Nightblood

by Elly Blake

  Preparing to commit murder.

  Even though I knew that this was just a memory, it was as vivid as if it were happening. The scents, the sounds, the sick feeling in my gut. “No, no. I can’t see this again.”

  “Watch,” Eurus’s voice commanded from somewhere unseen. “Watch or die.”

  The general’s arm pushed forward, his sword stabbing Arcus in the stomach. I doubled over, my arms pressed to my midsection, the despair roiling up to engulf me.

  “Look at me, Ruby!” Arcus ordered in a commanding tone. “Over here! Not down there. Here!”

  I forced my chin up, made my gaze follow his voice. He stood next to me, his golden light brushing the rocky outcropping with gold.

  He held out his hand. “When this illusion fades, you have to get up from the throne. You are not bound to it. It is not binding you. The bond itself is an illusion. You are free. You are like those spirits trying to escape, only trapped by the limitations of their beliefs. Reach for my hand.”

  I stretched toward him. I wiggled my fingers, extended my arm as far as I could. He was just out of reach.

  “That’s it,” he encouraged. “I’m so close. Just a little farther. Grab my hand.”

  “I can’t reach.”

  “Yes, you can. Fight! Fight with all the fire you’ve always had in your heart.”

  I panted, frantic with the need to move. “I don’t have it anymore.”

  “It’s still there, Ruby!” he shouted. “It’s you. You are not your fire. You are not your darkness or your light. You have an unconquerable spirit, determination, compassion. You bring people together. You are mine and I am yours, and it has nothing to do with fire or ice. Even death couldn’t change that.”

  I sobbed, reaching harder.

  “Reach!” he shouted as my muscles started to shake, strength waning. “Lunge for me. For Tempus’s sake, Ruby, don’t you dare give up!”

  The hills began to shimmer. The image of the battle started to fade. When the illusion disappeared, Eurus would kill me.

  My muscles strained as Eurus’s massive form materialized. The throne room came into view, the crystal in my fist still pulsing with light.

  Eurus watched me stretching out, reaching desperately for… nothing that he could see. He laughed. “I told you, you cannot leave the throne, not until you die. And even then, your spirit will become the first in a new crop of Minax. A fitting fate considering what you’ve done.”

  He smiled wider as I stared at him.

  “Oh yes,” he said in a sweetly poisonous tone. “You will be the seed, and from you, I’ll make another, and another. You’ll be the start of my new breed, my new army. All your petty defiance was for nothing.”

  He lifted his fist and held it above my head, his malevolent green eyes peering down at me, glowing like a cat’s in the dark. “You will never escape me.”

  For a few seconds, I felt nothing but panic. The throne held me. I couldn’t move, couldn’t move, couldn’t move. The darkness would drag me down. I could never escape.

  And then Arcus’s voice shouted, “Now!”

  Eurus’s fist descended, the air rushing toward me, blowing my hair back with its force. There was no question it would be a death blow.

  A tiny moment of choice.

  So short, less than a heartbeat.

  I could hold on to the darkness, or I could follow Arcus’s light.

  I made the choice.

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  ARCUS STAYED CLOSE, AND WE RACED through the tunnels to the Gate.

  “This will work,” I said, more to myself than him.

  We’d made the plan while fleeing a furious god, so it wasn’t impossible that there were some flaws in the premise—the assumption that I could use Eurus’s darkness to make an illusion of my own.

  The idea had started to take shape when I’d sat on the throne. Eurus must have had to give the spirits some of his own power to twist them into his Minax. When I was releasing the spirits, I took their darkness, but I’d also absorbed residual energy from each—the power of a god. A minuscule amount from each spirit, but it added up. And now I could use it.

  Standing in the center of the cavernous space, I used darkness much the way I would have used fire, my mind shaping its form and flow. I made a scene in my head, paying attention to detail, creating the illusion of walls to obscure the room, particularly the Gate.

  Cover the Gate with darkness, I told myself. Hide it so not even the tiniest glimmer shows through.

  “Is the light all covered?” I asked Arcus, my head splitting with the effort of focusing my thoughts.

