Light the Reign (The Forgotten: Book 3) (16 page)

It sounded nice in theory, but they were
about to see how it actually did in practice. Even with the
combined strength of their party and the strongest mages of the
Dakelh tribe, it was a daunting task. The sheer area they needed
the spell to affect was immense, and if they missed even one area,
the power could be diverted from their channels, quickly creating
new ruts that would be that much harder to smooth out a second
time.

Petra had sent word back to her people, Slade
to his, and the Dena’ina leader contacted the rest of his to
possibly send aid as Gryffon had suggested. It was eventually
decided, however, that rather than wait for them to make the
journey here in order to attempt the spell, that they would try it
first without them. If it did not work, then they would accept the
assistance. The leaders all seemed to be in agreement that
increased communication between them was necessary regardless, and
would welcome the excuse to interact even if their help turned out
not to be needed.

They wanted to work as quickly as possible
for obvious reasons, and Katya was glad to see that the tribes
seemed to be getting genuinely concerned as well. They were talking
about setting up meetings to brainstorm other ideas should the
powerstones not break the curse as they hoped.

She felt the power flow through her from
Hunter and from her into the Dena’ina leader, completing the
circle. As she was the one who had spoken to Gryffon, and therefore
considered the most knowledgeable on the subject, it had been
decided that it would be her who would direct the spell.

She took a deep breath and readied the power,
finding her center and focusing on the bright white light within
her that was her talent. Slowly, she sent it outwards, paying
careful attention to keep its spread uniform and even, not allowing
it to settle into the existing pathways. As she spread it farther
and farther out, she increased the intensity of the white light,
feeling the power increase exponentially, and started to burn away
the hills and crevices in the fabric of magic around them.

She held the strength steady, ignoring the
slight pain that was starting behind her eyes, and paused the
spread, letting it burn through where it currently was. She felt
heat around her, and knew that it was beginning to work. The
physical plane would only be partially affected; the flame more on
the magical plane, but there was enough overlap that the effects
would be felt.

The area she was holding the flames on began
to lessen in intensity, having no more for it to burn, and she
slowly widened the circle. The acrid scent of smoke met her
nostrils and she knew instinctively that a dry area of the
grasslands had caught on fire. The Dakelh were on the watch for
such occurrences, and soon she smelled wet ashes, indicating they
had found it and put it out.

Her worry of the danger of the fire reaching
them eased at the same time that the intensity once again waned,
and she spread the spell a bit farther. They repeated this process
for some time, though the length of it eluded her in her focused
state. She suddenly felt the power flowing into her from the circle
weakening and she knew she would have to stop soon. She paused a
moment in her burning to evaluate how far they had been able to
reach.

Not quite far enough, but almost. If they
stopped now, they would have to redo much of what they had
accomplished already. She pushed farther, urging those she drew
strength from to hold on just a little longer. She felt one waver,
and shifted her focus from where it was taking the power to give
that particular person a break. She couldn’t tell who it was, but
felt their immediate relief as she arched the power around them.
The circle as a whole was weaker this way, but it kept it
intact.

She continued to push it farther and farther,
draining her own last reserves to finish the spell. Finally,
sweating and exhausted, she broke contact, collapsing to the
ground. Through sleepy eyes, she saw the rest do the same.

When she awoke, she was wrapped snugly in a
blanket, Hunter’s face inches from her own. She couldn’t remember
how she had gotten there, but it hardly mattered when she was with
him. He was all that mattered.

She blinked sleepily, and smiled at Hunter as
he woke, murmuring softly to himself. He returned the expression
and sat up, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

“Do you think it worked?” he asked her,
throwing his legs over the side of the bed. Katya rose and padded
her way over to the doorway, where a flap of fabric hung over the
opening to keep the light out. She pushed it aside and saw that the
sun was just beginning to rise.

“We must have been out all afternoon and
through the night,” she commented, amazed at the toll the spell had
taken on them. “We should be able to tell by now whether or not the
magic flowed into the channels we created for it.”

They splashed some water on their faces and
emerged from their huts. Katya was curious to know how the others
had fared, and the outcome of the spell, but found that her body
had a different priority. She was ravenous. Before anything else on
her list was accomplished, she needed to get some food.

Hunter seemed to have a similar goal in mind
as they both instinctively followed their noses to where a group of
women were busily throwing different ingredients into a cauldron
over a smoldering fire. It was putting off the most appetizing
aroma, and as they neared, they saw that several of the others from
their circle had beaten them to it.

The Dena’ina leader smiled at them. “Such
spellwork works up quite an appetite, doesn’t it,” he asked
rhetorically, handing them each a bowl.

They sat around the pot, waiting as patiently
as their growling stomachs would allow for one of the women to come
around to each of them and dish out a generous portion of the
delicious concoction. As soon as it hit her bowl, Katya began
gulping it down in great heaping spoonfuls, almost causing the
woman to spill it in her haste to draw it towards her mouth.

When they had filled their bellies, the mages
all looked excitedly around at one another. Katya stood and looked
around, noticing for the first time the side-effects of their
spell. Though the effects were subtle, they were also numerous.
Singed huts were everywhere, burned patches of grass, and faded
colors on decorations. Obviously the spell had done something.
Hopefully it had done what they wanted as well.

Katya glanced at each of the people around
her, and found that they were all watching her expectantly. She
cleared her throat. “Well, shall we see if it was worth it?” she
asked.

They all scrambled to their feet and formed
another circle around her, joining hands. Though it wasn’t
particularly necessary just for seeing the magic pathways, this
would allow them all to see it simultaneously.

