Heavenly Bodies

Chapter Sixty-Seven

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

Elara ran around the palace until she found steps that led up to one of the building’s rooftops. She launched up them, hearing the sound of running footsteps behind her. When she whirled, Isra grinned at her, keeping pace with her easily.

Isra had been the first person Elara had dreamwalked to hours before, as she’d mapped out her plan.

‘Outcome?’ she breathed by way of greeting.

Isra’s eyes flickered white quickly, as they turned a corner.

‘More than one.’

‘Deaths?’

‘In many of them.’

Elara blew out a breath. ‘What’s our best chance?’

Isra’s eyes flickered once more, and she didn’t answer for a while. ‘You must summon your silver light,’ she said at last.

Elara slowed. ‘I don’t know how to,’ she replied, as they reached the rooftop.

‘You will,’ Isra said quietly. ‘It’s the only way.’

Elara nodded, allowing herself to feel the uneasiness then letting it go. ‘Stay on there,’ she said, pointing to a parallel rooftop across a small gap. ‘Guide me to whichever choices are going to lead to Ariete’s death.’

Isra nodded, squeezing Elara’s hands before deftly hopping across the parapets and leaping across the small gap to the opposite palace rooftop.

Elara turned, wrapping illusions of invisibility around herself. She looked over at the woman who was pacing nervously near the edge of the rooftop, and scaled the distance so she had a clear view of both the woman, who was smoothing her black gown, and the top of the steps.

When Ariete’s livid face came into sight above the steps, the woman smiled.

‘Took you long enough,’ she called across the rooftop as Ariete seethed.

‘You know I’ve had just about enough of our games, little mouse,’ he spat, marching at her.

‘Really? But we’ve been having so much fun.’ She slunk forwards, closing the gap between them, as Elara crept towards both of them.

‘You know,’ the woman continued, ‘you still haven’t revealed why you can’t kill me. What about me is so powerful that I survived a Star’s death blow? Who am I, Ariete?’

It distracted Ariete enough for his starlight to sputter. Elara was so close now.

Close enough to see how the black and red hairs slicked down the back of the god’s neck.

Ariete lowered a hand to the figure’s face, tilting her chin. This was Elara’s moment. Her hand shook as she raised the duskglass blade with one hand.

Ariete crouched, bringing his lips down to the figure before whispering to them, ‘Well, you certainly aren’t Elara.’

Crimson light slammed into the woman, and her raven hair lightened, pale skin deepening.

Merissa’s head lolled as she fell lifelessly to the ground.

‘Merissa!’ Elara screamed as her illusion was torn from her. With a growl, Ariete spun, his hand whipping out. It latched on to Elara’s wrist. She summoned a shadow, a viper flying through the air at him.

He dodged it, as Elara summoned the next shadow, this one a crow that dived for his eyes.

‘Isra?!’ she called, seeing a blur of movement from the opposite rooftop out of the corner of her eye.

‘Another illusion!’ Isra shouted.

Elara swept one around them, the ground swirling beneath their feet as quicksand appeared.

Ariete grunted as his feet stuck in it, fending off the crow as Elara advanced.

But the god quickly fought off the illusion, a slam of starlight dispersing it, the shadow crow with it, bringing them back to the rooftop.

‘You forget who you joust with, Elara. Your little mind tricks won’t work on me.’

‘That must be why you believed I’ve been dead all these months,’ she retorted, and Ariete’s eyes flashed with fury.

‘Shadow!’ Isra ordered.

Elara threw a spew of them at Ariete, who stumbled back from the force.

‘Duck left!’ Isra shouted, but Elara was too slow as Ariete threw a knife through the air, nicking her arm.

The blow broke her concentration, and her shadows shattered as Ariete advanced.

Again, and again, she took Isra’s orders, to conjure shadows and illusions, to move right or dodge left, as Ariete tried to fend her off, and she pushed him closer and closer to the edge of the palace roof. He tried to shoot starlight out towards Isra, but the seer saw his moves before he made them, dodging them with relative ease.

He conjured another throwing knife and launched it once more at Elara, but another yell from Isra had her missing it, shifting their surroundings faster.

