by C B Samet
“Crithos.” I coughed and swore. “Fine. We do this the hard way.”
I removed my boots, sword, vambraces and breastplate. I needed speed and agility more than protection—although I still kept the small dagger Hans had given me.
Then, I climbed. The trail was a slick mixture of mud, stone, and fallen branches. It wrapped around the hill, the turns preventing me from seeing my destination and transporting there.
“Abigail, why don’t you go ahead and collect all of the stones? Easy as slicing pumpkin pie.” I shook my head. Mal wasn’t here, and yet I was still talking to myself. I decided to blame it on exhaustion.
Wind picked up pace and hurled in bursts from atop the hill, causing trees to sway and leafy plumage to smack against my skin relentlessly like a hundred tiny whips. On one side of the hill, I reached a ledge where the trail had washed out.
I gripped the slick rock with my fingertips and toes. I used the Warrior Stone to keep my grip against the fearsome wind trying to force me to fall. A delicate balance ensued. If I gripped too fiercely, the rock would crumble beneath the crushing grip of my strength-enhanced fingers. If I gripped too lightly, the wind would win and whip me straight off the side of the rocky outcrop.
I climbed, slowly but surely, and when I finally reached solid ground again, I took off at a sprint. My muscles protested and burned. I definitely needed more running in my conditioning routine. Did I even have a routine? I had a haphazard approach to training, which took place when I had time and wasn’t exhausted from the children and work.
So, first, I needed a routine. Then, to add more running to it.
The path ahead of me cleared. Above, I could see more of the trail—as well as one rose-colored wall of what must be ancient, stone ruins. I transported up one level of stairs and froze, listening as I tried to catch my breath.
The wind ceased.
I walked forward the last few steps. A full view of the ruins emerged. They were a towering monstrosity of pinkish, golden stone, partially obscured by rogue vines. The ceiling had collapsed in several areas, and a large, gaping hole stood where the front entrance had once been.
Men wearing cotton dresses hollered in surprise at my appearance and scurried to block the entrance to the ruins. It was clearly a protective gesture on behalf of whoever wielded the Wind Stone. The men held short, broad swords in one hand and gold-painted shields in the other.
Behind them, a tall woman rose from a dilapidated throne and strode down the steps towards me. She barked at me in a language I didn’t understand. Her gold jewelry glinted in the sunlight, and she wore the same brown dress as the men.
“I speak Crithian,” I said, speaking between gasps of air, since I was still breathing hard from the climb. “Quite the summer home you have here.”
One of the men translated for her.
The woman stared at me with a puzzled expression. I imagined I hardly looked like a threat—clothes smeared in mud, my feet bare and bleeding, and my wet hair clinging to my neck.
She spoke through her translator. “I am the Goddess of Wind, and you’re trespassing on sacred ground.”
Her men leveled their swords at me.
The air around her began to swirl, spinning her hair and leaves wildly. I saw the glowing stone in her hand.
I sighed. “I’m the goddess of I-don’t-have-time-for-another-fanatic-with-delusions-of-grandeur.” I transported, and instantly appeared behind her—the blade of my dagger pressed to her throat and my arm around her torso. She gasped in surprise.
I’d need to remember to thank Hans for the dagger.
“You want to play goddess?” I hissed. “Come with me and save some lives instead of hiding out here with a bunch of men who don’t know what you really are—just a girl with a stone.”
As her translator spoke the words, he reached to pull a short sword from his belt. I pressed the blade into her skin. Wind Goddess—as she dubbed herself—lashed out a hand and grasped his wrist, halting him.
“Now that we’re all touching …” I transported the three of us to the castle.
When we arrived in the deliberation room, I introduced the latest arrival. “This is the self-proclaimed Wind Goddess and her translator.”
The woman and her translator took one one look at the assembled group of armed and armored royal guards and meekly decided not to resist.
