by Elise Kova
“I-I do.”
“So you know that justice will fall to you.” Egmun took another step forward. “It was your mother’s last request to your father to spare you these duties as long as possible.”
Vi didn’t recall Fiera ever making any such request. If anything, the duty-bound woman Vi had known would’ve wanted her son to grow up entrenched in politics, learning from them, and becoming cunning enough to stay alive.
“My mother?” Aldrik asked with such hope, Vi’s heart ached.
The mother she’d taken from him. Had Fiera lived, perhaps Aldrik would’ve never sought out his father’s attention to the point of resorting to crystals. But, had he not, he would’ve never come here, and the world would’ve been a failure.
Everything connected in ways that not even Vi could always see. Which was as thrilling as it was dangerous.
“But you will soon be a man, won’t you?”
“I will.”
“It is rather unfair, no? For your father to be treating you like a child?” Ah, so that was Egmun’s game. Vi’s nails dug into the crystal at her side. Egmun was using the young man’s desire to prove himself against him. “Are you prepared to be the crown prince this realm needs?”
“I am.” Even though it was positively frigid in the Caverns, sweat dotted Aldrik’s brow.
“Then, my prince, for justice, for the strength of Solaris, for the future of your Empire, slay this man.” Egmun dropped to a knee and freed the sword from where he’d tied it to his belt. He offered the crystal weapon to the prince.
“But…”
“This man has stolen from your family; it is a treasonous crime. He is not innocent.”
“Should my father not—”
“I thought you were a man and a prince.” Egmun’s annoyance with Aldrik’s hesitation was showing. Vi loathed herself for sympathizing with the wicked man. Get it over with, she wanted to scream. She wanted to know if her whole future was forfeit or not. “I did not take you as someone who shied from justice or power, Prince Aldrik.” Egmun paused dramatically. “Why are you here?”
“For my father, to conquer the North.”
“With this, all will bend to you.” Egmun smiled encouragingly.
Aldrik took the sword and Vi’s heart nearly lurched from her chest. Every hair on her body stood on end. So… close.
“M-my prince, m-mercy please. T-take my hand for m-my theft. Spare m-me,” the man begged through sobs.
“Minister…” Aldrik hesitated. He’d never killed a man before, Vi realized then. A mere week before his coming-of-age ceremony, he would make his first kill.
“The guilty will say anything to you, my prince, to save their skin. This, too, is a lesson.” Egmun stood and seemed to be holding his breath.
Aldrik unsheathed the sword and passed the scabbard to Egmun’s eager palms.
“M-mercy,” the man begged.
“Kill him, Aldrik,” Egmun nearly shouted.
Aldrik set his jaw and hoisted the sword over his head. He paused with the blade stuck at the apex of his swing. Vi held her breath alongside the whole world.
He swung the weapon down.
Vi lifted her hand at the same time. Her other palm was flush against the crystal at her side. Magic sparked around the sword, almost like flames.
The strike was clumsy. The man groaned and gurgled, his pleas for help vanished. Aldrik raised the sword again, bringing it back down. Carnage splattered across the center of the room.
But Vi’s focus remained on the blade.
She allowed the magic of the Caverns to combine with hers, to guide her as she mentally reached out to the weapon. Vi could feel another magic in the air. Egmun was trying to act on the crystals as well.
Pathetic, Vi thought snidely. This power was hers—hers to claim and hers to control.
The sword shone brighter, as though the power within was trying to burn through. Aldrik slashed twice more before the man lay limp on the ground. The sword clattered to the stone below.
That contact of sword to Caverns was all she needed.
Crystals flared around the perimeter of the room. Aldrik shielded his eyes. Egmun thrust out his arms, as if waiting for the power to sink into him.
One crystal connected to the next, and Vi wove her magic between them all. The stones inlaid on the floor illuminated and, for the first time, Vi understood what they were.
The light that shone between them connected to form a glyph. Setting her eyes on it filled her mind with a roar of sound. It was as if every person in the world screamed a single word in agony, a word so loud she could barely make it out.
