The Girl With Red Hair (The Last War Saga Book 1) (36 page)

Three strides from the wall. A thick paw grazed the back of Jaydan’s leg.

You’re going to look really foolish if this doesn’t work. And dead. Don’t forget the dead part.

One last step. Jaydan lunged for the solid wall, pulling Sachihiro and Alexander into falling dives.

You remember the door, right?

Jaydan shut out the voice and focused on the magic. He was so used to channeling magic for the purpose of expelling it again in a different way, and the urge to do so now was strong. But he fought the habit, drew in another breath just as the top of his head came to the wall, and melded their bodies into the magic.

Alexander’s body felt as if needles had been stabbed into every inch of flesh. But as quickly as it came, the pain vanished. He felt weightless. Everything was numb and only his memories remained. He saw his father and his mother. His twelve siblings raced through his mind as it was dragged along an unseen current. His parents were laughing and trying to get their children in order for dinner. Then he saw Sonya chasing after one of the hounds, and Liam waved to him from the hayloft. Farrah grinned behind a crude joke, and Heather blushed at the sight of a single rose offered by a suitor. The images came faster and faster until his whole life was a blur of wonder.

It was beautiful. Colors cascaded and danced before his eyes, but he didn’t see them. He
felt
them. It was like lying beneath a warm sun or dancing naked in the rain. No, it was far beyond even that. He tasted stars and heard the sunrise. Mountains rose up to kiss his skin and whisper secrets, demanding nothing in return. Dew fell in a crescendo and fire smelled like snow. One sensation ran into the next, and together they twisted into bliss. Peace transcended. He was everywhere and nowhere. And it was perfect.

Then the pain returned like a thunderclap.

The first thing he heard was the scratching of claws on wood. It was distant, he knew, but in that moment his senses were heightened to a painful degree. His own ragged breath was deafening. His skin throbbed and his stomach burned with fire. Something pulled at his arm and something warm pressed against his face.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Jaydan said. “Everyone all right?”

“We ought to do that again,” Sachihiro responded as he hoisted Alexander to his feet.

Alexander wobbled a moment, hearing their voices, but seeing only blurred shapes. “What…”

Jaydan slid under his other arm and they resumed their limping journey. “Magic,” Jaydan said simply.

“You know,” Sachihiro said, his voice carrying a familiar energy. “I always thought you were lying about it, Jaydan. But shit, seeing all that. I mean, I could
taste
it. And hear it. That was nothing like when I play a charm.”

Jaydan coughed. “Just be grateful we didn’t get stuck between forms.” And then with a different tone, “I told you it would work.”

“I had no idea…” Alexander said.

In a few steps his vision returned. The pain remained. He squinted at the long hallway before them, trying to discern some tendril of the magic that flowed there. Flecks of dust floated lazily in the light of glowing lanterns, but no matter how he strained, Alexander could see no more. He longed to go back to that moment of blissful understanding. Everything had made sense for just a moment. The longer they walked, the more difficult it became to remember how it felt, but one certainty remained: He had to protect Adelaide with his life. It was more than a promise or haughty vow. It defied all explanation, though he knew he had understood, if just for that fleeting moment.

“Hey, feel that?” Sachihiro asked, knocking Alexander from his stupor.

Air whistled down the hallway, buffeting the lumbering trio with the fresh scent of a forest night. The floor angled upward suddenly and twisted sharply to the left, spilling out into open air. They shuffled out from shelter into the naked night, standing beneath a dense canopy. A green glow shone in the near distance.

“Must have taken a wrong turn somewhere,” Sachihiro said. “We need to get down to the forest floor, yeah?”

Alexander shook his head and pulled away from Jaydan and Sachihiro. It took every bit of his focus to maintain his balance on the narrow walkway that stretched between ever-narrowing branches. His eyes were fixed on the green glow. A tickle in the back of his mind spoke of things he couldn’t consciously understand.

