She was right; the war lasted much longer than either of them had anticipated. At first it was just a battering of Sinow’s army against her protection spells. Eventually they got frustrated, running back to Sinow and the Council for help. Sinow kept his word to her, only allowing one Council at a time to help them. But when the complaints and suspicions became too great, he gave in and let the Council loose. They bombarded her shields and took aim at her Council who, lured out by them, fought long and hard. The full force of magical warfare began. Violissa was still able to maintain the shields, but at times her attention was diverted to the Council’s fights. In those times, the shield weakened, and soldiers would sneak through, never many but enough to do damage. She had no army as her realm was a peaceful one, and the villagers weren’t fighters. Casualties began to pile up. Violissa could not step in other than to protect or heal; she remained as Sinow did: a witness to her errs.
Countless time had been spent before the war to find a way of freeing her from the union with Daneele, but none had been found. Now with everyone’s attention diverted, she feared a solution would never come. Then one day, the wind returned and whispered to her, cementing the true cost of her errors. Sinow was turning; he was losing his internal battle against the Darkness as the battle and adrenaline called it out, feeding on the emotions of her people and his. He had asked his brother back to the realm, forgiven him and placed him in an advisory position once again. She almost couldn’t believe it then remembered how against her and their union his Dark side was. Her worst fear was being realized, or so she thought.
As he twisted further out of control, the actions of his troops and Council became worse. When she thought she couldn’t watch any more mistreatment of her people or fighting, she reached out to her Council in desperation through enaigne. It has to end, I don’t care that the people will hate me for breaking the vow, they’ll hate me more for letting them suffer and die. I have to do it. It’s the only way to stop this. As she awaited their answer, she was hit by a blast of Dark energy so hard she was thrown through the side wall of her castle and out into the air. When the shock of what had happened wore off, she shifted in mid-flight, reappearing on the ground below. Sinow. It had to be. The magic smelled of him but had a foul tinge to it. She had, over the past few moons of fighting, tried to reach out to him but had been assaulted by that same foul aura. She had eventually closed her mind from him to keep it from seeping in.
Now, here it was surrounding her as she prepared for the next blast; this one she saw coming. She held her hand up and deflected it, sending it crashing into the forest beyond. She heard the screaming of the trees it tore asunder and quickly sent a mending spell their way. The distraction cost her. Sinow hit her hard again. She was knocked from her feet and thrown across the front lawn and into the hard brick of the castle, the fire in his magic burning her before she was able to throw up a shield. She quickly recovered, healed her burns, and sent a bolt of arcane hammering through the air full force at Sinow. She felt its impact from where she stood. She heard the raging roar that erupted from him then felt him outside her mind, pressing to get in. She was tempted to try to talk to him but thought better at the memory of what had just happened. She didn’t dare shift and fight him on his ground either, she could tell from the feel of his magic that he was too far lost. They continued to batter each other, casting spell after spell; their powers so strong now that neither needed to leave their realm to do so. Each hit Violissa sent at him was returned with just enough force to irritate her. She was growing tired of the game when an ugly mass of black tendrils dropped from the sky above her and encased her before she could shift away. It suffocated her with tainted Dark power, temporarily blocking her senses so she couldn’t respond. Angered that he had the advantage, she called on her Light power and poured it out from her as a shield. The blue of the arcane surrounded her body and pushed the mass from her skin. Once it was pushed back her Light magic quickly shot through it in all directions until it was finally broken apart. Calling the power back she pushed it away again in one final blast, what was left of the tendrils dissipating. She waited, expecting another attack, but there was nothing. All was quiet. She’d like to have thought that he’d been sent running from the force of her power, but thought better; he was her equal after all.
