by H. L. Burke
Arynne touched the back of Kay’s hand. Raising his fingers to eye level, he gulped as his skin glowed with an eerie silver light before returning to its normal hue.
“Yeah, getting used to this might take a while,” he breathed.
The ground beneath them shook, and the Starspire flickered.
Arynne shuddered. “We don’t have a while.”
“We need to find Athan.” Olyn took a step forward but immediately gasped in pain. He fell to his knees.
“Olyn!” Kay cried, but before he could aid his brother, a stomach churning pulse of dark magic flickered through him. Arynne groaned and put her hand to her chest.
The Starspire blinked in and out again, and Olyn doubled over. “My connection to the Starspire is too strong ... Athan must already be attacking it. I can feel it.” He squared his shoulders. “I need to get closer. If I can bond with the star spirits, I can keep them from dying.”
“We’re going with you.” Arynne gripped Olyn by his right arm. “Kay and I will keep Athan busy.”
The earth rumbled, and stabbing pains pierced Kay’s chest. Arynne likewise flinched.
With a shock wave that sent the group to their knees, dark smoke exploded out of the ground. It billowed up, forming a barrier between them and the glistening Starspire.
“What is that?” Arynne yelped.
Purple and black murk hemorrhaged from a chasm in the earth like blood spurting from a wound.
“A rift,” Kay breathed. “Athan’s bringing more dark spirits into this realm. We have to stop him.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
A sickening pang of anxiety attacked Arynne through the heartbond, mixing with her own fear until her stomach heaved, threatening to eject her breakfast.
She pushed past it. They needed a plan. “How do we close a rift?”
“Starcasting.” Olyn lurched to his feet, but Kay clapped his hand on his brother’s shoulder.
“You need to see to the Starspire.” Determination steeled Kay’s expression. “I’ve got this.”
Worry creased Olyn’s face, but he nodded. “Good luck, brother. Ever be with you.” He traveled away.
Kay glanced at Arynne. “I wish you were somewhere safe right now. If you want to run—”
“Shut up and let me help you.” Arynne scowled.
Kay gave a brief nod. “Watch my back, then. Let’s go.”
Again they traveled, arriving in a churning sea of black fog. A roar like thundering rapids rose about them. Arynne winced and instinctively reached for her magic. It surged forward with unexpected force, and a wave of fire shot from her hands, scattering the gloom before her and exposing a jagged crack in the grassy field. She yelped.
“Careful!” Kay shouted over the cacophony. “You’re drawing off my magic, and that’s in turn pulling from the Starspire.” He threw his hands forward. Light crackled about his fingertips. “We’re both far stronger than we’re accustomed to.”
Arynne’s throat tightened. She would’ve liked a chance to practice with her newfound strength rather than jump right into it with the fate of the whole kingdom on the line.
Starlight streamed from Kay’s hands. A tingling pull sparked through the heartbond. She could feel his magic as surely as she felt her own, and it was intoxicatingly potent. Her head swam.
The light crisscrossed the chasm like sutures. The earth beneath them shook again, sending vibrations through the soles of Arynne’s feet. The ground moaned, and the edges of the gap drew together.
“I’ve got this!” Kay laughed.
A pillar of darkness shot from the crevasse to tower over them.
“Look out!” Arynne sent forth a wall of fire as the pillar swooped towards Kay. The darkness broke against the flame. It shattered into a thousand fragments on impact. The shards crashed over Arynne, stinging into her skin like ice-cold sparks.
Teeth clenched, Arynne rubbed her hands together. A sphere of heat and light formed between her palms.
Kay sent another stream of light washing over the rift. Murky tendrils sprouted from the chasm’s depths. Arynne released her fire. It rippled out around them and chased away the tentacles of blackness. A ring of flame crackled around them, forming a barrier. The murk undulated just outside the circle but could not penetrate it.
“Almost there ... Got it!” Kay crowed.
Light flashed, and the rift snapped closed leaving only an ugly scar of churned up earth. The breeze carried away the fog, and Arynne laughed in relief.
