The wolf came to a skidding halt, teeth bared, hackles raised. “Caught you,” he rasped. It was clear he had been travelling through the Light; his fur had all but burned away.
“Keep back, Ranik,” warned Tam.
“Have hurt. You before,” wheezed Ranik. “No match. For me.” He growled, pawing at the ground, readying himself to attack. “I will. Have truth. Now. No more lies. Where are keys? Where is brother?”
Just then, the wind changed, parting the haze of snow so that Ranik caught a glimpse of Hagen farther up the path. His eyes grew wide. “Brother?”
Hagen turned and paced back toward them. He slipped between Bo, Tam, and Selene, bowing his head at Ranik. “Brother,” he said.
There was nothing but heartbreaking reverence in Ranik’s expression as he padded forward and gently nuzzled Hagen’s snout. He sighed, his eyes squeezed shut. “Found you,” he said.
Bo swallowed thickly as he watched the two wolves standing close—close enough to breathe the same air.
“You have Stars?” said Ranik. “We can. Rule Ulv. Now?”
Hagen slowly shook his head, nuzzling his brother’s snout as though he couldn’t bear to stop. “They are poison,” he said. “The witch lied. Tricked us. Such power cannot be contained. I am already gone—only the Stars keep me lingering, but they are dying too. We must set them free before—”
“No,” snarled Ranik; his body grew tense. “If free Stars. You die.”
Hagen looked away from his brother. “I will die anyway.”
Bo sucked in a breath. He grabbed hold of Tam’s elbow to steady himself. Hagen was dying?
“Will not. Let you. Die.” Ranik’s hateful stare slid across to Bo. “Will stop you.”
“Not your choice,” growled Hagen, and turned his back on his brother. “Do not stand in my way, little brother.”
Ranik drew back on his haunches, baring his fangs. “Will not. Let you. Die!” he roared, but Hagen kept walking.
Tam passed Nix into Selene’s arms, then crouched into battle position, pushing Bo away. “Follow Hagen,” she said with barely a glance over her shoulder. “Both of you.”
But Bo was frozen to the spot, his heart trapped in his throat.
“Do what she says,” said Selene. “Don’t be a dileedoor on a swollygump.”
Without warning, Ranik leapt at Tam. The Korahku kicked out with her talons; she struck the soft underside of the wolf’s belly, drawing blood and a howl of pain.
“You cannot,” roared Ranik, “take my brother. From me. Again!”
“Come on!” shouted Selene. She turned and ran up the mountain, Nix in her arms and Hagen in front.
With one last look over his shoulder to see Ranik charging Tam again, Bo followed Selene. He kept his head down. Tam will be safe, he told himself. She has to be.
At the top of the mountain, where there was a large, flat, snow-covered expanse, Selene lay Nix on the ground and together she and Bo approached Hagen.
“I can’t kill you,” Bo said to the wolf. Hagen climbed onto a large, flat rock on the very highest point of the mountain, shivering against the wind. He looked so small. “If that’s what you’re going to ask me to do, I won’t do it.” Bo shook his head. Though his teeth were chattering and his whole body shook, his words were as firm as stone.
Hagen sniffed the air, closing his eyes with a look of bliss. “Have missed the air,” he said.
Bo could still hear the cries and thumps and rasps of the fight between Tam and Ranik nearby, but the look on Hagen’s face made everything seem so still, so quiet, so peaceful.
“I won’t hurt you,” said Bo, a hiccupping sob cutting through his words, undoing all his attempts to appear strong.
“You won’t,” said Hagen, turning his blissful smile to Bo. “It is my time.”
Bo locked eyes with the wolf and couldn’t help but smile too—it was a small and sad smile but it was a smile nonetheless. He did not doubt the wolf’s words for a second. But it didn’t make it hurt any less.
Bo hugged his arms to his chest, shivering as the Dark crept closer. “What do we do?” he said.
“You give the Stars to me and I let you live,” said a tinkling voice behind them, followed by a long, low cackle that set the hairs on the back of Bo’s neck to standing.
Bo and Selene whirled around to see Freja gliding through the snow toward them, her hair whipping in the wind like writhing snakes.
