Mentored in Fire

by Breene, K. F.

  If the barrier Lucifer had laid blocking off the entrance/exit to the Edges wasn’t a doozy, then sure, we had time. If Lucifer stopped at the violence sect to see what was what, sure, we had time.

  I doubted we had time.

  Give it all you have, bud. I patted Archion’s side.

  Saphira kept up with us, Penny leaning forward like she was racing a horse. Coppelia wasn’t keeping up as well, though. Smaller and not as strong, she didn’t have the power of the other two. Instead of trying, though, she veered a little to the right and dipped lower. Cahal’s magic enveloped them both, and it was hard to see them against the ground far below.

  I nodded, turning straight, leaning forward like Penny was doing, hoping to hell we’d have enough time to break that spell.

  And, if we managed, that Lucifer didn’t follow us out.

  Twenty-Two

  “There it is,” I said, squinting through the air at the river passing below us.

  It wasn’t a fog bank this time. On the other side of the river, beyond the boats but before the Edges, stood a solid black wall. Power pounded from it, even from this distance. I knew the magic would be complex and dangerous, making it so no mages or demons could break it. Lucifer was the master of this world for a reason, and I knew he’d poured his everything into that wall.

  “Damn it, damn it, damn it…” I leaned back on Archion, and he slowed as we glided forward.

  Climb to the top of that thing where it connects with the ceiling, I thought, and give me a look from there to the ground. I want to take its measure.

  Archion did so, and I motioned for Saphira to follow. Penny and Emery needed to see this.

  It stretched on for miles. Miles and miles. But that was just an illusion, of course. All of this was an illusion, and this wall was bedrocked into it.

  I looked back the way we’d come. That spot of black had slowed at the sect, perhaps touching down, perhaps not, but it didn’t matter. Lucifer was on our tail again.

  Thankfully, we only had one dragon to contend with. He hadn’t called in any backup. Not yet, anyway.

  Land, I thought, having seen my fill. I needed to talk with Penny and Emery.

  “That dragon is amazing,” Penny said, her hair windswept. She blinked at me, starstruck, then pointed at her head. “She was speaking to me. In my head!”

  “Yes, yes, good, good. Come on.” I pointed at the huge wall. “We need to get through this, or you will die and that dragon will be riderless again.”

  Emery pushed toward the wall, looking up to the top and then out to the sides. He leaned in, scanning the magic in front of him. “It’s a stroke of genius.”

  “No, it’s the work of a master,” I said, running magic over it to see if I felt anything more.

  Penny released the spell that usually unraveled my magic—the same one that had likely taken down the fog. The crisp layer over the wall shone and then fizzled, burning away, exposing another finely wrought layer underneath.

  “He knows our magic,” I whispered. “He clearly built this to withstand it. His yin to your yang. He obviously knows best how to thwart me.” My eyes scanned, my magic washing across it, pulling and tweaking and digging, trying to find access. Every time I did, though, I was met with another layer of intricately woven air and fire magic, in a different style. Holy crap.

  I started laughing. I couldn’t help it.

  “He taught me a lot, but he certainly didn’t teach me how to do this. That bastard. Those illusions in the castle were nothing. Child’s play. Training wheels.”

  Cahal strode over, his dragon standing with the others.

  “What’s the story? We don’t have a lot of time,” he said, stopping beside me.

  I explained the issue.

  His brow furrowed, and he looked over his shoulder at those black dots, growing bigger as the moments twisted by. “I don’t think he meant them as training wheels. His last heir had trouble with tearing down his illusions. It took the last heir a long time to learn how to put them up. But I agree, this is…highly advanced. I can actually feel the power thrumming from it.”

  “We can do this,” Emery said, nodding as he looked it over. “We can do this. Between Reagan and Penny and me, we’re powerful enough, and we have all of the necessary elements. We can get through this.”

  “It was never a question of if, it is a question of whether we have enough time.” I ran my fingers through my hair.

