“No,” Rowan protested from behind him.
“No?” He half-turned so all of them were in his line of vision. “You have left me no choice but to find new ways to persuade you,” he thundered icily.
Bri’s skin crawled and fear constricted her throat as Anton reached into his pocket and yanked out a small electronic device. When he pushed one of the buttons, a section of the cave floor centered in front of the altar slid open.
That can’t be good.
“Stop,” Rowan pleaded, her natural tone shifting to the deeper, mechanical vibration as the other emerged again. “I’ll do what you want.”
Anton snorted as he watched the globe emerge from the floor. Soft yellow, smooth, and opaque, it rested in the cradle of an intricately carved golden tripod.
“You’ll do what I want regardless.” He strode to the altar, looming over Rowan. “Punishment, not persuasion. And at my command.” He bit the words out, his face only inches from hers, his eyes dead.
Rowan didn’t flinch or pull away. Fire flashed in the depths of her eyes, the other being inside her pushed aside. “You killed my husband, made me kill countless people for you. I won’t do it anymore.”
Her power suddenly flooded back into their shared link, pulsing with a brightly glowing, unifying light, infusing them all. As vitality and strength poured into her muscles and bones, Bri’s power surged. She stood shoulder to shoulder with her sister to face the enemy.
“You dare defy me?” Anton shouted, anger spilling out between the cracks in his shell. He latched on to Rowan’s upper arm in a bruising grip and sent a violent wave of energy crashing along their connection, searching for any hole, any chink in the armor.
He threw his head back and a series of twisted, incomprehensible words of torturous hatred filled the chamber—an ancient spell so dark, Bri felt it like knives in her bones. The crystals pulsed in unison, taking on an ominous, dark purple hue. The tremendous, evil force shot fury along their shared link.
The metal door sealing the chamber suddenly creaked and moaned. Someone was trying to get in from the outside.
“And here they are.” Anton released Rowan, shoving her from him as he spun to face the door, clapping his hands once together. “Right on schedule.”
A tainted smile curved his lips, and he flung up an outthrust palm to Celeste. Another wave of darkness blasted their weakening link, much stronger than anything he’d thrown at them yet. Their bond shattered into a thousand pieces.
Celeste stumbled, and Bri went down on her knees.
Rowan’s body contorted and began to glow from the inside out as she fought Anton’s control. Her palms slapped down on the crystal altar, fingers spread, power flowing in and around her.
Anchored where she knelt, Bri felt a hard tug on her spirit. Understanding dawned. She would be the first one her mother would be forced to attack.
Celeste was inside her mind, helping shore up her internal defenses, throwing up shield after shield, frantically searching for a way to help them both. Linked to Rowan as they had been, they were wide open to Anton’s attack. They had played right into his hands.
The door creaked open another notch and the screech of tearing metal bounced off the walls and high ceiling.
Jonah’s solid form filled the doorway, tall and proud, absorbing every detail of the scene before him. His expression darkened. Grandfather, Bri thought, even as her relief warred with betrayal. Confusion stalled her mind and she faltered.
Anton pressed his advantage. Her vision tunneled as her hold on life slipped on a stuttering heartbeat that ate away at her. She raised a shaky hand to her nose and it came away with blood, her ears also wet as her blood drained from her body.
Dying, Bri tried to reach for Jonah, yet he barely looked at her. There was no softness, no concern in his glacial eyes as the life force drained out of her. Only his dispassionate, stone-cold expression, reflecting the harsh brutality of their world and the centuries of his existence. If she wasn’t struggling for every breath, it might have bothered her more. In some strange way, it all made sense to her oxygen-deprived brain.
“Jonah,” Anton growled from somewhere behind her. “Finally. You will join the rest of your family in death.”
Jonah surged forward, his formidable Warriors fanned in a loose semicircle near the entrance, holding their position, assessing the situation, and waiting for the moment to strike.
Bri’s hearing faded in and out as their exchange flowed around her. She tried to keep her eyes open, but with every passing second, she lost strength.
