Trial By Fire (Avalon: Web of Magic #6) (12 page)

Emily stroked Lyra’s head and sent as much calm as she could to the worried cat. “We’ll find her. Okay?”

“Phoooie!”

“Ozzie? Where’s Ozzie?” Emily threw light across the barren room.

Against the far wall, the ferret was stuck headfirst in a mound of dirt.

Adriane and Emily ran across the room and pulled him out by his feet.

“
Spoof!
”

“Are you all right?” Adriane asked.

“How could I be so stupid!” Ozzie kicked the pile of dirt, sending dust flying. Particles hung in the air caught in beams of gold and blue.

“It’s not your fault, Ozzie,” Emily consoled him, arms around her chest. It was creepy and cold in here.

“We know she’s susceptible to spellsinging!” Ozzie brushed dirt from his head and stomped around. “Now she’s under another spell.”

“You think the shape-shifter is here?” Emily whispered.

“I would bet on it! And we brought Kara right into its clutches.” Ozzie frowned at the dank rock walls. “Where are we?”

“The dungeons.” Adriane pushed away the dirt that had broken Ozzie’s fall. “Help me here.”

Emily and Lyra, working with Adriane, quickly swept away the dirt. A door was hidden behind it.

“I think you found the way out, Ozzie,” Emily observed.

“Always had a nose for direction.”

“Stand back!” Adriane’s wolf stone pulsed with power. She swung once and a wave of golden fire smashed into the door. With a loud
Poof!
the door flew open into a narrow corridor.

The four made a run for it. Crystals imbedded in the walls cast soft light. Long shadows slipped and curled as if the tunnels were alive.

Emily noticed Lyra gazing up and down the darkened corridor, her green-gold eyes narrowed slightly. Not that long ago, the cat had been held prisoner here along with other magical animals. Lyra, horribly wounded, had escaped. Emily shuddered, realizing how hard it must be for the cat to return to this awful place.

“I sense something,”
Lyra said as she sniffed the air. The fur on her neck was just beginning to relax.
“Someone’s alive. Human.”

Adriane’s eyes lit up. “Where?”

“This way.”
Lyra took off down the darkened passageway
.

The group followed, making their way into a wide tunnel that held the prison cells. The jagged hallway was lined with heavy doors, and the group split up to listen at each one.

Adriane took the doors at the very end. Each time she raised her wolf stone to sense beyond the cold metal and wood, she tried to push the apprehension and fear from her mind. The golden glow that emanated from her stone seemed tiny in the overwhelming darkness of the catacombs. Somehow she knew that Storm was getting weaker.

“Storm! Hang on, I’m coming!”
Adriane sent a message to her friend.

“Over here!” Emily called out, scanning a heavy door with her gem.

Adriane whipped a ring of gold around the metal bars in the small window. She pulled hard. The others helped raise as much power from the wolf stone as they could. With a
creak,
the door opened into darkness.

They practically stumbled over the still figure on the floor.

“Zach!” Adriane cried, falling to her knees and searching the boy’s ashen face for a sign of life. She saw the red dragon stone he wore on his wrist softly blink.

Emily was beside her in an instant, rainbow jewel pulsing strong. “He’s in a trance, the Skultum’s spell.”

Lyra growled nearby.

The healer wasted no time. She raised her jewel, sending out a beam of healing blue light.

There was no response. Emily gazed at Zach’s barely moving chest. The boy was in bad shape. He seemed too far away to be reached.

“He’s been under awhile. Help me!” Emily called out. Ozzie, Lyra, and Adriane pressed around her, concentrating on sending their own energy to break the spell. Emily, supported by her friends, focused her will. Her jewel flashed and Emily felt a flutter of activity. The dragon stone brightened. Zach’s heartbeat was strengthening, his breathing deepening.

Zach opened his eyes and blinked. “Adriane, you’re in my dream.”

Adriane hugged the boy, her heart full of joy. “No dream, Zach.”

They helped him sit up.

“What are you doing here?” he asked groggily.

“Rescuing you,” Adriane said.

“Guess we’re even.” Zach smiled weakly.

“Zach!”

“Agghh!” Zach covered his ears as the voice of Drake exploded in his head.

“Ooo, sorry! Are you all right?”

“I
was ...
yeah, okay.”

“Adriane told me to wait outside and make lots of noise when she tells me. I help!”

“Okay, stay there,” Zach instructed the dragon.

“How long have you been here?” Emily asked, rubbing Zach’s arms to help circulation.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Last thing I remember, I had snuck into the lair, trying to contact the mistwolves, then—here you are.”

“Zach, we found the crystals you told us about,” Adriane told him.

“Where are the mistwolves?” Zach asked, his face growing grim.

“Trapped inside them.”

“We have to get them out!” He pushed himself up—then slid back down. “Ow, my legs are numb.”

“Easy, you have to stay still for a while,” Emily said.

A sleek feline shape darted noiselessly through the door.
“I can’t find a clear way out. I keep going in circles.”

“I got out last time,” Adriane said.

“The sorceress
let
you get out to try and lure the mistwolves in,” Ozzie reminded her.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Zach wiped matted blond hair from his forehead. “This time she got them.”

“And Kara, too,” Emily added.

“Kara?” Zach surveyed the rescue party, realizing they were one member short.

“She’s under a spellsinging spell,” Ozzie informed him.

“That’s fairy magic!” Zach exclaimed.

“The sorceress is working with a fairy creature,” Adriane said. “A shape-shifter.”

