by John Corwin
Kanaan whirled his wands. A breeze lifted the smoke. He threw a packet of sparkling powder into the air, and a hunched form became visible. It had black fur, sharp teeth, and the face and horns of a goat, but its feet and hands were humanlike. One hand clenched a silver blade. Its forked tail twitched back and forth. "I'd heard you were good, mage, but you are even more prepared than I imagined."
"Do you think I have never faced invisible opponents?" Kanaan backed away, wands at the ready. "You are Talin of the Assassin's Guild."
The goat-man's eyes narrowed. "Indeed."
"Victus hired you to kill us?"
"If that were true, you would be dead." He bared pointy teeth. "I am here to watch for intruders."
"I suggest you let us pass," Kanaan said. "I do not desire to kill you."
A foxlike grin spread across Talin's face as his body began to fade from sight. "It is not me you need fear."
The earth trembled beneath my feet. Two monsters burst through the iron gates, ripping them from their hinges. Frog heads perched atop massive muscular bodies. The frogres laid eyes on us and croaked as they lumbered forward, long strides eating up the distance between us. Another four frogres piled through the broken gates after them.
A flock of black birds rose in the distance. Hoots, howls, and roars echoed as the monster army came for us.
Talin's grin widened. "God speed, magitsu master."
Kanaan's wands blurred. A shimmering energy shield slammed into the nearly invisible assassin. He flew a dozen feet and landed in a heap. "I can do little against the frogres. Go to the pond and jump in. We will take refuge with Mirjana."
"No." I jabbed a finger toward the fairy forest. "We might be safe underwater, but we'll be trapped. We can make it through the rift with our blink stones."
Kanaan paused. Nodded. "Very well. I will distract the creatures." He gripped my shoulder. "Good luck, Conrad." With that, he turned toward the monsters and charged. Sparks flew from his wand, blinding the creatures and slowing them.
Ambria and I raced for the sapling forest. A nerve-rattling screech pierced the air. I looked skyward. Crows with ten-foot wing spans dove, wicked talons ready to pierce flesh and bone.
"Illusion spell!" I took out my arcwand and cast the diversion spell. A copy of me sprinted in another direction. I did it again and sent another illusion racing away.
Copies of Ambria ran in all directions. The birds took the bait and dove for the illusions instead of us, even though we continued in the same direction. Crows smashed into trees and each other as they fought for the decoys. The sapling forest provided some cover from the birds. We slowed to catch our breath for the final sprint on the other side.
The path wended through a grassy field. Only a few scattered trees offered cover from here to the charred skeleton of a mansion nearly a hundred yards away. It used to be the estate of the Arcanus Primus, but hadn't been repaired in the decade since Harry Shelton destroyed it. A steep cliff rose behind it—the end of the world as far as Queens Gate was concerned.
I gripped Ambria's hand and released it. "Ready?"
She took a deep breath. "Let's go."
We ran out of the forest, tapping ourselves to leave decoy illusions every few seconds. The giant crows soared overhead in greater numbers, some diving at the same targets only to grasp thin air. There were so many that it didn't take long for some to focus on us instead of the illusions.
Ambria zapped the first crow that came our way with a bolt of electricity. Feathers flew. The bird cawed and veered into a tree. I flashed blinding light at the next crow. It crashed into another bird and the pair tumbled to the ground.
Despite our success against the birds, a group of frogres had broken past Kanaan's distractions, heavy strides thundering. The only upside was that the monsters were too big to fit through the crack in the world.
I fired another flare at a diving crow. It screeched and plowed into the ground right at Ambria's heels. Her foot glanced off the huge beak. With a shriek, Ambria tumbled on the ground. The crow staggered to its feet, snapping its beak in our general direction. I zapped it, frying feathers. It fluttered backward, cawing angrily.
I yanked Ambria upright. Her eyes flared, transfixed on something behind me. "Watch out!"
Before I could react, my feet left the ground. The satchel strap tightened against my throat and armpit. I looked up and saw a crow holding the satchel in its beak.
"Conrad!" Ambria slashed her wand. The strap parted, and I fell five feet to the ground.