It was quiet, eerily quiet. It was only then that she realized her protection of the realm had faltered. She’d been tricked into distraction. She cast her senses out through the realm and felt the devastation. Sinow’s troops had gotten in and had made their way through the outer villages. So much pain and death she couldn’t stand it. Most of the troops were gone now, most likely shifted back out by his Council who had mysteriously stopped fighting hers. A few stragglers remained hidden in the outer forests. She sensed their presence, and in her rage and anguish, her Elvin side took over; the crystal green of her eyes darkening to a near black. In a fury, she shifted and one by one hunted them down, killing each with one merciful bolt of energy. It was more mercy than they deserved, but even at her angriest she couldn’t torture as the Darkbearers did. When she had killed the last one, she stopped to catch her breath. The emotion of taking another life poured through her, misery and anguish buckling her over. She’d never had to harm another, but this time, Sinow had pushed her too far.
She felt Brom’s presence behind her. “Do you still feel the need to run to him, Violissa? Still love the man who let his people slaughter ours?”
She stood and faced him, saw the same anguish reflected in his face. Saw the weariness of the battles in his posture. “Yes, I still love the man under the Darkness, Brom. Your damned prophecy and your Fates can be thanked for that. His Dark power has control of him, for how long now, I don’t know. But it would appear this is now my fight and mine alone, and I promise I will bring that Darkness down around him if it’s the last thing I do.”
“The fight has always been yours alone, Violissa. It’s time to act and to join the fight. Only you can bring him back, and if you cannot, then only you have the power to defeat him. We will continue to fight his Council, but you need to take your stand and unleash what you’ve been holding back all this time. I’ve no doubt you’ll bring him to his knees. It’s what you do with him once you have him there that will define the queen you truly are.”
That night was quiet, nothing pounded at her shields, no one fought her Council, and no one screamed in pain or fear. Daneele and Brom took watch over the realm as Violissa tried to get a full night’s sleep. The first in a very long time. Those from the villages who’d been attacked had been cared for. The dead had been buried; the wounded healed. Violissa had spent most of the night comforting the weeping widows and mothers, husbands and children. It had taken its toll and, that night, although she’d doubted she could, she slept soundlessly, dreamlessly.
The next day she launched her assault on Sinow. Brom had been correct in his assessment. It was time for her to push back. She’d hesitated. Even though it was mostly her people’s blood that had spilled, she had not been willing to attack Tenebron and have more innocent blood on her hands. Now, however, she had no choice. She could no longer stand back and watch the destruction. She had to take a stand. She stood once again upon the cliff where Sinow had first warned her of the attack and closed her eyes, relishing the feel of the sea spray that spattered her face as the waves continued to angrily pound below. She brought her hands forth and called to the Fates to give her strength. Then she envisioned the largest and fiercest storm she could position directly over all of Tenebron. She called forth the lightning and the thunder, ordered the wind to blow at its fullest strength. Then she brought down the rain, hard and heavy against the land.
Finally, she sought out Sinow. From a distance, she found him, sleeping in his room, that black aura cascading around him. She closed her eyes and sent the full force of her Light through his room. Arcane tore the side of his room from the castle and sent him flying, bed and all, out into the
grounds a quarter mile from his castle. She smiled in satisfaction as she heard his angry growl. As he began to draw his powers, she called once again on her nature powers. The trees stretched their roots and wrapped around his legs and arms, dragging him back into the forest and battering him against the trees around them. Before she could do more damage, he shifted from her grip and reappeared in his courtyard.
“Violissa!” he raged, his voice resounding for hundreds of miles. He counter attacked but not in the way she’d anticipated. Instead of aiming his rage at her, he directed it towards her people and rained down a volley of darkness and fire, destruction from which she could barely protect them. The screams echoed through her lands as villages she wasn’t quick enough to shelter began to burn. She sent out a wave of healing energy to those villagers and called for a short rain to put out the fires. Anger tore through her, and she sent lightning striking down upon Sinow, causing him to momentarily cease the destruction. She caught her breath and knew that she’d just thrown the war into a new direction. She listened but heard nothing from Tenebron except the rain and wind as they battered against it.
