Light the Reign (The Forgotten: Book 3) (22 page)

Katya refrained from moving closer, knowing
that the worm-beast would rise from the ground if someone set foot
in the square. She waited until the Dena’ina leader was ready,
growing ever more impatient as he sat on a nearby rock, taking deep
breaths.

Finally, he stood and made his way into the
square, and the wall of power around it immediately sprang to life.
Katya took a step forward worriedly, surely this frail old man was
no match for the beast, but the Dena’ina around her showed no signs
of concern, and with the wall between them, there was little she
could do anyway.

After a few tense minutes, the wall retreated
back into the earth, and the Dena’ina leader came strolling forward
serenely, holding out the stone to her.

He came to stand before her, still holding it
out. “Take it, it’s yours,” he said. Something tingled on the back
of her neck. The way he said the words made her want to do anything
other than take the stone. She creased her brow at him, but he
simply shoved the stone closer to her in response.

She took it, reluctantly now, and gazed down
on it. The last piece of the completed powerstone which would break
the curse. She took a deep breath and reached into her bag to
retrieve the mirror to tell Layna and Gryffon the good news.
Despite the overwhelming happiness she should feel at this moment,
knowing that they finally had the means to overcome the curse upon
them, the Dena’ina’s tone gave her pause.

She shook her head to clear it of the
thoughts of doom, just as the mirror shimmered, and she smiled at
Gryffon and Layna whose faces appeared on it. No doubt he was just
trying to remind her of the immense power that the stone would now
hold, and not to use it frivolously.

“We did it!” she told them, “We have the last
stone. I’ll put them together now and transport it to you so you
can break the curse.”

“Thank the Gods,” Layna breathed, the relief
written so plainly on her face that Katya felt for her, the stress
that she must have been under to make her relief of its end so
profound.

Katya handed the mirror to Hunter who angled
it towards her so that the two of them could witness the final
stone sealing itself in place. She held the piece up to the rest of
the stones, already melded together, and just as it had with each
of the others, it sucked itself into the missing place. It glowed
brightly, the edges seeming to melt the stone into a single piece,
and the completed stone rose out of her hands.

She took a step back in surprise. That hadn’t
happened with any of the other additions. It twirled around in the
air, still shining with the brilliant white light, and casting
beams of light out, swirling around it.

Gasps rang out from the crowd watching, and
Hunter shifted the mirror so that Layna and Gryffon could get a
better view.

“What’s happening?” Layna asked, worry
creeping into her voice.

“I don’t know,” Katya answered, not taking
her eyes from the spinning stone.

It was rising higher now, and all of a
sudden, the light retreated and a strange blackish fog started
pouring out from within the stone. All those around it moved to get
out of its way, but there was too much. The dense smoky haze filled
the ground, swirling around their feet. It roiled past them,
cascading down the sides of the mesa and out onto the plains below,
picking up speed as it flowed outwards. Clouds followed its
progress in the sky, forming threatening thunderheads above. The
stone suddenly pulsed for a moment, then stopped its movement,
falling back towards the earth.

Katya moved forward and caught it expertly as
it fell, and quickly tossed it back and forth from hand to hand as
its heat burned her skin. It had shrunken down to the size of her
fist, and the magic inside swirled around a few moments more,
before finally becoming serene. The fog had stopped emanating from
within, and the last traces of it blew off with the wind. The
thunderclouds held their ground, but so far had not yet unleashed
any storm.

Katya glanced over to the mirror where Layna
and Gryffon were watching the proceedings intently.

“What was that?” Layna asked fearfully.

“I don’t know,” Katya replied, her eyes
searching the horizon for some clue as to what effect the
mysterious fog had on the land. “We better get the stone to you so
you can cure yourselves quickly.”

Gryffon nodded vigorously. “It won’t be a
moment too soon.”

Katya held the stone out before her and used
the magic of the communication spell as a pathway for the transport
spell to follow. After a few moments of concentration, the stone
popped out of existence in her hand and both Layna and Gryffon
looked downwards in unison. It must have arrived.

