My magic vibrated with anticipation, needing to be used. It crawled under my skin, ready and willing. A waltz with cello and trumpet.
One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three.
Heat built in the well, and inside of me. Steam rose from deep within the earth as my fire touched the water. The boom-chuck-chuck of Aeron’s snare drums joined our waltz, keeping time as he wrapped us in a ward to protect us from the super-heated water. My body shook with the effort of holding the song. An endless dance of notes that flowed through the bonds, and then outward.
One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three.
The pressure of the song pushed against my skin. Pulling. Pulling. Pulling. Toward the surface. Fresh. Clean. Untainted. The water churned upward as I burned the corruption away. First a trickle, then a torrent.
One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three.
Steam burst from the well, spewing upward, followed by a geyser of water. The magic churned and bubbled, flowing as it twisted back and forth in its dance. One last sweeping run. A final twirl. With a flourish of notes, the song ended, and the magic faded. Water fell around us with a splash, turning the dirt packed area into mud.
My knees released, and I started to collapse, but Michel scooped me up and carried me away from the well.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Need sleep.” I laid my head against his chest and closed my eyes, letting myself drift into the world of dreams.
***
I swam in a sea of Darkness filled with hissing whispers and biting laughter. Up was down and down was up, and the eddies in the sea spun me until I was dizzy and disoriented. Corruption burned in the surrounding air.
The whispers faded and disappeared, but I floated Between unable to find a way out. A song drifted on the current that twisted me one way, and then another. I grasped onto the weak notes and followed them back to their origin.
Light appeared. A pinprick in the sea of black, faint but growing. The Void became rolling green hills and a city whose walls gleamed golden in the light. I’d been here before, and the memory was filled with flames and ash.
The Lady stood beside me, her white gown billowing in the breeze. Clouds boiled on the horizon and lightning flashed in the churning mass. Gooseflesh pebbled my arms. A sense of impending doom tickled cold fingers over my spine.
The Inquisitor strode from the storm and stopped in front of me. His stony smile and dead eyes made me want to whimper, but I stifled it. “You’ve finally come.”
The Lady raised an arm to bar his way. Run, Marissa—
I didn’t need further urging. I ran, slowed by frigid sticky webs that grabbed at me, trying to hold me in place. The rolling hills changed into a never-ending wall of fog.
Hurry. You must leave.
“I can’t.” I struggled against the ropes that held me.
Warmth spread around me, and the web vanished. I sped forward, trying to find a way from the shadowy paths of dream, a way back to my body. A way home. I searched for the bonds I shared with Michel and the others, the tether that would lead me back, but couldn’t find it.
I needed a place to hide. A place to shelter until I could escape. A quick twist of magic and a fold of Light enveloped me. The Lady crouched beside me, her white gown spread in a puddle around her.
“Why are you helping me?”
A pained look crossed her face. I let the Darkness into this world, and now, I must correct my mistake. You are my last hope.
The hair at the nape of my neck rose.
The Inquisitor stood outside our hiding place. “Come out, my sweet flower. I know you’re here.”
Shadows crawled over the Lady’s skin transforming her from a beautiful woman into a bent, wizened husk. I drew back, the memories of my previous encounter fresh in my mind. The Lady’s body shook and swayed, finally stilling as the transformation completed. Soulless eyes stared back at me.
Do not let him have you.
The Inquisitor watched my movements as if he could see into the fold of Light. I cringed from his scrutiny, my chest heavy with fear. He reached in, hissing as the Light touched his skin, and yanked me from the hiding spot as blisters formed on his hand.
“Hello, my delicious flower.” He pulled me tight against his body, pinning my arms in place.
I was no longer his prisoner, no longer bound and shackled. He held my body tight, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t fight back. This wasn’t a dream, but it wasn’t reality either. I reached for my bond to Michel and Aeron, to force myself awake, willing my mind to send my spirit back to my body.
Nothing happened.
