Igniting Spirit (Gathering Water Book 3) (22 page)

Journal
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It’s been weeks since I left home. Weeks since Derek last held me in his arms. I know it’s too early for this, but I feel like my belly is starting to round. It’s just the two of us now. I’m always so tired. I think that’s normal, but I don’t know. It feels as though this baby is sucking my energy, but I guess all pregnant mothers feel this way. I wish I could ask my mom about it. Or Ellis. I wish I could have said a proper goodbye to her and Connor and that my child could grow up with Cash. I think about Derek a lot, and sometimes I regret not finding a way to tell him. I think… I know he would have come with me. He would have left everything to be by my side to keep me and our child safe. He deserves to know. But our child deserves an ally among the Elfennol when we can finally come home again. By that time, Derek will be Lord Leoht, and the leader of the Elfennol has a lot more sway than their Dunamis allies.

I hope that Derek will forgive me.

I have faith that this separation is temporary. One day we can all be together; we can be a family.

I just pray that he’s still the man I love when we return.

*****

“We must risk it, Lady,” Alexander said, uncharacteristically pacing on the platform Shield I’d made for us to stand on. I was too busy looking at the glow from the people around us to answer him. Almost every able fighter had been ordered to join us, and they spread deep into the water around the area. The few who weren’t there were charged with protecting those of our people who were too young to fight or join the Dunamis allies in preparations in case Kaylus succeeded in his quest. I had never seen so many Ethnos at the same time. Sure, I’d been to Eurybis and it was the biggest city among the Elfennol. But the majority of all the Clades, and Leoht and Strang Houses were at my back, creating the largest group I’d ever been a part of. The gate to the OtherRealm was close, but the entire area was covered in impenetrable darkness that we couldn’t pass through without sacrificing many of our people. Kaylus had Gathered so much Death that he had erected a Shield covering the ruins of the first Ethnos city in this world — the place which was destroyed when the Eflennol and Clades split into two factions so long ago. We all knew the portal was buried there somewhere, but the exact location was unknown.

It wasn’t necessary to know though. I could find Ezra, and Ezra was being taken to the portal, therefore I could find the portal. I’d tried communicating with him through the gems, but there was nothing but radio silence. I could feel echoes of his pain spreading through my body and knew that whatever Kaylus was doing to his son, it was keeping him well controlled. It had taken a lot of self restraint to not go after him sooner, but I couldn’t let myself put my needs — Ezra’s needs — above our people. If I were to fail, I had to trust the Ethnos to band together and pick up where I left off; they needed to be here to finish the job and protect this world by whatever means necessary. We hadn’t had much time to plan once we got back to the city, but the best plans are simple ones. At least I hoped they were. And simple was the perfect descriptor of what we were trying to do: collect a hoard of people, overwhelm Kaylus by sheer numbers and provide a distraction while I saved Ezra. Once we were together I could heal him and we could defeat Kaylus. Kaylus would wait as long as possible, because I knew he really wanted me for the job. Our impromptu Council had briefly discussed whether this was just another trap to get me when we decided it didn’t matter. He could likely open the portal with Ezra just as easily, and I was the only one with any hope of stopping him.

It was clear from our earlier fight that Kaylus was able to do something that no one knew the Thanatos were capable of doing. He could control those he had infected with his power so completely that they obeyed his orders even in death. It was only a short time to sunrise, when Kaylus could open the gate, and we were at a standstill because of the Shield of Death around the area. We were just a dozen or so feet away — any closer and our Spirit started corroding away — and it looked like a dome of spilled ink stretched across the sky. I wondered if pure humans could see it, see the glistening darkness of it.

“We must risk it, Lady. Time is running out,” Alexander said again.

I shook my head. “I won’t lead my people through that Shield, Alexander. Too few will make it out the other side.”

“We don’t know that for sure, my Lady.”

“I do, Alexander. Laurel will be here soon with my amulet. Kaylus won’t be able to stop me from getting to Ezra if I’m immune to his Thanatos ability.”

