Chapter Twenty-Eight
A moment later, the transport spell ended. Once again, Rowan and I stood on the Meadow of Many Gateways. The Martyr’s Comet flared with crimson light, casting everything in a blood red glow. Five armies still waited on the checkerboard ground, ready to attack. I counted the warriors of the Lady, Sire, Viktor, Petra, and Rowan. Thousands of eyes were now locked on Rowan and me. Waiting.
The Lady broke the silence. “You’ve come back to us. Are you ready for your sacrifice?”
I turned to Rowan and lifted my arm, palm forward. The request was there but unspoken. Let’s share hybrid power so we can attack.
Rowan curved his full mouth into the hint of a smile. “My brave mate. It will take some time to pull in enough magick.” Which made sense. We’d never attempted anything so huge with hybrid power before, and it took time to pull in our energy and transform it.
“In that case, we better get started.”
Rowan rested his palm against mine. Both of us pulled in our respective magick. Then the power moved between us, sending beams of violet light up our arms and across our chests, spinning through each other in great loops. Rowan still held the Sword of Theodora in his right hand. He raised it high until the light of the Martyr’s Comet reflected off the blade.
At that sight, all the Casters broke out into a massive cheer. Evidently, they’d all regained their memories and knew precisely who I was. They seemed beyond thrilled that Rowan and I now had the Sword. I wouldn’t be surprised if they left the field of battle to start yet another celebration.
For their part, the Sire and Lady frowned. Viktor’s face flushed with rage. The Sire stepped forward, his face tight with anger. “You see the armies arrayed before you, daughter. You are our flesh and blood, and we don’t want to send our forces to attack you, but we will.”
The Lady glanced over toward Petra. “Or perhaps some mortals will do so for us.”
My mouth fell open with shock. My parents never liked killing their children themselves, but they weren’t above ordering someone else to do their dirty work.
Across the meadow, Petra understood exactly what the deities wanted. She began shrieking at the Necromancers. “Attack Elea! Save yourselves!”
One of the Necromancers stepped forward. I recognized him as Quinn, someone I’d raised from the dead after the battle with Viktor. He was a tall man with skull-like features, even before he’d received the bone markings on his face. “Our Tsarina is trying to save us. Don’t you see?”
Petra rounded on him. “She’s supposed to sacrifice herself, not cast a hybrid spell or whatever it is she’s doing. Her death is what the Sire and Lady want. We can be part of that history.”
“I won’t hurt her.” Quinn gestured behind him. “Neither will the others. Our Tsarina raised us all from the dead.”
I could have shouted for joy. Despite Petra’s urgings, the Necromancer army would stay in place. This gave Rowan and I critical time to pull in more power. Hybrid energy zinged through my limbs, but there was still more room in my soul for magick. Rowan and I would need every last bit we could gather.
Petra turned to Rowan’s Casters, who still stood beside her on the meadow. “This witch has entranced you! Don’t you want her gone?”
Kade stepped forward. “Didn’t you hear our cries of joy? We’ll protect our king and his mate until the end.”
Amelia stood at Kade’s side, her face streaked with tears. She called to me across the meadow. “Kade told me what happened. I didn’t know what I was doing, Elea.” Her bronze robes were torn at the neckline. “We’ll fight for you now. I swear!”
Rowan shook his head. “Stay where you are, all of you. Elea and I will end this. No bloodshed.”
The Lady grinned. “I knew you didn’t want a fight. You’re summoning hybrid power for another reason..”
“They’re trying to heal the gateways for us,” said the Sire. “But that’s not how we want it done. You’d be too dangerous afterwards. Hybrid power always corrupts.”
In other words, they fear having a couple around who was stronger than they were. More hybrid energy built up in every corner of my being. My parents would have to learn to live with disappointment. Soon, there would be a stronger pair of mages in this world.
“Please, just sacrifice yourself willingly.” The Lady raised her arm, and the Sword of Theodora flew into her palm. “Allow me to ease your passing. I’ll deliver the blow myself, that’s a great honor for you.”
“We’re not going to heal the gateways,” I said.
“Good.” The Sire’s face turned into a mask of calm once more. “Go to your mother now.”
“We’re going to blow them apart, just like we did to the Skullock Passage.”
“What?” The Sire’s normally calm face twitched with rage. “You can’t mean that. This empire is ours.”
