The Armor of Light

by Karen E. Hoover

  And then it was her turn. Stripping, she walked naked to the pool and stepped into its depths. It was cold, but she relished it. She needed the cold. It was part punishment and part wake-up, but whatever it was, it was the first thing to bring her any sense of comfort since she’d first seen Jihong.

  She wondered what happened to the water horses, but couldn’t summon the energy to care. Instead, she dipped herself beneath the water and scrubbed away the blood from the back of her neck, then rinsed the sweat from her hair and her body.

  Once finished and shivering from the cold, she climbed from the water and walked to the fire. She couldn’t bear to put her dirty clothes back on, and wanted to save her clean dress for the actual act of creating the casket and returning to the village. She put on her night clothes instead and sat staring into the fire that had once again died down to embers.

  The flute lay next to Brant and pulsed with a soft glow. She wondered what that meant. Was it stealing memories from what remained of his mind? Was it charging? Was it Brant’s spirit that made it pulse?

  She didn’t know. Perhaps now that Brant was part of the flute, he would be able to explain it to her at some point.

  It was strange how her mind could wander over such meaningless things when she felt so empty and cold. It was as if some giant scoop had come along and hollowed her out. She was a husk. A shell. Empty.

  “What be happening here, lass?” a familiar voice called from the darkness.

  Kayla froze. Niefusu. When he saw Jihong, there was no predicting what he would do. She stood slowly and turned toward him, then began to walk without saying a word.

  “Kayla?” He didn’t sound angry. Evidently he hadn’t found his brother yet.

  Kayla was still lost in shock, but she knew enough she had to reach him before he saw Jihong. She had to explain, or she could very well find herself joining Brant in death.

  Niefusu must have seen something about her that wasn’t right, for he stepped out of the trees and into the light, not realizing that his brother was frozen to a tree directly to his right.

  “Kaya, lass, tell me what be wrong!” he begged.

  “Brant,” she somehow choked out and watched Niefusu’s eyes darken. She knew she had to continue. She had to explain. “Brant is dead.” At the words, she broke into sobs, and Niefusu was instantly there, trying to take her into his arms, but she backed away. “No! I have to tell you everything. I doubt very much you’ll want anything to do with me after you hear what I have to say.” She stoked up the flame a third time and chose her seat carefully, knowing Niefusu would want to face her, and she wanted his back toward Jihong.

  It worked perfectly. He sat pointing away from his frozen brother. Kayla heard a soft neigh and looked to the pool where she had bathed. The water horses were back. Somehow, it brought her some small measure of comfort and relief, knowing they were okay.

  “Tell me what happened,” Niefusu said. There was no arguing with his tone, and Kayla didn’t want to anyway. She had to tell him what she had done, though the realization sickened her. She had taken a human life, deserved or not.

  “Brant is dead,” she repeated, then proceeded to tell him about the entire experience. She was honest about it all.

  “I’m sorry, Niefusu. I never wanted this. I lost control, and now Brant is dead, and I killed Jihong. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry!” she sobbed, burying her face in her hands once again.

  Niefusu was quiet for quite some time before he asked, “Where is he?”

  Without raising her head, she pointed behind him to the tree where Jihong was imprisoned. She heard Niefusu get up and walk over to his brother. Again, there was silence for much too long. She expected him to turn and kill her at any moment, but there was nothing. Instead, he whistled. Not the appreciative kind of whistle a man gives a beautiful woman, but a calling whistle.

  The water horses came, and Kayla lifted her head. She watched as they trotted over to Niefusu and stood awaiting his direction. Without facing her, the MerCat spoke. “Can you release him?”

  She understood what he was asking, but she didn’t know. She wasn’t sure if the flute was charged enough to melt the ice from the tree. “I can try.” She stood and retrieved the flute from near Brant’s body. Her hand brushed against his and she shivered. His skin was chilled.

  Kayla tried to put it out of her mind and raised the flute to her lips, trying to focus her thoughts on releasing Jihong from the tree without thawing the ice that surrounded him.