  “I can’t see any,” he assured me. “Remember to leave your darkness behind, and you’ll be able to get through the Gate.”

  “Go!” I whispered urgently, my heart breaking. “I love you.”

  “This isn’t good-bye,” Arcus reassured me in a low, soothing voice. “We will be together again. I love you, too, Ruby. Always. Be safe.”

  He paused. I felt his longing to protect me, his reluctance to leave. He brushed my hands with his, the soft lightning passing between us for a second, and then he disappeared.

  Eurus appeared at the entrance to the cavern in that moment. “You are a plague,” he raged, bounding toward me. “I will end you now, and your spirit will pay!”

  Wind roared from his direction, battering against me, pushing me.

  I let it back me toward the threshold until I felt the Gate’s hum, then closed my eyes.

  Darkness, I release you. I release all of you. Every stain. Every smudge. Every shadow.

  The moment I sensed the last tendrils of darkness leave my body, I leaped. I burst through the Gate and tumbled to the ground outside, the cold air washing over me in an invigorating rush.

  The sounds of battle still rent the air, carrying from the lava field. Night had fallen, and the area around the Gate was dark.

  Eurus followed a second later, his footsteps rumbling the ground.

  I swallowed, gathering my courage. Here was the worst part.

  Neb’s law said that her children couldn’t interfere in the mortal world while in god form or by using their divine powers. Merely being here in his true form might not be enough to violate the law.

  So I had to let him “interfere,” meaning I had to let him hurt me. And one blow could kill me.

  I took a shaky breath as he drew back a massive foot. At the last second, I must have dodged. Instead of annihilating me, his kick connected with my left arm, cracking bone. I spun in the air, landing hard, rolling, my face and body punished by the hard ground, my arm on fire with pain. I came to rest on my back, blinking hard. My vision doubled, making the stars swim overhead, sinuous and beckoning, as if inviting me into their confidence. Finally, they came to a rest, flickering like candles. Reassuring beacons in the dark, whispering of infinity.

  But my suffering would not be eternal. I had escaped the throne, escaped what Eurus had claimed was my destiny. No matter what happened now, I had done that.

  “I understand the word eternity perfectly,” I said, hoping he could hear my breathless, pain-filled voice. “That’s how long you’ll live in exile.”

  Eurus spun around, saw the Gate—that he was on the wrong side of it—and howled his rage in a blast that shook the hills and made the volcanoes tremble and boil. The shudders from the ground ran through my body in an aching wave, but I perceived the pain distantly as I stared up at the sky, my body boneless with a deep sense of relief.

  “Neb,” I said to the stars. “Your son has been a naughty boy.”

  THIRTY-NINE

  A TERRIBLE PAUSE FOLLOWED. EURUS’S eyes fell on me where I lay helpless on the ground. I struggled to sit up, holding my shattered arm with my opposite hand, nearly passing out from the pain. He lunged toward me.

  Then the air filled with the scents of smoke and evergreen and hibiscus and rich spices I had no name for. A vortex picked up pebbles and grit and swirled them into a twirling mass of debris, blocking out the
stars. Cries rose up from the battlefield as the winds rose to screaming pitch. Then a series of impacts crashed into the ground, sending a shock wave over the island. The volcanoes rumbled in agitation.

  The wind calmed. I rubbed the grit from my eyes, and awe froze my breath.

  Four immense figures stood before us.

  The gods had arrived.

  They towered higher than the Gate, as tall as the surrounding cliffs. Sud wore gold-plated armor with flames dancing sinuously overtop. Fors was similarly attired, his silver armor covered in ice crystals, his shoulders and arms bristling with icicles. Cirrus wore leather arm guards and calf boots that matched the leather strings tying off her braids. A white gown ended just above her knees, and light shone from her eyes, illuminating the scene.

  Eurus recovered quickly, holding up his palms. “Brother, sisters, before you jump to conclusions—”

  Cirrus stepped toward him, fist drawn back then plowing forward, covered in light. It connected with Eurus’s jaw in a blinding flash, sending him soaring across the clearing. He crashed into the cliffside and landed in a heap at its base.