Sinow cursed the bitch but conserved his energy to retaliate at a better time. She was too powerful at this moment and expected him to react. He couldn’t believe she’d finally made a move and attacked him. His adrenaline rushed at the thought. Now the fun would begin; he’d been waiting for her to become more engaged rather than always on the defensive. Somewhere deep within him he felt that need to make it all end, but he quickly squashed it before it was able to claw its way to the surface. His damned conscious, he wasn’t sure what else to call it. It was more like another person; someone saddled with a need to love Violissa and whipped by some blasted prophecy. Well, that other side of him was gone now, and he despised it even more than he hated Violissa. It made him weak, had made him weak before the Darkness brought him back. When he’d kept his powers at bay, he’d been like a slave to that need for her, the thought of it sent fire coursing through him, angering him even more. No, that weakness would stay buried deep within him. He had no way of destroying it, he’d tried time and time again, so he would keep it so far from reach that nothing would make it dominate him again. He slammed through the doors of his room, not bothering to shift since the room was ruined anyway. The doors blew from their hinges, shattering into a thousand tiny fragments. Behind him he heard the rain pounding through the gaping hole she’d made in the wall. Rain was an understatement. It was a deluge, and he had no doubt Violissa was responsible. Soon the towns would flood, and many of his people would drown. He didn’t care, she’d assumed he would, that his old self would overtake him and cause him to end the war to stop his people’s suffering. Well, she was dead wrong.
Let them die since when did a Dark King care about his people? He thought. His father had been the exception, the weak link in the family line, but Sinow would not follow that path. He planned to become a legend of terror as his grandfather had been, and he would start by finishing what his grandfather had started. He would annihilate the Lightbearers and their queen and bring Cirillia to its knees.
Forty-Two
The battle had ceased for that moment, but as Violissa expected, it would continue on for what seemed an eternity. In actuality, the entire war lasted almost a hundred years. The bulk of it consisted of massive fights between Violissa and Sinow. At times, he would send his Council or more troops, but for the most part the two rulers wreaked enough damage upon one another for the Councils to keep busy. When the two would-be-lovers weren’t assaulting one another, they turned their Councils against each other and their people. The fighting was grueling, the land and the people constantly cowering in fear for the magical torrents that engulfed them. Violissa stopped the deluge of rain on most of his land but made sure it continued over Sinow’s castle just to spite him for letting his people suffer.
As the war raged toward its hundredth year, Violissa had had enough. She couldn’t take any more fighting, pain, death. She knew only one way to stop it, and even though she now truly hated and despised the man Sinow had become, she knew what needed to be done. In the years of battle, the true reason for their fighting had become lost. It was time to bring that reason back to the forefront. It was time to stop the war. Violissa hoped there was still enough of Sinow’s true self left to pull out of the dark abyss in which she was sure he’d been prisoner. The part of him she’d known and come to love had to still be in there somewhere, and she was determined to release him.
Her breaking point came as she was defending herself from another one of his attacks. She’d caught a glimpse of herself in the lake before which she stood. Seeing the disheveled, dirty reflection that looked back saddened her. As she looked on, the reflection changed and seemed to stretch becoming an image of one of her towns. She saw the children huddled against their mothers in fear. The tears and pain of those who’d lost everything and everyone they’d loved came bearing down on her. It was too much. She sent the force of her power back at Sinow and felt him lose his footing. With reckless abandon, she shifted and appeared before him. It was the first time she’d seen him since that night in her room. They’d fought at a distance, neither willing to face the other. He looked in shambles just as she did. His hair had lengthened and ran down past his shoulders, messy and unkempt. He’d let his facial hair grow in and had a full beard that would have been attractive on him if not for the lack of grooming and the Dark aura that surrounded him. He looked as if he had truly lost his mind. Violissa felt a sudden sadness for the loss of the man for which she’d come to care. The man who stood before her was not the same Sinow she’d known.
