Mistress of Winter Read online

  “If you refuse to listen, the truth will be forced on you just like it was forced on them.”

  A chill ran up Shara’s spine. That Islander was invisible to magic. He could get past the Heartstone’s cage.

  “I think you might be right.”

  Arefaine opened the door, then stopped. “Wait. The containment stones. Where are they?”

  “The stones? Why?”

  “Who knows what could happen?”

  Shara nodded and hurried across the room to the ironwood chest that held the containment stones.

  CHAPTER 19

  Shara couldn’t get up the stairs fast enough. The energy of the Floani form surged unbidden through her body. Her muscles ached, yearning to run ahead, but she had to hold herself at the pace of the others.

  Arefaine looked as anxious as Shara, craning her neck to see around the curve of the stairs. Scant moonlight filtered through the spotty clouds, and the sculpture of Scythe loomed in the distance

  Arefaine’s bodyguards showed no signs of strain from their mad dash across the city, but Baelandra and Issefyn were panting heavily as they approached the top of the Wheel. The older women were obviously struggling, but neither showed any signs of slowing down.

  Baelandra had been chatting with Galliana when Shara and Arefaine came down the tower stairs. The former sister instantly knew something was wrong, and once Baelandra heard that Brophy might be in danger, she insisted that she come along. Issefyn had also offered to help. Shara was happy to have them along, but she would have gotten here much faster if she had just used her magic to race across the city alone.

  Shara had also sent Galliana to the Citadel to warn Faedellin and ask him to send a squad of Lightning Swords. Even if Arefaine’s fears turned out to be unfounded, Shara wanted extra guards around Brophy as long as that Islander was in the city.

  They reached the top of the stairs, and Shara finally got a clear view of the Hall. Brophy’s torch still burned atop the amphitheater, but she couldn’t see anything else at this distance. Shara waited for the others to catch up, starting to wonder if she was going to feel very foolish when this night was done.

  “I told you it was probably nothing,” Shara said, resting the box of containment stones on one hip as Baelandra reached her side. The former Sister struggled to catch her breath.

  “Nothing wrong…with a little moonlit stroll…” she managed to get out. “I rather enjoyed—”

  The shatter of distant glass cut her off in midsentence. Moments later a young woman screamed.

  “They’re here!” Arefaine shouted.

  Shara handed the box to Baelandra and invoked the Floani form. Her legs surged with power, and she rushed toward the sound. Arefaine smoothly kept pace with her, using the same magic, and they left the others behind. Together they flew down the dark pathway.

  Arefaine reached into the sleeve of her robe and tossed a little glowing ball in the direction of the hall. It shot into the distance, leaving the path and heading into the gardens. “Follow the light!”

  Shara swerved to her left, following the little spirit. She’d read about the mages using Elani magic to create the luminous orbs from the souls of the departed, but she had never tried to do it. Once again she was vexed and awed by Arefaine’s skill.

  The two women flew through the night, following the tiny light as it whipped across the Wheel. They weaved around trees and fountains, leaping hedges and ducking low-hanging branches. Shara spun around a stone bench as Arefaine lifted her skirts and hopped over it. The two sorceresses rounded the marble steps of the Palace of Winter to the sound of clanging steel. Blood wet the grass. A pair of tattooed Silver Islanders lay sprawled on the lawn next to three Lightning Swords, all dead.

  Reef and the last of Brophy’s four defenders circled each other, swords striking and parrying. The veteran Lightning Sword frantically defended himself with the Sword of Autumn. The red glow from the sword’s pommel stone lit their grim faces. Beyond them, a tattooed woman held Brophy under the armpits, dragging him toward the edge of the Wheel. She clutched the Heartstone in both hands, pressing it against Brophy’s chest. Shara felt the power of the Silver Islander’s voice, maintaining the spell that kept Brophy asleep.

  Reef spotted their arrival and cursed, pressing his attack with a deadly barrage. The Lightning Sword fell back, nearly overwhelmed.

  Arefaine skidded to a stop and clenched her teeth in fierce concentration. She pointed an imperious finger at Reef.