“Celeste. Talk to us,” Darius insisted, his eyes never leaving Anton who stood close to Rowan.
“The globe,” Celeste bit out. Bri barely felt her straining to stave off the attack on her own life force. That was the final coherent thought Bri had before she gave in. With her last breath, she crumpled to the ground with a strange ringing in her ears, her brain ready to explode.
A murmur of voices surrounded her, but Bri couldn’t make them out. Lying on the cold, hard cave floor, suddenly energy and life slowly seeped back into her depleted body. She was still alive, her senses coming back on line.
Something soft and furry nuzzled her cheek. Prying her eyes open she found herself staring into the silver-gray eyes of a wolf standing protectively over her.
“Cole.” She breathed in his scent. “You’re alive.” With no idea of how much time had passed, Bri managed to wrap her arms weakly around his neck, burying her face in his thick, luxurious fur. The wolf leaned closer. “I love you. I was afraid I wouldn’t see you again and be able to tell you.”
If a wolf could smile, she swore he did.
“Rowan.” Anton’s voice filled the chamber, and Bri tore her eyes away from Cole.
Anton was really starting to piss her off.
Fighting her own terror, she watched the macabre face-off between Anton and Jonah escalate, centuries-old grudges, bitter enemies testing each other’s power.
Both palms out, Anton sent a blistering wave of energy at Jonah, sparking as it smashed through the Commander’s shields. He dodged aside at the last minute and the crystal-lined walls took the hit. Large shards with dangerously sharp edges rumbled free. Before they could smash into the ground, three of the sharpest stopped and spun, wielded as weapons by Jonah.
The ice queen laughed, slicing her hand in the air, rendering Jonah’s missals useless. Rowan stumbled before she could join Anton in his counterattack and Bri saw her mother’s unsuccessful battle for control.
Jonah straightened, confronting his daughter and the mage who had turned her.
Bri buried her head in the soft warmth of Cole’s furry neck, one last moment of comfort before being forced to join the fight. Yet she’d never forgive herself if she gave up and hid because she was too afraid. She pulled herself to standing, leaning on the strong back of the wolf for support.
In one coordinated move, the Warriors shifted position to face the ominous pounding of what sounded like an approaching army from the corridor.
Cole nudged her tighter against the wall and stood in front of her. A low snarl resonated in the air around them. Bri knelt, using Cole’s body for partial cover.
The Quytel held the line at the door as Anton snarled, “I’ve learned more about how to defeat you than you can possibly imagine.” The mage’s voice pulsed with triumph.
“Using my daughter to do it,” Jonah growled, following his statement with a blast of darkened magic that Anton blocked with effort, shifting his weight to one side.
His men tensed, and the mage held up a hand, positioning himself closer to the globe.
“Go ahead,” Jonah taunted and Bri could almost taste the disdain in his voice, another weapon.
Anton faltered under the scrutiny of his oldest enemy. “Your time, the time of the
Quytel, is coming to an end,” he boomed with a sinister blend of fanatical conviction and menace. His hand dropped, signaling his men. “You should have joined me when you had the chance.”
Jonah’s harsh laugh echoed off the chamber walls, growing in volume, rising above the shuffle of Anton’s guards behind them.
Commander and Warriors leapt to action in a coordinated attack.
Suddenly everywhere, they moved with incredible force, their forms blurring as they dealt deadly blows to several of the guards, forcing Anton into defensive action.
Terrifying currents of energy crashed through the chamber, smashing crystals. The cave shuddered.
Rowan appeared to be the wild card, lashing out with brilliant white, taking aim at her father, only to pull back and redirect her fire at the last minute. Her internal war put both sides at risk. Celeste braced, shoulder-to-shoulder with her fellow Warriors, defending the cave from Anton’s soldiers.
Bri’s focus split between Rowan and the globe, a plan taking form. Her mother’s spirit had been linked inextricably to the damned thing. If she could find a way to destroy it, to completely break the connection between Anton’s power source and her mother, they might have a chance to save her.