Sinow froze momentarily, surprised by her sudden presence as they’d fought from a distance for so long. That part of him he detested so much clawed at him again from deep inside, trying hard to resurface and take control once again. That small part of him felt such joy at seeing her again and at the same time such terror looking at her. She looked so tired, as if she hadn’t slept in years. Deep circles lay below her eyes, giving away the true effect of the war upon her. Her hair was in disarray. The golden curls he’d once longed to loop around his fingers were matted and flat, the bounce nowhere to be found. Even in such a state, she remained beautiful. Her eyes, once so brilliant, now held such sadness that it hurt him to look into them. He didn’t know if that look was sadness for the damage he’d caused or pity for him. At that thought, the Darkness plunged his true self back down into the abyss again, leaving it struggling to resurface.
That will be enough of you, he thought. He was torn as two beings in one body and knew from Violissa’s presence here that the situation was desperate, else she would not have risked coming to Tenebron. He had to fight his way out again, he needed to regain control of his powers before he did something he’d regret forever. Deep down within him, a struggle for survival took hold.
Violissa watched Sinow, the rain pouring down around them. Only moments had passed, but those moments spoke volumes to her. Sinow, her Sinow, was in there somewhere, she saw it in his eyes. Those eyes had been the blackest she’d ever seen, but as she’d stood there, they had lightened slightly before returning to that endless night. Judging from his reaction, she’d surprised him; he hadn’t expected that she’d change the playing field. The surprise didn’t last long, but before he could gather his energy, she struck.
“Enough!” she screamed. “Enough, Sinow!”
He pushed back at her power, sending her back apace, causing her feet to slide in the muddied ground below, but she’d been prepared for it. She grabbed his bolt of energy and scattered it back at him.
“No more fighting! I give up. I’ll renounce my word to end this blasted war. I will take my vows with you no matter what the consequences.”
He faltered, clearly remembering why they’d begun fighting in the first place. His eyes were deep, soulless pits that seemed to stare right into her.
“We don’t need your union, Violissa
! I don’t need you. We want your land and your people. You mean nothing to me, now leave Tenebron unless you’ve come to renounce your throne to me!”
Her eyes darkened. “You lie. I mean everything to you, the true you. Sinow, come back to me and leave the Darkness…” She was instantly slammed by a blast of power that ripped and tore at her skin and clothes. She pushed it aside and shifted, bravely reappearing right in front of him. She put her hand on his chest before he could reach out. “Listen, Sinow.” She saw the internal struggle stirring within him. She tried calling for the song she’d bound to him, but he grabbed her hand and painfully snapped her wrist back, throwing her away from him at the same time.
“Leave me, Light witch, before I’m forced to kill you.”
Violissa stood, undeterred by the mud that now soaked her dress. She really needed to stop the rain when she had the chance. She healed her wrist and laughed.
“You can’t kill me, Sinow, and you know it. Your threats are empty. I am the thorn in your evil ass, yours for eternity!”
He drew his hand to attack.
She had one more chance, and she knew she had to take it. It was her last card to play. “I won’t fight you anymore, Sinow. I’m surrendering my heart and soul to you. Now please, stop this, let it come to an end.”
He shook his head as one might do when trying to shake a headache, then looked back at her and battered her with magic. She held her shield against the force but did not retaliate. He looked slightly shaken then blasted her again. This time, she dropped her shield, hoping it would draw him out. The force hit her hard, sending her across the open land and into the woods, tearing through tree after tree until finally slamming her into a large rock. She slid down the front of the rock, leaving a path of blood behind her. She was badly hurt, she had thrown a quick shield around the back of her head to protect it from too much damage, but it hadn’t been enough to stop the wound. Blood ran down her cheek and forehead. One of her arms was broken, and a tree limb had run through her chest. She wheezed in pain with every breath she took. She’d forgotten how much pain a body could endure. Even immortals could be wounded, but they normally healed quickly. She remained there trying not to black out from the pain. She would have healed herself. In truth, she normally wouldn’t have even a scratch on her, but she wanted him to see her this way, hoped the sight of her would pull him back from the Darkness that trapped him. Rain battered her wounds sending blood and water into her eyes until she was forced to close them. She heard him walking toward her. He had to be wondering why she hadn’t reappeared. His steps still sounded far from her, but then she’d been thrown quite some distance.
Ascension (Unbound Prophecy Book 1) Page 32