I needed a weapon. Something to fight with. My magic flared, but fear held me back. What would happen if I unleashed it here?
I slammed my knee into the Inquisitor’s groin. Nothing. No reaction.
The Inquisitor’s smile widened, a cat playing with its prey. “Nice try.”
I wouldn’t give up. There had to be a way to free myself. I hunted for the elusive song deep within myself.
“Ah, perhaps this is the wrong face.” Shadows crawled over the Inquisitor’s facade, blurring his features until Bran replaced the Inquisitor.
“What are you?” I bucked against his hold.
“Does this face not please you? What about this one?” His face blurred once more and was replaced by Michel’s features. He pushed it against my neck and inhaled.
“Let me go.” Frantic, I bit his ear, latching on like a bulldog and pulling with all my might. I would not be used like that again.
The creature threw his head back and laughed. “You weren’t this feisty before. I’m going to enjoy this.”
I stared in horror at his unmarred ear. No blood. No teeth marks. Light. What was he?
The creature that wore Michel’s face squeezed until it felt as though my ribs would crack. He pinned me in place, leaving me weak-kneed. Darkness filled his eyes. There were no amber depths to fall into, only endless shadow. My breath caught in my lungs, trapped by the nameless fear that lodged in my throat. Words of defiance died unuttered on my lips. The stench of putrid flesh rolled from the thing that held me.
This wasn’t a man or a demon. This creature was something else entirely. It was the Darkness made flesh. How could I fight him? How could I win?
“You are mine, and I will not allow another man to touch you.” He placed two fingers over my heart and pulled.
I screamed as the ties that bound me to Bran, Aeron, and Michel were yanked from my chest. I struggled to hold on to them, to keep them in place. The braided bonds thinned like spun glass filled with light, blue, orange, green and gold. They stretched until I thought they would snap, but I held on, desperate to save them. My hands bled from gripping the razor-like threads. Drops of crimson fell to the ground and bloomed into red flowers that smelled of cinnamon and honey.
Familiar magic cocooned me and sent jolts of warmth to my core, cushioning my battered mind. It wrapped around me and illuminated the path back to my body.
“No!” Bran’s voice echoed in the dream. He strode from the hazy fog, a sword held in his hand, as he stepped between me and the Darkness. “I won’t let you have her.”
The Darkness released the bonds, and they snapped back into place with a force that drove me to my knees. I pressed my hand to my chest, rubbing at the tender spot.
“Do you really think you can stop me?” The Darkness grinned, an evil leer that smothered me, leaving me quaking.
Bran tensed. “It doesn’t matter what happens to me as long as I keep her safe from you.”
“Bran,” I whispered.
“Go.” He stepped forward, golden flames dancing over his sword.
“No, I’ll—”
Bran turned and shoved me, using magic to propel me off the path of dreams. The determined look on his face broke my heart. He was sacrificing himself for me. I couldn’t let him do it. I scrambled to return, to reach his side, but the Lady blocked my way.
<
br /> Leave and do not return.
“I have to help him.”
Go. I will not let the Darkness have him.
My mind spun in the eddies of Between before being pulled back to my body.
I woke with a jolt, my face wet with tears. “Bran.” His name came out in a whisper strangled by worry.
Fear for my Shield stole my breath, and I searched frantically for our bond. There. Still intact. Still shining with golden light. He must have escaped. Relief spread through me.
“You’re crying.” Michel sat on the edge of the bed and took my chin in his fingers, turning my face as he looked me over. “What’s wrong?”
I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his chest, grateful for his warmth as it melted the ice around my heart. I told him about the confrontation with the creature and Bran’s timely intervention. “The bond is still in place so he must have escaped.”
Michel hesitated and then nodded. “If you’re feeling rested, then we’d better move.”
I reluctantly pulled back, gathering my resolve. “Bran and Cre will find us, and we’ll find the Heart together.”
Lady, I prayed, keep him safe.