Layna bent out of view and when she
straightened, she had the stone, holding it out in front of her.
She examined it closely, her brow furrowed. After a moment, she
looked back up at Katya. “Thank you for everything,” she said.

Katya just nodded. She hoped it would be
enough.

*

Layna broke contact with Katya and she and
Gryffon hurried to the nursery where Phoenix was being cared for by
Natalya and Alina, and one of the mages. On their way, they had one
of their aides go and gather the rest of the mages who had been
working on finding the solution to the curse.

The two young girls in the nursery greeted
them warmly, though Alina was starting to show signs of feeling
ill. She had a bit of a redness about her face, as though she were
permanently flushed, and her eyes drooped the tiniest bit.

Layna took Phoenix into her arms, giving her
a kiss and a suffocating hug, and smiled at the sisters. “We have
it,” she announced to them, and was rewarded by huge grins from
both girls. Natalya turned to Alina and hugged her as well.

Moments later, the mages came rushing
excitedly into the room.

“You have it?” one asked, searching the room
for the stone.

Layna held it up for them to see.

“That’s it?” another commented, surprised by
the unimposing rock, but quickly caught himself. “We should get
started.”

Layna put Phoenix down and she and Gryffon
arranged themselves in the beginning of a circle around her, but
noticed that none of the mages were following suit. In fact,
several of them were not staring at the ground and shuffling their
feet uncomfortably.

She felt a lump rise in her throat. “What’s
wrong?”

The mage who had been acting as the liaison
between herself and the group working to break the curse spoke up.
“We don’t think that simply breaking the curse on Phoenix will be
enough,” he told them.

“What do you mean,” asked Gryffon, the
dangerous edge in his voice sneaking in.

“I mean that it would cure Phoenix and stop
her from spreading the cursed disease further, but it would not
reverse the spell on anyone else.”

“So what is the solution?” Gryffon pressed,
“Since you did not see fit to mention this to us previously, I
assume you already have an answer?”

“We do,” the man sighed, “But it is not
ideal. We will need to essentially put a new spell on her which
will negate the effects of the current curse, but use the same mode
of transportation to spread to the others. We believe we can also
make it so that the spell accelerates the new reverse-curse so that
people should begin to feel the effects of it reversing right
away.” He met Layna’s eye. “You could ride Phoenix out into the
city and as people came into contact with her, or even near her,
they would be cured.”

She did not need the implications of this
spelled out for her. Having Phoenix’s presence cause a mass healing
would also reverse any ill effects that any rumors saying she
caused it may have had.

“How would we do this?” Gryffon asked.

“By using a combination of the items that
Katya sent back from the tribes along with the stone to override
the original magic. But like I said, we believe it will be
important to use the original magic to our purposes rather than
simply break it. The healing water from the Dakelh’s properties can
be spread through Phoenix to help heal those who are very far
advanced so that their bodies can get back to a point where they
can heal themselves. The twisted wood of the gnarstal from the
Gwich’in can be used to twist the effects the curse causes to be
the reverse of what they once were: Removing any trace of the old
disease and encouraging the person’s body to heal.”

“This all sounds like a good thing,” Layna
commented, “So why do you all seem hesitant to tell us about
it?”

“There will be a sacrifice that needs to be
made,” he answered.

“Whatever it is, I will pay it,” she said
resolutely.

He pressed his lips together. “Unfortunately,
Your Majesty, it cannot be you who pays the price.” He paused. “It
will be Phoenix. In order to do this, her magic must be used. But
since she is not yet old enough to access the rivers of power
around us and control how it is used, it will simply burn out her
personal magic.”

“Jezebel learned to use magic again after
hers was burned out,” Gryffon pointed out hopefully.