“Your empire is over,” I said. “Welcome to the end of the Meadow of Many gateways.”
Viktor waved to me from the spot with his army. “So you’re gifting me this realm? Thank you.”
I knew what my brother meant. By closing the gateways, I’d lock my parents here, right where he could kill them. After that, Viktor would rule this world.
But I didn’t have time right now to worry about Viktor and his scheming. My parents had rallied together. Standing side by side, they called out the same word in unison.
“Attack!”
The armies of black knights and leather clad warriors raced toward us. The ground rumbled with their footfalls. One again, the skies darkened with airborne fighters. I turned to Rowan. An eerie sense of calm washed over me. My body felt so crammed with power, it seemed ready to burst.
“Are you ready, my mate?” I asked.
Rowan nodded. “Let’s send these armies back to the Eternal Lands.”
We didn’t need to speak an incantation. Our intention was enough for the hybrid magick. All of a sudden, purple cords wound down our arms. The ropes gleamed with magick and power, and they wanted to be set loose. Like the pull of a magnet, the ethereal ropes summoned us to stop pressing our palms together and instead face out toward the oncoming army.
We weren’t so much casting a spell as having a conversation with magick.
Rowan and I both turned to face the oncoming forces.
The cords of light and power burst forth from our arms, multiplying as they shot out across the open meadow. From the corner of my eye, I saw Petra screaming at my Necromancers, urging them to join the battle. None of my people moved into the fray.
My people? Since when did I think of them as this?
The answer appeared in a flash. The Necromancers became mine once they decided to fight for me. I would never back down from an ally. After all, I was casting this hybrid spell to keep faith with a pair of tricksters. I could do no less than for my fellow mages.
The magickal ropes tied themselves around every warrior. Cords wound around waists of fighters. More entangled about the legs of horses. Thousands shot into the sky, tying up the wings of flying creatures. Others bound the hands and feet of the Sire and Lady.
Meanwhile, the palace mages had cast spells to contain the Changed Ones. Kade was standing around idle; he’d ordered the Caster mages to help. Now, all the Changed ones were restrained in a great Orb of Holding. It essentially looked like a great glass container that kept them all in place.
Good work, Kade.
Without words, the hybrid magick told me that it had everyone from the Eternal Lands in its grasp. I turned to Rowan. “Do you sense it?” I didn’t need to day that it was the fact that the magick was ready to send everyone back. Rowan could hopefully sense it as well as I did.
Rowan nodded. “It’s time they went home.”
After that, the magick knew exactly what Rowan and I wanted. Instantly, the violet cords snapped loose from our arms. After that, the free ends sped into different gateways, lighting them up with violet brightness. Moving in sync, the magickal ropes yanked the warriors through the arches. As each fighter passed on, the gateways flared with purple light.
My heart soared. The hybrid magick was working. Soon, the only people left on the meadow would be the Caster and Necromancer armies. The Changed Ones were still secure inside the Orb of Holding. Petra kept screaming at my people, but they weren’t heeding her, despite the fact that her arm blazed with Necromancer power, ready to cast a spell. That didn’t bode well.
I focused on my hybrid magick. “Go after Petra.” The cords of power didn’t respond.
Rowan added his voice into the mix. “Get rid of that Mother Superior.”
Closing my eyes, I connected with the new energy inside my soul. Rowan and I had pulled in a lot of power, but I could tell that the hybrid energy had enough to do with dragging off the Sire of Souls, Lady of Creation and all their minions. Petra would simply have to wait.
I looked to Rowan. “The magick needs more time.”
“I sense it as well. Once the hybrid power is done with the residents of the Eternal Lands, it will focus on the rest.” His emerald gaze held mine, and all things confident shown in his eyes. “We can do this.”
“What about Viktor? I haven’t seen the cords grab him. The magick might see him as a resident of our world, not the Eternal Lands.” There was also the fact that our world was about to implode and there were gateways to heal, but I figured we needed to pace out our worries.
“Good point,” said Rowan. “I’ll keep an eye out for Viktor. You watch Petra.”
“Agreed.”
There was no sign of Viktor, but Petra was easy enough to find. Her arm still glowed blue with power as she berated my Necromancers. The sight made blood boil. That is, until another scene grabbed my attention entirely.
