The steps wound higher and higher. If I hadn’t been training since Jazz first pulled me onto the Path, I might have gotten winded. It pissed me off that I couldn’t figure out how to attack Quinn without knocking Jazz down the stairs, too.
It seemed like forever, but no time at all when we reached a doorway that led up to the very top of the tower on the Tor. We made it the last few steps, then reached the very top of the Tor, which had only stone walls and no ceiling. Stars dotted the cold sky above us, and I saw the shadow of my crow-brother as he circled around the open battlements. Two of the priests tossed my and Jazz’s swords on the stone floor, next to the entrance we’d just come through. The clang of metal rang through the night.
I glanced longingly at my weapon, but turned to look in front of me at the sound of Jazz’s gasp.
My heart almost stopped dead still.
There they were.
Helden, Sherise, Kella, and Aaron, and five younger boys—little kids I didn’t even know. Bound like Jazz and me in red ropes of magic, they sat on their knees in a large circle, and before each of them were runes scraped into the stone—no, not runes. Each was a sign of the Zodiac. Two empty spaces waited on either side, right around the middle. My gaze swept to the head of the circle—
And landed on Todd.
Relief gripped my heart that he was still alive, and that I was truly seeing him. He looked back at me, tired and haggard, and pasty white, but in his eyes, I saw a fierce flash of hope.
My brother. Finally. My brother.
A stone hung around his neck, blazing, and I could tell it was a bloodstone. His birthstone.
“Todd!” I tried to go to him, but was yanked back by the priest behind me.
Todd gave what looked like a ghostly smile. His words were dry and rusty sounding when he spoke. “What took you so long?”
I didn’t answer because I got knocked across the circle and shoved to my knees behind another zodiac sign—Leo, for my birth month. I looked around me and saw that every zodiac sign was different, probably matching the birthday of the kid or teen kneeling behind it.
The priest carrying Jazz flopped her behind the remaining sign, just a couple over from me, and I frowned. She fought for a moment, but with no weapon and her arms bound, it was easy for the Dana’Kell to get her on her knees.
Quinn strode into the circle and came to a stop in front of Jazz.
She looked up at him with pure hatred on her face.
He reached into his robes and brought out a necklace with a stone on it. In the moonlight and the red glow of our bonds, it looked like an opal, which was the stone of Jazz’s birth month, October. In front of her was the balance symbol for Libra. Jazz tried to lean back, but Quinn jerked her by the hair and slipped the chain over her neck.
The minute Jazz’s stone dropped to her chest and touched her skin, every single stone hanging from every one of our necks began to glow. Faint at first, but then stronger. I could feel mine heating up, and my brain heated up with it.
There were twelve of us now with Jazz. All the symbols, all the stones.
The Witch Circle was complete.
If what I’d read in those books Quinn had taken from me was true, we were in some deep crap. This was oldeMagic, the most powerful ever, and we were right in the middle of it with no way out.
My sword.
I needed to get to my sword.
A thought nudged the back of my mind. Where was Rol? Had they bound him and left him behind? Had he been killed by the Dana’Kell?
My stone burned against my skin, and I saw a flash of something in my mind. A vision or something. A big shadow? An animal? It felt like it was coming toward us. Was it Rol? Maybe the priests hadn’t caught him. Maybe they didn’t even know he was with us—maybe he’d gotten separated from Jazz before she was captured. A tiny bit of hope, but hope nonetheless.
In the distance, I heard the call of my crow-brother.
Had he found Rol? Was the bird leading Rol to us?
In the middle of the Circle the air shimmered, jarring me from my thoughts. My stone burned even hotter. I was sure it was leaving a mark on my chest. The little kids whimpered louder, and I heard my brother snarling with frustration.
I stared at the moving air, and it started to take shape. Small, hairy, and red. A rotten stench filled the air as the Erlking appeared.
Hatred rose up within me, hot and fierce.