“No,” he said. “We need to go there.” He pointed at the light and limped toward it.

“Uh, that’s where that fat cat-thing hangs out,” Sachihiro said. “Pretty sure he sold us out.”

“No, he didn’t,” Alexander said. He crossed one walkway and started on another, his footfalls becoming surer with each step.

“How do you know?” Jaydan called after him.

“I know,” Alexander said. “Because I know.”

He couldn’t explain it, but something was drawing him to the center of the upper platform. The same something told him that Opis would be waiting for them there and that he had not betrayed them. Addy wasn’t wrong about the Vartaw. And neither was Alexander. He knew at that moment that it was precisely where they were meant to be.

Chapter Forty

JAYDAN’S BODY STILL crackled with magical energy. It was a comforting embrace that granted strength to his weary legs. The many wounds across his body seemed distant and unimportant. He could tell by the way Sachihiro moved that he felt the same. Whatever transformation they had undergone at Jaydan’s prompting left a residue of power. He couldn’t help but want more. In that brief instant as he passed through the wall he had been intertwined with the very magic that the world was made up of. It was intoxicating and beautiful. For the first time he could remember, even Rhadiourgia was silent.

He and Sachihiro followed Alexander as the lanky man picked his way across the many bridges and platforms that spanned Vylarra’s canopy. Small globes of light flitted about the dense leaves, but Jaydan had little time to ponder on their construction, for he could also sense a different magic nearby. A dark and familiar presence.

“I think I can sense those shadowy things,” he said.

Sachihiro looked over his shoulder and nearly stepped off the side of a plank. Jaydan rolled his eyes and pointed for the man to keep his eyes forward. Even with the mystical lights floating about, it was dark, the pathways just lighter shadows against darker.

“Like in Paladrix? Those things that wanted Addy?”

Jaydan thought for a moment, but he was already certain. “No. Well, sort of, but no. Like in Woodhaerst.”

“Shit. You mean dragon things?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, maybe that bitch in the fancy dress will show up too, then. I’ve got a pair of fists that’d like to get to know ‘er better.”

Jaydan had to laugh at the bravado. “You just love getting your ass kicked,” he said, though his mind was far from jovial. He still remembered the look on her face as he wept over his fallen parents.

“Jaydan, Jaydan, Jaydan,” she had said, doting on him like a disappointed parent. “Look what you’ve done.”

He had spun on her then and conjured the elements for the first time, fueled by indignant rage. They burst from his hands, searing his skin almost immediately, but he had channeled until his vision had started to fade and he could hear death calling him.

Exhausted, he collapsed beside his parents. The wall she had been leaning against was all but destroyed. Charred bits of wood crumbled to the floor. The air smelled of smoke and blood. He turned back to his parents, taking a hand from each of them in his. He held them against his cheeks, suddenly ashamed and embarrassed.

It’s just you and me now, friend,
Rhadiourgia said, and something in the disembodied voice seemed wholly sincere in that moment. As if it felt the loss as well.

“I failed them,” Jaydan said, as much to himself as to the ever-present voice. “I was going to find a way to make him better…” His eyes rested on his father’s pallid cheeks and a new wave of anger crept from the depths of his soul.

“Oh my,” said a sultry voice from nearby. Jaydan looked up and saw the woman in the black dress lounging languidly on his bed. Her legs were crossed at the ankle, bare toes curling and uncurling as she watched him. “Such a touching little moment this is,” she continued, though her voice indicated she had never been more bored. “If I had any emotions of my own I might even add a tear or two myself.”

Jaydan didn’t bother standing. He didn’t let go of his parents’ hands. But he glared at her and pulled in every bit of magic to himself as he could. “You,” he growled. “You did this.”

