Eric glowered at me. “Don’t pull that shit on me. You think I’m not risking my neck here? Forget about whatever is waiting down there for us; I’m pissing off my entire Order by taking an active role in this. The last thing I need right now is you playing the whiny bitch victim.”
“Both of you shut up,” snapped Bloedermeyer. “You’re both behaving like petulant children right now. We have to keep moving. Nicola is down here somewhere, I can feel it. I still don’t know if I believe you about magic being real, but it’s as though I can see her. She’s down here somewhere, waiting for me. We must continue on.”
“What do you mean you can see her?” I asked. “Like, literally? You have a vision of her in this cave somewhere?”
Bloedermeyer nodded. “It’s so real. I can’t seem to think of anything else. She’s unconscious and tied up, but she is still alive. Please, we must hurry!”
I didn’t voice my fear that the Protector was trying to drive Bloedermeyer right into its hands. It hadn’t seemed intent on going directly for him before, but now that we’d brought him directly to the things doorstep, it must have sensed an opportunity it couldn’t resist.
“Can you lead us the rest of the way?” I asked.
“I think so,” he said. “I believe we’re not far now.”
We continued down a wide stretch of the cave until we came across an underground river system. It was slow moving and not that deep, so we waded through it and climbed up out the other side.
“At least it’s warmer in here than it is outside,” Eric said. He seemed to be making a conscious effort to check his anger. His words were evenly paced and methodically delivered. “Have you noticed that? Once you get away from the entrance, most caves stay at a pretty constant temperature year round. It’s hot in here, though. Like we’re getting close to some sort of natural vent.”
“I don’t think Nathan was lying about that,” I said. “I think he built his lie about hot springs around a kernel of truth so I’d have a better chance of believing him. If there really is some kind of fissure down here, it would explain both the heat and how the Black Fog has been escaping the Protector’s prison.”
Bloedermeyer stopped, lifting his hand in a gesture for us to halt as well. He waited until we were right beside him, then leaned over to whisper, “this is it. Nicola is around this corner, but I don’t think she’s alone.”
“He’s not wrong,” Nathan said, his voice echoing around the corner. “But I think you knew that already. You three might as well come on in.”
We turned the corner and emerged into a large cavern. It was about the size of Bloedermeyer’s chalet, and the temperature surged several more degrees the minute we stepped inside. The source of the heat was a small rift in the ground at the back of the cavern. Sulfurous steam drifted lazily from the opening, assaulting our nostrils with the noxious scent.
“Where’s Nicola?” I asked.
“She’s still alive,” said Nathan. “For the time being, anyway. See for yourself.”
He pointed to a stalagmite next to the fissure. Nicola’s unconscious body lay unmoving, her hands and ankles bound together behind her back. I could barely make out the rise and fall of her chest, only the slightest indication she was still breathing.
“What do you hope to accomplish here?” asked Bloedermeyer. “Killing my daughter won’t change anything. Alex told me all about this nonsense of ancient beings and sacrifice, but you must be insane if you believe that. Let Nicola go, and maybe we can find a way to look past this. It doesn’t have to end this way.”
Nathan laughed. “You still don’t believe?”
He lifted his arm, and I saw a flash of silver in his palm that meant he was holding some kind of charm or artifact. He spoke a word of power, releasing a bolt of yellow energy that shot towards my face.
I threw a barrier up just in time. The shield deflected the energy up into the ceiling where it smashed into the roof of the cave. A stalactite dislodged and came crashing to the ground where it shattered to pieces. Eric and Bloedermeyer dove out of the way, but not before being peppered with fragments of rocky shrapnel.
“I hope you won’t take that personally,” Nathan said. “It was for demonstration purposes only. If there was any other way to end this, I’d take it. I know how to seal the darkness away forever, but it must be done with blood.”
“Nicola’s blood?” I asked. “Or will anyone do?”
Before he could reply, he was distracted by Bloedermeyer crawling towards Nicola.
