“Let us proceed,” said the kith leader, ushering them closer.
It was a bit easier this time to gather in an even smaller confinement because after some anxiety problems with the horses, they all dismounted and clutched their reins, if they had them, by hand.
But still their group was more sizable than the last so they had to stand uncomfortably close together. Close enough that Ciardis could hear Maradian’s chain rattling in her right ear…and Caemon hyperventilating in her left.
Uncertain about whether or not he would welcome it, but having to reach out, Ciardis blindly grabbed at Caemon’s hand.
“That’s—” he squeaked out in outrage.
“What?” Ciardis said startled into dropping whatever it was she’d grabbed. Felt like his elbow.
“Never mind,” he said softly. “Just…here.”
She couldn’t reach down to look, they were packed so closely together like sardines in a can that it was impossible to see between the bodies.
But she felt his fingers on her arm, tentative. And Ciardis completed the clasp. Caemon’s breathing slowed to a more normal rhythm. Her heart felt less like a rabbit jumping around a cage. She felt at peace. She liked to think that he did too. Regardless, the twins stood side-by-side.
Just before they jumped, Ciardis turned her head to Caemon slightly and asked, “Did you see Mother?”
He paused and replied cautiously, “Not since I’ve woken.”
Ciardis felt a bit of unease at that statement. Ciardis hadn’t seen her recently either, and as she stared into the glowing light that was beginning to build, she remembered her mother’s plea: Wait for me!
She didn’t know what Lillian had meant then but she feared that she was breaking her promise now.
But she had no choice.
They had to move forward. Or be left behind.
Then there was a tug on her navel, like a hook in her belly that pulled sharply with increasing force, and she was gone. They were gone. Only darkness surrounded them.
They appeared in a new clearing, this one filled with grain and if the kith had been agitated before, they were downright anxious now.
“Is this where we depart from?” the new emperor asked.
“No,” said Maradian in a melodious tone that had fur flattening on the backs of the nearest kith to Ciardis.
He shifted a bit and his chains clanked in the wind as Maradian used his head to point straight behind them. “It’s there.”
There was silence and the female kith with deadly blades for hands barked out, “How did you know?”
Her voice wasn’t surprised. It was outraged.
“Uh-oh,” said her twin savagely. “Someone’s going to lose their head tonight over this.”
He sounded oddly pleased.
“Shut up,” Ciardis snapped while abruptly dropping his hand. Clearly their bonding moment was over.
She could hear Maradian and the female squabbling in the background, but that wasn’t her focus. Her focus was on what was rising in the distance.
When Sebastian approached her silently, she asked in a breathless voice, “What is that?”
“It’s one of the ruins of the war,” he said disapprovingly.
She gave him a glance. “It’s more than that, I can feel it.”
“So can I,” Thanar said in a voice that practically purred at the sensations that were rising off the crumbling structure.
The sensations didn’t make her feel good. They made her feel dark, as if she needed a bath to cleanse herself.
Jaw tight, Sebastian said, “These structures, castles, homes, destroyed in battles long ago are all across the empire. In fact, we encountered some out in the desert, if you remember.”
She remembered. But it had felt nothing like this.
Saying as much, Ciardis responded, “But they didn’t feel like this.”
Eventually Thanar spoke in a conceding voice, “No they didn’t. Only the ones that were epicenters for the darkest magic.”
“And we need to go in there?” Ciardis asked anxiously.
“We do,” said the kith leader sadly. “It has the best chance of getting you were you want to go.”
They looked at him silently, demanding an explanation. This didn’t sound like instantaneous travel at all.
His gaze darkened. “The ley line nexuses are at the center of dark spots just like these, only worse. The first time they were set off, the power was sent off, but what came back was worse. The devastating emotions and feelings of thousands of soldiers, from both sides, thrown off their feet all at once. A thousand hopes and dreams dead in seconds. We could instantly teleport you from here to where you want to go, but there are no guarantees that you’d arrive back here sane.”
“So you’re taking us to a safer spot amidst the darkness?” Ciardis asked.
“Yes, milady,” the kith leader said, nodding furiously. “And by channeling the evil saturating this landmark here, we can do that.”
Ciardis gave a smooth nod. “Then let’s go.”
Squaring her shoulders, she set off for the walk and didn’t look back. Because if she did, she wasn’t sure she’d ever have the courage to move forward into this darkness.
22
As they approached the castle, which had seen better days, Ciardis saw heavy fallen columns still damaged by soot and fire. It reminded her a bit of Sandrin in a grim kind of way…which wasn’t something she ever wanted to think again.
Hurrying past these ghostly reminders of a war fought and lost long before, she managed to get to the front gates before anyone else. They rose above her in looming prominence, two iron rings standing as the only latches to the door themselves.
Without a pause, four of the guards went forward to open the gate before her.
Two latched thick ropes to both rings and two more helped to pull the rusted doors apart as soon as the knots on the latches were secure.
She walked into a great hall, which had been untouched by people in decades. Maybe more.
