by H. L. Burke
Jericho’s hard eyes softened. “But you’ll be trapped in that web, forever. I can’t let that happen to you. There has to be another way.”
Auric shook himself out of his panic. “Jericho’s right. We have three skilled magicians in this room, plus Janus, who knows more about the rifts and this web than anyone. If we can’t figure this out, no one can.”
Rill nodded, her mouth still down-turned. Auric’s breath quickened. If he couldn’t save her, he’d never forgive himself.
“First and most obvious option,” Jericho jumped right in, “if this orb fills, can we simply replace it with another orb? Yes, it might be an unending task, replacing the orbs every few hours into eternity, but it’s possible, right?”
“No, unfortunately, it isn’t.” Janus ran his fingers through his pale hair. “To replace the orb, we’ll have to detach it from the web, and chances are, when we do that, it will burst, sending the energy flooding through the rifts again.”
“We can close the rifts, though, right?” Auric said. “Father was telling us about how he met Mother, and he described a similar problem, with energy posed to escape through the rifts. He said you closed them to stop it from happening.”
“Those were just the rifts your father created.” Janus tugged fistfuls of his hair, his face pinching. “The number has grown a hundredfold since then, and other human magicians have learned to open them. Even if we somehow manage to close every single one, new rifts would open within an hour.”
Auric swallowed. It was true. His compatriots in the capitol had an insatiable hunger for Fey energy. If anything slowed the flow, they’d rip open bigger rifts in response immediately. They’d never know that doing so sealed their doom, as well as the fates of all the innocent people living in the city around them.
Rill grasped Jericho and Auric’s hands and pulled them to face her, her blue eyes earnest. “Look, I love you both, more than I can say, and I know either of you would do anything for me, but … but I might be the only one who can stop this.”
“No!” Auric and Jericho said as one.
A tear rolled down her cheek. “Please, don’t make this harder.”
Jericho drew her hand to his lips. “We’re not giving up on you, Rill. If I have to find a way to make my body a barricade between you and this fate, I will. Just give us more time. Please.”
Barricade.
Auric let go of Rill and pressed his fingers over his eyes. Barricade, blockade, bulwark. A spell to hold back energy, not just redirect it or contain it …
He jerked his head up. “Janus, my understanding is the barrier between the human and Fey realms holds back the energy but that rifts open naturally, right?”
“Yes,” the Fey replied. “The energy the Fey Lands produces can’t be completely contained within it. Some of it has to release into the mortal realms or else it will grow beyond our control. The natural order is for our energy to flow into your realm, but in small doses.”
“So the barrier is sort of like a dam, controlling the amount of water a river sends through, and the natural rifts are locks, but the unnatural ones are breaches in the dam, threatening to send more energy than our side can handle all at once.” Auric caught himself getting over-excited and drew himself into a more dignified pose. “Is that an accurate assessment?”
“I suppose.” Janus tilted his head.
“What are you getting at?” Jericho frowned.
Auric drew a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “We need to make a supportive barrier, a dam to reinforce the dam, so that even if the human magicians make another rift, all they will find is a wall. It’ll take a big spell. That one you used to keep Janus out of this room might work, except so much bigger. Was that your spell or Rill’s?”
“Mine. Rill was busy with her orb.” Jericho rubbed the back of his neck. “However, that only covered a small area and it burnt out a quire.”
“I can amplify it,” Janus said. “Human magic is stable, but Fey magic can work in bigger increments.”
“So we just make a wall? That’s it?” Rill frowned. “What’s to stop the magicians from ripping through it?”
“It’ll be anchored on this side. If the magical holds are all on the Fey side of the barrier, they won’t be able to unlock them.”
“So …” Jericho crossed his arms. “We have to close it from this side.”
“Yes. We’ll need to create a barrier spell, then have Janus increase the power at the same time as we activate it, basically pushing the barrier as far as it will go.” Auric drew his stylus from his pocket and twirled it between his fingers. “Also if we do it from this side, the natural rifts should still be able to form. Just nothing larger than that.”