The redheaded little monster gnashed his sharp teeth and pointed a spear tip at each of the crying children. “Shut your traps or feel the cut of metal,” the Erlking growled. “You would make fine meals, each of you!”
At once the littler kids stopped crying but there was a sniffle here and there as they stared up at him with horror on their tear-stained faces.
Fury rocked my core. What had he been doing to them, to scare them into silence so easily? This fury was off the charts, way past ten.
Quinn stepped into the middle of the circle with the Erlking, carrying the books he’d taken from me. One of the books was opened. He glanced at a page as he walked. A Dana’Kell priest moved up behind each member of the Witch Circle. Every priest held a sword or dagger. I could sense the priest behind me, could smell the tang of mint and rosemary, and something far more sinister.
The Erlking gave a nasty smile as he turned and pointed his spear at each of us. “Now that I have all twelve stone-bearers of the Witch Circle,” he said in his hideous voice, “the oldeMagic is complete. With the power of the Tor joined with your powers, this circle will open a passage through time and space.” He whirled on me and brought the point of his spear to my chest. “Now I can bring back the one who should rightfully rule this world. Now I will bring back Nire.”
Chills rolled over me and I couldn’t help swallowing down a lump of fear that crowded my throat. We were bound. There was nothing we could do to stop him.
Nire.
My gut twisted into a hundred knots and I wanted to kill something. Anything. This couldn’t happen. Especially not with me on my knees, watching, useless. Helpless.
But I could tell he wasn’t bluffing. That little freak really was going to do what he threatened.
Beltane.
Light the fires. Nire comes!
He laughed, that horrible laugh that caused me to grind my teeth. “As soon as Nire returns, she will travel from this passage to the new Zodiac sign carved by the Dana’Kell in L.O.S.T. In one attack, she will slay any magical folk not loyal to her.” He grinned and the tip of his spear pierced the skin of my throat. I could feel blood trickling down my neck. The pain was nothing compared to the rage within me. “After L.O.S.T., the Shadowmaster will move on to the other Sanctuaries. After the Sanctuaries, the world. All places, across all times.”
The little wretch laughed again. “Too bad you and the queen never let the klatchKoven witches eat the priests. After all, your own people bred them for that purpose centuries ago.”
That thought took me back a bit, just for a second. The klatchKoven had been bred to kill the Dana’Kell. It made a weird sort of sense. I wished I had let them chow down.
The Erlking moved the spear from my throat and faced Quinn. “You have the books. Speak. What must we do next?”
Quinn frowned. He was looking at the second book now. “According to the ancient text, the stone-bearers must place their hands on their zodiac sign.”
The Erlking stamped his foot like a five year old. “Unbind them. Then quickly tie their wrists together in front of them. They can still touch their symbol with their hands tied.”
A little more hope surged through me as we were all unbound. There was a fraction of a second before my hands were tied with the red ropes of power in front of me, but I knew that there was no way I could take all of them on without my sword. I glanced to where it was lying beside the entrance of the Tor. If only I could get close enough to it. My magic would slice through everyone’s bonds, no problem.
But I couldn’t reach it.
When ever
yone had their hands tied in front of them, Quinn said to the Erlking, “Move from the center of the Witch Circle. Make way for Nire.” He paused and looked directly at me. “But we will leave one belonging of the Shadowmaster that will draw her to us.” With that he set something on the stone floor. I squinted. Something familiar.
Sunglasses?
Then it struck me. They were my mom’s sunglasses. Way back when Jazz first captured me and took me on the Path, I’d lost the truck and her sunglasses had been in it.
The Erlking growled, but moved outside the Circle, as did Quinn. The only thing in the center was that pair of sunglasses. They looked so out of place, but brought back memories that made the back of my eyes ache. My mom—before.
Jazz and I exchanged looks as Quinn said, “Place your hands on your zodiac sign.”
I refused, as did several of the others, but the priests behind them shoved each stone-bearer forward and held kid or teen down with a hand on the back of their necks. I felt pressure on my own back, but I was strong enough to resist and kept watching. As soon as one of the stone-bearer’s hands touched the sign in front of them, the glyphs started to glow with an eerie reddish light.