"The blink stones are in that satchel!" I struggled to my feet and fired a blast at the crow, even as more of its comrades streaked for us.
The bird squawked and dropped the satchel. I caught it. A stream of fire from Ambria's wand caught another crow in the face.
"Ribbit!" The frogres were nearly upon us. A long pink tongue flashed out and caught a crow, pulling it into the frog mouth like a giant fly.
"Run!" Ambria's shout snapped me from my shock.
We sprinted the final yards to the mansion and went through the skeletal front entrance. Climbed over rubble and dodged around charred furniture. Leapt through a hole in the back wall and entered the grove of trees near the cliff.
An unbroken cliff face waited there. The crack in the world was gone.
"No!" I cried.
"Oh my god, Cora closed the crack!" Ambria ran her hands along the rocky face.
The crows circled overhead. Crashes and thuds resounded as the frogres smashed their way through the burned mansion. Within minutes they'd corner us, crush us, and eat us.
Ambria cast a dispel and another spell to uncover illusions, but the rock revealed no secrets. "It's stone, Conrad. The crack is really sealed."
I had no choice. My wand flicked through the complex patterns, binding multiple spells into one coherent form—Fireblade. Aether tingled through my palms.
Ambria's voice cut through my concentration. "You can't cut down an army of frogres and crows, Conrad!"
"I'm not going to." I aimed my wand at the rock face and unleashed Fireblade. The orange beam drilled into the rock. Lava trickled from the incision. I traced the beam slowly down the cliff face. Power poured from me and my knees grew weaker by the second. I started another cut just a few feet from the ground, forming a triangle.
My focus wavered and I nearly lost hold of the spell. Ambria will die if I don't do this. I clenched my teeth and fought the exhaustion. Aimed my wand at the base of the cuts and finished the triangle. I stopped casting and held the spell ready in case I needed to cut more.
The moment of truth. How thick was the patch? If Cora had sealed the entire crack, we were doomed. "Can you try to break through?"
Ambria fired a concussive shot from her wand. The triangle of stone wobbled and thudded backward. A dark tunnel waited on the other side.
"Thank god." I released the spell and leaned on a tree.
Ambria put a hand to my forehead as if checking my temperature. "Are you okay? You're dripping sweat."
"Yes." I pushed off the tree and stumbled toward the opening. The rock still glowed from heat. "Can you cool it down?"
"Oh, yes." She cast a freezing spell. Moisture turned to frost and dropped on the bottom edge of the cut. The rock hissed as it cooled.
"Ribbit!" A frogre smashed into one of the trees. Its tongue lashed toward us but caught on a branch.
I screamed. Ambria screamed. We dove into the newly opened crack in the world. The bottom lip in the opening had cooled but the triangular slab still burned red hot against my hands and through my jeans. I yelled in excruciating pain. Ambria cried. We scooted across the hot slab, every inch of progress pure agony until we finally reached cool dirt on the other side.
I reached into the satchel with trembling hands and activated a glowball to light the tunnel. Ambria inspected blistered skin on her hands, tears trickling from her eyes. I examined my own and cringed.
"I can hardly hold my wand." Ambria tried to cast one of the anesthesi
a spells Asha had taught us, but her wand tumbled from trembling fingers.
I gripped my wand feverishly and managed to cast the spell on Ambria's hands. She moaned in relief and numbed my hands with the same spell. I shivered at the respite. Our skin wasn't healed, but the agony was gone.
"Oh, I wish Percival was here right now." Ambria inspected the blisters. "I don't know any good healing spells."
I clenched my hand and wiggled my fingers. The flesh was raw and seeping, but I could still hold my wand. "Maybe Cora can help us."
Ambria pulled up the legs of her jeans to look at her knees, but thanks to the denim, the skin was only pink. She let out a long sigh and leaned back. "I pray she can."
A frogre crashed against the small hole, trying to push its way inside. Though the inside of the tunnel was tall and wide, it couldn't hope to fit through the tiny opening. It croaked and smashed its fists against the stone over and over again. Dust showered down on us. It tried to shove its head through. Its long tongue lashed out, narrowly missing my face. I knew from experience how sticky and strong that tongue was and what would happen if it latched onto me.