  A crack sounded across the glade and Jihong fell into his brother’s arms, still completely encased. The flute’s light dimmed and Kayla set it back down next to Brant, where the pulsing light continued to build again.

  “That’s all the flute can do,” she said. “I used too much of its power fighting Jihong. That’s why it couldn’t save Brant.” Niefusu still hadn’t turned, so she addressed his back. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to take him home,” he said, pain filling his voice. “I don’t know if he is dead or alive frozen in this ice, but either way, he needs to go home. If dead, to be buried. If alive, to face trial and justice for his actions.” He was quiet a moment before continuing. “You were right, Kayla. Yer actions were just and defensive. But Jihong still be me brother, and I cannot easily forgive this harm to him, justified or not.” Niefusu clucked his tongue to the two horses, then said something to them that she didn’t hear. The water horses sidestepped into one another, their watery forms merging until where two horses had stood, one giant steed took their place.

  Niefusu took Jihong and pressed his frozen body into the animal so that he floated inside its belly. It was very strange to see, but it made sense that it would be the easiest way to carry him.

  Niefusu climbed the nearest tree and lowered himself to the huge water steed’s back, then turned to Kayla. “Farewell, lass. If I see ye again, I shall reconsider me feelings, but if not, know that I do not hate ye. I am angered, yes, but just as much at me brother as at ye. Ye were in the right. I pray that we meet again.” And with those words, he clicked his tongue again and the water steed rode off into the darkness, leaving Kayla alone with the body of her dead fiancé and a depleted flute.

  Knowing she would never be able to sleep that night, Kayla was determined to greet the sun. She sat back by the fire, put her head in her hands, and planned the music to create Brant’s casket. And in the back of her mind, she wondered how she would ever tell his mother.

  Chapter Thirty

  C’Tan paced her room, waiting for Kardon to arrive so they could go do their master’s will. The hour she had set for their departure had long since passed, and her anger grew with every minute. She wished the man would just hurry up and looked forward to punishing him for his tardiness—but that didn’t help the fact that she was itching to leave now.

  Impatient and desperate for something to do, she went to the scrying bowl and contacted her servant Magnet. She watched him laughing in bed with his partner Seer for a moment before she sent streaks of pain to them both to get their attention. They immediately stiffened and turned toward the bowl over which she knew the projection of her head floated. Magnet scrambled off the bed and knelt before her. Seer did the same, though much more slowly, and with a sneer C’Tan was determined to wipe from her face one of these days. She ignored the woman, knowing Kardon could come at any time. She wanted to take care of this quickly.

  “Report, Magnet. What is your progress with Ember Shandae?”

  Magnet glanced up at her, then let his head hang, the silence between them terse for a long moment before he muttered, “She is gone, Mistress. We have lost the girl, and know not where she is.”

  “What?” C’Tan snarled. “How can that be? You are in a closed system in those caves. There is nowhere for her to go. She can’t be far. Have you tried tracking her?” She began to pace again.

  “Yes, Mistress. The tracking leads us to blank walls. We cannot find her.” Magnet shifted uneasily.

&
nbsp; C’Tan turned and sent pain through the scrying stones once more. When he and the woman stopped writhing, she asked, “Have you spoken to Shadow? Does she know where Ember has gone?”

  “No, Mistress, not as of yet,” he said sullenly.

  She was tempted to kill them both right then, but decided on a better course of action. “Give me your body,” she demanded.

  He looked at her as if she were dense.

  C’Tan growled. “Loan me your body. I wish to speak to my daughter, and this requires more than a scrying stone. I must do it in person. I’ll use yours.”

  He looked fearful now. Good. That was much more acceptable than the resentful answers he’d been giving her lately. This woman he had partnered with was not good for him. C’Tan determined to be rid of her soon—she was corrupting C’Tan’s servants. The irony of that thought was not lost on her and she chuckled as she entered Magnet’s body and shrugged her shoulders back.