“Hands on the symbol, King Brenden,” the Erlking’s grating voice rang out as he looked directly at me. “Or I will bleed you slow enough that we can still use your magic before you die.”
Oookay. My mind raced through all the possibilities but I couldn’t come up with anything yet. Everyone else had their hands on their symbol, forced down by a priest. The littler kids were easy, and Todd, Helden, and Sherise looked too weak to fight. Jazz struggled, but two priests subdued her pretty fast. All it took was one hand to the back, and the priest could use his other hand to take the child’s hands and place them on the symbol.
Everyone but me. Everyone but me.
As I hesitated again, a second priest came up beside the one shoving his hand into my back. The second priest grabbed my hands and pressed them flat against the curved arc of the Leo sign. It flared red, completing the Witch Circle. A shock bolted through me so powerful that the priest who held my hands down was flung back with the force of it. I heard thumps and cries.
I tried to remove my hands, but they were fastened to my symbol. Brilliant silver light blazed under my palms, racing around until it returned to me. The moment it did, fire sprang up in front of every stone-bearer, either silver or gold fire. The girls had gold fire in front of them. Todd’s, Aaron’s, and mine were silver and the littler boys had silver, too. Were these boys all my brothers?
The fires shot toward the center of the Circle and joined together.
God, the power flowing through me! It was so intense, like my life force was being drained straight out of me and blasted into the middle of the Circle.
I couldn’t see the sunglasses anymore. All I could see was a silver and gold ball of light. A huge ball that kept growing larger and larger.
My heart hammered. My brain felt like it was spinning, just like that ball of light. Slowly, it took human form. Witch form. Something stepped out of the ball on two legs. The being glowed so brightly I could barely keep my eyes open. The ball of magic power opened and slid to the stone floor, but it stayed intact, revolving around the being’s feet.
I felt all the blood drain from my face. The knots in my gut tied themselves double over again.
It was my mother.
Nire.
She still wore her purple robes, but they were ragged. Her once beautiful blond hair was straggled and unkempt. Her once pretty face was twisted with rage.
And for the slightest of moments, something else was in her gaze. Confusion?
Nire whirled in a circle, purple magic flowing around her, adding to the silver and gold power being torn from us. Her eyes were wide, wild, glazed, and it was as if she couldn’t see us.
“L.O.S.T.” Her snarl came out in a voice rusty with disuse. “I will kill.”
Terror ripped through me.
She whirled again.
And vanished.
The ball of magic exploded.
Our power shot back to each of us. Every stone-bearer was knocked backward, straight into the priest holding him or her down.
Then everything happened in a blur.
My hands still bound before me, I pushed myself to my feet and turned on the priest behind me. He was trying to stand, but I jammed my boot onto his knee and heard the crack of bone.
Rol’s bellow filled the night and I cut my gaze toward the sound just in time to see him bash down the wooden door and barrel into the fray.
Priests tried to grab children, but my crow-brother fell out of the sky and turned into a scratching, flogging bird-machine. The little kids kicked and screamed and wriggled and crawled away from priests despite their hands being bound. Todd was on his feet, a look of rage on his face as he swept his boot out and kicked a priest to his knees.
Jazz planted one foot and then drew up her other leg and shot it out in a mean side kick at Quinn, who had come up behind her. The freak went down like a broken dummy and Rol finished him off with one swing. Quinn’s buddy, the priest who had been holding Jazz down, tried to jump her, but she kicked him senseless before Rol took him out permanently.
Helden and Sherise looked to be holding their own, but then Helden was caught by her arms and dragged backward. She kicked and struggled, never giving up.
Sherise’s training with Rol was going to good use. She did a roundhouse kick, knocking two of the Dana’Kell from their feet before standing and slamming her boot into the thigh of another.
Rol swung his hammer left and right, knocking one priest aside and then another, and then he was battling the Erlking.