Alexander had sent word to Laurel, at my behest, to meet us with my key amulet. I’d been in communication with her and knew my friend was only minutes away. I was the only one who would walk through that Shield.

It seemed our simple plan was already blown out of the water.

“Alexander, Etta, I need you to direct our people to start putting Runes of protection around this area. No matter what happens here today, it has to stay here. We cannot allow Kaylus or any of his soldiers to escape. Remember, they must be destroyed completely or the Death energy will only get stronger.” I didn’t give them directions for what would happen if the portal opened — they knew the Runes were more for that than in the event Kaylus tried to escape.

Someone nearby handed me a flask of Ambrose. I took a swig, then strapped it around my waist. My gems were as full as I could get them during the short time I’d had, my Well was flowing with an abundance of all my other elements, and my rarely used spikes were strapped to my forearm below my armlet. With my key, it was unlikely that I would need to draw any Spirit energy from my surroundings — even so, I swore to myself that I would be more careful with the sources of energy.

I turned around as Laurel approached, hand already extended for my necklace. She dropped it in my hand and I put it over my head, imagining a cloak of protection settling over my skin as I did so.

“If the Shield comes down, move forward immediately. I’ll be back.” I looked at Alexander and Etta, then walked towards the Shield and slipped through. It was an awkward goodbye, but I was a mostly awkward person. My father would have had a few meaningful words with each of them, just in case he didn’t make it back. It would take me more than a day to learn how to fill his shoes.

When I walked through, the Death Shield clung to my skin like wet silk, but my Spirit remained unaffected.

Winning.

I expanded the Shield I was standing on until I hit land, which was only a few yards away. As I stepped onto the island, the last remaining landmass from the original city swallowed by the sea, I cloaked myself in a sight Shield, since the island was populated. A horrible thought occurred to me: what if one of the humans on the island tried to leave the area? The Death Shield covered a large area, only part of it on the island, but all the same, I erected my own Shield underneath Kaylus’ dark one to prevent any of them leaving, and hoped we would be able to finish our business before it caused any problems.

Like planes trying to takeoff or land.

I sped in the direction where I felt Ezra, unsurprised when my path led me to the other side of the island and underwater. Minutes later, I was amid underwater ruins — the remnants of an Ethnos city. I slowed down once I reached the ruins. Ezra was getting closer, and I was worried about the fact that I still sensed my ring, and him, far below me. As far as I knew, I couldn’t go any further down unless I started digging in the sand. I started paying more attention to my surroundings, hoping for some evidence of which way they’d passed and recognized runes on the large stone obelisks that peaked through their sandy graves. I was surprised to see a faint glow of power still grace some of them. Under different circumstances, I would have loved to take my time and explore the ancient city of my people that was so renowned that every human, from Plato to Disney, knew the name of it.

The Ethnos were capable of massive destruction, swimming through the evidence of that destruction was humbling — and motivating. Because the type of destruction Kaylus was going to unleash made a destroyed city look like child’s play.

I finally reached a place where I couldn’t swim without moving further away from Ezra. He was directly below me, and I had no idea how to reach him. Worst case scenario, I could force myself down by Gathering the sand and rock that stood between us.

It’s nice to have a Plan B.

Before resorting to that, however, I opened myself up — I took down the Spirit Shield that all Ethnos used constantly to keep their awareness, and aura, concentrated around their bodies. Opening myself up was dangerous in case someone wanted to Gather my energy, but it was a risk I was willing to take. I wasn’t stupid, though. I checked to make sure there was no one else close enough for me to sense them. I let tendrils of myself spread out, searching for some way down. Finally, I found something. Swimming over showed a dip in the sand, a shallow hole, but I knew there was rock and Runes not far beneath it. I Bent water to move the sand away, and saw a trap door etched in Runes made of stone. It had the circle of the Ethnos placed in the center which I placed my palm over, hoping that the Ethnos hadn’t changed the way they open doors in the past nine millennia.