19
Bran stared at the silent seerstone. He’d tried to contact Llyr but had gotten no answer. Cre shivered in the corner of the abandoned mine, his face coated with sweat. Bran had been able to heal Cre’s gunshot wound enough to stop the bleeding and prevent infection, but that was the limit of his meager skill. Lords of Light were gifted with the Lady’s touch, but they weren’t healers.
Frustration and anxiety ate at Bran. He had no idea if Ris was safe or if Merrick had found her, but he couldn’t leave Cre. Not with him injured.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. He needed information. Needed to know what was going on. The brief contact he’d had with Michel the previous day had done nothing to ease his fears. Instead, it had heightened them.
The drip of water echoed from somewhere deep in the mine. A constant sound that itched across his skin and made him want to scream.
Panic and pain flooded his mind. Not his, but Ris’s. The intensity of it took his breath away. Where was she? What was happening? Had Merrick found her? Or maybe the Darkness?
The bond pulsed, a hot core of agony that speared his insides and threatened to drive him to his knees. Someone was trying to break his bond to Ris.
What should he do?
Bran froze. Another spike of pain drove through him. He didn’t have any time to waste. His magic unspooled from its tight coil and floated out from his center to his fingers. It rode the soft air currents of the mine, its silent notes touching the whisper of a breeze that blew in from outside.
Bran drifted on the eddy and flow, letting it act as a lullaby. His breathing slowed, his body relaxed, and he let go. He pulled himself Between, following the bond to Ris as it stretched in front of him. He felt her. She was here, trapped on the path of dreams. Her panic and frustration yanked him forward. Like a hunting dog with a scent, he honed in on her.
Sludge filled his thoughts, an oily slime that coated his soul. He moved closer, using the notes of his magic as an anchor.
And there she was.
The Darkness wrapped around Ris in a lover’s embrace, as he pulled the bonds that tied her to her Shield, Sword, and Cloak from her chest. Bran needed to distract him.
There was one option. The Lady had warned against it, but he was desperate. Still, it was dangerous. Cre wouldn’t be able to help him if something went wrong.
The curse pushed at the barrier around his heart, poking and prodding, looking for weakness. Bran fought the instinct to reinforce the wall, to shore it up, and bury it deep within. He needed to let a tiny thread of the curse out. Not much, just enough to distract the Darkness. To make it turn its attention to Bran. The curse pressed at his restraints, slithering by his defenses. He hauled it back and forced all but the smallest amount into the containment.
A high-pitched cry of agony ripped from Ris and nearly shredded Bran’s soul.
“No!” Frantic, Bran wove a sword of wind and coated it with his paladin’s flames. He didn’t stand a chance against the Darkness. He knew it. But, he could buy her some time. “I won’t let you have her.”
The Darkness’s smile reminded Bran of a predator that had cornered its prey. “Do you really think you can stop me?” It released the bonds, and they rebounded back into Ris.
Fog swirled around Bran’s ankles, wisps of white and grey tipped by shadows. It crawled up his legs with grasping fingers and sent shards of panic spiraling through his veins. “It doesn’t matter what happens to me as long as I keep her safe.”
“Bran.” Her whisper came out as both a prayer and a warning.
“Go,” he ordered. Light help him, he had to get her out of there.
“No, I’ll—”
Bran didn’t give her a chance to finish her statement before he shoved her from the path of dreams. He couldn’t fight with her in danger. The Lady stood beside him, her body withered from the stain of Darkness. Ris slowly faded away, returning to the real world.
Bran breathed a sigh of relief.
The Lady raised her hands, and a blast of wind and fire tore away the fog, revealing the broken landscape of the Bonelands.
“Careful, wife.” The Darkness offered a sly smile. “You wouldn’t want to waste your power.”
You will not have him. The Lady stepped between Bran and the Darkness even as her body swayed and trembled.
Bran readied his magic and the sweet trills of a clarinet filled him.
Leave this place, she commanded Bran.