Selene moved to cast a spell but Freja was too quick; with a flick of her hands she sent a magical rope flying through the air, wrapping around Selene’s wrists, pinning them in place.
“The Shadow Witch,” growled Hagen.
“Hagen, my old friend,” cooed Freja. There were no shimmering edges or rippling silver waves, no flickering in and out of view this time.
“You lied,” snarled Hagen, hunching his shoulders and baring his teeth. “You said I would have power, that my brother and I would rule over Ulv while you ruled the heavens, but this is poison you have given me. You killed me!”
Freja laughed. “For a weak creature like you, of course it is poison. Star-magic is poison—the world will be much better without it.” She held out her hand, long metal nails pointed at them. “So give the Stars to me. They must be destroyed once and for all.”
“Never.”
“Then I will take them for myself.” Quick as lightning, Freja threw out her hands and shot more shimmering red ropes that snapped around Bo’s waist, pulling tighter and tighter and tighter and . . . Bo couldn’t breathe! It was like being wrapped in flames and suffocating all at once. He fell to the ground, teeth locked together; he couldn’t speak, it hurt so much. Beside him, Selene dropped too, howling in pain as more ropes tangled around her.
“You are corrupted, Freja,” growled Hagen. “The Dark rules you. If the Moon could see you—”
“If she cared, then she should not have abandoned me!”
Through the haze of pain, Bo watched Freja spark with rage, bolts of lightning and licks of flame and a rolling wave of Darkness. The whole mountain shook.
“It’s her fault,” cried Freja. “I would still be in the heavens if it weren’t for her. She loved you all more than me—she wanted your undying love and devotion and could not bear the idea of anyone else being worshiped. And now where is she? Where is she while this pathetic land turns to ashes?”
With a roar, Freja conjured four daggers of ice that shot through the air and pinned each of Hagen’s paws to the ground. The wolf howled as suddenly—zap, zap, zap!—there were hordes of silvery magical snakes writhing all around him, chaining him where he stood.
“No! You can’t do this to me again! You can’t!”
“Stop it!” cried Bo. He wriggled to standing before two bolts of Light zapped into his chest and he was flung backwards and landed with a crash on the icy ground. Selene squirmed against the ropes, trying to free her hands enough to cast her own spell. But she was trapped. They were both trapped.
All Bo could do was grit his teeth and watch as Freja conjured a knife, small and solid silver and sharp. She gripped it tightly and glided toward Hagen.
“Remember whose fault this is, wolf,” she sneered. “Remember who abandoned this world because she was selfish. You can call me witch, you can spit my name, but I know this was not my doing. I will rule this world as it should be ruled while the Moon hides in shame.”
Freja raised her hands, readying to slam the knife into the wolf’s side. But Selene finally managed to break free of her restraints and sent a bolt of lightning into Freja. The witch hurtled through the air; the knife flung from her hand as she crashed into the snow.
With a flick of Selene’s wrist, the magical ropes fell from Bo. She cut them from herself and stood; the air fizzled and crackled around her.
Bo sucked down lungfuls of air as the pain subsided, but his body still trembled with aftershocks. He wobbled to his feet as Freja stood too, baring her teeth at Selene.
“We won’t let you take the
Stars, Freja,” said Selene. “Magic is not supposed to be used for evil. It’s good—I’m good—and we can stop you.”
Freja threw back her head and cackled wildly. “You—a child—think you can stop me? Not even my sister, Elena, could stop me. I trapped her in a statue. And my brother, Mathias. Oh, he helped me at first but then he grew a conscience, hid the wolf from me and then imprisoned himself in that godforsaken Irin forest and tried to make amends by ridding the land of magic so I could never return.”
Freja beat her chest again and again. “He betrayed me! He hid the Stars from me and locked me in that crystal. But I knew I would return. I knew all I had to do was bide my time until he made a mistake. And what a mistake! Trusting a child to maintain the spell! And what justice that Ranik should be the one to kill him!”
Bo couldn’t breathe—no matter how heavily his chest heaved, he just couldn’t get enough air. What did she mean? She was talking about Mads but she was calling him Mathias . . . It didn’t make sense! If what she was saying was true, then . . . Mads was Mathias.
It was like a punch to Bo’s gut. He doubled over, clutching his stomach as the truth hit him again and again. Mads was Mathias. Mathias the Gift-Giver.