Then the haze parted fully. On the other side of the scar, perhaps a stone’s throw from them and less from the flickering Starspire, stood two dark figures. Purple flames wreathed them as they glared at Arynne and Kay.
Arynne’s breath abandoned her.
Kay’s fingers slipped around hers in a gentle squeeze. “Together,” he murmured.
Her heart rate slowed, and she nodded. Where was Olyn? Well, if Athan and Friya were dealing with her and Kay, hopefully that meant Olyn was safe.
Athan glided closer, his ragged dark robes billowing about him and melding with his cold fire. First confusion and then rage contorted features that resembled more a corpse than a man.
“How are you alive, boy?” He glared.
A smile quirked the corner of Kay’s mouth. “I’m harder to kill than I look.”
Athan’s eyes narrowed, then he gave a dismissive sniff. “I see I underestimated you. I won’t do that a second time.”
Kay chuckled. “Oh, I very much doubt that.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Friya put in, her face never deviating from her typical expressionless expression. “Victory is as good as ours. You will fall before us like frost before fire, and all your reappearance means is that I get the pleasure of killing you twice in one brightening.”
Arynne snapped her fingers, and fire flickered to life in her hand. “You’ll have to go through me first.”
A faint smile crossed Friya’s lips. “Acceptable.”
Dark flames sprang up in the older woman’s hands.
“Look out!” Kay yelped.
Arynne sent forth a blast of fire even as Friya’s flames escaped. Both projectiles collided against a shimmering wall of silver light. Arynne’s gaze snapped to Kay. He stood, arms outstretched, whole being aglow.
Scowl deepening, Friya pointed her hands at the ground. Twisting vapor rose from the grass, swirling about her, growing and darkening. Beyond her, Athan turned towards the Starspire.
Arynne gritted her teeth. Worry radiated through the heartbond. That wasn’t good. Kay couldn’t let his desire to keep her safe distract him. If he did, the whole kingdom would fall.
“I can handle this!” she shouted. “Look to Athan. Keep him from getting to your brother.”
Kay cast a harried glance from her to the fleeing sorcerer, mouthed “I love you,” and traveled away. Immediately the barrier of light between Arynne and Friya blinked out, but Arynne was ready.
Flames spouted from her. They rushed at Friya, crashing into the barrier of dark vapor the sorceress had drawn about her.
“You’ll need more than that to go up against me, girl!” Friya cackled through the sound of rushing wind and snarling flames. “I have drawn the dark powers fully into me. No more must I work in faint light. I trade in darkness and death.”
“You aren’t the only one who has increased their skills recently.” Arynne focused on the heat from her core. She whipped her hand before her in a circular motion, and a ring of flame flew from her fingertips. It spun through the air, collapsing to the earth around Friya where it roared with new intensity. The crackling fence of fire couldn’t penetrate the dark wall Friya had conjured to protect herself, but it didn’t need to.
I don’t need to kill her, Arynne told herself as she drew from the bond between her and Kay to keep the flames alight. I just need to keep her under control until Kay and Olyn have defeated Athan. He’s the real danger. Friya is just a stubborn she-camel.
The ground rumbled beneath their feet. Earth
and rocks flew into the air. Dirt pelted Arynne like hailstones, snapping her concentration. The ring of fire blinked out.
Instinctively, Arynne threw herself to the ground. A miasma tainted with sickly green and purple lights wafted from another open rift, this one closer to the Starspire.
Kay! Arynne reached for their connection.
I’m all right! In spite of his assurance, panic edged their bond.
Please be careful. She scrambled to her feet, flames at ready in her hands. Where was Friya now?
I’ve got this! Look to yourself. Watch out!
Arynne dropped to the ground just in time to avoid a blast of foul purple magic. She gripped the grass in her hands. Hopefully Kay was doing better than she was.
KAY CAME OUT OF HIS traveling inches from Athan, closer than intended. Without thinking he reached out and grabbed the sorcerer by the shoulder and flung him to the ground. He summoned his magic. It crackled in his fingers, and he let forth a burst of it straight at the prone Athan.