  “Ah, that’s better,” she said through his mouth, then, dressing him in only a robe, she strode out of his rooms and headed toward Lily’s room.

  The halls were mostly empty at this hour, so she ran across no one, unfortunately. She would have liked to further humiliate her servant for his failure, but having to share his body with her was humiliation enough for the moment. The woman, Seer, followed behind, seemingly confused and angry at Magnet’s behavior and C’Tan’s touch upon him.

  When they reached Lily’s room, she strode through the curtain as if it weren’t even there and looked around the darkened space. Her daughter was asleep on her bed. C’Tan forced Magnet’s body to stride over to the bed and shake her roughly.

  Lily sat up with a start, her eyes fearful at the sight of Magnet there. She glanced behind his body to Seer, then back to Magnet. “What do you need?” At least her fear did not show in her voice. C’Tan was proud of that in her daughter. She didn’t say anything to let the girl think she was anything other than what she saw.

  “Where is Ember? You were supposed to keep a close eye on her,” Magnet’s voice asked.

  Lily shrugged. “I don’t know. She ran out of the dining room when you two came in and I haven’t seen her since. I thought you caught her.”

  C’Tan felt Magnet’s anger burn and let it fuel her. “So you’ve wasted all this time in bed, waiting for her to come back, instead of going out to search for her? Haven’t I taught you better than that, Lily? Hasn’t your mother?”

  Lily turned red and glanced at Seer again, and C’Tan realized her mistake. They had mostly been anonymous to one another until now. She had just given away her daughter’s identity. She cursed her stupidity, but what was done was done.

  Lily threw herself off her bed and stood up to them, just inches below her father. “Yes, that’s exactly what I did, Rahdnee and Brendae. You saw her last and you never came to me. What else was I supposed to do? At least I’ve kept you notified when things happen. Nobody has bothered to return that favor, though I thought C’Tan told us to work together. And where has Ian been in all this? I haven’t seen him trying very hard. Have you?”

  C’Tan couldn’t help herself. She pulled back and slapped the girl hard across the mouth, drawing blood. Lily used her fist to wipe it away and fought the tears that sprang into her eyes. “At least I’ve done my part,” she said as if nothing had happened, despite the blood still trailing down her chin where her lip had split open.

  Magnet leaned in until he was almost nose to nose with Lily, with C’Tan pushing him closer still, though he fought her. “Find her, Lily. Get her back here and do your job,” he said. Then C’Tan forced his body to turn and storm out of Lily’s room and back toward his own.

  Kardon chose that moment to knock on her door, so C’Tan abandoned Magnet’s body, knowing it would force him to collapse in the hallway, but she didn’t care. Her use for these two had just about been spent, and she had another job to do.

  Once back in her own body, she strode across the room and opened the door to Kardon, who waited in his riding leathers, unrepentant at his tardiness. C’Tan thought of punishing him then, but she’d just spent most of her anger on Rahdnee and Lily. She thought she’d let it pass this once.

  She pulled the door to her room shut behind her, and together they headed up the long spiral of stairs to the dragon aerie. They had a purpose, a task to do S’Kotos’ bidding and destroy the mage academy at last.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Ember stretched and yawned, awakening slowly. C’Tan had plagued her dreams all night long. First she had been scarred and without any hair, but then she was beautiful, in a terrifying way, with long golden locks and eyes as cold as a midwinter freeze.

  For once, C’Tan hadn’t done anything in her dreams. She’d just watched, as if she could see Ember from wherever she was. It was haunting, the way she’d looked at her and examined her, as if the woman were actually two people battling for control. The scarred and terrifying woman was angry and hated Ember. It radiated off her in waves that were nearly palpable. The blonde woman was softer, even with the cold eyes, and seemed to want something from Ember she could never provide. All in all, it had not been a restful night, despite the comfortable bed and warm blankets.

