Trinity (27 page)

Kiana forced herself to smile. “I
am. Honestly.”

Skaric nodded, released her and
stepped away. Kiana could feel the lingering warmth of his
touch.

“
Skaric…” She was glad when her words pulled him back round to
look at her. “I know I’ll have to sleep again. Will you watch over
me when I do?”
I’ll feel safer
if I know you’re there.

Skaric looked at her sidelong,
before staring downwards and scuffing the ground with his boot.
When he finally looked at her again, he was chewing his bottom lip
nervously. Kiana almost laughed but the fear was creeping back into
her body. Eventually, Skaric nodded.

Kiana wanted to hug him but
instead, she smiled. “Thank you.”

He nodded again, more formally
than before. “You should ride.”

“
What about you?
Is your head still hurting?”

“
I’m fine.” He
offered her a faint smile and then returned to the waiting
horses.

Chapter
Seventeen

Skaric rested his chin on his
folded arms as he stared at the castle. It sat brooding in the
distance: a dark blot rising above the desolate landscape. It was
darker than the inky sky, even though the pale crescent moon hung
directly above it. It was a day away from them at most, but it
still seemed so far.

He glanced across at Kiana. She
hadn’t been asleep for long, but already her brow had become
furrowed and she was starting to twitch as she dreamed. The gentle
moonlight highlighted the angles of her cheeks, made sharper by
weeks of travelling, and the curve of her full lips, which were
downturned. She looked so sad, caught in her dream of death. Skaric
curled his hands into tight fists. There was no point in trying to
wake her; it wouldn’t work. The dream would grip her and then
release her when it had hurt her.

Skaric pressed
his chin harder against his arms. The discomfort helped keep him
awake. He was achingly tired and his head still pounded with pain;
he tried convincing himself it was because he kept watch longer
than Kiana and Nidan. He had slept better than them because the
deaths he dreamt of paled in comparison to the horrors he had lived
through. Besides, he had promised Kiana that he would watch over
her, and he
wouldn’t
break that promise.

He gnawed on his lower lip.
What good would watching over her do? It wouldn’t stop her from
dreaming—or crying. He’d done a terrible job of comforting her. He
had never seen such open displays of emotion and affection before,
not even amongst Wolf women and children. Once again he felt
useless, more like dead wood than anything else.

Skaric’s breath crystallised on
the air in front of him. Despite the warmth of the night, he
suddenly felt cold. Shuddering, he wrapped his arms around his
chest and stood slowly. He breathed out again, but the same thing
happened as if it was a winter night. His entire body began to
shiver.

As he stared, everything began
to change. Silver pathways materialised on the ground,
crisscrossing over the desolate landscape like a giant spider’s web
glistening in the moonlight. Dark shapes, barely recognisable as
human trudged along the pathways, all heading in the same
direction: towards the castle. Skaric looked up but it was now just
a black void. He could see the silver pathways swirling into it
like a vortex that was consuming Ysia’s magic. Skaric’s chest
constricted. The darkness spread out covering everything like a
blanket until it had swallowed up the ground and sky.

The air was
knocked out of Skaric’s lungs as one of the shadows brushed past
him. His skin felt like ice. Trembling, Skaric dropped to his knees
and held himself tighter, fighting to squeeze some warmth into his
body.
Where am I?
Cold and fear made his mind sluggish, but oddly, his headache
had vanished completely.
Almost as if
something wanted me to be here
.

Kiana. Nidan.

Skaric looked around for his
companions. It was as though he were looking at them through a
black veil. They were still sleeping. Skaric narrowed his eyes.
Bright white light emanated from them both, surrounding them like
cocoons. At Nidan’s chest, a brilliant emerald glow throbbed like a
heartbeat, whilst there was a golden glow at Kiana’s breast. More
than that, around Kiana there was a second aura, the same golden
light completely enveloping her own like a protective bubble.

I’ve seen
this before.
He shook his head at the
recalled memory of the pain caused by his head wound.