“Are you volunteering?” Nathan’s lips curved into a twisted smile.
“I was thinking maybe you could volunteer as tribute,” I told him.
“Not so fast, old man,” Nathan said, striding over to intercept Bloedermeyer.
Nathan crouched down and grabbed Bloedermeyer by the hair. He pulled the man’s head back, forcing him up to his knees.
“You’re the reason we’re in this mess in the first place,” Nathan said. “It should really be you down there. I’ve already begun my preparations, though. The girl will do well enough.”
Magic surged to my fingertips. I dropped my shield and fired a bolt of kinetic energy at Nathan’s chest. It knocked him backwards a step, but had only a fraction of the effect I’d anticipated. A blast like that should have sent him flying clear across the cavern. Instead it had only seemed to annoy him.
“I don’t know how you found your way out of the woods,” Nathan said, teeth gritted in anger, “but I prepared just in case.”
He grabbed the front of his shirt, buttons popping free when he tore it open. A tattoo so fresh it still was a scabby mess of blood and swelling dominated his entire torso. I didn’t recognize the symbols, but I understood the concept clearly enough.
“I’m sure you could hurt me if you really tried,” he said. “But if you think about it, you know I’m right. Someone needs to die today. Without the proper rituals, you don’t stand a chance of locking this thing away. I am the only one who can save us. Killing me will only doom you all.”
“I refuse to accept that,” I said.
Rising to my feet, I flung another bolt of energy at his chest. It hit him on the shoulder, turning him sideways before the next blast caught him on the other side. He resisted my attacks but was still forced to stagger backwards beneath the weight of the energy I was flinging at him. I launched bolt after bolt of energy, stalking towards him after each successive blast. If I could just drive him back far enough, I wouldn’t have to break through the protection of his tattoo spell. He might be warded against magic, but I doubted he’d survive a tumble into the fissure.
Nathan began muttering in a language I didn’t understand. Too late, I realized I’d walk right into a trap. The ground beneath my feet began to glow, and I felt my energy drain from my limbs. I collapsed, unable to do more than simply gasp for breath.
“I told you I came prepared,” Nathan said. “What do you think I’ve been doing all morning? Once the ritual has begun, I can’t allow myself to be interrupted. If you three are all here, I can assume no one else will be joining us?”
“No one knows we’re here,” said Eric. He had his hand to his temple, blood running down the side of his face. “Bloedermeyer is right though. Whatever the Protector has led you to believe is wrong. You can’t allow yourself to be controlled this way. Don’t you see it’s using you to get what it wants? Sacrificing Nicola will release it, not lock it away again.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Nathan spat. “As Lorekeeper for these lands, I know this better than anyone. I also know the ancient ways of placating evil like this. If I give it what it wants, I can use the opportunity to seal it away forever. Once the weaving is bound to Nicola, she’ll deliver it straight into the Protector’s hands. It won’t know what hit it.”
Nathan walked over to Bloedermeyer, grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket, and dragged him over to where Eric sat too dazed to react. Nathan stood over them, placing his hands together in the shape of a bo
wl and murmuring a spell that enveloped the two, silencing them and binding them in place.
He then went over to Nicola’s body and began untying her. He slapped her hard across the face to wake her up.
“Nathan?” She asked. “Where are we? What are we doing here?”
“I’m going to need your help now, okay?” he asked, his voice soft and kind. “I think I figured out how to save your father, but I’m going to need you to cooperate with me, even though it may be a little scary.”
I tried to cry out a warning, but I couldn’t make a sound.
The more I struggled, the tighter the binding wrapped around me. Through my mage sight, I could make out a finely woven magical mesh covering me from head to toe. It sapped my strength and absorbed any noise I made. I could have shrieked at the top of my lungs, and not so much as a whisper would escape. Clearly, Nathan had been hiding more than a few things from me. He’d never mentioned anything about being able to use magic this way, so I hadn’t thought to anticipate it. Chalk that up as another lesson learned the hard way — if I managed to get myself out of this situation.