It took only a fraction of a moment for my mind to absorb all of this. I bolted to Jazz as she was already coming toward me, obviously of the same mind. We clasped our bound hands and threw all of our power into our grip.
The red ropes of power binding us blazed, then vanished.
She dived for our weapons and tossed my sword to me before she started battling the few priests still standing.
“Let me at that monster,” I snarled behind Rol who’d just swung his hammer at the Erlking’s sword and barely deflected it.
“My pleasure,” Rol roared.
I leaped in front of the big guy, swinging my sword at the red freak. Our swords clanged and for a moment, we locked into place.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw the little kids huddling against a back wall, my crow-brother keeping protective watch, hopping shoulder to shoulder. Jazz had obviously unbound all their hands.
The Erlking’s daughters materialized and started shrieking so loud my ears wanted to slam shut. They charged me, but Jazz cut them all off, whirling and jabbing and laughing in a way that would have scared me if I hadn’t been laughing just like her. “I’ve been waiting for you!” she screamed at the Enchantresses as Sherise joined her and tossed her a second sword.
The Enchantresses stopped shrieking and started screaming.
I shoved the Erlking away from me.
We attacked at the same time.
I parried and then thrust my sword straight for his belly.
He deflected my blow.
I tried again, and this time he set up some kind of magical shield. He started to glow redder than his hair, and my blade bounced off of him. I almost dropped it.
Snarling, I steadied myself and stabbed at him again. The tip of my blade touched the magic and jerked back, shocking me.
OldeMagic?
The Erlking let loose with that grating laugh. “It’s hopeless, boy. I’m too old for a babe like you to kill. I’m off to join Nire, just as soon as I run you through.”
He jumped toward me, but I leaped to the side. The edge of his magical barrier shocked my left hand, and the spots where my missing fingers had been seared with pain.
I cursed and glanced at Jazz. She was still busy with the Enchantresses. Helden had one down too, yelling at the creature in both English
and German.
Rol saw what was happening to me and swung his hammer at the Erlking’s legs to take him down. The hammer struck the little freak’s magic—and the hammer shattered into a thousand pieces.
Rol stumbled back, holding his arm and bellowing with agony.
The Erlking drove his blade toward my head.
I knocked it away and the magical shock numbed my arm. I barely kept hold of my sword, and I didn’t know how I would swing it again.
I was going to die here, and let the hags down. Let Jazz down. L.O.S.T. Everybody.
He tried for my neck this time, and I managed to parry with the hilt of my blade. My teeth clicked together from the draining shock of his magic.
Near miss. Close enough to nick the skin. This time, the pain doubled my anger—and my resolve. OldeMagic or not, this murderer was going down. I’d bring him to justice for Acaw and Dralz if it was the last thing I ever did.
“Elf-murderer,” I whispered. “Hag-murderer. Child killer.”
Silver power lit up my skin, and I let my rage feed it, let it flow and grow until I had my own sort of armor. From somewhere came the sound of hissing, like an army of snakes right behind me.
Shadowalker, they hissed. Ssssshhhhaadowalker…
The Erlking’s face clouded for a moment, as if he heard the hissing.
From the comer of my eye, I saw Todd approaching with my crow-brother on his shoulder, and Aaron, and the five little boys who had silver fire in the Witch Circle. As they got close to me, strands of silvery magic snaked outward from their hands and joined with the glow on my skin. I felt my strength surge, and knew the truth.
They were all my brothers, and they were helping me.
The Erlking didn’t seem to notice. He pointed at the hot fluid dripping onto my neck and cackled.
“First blood,” he shouted as he drove his sword toward my head again.
“Yeah. And last.” I dodged the thrust, feinted.
Drawn off balance by my feint, he stumbled. My magic shield slammed into his with a loud crack. He lost his footing.
Before he regained his balance, my sword was already up and swinging in a huge arc.
L.O.S.T. Trilogy Box Set Page 63