The two of them were ushered to the table with the bowl and other stones. I took a few steps back and bumped into a chair. With rising relief, I sank into it. The guards took the Wind Stone and secured the woman and man, who still seemed stunned by being transported who-knew-how-many-kilometers to an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar castle.
Baird, Coco, and Hans had arrived at some point while I was retrieving the Wind Stone. I didn’t see Raven and suspected she was still back in Kovia, watching the animals.
Tarik took a bat out of a cage. He made a nick and drained blood into the bowl. I was surprised to see him get his hands dirty, and wondered who it was he loved that was ill … other than himself.
After Joshua placed the Blood Stone in the bowl, he rested his hand on the Healing Stone. A woman, a gray-haired minister I hadn’t formally met, stood beside him and activated the Wind Stone with her touch. All three of the stones began to glow.
I closed my eyes and prayed. I pleaded silently to the Unideit for this miracle to work. I prayed for my loved ones, my leaders, to be healed with the magic.
Baird, Coco, and Hans walked closer to me. Hans found an empty wall where he could see the room, leaning back and folding his arms. Baird sat beside me, and Coco stood on my other side.
“Well done, Abigail,” Baird commented.
I felt too exhausted to do more than grunt.
The luminous stones grew brighter, bathing the room in yellow, red, and blue light. As they shone, wind spun in a circle around Joshua. Breathtakingly beautiful streams of healing rays fanned out, touching the people around Joshua. The Queen’s pallor resolved almost instantly; the rash and weeping eyes clearing even as we watched. The rays of brilliant light twisted and spun out the windows, and far off into the distance.
My heart lifted. The magic was working, healing the kingdom. Joshua was succeeding. My gaze fell upon him. He appeared gaunt and pale. His sandy brown hair was turning white, streak by streak. My breath hitched and my chest tightened.
“Wait!” I pushed to my feet.
“Restrain her,” Tarik snapped.
The guards descended upon me. The first man that tried to seize me took a shove with the full force of the Warrior Stone. He flew into two others, knocking them down. Joshua, focused on healing, seemed oblivious to the fighting.
“Stop! It’s killing him!” I glowered at the other soldiers as they advanced. They were no match for me and the fury rising within me. How dare this room of people have no qualms in sacrificing Joshua.
Baird stood to one side, facing a group of soldiers and preparing to defend me.
I felt a cold blade against the back of my neck. It twisted against my skin, cutting my necklace. The stone fell to the wood floor with a sickening thud. As I reached for it, a black boot kicked it across the floor and out of my reach. Coco’s boot. I felt the betrayal as solidly as if she’d plunged the knife between my shoulder blades.
Baird gasped. “Coco, what are you doing?”
“My job.”
She tried to grab me, but I struck an elbow to her cheek. Coco stumbled back.
I’d deal with her later. Now, I needed to save Joshua. I turned back toward him. I’d have to transport to him and then transport the both of us to safety.
A hand clamped over my wrist, moist and gritty. I tried to transport and failed. I looked down in shock at Coco’s grip. Salt. She’d coated her hand in salt from the salt mines!
A guard grabbed my shoulder. I brought a knee into his abdomen. As he stumbled back, I kicked, striking his jaw. He fell to the floor with a grunt.
“Wait!” Baird cried. He stepped between me
and the other advancing guards.
As they unsheathed their swords, he raised his baton and prepared to fight. Hans shrugged up from the wall, to his mentor’s aid.
I twisted in Coco’s grasp, but she held firm. Even when I kicked a vicious blow to her ribs, she held firm.
In the distance, Joshua grew paler and weaker. White hair danced in the wind as his skin withered.
I rounded on Coco again, screaming in fury, and I punched her face directly on the red, swelling mark my elbow had left. She fell back, releasing me.
I tried to transport again and failed. Looking down at my red, inflamed wrist, I could see it was still coated in salt crystals.
Pain, as ferocious as my skull splitting open, suddenly shot through my head and the room went black. I fell to the floor. The last thing I saw was red brownie sleeping dust glittering before my eyes.