Zach sighed. “Fairy magic. That’s what trapped them.”

“Why does the sorceress need so much mistwolf magic?” Emily asked.

Ozzie shook his head. “Magic attracts magic. She may be using the mistwolves to draw Avalon’s magic here, into the crystals.”

Zach struggled to get up again. “We have to get them out. They can’t survive in there.”

“Storm is keeping them strong,” Adriane said, her voice strained.

“She’s only one wolf, she can’t hold onto them for long!” Zach saw Adriane’s face go white—and he stopped talking.

The warrior got up and paced. She lifted her stone, sending a silent message to Storm.
“Storm, we found Zach,”
she told her packmate.
“But Kara is missing. How are you doing?”

“I am with you,”
came Storm’s staticky reply.
“Stand strong, warrior.”

“She’s okay.” Adriane could not hide the worry plainly visible on her face.

Lyra yowled, trying to reach Kara but to no avail.

“Some mages we turned out to be!” Adriane slumped beside Zach, head in her hands. What were they going to do? They had found Zach and he was okay. But the situation had gone from bad to horrible. Soon it would be hopeless.

T
HE DOOR TO
the throne room opened.

Caught in the powerful spellsong, Kara stepped inside, unable to resist its pull.

“Come in, child.” The Dark Sorceress sat upon her gleaming black throne. Long silver-blonde hair slashed with white lightning streaks fell over her shoulders and down her back. Silken robes glided silently over the stone floor as the sorceress rose and came to Kara.

Then Kara saw the eyes. She had seen them before, the cold eyes of a beast. Vertical slits opened, pinning Kara in their icy stare.

Kara shivered. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

The sorceress moved long fingers.

“—me go!” Kara finished.

“Tsk, tsk. We have so much to catch up on, my dear.” Her eyes bore into Kara’s. “And you must tell me everything.”

Kara watched, a prisoner inside her own head, her own body. “Yes.”

“Perfection.” The witch coldly inspected Kara. “With proper guidance, your power will be magnificent. You like using magic, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Kara said honestly. She couldn’t stop the words, as if they were being drawn out of her.

“I know you do. You’re going to show me what you can do.” The Dark Sorceress smiled, fangs gleaming.

Kara would have run screaming out of the room if she could’ve moved her feet.

“Well, come on, show me what you have brought,” the witch commanded.

A part of her knew she shouldn’t—but she couldn’t resist. Kara reached into her backpack and felt cold fire. Power raced up and down her arms like a thousand pinpricks. With her eyes locked on the sorceress, Kara pointed the unicorn horn at the witch. It blazed with light. But Kara could not release its magic.

The witch’s animal eyes glowed with delight. The horn flew from Kara’s hands and into her evil grasp. The pure light faded, cracks spiraled up and down. With a twist of her wrist, the horn splintered to dust, cascading to the floor like snow.

Kara watched helplessly.

“You know what I want!”

“No!” Kara screamed silently. She willed her body to flee, then watched, horrified, as her sparkling fairy map floated gently into the air. At that moment, another map, almost identical, rose from a pedestal nearby and drifted closer, drawn by its twin’s magic.

“You realize only powerful fairy magic can open the maps to Avalon,” the witch said cooly.

“Yes, B*Tween told me.” What was she saying? But she couldn’t help herself.

“B*Tween? Ah, fairy spellsingers, of course.” The sorceress smiled. “Fairies are tricksters. They are users, like the Fairimentals. They will use anything or anyone to get what they want.”

Kara stood motionless as the Dark Sorceress circled her like a viper.

“They told you that you have fairy blood?”

“Yes, from Queen Lucinda,” Kara answered.

“But they didn’t tell you the rest.” The Dark Sorceress stopped to watch Kara’s confused expression.

She stared into Kara’s eyes. “There is a reason you and I are alike, child. Lucinda was my sister.”

Kara gasped. It couldn’t be! But deep inside, she’d known there was a bond between her and the sorceress. She’d felt it when they’d first met. The sorceress had even told her as much—but Kara refused to believe it.

“Open yourself to the truth.” The witch’s words seeped into Kara like poison. “Embrace the magic that lies inside of you. And let it out!”

Music filled Kara’s head, words so soothing and luxurious. For the first time, she noticed a tall, dark shape standing in the shadows, green scales running along sinewy arms raised in the dim lights.

Kara’s arms waved in front of her in patterns she didn’t recognize. She was confused at first, but it soon became clear that
she
was beckoning the fairy maps. They responded immediately, pulsing and growing larger as they floated toward her.

Then, with a flash, the two maps converged and drifted over Kara. Fine lines charged with electric energy surrounded her like an exquisite web. Tiny points of light twinkled like stars.

Kara couldn’t think. The maps were so incredibly beautiful.

Follow your path, blazing star,
the Firemental had told her. Is this what she was supposed to do?

“If you have fairy magic, why don’t
you
use them?” Kara managed to get out.

The witch turned away, but not before Kara saw a hint of—sadness?

“I have traveled beyond what I once was,” the Dark Sorceress said, then faced Kara again, eyes aflame. “Now, show me the Gates of Avalon!”

Points of light began to flash in sequence, the strands of the web glowed.

Kara fought to clear her mind and regain control. But encircled by the pathways of magic and under the spellsong, she could not stop what had begun. She felt helpless and for the first time… totally alone.

“T
HIS PLACE IS
nothing but a maze!” Zach complained, frustrated.