Chapter 22: Sacrifice

 

 

AND BECAUSE I couldn’t not, I rolled my eyes. “Dude, that entrance was kind of weak. I mean, I get what you were going for, but honestly? I’ve seen better.” I felt like I was breaking apart, but I couldn’t let him see fear. I couldn’t let him see I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how we’d get out of this.

Myrin chuckled. “Have you now?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, dude. I mean, you get points for the shadow-smoke thing, but beyond that? Kind of disappointing. You had your lackey here shouting at me to say your name. Who does that? And did you seriously wait until I did say your name before you showed? Because if you did, that’s pretty fucking lame.”

“Oh, Sam. You are not what I expected you to be.”

“So you’ve said before. New material. Learn it.”

“I see you for what you are.”

“Oh?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “Are you going to psychoanalyze me? That’s neat.”

Myrin took a step toward me, and it took all I had not to take an answering step back, to stand my ground to show him I wasn’t afraid, even though my heart was splitting down the middle. Ryan was breathing, little raspy breaths, but he wouldn’t be for long. I had to get us out of here.

And if it meant killing both Myrin and Ruv, well.

That’s the way it was going to be.

“Your words, Sam,” Myrin said, coming to a stop right outside the circle of dragon’s blood. “They are your weapons. You wield them as a knight does a sword.”

“Is that right,” I said. “How interesting. Hey, here’s an idea. Break the circle and we’ll see just how strong my words are. What do you say?”

“You’re scared,” Myrin said. “You hide it, but it lurks in you, just along your edges. I can see it, Sam of Wilds. And you’re right to be afraid.”

I glared at him. “I’m not scared of you.”

“I do sense some truth in that. Honestly, I do. And it’s admirable. But I never said the fear was directed toward me.” He glanced toward the wall. “It would seem the Knight Commander is but a butterfly pinned to a board.”

He took a step toward Ryan.

And I snapped. “You leave him the fuck alone!”

But Myrin ignored me. “Love is a curious thing,” he said as he stood in front of Ryan, looking up at his bowed head. “Don’t you think, Sam? It creates art and poetry. Death and destruction. Cities are razed because of it. Wars are fought. It is humbling and all-consuming, and it can drive a person out of their mind.”

He pressed a single finger against the hilt of the sword sticking out of Ryan’s stomach. He moved his finger side to side, causing the sword to shift the barest amounts. Ryan groaned, another thin stream of blood spilling from his mouth.

I screamed for Myrin to stop.

“I loved once,” Myrin said. “With my entire heart. And even when I realized my path was different than those I loved, I still loved them. I told them as much. I told them both that nothing had to change, that we could still be as we were. I understood that they could not follow me. I understood that. Our paths would diverge, but I knew what I was meant to do. And even when they begged me, even when they pleaded with me to turn away from my fate, to ignore what I could truly be capable of, I loved them.”

He shook his head as he dropped his hand from the sword. “They said they had no other choice. They did, in the end. Because it always comes down to choices. They chose to burn the love I felt for them from my heart. They chose to encapsulate what remained in shadow. They chose to let me suffer in a realm that only exists to contain the worst of all existence. And I did suffer, Sam. I don’t want you to think I didn’t. Maybe they thought it’d be a shock to the system. Maybe they thought it’d give them time to find a way to bring me back to the person they’d known.” He laughed bitterly. “But it didn’t. It made me more. And I knew, in the end, that I just had to bide my time. That one day I would return and face my destiny.”

He turned away from Ryan back toward me. He stopped just outside of the circle again. “You, Sam. You are my destiny. We are intertwined, you and I. Chosen by the gods. It’s really rather elegiac, don’t you think? There is a sense of fatalism to it. Was I always meant to be here, now, standing in front of you as I am? Do the gods dictate every single move I make? Has the ending already been written? Because if it has, Sam, if everything I have done in my life has led to this, has led to this moment, what am I to do with it? With this culmination? I feel as if I stand upon a precipice, and all it would take is one final step and—”

“Yeah,” I said. “Do it. You step right off that cliff, you asshole.”

He sighed. “You’re not listening.”

“Oh I am,” I said. “You’re monologuing, but I’m listening. And you know what I think about it? About this whole thing?”

“Tell me,” he breathed.