  “That is for tricking me into trapping the spirits!” she railed.

  “I didn’t break the law!” he shouted, adjusting his jaw with one hand as he staggered to his feet. He made a rapid gesture, and a wall of darkness rose up to hide him. “Listen to me!”

  “Do not make this difficult,” Fors said in his booming voice. He turned his head to look at his twin. “Then again, we haven’t had a good fight in a long while.”

  “Agreed, brother,” Sud added. “Go ahead,” she called to Eurus. “Make this as difficult as you like.”

  She plucked a bow from her back, fitting an arrow of fire to the string and loosing it. A howl rose from behind the wall of night. Fors broke an icicle from his arm and hurled it like a javelin through the shadows. Eurus cried out again.

  Cirrus looked at Fors. “Your aim remains true, brother.”

  “Thank you,” the god of the north wind replied with a slight bow.

  “If you refuse to see reason, I will take your sight!” Eurus said from behind his shield of darkness. It spread until it devoured everything in a black wave.

  When the darkness lifted, Eurus was punching Fors, then Cirrus, who reeled back and crashed into the cliffs. Sud slashed at him with fiery hands, lighting his black clothes on fire. He kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying into the Gate.

  Everyone watched as the membrane of light shuddered and held.

  “Fine craftsmanship on that Gate,” Fors said admiringly.

  “Thank you,” said the goddess of the west wind.

  Cirrus leaped to her feet and clapped Eurus on either side of his head with discs of light. He shouted and punched, but she kicked him before he could connect. Fors had coated the ground with ice, and Eurus slid and crashed into another cliff, making it quake and rumble with an avalanche. He grabbed boulders and used wind to hurl them at his siblings. Sud, Fors, and Cirrus each made a shield out of their element—fire, ice, light—and blocked the attacks.

  One boulder caught Sud on the cheek, spinning her off balance. She crashed to her knees, eyes narrowed, then pulled lava from the earth, sending it spinning in tentacles overhead and crashing down on Eurus. He screamed and covered the scene in darkness again. Grunts and yelps rose from the black void. Then a ball of Cirrus’s light exploded, obliterating the dark.

  As the fight raged on, I inched away, searching for cover. The rocks had landed too close for comfort. Cirrus’s light kept whitening my vision, robbing me of sight. My arm throbbed with every heartbeat. When the ground rumbled with another fallen god, the shock ran through my body, jostling my broken bone. I couldn’t hold back an agonized cry.

  Cradling my arm, I wobbled to my feet and made the arduous journey back toward the ramparts that separated the Gate from the battlefield. I fought my way to the top, shivering in the frigid wind. As the carnage came into view, I fought the spasms in my stomach that made me want to retch. So many dead. How many of them had I killed when I’d allowed the Minax free rein, or when I’d sat on the throne?

  I fell to my knees, sick with guilt and pain. Blood, bodies, gore. I had contributed to this massacre, even allowing the spirits to kill people on our own side when I could have stopped them.

  What was worse, the fighting had continued during my time in the Obscurum, and even though immortal gods and goddesses were brawling nearby, the Servants were still making headway into our ranks.

  Things looked hopeless. Our small numbers had worked a miracle holding off the enemy even this long. The last barrier had fallen. The fiercest fighting was right below me, in front of the pass. If and when it fell, the Servants would swarm and kill us all.

  I might have foiled Eurus’s plan to use the Minax, but I still didn’t want to die. I didn’t want all my friends to die. I was scanning wildly, not even realizing who I was searching for until my eyes finally settled on Kai. He was slashing down enemies with jets of bright flame. His clothes were burned, his shield gone, but he fought like a wild thing.

  “Thank Sud,” I muttered, realizing with a sense of vertigo that the goddess was right there, near the Gate. Another crash resounded from that direction, another avalanche of rocks.

  My good hand curled into a fist against my injured forearm. If only they could help us! Instead, they played at war with Eurus. With three against one, they could have subdued him by now.

  Not that it would matter. They would obey Neb’s law. Even if it meant letting us all die.

  Shouts drew my attention to the farthest reaches of the lava field toward the path to the beach. A flare of fire went up. I sucked in a breath.