Cobwebs littered the atrium and tapestries hung in tatters.
Silent, bent on his duty, the kith leader forged ahead and led them up the stairs, across a causeway, and into an open room at the top of the castle.
Ciardis felt the darkness grow grimmer the farther into the castle they went. But it couldn’t be helped. This is where they would take the final step into their journey to fell a goddess. This is where they needed to be. So she dodged rat droppings that had piled ankle-high and refused to think of what else could leave refuse like that behind.
As she made it to the back of the room, a fresh breeze—now laced with the dust and cobwebs of the room—hit her in the face.
Grimacing, Ciardis didn’t complain, she just watched with careful eyes as some of the kith attendants walked to the raised platform in front of them. It was no more than a step up in distance, but it clearly had a place of prominence in the room.
Carefully they raised claws and hands, and as she watched them call up their magic the room responded. As magic flowed from their bodies, she saw the air around the platform respond in kind. The kith’s power began to take on a lightning-like glow. Bright with flash and dynamic with energy. She could see it as clearly as she could see her hand in front of her. Visibly wild and beautiful as the energy arced between their palms and bodies to encircle the platform and then flow into the platform.
The winds around them picked up and became a howling maelstrom. Then the glowing lightning began to zap at the kith themselves. Some flinched but none fell. Ciardis smelled the slightest hint of singed fur, but they had bigger problems then, because the room began to shake.
The kith leader strode forth and shouted, “You must bend the darkness to your will. Don’t let the power overtake you. Claw it, rend it, and then bend it.”
Ciardis stared with wide eyes as the kith he instructed did just that and the people behind them began to mutter in doubt. Eyes shining with pride at the display, Ciardis wanted to reach out an
d help them. Strengthen them in the face of this darkness. Aid their power in the way only a Weathervane could.
But as she did, Thanar caught her hand in a forceful grip.
“Don’t,” he said in a tight voice. “Just don’t.”
Startled, Ciardis looked over at him and didn’t immediately drop her arm. But what she saw in his eyes made her do so. She saw pride too in his eyes, as well as determination. He wanted them to win. He wanted them to rise above the darkness and he wanted them to do it alone.
To prove that they could, she realized soon as she turned back.
Not to themselves, she told herself quietly. They already knew that they could.
She looked around the room and saw surprise, even consternation on the faces of the conclave members who had journeyed with them. Even Maradian looked a bit flummoxed. Ciardis knew then that it was to prove to the empire, to the world, that the kith were no one’s playthings. They were powerful mages, as powerful, strong, and capable as the humans who stood behind them. And if tonight’s actions were an example, no one would doubt that ever again.
As the entire room watched the kith stood strong though. They didn’t waver.
Their magic merely grew stronger until everything was steady again. Lightning arced and refracted around them, but it didn’t burn. It just glowed.
“We’re ready,” announced the kith leader stepping forward with a proud look. “The portals are steady. They are connected. Now you must do your part.”
The exhausted kith who had tamed the portals before them stood back with sweat-stained but strong looks.
It was Ciardis’s turn to be uncertain as she looked at the curtain of lightning she had to walk through. At what the kith had fought so hard to tame.
Unconsciously, Ciardis clutched her cloak tighter around her as she said, “What will it feel like?”
The kith leader stopped and then looked at her seriously for a moment before saying, “Like being swallowed by darkness only to see it’s really the light.”
Ciardis wasn’t sure if it was even possible to do anything with that answer. She looked at him for clarification and he only gave her a smile sharp with teeth, which she thought was meant to be reassuring, and somewhat surprisingly—it was. Enough anyway that she watched the curtain of lightning with anticipation anyway.
Then Thanar walked forward, his hand on Caemon’s shoulder, and together they stepped up onto his platform. No hesitation, no fear. Ciardis had no choice, she followed behind and went for the middle ring with Terris, her best friend, by her side.
She looked to her left and met Thanar’s eyes even through the waving sheet of light.
Then she watched as Sebastian followed closely behind. Maradian shuffling forward with chains clanking in front. As they were put into the center of the flowing light, all of their attendants lined up in long lines directly in front of each minder-and-loyalist pair they were to accompany.
Over the buzz of the lightning, Ciardis heard the kith leader say, “The others will follow closely behind you. You’ll arrive in seconds…but beware, it can feel like time is standing still even with our preparations ahead of this.”
Ciardis nodded. Not in understanding but in acceptance.
She wasn’t going to protest the way in which they were being delivered. He had been through enough already, even if this did feel like jumping into the middle of a whirlpool and hoping you came out swimming.
“Very well,” Sebastian said in a clipped tone. Apparently he didn’t like this particular method of transportation either.
Then he moderated his tone to say to the kith who had made all of this possible, “Thank you. Your assistance has been invaluable.”
He looked directly at those who had worked so hard to accomplish what they had and nodded in salute. Backs straight and heads held high, they received their acknowledgement as their due. And it was a proud night for them all.