I leaned forward until I could feel the hum of the barrier just beyond my face. “I think you’re fucking crazy.”

His eyes narrowed.

“I think you’re fucking crazy,” I spat at him. “I think you’re just like everyone else who has come before you. Except no, that’s not quite right. You come with a godsdamn pedigree, all this extraneous bullshit. You’ve somehow got Ruv, and I’ll give you credit for that. You got Lady Tina. You’ve got thousands of people on your side, even though they don’t know they’re on your side. You’ve done all of this while remaining hidden in shadow. That’s just going to make your failure that much worse when it happens. Because mark my words: you will fail, Myrin. I will end you.” I glanced over his shoulder at Ruv. “You too. You shouldn’t have touched my cornerstone. You’re going to pay for that.” I felt a savage satisfaction at the way Ruv’s eyes widened. I looked back at Myrin, a nasty smile on my face. “I’ve got four dragons on my side and a need to kick your motherfucking ass.”

“Four? And what of the fifth?”

My smile widened. “What’s the plan? I’m in here, you’re out there. Hey, if you want to come in the circle with me, I’ll make room.” I took a step back, beckoning for Myrin to step inside. “We could see what happens when neither of us has our magic. Because no matter how strong you think you are, even you can’t fight dragon’s blood.”

“Or,” Myrin said, “I can ask Ruv to pull the sword from the Knight Commander’s chest and use it to cut off his head right in front of you.”

“Don’t you fucking touch him!” I roared, rushing forward and banging my hands on the barrier again.

Myrin laughed. “And that is the downfall of love. The way it ensnares you, holds you captive. You are wind and bluster, pounding your chest and inviting me inside, but the moment I threaten something you love, you descend into snarls and teeth. Can’t you see, Sam? It is a weakness. And that is the difference between you and I. You are shackled by it. And I am free.”

“You will never win,” I promised him. “Never.”

“I already have,” he said simply. “You have a choice, here. And you will make it quickly, as I grow weary of this back-and-forth. Either you submit to me or Ryan Foxheart will die here and now. His blood, Sam, will be on your hands, more than it already is. There is still a chance he could be saved as he is now, but he doesn’t have much time.”

“Fuck you.”

He shook his head, a frown on his face. “You have to know you’ve lost. Even now I can see your mind whirring about, scrambling for something, anything you could use to talk your way out of this, to live to fight another day. Sam. You. Are. Wrong. This is it. This is the end.”

“And what do you want me for?”

“You know,” he said, eyes flickering down to my chest.

And I did. Of course I did. “The consumption of magic.”

“It will hurt,” he said. “I cannot lie about that. But it will be over soon. I promise you, and unlike Morgan or Randall, I am a man of my word, Sam. I will break the circle. You will bow before me. And I will consume your magic. It will be swift, and once it is complete, I will let Ryan Foxheart go. However, if you step outside that circle and attempt anything, I promise you that I will do everything in my power to make sure Ryan Foxheart suffers. And you may be thinking that you could take me by surprise, but I will remind you that there are two of us and one of you. No matter how powerful you are, Sam, you cannot come for us both before I rip the life from the Knight Commander. His blood will spill and you will watch.”

“Why?” I asked, trying to stall for time, but for what, I didn’t know. “Why are you doing all this?”

Myrin’s eyes narrowed. “Really, Sam? That’s what you’re going with? After all you’ve said about villains and monologuing. I’m disappointed. That was shameful, even for you.”

I smiled weakly. “What can I say? I’ll try anything.”

“Make your choice now, apprentice. Your dragons cannot save you. Your friends aren’t here. Your beloved is at death’s door. Randall is hiding away in his castle of ice. And Morgan can’t be bothered to even know his apprentice is—”

“You always did try and speak for me,” a voice said mildly.

Myrin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He let it out slowly. When he opened his eyes again, they were alight with something I couldn’t quite make out, but it almost looked like fear.

“Brother,” he said quietly as he turned. “Quiet as a mouse, you are.”

Morgan of Shadows stood in the entryway, looking calm and relaxed, robes billowing slightly. I didn’t know how long he’d been standing there, but I knew he’d cataloged everything in the room in mere seconds. Ruv, standing near the fireplace and looking suddenly unsure. Ryan, skin slick with sweat, his breath rattling in his chest. Myself, standing in a circle of dragon’s blood, more furious than I’d ever been.