The sorcerer rolled and flung up a barrier of putrid green haze. Kay’s starcasting broke against it. A shock wave hit Kay in the chest, knocking his breath from his lungs. He toppled onto his rump and skidded several feet, away from his target. He threw up a barrier of light to protect himself as he regained his feet. Athan, however, was already on the move. The sorcerer cloaked himself in a dark cloud. Lightning snaked about him, a fork of it burying into the field before him.
The ground heaved beneath Kay. He fell to one knee, bracing his left hand against the grass, his right extended and aglow with magic, ready to fend off another attack.
The earth ripped apart at his feet. With a cry, he traveled. He landed on his face, shaking but unharmed, and hopped up. He whirled to face Athan. The sorcerer loomed over an expanding rift, taking in the flood of darkness like a snake savoring sunlight.
Jaws clenched, Kay traveled again, to the opposite side of the rift this time. The cover of the smoke would give him a few moments before he had to deal directly with Athan.
Kay? Arynne’s thoughts, clear as spoken words, interrupted him.
His head snapped in her direction. In the distance, he could see her, crouched defensively. However, her tone wasn’t a cry for help but rather an inquiry as to his well-being. She couldn’t be distracted by concern for him. Unfortunately, with the dark energy billowing from the rift before him, it was all he could do to control his fear.
I’m all right! he thought with all his might in her directly. Ever willing, she’d believe him. He watched as she regained her feet. Flames crackled around her. Yes, Arynne would be fine.
Please be careful! She begged him.
I’ve got this! Look to yourself.
Friya strode out of the murk, straight towards Arynne.
Watch out! The warning escaped as a shrill mental scream.
Arynne dropped to the earth. Friya’s attack swooped over her head. It took all of Kay’s willpower not to travel to Arynne’s aid.
The ground trembled, a deep groaning rising from within it. The rift was growing.
No, he was here to deal with Athan. He’d have to trust Arynne could look after herself.
Widening his stance, Kay reached for the Starspire’s energy. It coursed through him like a river at flood. His entire being shone until he could see nothing but light. Then with an out-breath, he released it over the new rift.
As the light slammed into the darkness, biting pain flew up Kay’s arms. The dark spirits cackled madly within the fog.
Fool.
Weak boy.
You let your father die like the coward you are. Now you will join him.
With a low growl, Kay focused on the link with the Starspire. The bell-like tones of the star spirits drowned out the haunting cries of the dark.
“You can’t win!” Athan shouted over the chaos.
“Yes, I can.” Kay sent another wave over the rift, scattering the mist.
The parting fog revealed Athan, his dark eyes filled with malice. He raised his hands, alight with foul magic. Bracing himself, Kay followed suit. Light rushed to fill his soul. His heart sang, reinforcing his courage.
Athan threw his hands down. Churning vapor spewed from his palms, rushing into the rift. Kay channeled his pent up power into his feet where it rushed from him into the rift. He could feel the living magic, darting from one edge of the chasm to the other, pushing away the evil, filling the gaps, mending the tears.
Athan fell to his knees with a cry of rage and agony. Black shapes—streaks of darkness with no sure form—tore from the rift and collided with the sorcerer’s chest. His eyes shone an unearthly green. A lump formed in Kay’s throat.
Ever give me strength.
ANOTHER BOLT OF VIOLET flame shot over Arynne. It impacted before her face, spraying more dirt into her eyes. She cringed. Pushing her magic through the earth, she sent fire up through the roots of the grass. Another wall of flames ignited before her, and she scrambled towards the closed rift. The initial explosion had thrust giant boulders up out of the ground. Those might offer her some shelter. She needed to pause and think. Throwing magic around was all well and good, but strategy was what won battles.
Smoke, not the evil, tainted fog from the rifts, but good, wholesome natural smoke with its earthy scent and acrid bite, masked her escape. She sprinted behind the closest boulder and leaned against it to catch her breath.
“You can’t hide from me, girl!” Friya’s voice traveled over the roar of the dark magic pouring from the rift. “Come out, surrender, perhaps we can make a deal. After all, I know you have no love for Evyd. Not after what he did to your favorite plaything.”