As his eyes
adjusted to the darkness between the pathways, Skaric saw something
else: crouching shadows lurking beside his two companions. He took
a step closer, but his instincts stopped him. Glancing down, he saw
that he would have stepped off the silvery pathways.
I know I can’t step off but I don’t know
why.

The shadow beside Kiana reached
out and brushed its incorporeal hand across her face. Through the
shroud, Skaric saw Kiana frown and heard the echo of her
whimper.

Skaric
understood the shadows’ malevolence.
You’re lost
. The shadows looked up at
him, their eyes burning malevolently like red-hot coals.
And you’re hurting my friends.
He couldn’t allow that. But he couldn’t reach them
either. He needed to create a bridge.
Think
.

His mind carried him back to
Blackoak Tower and when he realised he could do so much more with
his magic than he had ever thought possible.

Skaric relaxed
his arms and held his hands in front of him, staring at the white
light that surrounded him. Hesitantly he looked down at his chest.
Weak silver light pulsed there. His heart leapt.
Ysia
.

It was hard to
think clearly with his teeth chattering in his skull, and his heart
hammering in his chest just as quickly. His thoughts were racing,
trying to make sense of where he was and how he had got
there.
I wanted to help. I wanted to be
useful.
He breathed out slowly, closed his
eyes and tried to quell his tumultuous thoughts. He had to
think.

It was just
the same as at Blackoak Tower. He had wanted to cast magic beyond
his capabilities; he had
needed
to.

My will is an
extension of my soul
.

Skaric’s realisation awoke a
slumbering strength within him. He imagined himself reaching out to
the two shadows: not physically with his hand but with his soul. He
gasped; he felt stretched thin—weakened. As Skaric opened his eyes,
he saw that he had created a new pathway. It was paler than those
around it, barely corporeal, but it was there and it ran between
the two shadows. They looked at him and then at the pathway he had
created to save them. Like greedy children, they reached out and
pulled themselves onto it. In the same instant, the anger fled from
their eyes and, like the other souls that Skaric could see, they
trudged down his path and joined the flow.

Skaric’s legs were shaking; his
heart was quivering. He willed the pathway to vanish. Air suddenly
rushed back into his lungs, unbearably cold and crisp. Tingling
energy rushed through his body, and then he felt strong and whole
again.

He looked at his companions.
They both looked peaceful. Kiana looked peaceful.

A smile
flickered across Skaric’s lips, and he looked down at his hands
again.
I’m not useless after
all
. His victory seemed bittersweet.
This is where the dead go. I could only be here
if Ysia was alive.

Skaric frowned
as a writhing movement caught his attention. Red tendrils flickered
throughout his aura, bleeding out and polluting its purity. He felt
his stomach twist into a thousand knots.
What have I done to myself?

At the edge of his vision,
Kiana’s aura flickered and became even brighter as she sat up and
stared directly ahead. At him. Her eyes were wide, her lips parted
slightly. Bathed in the light of her twin aura, she looked… like a
goddess. Pain stabbed at Skaric’s chest; he crumpled to the ground,
curling into a tight ball.

Reality snapped around him. The
ground beneath his cheek suddenly felt real again, and the warmth
of the night wrapped him tightly in its grip, which slowly seeped
into his skin and bones.

“
Skaric?”
Kiana was right before him, reaching out to him.

Skaric hadn’t even seen her
move. He could still see the faintest trace of the double aura,
though the light did not illuminate the darkness that gathered
around her.

Teeth
chattering, he forced himself upright. “I’m fine.” It was a
lie.
How could I be fine, now that I
know?

Kiana’s fingertips brushed
against his hand. He shivered at her delicate touch and then
followed her frightened stare to see a thin powdering of ice on her
hand.

She raised her gaze to stare at
him. “What happened?”

Skaric looked down. He was
covered in frost that was beginning to slowly melt. “Ysia… she
isn’t dead.” The words choked in his throat.