Mads was a fallen Star.
Freja curled her hands into fists, drawing back her shoulders. “So you cannot stop me, child. My magic is stronger than yours.” Freja raised her hands and suddenly there were whirlwinds of Darkness spiraling from each of her fingers. She threw the whirlwinds at Selene, who sprang out of the way, twisting to dodge the deadly spirals.
“No, it isn’t!” Selene screeched, planting her feet. “The strongest spells call for a child to cast them—every Ulvian knows that. But you might have forgotten because you’re so self-absorbed.” She pushed both hands forward—as though shoving the air. Out shot vines of golden Light that whipped around Freja’s hair, her arms, her legs, tying her up. “Yes!” She turned to Bo. “Did you see that?”
“Get these off Hagen,” said Bo, pointing to the snakes.
Selene thrust out her hands and a wave of heat radiated from them, melting the snakes and the ice daggers in the wolf’s paws, setting him free. With a whimper, Hagen collapsed; Bo ran and fell to his knees beside the wolf. “What do I do? Tell me!”
“Get the knife,” said Hagen, each word punctuated by a rasping breath. “Quick.”
Bo looked to where the knife lay in the snow by Freja’s feet. The witch had cut the golden vines loose with icicles shot from her hands, and now she was firing them at Selene. Selene flung up a wall of shimmery, silvery Light; the icicles bounced off the shield—clink, clink, clink.
Above them, the Dark clouds churned as the Light slipped ever closer to the horizon. There wasn’t much time.
Bo ran for the knife at Freja’s feet, Selene running with him, her shield protecting them both. He dived to the ground, fingertips brushing the edge of the knife before the breath was knocked out of him and he was lifted into the air. His shirt was ripped, Mads’s crystal pendant spilling out from behind the fabric, swinging like a pendulum as he was flung side to side. He looked down and saw he was dangling above the edge of the mountain, close to a cliff with an abrupt drop.
Freja was laughing, wild and unhinged. She was using so much power that her form rippled, fading in and out.
She was still weak.
What had she said about the crystal? Mads had locked her inside. That was why it burned whenever she had shown herself to Bo. Because she was still attached to it. The release of magic was giving her the power to return, like a ghost, but she was still trapped inside the crystal pendant—she had never left. She needed the power of the Stars to set her free completely before she destroyed them. So that meant . . .
“Selene! The crystal!” Bo yelled. “Blast it!”
Freja snapped her head around, eyes locking on the crystal pendant swinging from Bo’s neck. She reached out as if to make a grab for it.
Bo ripped the pendant from his neck and threw it high above them just as Selene pointed her hands in the air and shot a lightning bolt into the heart of the crystal.
Boom!
A piercing scream shattered the air and Bo fell, landing heavily as sparks of Light shot every which way, like a shower of fire beetles. He shielded his eyes and ears and curled into a ball as the piercing scream grew so loud he thought he would explode.
There was a deafening blast, rocks and snow flying through the air. When it subsided, Bo’s ears rang and his vision shimmered as he sat up, wondering what on Ulv had happened.
He saw Selene groggily sitting up, but no Freja.
And then he saw the crystal, lying on the ground. The earth around it was blackened and it burned hot in his hands as he picked it up. It was intact, not a scratch to be found.
“Did it work? Is she gone? Is she—” A claw slashed at Bo’s arm and he screamed in pain.
Suddenly, the Shadow Creatures were everywhere, slashing with their claws and forked tails. Selene shot orbs of Light into the sky to illuminate the Darkness, but the creatures still came for them. She blasted long golden swords into the writhing mass, then sent out a series of swirling balls of ice that spat shards of knife-sharp icicles. “Yes!” she cried as several of the creatures fell back, but then she screamed as one of them took her by surprise on the left, slicing a long gash down her arm. She threw a shield up. “There are so many!” she cried. “I’m not sure I can hold them off for long.”
Suddenly, Tam was beside Bo, gripping his underarms and hauling him to standing. “Ranik is unconscious,” she said, her robe shredded and cuts along her face and neck. She breathed heavily. “Selene and I will fight the creatures. You release the Stars.”
Bo’s head pounded and every inch of his body ached, but he slid the crystal pendant over his neck and ran toward Hagen.