She shrugged and examined the fingernails of one hand. Then she frowned and looked up. “It’s not much, I know,” she said, eyes flicking to the dead Healers and then back to Jaydan. “But it’s all I can do for now. Don’t worry, though, dear Jaydan. There will be plenty more death when all is said and done. Yours, mine, theirs…”

He knew at that moment that he was powerless to stop the strange woman. He couldn’t explain it, but he was acutely aware of the twisted power that streamed off her in virulent waves. He couldn’t differentiate her from the magic that she commanded. They seemed one of the same. There was more magic sitting atop his bed than he ever thought possible in the world.

“Aww, speechless all of a sudden?” She rose gracefully from the bed and glided to the smoldering wall. She ran a finger along the embers and moaned. “I cannot wait to…” she began to say, but stopped as she looked back and locked eyes with Jaydan’s fitful stare. She smiled wanly and moved to the open doorway. She stopped, turned back, and blew Jaydan a kiss. She winked and was gone.

“Eh, Jaydan?” Sachihiro asked, pulling Jaydan back into the moment. They were nearly to the center. The green glow of Opis’s giant stone towered over them. Alexander was still a few steps ahead.

“Yeah,” he said. “I owe her a bit as well.”

They found Opis at the base of the giant green stone, bleeding. A thick gash was opened across his furry chest and was slowly pooling blood beneath him. He looked up as Alexander fell at his side. Alexander looked anxiously at Jaydan. The Healer slid into position on the other side of the Vartaw Seer and examined the wound. His furrowed brow spoke of his own fears.

“What happened?” Sachihiro asked, eyes scanning the immediate vicinity for any sign of danger. His hand throbbed with the phantom pain of his missing finger, and he found that the only cure for pain was to punch something. Or someone. And nothing brought validity to a legend like missing limbs and brutal scars.

Opis blinked slowly, but smiled. “About time,” he said. “I was beginning to think I had dreamed it and not
seen
it, but here you are.”

“Who did this?” Alexander asked. Jaydan made a quick gesture and Alexander put his hands over a piece of cloth covering the Seer’s wound.

Opis coughed. “Same as took your finger.”

Sachihiro flexed his damaged hand and cursed. “They thought we brought the shadow things here. Blamed us for everything. That Lilacoris sure is a piece of work.”

Opis tried to laugh, but it quickly turned into a cough. When he had caught his breath he said, “It is her duty to protect the Realm. She only does what is best for her Fae.”

Sachihiro scoffed and jabbed a finger at him and then gestured to the group as a whole. “This? This is what’s best for her people? To falsely accuse us and then torture us when we try to explain it to her?”

Opis shook his thick head. “Lilacoris is about to experience a terrible loss, you must understand. Things are changing quickly. And you don’t have much time.” He tried to stand, but Jaydan and Alexander held him in place.

Jaydan frowned. “
You
may not have much time,” he said, then looking back at Sachihiro, said, “I don’t know how much I can do without my supplies.”

Alexander shoved the smaller man. Hard. “You have to,” he said firmly.

“Oh, don’t you worry about me,” Opis said. “I did take the liberty of retrieving your belongings, however. But not for my sake. You’ll need them for the rest of your journey. Though I must apology, Sachihiro, for I could not recover your blade. Seems the young lady absconded with it, along with my first edition of
The Betrayer’s Truth
.”

“Addy?” Alexander nearly shouted. “You know where she is?”

Sachihiro retrieved his lute from nearby, gave it a fierce hug, and slung Jaydan’s satchel at him. Jaydan immediately began pulling out bundles and vials.

Opis waved a dismissive hand at the treatment, but didn’t try to move further. “No,” he said after a bit. “Said she had to fix something that was broken.”

“And you didn’t stop her?” Alexander was shouting now, his face growing redder with each word. “She’s just a child!”

“She had to go, Alexander,” Opis continued, unfazed by the strong reaction. “Just as you will.”

“How can you say that?” Alexander retorted.

“It’s all as I see it. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

Alexander stood and jabbed a finger at the towering green stone. It pulsed rhythmically. “This? This is how you
see
things? Some green rock told you to let a little girl wander off in the night in a strange world all alone?”