  It was too dark to see everything clearly, though streams of distant fire partially illuminated the scene in flashes. Our forces couldn’t still be fighting that far off, could they?

  More flares lit the night. Streams of fire sent toward the sky in a spiral pattern I knew was familiar but couldn’t place. What did the signal mean? The pattern was lighting up all over, interlocking streams of flame, illuminating the battlefield. As recognition hit, I closed my eyes on a wave of relief.

  The Fire Queen had arrived.

  Eurus had lied about blowing their fleets off course. The god of tricks and lies! How could I have forgotten?

  The Sudesian flags advanced, snapping proudly in the wind. Streams of flame continued to shoot into the air, illuminating other soldiers in altogether different armor. Streams of blue shimmered from their hands.

  “Thank Fors,” I whispered, smiling at myself for saying such a strange thing.

  The Frostblood army closed in from the flanks, pummeling the enemy with sleet, hail, ice, and frost. Fireblood soldiers kept the sky illuminated and pushed out flame at escaping enemies.

  Then lava rose from the earth in a geyser, dead center of the enemy’s forces, pouring out death. I squinted and saw her at the head of the Fireblood forces, the only person who could possibly do that.

  Queen Nalani, her arms upraised, her gilded armor reflecting flames.

  I forgot my pain. Though my heart had no fire, it sang with hope.

  And was that…? Illumined by a flare of light, I saw Liddy and her pirates carving a brutal path with cutlasses, their hulking figures bearing down on the enemy with merciless glee, their smiles shining in the firelight.

  In minutes, the enemy’s ranks had broken. The Servants scattered in all directions, seeking refuge in the hills. The Frostblood army moved in to cut off their escape.

  The relief was overwhelming. I was ready to drop, but I had to go back to the Gate to see how the battle of the gods—

  “Ruby.”

  My body jerked as if I’d been struck by lightning. The world tilted in a slow roll as I looked up and saw a familiar, broad-shouldered figure that I would know anywhere, even in sleep or death.

  Arcus stood next to me.

  One of Eurus’s tricks, sent to taunt me. Not real not real…

&nbs
p; “Gods, you look so real,” I whispered. His face lit with a smile, and my heart dropped out of my chest.

  “Well?” he said softly, holding out his arms, but it wasn’t until he added, “Get over here, Lady Firebrand,” that I knew for sure.

  Not his luminescent spirit but him, really him. I let out a cry and my knees nearly gave out as I tried to take a step. My limbs had turned to water.

  I blinked to clear my vision, drinking in his face, his solid figure, hale and healthy and real and alive. Wrenching sobs tore through me that I was helpless to stop.

  Laughing, he took a step closer, and I threw myself into his arms, unable to feel an ounce of pain from my injuries.

  He enveloped me in that strong, comforting cold, his chest still rumbling with laughter. He stared down at me, stroking the hair from my cheeks with a tender, butterfly touch. Giddy, I stared back, unable to control the shaking of my body any more than I could control the fact that I was smiling and sobbing at the same time.

  He looked completely recovered.

  “How?” I gasped, swallowing when a fresh wave of tears filled my head.

  “Lucina’s healing closed my wounds,” he said gently. “Remember?”

  I shook violently as I feathered my fingertips over his cheeks in disbelief, reassuring myself he was real and whole.

  Nothing had ever felt so good.

  I would never let him go again.

  “But your spirit?” I asked.

  “Lucina persuaded Cirrus to reunite my spirit with my body. She said it didn’t break Neb’s law, merely reversed one of Eurus’s acts of interference. And then she said I deserved a reward since I’m the child of light—”

  “You are?”

  “Lucina thinks so. She hinted as much on the ship. She obviously wasn’t sure, but I think she wanted me to be prepared just in case. Though I wish she’d told me she planned to send you into the Obscurum.” He scowled.

  It made complete sense. Why hadn’t I seen it before? He’d always resisted the Minax. His spirit was pure light. He’d saved me from the darkness of Eurus’s illusions. “If Lucina thinks you are, why don’t you believe it?”