I woke on a cot and jerked upright. Cold shackles firmly secured my wrists together. As I cupped my hands to my throbbing head, I smelled a peculiar scent on the iron cuffs. I touched my tongue to them. Salt.
I was a prisoner in the castle. How quickly life unravels. How quickly friends become enemies. How quickly the mighty fall.
Just a girl without her stone.
Looking around the bedroom, I saw several aged men—Queen’s healers, by their long white robes—tending to an elderly man with white hair.
Mount Kapri.
My heart thudded in painful beats. “Joshua.” I yanked on the iron cuffs, but they remained secured to a bar on the wall. Without my stone, I couldn’t free myself from my restraints.
Coco walked beside me, carefully just out of my reach.
“Let me see him,” I snarled. “Let me help him.”
“I will remove your restraints on the condition of your controlled behavior.”
I glared at her. “I can help him.”
She studied my expression, before withdrawing a set of keys and unlocking the shackles. They fell to the floor with a clatter as I raced toward Joshua.
His eyes were closed, but his skin still held warmth. A gleaming white mop replaced his usual brown hair, and his body seemed smaller, frailer.
“Joshua.” I spoke his name in a sob, scooping his torso into my arms. Tears pricked my eyes. I transported us instantly to the one place which could heal him. The springs had never failed us.
Warm effervescent water engulfed us. I found my footing and held fast to Joshua. This would work. I needed to be patient and let the magic waters heal him. I remembered the first time I’d brought him here. During the battle against Malos and his forces, Joshua had been attacked by a Slasher. Before his last few breaths left him for dead, we made it to the springs, and he’d been healed. The second time I’d brought him here had been after his captivity and torture by the Dantajists, during the Hunju civil war.
His eyes flickered open.
“Joshua?”
His once golden-brown irises had turned a pale gray.
“Abbey.” His voice sounded pitifully weak, as his body floated listlessly in my arms.
“You’re going to be okay. We’re at the springs.”
The waters should have begun to heal him by now—they were already healing me. The throbbing blow to my head eased, cuts and scrapes on my skin closed, and the shoulder I’d nearly dislocated was already pain-free.
“It’s too late,” he said. “Too much of me is gone. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.” I stroked a hand through his now-white hair.
“I couldn’t see another way. I had to help them—all of them. Did it work?”
I nodded with lips trembling. “Yes. You did it. You saved everyone.” I didn’t know if that was entirely true, but I wouldn’t tell a dying man otherwise.
He gave a faint smile mixed with relief and pride. “I knew I could do it.”
My throat constricted. He must have suffered these last few days, with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He’d fought to live, hoping to have the strength and ability to perform the magic needed to cure thousands.
“Don’t be mad at Coco. I told her she’d have to stop you if you tried to intervene.”
I pursed my lips, tears falling from my eyes. I couldn’t promise not to be angry with her.
Joshua closed his eyes.
“No. No. We have plans! We have a future together! Your children, Joshua! You have to live!”
“Too much of me is gone,” he repeated. “I’m sorry. I wanted more for us, but not at the expense of everyone else. Tell the children I love them. I’ll always be with them. With you.”
I watched his breathing grow shallower, before stopping entirely. I stared in shock and disbelief. Even the healing springs, which had healed all manner of trauma, couldn’t reverse the life force he’d lost using the Healing Stone.
I held him close, whispering over and over: “I love you. I love you. I love you.”
Pain and anguish racked my body. Even though the waters had healed my physical wounds, I felt as though my heart had been ripped from my chest. The ache and despair crushed me like an iron fist.
Abigail, Baird’s tone was delicate.
Healing springs, I replied.
Baird appeared. Wordlessly he stood on the opposite side of Joshua. As he pulled both of us into his arms, he wept with me. “I can only imagine the hurt you must feel.”