And Myrin, of course. He seemed to only have eyes for Myrin.

“You were distracted,” Morgan told him. “You tend to be when you’re fully involved in your work. That hasn’t changed.”

“Nostalgia,” Myrin said. “That’s what you’re going for?”

Morgan shrugged. “Merely an observation.”

“Morgan,” I said, voice cracking. “You gotta help Ryan. Please, you need to get him away from here.”

Morgan glanced at me over Myrin’s shoulder. “Are you all right?”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about me. Please. Just help him. He can’t—”

“Why are you here?” Myrin asked, head cocked. “Why are there no others with you? And how did you know he was here?”

“Questions,” Morgan said, lips quirking the smallest amount. “You always did ask questions. If there were answers you didn’t know, it would frustrate you to no end. And you would doggedly pursue those answers until you were satisfied. How strange is it that after everything, these little pieces of you remain.”

“You cannot speak to me as if I am the man I once was,” Myrin said, hands curling into fists at his sides. “You made sure that part of me died a long, long time ago.”

“I know,” Morgan said. “And I will regret to the end of my days not allowing you to pass beyond the veil. It was my cowardice that held on to the hope that one day, we could find a way to…. Well. It doesn’t matter now.”

“You regret not killing me?” Myrin sounded shocked.

“I regret not having the strength to do what I needed to do,” Morgan corrected gently. “If I had, we would not be here. I had hope. But I should have realized that you did not. And to answer your questions, I am here because Sam is my apprentice. I know all the steps he has taken. There was something just off about that page, though I could never put my finger on why I felt that way. But I learned long ago to trust my senses. You do not have much time, Myrin. You have entered the City of Lockes with ill intent. The King’s map will soon sound warning of your trespass.”

“The King’s map,” Myrin scoffed. “Elven magic. It is unreliable. It will show danger in the City, but how accurate can it be? The knights will scour Lockes, but by the time they find this house, it will be over.”

“Will it? And I assume you mean that you’ll have consumed Sam’s magic.”

“Let’s not remind him about that,” I said hastily. “Maybe we can just talk about something else instead.”

They both ignored me. “Yes,” Myrin said. “I will. And then Lockes will fall. The Darks will pour from the forest and Verania will be brought to its knees. Its people will look upon me as I tower above them, and they will beg for me to save them. And I will be kind to them, because the most loyal of animals are the ones that you have not raised your hand to.”

Morgan nodded as if that was what he expected. “There is one minor problem with that.”

“And that is?”

“I won’t let you have him.”

“No?”

“No.”

“I thought not.”

Morgan was moving even before Myrin finished speaking. He clapped his hands in front of his chest, and the house around us trembled at the strength of him. The sound of his hands striking was like thunder, and even as he pulled them apart, even as his magic roared throughout the room, Myrin countered, hands raised and glowing rust red, like dried blood. His fingers were curled like claws, and as Morgan’s arms stretched wide, a bright bubble spreading from the center of his chest—the containment—Myrin answered with a bright flash of light that smashed against Morgan’s magic. It collided with the bubble and ricocheted with a disastrous clang, the shock wave knocking Ruv off his feet, head smacking against the crumbling stone of the fireplace. He collapsed to the ground and stayed there.

Myrin’s magic bounced against the wall where Ryan was still pinned, causing the wood to break apart. Ryan slid to the floor, collapsing against the wall, the sword falling out of him, the flat of the blade landing on his legs. His head and shoulders slumped forward.

Dust and debris swirled around the room as the bubble expanded to encapsulate Myrin and Morgan. They stood facing each other, just out of reach. Morgan’s hands were stretched out in front of him, and they were shaking.

Myrin reached up and touched the curve of the bubble around them. It looked as if it shocked him, as he pulled away quickly, little ripples stretching along the bubble.

“Containment,” he said quietly. “I never thought—you surprise me, little brother. Even now, even after all this time. You used this on me once before. You were younger then. And it wouldn’t have held had it not been for Randall.”

“I have learned much in your absence,” Morgan said through gritted teeth. Sweat dripped down his forehead as his fingers trembled. “I am not the apprentice I once was.”