  “We can get through this in enough time.” Penny pushed at the tattered sleeves of her shirt. “I am getting out of this place, do you hear me? I am getting out and”—she jabbed Emery’s chest, making him flinch—“you are getting out and”—she stepped forward and jabbed her finger into my arm—“you are getting out and”—she jabbed the air at Darius and Cahal—“you two are getting out. We’re all getting out, and I am taking my dragon with me. She can’t leave without magical aid. I have magical aid, apparently, though I don’t know what that means. So she’s coming. Try to argue with me. Go ahead.”

  We all stared at her—her wider-than-normal eyes, her tense shoulders, her balled fists.

  She nodded. “That’s what I thought. C’mon, pyramid, let’s get to work.”

  Penny has been on the edge of breaking since she was forced to leave you behind, Darius thought.

  “Yes, I can see that,” I murmured.

  “That rat is talking about me, isn’t he?” Penny snorted. “I don’t even care.”

  She pushed Emery at me and then stepped up to my other side, facing the wall.

  I took a deep breath and focused. Yes, we could do this. He’d obviously put a lot of time and effort into this wall. He’d correctly interpreted what Penny had done with the fog and put up this blockade to prevent it from happening again. I was sure he’d put some safeguards for me in there, too. He was incredibly intelligent and clever.

  The magic was too layered and thick, too intricate a combination of Glaciem and Incendium for me to simply rip it down the way I had with the castle illusions. I’d have to weasel through it and create weaknesses throughout, and then Penny and Emery could apply their magic and break it off in pieces. Only then, once it was as full of holes as Swiss cheese, could I tear it down in one magical rip. It was the fastest strategy for getting through it. It had to be.

  After I’d explained my strategy, Penny and Emery both nodded, determination on their faces. Their magic rose, and with it, electricity ran through us, tingling the ends of my hair and shocking down my back.

  “We have the godly magic in common,” Penny murmured as we worked, sweat quickly prickling my brow. “That’s why it feels like this when we connect, don’t you think?”

  A large, familiar hand closed around my shoulder. Cahal, his magic zipping through us.

  “Yes, that has to be it,” Penny said, answering herself.

  My mind wandered, considering everything I’d learned here, trying to find a lesson that could be applied. A key that would loosen this spell and make it as easy to pull down as the fog must’ve been. As easy to pull down as the castle illusions. What had made them different…

  “The dragon shape is clear now,” Cahal said, apparently our timekeeper.

  “Lucifer is flying beside it, a separate entity,” Darius murmured.

  “Super,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut, working and thinking, poring over everything. Plunging holes in the spell, working on its weaknesses, pointing the way for Penny and Emery to exploit any flaws, of which there were virtually none.

  “Lucifer looks like he is rejoining the dragon,” Darius murmured.

  I glanced back, heart speeding up. Lucifer changed shape mid-flight, turned, and lowered onto the dragon, the shift as seamless as a magnet clicking onto metal.

  Beginner’s luck, my left foot. We’ve got work to do, Archion, I thought, not sure whether I was close enough to be heard. He didn’t answer.

  “Shall I get on Coppelia and get in their way?” Cahal asked.

  You are not enough, Archi
on said. Clearly he’d heard me just fine. I relayed what he’d said. I will go.

  “Wait. Just wait a minute,” I said, working faster, pouring everything into it. “Wait, let’s see if we can—”

  “Saphira wants to go with Archion to stall Lucifer and Tatsu,” Penny reported.

  “We’re not making much headway.” Emery laid more spell. It barely ate away at the barrier. “We can’t work fast enough. We need more time. A lot more time.”

  Let them go, Darius thought to me, clearly not wanting to usurp my authority here by saying it out loud. If you don’t, we have no chance.

  “There must be a way,” I said, biting my lip, racing through every memory stored in my head. “There must be. How did he make it so strong and those other spells so…” I rolled over a thought, then backed up and analyzed it. The flower, hovering over my palm. The walls I’d created in the castle. The ice and fire magical blockades I’d put up at the doors of my chambers. I hadn’t anchored any of them. I’d done some pretty good, delicate weaves, but I hadn’t anchored a single one.