From fjord caps in Sveta to the ocean depths of Neptuna, Elara whipped image after image at him until he was disoriented. At last, the god of war stumbled.

‘Merissa?!’ she yelled over at Isra, as she sent a shadow, this one an arrow, piercing through the air. It plunged into Ariete’s leg and he swore as sparkling blood flowed from the spot.

‘Alive,’ Isra shouted back, and Elara gave a sigh of relief as she continued, shadows swarming and blinding the god.

There was no end to her power, no bottom to the well. Whatever had happened in her dreamscape had removed any limits on her. And for the first time, she felt hope. That she could actually vanquish the god before her.

She did not tire, even as the god did, until finally he was on his knees. He was panting, luminescent blood spilling from various gashes on his body. Ray after ray of starlight tried to knock her down, but she had been drilling with Enzo’s light for months. She disarmed each one with a shield of shadows that grew more wicked as it absorbed each hit.

‘Time for the monster!’ Isra called.

And Elara smiled.

She took a deep breath, one palm raised as the blackest shadows she had ever conjured grew and shifted behind her. Bigger and bigger they grew, until they blocked the lightdown behind her, casting darkness over Ariete.

Because standing at Elara’s back, wings spread, was a dragun. Born from herself.

Ariete blinked, looking to it in shock, then Elara. ‘It’s you,’ he said softly, scrambling back so that he was almost dangling off the edge of the roof. Elara approached, and so did the dragun.

It bent its head over Elara, maw open as it clamped down upon Ariete’s arm. He screamed in agony as her shadows kept him pinned, while she raised her duskglass blade.

‘Elara!’ Isra shouted. But it was too late. With his free hand, Ariete had conjured a sword, its hilt carved into a ram—flashing rubies glowing within its eyes. In one swift movement, he plunged it through the mouth of her dragun, and it dissipated, the shadows exploding into nothingness.

Before she could draw breath, he sprang at her with his blade. At Isra’s alarmed shout, Elara twisted to avoid it, which she realized too late had played right into Ariete’s hand as he used her one off-balance moment to pull her to the floor. In a leap, he was on his feet, one foot upon the wrist that held the duskglass.

His grin was one of feral delight.

And Elara realized, it had all been too easy. That Ariete had danced her around the rooftop, letting her gain confidence, before showing her what it really meant to fight a god of war.

‘Outcome?’ Elara wheezed, winded—one last desperate attempt to Isra.

‘Winged lions,’ came Isra’s quiet response.

A code word. She nodded. Stall Ariete, that’s all she had to do.

‘You know, this was fun at first,’ Ariete said as his starlight wrapped around her. She fought against him. ‘But now this is all becoming rather an inconvenience.’

With a shout, she tried to lunge a shadow at him with her free hand. With a tut, Ariete stamped on the wrist beneath his boot, and she screamed as pain flared and she heard a bone snap. Then, with a kick, he sent the blade off the edge of the roof. Elara sobbed in horror as she watched it tumble away and vanish from sight.

‘ No! ’ she screamed.

He pointed his sword to her throat. ‘Now, I may not be able to kill you, but you can still bleed.’

With a last burst of strength, she poured shadows from her hand, the wisps writhing down the building.

The sound of wings pumping the air resonated through blood-red skies. Elara felt the roof reverberate beneath her as Ariete scanned the horizon, his eyes narrowing. Elara scrambled, trying to stand, but Ariete grabbed her by her hair and pulled her tightly to him.

Two gigantic, black feathered wings appeared as her shadow lion rose.

‘Get your hands off my queen,’ a voice said, threat lacing every word.

Elara almost wept as she saw Enzo on its back, one hand curled in the lion’s midnight mane as the other wielded the duskglass blade.

Thank skies for Isra. Isra had warned Elara that the only favourable outcome would be if Enzo waited until the last moment to play his hand. And now was the very last moment.

Ariete dropped Elara, the princess grunting in pain as she hit the ground behind him. She saw a movement, and looked over at Isra as the seer brought her hands down violently on the rooftop in front of her. White frost rushed from the area she hit, spreading a bridge from her rooftop to Elara’s, where it kept going, running in a path to the Star as it crawled up his feet, freezing them in place. Elara threw out her one good hand, lancing shadows around Ariete’s wrists. And with a snarl, Enzo leapt, the duskglass in hand, arcing it towards Ariete’s chest.