“No,” Myrin said. “I suppose you are not. But nor am I. You understand that?”

“Yes.”

“You have contained me, Morgan. The problem is that you have contained yourself as well.”

Morgan shook his head. “I have kept you from him.”

Myrin laughed. “Perhaps. But once I am finished with you, I will go to him. He is trapped, just as you are.”

Morgan smiled sadly. “You have forgotten, Myrin. The strength of a wizard is not in his magic, but those that believe in him. Those that will stand at his side, even when all seems lost. And that, Myrin, that belief is stronger than any magic.”

Myrin took a step back. “You speak of—” He turned in time to see Ryan pick his sword up from his lap, the hilt gripped tightly. He crossed it over his chest and, with what seemed to be the last of his strength, flung it upward. It spun in two full circles before the blade struck the ceiling, sinking into the wood painted with dragon’s blood.

The seal broke.

There was green.

There was gold.

And I was angry.

I stepped out of the circle.

Myrin’s eyes widened.

Ryan smiled a bloody smile. “Surprise, mothercracker.” His eyes closed and did not reopen.

“Sam,” Morgan said. “You must listen.”

Magic was rushing over me.

“You cannot let this consume you. You cannot let him consume you.”

The floor cracked beneath my feet.

“Take your cornerstone. Flee this place. Live to fight another day.”

I reached Morgan’s bubble. And as I took another step forward… it pushed me away.

I blinked through the haze, mind clearing. “Let me in.”

“He won’t do that,” Myrin said, sounding awed. “He won’t take the risk.” He turned back toward his brother. “Truly? This is what you’ve decided? You know once done, I will be unstoppable.”

“I think you will find yourself surprised,” Morgan said. “You always did underestimate those you thought beneath you. It was never about magic, Myrin.”

“Love,” Myrin said disdainfully. “You still believe in love. It can do nothing to stop me. I accept your offer.” He glanced back over his shoulder at me. “Run, little apprentice. But know I will come for you.”

And then he turned back toward Morgan.

He raised his hands.

I said, “No. Don’t do this. Please don’t do this.”

Myrin’s hands touched Morgan’s. Their fingers intertwined.

The rust red began to spread to Morgan.

I tried to push against Morgan’s shield, the containment that surrounded them, but it was like I could smell Ryan’s spilled blood, like I could hear the tripping, stuttering beat of his heart. That, combined with Morgan’s strength, even as the rust spread up his arms, held me back. Lightning began to arc through the room, crawling along the edges of the bubble.

I wanted death.

I wanted to kill.

The rust reached his shoulders and began to spread down through his torso.

“Let me in!” I screamed at him.

Morgan smiled at me.

He said, “Do you remember the day I came to your house for the first time? You stood in your room with such wide eyes. I loved you, Sam of Wilds. Even then. Remember that when the world seems dark. Remember that you have always been loved. You need to run.”

And then he was consumed.

His eyes rolled back in his head.

Time seemed to slow around us, and for a moment, all the world held its breath.

Morgan exhaled, a bright spark drifting from his mouth.

It hung between the two brothers.

And then Myrin inhaled, mouth open, teeth bared.

I prayed to the gods.

They didn’t answer.

Myrin closed his mouth around the spark.

The bubble began to flicker as Myrin’s head rocked back, the cords standing out on his neck as he started to seize. He dropped his brother’s hands, and it took an age for Morgan of Shadows to fall to the floor, skin ashy and pale, eyes blank and unseeing.

Another crack sounded in the room, and suddenly Randall was standing in front of me, hands on my shoulders, shaking me furiously. I managed to look up at him.

He said, “I will do what I can, but he will be stronger than me. You must do what is right, Sam of Wilds. You must do what is necessary, even if your heart is breaking.”

And he was turning then, rushing toward where Myrin stood, the seizures slowing, the magic once again building. He dove toward Myrin, and as Myrin turned his head to look at me, Randall collided with him. There was a sharp flash of light, and they were gone.

The only sounds were the creaking of the crumbling house around us.

Ruv lay upon the floor, groaning, though he didn’t open his eyes.

Ryan had fallen to his side, a pool of blood spreading underneath him.

Morgan stared up at the ceiling, eyes glassy and unblinking.

I waited for him to take a breath.

He did not.

“Morgan?” I whispered.