Nathan seemed to have put Nicola into a sort of trance. Still dressed in the leather pants and flimsy blouse she’d been wearing at the bar, her skin was marked in several places with sigils drawn from a red paste Nathan scooped from a small wooden bowl. His lips never stopped moving, murmuring words in a singsong voice while he applied the final markings to her forehead and cheeks.
“That’s good,” he told her. “You’re being very brave right now. Soon we’ll be done. Then you won’t have to worry anymore.”
Nicola’s eyes were glazed over and dull. I didn’t know how much she understood of what was happening to her, but I knew her time was almost up. Nathan stepped away from her and began chanting. His voice rose and echoed throughout the cavern.
I struggled against my bonds to no avail. I was so weak I could barely manage to summon a little burst of energy that I sent radiating out from my body. Rather than break through the mesh, it was deflected back on me. I cried out soundlessly, writhing in pain from my self-inflicted injuries.
All I could do was watch helplessly. Eric and Bloedermeyer were incapacitated, with no talents of their own to save them. I didn’t know what Nathan had planned for us once he was done, and I began to worry he wouldn’t want witnesses to what he was about to do next. If I let him succeed, it was only a matter of time before it occurred to him that he couldn’t leave us alive.
Too tired to hold my head up, I lay my cheek on the cold stone floor of the cave. I thought back to my night in the woods, the radiant energy I’d drawn from the mysterious snow-white owl. If only that owl was here now. If I could draw strength from it, just maybe I could figure out how to slip my bonds.
Could that be the answer?
I had no idea how to summon the owl, but by now I was pretty sure it was looking out for me. It had shown up during my darkest hour last night. For all I knew, it was out there looking for me at this very moment. If this area was as volatile and confusing as Eric had said, maybe the owl didn’t know where to find me. The same thing that had shielded Nicola from my location spell might be hiding me from the owl’s senses.
If that was the case, maybe I could send out a flare. I still had a considerable amount of magic to draw from, but this was a job for subtlety over brute force. I formed the thinnest thread of magic through the fiber of my containment spell. Similar to how I’d dumped magic into the hot spring before Nathan had shoved me in, I projected raw energy into a small and invisible bubble. Instead of letting it fly free, I willed it towards the opening of the cave. As I’d hoped, the draft from the vent in the floor caught my energy and dragged it towards the cavern’s exit.
Near the chasm, Nathan continued his chanting. I had no idea what he was saying, but he was clearly approaching a crescendo. He had Nicola on her feet now. She swayed back and forth like a snake being charmed. Nathan took her hand and turned her to face the opening in the ground. She took one tentative step forward, body still resisting whatever Nathan was attempting to do to her. Showing the tiniest flash of her natural feisty spirit, she managed to shuffle back a step before Nathan yanked her forward again.
Cool air washed over my face. I looked away from Nathan and Nicola just in time to take in such a welcome sight I actually felt hot tears spill from the corners of my eyes. The owl swooped into the cave and landed inches away from me, its snowy-white feathers so bright in the gloom that it seemed to glow with its own radiant light. It cocked its head as if to ask how I’d managed to get myself into this mess, then uttered a quiet hoot before hopping closer. It beat its wings over me, easily dismantling Nathan’s trap with a brush of its feathers.
Free now, I staggered to my feet. As had happened the night before, fresh energy rushed into my body, overwhelming me with the brilliance of it. Once again, the owl had saved me.
Before I could do anything, the owl lifted off from the ground. One powerful beat of its wings generated more than enough momentum for it to launch itself directly at Nathan.
Nathan turned at the sound, a look of horror in his eyes when he saw what was flying towards him. He threw a hand up to protect his face, catching the owl’s claws across his forearm. Already staggering and off balance, he was completely unprepared for the kinetic blast I fired at his chest. Standing so close to the edge, his foot found nothing but empty space when he stumbled back towards the chasm.