Kiana’s eyes widened into a
pair of perfect circles. “What? How do you know?”

“
I can see… I
went…” Skaric shook his head; he couldn’t explain any of it. “She’s
alive.”

Kiana took his
hands in hers, clutching them as though she were trying to warm
them. Instinctively, Skaric tried to pull away but a deeper part of
him fought down the urge. That part of him
wanted
to feel Kiana’s soft skin
against his rough hands.
I shouldn’t be
feeling this way.

“
What did you
see?” Her voice soothed his confusion.

“
Your soul.
And the dead.”

He felt Kiana shudder as she
held him. He looked over her shoulder towards Orholt. The castle
was visible again, though the shadows that cloaked it seemed to
have become even deeper.

Anger welled up inside Skaric,
clawing at his insides, fighting to get out. He squeezed his eyes
shut. “How can she be alive?” He wanted to scream. “Everything I’ve
done… I spent my whole life being trained to avenge her!”

Skaric choked
as bile flooded into his throat. He ripped his hands away from
Kiana, staggered to his feet and walked a short distance away so
that he could throw up. He spat the remnants of bile onto the
ground, walked away from the regurgitated contents of his stomach
and forced himself to take several deep breaths. It didn’t stop him
shaking. Skaric felt the gentle touch of Kiana’s hand on the small
of his back as she tried to rub his anguish away.
Stop!
I don’t deserve
this! You don’t know what I’ve done!

He raised his head so that he
was staring up at the moon. “How could you do this?” His strangled
voice came out as a weak shout. “How could you hide from us? Turn
your back on us? Make us think you were dead?”

“
Skaric…”

He spun round, breathing
harshly as he stared down at Kiana. Behind her, he could sense that
Nidan was beginning to stir and wake.

Skaric looked down at his hands
again. The frost had gone, leaving his clothes uncomfortably damp.
He could still see the faint remnants of his own soul, poisoned by
fire. His mouth twisted. “What did I do to myself?” He began to
step backwards away from Kiana as he tried to claw at red tendrils
that seemed to writhe and bury deeper into his soul before his
eyes.

“
Skaric…
you’re scaring me!”

Skaric stopped and stared at
Kiana. “Everything was a lie. I seized the magic of the nyxii
because I believed Ysia was dead. But she isn’t.” He looked up at
the moon again. “You were right, Kiana… I corrupted my soul.” He
knew he needed to cleanse it. He had fallen into Ysia’s realm by
accident; now he needed to get there purposefully. What was it
Nidan had said? He had to block out all thoughts except for those
of his god.

Kiana took two faltering steps
towards him. “Sit down… we can talk this through…”

Skaric ignored her, turned his
back on her and blocked out the sound of her voice. He couldn’t
look at her frightened eyes or pale face. Guilt stabbed at his
heart but he ignored that too. He breathed in and out slowly,
imagining the silver pathways that he had seen and the darkness.
Behind him, Kiana was still talking and Nidan’s voice had joined
in. He ignored them both; he had to.

Skaric began to tremble from
the cold. His breath froze on the air before him. He felt the ghost
of a touch at his back and spun round. Everything blurred and then
snapped into focus. He was standing on the silver pathway again.
Kiana and Nidan were in front of him, separated from him by the
black shroud. Nidan was staring at him open mouthed, the palm of
his hand still outstretched.

You can’t reach me here. You
can see me. I can see you. But we’re not in the same place
anymore.

Kiana raised her hands to her
mouth and then sagged. She would have fallen, but Nidan turned in
time to catch her.

Skaric shifted
his gaze and looked at the embodiment of his soul. The red tendrils
were real and tangible. He reached into the white haze and plucked
one of the tendrils out. It writhed in his grip like a burning
snake, scorching him. Unimaginable pain tore through the core of
his being. He flung the snake outwards and watched as the darkness
swallowed it up. He repeated the process, but the pain drove him to
his knees.
I can’t do this!