  “Die,” she whispered, and a flood of magic more intense than Shara had ever seen engulfed the burly islander. Nothing happened.

  “No!” Arefaine shouted. Her teeth showed, and she tried again.

  The magical assault flowed around Reef as if he were a rock in a river. The man continued his ferocious assault, driving his opponent back.

  “You are invincible,” Shara whispered to the Lightning Sword, sending a stream of ani toward him. “Your blade strikes the heart. Your strength cannot be matched.”

  The Ohndarien defender swelled, his tunic tightening against his arms. He bared his teeth and bulled forward. With a growl, Reef stumbled away. The soldier followed, his sword flexing with the speed of his blows. Reef fell to one knee, and the guard brought his sword down in a fierce downward cut, smashing through Reef’s parry. His sword tip nicked the Islander’s chest and buried itself into the ground. Seizing the moment, Reef lunged, driving his blade through the soldier’s stomach. With a feral roar, the soldier slumped to his knees.

  Reef discarded his bent sword and drew a knife. He started toward them. “I warned you,” he growled, looking at Shara.

  Reef’s eyes flicked behind them, and Shara heard the pounding of booted feet on the steps of the Winter Palace just behind them. The two Carriers of the Opal Fire rushed past Shara and Arefaine, heading straight for Reef.

  The Islander’s huge biceps twitched, the tattoos seemingly alive as he backed toward his companion and placed his dagger against Brophy’s neck. “I’ll kill him!” he shouted. “Stay back.”

  The Carriers swerved right and left, coming at Reef from opposite directions.

  “No! Wait!” Shara shouted. “Do what he says!”

  The Ohohhim guardsmen paused a few feet away from Reef and the woman holding Brophy. The Islanders continued backing toward the edge.

  “It’s a bluff,” Arefaine whispered. “He’d never harm the Warden.”

  The Islanders reached the edge of the Wheel where it extended out into the bay. There was water directly below them, but they’d be fools to jump with Brophy from that height.

  “Don’t do it!” Shara called to them. “You’ll destroy us all.”

  “Start singing,” Arefaine whispered. “I’ll handle the rest.”

  “No. Just wait,” Shara begged her.

  Reef pointed at Arefaine. “Don’t let that witch drag you into the abyss.”

  “I’ll drag your entire race into the abyss,” Arefaine shouted back at him.

  A flicker of a smile crossed Reef’s features. “We’ll see about that, daughter of Morgeon.”

  “Reef,” Shara shouted. “You don’t want to do this.”

  “You leave me no other choice,” Reef insisted. “You had your chance to see the truth, now these deaths are on your head.”

  “Start singing,” Arefaine insisted.

  “No.”

  Reef took the Heartstone from his companion. A tender look passed between them, and she bent her knees to jump.

  “Now!” Arefaine shouted, and the Carriers attacked.

  “Wait!” Shara screamed.

  One of the Carriers attacked Reef. The other threw his sword, piercing the tattooed woman through the throat.

  “No!” Shara screamed.

  Reef swatted aside his opponent’s blade with his bare hand and spun around to aid his companion. She slumped forward, landing on Brophy. Without a second’s hesitation, Reef turned and leapt from the edge of the Wheel. At the top of his arc, he spun and threw his
dagger straight at Arefaine. With a shout, Shara lunged for it. She meant to catch the knife by the handle, but missed, hitting the blade instead.

  The knife spun past Arefaine’s shoulder. She never flinched.

  Shara clutched her bleeding hand and started singing. Desperately, she reached out with her magic, grabbing the unraveling threads of her spell and wove them back together. She could feel the black emmeria surge within Brophy, but she held it back, keeping Brophy safely within his dreams.

  Arefaine strode to the edge of the Wheel and glared down where Reef had disappeared. Shara would have screamed at the woman if she could. The bloodthirsty fool had nearly gotten Brophy killed.

  “Mistress!” one of the Carriers called, leaning over Brophy’s body. “Come quick!”

  Shara knelt next to Brophy, ignoring the terror in the Ohohhim guard’s voice. A foul wind hit her in the face.

  “Look,” the Carrier said, his voice tight.