Without thinking, I lashed out again. This time I focused my will into a lasso-like whip of energy, wrapping it around Nathan’s ankle in the split second before it disappeared from sight. The magic lasso pulled tight, throwing me forward onto my knees and dragging me towards the opening. I kicked and clawed as I was dragged forward. Nathan was considerably heavier than I was, and his weight was too much for me to hold on my own. Using my free hand, I fired a continuous blast of kinetic energy at the opposite wall of the fissure in an attempt to slow myself.
I was pulled all the way to the edge of the opening before I managed to stop myself. Arm feeling like it was about to be pulled from its socket, I channeled energy into the support beam I’d built myself in order to keep from plunging in after Nathan.
“Let me die!” Nathan shouted from where he dangled upside down. His voice cracked like he was on the verge of sobbing. “I can’t live with the pain in my head anymore, Alex. If you won’t do what needs to be done to stop this evil from escaping, just let me die so I don’t have to suffer any longer!”
“It doesn’t have to end like this,” I shouted down to him. “Release the compulsion on the others so they can help me pull you up. If we work together, we can stop this thing!”
“It’s too late now.” Nathan’s voice was quieter now. His body hung limp, and he’d stopped thrashing against my spell. “I’ve gone against everything my great-grandfather tried to teach me to be. I was too weak. I deserve this death.”
Exhausted from the steady stream of energy I was pouring into the wall across from me, I faltered and slid forward several inches. My shoulders and chest cleared the lip of the fissure, and I was just about the sever my connection to Nathan when I felt the weight of something heavy land on my back.
“Hold on,” Eric said from above me. “If you’re sure you want to save him, we can pull you both up.”
Eric and Bloedermeyer took hold of my legs and began pulling me back from the edge. I felt like I was being torn in half, but once my arm was clear of the fissure, I was able to use the two men as anchors to begin reeling in my lasso spell. Nathan strained the limit of how much weight I could levitate. Even forming the spell into something of a cradle around him, I felt my body shake from the effort of lifting him back to the surface.
I cut the connection the second Nathan was over the lip. He rolled onto his side, his face a rictus of agony. It was difficult to make out exactly what he was saying, but I caught mumbled whimpers that sounded like he was pleading for us to make it stop. The Black Fog must have had its claws su
nk pretty deep into his psyche to be tearing him up like this.
Satisfied Nathan was too out of it to roll himself back into the fissure, I stumbled over to where Nicola sat with her father. He held her in his arms, repeating her name over and over while squeezing her hand. She stared blankly throughout all of it, not seeming to have any idea how close she’d come to pitching headfirst to her death only minutes ago.
“She’s under a compulsion,” I told Bloedermeyer. “Nathan set something in motion, and there’s nothing we can do until we either kill him or stop this evil being from escaping its prison.”
“Then toss him over the fucking edge!” Bloedermeyer snapped.
“That won’t solve our bigger problem,” I told him as calmly as I could manage. I wasn’t entirely sure why I’d saved Nathan after everything he’d done in the last twenty-four hours, but I knew I wasn’t ready to let him die. “We’ll still have to stop the dark force that’s bleeding out into the world.”
“Speaking of which,” Eric said. “Any idea how we’re going to do that?”
“I was hoping you’d have a suggestion,” I told him.
Eric just shook his head.
I glanced to where the owl sat atop a stalagmite. It stared deep into my soul, and my heart tore when I realized what was about to happen. I still had no idea what this owl was, but even without my mage sight active, I saw it shimmer with pure white light that flared so brightly it was almost blinding. The owl’s light restored me both mentally and physically. I glanced at the others, and the way they squinted and slightly averted their eyes told me they also saw the owl’s supernatural brilliance.
“Thank you,” I told the owl. “I don’t know what you are, but thank you for everything.”
The owl looked at Nicola, her father, and Eric in turn. It bobbed its head once, then dropped from its perch to glide gracefully into the opening of the fissure. I watched it spiral lazily until it vanished from sight.
Black Ice (Black Records Book 3) Page 23