Arynne’s fists clenched. Friya was just as responsible for Kay’s harm as Evyd was.
“If you give up now, perhaps we can even spare your precious Kajik.”
“If you surrender, perhaps my precious Kajik will spare you!” Arynne snapped.
Even as she spoke, though, she could feel his strength flickering at the edge of their heartbond. Athan’s attack was taking all his power and cunning, and with Friya pushing at her, Arynne had no way to help him. She closed her eyes. Focusing on the heartbond, she could see Kay, pouring himself into closing yet another rift, his skin aglow, his heart pounding.
Where is he?
Eyes open, she scanned the darkness until she found a point of light and another of deeper darkness: Kay and Athan. The men stood on opposite sides of the rift, power flowing from both of them. The dark and the light strained against each other. Through the heartbond, she could feel Kay striving against his uncle’s attack. His heart pounded. Every muscle in his body was taut. Arynne’s own powers reached out to him, flowing to him like water to reinforce his fading strength.
His magic flared brighter. A grin crept over Arynne’s face.
A shadow fell over her, breaking her concentration. She instinctively hit the ground. A bolt of dark magic crashed into the rock that had been behind her head seconds before. The boulder cracked.
Arynne threw up a wall of fire just in time to avoid a second attack. Friya glared at her from beyond the flames. Her hair had escaped its bindings to frame her face like writhing tentacles.
“You are as hard to be rid of as a case of red-fever.” Friya bared her teeth. “When my twin first asked me to thwart the prophecy of the Sun Princess, I thought an avalanche would be enough. My mistake was sending Valka to see to it rather than do so myself and risk Evyd questioning my absence.”
Arynne’s chest tightened. She remembered the wall of snow plummeting towards her, the look of fear on her maid Elfrida’s face, and seeing her friends and traveling companions buried before her eyes. Friya had been behind that?
“Then the grimwolves and even the grimowls.” Friya shook her head in disgust. Her fingers radiated dark smoke. Arynne tensed, awaiting another attack.
Kay’s magic flickered.
Arynne, are you all right?
Focus on yourself, Arynne shot a warning through the heartbon
d. You don’t need the distraction of looking after me right now.
A thought burst to life. A distraction ... She eased to her feet and walked backwards, always keeping the flames between her and Friya. Friya’s gaze followed her like a cat-owl considering a mouse. Not daring to take her eyes off Friya long enough to look behind her, Arynne counted steps, trying to discern when she was on her intended mark.
Arynne held her magic just beneath the skin of her palms. The power hummed within her, stronger and hotter than ever. With the strength from the Starspire fueling her through her bond to Kay, she didn’t need to fear over-expending herself—at least not as easily as before. However, if she attacked with full force, Friya would simply dodge or throw up a shield. Especially now when they were face-to-face, both fully able to observe the other. Like Kay and Athan, they were at a stalemate. Arynne narrowed her eyes at Friya. The dark power rising off the sorceress was now strong enough that it distorted the air around her like heat rising off the desert sands.
Just what I need. If I can time this exactly right ... oh Ever, please let this work.
With a deep breath, Arynne feinted. She threw her hands forward, allowing a small, controlled blast of fire from a single fingertip. The stream of flame shot over Friya’s shoulder, missing her entirely.
Friya cackled and pushed both of her hands towards Arynne. Purple magic rushed towards the princess with a mighty whoosh.
Now!
Arynne channeled all her magic out through her fingers, but instead of aiming it at Friya, she shot downward, into the ground. The burst of flame beneath her feet pushed her upward on a wave of hot air. Her breath left her and her heart hit her toes as she became airborne. Friya’s dark power rocketed beneath her, catching on the edge of Arynne’s gown as the princess’s body started to fall back to earth.
Arynne twisted mid-fall to watch as the bolt meant for her flew past and continued onward, slamming into the earth an arm’s length from Athan.
Friya shrieked. Athan shouted. Concentration blown, his black magic scattered with a wail from the dark spirits. Kay stomped both feet on the ground, and a flash of silver light washed over the rift.