Suladin—a glyph of sealing.
A word Vi didn’t yet dare speak aloud.
Keeping her focus on the sword, Vi held out her right hand, reaching for it. The glyph around her left kept her invisible. The weapon was too far for her to touch, but through the bond of the Caverns, she could feel it.
Her fingers tightened around the magic of the sword, yanking it like a tether and sending the magic back into the Caverns. Power flowed into the stones around her. She felt it rush through her body, leaving her breathless and dizzy.
The glow of the crystals faded.
And the Sword of Jadar turned to obsidian, fractured, and dissolved into dust.
Chapter Ten
“What?” Egmun lowered his arms and spun as the light of the Caverns faded. “What did we do wrong?” he shouted to the ceiling above. The echo of his voice was the only reply.
“M-minister… I… I don’t feel so well.” Aldrik swayed. His eyes were still on the mangled body before him.
“She… it’s her fault,” Egmun seethed, ignorant to the boy. Vi almost felt proud that he was laying blame at her feet. “She knew what must be done and kept it from me and now—”
Aldrik interrupted Egmun’s ravings by turning up the contents of his stomach. Egmun jumped back to avoid the vomit splattering on his shoes.
“We should go, you foolish boy.”
“Foolish?” Aldrik looked up at the minister, as though in a daze.
“Your power was not enough,” Egmun sneered. “And now your desire for power has opened the heart of the Caverns once more to any who would dare use it against your Empire.”
“I only did as you asked!” Aldrik pleaded.
Vi’s breath caught in her throat. This young man, this child, who stood stained with blood and bile, would one day become the rough-tongued, harsh man her father had always been rumored to be. It wasn’t Fiera’s death that had set her father on a torturous path of transformation. It was this moment.
Either way, it was her fault.
She tried to steel herself, but everything ached. The only thing she could tell herself was that this was all worth it. She would make it worth it. It didn’t matter if he was aware of the vortex or not, this would be the last time Aldrik would suffer the loss of his innocence in such a brutal way.
Rumbling filled the Caverns, as though a mighty beast within was starting to wake. Vi looked around, as startled as the two men. The sound was followed by a burst of light that rose from the floor and flowed out the Caverns, rushing to the opening like a torrential river of magic.
“We must go,” Egmun said grimly. “Before the crystal taint claims us.” He grabbed Aldrik’s arm and wrenched him from the room.
As the two sprinted out, Vi knelt down, dipping her fingers in the river of light. It felt like nothing. There was no power here, only air.
Vi lifted her eyes and released the glyph for durroe watt radia. She stepped out of the inner chamber and through the doors just in time to see Deneya emerging from where she’d wedged herself between two crystals. The two men were long gone.
“Think I need to keep this going?” Deneya held up her arm, a strip of golden magic rotating by her elbow.
“Maybe for a bit longer.” Vi dragged her feet down the steps on the other side of the door, but she didn’t quite make it to the bottom before she sat heavily. She still felt
dizzy. Though Vi couldn’t tell if the dizziness came from her earlier wound or the current of power still rushing through her. “Just until we’re certain they’re far enough away.”
“Durroe watt ivin,” Deneya murmured, flicking her other hand toward the entry. Vi saw a haze of light fill the air.
From Egmun and Aldrik’s perspective, the beast that was the Caverns had been woken with a roar, unfurled its tongue, and was letting out a sigh of pure magic.
“Clever.” Vi appraised Deneya’s handiwork.
“Thank you.” As Deneya spoke the words, she tilted her head in a motion that said both, “don’t worry about it” and, simultaneously, “I know I’m pretty great.” Vi couldn’t help but chuckle and shake her head. Deneya came over, glyphs still hovering around her forearms. She sat next to Vi. “I doubt we’ll be seeing them back here anytime soon.”
“They’ll be back soon enough.”
“Why?”
Vi sighed heavily, running a hand through her hair. Most of her braids had slipped out. “Because the river of fate moves forward, and the War of the Crystals Caverns is next.”