  Ember sat up and swung her legs over the side, her feet barely brushing the cool, crystalline floor. She looked around her, the colored bands of magestone shining with their own inner light. It was a wonder no one had found this place sooner. It wasn’t far off the paths that were already beaten through the mountain. A few feet in this direction would have made the transparent room visible to the pathway.

  Obviously someone had been protecting it for all these years. People knew it was here—they just didn’t know where. Even Ezeker had spoken of it. It was like a whispered secret, something everybody knew but nobody believed, and yet here she was, waking up surrounded by the very crystal that formed the keystones to the net of magic.

  Ember yawned again, smacking her lips together, and became very aware of just how badly she needed to brush her teeth—and bathe. She had definitely surpassed the “Overly ripe” category and now ran toward just plain stinky, despite her bath the day before. The frequent shape shifting and battling with the Shadow Weaver had made another bath not just appealing, but absolutely necessary.

  Once again, Mahal was nowhere to be found. Ember didn’t dare try the public baths. There were too many people who would recognize her, and she was sure there were a lot of people looking for her with questions she couldn’t answer. She ran her hand through her tangled hair and sighed. She couldn’t hide forever. Eventually, she would face the fact that she had stolen a prisoner and he had escaped. She would deal with DeMunth and Ezeker and Aldarin and everyone else, including the students who kept staring at her.

  A small glow of relief started in her stomach. At least now she knew she wasn’t useless. She had a teacher, even if his teaching did consist of putting her in dangerous situations more often than not. She still had no idea how she was supposed to heal a world, but now she knew it wasn’t hopeless.

  With that thought, Ember made up her mind. She would hide long enough to bathe and make herself look decent, but she would face whatever consequences were necessary today. There was no point in putting it off, and with DeMunth as upset as she’d seen him at the prison, she could only imagine how upset her mother must be with her disappearance.

  Ember put her hands on her face and molded it to look like someone different. Lily’s face came to mind, and she was suddenly curious about the girl. What had made her so untrusting of others? Of course it had something to do with being raised by Rahdnee and having C’Tan for a mother, but what had they done to her exactly? What kind of pain had they put her through?

  Without consciously realizing what she was doing, Ember made herself look like her roommate, the girl she now knew was family. When she realized what she had done, she almost changed her face to that she’d worn the night before and lost in the constant switching between human and wolf, but then thought b
etter of it. Lily was one of those people others avoided for some reason, which is just what Ember wanted. Why not leave it the way it was?

  That settled, Ember kept Lily’s face and moved through the stone again. She found the pathway that led to the portals and eventually the baths. There were a few people swimming in the large pool, but not enough for Ember to be worried, though she did pause for a moment when she realized she had no soap or toothbrush. She talked to the bath girl and managed to finagle a toothbrush, toothpowder, and some soap, along with a change of clothes.

  Once free of the nameless bath girl, Ember undressed, tossing her ruined clothing into the chute that evidently led to the wash and repair room, then she slid into the warm water and sank below the surface. The water was invigorating. She swam a couple of lengths, going from cool edges to overly hot near the falls, but she didn’t care. She needed a moment to not think, not feel anything emotionally, and moving her body had always been therapeutic that way. After a while, she stopped swimming long enough to climb the stone steps to the falls and wash her hair. It took two rounds of washing and rinsing before she felt clean again and leaped from the ledge into the water.

  When she surfaced, there was a woman next to her. Startled, Ember turned and began to swim away, but the woman grabbed her ankle and pulled her back. Ember’s head went under the water, and she came up spluttering. She was about to yell at the woman when she realized who it was.

  Brendae. Ember froze as she recognized the guard who’d been following her. The woman grabbed her arm, leaned in close, and spoke quietly in Ember’s ear, the same words she’d heard earlier the day Markis sent his thoughts to Lily. “I know who you are,” Brendae whispered. Ember’s heart banged against her chest. Could the woman see through the shifting features, like Aldarin and DeMunth could? That thought was quickly dispelled with her next words. “I knew you were his daughter, and after last night, it became rather obvious, don’t you think?”