  Mages’ spells, when not properly anchored, were weaker. They were much easier to tear down.

  The illusions in the Realm were anchored to the ground, even in places that didn’t require it.

  Anchoring gave strength.

  I looked down at the base of the wall, way down into the very foundation of this place. Up at the top, it had been the same thing. He’d rooted this thing down into the floor and nailed it all around.

  I spun, looking at the endless miles of desolate, sandy beach. Of the piers, only one in sight. The sky, covering the cave ceiling. None of those illusions were as finely wrought. They’d been slapped up, almost, just like many of the castle walls. They’d been good enough for the moment. He’d probably intended to repair everything once he came back to take down this wall.

  “Tear it down.” I pulled at our surroundings—the bank, the docks—picking through the illusions easily, eroding them with holes and cracks and crevices. Destroying the base for the roots. “Take away the foundation, weaken the spell.”

  Penny’s eyebrows pinched together, but Emery wasted no time. Magic flew from his hands immediately, helping me with the beach. Finally, Penny joined in with gusto, understanding what we were doing.

  “Go get the ceiling,” Emery said, and he jerked his head at Archion.

  I took a running leap onto Archion, my hovering ability kicking in, and up we went, climbing quickly. At the top, I yanked and tore at the spell, pulling it down. Roots hung down through the rock and dirt on the ceiling, little spiderwebs of life. Water pooled in areas. I watched a drop wobble on the end of a glistening rock and let go, falling to the ground far below.

  I’d ponder how all of this was possible later.

  Black wings beat at the sky, Tatsu so close. Lucifer on her back, looking straight at me.

  “Oh crap, get to the ground, hurry!” I said, Archion diving immediately. I held on, willing him to go faster—willing myself to go faster. “Oh crap, oh crap.”

  I landed in a rush and stumbled to the others, continuing to break through Lucifer’s magic work. The desolate ground pulled back to reveal weeds and dirt and sand, with clumps of clay holding moisture. The dying illusion raced toward the docks, and several emerged from the haze, and then all of them, the boats tied to their docks, the Boatmen looking our way. The turbulent sea was slowly exposed, rolling and racing past.

  “Good, good. Hurry, guys, we have to hurry.” I cleared the rest of the illusion away and then refocused on the thick wall in front of us. “All you’ve got. The dragons can do the work after this. Fast as you can.”

  We went after it like a starving man jumps on a steak. I punched holes and created nails of swirling fire and ice, breaking apart his design so Penny and Emery could exploit the damage.

  “He’s right on us,” Cahal said.

  “What do we do?” Darius asked urgently.

  What could we do? Keep going and hope for the best.

  Twenty-Three

  They are all there, Tatsu thought as they closed the distance to his daughter.

  Not all. There are no vampires beyond Durant.

  They’d stopped briefly at the Haedus sect, knowing full well that Reagan had escaped with her friends. The place was in chaos. Sure enough, they’d left not long before, having severely rattled and cowed the powerful conspector.

  Lucifer hadn’t allowed himself to feel the pulsing of pride that she had donned her mantle even while running from it. He’d grabbed the briefest bit of info from the leader—none of the vampires helping her sounded like Vlad—and had taken off after her.

  They are working on the wall, Tatsu said, as though he didn’t also have eyes.

  Urgency pumped a solid beat within his chest. He could not let her get away. She would make a fool of him. She would show his weakness as a ruler.

  She has showcased the strength of your bloodline, Tatsu said. He must’ve let his thoughts slip. She will show the powerful pedigree of her friends. Of her dragons. Of her person. She is your heir, through and through. She is worthy of the Underworld. Of the title of princess.

  She is trying to escape all of those things, or don’t you know what fleeing in the middle of the night generally means?

  She is trying to escape one she sees as a tyrant.

  You’re on her side, are you?

  I am on your side. You need to be on her side.