Cracks formed in the patch. If it and its comrades kept ramming it, they might actually break through.
It took everything I had to get up. Casting Fireblade for so long had torn through my reserves. I tried to pull Ambria to her feet, but my arms wouldn't cooperate. "Go!"
Ambria ran. I stumbled after her down the tunnel, the croaks fading behind us. Within minutes we reached the cliff at the end of the world. Above, below, and beyond lay the infinity of space. I didn't know what would happen to anyone who fell into that void, and I didn't want to find out. I peered across the wide rift and spotted the crack in the stars that led to the Glimmer. It looked even farther away than last time, but at least it wasn't sealed shut.
Two small stars detached themselves from the tapestry of space and drifted toward the invisible bridge, growing larger with proximity. Energy pulsated across the bluish-white spheres. They looked beautiful and deadly. Thank god we have blink stones.
"Can I rest for a moment?" I sat inside the tunnel so my stomach would stop twisting with fear at the sight of the rift.
Ambria sat next to me. "Did you overexert yourself?"
I nodded. "Just give me a minute and then we'll cross."
Thuds echoed down the tunnel as the frogres continued to pound against the patch. They hadn't broken through just yet.
"Of course." Ambria leaned my head in her lap and kissed my forehead.
I tried to sleep, even if only for a moment, but my nerves were tight as drums and the racket of hammering frogre fists only wound the strings tighter. I had no idea how well I could use the blink stones while so exhausted from casting. It looked like I had no choice but to find out.
I pushed up to my feet. "Let's go."
Ambria pulled the stones from my satchel and put one in my hand. "We can do this."
We stepped out into the void. Instead of falling, our feet found the invisible bridge. Max discovered the hard way it was only a few feet wide by nearly falling off the edge during one of our ventures. I kept the crack on the other side centered in my view to keep from getting too close to the edge.
The keening wail of the guardians rose from a background noise to fever pitch as we approached the middle of the bridge. The orbs danced around each other in a figure eight pattern, electricity crackling and arcing between them. Another couple of steps and they'd vaporize us. The first time Evadora brought us here, she'd dodged past the guardians and made it across. If she hadn't been supernaturally fast, they would have easily killed her.
We were nowhere near fast enough to run from them once we made our first blink, especially not with my state of exhaustion. A loud croak cut through the wailing of the guardians. I turned and saw a frogre burst from the tunnel and rush us.
"Go!" Ambria shouted. She vanished in a puff of shadows.
The frogre hurled a stone the size of my head at me. I focused on the spot Ambria appeared and blinked. I stumbled forward and fell to a knee. My head swam and my legs felt like jelly. I looked back and saw Ambria behind me.
The guardians hummed with deadly energy and zipped toward us. It was then I noticed the rock the frogre had thrown sailing far over where I'd been. It crashed onto the bridge and rolled.
"Watch out!"
Ambria spun around and jumped back, but the rock struck her foot and knocked her over. She sprawled on her stomach and the blink stone tumbled from her grasp and fell over the side of the bridge.
Chapter 29
Ambria looked at me in horror.
My leaden legs refused to move. Even if I stood up, I'd never reach her in time. I slid my blink stone across the twenty feet dividing us. She grabbed it with outstretched hands. Deadly arcs of destruction struck the bridge beneath the fury of the guardians. Terror choked me and tears stung my eyes.
"Blink, Ambria! Blink!"
Her mouth hung open in horror. "Conrad, no!"
"Do it!" I screamed, the guardians only feet from her.
The wrath of the guardians speared the puff of shadows where Ambria had been an instant ago. I looked behind me and saw her only a few feet from the crack leading to the Glimmer. She was safe.
I held out a hand to her. "I love—" Agony speared through my chest. Intense heat vaporized me in an instant. The world went away.