Elara heard the wet thunk of a blade embedded in flesh and gasped in disbelief. Enzo had done it. Had pierced Ariete’s heart. It was done, it was over, it was…

A low chuckle echoed through the air, but it was not Enzo’s. She leaned forwards, trying to see past Ariete as red starlight cracked through the ice, freeing the god’s feet. Both he and Enzo turned. Time slowed as Enzo’s mouth opened in shock, a frown on his face as he looked down at the sword plunged into his stomach.

Elara crawled forwards. ‘No.’

Enzo’s shaking hand lunged with the duskglass towards Ariete’s heart, but the Star laughed as he twisted the sword. Enzo cried out, his arm falling, and Ariete laughed again, louder this time as he ripped the sword from Enzo’s flesh. Enzo fell to his knees, his shaking hands trying to staunch the blood.

‘ No! ’ Elara screamed again, a sound that tore her throat.

She lurched towards Enzo, screaming his name. Ariete stood, his bloody mouth a grin as he looked on. Enzo kept the duskglass clutched in his palm as the Star raised his sword once more.

‘Enzo!’ she screamed again, and with a cry, Elara summoned her shadows from her uninjured hand, and knocked the sword from Ariete’s grasp. He growled, reaching for it when Isra, still on the opposite rooftop, let out a snarl and unleashed the last of her reserves, a rush of ice fully encasing the Star in a moment, before she promptly collapsed.

Elara gathered another lot of shadows and slammed them into the palace roof, obliterating a hole beneath Enzo.

Enzo fell, terror in his eyes, and Elara scrambled to the edge before diving after him.

Air rushed around her. Her wrist pulsed with pain, cradled to her, the other arm outstretched. The shallow pool of the throne room was looming beneath him. She flung out shadows with a grunt, wrapping them around Enzo just in time. He groaned, resting against the hard shroud of shadows as he was gently laid in the pool. He clutched his stomach, trying to stop the blood that flowed freely. Elara’s feet touched the floor, a twin stream of shadows cushioning her landing. Scented water sprayed as she leapt into the pool and knelt before Enzo. Her shadows unconsciously morphed back into her dragun, wrapping around them both as the pool began to tint red, soaking both their clothes.

‘No, no, no, no,’ Elara whispered, clamping her hand over his, shaking as she tried to staunch the flow beneath the water. ‘Enzo,’ she gasped, ‘Enzo, stay with me.’

She clenched her eyes against her pounding head as the cost of her magick finally caught up with her, along with the exhaustion from the fight.

‘It wasn’t meant to go this way,’ he murmured.

Elara sobbed, clutching Enzo, cupping his face with one hand.

‘El,’ he moaned, his eyes hazy.

‘ No ,’ she snarled. ‘You can’t leave me. I’ve waited my whole life for you.’

Tears rolled down Enzo’s cheeks as he tried to prop himself up, raising her chin weakly with one hand. ‘There was never a happy ending for us. There never is for star-crossed lovers.’ He smiled sadly. ‘But I don’t regret a second. I would do it all again, welcome every pain to feel myself falling in love with you again. You are the love of my life, El. My love of lifetimes.’

Elara sobbed.

‘Take this part of me,’ he whispered, conjuring a small ball of light in his palm. ‘Just a glimmer of my light.’

‘What? I can’t—’

Enzo nodded. ‘You can. They say that about soulmates, you know? That they can lend each other magick. You need to take it. Just in case. To finish Ariete.’

Elara’s tears fell. ‘Please, Enzo, don’t do this.’

‘You have to live, El. For your parents. For Sofia. For me. ’ His eyes fluttered closed, and he sighed.

‘I have only one regret,’ he whispered.

‘What? No, Enzo,’ she sobbed, gripping him to her, trying to shake him lucid.

‘That I didn’t tell you sooner.’

‘Tell me what?’

‘That you were my angel.’ Enzo leaned forwards, kissing her softly as he pressed his light-filled palm to her heart. And she wasn’t sure what magick was shared between them as she felt his power flood through her, but her dreamwalking gifts reared to life, pulling them into a memory.