My parents were being pulled through the gateways. All the other residents of the Eternal Lands had already vanished, but the Sire and Lady remained and fought against their bounds, twisting, writhing and fighting every step of the way. The cords stayed wrapped about their hands and waist, but the two dug their heels into the meadow. Mauling them into the gateways was slow going.
“Do you see that?” I asked Rowan.
“Hard to miss.”
“We need to send in more power.”
“Right.”
Focusing deep within our souls, Rowan and I delved into every corner of our consciousness, heaving forth every last scrap of hybrid power we could manage. Before, my body had felt so jammed with hybrid magick, I thought I might explode. Now, my limbs felt empty and hollow. Even when my blood had been drained by Kila Kitu, I hadn’t felt this woozy.
Our efforts soon paid off. The violet cords around the Sire and Lady turned thicker and stronger. Suddenly, the ropes flared more brightly than ever before. The cords turned taught and whipped my parents out of this world and through a gateway. Light flared as they disappeared.
Seeing that, something in my soul broke. I’d wanted to know my parents so badly, thinking there was a hole in my heart without them. Now, I realized how much I already had. Rowan, Amelia, Jicho, Rosie…I’d had a loving and full life indeed. My parents were better off where they were, in their own realm while I stayed in mine.
For a moment, the meadow was silent. The Caster and Necromancer armies looked to us expectantly. The Changed Ones were still sealed inside their Orb of Holding. Above us, the red light of the Martyr’s Comet burned more intensely than ever.
That’s when Viktor struck.
My brother had hidden himself inside the Necromancer army. It was easy enough to do, considering how he was already wearing hooded Necromancer robes.
Now, Viktor leapt out from the ranks of death mages. In all the excitement of dispelling the other armies, somehow the Lady had dropped the Sword of Theodora. Or perhaps she gave it to her son. In any case, Viktor now held the Sword in his fist.
And he was racing toward Rowan and me.
The Necromancers and Caster armies roared with rage. That’s when Petra got into the battle as well. She released the magick she’d been storing up and quickly cast a skeletal wall. This was a massive structure made of thousands of razor-sharp bones, and it blocked the Caster and Necromancer armies away. The Changed Ones were left outside the wall, however. I assessed the Orb of Holding that kept them back. They Changed Ones were pounding against the clear walls. Cracks had already formed in the sphere. It wouldn’t last much longer.
Kade could order the palace mages to cast a few spells and shore up the Orb of Holding, but all of Rowan’s people were still blocked behind Petra’s Bone Wall, along with Petra herself. Rowan and I could boost up the Orb of Holding as well, but we’d both depleted our magick in order to get rid of the Sire and Lady. And I couldn’t speak for Rowan, but I not only felt empty, I was exhausted too. My mind felt numb from processing so much magick. Normally, I’d rest for days after what I’d just done. Here, there was no time.
Viktor raised his fist, showing off the totem rings that gleamed on his fingers. He called out the words to launch the spells hidden within the bands. “Attack!” Blue lights flared as the hidden spells came to life.
This was where all Viktor’s planning came into play. His totem spells were all about empowering his army of Changed Ones. Before, the Changed Ones had been mostly human. Now, they all transformed into full hybrids of humans and animals. Lions, eagles, and reptiles…every kind of predator now stood across the meadow from us. They beat against the wall of the Orb of Holding with ferocious power.
The spell burst apart. The Changed Ones were free.
Viktor raced toward us with a hoard of berserk animal warriors behind him. The Sword of Theodora gleamed in his fist.
I searched my soul, looking for any kind of hybrid power left inside me. I was empty. My gaze locked with Rowan’s. “I’ve no magick left. You?”
Rowan shook his head and raised his hand. “We need to recharge.”
I pressed my palm against his and tried to pull Necromancer power into my body. Exhaustion was getting the better of me. No matter how hard I pushed myself, I could only pull in a thin trickle of blue light. Pathetic.
Rowan wasn’t doing much better himself. “I’m too tired. I can’t recharge.”
“We need help.” My gaze ran across the orange totem ring on my own hand. An idea formed. “Whatever power you have, focus it into your totem ring. Maybe we can summon Mlinzi and Walinzi.” It was an outlandish plan, but as least it was one.
“Right.” Rowan glared at his own totem ring with such intensity, I was surprised the metal didn’t disintegrate under his stare.