“People fight over the Crystal Caverns?”
“Fight against the Caverns.”
“How does one fight a cavern?”
“I wondered that myself, when I first learned of it.” Vi thought back to her lessons with her tutors. The War of the Crystal Caverns had seemed like impossible lore. “In my world, the magic of the Crystal Caverns seeped out into the land and tainted the people and animals; they called it ‘crystal taint.’ The crystal taint disfigured man and beast, changing their minds and bodies into monsters.
“I think the taint comes from Raspian’s power mingling with Yargen’s in the crystals, once the glyph holding him back is weakened.”
“Monsters, wonderful,” Deneya murmured and looked back through the doors. “But we don’t have to worry about any of this. You got the power out of the sword and into the Caverns, right?” Deneya leaned back and finally relaxed the glyphs. The illusion of magic faded and the air was still once more.
“I did…” Vi rested her elbows on her knees and folded her hands. She could almost hear Taavin.
Apparently, Deneya could, too. “Taavin is going to say there needs to be a war, isn’t he?”
“I think so.” In Vi’s world, Vhalla’s father had fought in the War of the Crystal Caverns. His valor in battle earned him a spot in the palace guard—a post which he ultimately gave up for his daughter to become a library apprentice. Which was an appointment that ultimately led to her meet a certain crown prince.
“You have a plan for that?”
“I’ve an idea… but no reason to think it’ll work.”
“Lovely.” Deneya pushed away from the stone, pacing once, then stretching, as if unable to release all the nervous energy tensing her muscles. “Well, this whole scheme of yours hinges on you doing things that have never been done and have no reason to work.”
“You have so much faith in me,” Vi said dryly.
“I do.” Deneya put her hands on her hips. “You know I have faith in the fact that you seem to be able to accomplish anything with sheer force of will.” She shook her head and gave a look around the Caverns; Deneya’s gaze turned skyward before falling back to Vi. “Honestly, I’ve always been rather shocked by this whole ‘ninety-third try’ business. You’ve struck me as the sort of person who can move mountains with nothing but an almost suicidal, ignorant determination.”
“Thank you for saying so, I think.” Vi grinned, an expression Deneya returned in kind. Speaking of sheer force of will, Vi pulled herself to her feet. There was still work to be done. “I intend for this to be the last time, for all of us.”
“As long as it’s the last time because you succeed.”
“Agreed.” Vi rested her hand on a nearby crystal, feeling how the magic within the Caverns had changed once more. It was just like her first experimentation in transferring the sword. Now, she had to take out that power and then some in an act that would make good on another promise—one she’d silently made to herself, and to a man of light, for nearly fifteen years. “Now, may I task you with heading back to our cabin and starting a fire?”
“You may.” Deneya adjusted her heavy winter coat before heading out of the Caverns. “But I take it you won’t be joining me just yet?”
“You know I still have some work to do here.”
“Leave work to the morning; it’s been an exhausting night,” Deneya encouraged.
“No. I want this done before dawn. I suspect that once Egmun and the prince arrive back at the Capital, it won’t be long until the Emperor finds out about what happened here. I want my business with the Caverns to be concluded before then.”
“Concluded?” Deneya echoed skeptically.
Vi chuckled. “Concluded for at least a few decades.”
“A few more decades of living in our cabin. Excuse my uncontrollable excitement.”
“Maybe not in the cabin,” Vi called to Deneya’s retreating form. The woman paused, glancing back. “I think I’d rather go to the beach.”
“The beach?” Deneya balked. Vi laughed at the expression, which proved the levity needed to break up the long night.
“I’ll explain fully later.”
“You’d better. I could use some warmth and sun again and couldn’t bear it if you were merely teasing me.” Deneya paused, almost at the entrance of the Caverns. “Be careful in here. Don’t make me regret leaving you by yourself.”
“I won’t,” Vi called back. With that minimal reassurance, Deneya left. “Right, then.” Vi looked back into the heart of the Caverns, taking a slow breath.
