She punched at Blue but my friend ducked and Mauvrey’s fist went straight into the stone. The electrical power of her blow caused a dent in the rock like a small asteroid.
Blue saw an opening. She sent a roundhouse kick into the small of Mauvrey’s spine and the princess face-planted against the rock. The surge of her second glove smattered more stone to oblivion then extinguished. Both gloves temporarily out, Blue rushed in. Mauvrey spun, blocked Blue’s knife, and punched Blue in the chest. Blue staggered back and Mauvrey launched the wires from both gloves. Dumb move, I thought. Blue was too close for the wires to get a good shot. Blue dodged the wires and they flailed out into open air before falling to the ground without touching her.
Blue lunged in. Mauvrey tried another punch, but Blue grabbed the princess’s wrist out of midair. As Mauvrey swung her second hand around, Blue blocked that too and slammed the girl’s forearm against the stone, pinning her down.
You’d think Blue had her, but then Mauvrey crossed her pointer and middle fingers, activating the electricity in both sets of extended wires, and I realized her “dumb move” had been strategic.
“Blue!”
This time my warning came too late.
Mauvrey closed the fingers over her palms with two light, quick motions, causing all four wires to whip back to their point of origin. On their way they slashed Blue’s bare arms. Blue pulled back, gasping at the pain from the burn streaks on her skin. Now free, Mauvrey clapped her hands together.
“No!” I gathered the strength to rise and snatch up my spear, but not before the princess thrust her surging, electrified hands against Blue’s chest, blasting my friend back ten feet. She collided with a ridge of rock and sank to the ground. The knife dropped from her grasp as her eyes closed and jagged sparks flashed around her like dying lightning.
“Mauvrey!” I yelled.
Without thinking, I hurled my spear at the girl’s head. It missed her cheek by a millimeter and the blade plunged into the rock behind her. I darted forward as Mauvrey reactivated her electric palms. Operating on heightened, hatred-fueled adrenaline, I sparred with her, careful not to make contact with her hands. She hooked; I ducked. I punched; she evaded. She took a shot; I parried and got out of the way.
When I was close enough to my weapon, I forced Mauvrey back with a kick and grabbed the staff.
Wand.
The weapon dislodged itself from the rock.
Spear.
I twisted the staff to slam it down on Mauvrey’s head, but she dove out of the way. I couldn’t allow her to put any distance between us or else she would release those wires again, so I stayed right on her heels. If I was going to stop her, it had to be at close range.
We fought on. I noticed the golden energy in my veins reigniting as we did so. It was pulsating through me with heat and hunger. It wanted its vengeance on her as earnestly as I did.
As I pivoted to avoid Mauvrey’s latest strike, the terrain rumbled and we both looked up at the rocks that had dislodged and were falling toward us. The mountain was getting increasingly unstable. We bounded to the side to escape the avalanche. Mauvrey prepared to charge me again, but then her eyes flicked to the left and she skidded to a stop. She extended a hand to fire a set of whips at a screeching flying monkey headed straight for her.
Her distraction was my opportunity.
Sword.
Mauvrey was just recalling her whips from the smoking monkey corpse when I planted the sole of my boot squarely against her diaphragm. She soared back and hit the rock reef. I was on her immediately, grabbing one of her wrists and smashing the pommel of my sword into the center of her hand. The impact shattered the reeling device on her glove that fired the wires and also fractured the entire integrity of the metal-laced weapon. The crunch—as well as Mauvrey’s cry of pain—told me I probably broke her hand too.
I released her wrist and punched her in the face. She toppled to the side. I did not ease up. I seized her by the neck, yanked back, and then slammed her against the rock again. I gripped her other arm. She weakly tried to resist for a second; it was no use. I crushed that hand and that gloved mechanism as well.
Mauvrey was defeated. But that was not enough. Only one thing would be.
I threw down my sword and grabbed Mauvrey by the throat. In one swift motion, I thrust her against the stone once more, only this time I didn’t let go.
She struggled, pushing against my arm and gasping. It was a pointless protest. Mauvrey may have been faster than me, but she wasn’t stronger. She could not escape. I’d sooner crush every bone in her neck before she’d get free. And with the anger I held toward her, that moment may well have been now. However, even that idea didn’t quench my desire to destroy her.
Before I knew it, I was glowing gold and gray. I acknowledged it and my conscience didn’t flinch. Magic Instinct had set in swiftly and my reservations had fled.