I felt raw, like someone had scoured me from the inside out. More than bruised muscles and aching bones, I felt emotionally beaten. That pain seared me on a visceral level. That pain would take longer to heal than any physical wound.
“Abigail?”
I looked into Baird’s eyes, red and weary.
“Let me take him to the castle.”
I shook my head. “I can’t go back there. I can’t. They stole him from me.”
“Let him have the hero’s funeral he deserves. This was his choice. Give him the recognition he deserves.” His soft, deep voice overflowed with sorrow.
“I can’t go there.”
“You don’t have to. Not yet. I’ll take him.”
I nodded and stepped back from them. After a final farewell kiss to my husband, I watched them vanish.
21
For several long minutes, I watched the spring water bubble around me. Twice the waters had saved Joshua’s life for me. I wasn’t granted a third time.
When I finally transported back to the field where I’d left Phobus, I found all three horses grazing. Raven sat atop Phobus, petting Carrot. My horse lifted his head as I approached. I buried my face in his neck.
“Did you succeed?” Raven asked. Her worried expression reflected how I must look.
“We succeeded. The kingdom is healed.” I didn’t add at what cost that victory came—to Joshua, to our children.
“So ... those are happy tears?” she asked doubtfully.
I sniffed. “I need to get the horses back to the ranch.”
“Why are you wet?”
I grabbed all four sets of reins and transported us to the corral at my home. Prince and Butterfly jerked in startled surprise at the sudden change in their surroundings.
I set to work removing their bridals and saddles. My motions were slow and labored. Although the springs had healed the injuries from my quest and recent fight, I was still physically and emotionally defeated.
Baird appeared with Fury, and began helping me, starting with Butterfly. “I’ll take care of this.”
I continued to work. I needed to do something mundane and routine to keep moving. Once I stopped moving, I doubted I could begin again.
Raven paced the ledge of one of the stall doors. “Can someone enlighten me as to why you both look like you were beaten in a fight, and yet Abigail claims the magic worked?”
“The magic worked,” Baird confirmed, “but it consumed a great deal of Joshua’s life force. Abigail tried to stop the spell to save Joshua. I tried to keep the guards from hurting Abigail.”
She turned to me in a wide-
eyed stare. “Joshua is okay?”
My throat constricted, and all I could do was shake my head.
Raven scowled. “How were you defeated?” She looked at my injuries, my clothing, and my neck. “The stone is gone?”
“Taken.”
Her face flushed with rage. “They betrayed you!”
“Coco did what she thought was right.” Even as Baird spoke the words in Coco’s defense, they sounded hollow.
Raven put her hands on her hips. “She bested the champion? She deceived Abigail. How can you defend her?”
My head throbbed. I scooped grain into buckets. The horse ate hungrily.
“Although I understand her actions, I’m still upset by them,” Baird explained.
“What are you going to do?” Raven looked at me.
“I have to tell my family.” I choked out the words before leaving to walk to my home.
I stood outside my mother’s cabin, frozen.
The ocean breeze tugged at the black dress I wore. Although I’d washed myself clean, through automatic motions, and forced myself to arrive here to see my family, I didn’t know how to go any farther.
Not even the power of the Warrior Stone could have given me enough strength to knock and open that door—not that I even had the stone anymore. Once the door opened, the children would learn the truth. Life would be different. Forever. I was the bearer of news that would cause agonizing pain.
I stood at the door, my feet heavy as if sunk in quicksand.
The door swung open. “Abigail! You’re back.” My mother held the door open for me. The sound of laughter resonated from the house.
I couldn’t move. I could barely breathe.
“Abigail, what’s wrong? Is it Joshua?”
My tongue felt thick and my throat constricted.
“Oh, honey.” Her voice cracked.
The children rushed past her to greet me with enthusiasm. I fell to my knees, as I embraced them. As a tidal wave of tears and sobs erupted, I felt their mood shift from joy to sadness. At some point, I managed to say their father was gone and that he gave his life to save everyone.