by Meg Anne
Helena continued to glare, even as the words worked their way around her brain. There was a truth to them that she could not quite ascertain. It was as if the answer was hidden just out of reach. A fact which only increased her ire. Something in her face must have given that away because Miranda had the grace to dip her head and murmur an apology.
“I do not pretend to know the answer, Kiri. I am not half as gifted as you. It is just, sometimes thinking of a problem from a new angle can present the solution we could not initially find.”
Helena could not help but agree. “That is certainly true, Keeper.”
“I find that talking through the situation with another can sometimes present other avenues to explore.”
“Are you offering your services, Keeper?” Helena asked with a wry smile.
Miranda’s midnight eyes glittered, but her smile was nothing less than respectful as she replied, “Always, Kiri.”
“How many times must I insist that you call me Helena?”
“You are my Kiri, first and foremost. When speaking of matters of politics and war, it is only appropriate to address you such. When we speak as two equals then you can be Helena.”
“Is that not what we are right now?”
Miranda’s smile was kind but tinged with sadness. “I’m afraid not, Kiri. Not when we discuss such important things.”
“Not even if I consider you my equal?” Helena pressed.
The Keeper reached out a hand and laid it gently on hers. “It would seem I am not the only one with trouble remembering her lessons.”
Helena’s smile was puzzled. “I’m afraid I don’t follow, although I am more than certain you must be correct. There is much I seem to forget, as Joquil and Timmins so often take pleasure in reminding me. Would you care to enlighten me on which lesson it would seem I have forgotten this time?”
“Dearest Kiri, only the most important one.”
Helena’s brows dropped in a deeper frown.
Taking pity on her, Miranda laughed and sat back in her chair. “Only this: None are your equal.”
Her words had the air of prophecy even though she had not taken on any of the physical traits often associated with the Sight.
Helena sat up straighter in her chair. “Not even my Mate?”
Miranda shook her head slightly, a small smile still playing about her lips. “Not even he that completes you. You alone are the Mother’s Vessel. That is a power no other can match, and so they will seek to thwart it for their own gain.”
“You are speaking of the prophecy, aren’t you? The one warning of my corruption?”
Miranda shrugged. “It is one of many warnings, although I was not being specific.”
A niggling voice had Helena asking, “What do you know that you are not saying, Keeper?”
Miranda’s eyes lost their amusement as a newfound respect entered their glittering midnight depths. “The Sight is not perfect. There is always room for misinterpretation, as you are aware.”
Helena nodded.
Looking away and into the dusty stacks of books that sat on the library shelves that surrounded them, Miranda remained quiet for a long moment. As she watched and waited for an answer, Helena was reminded of one who rifled through the pages of an old book, as if seeking a specific passage.
When Miranda spoke again, it was not the words of prophecy, but yet another warning. “Do not underestimate the Corruptor. She values that which you have and will seek to use it against you and what you hold most dear. Even now she spins her web, knowing that her prey will find it irresistible.”
A heavy sense of foreboding settled in the pit of Helena’s stomach. There was nothing the woman said that she did not already know, and yet… the sense of inevitability was exhausting. There was no getting around Rowena or her traps. Helena did not know what she planned, only that she did. It was hard to be prepared for the unknown, but given her opponent, she had to try. It could be the difference between victory or the bitterest defeat.
“Do not despair, Kiri. The future is not yet written. There are many pieces to move and choices to make.”
“It is not despair I feel, Keeper.”
Miranda’s answering smile was full of pride. “Good. Then all is certainly not lost.”
The words did little to bolster her.
“Helena,” Miranda said more softly.
Surprised to hear her name after the Keeper’s earlier comment, Helena looked at her in confusion.
“Do not be afraid of what lies in the darkness, only of getting lost in it. Your strength lies in being able to navigate both darkness and light. Make sure you keep sight of your compass, so that you may find your way back.” With that, Miranda abruptly stood. “I should take my leave so that you may return to your studies. Remember what I said, Kiri.”
There wasn’t a chance for Helena to question her further. Miranda left as quickly as she had arrived, although her words lingered long after she did.
Helena let out a few choice curses before warily muttering, “Which words would you like me to remember, Keeper? You leave me with many.”
Eying the stack of books she’d been studying, Helena decided to focus on the first bits of advice: approach her problem from a different angle and talk it through with someone else.
“Mate?”
Von’s voice, when it found her, was tinged with concern as he responded to the despondency in her own. “Mira?”
“How do you conceal something in plain sight?”
She felt the swift shift of emotions as he processed the question and considered his answer. “Cloaking it?”
“You mean invisibility?”
“That is the easiest way.”
“But not always practical for people that must move about a room.”
“Ahh…” he replied, understanding the purpose of her question more fully.
“If I cannot transform my party to appear as expected partygoers, how can I make them fit in? What is both seen and unseen?”
“Scenery?” Von replied flippantly.