“Got it.” Jericho nodded slowly. “Does anything need to be done from the human side?”
Auric tapped his stylus on his chin. “If Janus is helping with the barrier spell, we might need someone else to hold our escape rift open. That should probably be done from the human side.”
“Rill, do you know how to do that?” Jericho asked.
Rill’s brow furrowed. “Yes. I watched Auric create his rift … but Auric is better at it. Shouldn’t he take that post?”
Jericho stooped and kissed her forehead. “Auric is inventing this barrier spell from scratch. He’ll need to help me and Janus through it. Get to the other side, check on your parents, then keep the rift open for us, all right?”
“All right.” She stroked his cheek. “I’ll see you soon?”
“Yeah.” He touched her hair.
Rill stepped through Janus’s rift. Jericho stared after her, his eyes distant.
“Last quire.” Auric whistled, taking up the bit of wood. He scratched through the first round of symbols, stopped, closed his eyes to get the rest in order in his brain, then continued to write.
“Don’t activate it,” Jericho cautioned.
“Of course not.” Auric frowned. “We have to have all the pieces in place first. Janus, ready to do the expansion spell?”
The Fey nodded, his fingers radiating cold green light.
“Only the activation symbol left.” Auric paused.
Jericho reached for the quire. “I can handle that. Go after Rill.”
Auric pulled away, narrowing his eyes at Jericho. “Why?”
Jericho cleared his throat. “You’re better at rifts. I might as well finish the spell, and you can help Rill hold the door for me.” He smiled, unconvincingly.
“Or I could complete it and we could go through together.” Auric’s fingers twitched around the stylus. Something was up with Jericho.
Jericho shook his head. “You really haven’t figured out the problem yet, have you?”
“Problem?” Auric wasn’t sure why, but his stomach twisted. His gaze darted from Janus to Jericho.
Janus’s mouth dropped open. “Oh … I hadn’t thought of that.”
“What do you mean?” Auric snapped.
“Nothing. Just give me the quire and get through the portal.” Jericho made a grab at the quire.
Auric angled away. “Tell me what you mean.”
“He means that once the barrier activates, that rift you are planning on escaping through will snap closed and whoever is on this side will be stuck on this side,” Janus murmured. “You’re essentially locking yourselves out of your world.”
Auric’s blood froze.
“I would suggest that I complete the spell, but I can’t do human magic. It won’t activate if I’m the one who inscribes the symbol,” Janus continued. “Can you finish the spell from the human side?”
Numbly, Auric shook his head. “If I do, it’ll create a weak spot any human magician could tear through with a simple spell. Totally defeats the purpose of the barrier.” He clenched and unclenched his hands. “Janus, will you still be able to open rifts from this side? I mean, we’re engineering this so the natural rifts can still open.”
“If I do, it will break the barrier and it will all escape. It doesn’t matter whic
h side the rift originates from. Once the barrier has been compromised, more will follow.” Janus pushed his hair back from his forehead. “Natural rifts will still be able to form, but they are rarely if ever wider than a man’s fist. Not even close to large enough for you to escape through. What are you going to do?”
“Can we talk alone for a minute?” Jericho asked. Janus nodded and left the room.
The air around Auric prickled against his skin, perhaps the Fey energy reasserting itself as his current dose of rosemary oil lost its potency. How long could a human survive in this world? Not long. Even if he could last, he’d be separated from everyone he loved, everything familiar to him.
“It was my idea,” he whispered. “We’re running out of time. Jericho, get through the rift. Tell Rill and my parents, I’ll miss them, but it was the only way.”
“No.” Jericho shook his head.
“It doesn’t make sense for both of us to die, but if one—my sister loves you.”
“And she doesn’t love you?” Jericho raised an eyebrow.
“That’s different. Look, in spite of how we started out, you’re my friend … probably the best friend I’ve ever had. I don’t want to die, but if it comes down to you or me, I’m fine with it being me.” Auric pointed towards the rift. The silver light called to him. On the other side was safety, his family, everything. “Go.”