  She won’t get through that wall. I used all my best conspectors to help form it. Maybe if she had a few hours, but not in mere minutes. I’ll have her. I’ll apologize and we’ll start again. This can be amended.

  What is… He let the thought linger.

  The illusion of the beach unraveled before his eyes. Magic ate through it like acid, ripping it into tatters and revealing what lay beneath.

  His daughter stood with her friends, grouped around the wall and working on one spot.

  If she wanted to break it more quickly, they should spread out, work at different parts of it. But then, there was only one with the magic to do that, he supposed. The other two, the mages, weren’t as strong. They could erode old constructs, but they seemed to need Reagan’s help on his latest work.

  Faster, he said, leaning forward, his heart speeding up. We can reach them before they go. Faster.

  They will attack.

  The mages are nothing. I’ve confronted angelic magic before. Or how do you think I survived?

  Reagan will attack, and Archion with her. He is a handful. If Saphira joins…

  He shook his head. She might attack, that was true. But she lacked experience. She had brute power, but no finesse. No advanced knowledge. She would not stand a chance. He’d have her, and they could put all this behind them.

  Fire flared in front of Reagan, followed by a swirl of what looked like frost. More, in patches, one location and then another. He could not see what else was happening, not from such a distance, but they were working fast, urgently. Another burst of fire, bigger than the last. A white crack wormed up his onyx wall.

  “No,” he said, half standing, looking harder. It grew, the crack, before another one started. And another. “No! Go, Tatsu, go!”

  She put on a burst of speed. She might not think this was the best course of action, but she was loyal—she’d help him now, just like he always helped her when she asked for something.

  The wall began to erode. Cracks ran through the structure, racing for the sides.

  How? He squinted, trying to see into the distance. He’d made that wall incredibly complex. It was some of his best work. “How…”

  The hole kept getting larger, growing and growing. They now raced for their dragons, Reagan helping them mount with bursts of air, faltering slightly when it was her turn to lift. She was exhausted, panting from the effort; he was close enough to see that. Right on them now. They still had to get up to speed and fly over the Edges. They still had to exit, one dragon at a time—the exit too small for them all to lea
ve together. He could grab at least one of her friends. She’d sacrifice herself for them.

  Is this what you want? Tatsu asked as they closed the gap.

  All three dragons had made it through the crumbling wall.

  “Go,” he growled, willing her to go faster, half wanting to fly himself. He couldn’t compete against a dragon, though. He needed her.

  Is this what you want? she repeated as they barreled through the hole, the edges continuing to recede. With time, it would dissipate to nothing, the same way the fog had.

  He ignored her. Because yes, this was what he wanted. He wanted his daughter to live down here with him. He wanted an equal to talk to. To rule by his side. He had never wanted to elevate someone to that post by marriage or something so unpoetic as a promotion. He’d wanted his bloodline to dictate the right candidate—the person literally born for the role. All these long years, and he’d never found anyone. He’d never given up hope, though. He’d never bent, always believing it would happen.

  And here she was, the woman born to rule. She must want the title that went with her talents. How could she resist? How could she turn away from the beauty down here, the ability to create her dreams and laugh at her nightmares?

  “She is confused,” he said through gritted teeth. “Her friends are making her confused.”

  They soared over the pits, everyone scattering. He wanted to burn them all where they stood. Clear this place out. It was a cesspool, had been for…countless quantities of time.

  In a way, he’d created this mess, this eyesore on the entrance to his kingdom, by putting up the fog. They’d gathered here, the ones who could no longer travel freely inside.

  No, he wasn’t the one who’d done it. The elves had pushed this on him. They had forced his hand. He should’ve pushed back before now. He shouldn’t have been so willing to follow their terms.

  Reagan neared the exit. Tatsu was right on them. If she got through, then they would get the druid, easy.

  No, the druid was pushing up to go first. Reagan was holding back.

  You shall have your dragons back, he thought to Tatsu, his focus acute. Most of them, at least.