“Your wit is limitless,” she said dryly. But his answer did spark an idea. Scenery was in fact something that was both seen and unseen. It was noticed and summarily dismissed. If she would not be transforming the others, perhaps there was a way for her to make them blend into the background. “Is blurring a thing?” she asked, her excitement working its way into her mental voice.
“I do not think that I have heard of it,” he admitted.
“But it is not impossible?”
“What you are speaking of, on the level on which you are speaking, would require not just a spell cast upon individuals but an entire group of people.”
“Like when I can use my emotions to control the emotions of others?”
“Well… yes. However, in this case you would be convincing a room of people not to look closely at something, instead of influencing them unknowingly with your emotions.”
“Purposeful intention rather than emotional ripples. Interesting,” she replied, already making notes on the piece of paper that had until now only been used for errant doodles. “This just might work.”
“Happy to help,” he teased, sensing that her focus was no longer on their conversation.
Morning gave way to afternoon as Helena’s plan took shape on the paper beside her. When she was finished, the room was dark and her hand was cramped, but she knew what she was going to do.
Helena’s smile was triumphant and fierce as she spoke to the darkness. “You are not the only one that plots, Corruptor. You should be more careful what you wish for; your invitation has just given us the opening we needed.”
Chapter Six
The sound of drills rang through the courtyard. All signs of the mating ceremony had been removed and in its place a training ground had been erected. If it was not for the cliffs just off to the side and the soft call of the gulls as they flew above the crashing waves, Helena would not have realized she was standing in the exact same spot as she had only
days prior.
It was the last day before they would make their way to Vyruul and whatever secrets awaited them there. Ronan and Von had agreed that given the different ways of fighting each of the groups employed, it was important that their army could recognize friend from foe on the battlefield. More than that, they needed to be able to combine their skills and work together.
Even now, a few days into the training, it was still more contest than collaborative effort. Helena winced at Ronan’s roar. “Again! Are you deaf or just stupid? How many times do I need to say this? Expand your cover to those around you so that they can sneak up on their opponent as well. You keep jumping ahead and end up leaving them with their asses flapping in the breeze.”
“Better your ass than your dick,” Kragen commented in a bland tone.
“True, although your ass is a bigger target,” Von replied mildly.
Nial barely covered his snicker with a cough as Serena glared at the three of them.
“It’s not our fault,” a dark-skinned girl of no more than seventeen whined. “Their thrice-cursed wind keeps blowing away our cover.”
The nearest of the Storm Forged scowled at her. “Perhaps your little shadows are not strong enough if a breeze can knock them off course.”
Green fire blazed in the girl’s eyes as she rounded on the man. “Would you like to put it to the test, stormy bastard?”
“Smoke-stained bitch.”
Ronan moved fast, his arm already extended so that his palm loudly smacked the chest of the Storm Forged who launched himself at the young Night Stalker. Reyna grabbed the girl from the back of her cloak and pulled hard, catching her before she could wrap the familiar cloak of darkness around her body and attack. The girl stumbled back a few steps while the Storm Forged rubbed at his chest. Both mumbled apologies but continued to glower at each other.
“We’re doomed.”
Von’s chuckle met her like a warm caress on a chilly night. She tingled as it wrapped itself around her.
“We’re not. They will learn that they despise the enemy more than each other when the time comes.”
“Can that time come now?”
Von ran a hand along the length of her braid, tugging slightly when he got to the bottom. “Perhaps they simply require some inspiration.”
Helena worried at her bottom lip as she thought on his words. What sort of inspiration would suffice? Surely not another speech. Words didn’t seem to have a lasting effect on them.
Von carefully extracted her bottom lip from her teeth, using his thumb to stroke it. “You distract me when you do that.”
She looked up at him through her lashes, smiling cheekily at the hunger burning in his eyes. “And you distract me when you look at me like that, so stop it.”
“You first.”
Helena stuck her tongue out at him.
“Not helping…”
Helena bit back a smile as she moved away from her Mate and toward her Shield. For what she had in mind, it didn’t seem right to act without informing the Commander of her intention. She waited for him to finish correcting the maneuver of another group and waved him over.
Ronan had pulled his hair into a knot on the top of his head. Loose tendrils were stuck to his cheeks and neck, giving the appearance of bright streaks of blood across his tanned skin. Helena shuddered, focusing on his eyes to rid herself of the image.
He wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his arm as he greeted her. “Hellion.”
“I have an idea.”
Ronan raised a brow. “Can it wait until after practice? Today is our last chance to get this right.”
She glared at him. “It’s about practice, you ass.”
He winked at her. “Oh, well. In that case, do tell.”
Helena rose up on her toes and whispered her plan into his ear. He looked at her in surprise before he said, “Mother’s tits, that’s devious and fucking brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that before?”
She shrugged.
“By all means, go for it.” He grinned with anticipation as he gestured for her to proceed.
“Should we give them warning first?” she asked as she considered how they might react.