  The Islander woman lay slumped over Brophy, impaled through the neck. The Ohohhim blade had pierced Brophy’s shoulder as she fell forward. Black blood was frothing up from the wound. Shara nearly screamed. She nearly dropped the singing and lost her spell.

  A chorus of tortured voices swept around them, gaining in intensity as the flood of tortured souls fled their prison through Brophy’s wound.

  It’s the Nightmare Battle all over again, Shara thought. All over again.

  CHAPTER 20

  Keep singing,” Arefaine shouted, grabbing the Heartstone off the grass. She threw the woman’s tattooed corpse to the side and pressed the stone against the gout of hungry, black blood surging from Brophy’s shoulder.

  Shara wanted to cry, to rage, to smack the girl for her reckless arrogance, but she couldn’t. She kept singing.

  The torrent of screams swirled around the glade. The sounds grew louder and louder until they became a deafening cacophony all around them. Shara’s hair blew back, and she closed her eyes against the tormented wind. Her ears rushed with the noise, and she sang louder to compensate.

  A single voice rose above the others, drowning out the cacophony with its laughter. You have failed, Morgeon, I am free at last! Shara hid her face and covered her ears, singing at the top of her lungs.

  Shara felt Arefaine taking a deep breath, gathering her power. She held the magic trapped within herself for a moment, then seemed to explode, flooding the area with a rush of ani so intense it nearly blinded Shara. Arefaine’s magic spun around them, catching the foul voices in her net. Within moments she had contained all of the black emmeria that had escaped from Brophy.

  I made you. I made you! You cannot deny me.

  Shara stared at the girl. She could never have created and mastered so much raw energy. It didn’t seem possible.

  Arefaine pitted her will against the black emmeria stemming the flood rushing out of Brophy’s body at the same time that she fought to repress the energy that had already escaped. Her brown hair blew loose and whipped across her white cheeks. Lines of strain appeared at the edges of her eyes where the white powder had smeared away, and her lips pulled back from gritted teeth.

  The surge of magic was like a trickle of deep water forcing its way through a crack in the rock. Shara could feel the pressure. A malignant blackness surged from Brophy’s shoulder into the crystal.

  This power is yours, Daughter of Morgeon. It is your birthright. Set us free!

  Shara split her attention, concentrating on her singing and sending Arefaine a flood of power at the same time. Together, they forced the emmeria into the Heartstone, staining the crystal black at an alarming rate.

  Arefaine turned away from Brophy and looked behind them. “Issefyn! Baelandra!” she called, using the Lowani form to amplify her voice. “I need those stones!”

  Shara looked from the blackened Heartstone to Brophy’s face. The air of serenity that had surrounded him all those years had been shattered. His brows were knitted in pain, and his eyes pulsed frantically back and forth between his crinkled lids. She groped in the grass for the discarded Sword of Autumn and placed the pommel stone against his wound. She began channeling energy through the crystal, willing his flesh to knit back together, but it was too slow, too difficult with the polluted ani rushing though the gash.

  Arefaine continued to imprison the black emmeria in the Heartstone. The gem was already pitch-black, and Shara could sense that it was dangerously close to its capacity.

  Shara heard footfalls behind them and turned to see Baelandra running toward them, still holding the box of stones. Her frantic eyes took in the scene at a glance.

  “I need the stones, now!” Arefaine hissed, shaking with the strain.

  Baelandra looked to Shara for guidance. Shara nodded, and Bae rushed to them, sliding on the grass right up to Brophy’s side. She opened the box and handed Arefaine one of the stones.

  Do not listen to their lies, their petty fears. We will resurrect Efften together, you and I.

  Arefaine leaned the Heartstone away from Brophy’s wound and immediately replaced it with the much smaller containment stone. The multicolored stone instantly filled with an inky darkness. Shara willed the stone to work, dreading that it would explode just like all the ones she had made, but it held.

  “How…can I help?” Baelandra panted.

  “You can’t,” Arefaine replied, her face rigid with concentration.

  “I’ve done this before.” Baelandra insisted.

  “I know, but you no longer carry a shard of the Heartstone. She cannot protect you.”