I stood in darkness. Am I dead? My eyes adjusted to the dim light. Stalagmites jutted around me like sharp teeth and stalactites threatened from above. The light in the tight cavern grew brighter gradually, emanating from a tiny puddle in the middle. I pinched myself and felt pain. This wasn't what I'd expected of death.
Perhaps the puddle was a portal leading to the afterlife, or maybe this was a dream, frozen in time at the instant of my death. Oddly, I felt no fear, only curiosity. I walked closer to the puddle and peered into its depths. It sparkled like molten sapphire one moment then became so clear the hole seemed to have no water in it at all.
I got down on my knees and peered into the depths. The light seemed to come from far below, but when I cupped the water in my hands, it glowed with a light of its own.
"Welcome to the fount."
I should have jumped with surprise, but turned, calm and detached to face Moses. His black hair was short, his beard trimmed and neat, and his eyebrows groomed. "Why is your hair different from my dreams?"
He raised an eyebrow. "That's not the first question I expected."
"Yes, it is rather foolish, I suppose."
Moses smiled. "I can fashion my appearance as I wish."
"But you're dead."
He nodded. "My corporeal body is gone. I am in the afterlife."
I pinched myself again. "I'm dead."
Moses held out his hands to indicate our surroundings. "This is not the afterlife. This is what you might call the birthing chamber."
I blinked, confused. "The fount?"
"Yes, the first power, the primal fount." His lips compressed. "Some might even call it the source of life."
My eyes flared. "Is it god?"
Moses shrugged. "If the fount is sentient, it has remained silent on the matter."
I looked down at the puddle. "It's not what I expected."
"Ah, what you see before you is the earthly fount." He stepped beside me, knelt, and took some in a cupped hand. "The fount runs throughout everything, from Eden to the realms, and all the multiverse."
"So, this is just the fount on Earth?"
Moses seemed to flicker, like a ghostly vision, and faded ever so slightly.
"What's happening?" I asked.
"We don't have much time." He motioned me down next to him, so I knelt. "Put your hands in the fount."
I did as instructed and Moses scrubbed the scars on the backs of my hands until blood clouded the water. The water glowed brighter, and the crimson stain vanished. "You're not quite there yet, Conrad, but soon, very soon."
"Soon what?" I said.
"Focus your power here." He slapped my palms. "With these, you don't need a wa—"
Before he could finish, my insides burned in agony and a scream tore from my throat.
"Conrad!" I heard my name screamed over and over again, but it wasn't Moses calling me.
I looked up into the pale fury of the rift guardians. Bolts of energy speared into my palms, bursting from the backs of my hand and riveting me to the bridge. I finally realized I lay on my back where I'd fallen after Ambria blinked away. My veins seemed to run with fire. I screamed and screamed, unable to stop.
The pain vanished and a cry of agony died on my lips. The guardians hung over me, their azure energy calm and subdued. I sat up and saw frogres thudding across the bridge toward me. It took everything I had to push my heavy body upright. My legs dragged, nearly useless. There was no way I'd outrun the frogres.
Ambria blinked to me. She staggered, too dizzy from another blink to stand upright, and grasped my hand. "We'll blink together!"
But it was too late. A tongue lashed out and caught my leg, dragging me backward and Ambria along with me. "Let go!" I said.
"Never! I'll kill the bloody monster if I have to." Ambria drew her wand and fired, but the blasts only enraged the frog monster.
"No!" I shouted. "I won't die to one of my father's monsters!" Yet I was nothing but a fly struggling to escape the spider. There was nothing I could do.
My palms tingled. A jagged blue arc speared from my hand into one of the guardians. It glowed brighter, coming to life and zipped in front of me. I sensed a distant consciousness, as if something awaited my command.
I didn't understand how or why, but the guardian was responding to me. I held up a hand and felt a connection to the second one. A malicious smile split my lips. "Kill these damned frogres."
The guardians hummed like powerful generators. Destructive beams lanced from them, solar flares, spearing through flesh, slicing the tongue of the nearest frogre and sending its smoldering corpse over the side of the bridge. They tore into the next three monsters, reducing them to ashes.
When the final creature was dead, the guardians fell silent once more.