Katya found a river of power they had created
and latched onto it, allowing its flow to carry them along it. The
power had actually pooled into the areas they had carved out for it
and run along the paths they created! It was remarkable. Katya
would never have believed such a thing possible. It was the very
thing that the dragons had done to make this world habitable. No
wonder they were considered gods, to have come up with a spell to
shape the very world around you to your whims.

They flowed farther along smoothly, riding
with the flow of power that now went naturally in a very ordered
fashion. Very unlike the previous chaos. It was amazing. And
amazing that such a spell hadn’t been utilized before. But Katya
scolded herself. The only reason she had been able to perform it
was by the careful instruction from Gryffon who, of course,
garnered it from one of the minds of the gods themselves. The spell
wasn’t just a set of words or a particular way you waved your hand,
though for some spells these were either necessary or helpful, but
this spell was the actual way you handled the power. It was all
about your attitude in touching it, the mindset when you
manipulated it. It was hard to explain, the spell was done by
feeling
.

Suddenly, the flow of power hit a snag, the
magic eddied and swirled around like a river around a large tree
fallen into its path. Katya sent out a question to those linked to
her, and through the connection, immediately got their response.
Fix it. She drew power from all of them and concentrated on the
snag, focusing on removing whatever it was that was blocking the
flow from where they wanted it.

Soon, it had been remedied, and they moved
farther along, checking river after river of their planned web
design. Aside from the one snag, all were perfect. Katya sucked in
an appreciative breath. It was something to behold. She once again
broke the link, but this time instead of collapsing into heaps, she
was met with broad grins all around.

“We did it!” one of the Dakelh who had joined
them exclaimed.

“Indeed,” Katya agreed, “But our battle is
only half over.” Though they had seemingly succeeded in taming the
magic in this area, hopefully forever, there was still the matter
of now creating the magical dam to both direct the flow of water,
and ensure that it wouldn’t flood out the village. As long as the
rivers of power didn’t revert in the next day or two, however, this
spell should be fairly uneventful since they already had the rivers
flowing exactly where they would need them to. The tricky part
would be permanently attaching them to the water spell. Rivers
controlling rivers. Katya smiled to herself.

They gave it a couple days, both to regain
their strength, as well as allow the rivers to really settle in.
Hopefully any problems that might arise would do so before they
completed the second spell so it could be fixed before the fate of
the village rested upon its success. When the chosen day was upon
them and the rivers still remained secured in place, they gathered
one final time for the moment of truth. Katya led the group again
and guided them through the steps to complete their goals. It went
perfectly, and did not wear them out like the last one had.

As soon as they finished, they were able to
examine their work for weaknesses or problems. They found none, and
were soon on their way to find the leader of the tribe to tell her
of their success.

It didn’t take long, as she was already on
her way to them. Though she was a powerful mage herself, she had
chosen not to be a part of the circle, rather wanting to be alert
to the dangers that both spells could pose to the village in order
to immediately resolve them. She had a smile on her face as she
approached, so Katya assumed that meant they hadn’t made too much
of a mess of things.

“I can feel the spell working already,” she
said as she slowed to a stop before them. “Just the tamed power was
like nothing we’ve felt in some time. The rush…” she trailed off,
and Katya knew what she meant. Cleansing a small area, as she had
become accustomed to doing out here, was nothing compared to when
the power around you naturally coalesced into intense flowing
magic. The woman’s attention focused back on her once more and she
continued. “We promised that if you could do this, the powerstone
would be yours.” Her eyes darted over to the Dena’ina leader’s and
back. “You are sure you need to take it?”

“We’re sure,” Katya nodded, that made three
out of five stones. “We have discussed it and would like to offer
ourselves to help protect the village should anything go wrong
while the powerstone is removed. To prove how confident we are in
our success, we will put ourselves in harm’s way.”

“That’s not necessary,” the Dakelh leader
surprised her by saying, “though support would be appreciated.
Since you were able to tame the magic, we have been using the time
you were waiting to see if it worked to prepare, and have evacuated
most of the people anyway. The devastation to our village and way
of life, mind you, would still be dramatic, but our people will be
safe.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Katya said, “I hate
to rush you into such a dangerous thing, but the lives of many
people – including my friends – are at stake. We really must
retrieve the stone and be on our way as quickly as possible.” She
posed it as a question, hoping the woman would catch on and offer
her a time frame. She was not disappointed.

“I understand,” she said, nodding vigorously,
“I am deeply appalled at the atrocities which we helped to commit,
and I am as eager as you to rectify them. Let us retrieve the
powerstone at once.”

Katya had not expected that response, she’d
thought they’d at least want a little time to prepare, but was
gratified. Layna’s reports of the spread in the city were
disturbing. Though they had sent enough chokeroot to slow the whole
city, it appeared that getting it to all of the inhabitants was
proving to be a much harder task than originally expected. Not only
that, but Katya had found out that Layna and Gryffon were taking it
upon themselves to go roaming about the city at night to keep it
clear of the Bricrui that were too far gone. She surprised herself
by how much this news worried her.

“Thank you,” she acknowledged the woman’s
kindness, and followed her to the spot. It was quite a trek up to
the top of a vast waterfall, held that way by the magic of the
stone, and now, the rivers of power which flowed into a permanent
spell to keep it there. They hoped.

The Dakelh leader and her group of Elders
made quick work of the protections set to maintain the stone’s
location, and soon they stood before it in all its magnificence.
Even with it being the third time now that Katya had seen one, she
was still impressed by the beauty and pure power which emanated
from them. It seemed to shine brightly from within itself, all
different colors, and no one who gazed upon it would doubt its
power.