  Slowly, Baelandra nodded. “Be careful,” she whispered. “Be sure.” Shara didn’t know if she was talking to Arefaine, to all of them, or to no one in particular.

  Issefyn finally caught up with them, staring at the saturated Heartstone with wide eyes.

  Arefaine set the Heartstone on the grass and continued to channel the black emmeria from Brophy’s wound into the smaller crystal. Issefyn reached for the Heartstone, but Arefaine shook her head.

  “Stay back. Only Shara and I can handle the stones, you must not touch them for any reason.” Issefyn pulled her hand back, and Baelandra nodded.

  When the first stone was nearly filled, Arefaine reached for the second. Most of the black emmeria had been purged from Brophy’s body, but there was still enough left to corrupt thousands.

  Do not let caution hold you back. Claim your birthright, and I will share this treasure with you.

  Arefaine swapped the stones and continued the process. She handed the pitch-black stone to Shara. The emmeria ate at her fingers, desperate to escape its crystal prison and invade her flesh. Shara sheathed herself in her own ani, forcing the blackness back where it belonged. She carefully placed the stone in the box.

  Brophy’s head jerked from side to side, and his legs twitched as if he was trying to run. Shara had longed for years to see him move again, but she never wanted it to be like this. Was this how Brophy would wake? Covered in blood, surrounded by brutal murder and near cataclysm?

  Shara unbuttoned Brophy’s shirt and vest, revealing his heartstone, gray and cloudy. It still struck Shara as wrong every time she saw it. That gem should be red, blazing red like the sunset. She used the hem of her dress to wipe the blood from his chest.

  “We’re nearly done,” Arefaine told them. “Whatever you do, Shara, do not stop singing. Keep him asleep until we have it all.”

  Beads of sweat appeared on Arefaine’s forehead, creating tracks through the powder. She panted, her hands like bird’s claws as she swapped the third stone for the second. The last gem filled much more slowly than the others. It darkened, then blackened.

  Poorly done, little one. You have held me for now, but it is you who has been denied. I will wait for now. I will wait for you.

  The black blood frothing around Brophy’s wound slowly calmed, then disappeared altogether. The howling faded to nothing until Shara’s steady voice was the only sound in the moonlit night.

  With a gasp, Arefaine held the last co
ntainment stone out to Shara. Shara transferred the stone to the case, and Baelandra put her arms around Arefaine, who suddenly seemed skinny and frail. Sweat streaked her cheeks, but she smiled.

  “It’s done,” she said. “It’s out. All of it.” Brophy’s heartstone gleamed a brilliant red.

  Shara pulled Brophy to her chest.

  “Oh Brophy,” she wept, cupping his head in her hands. “It’s over. We did it. You’re free…”

  But he did not wake. He did not stir.

  Shara pulled back. Brophy twitched in her arms. He jerked his head to the side as if writhing in pain while his eyes darted frantically back and forth beneath their lids.

  Enjoy your lover while you can, Shara-lani. I am sure you will appreciate what I have made of him.

  CHAPTER 21

  Issefyn stared at the Heartstone lying on the grass a few feet in front of her. She could feel the power within it, warm on her face, drawing her forward. After all this time the emmeria was finally within her grasp, and it was physically painful to keep her distance. She needed time alone with the stone. She needed a safe place to explore the mysteries locked within, but she couldn’t risk anything with all the others around.

  None of the other women held the slightest concern for the treasure that lay before them. They all clung to Brophy, whimpering like starving puppies huddled around their dead mother.

  Issefyn braced herself for the disgusting reunion scene, but the seconds passed, and the fool never opened his eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” Shara bleated, shaking him. “Why won’t he wake?”

  Issefyn wanted to laugh. Only the archmages of Efften had shown true mastery over emmeria. These three played with it like apes poking a fire.

  The Ohohhim girl sent her magic into Brophy, searching for the reason. “There’s something still there,” she said.

  Issefyn saw right through the girl’s feigned surprise. She probably knew this would happen. It must all be part of her little plan. Issefyn itched to probe the girl, but didn’t dare. Not yet.