Slowly, Bri inched away from Cole. He remained completely focused on Jonah and didn’t notice her careful movement along the side wall of the cave. Ash and Darius faced off with the remaining guards at the entrance, while Mack waded through the line. Anyone he touched, fell.
She counted seven still standing.
Jonah gave no quarter, no acknowledgment of the threat, no look of remorse that his family’s lives were at stake.
Anton reached for the globe with one hand, the other outstretched toward the Commander. A purple-white flame shot out of his palm, hitting Jonah square in the chest and throwing him back several feet.
“You cannot defeat me, Jonah!” Anton shouted derisively.
“Jonah!” Bri yelled as he flew across the chamber.
“Now!” She heard Jonah’s voice in her head clearly through her connection to Celeste.
“Bri, join with us now!” Celeste commanded.
Rowan faltered and nearly fell.
“Mother!” Bri heard herself scream.
“Now, Bri!” Celeste gave away her position a second time.
“Oh, the mighty Jonah,” Anton cackled, one hand on the globe and the other powering a steady purple-white stream flowing into his enemy’s chest. Bri wasn’t sure how much more her grandfather could take.
“Hold on to her spirit with everything you have, Bri.” Celeste’s voice rang as they searched for the fading thread of her mother’s essence. As long as they held on to her, a part of her would live and fight.
Bri blindly joined with her sister, and together they reached for the link they had formed with their mother. Souls sparked in recognition, spirits aligning as Cole joined them, strong and stable, providing an anchor for the destruction they would need to contain. Her vision narrowed, shifted—
And suddenly the chamber went quiet, only rays of colored light moving in the air. Bri felt as if she floated, drifting, seeking a target. With what little awareness she had left, she took control of the forces shuddering through her, seeking to annihilate.
Cole’s physical body had suddenly frozen in place, paralyzed, completely vulnerable and exposed. The rest of him turned to pure energy, moving along a thread, his consciousness intact, human and wolf subservient to the earth. The power of the crystal chamber fed him as nothing in his life ever had. Volcanic heat boiling deep beneath the heart of the mountain leapt at his command. The heady rush of it poured into him as he opened up a direct grounding line into its molten core. The earth would absorb, transform, neutralize.
He felt Rowan’s tentative touch, and then the full force of her power flooded him. For an instant, it felt impossible to contain, as though it might split his skin, then she released him back into the body of the wolf.
The cave came back into focus, and the battle raged on around him. His conduit to the core of the mountain remained open, and now he could move. Somehow Bri and Celeste had disrupted Anton’s link with Rowan, and the chamber crackled with electricity and raw power.
“Your daughter has fulfilled her purpose.” Anton’s voice rang with a chilling finality as Rowan crumpled to the ground in a heap, unmoving.
Rowan’s energy pulse was barely there. Cole shifted his stance to hide Bri from the view of her mother, just as Jonah staggered.
Cole turned to defend the Commander, but Jonah managed to erect some sort of shield that diverted the stream of purple-white flowing from the mage’s outstretched palm.
Anton’s remaining men redoubled their offensive as another wave rushed in behind them, shoving the Warriors further into the chamber with the force of their blows. Bursts of lightning sparked, creating a lightshow of demolition as projectile shards flew.
“You okay?” Darius called out, mobilizing pieces of crystal and directing them like heat-seeking missiles at the oncoming guards.
Ash stumbled as a blast from one of Anton’s men caught him high on the shoulder.
“Bastard.” Ash staggered, but remained standing. Recovering quickly, he volleyed his own blasts, forcing three of the six fighting him into defensive positions. He was a large man, and despite his carefree façade, a fierce fighter.
Darius stood by his side, stone-faced as they pounded the enemy line. He met each assault with forceful blocks, keeping his opponents off balance.
Ash mercilessly pelted one with ray after ray of greenish-blue flares until he fell. Darius kept up his projectile barrage, holding the others at bay.