“Yeah, not happening.”
“This was my idea.”
“And I was the one who figured out the catch.” Jericho drew a scrap of cloth from his pocket. Rill’s embroidery. “I could’ve said something, forced you to try and come up with a better plan, but Rill was inches from jumping into that web to save us all. I couldn’t let that happen. I made the choice not to speak up, and I knew what the cost would be. You’re a good man, Auric. A talented magician, yes, but also a loyal son, a loving brother, and a great friend. I’m not letting you stay behind. It’ll be a lot easier on both of us if you just accept that.”
They stared at each other. The energy intensified about them, tingling on Auric’s skin and working into his brain. He thought about reapplying the rosemary oil, but whichever way this ended, there didn’t seem to be much of a point to that.
“I tell you what.” Jericho stepped closer. He returned Rill’s embroidery to his pocket. “We’re both stubborn, so let’s solve this the easy way.” He withdrew a copper pence. “Flip a coin?”
Auric hesitated. Letting chance decide took it out of his hands. Oddly tempting. He set the quire on the floor. “You’re not going to cheat, are you?”
“Of course not. Look, just an everyday coin.” Jericho held it out to Auric.
Auric examined the flat bit of metal. Profile of General Hayden, a late military leader of the republic, on one side, crossed quill pens of the treasury seal on the other. Normal enough. “Seems a mundane way to choose which of us lives and which of us endures a slow death torn apart by Fey energies.”
“You have a better idea?” Jericho scoffed, snatching the coin from Auric.
Auric swallowed. How could Jericho be so calm? Whatever happened, one of them was about to die. Auric’s heart beat frantically at the thought of either outcome.
Jericho backed towards the rift. “Come on. Let’s get it over with. Rill’s probably wondering what’s taking us so long, and I don’t want her popping back here to check on us.”
Auric cringed. This choice was hard enough without her inevitably volunteering herself and turning this into a three-way battle.
He stepped closer to Jericho, eyeing the coin between the apprentice’s fingers.
“Whatever the results are, we don’t fight. We accept them and finish this,” Jericho said. “Agreed?”
Thoughts swirled in Auric’s brain. He was missing something again. “I guess.”
Jericho held the coin aloft. “Heads or quills?”
“Quills.” Auric positioned himself before Jericho, determined to notice if the apprentice tried any sleight of hand.
“Quills? All right.” Jericho tossed the coin into the air. Auric’s gaze followed its spinning flight. Jericho’s fist caught him in the gut.
Auric crumpled, his breath abandoning his body. He gasped.
“Sorry, but I’m not a big believer in luck.” Jericho shoved him.
Auric clawed out as he toppled backwards, through the rift. The energy sparked around him, and he landed with a thunk. For a moment the world spun. When his vision cleared he lay on the floor in his father’s study, at Rill’s feet.
“Aurry, what happened?” She frowned. The silver light blinked out. Rill’s eyes widened. “What happened to the rift? Where’s Jerry?”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Auric sprang to his feet. “We’ve got to get it open again, fast!” He’d had his stylus in hand when he fell through the rift, hadn’t he? Where was it? He felt about on the floor.
“Here!” Rill held up a stylus. “It’s Father’s spare.”
He snatched it from her and scratched the first symbols directly into the wooden walls of the study. Inscribing the spell in record time, he finished and stepped back. The symbols flickered like dying embers then faded, no rift forming. Auric’s heart sank. “Come on. Come on.” He retraced the symbols. Nothing happened. “No!”
Rill’s feathery touch on his shoulder made him jump. “Aurry, please, tell me what happened.”
His throat tightened. “I lost … I lost him.” He couldn’t look her in the eye. “I’m so sorry, Rill. I tried. I didn’t want this, but he … I’m so sorry.”