He didn’t have time to think.
He had to set the Stars free.
He had to be brave.
He needed that wish.
The wolf was motionless on the ground—Bo only had eyes for the poor creature as he ran. Was it too late? Were the Stars dead? Had Hagen already passed away? His heart ached at such a thought.
Bo was so swept up in pain and grief and a determination to reach the wolf’s side that at first he did not notice the figure standing over the wolf.
Not until he was a handful of steps away did he see the man.
Galvin.
The Irin was looming over Hagen, Freja’s magical knife in his hand, his mouth twisted into a gold-toothed smile. Bo skidded to a halt, gasping in surprise.
“The Stars are mine,” said the Irin, raising the knife over his head. “You’re too late.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
With a gleeful howl, Galvin stabbed the knife deep into the wolf’s belly.
An explosion of Light burst from the wolf, throwing Bo and Galvin to the ground. With his head ringing, Bo looked up: a torrent of sparks fired into the air as thousands upon thousands of shimmering diamonds of Light poured from the wolf and into the sky.
It was magic.
Bo had seen magic before but nothing like this.
This was pure magic.
This was the Stars.
“They’re getting away!” cried Galvin. He clambered to his feet and jumped, grasping at air, trying to capture the Stars in his flailing arms. But they were too fast, zooming through the air and into the Darkness above; Shadow Creatures were screeching as the Star-Light burned their flesh and turned them into smoking piles of ash.
Bo scrambled upright and ran; he needed a Star, just one. Just one. But as he ran, Galvin kicked out with a cry of “Mine! My Stars! Hands off!” and sent Bo flying, rolling until he stilled just short of the steep drop at the edge of the mountain. He looked down, far, far below into the dizzying depths. Bo gripped his pounding heart and scuttled backwards, away from certain death.
In a frenzy of flailing arms and cries of “Mine! All mine!” Galvin threw himself after a low-flying Star without l
ooking where it was leading him.
Bo cried, “Watch out!” as Galvin barely skidded to a halt in time. The Irin’s eyes bulged as he looked down and realized he was teetering on the edge of the cliff. He swung his arms wildly and arched his back as he wobbled and swayed on the ledge. “Oh dear! Oh no! I—”
With a cry, he tumbled over.
Bo flung himself to the edge and grasped hold of Galvin’s arm just in time, leaving him dangling over the side of the mountain. The Irin swung from Bo’s grip, crying, “Help me, you fool! Pull me up!”
“I’m trying!” Bo said between teeth clenched in pain. The Irin was heavy! “Crawl up.”
But Galvin wasn’t listening. “Aha!” he said as he spied a Star caught on a small ledge partway down the cliff, well out of reach. “There you are! Thought you could get away! Think how much I could sell a real Star for if I can sell a fake one for a thousand Raha!”
“I can’t pull you up on my own,” said Bo. “You have to help.”
But Galvin was too obsessed with the Stars to heed Bo’s warning. Instead, he began to swing himself from side to side, his tongue poked between his teeth as he wiggled his fingertips. “Can’t . . . quite . . . reach. Just . . . a . . . bit . . . more.”
“Stop swinging!” cried Bo, Galvin slipping farther down in his grip each time he swung. And he was dragging Bo with him. “Just crawl up before I drop you.”
But Galvin swung harder. “I can reach it,” he said. “I can—argh!”
He slipped from Bo’s grip and fell.
And fell.
And fell.
Bo couldn’t watch. He drew back from the cliff edge and buried his face in the snow and sobbed.
No one deserved such a fate, thought Bo, not even Galvin.
Bo wasn’t sure how long he sat like that, breathing hard and fast, hiccupping with sobs. It was all too much. Freja, Nix, Mads, the Stars—all gone, swept up into the heavens, taking their wishes with them—and Hagen . . .
“Hagen!” cried Bo, scrambling to his feet and running headlong for the wolf in the snow. The poor creature seemed so small, crumpled on the ground, all those scars that told of his years of imprisonment. Bo fell to his knees beside him, placing a hand in the creature’s still-warm fur. He was breathing—thank the Light he was still breathing! “Hagen? Can you hear me?”
The Boy, the Wolf, and the Stars Page 24