Another crumpled at Ash’s feet, bleeding out from his wounds. But Anton’s men were not without their own psychic abilities, erecting shields to protect them from the offensive.
The battle raged between the Commander and the mage, Jonah deflecting Anton’s deadly purple-white stream with powerful punches of his hands.
The Warriors formed a line and seemed to plow through Anton’s men as if they were toy soldiers.
Sudden panic had Cole searching for Bri, and his heart nearly stopped. She was gone. With his heighted sense of smell and sight, the wolf scanned the area desperately, finally spotting her inching along the rear wall toward Anton and the globe, undetected. For now.
Behind him, Anton began to chant. Twisted words, dark and ancient, that brought the globe to life. It flickered wildly with the vibrant color of hundreds of lives. Raw power crackled and formed concentric circles of pulsating light around the smooth surface.
The crystals lining the cave throbbed in unison, picking up the tempo of the globe. Fear made it hard for Cole to breathe as he watched Bri creep closer to the source of Anton’s power. From his position, there was no way to stop her without giving her away.
Jonah raised his arms above his head and his body began to glow, his face thunderous as he turned the full force of his power on Anton. The dark mage’s mask of certainty slipped as he strained to hold the globe under his control.
Then Rowan’s scream rent the air, a bloodcurdling sound quickly drowned out by Anton’s escalating chant. Her body contorted on the floor, going completely taut, vibrating for a few torturous seconds before she collapsed, a ragdoll at the foot of the altar—a heap of pale blue silk and silver hair.
“You cannot win here!” Anton yelled.
With the mage on the defensive and distracted, Cole moved quickly to intercept Bri. She was too close. As if the earth whispered it to him, the pads of his paws revealed her plan. Dangerous. Foolish. She’d destroy the globe, even if it meant her death. He had to reach her before she got anywhere near that globe, or her mother.
Rowan’s crumpled body lay at Anton’s feet. He nudged her with his foot and then kicked her ribs until she lay sprawled
out, spread-eagled on her back.
The action caught Jonah’s attention, and Anton pressed his advantage, laughing maniacally, sending a massive purple stream straight at Jonah’s chest. Though the Commander jerked away in a fast blur, the shot hit him on the shoulder, slamming him into the nearby wall. His body sparked as he collided with the crystals, shards embedded in his back. Jonah dropped to one knee, but his eyes never left Anton’s face.
Crystals shattered above them, another round of jagged projectiles raining down. Cole followed the fighting out of the corner of his eye as he tracked Bri’s path along the curve of the chamber wall.
Anton’s chanting came to an abrupt stop. His head snapped up, black eyes razoring in on Jonah.
“This is the end.” Anton’s voice throbbed with death.
Bri leapt out of the shadows behind him as a surge of energy jumped from the globe to Anton. She shoved the globe hard, nearly knocking it from its stand, but the instant her hands touched its smooth surface, she screamed—a cry of utter anguish.
The acrid smell of burning flesh assailed Cole as pure, raw power welded Bri to the globe. Her body arched violently and her skin glowed. White light shot out of her eyes, nose, and mouth. Her long, golden hair rose up, surrounding her like an aura.
“No!” Anton’s shriek tore through the cavern.
In two bounding strides, Cole crossed the remaining distance. One of his large paws connected with Bri’s lower back. A thousand razorblades slashed his heart and mind, his skin nearly bursting from the inside as the harvesting of so much power, the destruction of so many lives lost, coursed from Bri’s body into his. His soul shook, vibrating with excruciating intensity. His paw burned where it fastened to Bri.
“Cole!” Jonah shouted. “Connect to the earth. Now!”
His mind so shattered he could barely think, Cole obeyed on instinct, reaching for the deep green, solid density of the earth beneath the pads of his paws and all around him. Wave after wave of raw power slammed into the molten center of the mountain, layers of rock and soil rumbling. Stalactites plummeted to the floor, crashing and splintering.
Circle of Dreams (The Quytel Series Book 1) Page 31