For my part, I channeled my paltry bit of Necromancer energy into my orange band while repeating the same thoughts, over and over. “We need you. Help us.”
At the same time, Viktor and his army of Changed Ones rampaged closer. Viktor ran before his warriors, a maniacal gleam in his eyes.
I stared down at my hand. The last time the totem ring activated, it glowed orange. Now, the metal looked ordinary and dull. The same was true with Rowan’s ring.
The plan to summon the trickster gods wasn’t working.
Time to fight.
It took a huge effort, but I was able to force myself to face turn and face Viktor straight on. I imagined myself standing strong and tall but in reality, I mostly wobbled. Reaching out with my mage senses, I pulled in whatever Necromancer energy I could find. Another pathetic stream of power wound up my arm. If I got lucky, I might be able to cast a fireball spell. One.
Rowan stood by my side. His hand glowed red, too, and the light of his magick was just as weak as mine.
Viktor was closing in.
Twenty yards.
Ten.
One.
My brother paused before us and raised the Sword of Theodora high. “I told you that you’d power the gateways for me. Thank you for my empire.”
He never got the chance to lower his blade.
All of a sudden, the gateway behind us flared with orange light. The stone arch burst as two gigantic monkeys leapt onto the meadow. It was Mlinzi and Walinzi, and they were angrier than I’d ever seen them.
“Kill!” cried Mlinzi.
Viktor stood frozen in shock, the blade still held above in head. “What in the worlds are you?”
Walinzi pursed her long lips. “I’ve seen this one. He causes you trouble, doesn’t he, Elea?”
“He was about to run me through with a sword, actually.” I was proud of how little I slurred my words.
“Yes, brother. You may kill him. Use the Sword.”
Mlinzi hopped up and down, crying out “ooo-ooo-ooo” noises as he swiped the Sword of Theodora from Viktor and jammed the blade through my brother’s chest. A beam of crimson light flared up from the wound. At the same time, the last rays of the Martyr’s Comet cast the meadow in a blood-red glow.
Viktor howled, pain etched into his pale features. He wasn’t a willing sacrifice, and agony was the result. It felt as if a year slowly passed while he died. In reality, it was probably a matter of seconds before my brother was gone.
The meadow’s grounds rumbled beneath our feet. Great fissures opened up in the earth. The Martyr’s Comet flared its brightest shade of red yet. We were almost out of time.
“Quickly,” I said. “We need to place Viktor’s body on the gateway.”
Rowan bent down to lift Viktor in his arms, but Walinzi was too fast for him. She scooped up my brother’s body and chucked it into a nearby gateway with all the ceremony of tossing out an old banana peel. I suppose that’s what she thought of him in the end: garbage.
Like I’d seen in the vision with Kila Kitu, Viktor’s dead body flared with violet light, a brightness that seeped into the gateway around him before being transferred into the surrounding arches. One by one, the nearby gateways lit up with searing violet light. The earth rumbled as the great breaks in the ground pressed back together.
Our world was healing.
Viktor was dead.
It didn’t seem possible, but it was happening all the same. I made a mental note to visit every Seer and spell Caster who’d said it was impossible for Viktor to become the sacrifice and explain to them what had actually happened. In detail.
The light from the Martyr’s Comet disappeared. Viktor’s body became transparent as a ghost’s, and then he was gone as well.
Across the meadow, the bone wall cast by Petra crumbled into dust. Beyond it, I could see how the Necromancers and Casters had turned into a combined army in order to defeat Petra. Her body lay lifeless on the earth. My eyes stung with sadness. She hadn’t been evil so much as weak, and it cost her everything.
Walinzi plunked down beside me, fanning herself with the end of her long orange tail. “It seems you and your mate are now rulers of an empire. What do you plan to do with it?”
There was no question on that count. I turned to Rowan. “Are you thinking the same that I am?”
Rowan gave me one of his most crooked smiles. “We’ll hold a festival that will be the greatest ever seen.”
“Precisely. We’ll need to be crowned—both of us—and we’ll hold the ceremony right here. You and Mlinzi are invited, of course.”
Walinzi kept fanning herself with her tail. “We’ll check our schedule.”
Across the meadow, the Caster army whooped with joy. Many pulled out skins of whiskey and passed them around. Another group broke into song, the words lauding all the glories of Rowan and me. A few Necromancers even joined in the tune.
And right here, in this moment, the world was perfect.