The door to the study creaked open. “I got your mother settled in bed,” Hedward said. “She’s exhausted, but I think she’s going to be fine. Ah, Auric, you’re back. Good. Where’d Jericho get to? I think we need to have a conversation about his intentions towards Rill.”
Rill gave out a muffled sob. Auric’s heart twisted.
“What’s wrong?” Father asked. “What happened?”
Somehow Auric managed to choke out the whole story, how he’d realized too late his mistake, how he and Jericho had fought over who would stay behind, how Jericho had won. His father and sister stared at him, silent. Rill’s eyes clouded, her fingers gathered in her skirts.
“I’m so sorry, Rill. It’s all my fault.” Auric hung his head.
“No, it’s not.” Hedward clasped his son’s shoulders. “Look at me, Auric. Jericho made his choice. It sounds like you did everything you could. He wouldn’t want you to blame yourself for this.”
“Father’s right. Jericho knew what he was doing.” Rill took her brother’s hand. “I … I wish … I would’ve taken my place in the web. I should’ve. It’s not your fault, Auric. It’s mine.” Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she collapsed against her brother’s chest, sobbing.
He held onto her with all his might. “Don’t say that.”
She pulled away, her jaw clenched. “Well, are we magicians or not? If it were you or me caught in the Fey Lands, Jericho would do anything to bring us back.” She hurried from the room and came back a moment later, her arms filled with quires.
“But if we open a rift to get him back, it will allow the Fey energy into our world,” Father stammered. “That’s the very thing Jericho was trying to prevent.”
“Then we’ll find another way.” Auric caught sight of his stylus, glinting on the floor. He stooped and picked it up, handing his father’s to Rill. “Jericho’s a fighter. If I know him, he’s not going to sit and wait to die, and we’re not going to stand by either. Father, you can help us if you’d like.”
Hedward nodded. “I’ll see if Annie can make us some tea and muffins. It’ll help us stay alert.”
Rill touched Auric’s arm as their father departed. “Thank you.”
He smiled at her. “I want him back, too. Let’s get started. We need to find a way either around or through the barrier I made, but somehow without sending a deadly flood of Fey energy into this world. Any ideas?”
***
The light of the oi
l lamp flickered on the wall. Auric rubbed his eyes and checked the notes he’d made on a scrap of paper, comparing them to the previous attempt at a rift spell still uselessly inscribed on the paneling. Behind him, a soft moan reminded him of Rill’s presence. He turned. She lay slumped across the desk, her head in her arms, surrounded by a half-dozen spent quires. He stepped around the desk and draped his coat across her shoulders.
Father had gone to the library a few hours before in search of some book he thought might have answers. He’d sent Annie up the stairs carrying notes on spells and symbols he thought Auric should incorporate a few times, but then the messages had simply stopped.
Footsteps creaked in the workshop. Auric stuck his head out, expecting Father. Instead, his mother’s ghostly face greeted him. Though she’d obviously recovered much of her strength, she still looked pale and weary, and so much older than he remembered her. Yes, whatever else had happened, he was glad he had saved her and that he’d spared Rill from enduring the same fate.
“Mother, you should be in bed. It has to be after midnight.”
“Near dawn, actually. The hall clock chimed four when I passed it.” She came to his side, glancing into the disorganized study. “I found your father in the library, practically buried in books. He explained the situation to me. Oh, Auric, I’m so sorry. I gather you and this Jericho were close.”
“Yes, well …” He cleared his throat and guided her back into the workshop. Sure enough, through the eastern windows he could see a pale streak of dawn. “I feel worse for Rill. I lost my friend. She lost her soul mate.” A yawn overtook him. He covered his mouth with his hand. “Sorry. Long night.”
Mother frowned and led him to the work table. “Sit.”
He obeyed. “Only for a moment, though. I need to get back to my spells.”
“You need some rest. Your mind won’t be able to function, and you’ll be no help to your friend if you don’t get some sleep.”
“I can’t. We don’t have time.”
“But you let me sleep, you traitor,” Rill said.