Ciardis wanted to say more but the words stuck in her throat. Working her vocal cords did nothing; she could feel the change and tell that if she spoke the words she wanted to say them now. She’d get out a hoarse croak. It would be a croak of gratitude, but a croak nonetheless.
So she settled for saying, “Let’s go,” quietly. Almost in a whisper, and she was certain they understood.
“I’m ready,” Thanar said with a brash insolence that had even her blinking.
The kith leader didn’t take offense. Which she was grateful, he even smiled through the thin film of glowing power that encircled them all like a sheet atop each of their small platforms.
Ciardis had to smile back, even though she wasn’t even sure if he saw her respond because in the next second it was as if nothing was there anymore. Just darkness. As she disappeared in the darkness Ciardis thought about everything that had come together in this moment. She thought of the people she was leaving behind, the people who had already gone ahead, and the people who were coming after. She knew it was the right decision—what they had done. Despite the heartbreak, in spite of it, even. She didn’t like being separated but she saw no other choice. It was time for each of them to begin their journeys, ones they couldn’t turn away from.
Ciardis dropped out of the darkness and she was standing on the platform again…alone.
Thanar wasn’t to her right. Sebastian wasn’t to her left.
She clenched her hand reflexively and only when she gripped empty air did she acknowledge what she had known from the moment she opened her eyes. Terris was gone.
Turning around frantically, Ciardis saw no one.
No attendants. No kith. No seeleverbindung bondmates. No guards.
Just herself.
“This can’t be happening,” Ciardis said to herself as her breath chilled in the air in front of her. “And why am I freezing?”
She still had her tunic, pants, boots, and heavy cloak on her—more for concealment than anything else, but this made no sense. None at all.
She stepped off the platform uncertain while calling out into the darkness, “Hello?”
Voices shouted to her from the causeway and relief ripped through her as she recognized them. Rushing to the door, she saw Sebastian and Thanar, and she didn’t even pause when making her way to them. Meeting halfway across the structure as they ran together from both sides, she clasped them both eagerly in a hug.
“Oh gods,” Ciardis said, “I thought I was alone! So glad you’re here.”
They were speaking over her at the same time.
She heard Sebastian say, “God, it’s been ages.”
Then Thanar said, “Good to see you, Golden Eyes.”
It was a moment before she broke from both of their embraces to step back and asked, “Where’s everyone else?”
Thanar shrugged while Sebastian looked out into the open air in frustration as if they might be hiding and would suddenly appear floating on wings.
Finally the new emperor said, “We don’t know. We arrived here alone as well.”
Ciardis’s face fell in dejection. “That’s not what was supposed to happen,” she cried while looking wildly between the two of them. “We need the loyalists to activate the ley lines. Where are they?”
Her voice rose but no answer came.
“I wish I knew,” Thanar said in a voice that was this close to being furious.
Ciardis groaned and then said, “Let’s go back to the platform. Maybe there’s a clue there.”
They followed her out of the biting wind only to be confronted with a room as empty as it had been before. Ciardis walked round the perimeter of the room, wondering if the shadows held secrets but it was as empty as she had found it. Still covered in dirty and grime, but without a soul to claim it.
Stepping back up onto the platform near the windows, she looked back at the two of them with one word on her lips: “How?”
“How did this go so wrong?” Sebastian asked while finishing her internal thought.
Thanar’s eyes glittered as he crossed his arms and said, “
I’d like to ask some kith the very same question.”
Ciardis grimaced. “Couldn’t it have been us?”
“Us what?” said Sebastian flatly. “None of us activated our magic or interfered in any way. I was monitoring Maradian the whole time. He did nothing.”
Thanar muttered, “Same.” Though he’d only had to worry about Caemon, not a power-hungry despot back from the dead.
“Do we know how much time has passed then?” Ciardis asked with a frustrated tap of her hands. “Maybe there was a mistake.”
“A mistake like what?” Thanar said dryly.
Ciardis threw up her hands. “I don’t know. Maybe instead of sending us somewhere geographically, they changed the timeline.”
They both blinked at her until Sebastian said slowly, “You know it doesn’t work like that. Right?”
Frustrated, Ciardis snarled, “Well, at least I’m trying to think of something. Why else would we be in the exact same place we met? But with no one else by our sides?”
Uncomfortably, Thanar said, “We’ve been trying to figure out the exact same thing. Nothing’s come to mind.”
Then Ciardis’s heart dropped and she was worried about something entirely different. It was in the way he said his words. As it he’d been trying for too long and was about ready to give up.
“Wait,” she asked slowly. “How long have you two been here?”
Sebastian and Thanar exchanged a glance, then the new emperor replied slowly, “Two hours.”
“Two hours,” Ciardis repeated in a strained voice as she stumbled back, trying to regain her footing and finding only empty air behind her.
Before she could scream, before she could even ask them one thing more, she fell out of the window of the empty room. The last thing she saw in the room was Sebastian and Thanar running for her, horror on their faces.
The next moment she saw the sky, but instead of falling into air, she fell again into darkness.
23
Sworn to Restoration Page 18