I was rewarded with an open door and winding stairs. As soon as I fully entered the stairwell, the door above me shut tight again, and it’s lack of noise underwater was somehow more disturbing. I swam down the stairs, twisting around and around, going so quickly that the tops of my bare feet hit the stairs on more than one occasion. Or maybe that was because of the dark. I was able to Temper enough to see, though to the naked eye it was pitch black. The stairwell had even less light, and I had no way of creating it underwater. Finally, after so many rotations that I was starting to get dizzy, I saw a small glow below me. Cautiously, I swam out of the stairwell and up, where I was surprised to find open air and enough light that I could see clearly without Tempering.

I was in a huge cavernous room, big enough to fit Buckingham Palace in.

Or a step-pyramid — if a step pyramid was round at the base instead of square, that is. Because that’s what filled the space, and at the flat surface on the top stood Kaylus. I wondered where his people were. There was no way they hadn’t already seen me; no way I’d be able to sneak attack, especially not when Kaylus waved sardonically down at me. There was also no way I could leave, or get back-up until the Death Shield was down. Luckily I had a firm plan in 2case something like this were to happen.

Wing it.

I paddled over to the first large step clear of water and hoisted myself up, then worked my way up the large stone steps. Each one was chest high, and I took the time to bolster my Shields. I also started to sneak a Shield around Ezra now that he was close enough. It was small and far too delicate to do any protecting, but the idea was to toss some energy to strengthen it quickly when the time came and to hopefully lessen whatever hold Kaylus had over his son. I didn’t dare put anything substantial around him in case Kaylus noticed.

My eyes also started taking in the details of the room. It was as light as it would be if the moon were shining down, and looking almost directly overhead looked eerily like the night’s sky. The room was even lightening off to one wall, turning the pinks and oranges of sunrise. If I were to walk to the wall, I bet I would have seen Runes marked into the stone to create the effect. The fake sunrise matched perfectly to my own internal clock, and I knew it was an accurate mirror of what was happening at sea level.

When I reached the top I no longer worried about Kaylus’ people attacking me. On the other side of the pyramid than where I’d climbed up were scores of bodies floating in the water, still as only the dead can be. He’d drained them, and fed off the death it created. He’d been gorging himself, judging by how black his aura now was. A weird feeling of deja-vu came over me. Kaylus was exactly where I’d seen him in my Reading, standing to one side of a stone circle with Runes marking the four elements like a compass and Ezra lying at his feet. The side of the circle that he was standing in was unnaturally black, while the other half was unnaturally white — representing the final two elements of Spirit and Death.

The entire area was glowing softly, and judging by the wind in the air, Ezra’s Loa were doing their best to protect him even though he was in so much pain he was nearly unconscious from it.

Kaylus’ few remaining men let me walk towards them unaccosted while Kaylus watched, wide-eyed, as I stepped into the circle. The glow brightened considerably around us, and caused me to pause and him to smile.

“I knew it. I did everything I could with Ezra and he barely registered as a key. You, on the other hand, aren’t even using your abilities and the lock lights up like the sun!” Kaylus sounded downright giddy.

My gaze was pulled sharply to Ezra at the mention of his name. I tried to seem nonchalant about it, but I knew that Kaylus saw how affected I was by his condition. He was shirtless and lying on his side. The scars on his back were in full view and looked far worse than when I’d seen them before.

Kaylus had reopened each and every one of them and prevented him from healing. I had no idea how that was possible, though I was fairly certain it wasn’t unheard of. But it wasn’t something I wanted to know, because wanting to know meant wanting to torture another Ethnos. I ached to heal him; ached to step forward and connect our auras. My lace-thin Shield around him wasn’t helping nearly enough, because he remained unmoving even though his name softly escaped my lips. I took an involuntary step forward, and only then did he move. I halted and looked back at Kaylus, hatred spilling from my pores, because he’d made his son move by shoving him over to lie on his injured back
with his foot
which he then placed on Ezra’s throat.