For once, Mauvrey’s malevolent eyes shone with fear, and I liked it. She grasped more frantically at my arm, trying to push me back, but I only squeezed tighter, choking the life out of her as surely as my magic sucked it from her while I crossed the Malice Line.
For a brief moment, my morality wormed doubts through the might of my Magic Instinct. I remembered promising Mauvrey’s mother that if there was ever a time when I thought I might be able to save her daughter, I would. As brusquely as that misgiving came though, it left.
There is no saving Mauvrey, my magic’s inner voice alleged. She is evil. Evil should be stopped. You can stop it.
Energy floated off Mauvrey in the ash-like way I was getting used to. Her arms fell limp and her eyelids closed; her fight had faded. Just one more moment and I would have killed her by magic or my own hand.
A small jolt of electricity suddenly crackled at the base of my spine. I released Mauvrey with a yelp of pain and shock. Unconscious but still breathing, Mauvrey dropped to the floor. I spun around. Merlin was behind me, spear-drill in hand and tip sizzling with residue sparks. He’d never told me it could produce shocks, but it was clear he’d been the one to zap me.
“What the heck!” I demanded. The mountain rumbled and debris spilled from several weakening spots in the ceiling. The whole area shook violently like the rage inside me. I put a hand on the rock ridge to steady myself, the expulsion of magic drastically draining me, but the anger kind of helping to reduce it.
“Crisa, you need her,” Merlin said. “I only foresaw it last night. But you need Mauvrey.”
“Mauvrey is wicked! I need her like I need a hole in the head!”
“No, Crisa,” Merlin said. “That girl is evil.” He pointed his staff at my weakened nemesis. “But that is not Mauvrey.”
“What?”
Merlin waved his hand. “I’ll explain later. You must hurry. Arian will get to the memory stone any moment now.”
I scowled. My eyes flicked to Mauvrey, and desire to finish what I’d started flooded through me. Then I clenched my fists and channeled my concentration. I reined in the magic and the lust for revenge.
Arian. Excalibur. Memory stone. More important things.
I pointed an angry finger at Merlin. “If she hurts anyone else, I’m holding you personally responsible.” I looked around—my eyes falling on Blue a ways over. “Merlin, Blue needs—”
“Yes, yes,” he said. “I’ll check on her; you get a hold of yourself and go. Ignore the Pure Magic. I know what
it’s like, what it’s trying to convince you of, but you have to block it out. Right now, we need Crisanta Knight the hero, not Crisanta Knight the murderer.”
Murderer?
The comment was enough to spur me out of my contempt and fully reignite my focus.
“Go, Crisanta,” Merlin urged.
I swallowed hard and scooped up my sword, then ran for the center of the cavern, making a straight shot toward the river so I’d come at the memory stone directly. I didn’t care if Arian or the flying monkeys spotted me at this point. I was done with these twists and turns. It was time to do what we came here for.
arrived in the center of the cavern to find Ozma and Julian battling the last handful of flying monkeys. Beyond them, Arian struck down a creature. It was the last one near him. Now, unchallenged, he made a break for the memory stone—which was barely fifty feet away.
No!
I ran after him, jumping over the collapsed carcasses of flying monkeys and dodging Julian and Ozma’s water attacks. I don’t think I’d ever sprinted faster.
As I closed in, the memory stone came into focus. From far away, the big crystal appeared opaque white, but a closer inspection revealed purple and green lights zooming around the water inside. They moved like they had minds of their own—probably because they were minds, or at least the essence of other people’s minds trapped by Glinda.
My eyes darted to Arian and in a horrible instant I realized I wasn’t going to get to him in time. He was still a good twenty feet ahead and almost at the memory stone. A moment later, he stood before it. I leapt over the body of an antagonist soldier as Arian raised Excalibur.
Spear.
Murderer. Merlin’s voice rang in my ears.
Shield.
My weapon changed and I was about to chuck it at Arian when a pulse of black energy blasted him back before he could make contact with the stone. The energy continued expanding like a tidal wave until it collided with me too.
Arian and I ended up next to each other on our backs in the river. He looked as surprised as I was. Above us, a woman in a dark gown within a dark energy orb floated down. She’d come through a set of magic-dust-encrusted doors high up in the corner of the cavern, which I hadn’t seen until now. This had to be Glinda.
Crisanta Knight: The Lost King Page 26