The mage shook his head. “She had used hers
before so there was a path for her to follow back to it. Phoenix
has never felt what it was like to use magic.” He glanced to the
ceiling, trying to come up with an easy explanation. “It would be
like suddenly going blind for someone like Jezebel, and trying to
find your way back to a place you have walked a thousand times
before. It is an adjustment to find it again, but then you count
your steps and it becomes easier and easier. But for Phoenix, it
will be as if she was born blind and never saw the place she’s
trying to find. She could wander around forever and never find it,
and even if she did there’s a good chance she wouldn’t realize that
it was what she was searching for.” He looked them both square in
the eye, meeting one’s gaze for a few moments before holding the
other in its grasp. “By doing this, Princess Phoenix will be denied
her talent.”

They both stared at him, dumbfounded, while
the minutes ticked by. Layna had been prepared to do whatever she
had to in order to save her people and break the curse, but
Phoenix’s talent? She looked at Gryffon, feeling the pressure of
tears on the backs of her eyes, and willing it away. The lineage of
the royals had always been strong talents, it was necessary for
maintaining their control over the country. Taking away this
important tool would make Phoenix’s life exponentially more
difficult.

Gryffon looked back at her morosely, the pain
etched cleared on his face. “We have to,” he whispered.

Layna reached down and swept Phoenix into her
arms once more. She cuddled the babe to her face, making soothing
noises to her, though she was oblivious to her parents’ distress.
She grabbed at Layna’s hair and yanked on it, giggling.

“There’s no other way?” Layna finally asked
the mage, who was standing patiently, waiting for them to process
this information.

“None that we have found, Your Majesty. We
all agreed that this would be the best way.”

Layna looked around the group of mages, and
all nodded to her soberly. Layna glanced back down at Phoenix and
smiled at her baby girl. “Well, my dear, it appears you are going
to have to become a martyr before you can even speak in full
sentences.” She set the Princess back down and waved her hands for
the mages to form the circle. Gryffon came to stand beside her and
he took her hand, squeezing it in shared sadness for their baby’s
loss.

With the awkward conversation behind them,
the mages all became talkative, explaining the details with
enthusiasm. Layna tried to listen, but her mind was distracted. She
hadn’t even known she had possessed magic until a few short years
ago, and she had done fine without it, hadn’t she? But how would
Phoenix know that she would have been able to manipulate the power
around her, and with two strong parents, she was extremely likely
to have been very powerful herself. It could have proven invaluable
when the day came when she was left on the throne to manage it
herself.

Luckily, all the mages really needed her and
Gryffon to do was control the powerstone and direct its magic
towards where they would fine-tune the spells they had devised, so
her inattention didn’t matter. When they had all readied
themselves, the leader motioned for them to begin.

Layna obediently opened herself to the power,
connecting automatically to Gryffon as he did so at the same time.
Their talents snapped together like two magnets and she immediately
felt the euphoric feeling of completing one another. Was she taking
this feeling away from her daughter as well? Her control faltered
as she felt sadness rushing to overwhelm her, and immediately a
wave of calm flowed over her from Gryffon. He filled her with love
and hope. Phoenix would never be without the feeling of love as
long as the two of them were alive, but they only would be so by
Phoenix’s sacrifice.

Layna was unsure how much time passed as the
mages slaved away over Phoenix, but when she felt the tug that
indicated they were finished and she could come out of her
concentration, the sun had dipped far below the horizon, and baby
Phoenix was sleeping peacefully at their feet. She saw that Natalya
and Alina had snuck into their circle, though she was sure they had
cleared it with the mages first, knowing how dangerous interfering
with magic could be, and had curled themselves protectively around
the Princess.

Alina’s face was a more normal color, and she
slept comfortably. Layna took a step towards them and laid a gentle
hand on the girl’s forehead. It was cool to the touch. She no
longer had any fever. She raised her eyebrow, impressed. Had it
truly worked that quickly?

“Can you tell if it was success?” she asked
the mages. Since she had tuned out exactly what they were doing,
she wasn’t sure herself.