Another blast of wind and fire rushed at the Darkness. The desire to protect the Lady, to fulfill his long-lost duty warred with his sense of self-preservation.
Go! She needs you more than I do.
The Lady’s words galvanized his resolve. She was right. He reached for the connection to his body.
“Not so fast.” The Darkness threw out a hand, and Bran found himself caught in a web. Trapped as though he was dinner for a spider. He called his paladin’s flames to burn away the sticky magic.
“Now, for your punishment, dear wife.” A shroud of shadows boiled from the Darkness’s hands and wrapped around the Lady.
Wind swirled, momentarily shredding the shadows, but the hungry tongues of Darkness grew stronger. Grew teeth that sliced and gouged her skin. Droplets of red fell to the ground, and white lilies grew in their place. Fog rose again obscuring the desolate landscape as it hid the Lady and the Darkness. Cries of fear and pain flooded the mist.
Bran struggled against the webs, trying to ignore the Lady’s screams of agony. How many times would he fail her? She was doing this to buy him time. He couldn’t let her sacrifice be in vain.
One thread of the web that held him burned away, releasing his arm. Another strand dissolved.
It was taking too long.
Bran increased the intensity of his song, his hands shaking with the effort. The Lady’s screams rose to a new pitch, and then abruptly cut off. He worked feverishly. A quick flash of his paladin’s fire and the final strands gave way, dropping him to the ground. He willed himself back to his body but ran into a barrier.
“Now, now, where do you think you’re going? We have so much to talk about.” The Darkness strode from the fog wearing the face of Aris, Bran’s long-lost wife.
It felt like someone had punched Bran in the chest. How many years had it been since he’d seen her? Held her? The scent of lemon blossoms and vanilla wound its way into his blood. Her scent. His knees threatened to buckle.
This isn’t real, he told himself. She’s not here.
“Oh, but it is real.” She reached up and cupped his cheek. “You wanted to protect me. Keep me safe.”
Bran tried to step back, but he was once again trapped in the web. “You aren’t her.”
“You failed. You always fail to protect the ones you love.�
�
Her words were like jagged glass against his battered soul. How many times had he told himself that very thing? He was doomed to repeat the same mistakes in a never-ending cycle of misery.
“I’ve waited so long for this.” Aris touched her finger to his chest, over his heart. Right where the curse lived. “For you to join me.”
Bran shook his head to clear his thoughts. No. This wasn’t real. This wasn’t Aris. He summoned his holy flames and threw them in the thing’s face.
Aris waved them away and smiled. “That wasn’t very nice. You’ve fought so hard to keep all of them safe. To keep them pure. Too bad I always got there first.”
Bran grabbed onto his bond with Ris and yanked, trying to pull himself back to reality. He remained stuck fast in the web of shadow.
Aris stood on her toes, pressed her lips to his ear, and whispered, “You’ve kept me locked in your heart for so long and finally you’ve let me out. Did you really think it would be that easy to get away?”
Desperate, he pushed his flames outward, a maelstrom of golden light that burned everything it touched. Everything but the Darkness.
Aris smiled again. “You should have listened to my traitorous wife’s warning. She told you what would happen. You should have never released the curse. Now, you belong to me. Just as your precious Lady does.”
Bran’s flames guttered and went out. He screamed as threads of shadow bled from the Darkness who wore Aris’s face and twisted around him, stronger than steel, sharper than razors. They released a poisonous song. The notes sliced him open, baring his soul for the creature.
“That’s right. Let me show you what you can be.” The Darkness pushed its hand into Bran’s chest and enclosed talons around his heart.
Visions danced through his head. Images of him standing beside Aris and Ris, watching as the world burned. He thrashed against the Darkness’s hold, fighting with everything he had to get free. He wouldn’t let it have him. Never. Not like this.
The shadow song wrapped tighter, binding him in a cocoon. He feared what he would be when he emerged.
A Sea of Broken Glass Page 19