She thought of summoning Taavin, but opted instead to remain silent and alone. Taavin would stop her, and Deneya’s words had made her bold.
Vi went back up the stairs, through the doorway, and into the heart of the Crystal Caverns.
The magic was alive here. It welcomed her, surging through her veins. Vi held out her arms, inviting it to flow into her. This was Yargen’s essence—the power that fueled the seal on Raspian, and the power that would challenge him once more.
Vi stared down at the stones embedded in the floor—the ones that formed the glyph that maintained the dark god’s cage. She walked across them, her steps harmlessly connecting one to the next, until she reached the center of the room. Kneeling down, Vi rested her palms on one of the stones and closed her eyes.
She envisioned the Sword of Jadar. She dredged up memories of the scythe she’d held in another world. She recalled every last detail she could—how the objects felt under her hands, how much power they held.
“We’ll start with that much,” Vi said aloud, speaking to the crystals as though they were a sentient partner. For all Vi knew, they were. They held Yargen’s essence after all; she couldn’t rule out that they also held some of the goddess’s consciousness. “Yargen, help me do this,” she whispered. “I need him at my side.”
Vi lifted her hands from the stone, drawing the magic in shimmering threads up with them. She twisted her left hand, palm to ceiling, and continued feeding magic from her right. Once enough power had collected in her upturned palm, Vi condensed it into a new crystal.
This would be the seed from which Taavin’s new body would grow. She continued to string more magic from the Caverns into the stone, stopping when she’d reached the amount the Sword of Jadar had held.
Glancing to the heavens, Vi uttered one final silent plea to Yargen—Let this work—before continuing.
The crystals in the room flared and dimmed. Magic was drained from the stones along the outer ring of the room. It filled the crystals on the floor. They shone once more, the glyph they made barely visible in the beams of light reaching upward.
Siphoning this power, Vi felt something quiver between each draw off the Caverns.
Raspian could feel the weakening of power that confined him, she was sure. He could feel her. Just as keenly as she could feel him pressing,
scraping, reaching, seeking a way out of his prison.
The phantom torment of red lightning cracking through her seared under her skin. She could feel the shadows of scars across her bones from where it had ravaged her body. Vi set her lips into a thin line and fought to keep her focus on her task.
“You’ll be free enough to have your little finger escape,” she said grimly to the dark god, not knowing if he could hear. “No more. No less.”
The outermost stones on the floor began to dim against the brightness of the glowing stone in Vi’s hand. It was a blue brighter than the sky, purer than the ancient ice of glaciers. It was bright enough to illuminate almost the whole of the Caverns and yet, looking into it didn’t hurt. It felt… comfortable. Like staring into the eyes of an old friend.
With a flick of her wrist, Vi flattened her right hand and severed the connection with the Caverns. She could feel the remaining magic settling back into place, spread thinner, like water over a dry riverbed.
Sweat ran in rivulets down her neck and temples. Even in the chill of winter, holding the crystal, holding her focus, was extremely strenuous.
Vi placed the shining stone down gently before her. She ran her hands over it, murmuring, “Kot sorre. Kot sidee.”
Push and pull.
The magic was a tangible thing beneath her fingers. Vi manipulated it like a sculptor. She saw the crystal extend upward and downward. The stones smoothed and curved, taking on new shapes. Vertebrae appeared. Ribs stretched up from them. There were femurs that led to kneecaps, and ultimately toes. Collarbones sat beneath a strong jaw.
A skeleton of crystal was before her. The basis of her vessel. But it was nothing more than crystals in a new shape.
She wanted to lean back, sit on her heels, and catch her breath. But Vi couldn’t allow herself to. Everything was fresh and new, waiting for the next layer of magic to be spun around it.
“Halleth ruta sot. Halleth ruta toff.” Halleth worked to create new flesh on an existing body. Why could it also not create new flesh for a new body?
A voice whispered in the back of her mind. The words were so faint that Vi couldn’t decipher if it was instinct, or Yargen herself encouraging Vi in the right direction. “Mysst ruta sot.”