Ronan folded his arms. “Part of being the army is being ready at all times. They cannot expect the enemy to politely tap them on the shoulder and say ‘how-do’ before they attack. Practice should be no different if they are to actually learn from it.”
Helena couldn’t help but agree with his assessment. You were never really ready for a battle until you were already in the thick of it and even then, ready wasn’t exactly the word she would use.
“Here goes nothing. Let us hope they rise to the occasion. And that nobody dies,” she added as an afterthought.
“That’s all we can ever hope for.” Ronan chuckled.
“True,” she agreed before unleashing unholy hell amongst the lot of them.
By the time Helena was done, what had once been a brilliantly beautiful afternoon in Daejara was now under siege by thick roiling clouds and huge cracks of lightning. The storm was furious, but that was not the major concern at the moment.
Running at their army from every direction were dozens of skeletal Shadows. Their vacant snaking eyes and gaping mouths just as gruesome as the real thing. Since coming up with her plan for Rowena’s party, Helena had been practicing casting mass illusions. Given the terrified sobs of the cowering girl before her, she would have to say she was getting better.
There was certainly nothing fake about the screams that met her ears as Helena and her Circle moved away from the chaos her magic had created. If the troops wanted to get out of this in one piece, they would have to work together. There’d be no help from any of their leaders.
Helena would have loved to say that the group came together seamlessly, but that was not remotely the case. All of Ronan’s drills may as well have been instructions on etiquette at a tea party for all the effect they seemed to have. Before her, the Storm Forged, Night Stalkers and Chosen fought like three separate entities, which they technically were. The problem was that the conflicting styles were actively working against each other instead of complimenting each other.
The goal was for the Storm Forged to control the weather, using it to help conceal the Night Stalkers and the various groups of Chosen to help them evade notice. The Night Stalkers were supposed to extend their shadow cover to further assist the Chosen while they snuck up and attacked. But none of those things were happening.
The Chosen seemed to have entirely forgotten that there was a plan. They made absolutely no attempts to maneuver within the confines of Night Stalkers’ or Storm Forged’s concealments. Instead, they were running full out at the beasts, hurling their weapons or balls of power at the Shadows, and generally making beautiful targets for the Shadows to easily dispatch. Not that anyone was actually harmed. As part of her spell, Helena wove in a stun effect that held the person immobile if the Shadow made what would have been a killing blow, rendering them incapable of continuing the drill.
When more than half of the army was frozen in place, Helena let out a disgusted scream. “Enough!” With a flick of her wrist, the illusions vanished, but she held onto the storm, letting it rage above them as if contained by an invisible barrier while she retained the immobilization, wanting the lesson to sink in along with their failure.
“Is this a game to you?” she hissed, her voice echoing with the effects of her storm.
The people blanched. No one had ever seen her anger directed at them like this before.
Her Circle moved into place behind her, and Helena knew without looking that their expressions of displeasure were likely mirrors of her own. Anduin and Reyna moved to stand with her without hesitation, showing with the movement that they recognized and yielded to her authority, both leaders in sync for the first time since their arrival in Daejara.
One of the men that had not been hit by a Shadow snickered, thinking that her words were not meant for him. Helena las
hed out, using Air to create a hand that gripped him at his ankle and pulled, causing him to fall hard on his ass. Those around him were too stunned to laugh.
“Is your pride worth more than your life? Than the lives of those around you? Are you so naïve that you truly believe your way is the right and only way to defeat our enemy?”
Her words rang about the field, the silence and humiliation of the troops absolute. For all their attempts, not one of them had brought down a single Shadow.
“No, Kiri,” a girl whispered, her voice carrying in the silence.
“Are you sure? Because based on what I just saw, not one of you gives a damn who wins this war. Should we give up now and save ourselves the effort?”
“No, Kiri,” more voices called out, growing stronger with their conviction.
“Prove it,” she roared, releasing her hold on the storm and the people giving them only a heartbeat to stand as the Shadows flared back into being.
This time the groups worked together, and while it was not perfect, it was a start.
“This will be a lesson they won’t soon forget,” Reyna murmured thoughtfully as she watched yet another of her Night Stalkers get stunned.
“I wanted to make a point.”
“Oh, you did,” Anduin said. “One with a very sharp edge.”
“Death would be the best they can hope for if they don’t learn this lesson,” Ronan added.
“If Rowena wins, death would be a mercy.”
Helena’s words caused Reyna to visibly shudder. “I will continue to work with the Night Stalkers. They will not disappoint you again.”
“And I with the Storm Forged.”
It took over an hour for the group to best half of Helena’s Shadows. Even then more than half of the group had been stunned. Feeling merciless, Helena merely snapped and shouted, “Again!”
After three more attempts, the groups were finally working together, able to coordinate their attacks to best subdue and attack the Shadows without suffering any casualties. It took them less than an hour to finally take down all twenty-five of the illusions.