Chapter 94
CHAPTER 94
Ezryn
I take cover behind the colossal sandstone pillars flanking Solonius’s Spine, the bridge marking the boundary between the Ribs and the rest of Summer.
True to his word, the defector from Kairyn’s army, Mozi, led us back to where he’d come from. The closer we got to Kairyn’s camp, the less the storm raged. We emerged out of the swirling sands beaten, gritty, and weak, but alive.
The girls lean against a pillar, sharing a waterskin. We don’t have many left. I tucked my last skins into their bags for them to find later. They’ll need them, and I most likely won’t.
Pillars guard the canyon before us, their surfaces etched with stories from epochs so old, only the Queen would remember them. A sense of awe strikes me as I run my hand over one of the carvings.
Before us stretches the bridge, a massive structure carved from the very bones of the desert itself. The weathered stone bears the weight of centuries; even the historians of Summer don’t know who built it or why. Perhaps at one point in Summer’s history, there was something in the Ribs worth traveling here for. Now the only greenery is bits of shrub growing between cracks in the stone.
The sun rises on the horizon, casting warm, golden light over the bridge.
A lone figure stands in the middle, dressed all in black, his cape snapping in the wind.
Kairyn’s body is completely still, save for his arms, which jerk from left to right, up and down. He’s coaxing the winds , I realize. I never mastered the art of the Spring storm; the only time I ever seemed to utilize such magic was when I was overpowered by it.
I don’t know if I would say Kairyn has mastered it either; I felt the rage in his storm, the wildness with which his magic rioted the winds. How long has he been standing here?
At least he doesn’t know I’ve arrived yet.
Across the canyon, on the other side of the bridge, is Kairyn’s camp. Tents are set up and members of his army are stationed in neat rows. Five airships are docked at the back of the camp.
I intake a breath. All of this, to find me. If nothing else, I hope removing my brother and these troops from Hadria has given Rosie and Dayton an opening to win the games.
“Let me face him with you,” Delphia says, stealing my focus from Kairyn. “You can’t win by yourself.”
Nori takes a glug of water. “His hammer is bigger than you are. If you look at the odds … They’re not good.”
I kneel down before the girls and take one of each of their hands. “This is my place. I could have walked a thousand paths, but they would all end here. I’m so glad I got to walk this path with both of you.”
Delphia’s bottom lip quivers. “We can help you—”
I smile. “You have.”
All my life there’s been a storm raging in my chest: the grief, the anger, the sadness, the shame. It’s plagued every decision I’ve made my entire life. I thought I kept it at bay with blood, but instead, I fed it. Rosie tried to show me, but I was too afraid to listen.
Traveling with Delphia and Nori has showed me how much that storm devours those I care about. They’ve shown me that in its quiet eye, there is peace.
I take a deep breath to quell the gale in my mind.
There are a thousand reasons to run out on that bridge and attempt to kill my brother. A thousand reasons to flee into the desert.
But there are two good reasons to stand my ground.
I will give my life to protect the Princesses of Summer and Autumn. To give them time to escape. I am long past thoughts of redemption or justice; all I know is I don’t want to be the slayer anymore. I will protect them, and in doing so, protect Rosalina the way I vowed I would.
I bring Delphie and Nori’s hands to my lips and kiss their knuckles: a knight pledging allegiance to a princess. Then I stand and walk over to the next pillar, where Mozi hovers nervously. He keeps peering out at Kairyn and the rest of the army.
“Mozi.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “I have been given more than my share of second chances. So, this one I extend to you. I will keep Kairyn occupied for as long as I possibly can. It will disrupt the magic he’s using to create the sandstorm. You must take the princesses as far north as possible. Do not stop for anything.”
“North?” Mozi gasps. “Back into the Ribs?”
I look up at the sky. “The Huntresses of Aura are always watching us. When you are clear of this place, call out for them. They will find you. Do not ask, but demand, that if they will not aid Hadria, then they must save a child of their blood. Tell them to fly the girls over the Briar to Coppershire. They will be safe there.”
Mozi nods, face twisted with emotion. Then he falls to one knee and places a hand over his breast. “I’ll do anything you ask, Your Eminence. In my heart, you are the true High Prince of Spring.”
A wave of sadness crests over me. Banished, I am no longer a Prince of Spring, but nor will I be the Prince of Blood. Not anymore. “You must make contact with the Huntresses before the storm begins again. And if it does … I have fallen.”
“No, Ezryn!”
I turn around to see the girls. They rush forward and wrap their arms around my waist. I stagger, arms hovering awkwardly, before I embrace them back.
“You two are so strong and smart and brave. I’ve learned a great deal from traveling with you,” I say softly.
“I don’t want you to go,” Delphia says.
“You will see your brothers again, I promise, and one day, you’ll sit upon your thrones in the great halls of your keeps and remember how you braved the Ribs.”
“But we failed,” Nori says.
“You lived ,” I tell them. “As long as you live, the realms will have hope.”
A sob chokes out of Delphia. “Don’t die, okay, Ezryn?”
I look up at the sky. “I’m going to do my best.” Then I nod to Mozi. He nudges the girls, and they pull away from me.
“Girls?”
“Yes?” Delphie turns back.
“If the storm begins again … Well, whenever you should see the Golden Rose, tell her … tell her not to be angry with me, all right? And tell her, thank you. For knowing me as I now know myself.”
Delphia nods, then looks toward Kairyn. “Hey, Ez?”
“Hmm?”
“Don’t be afraid to make a big move,” she says and flashes me Dayton’s signature grin.
“But do it logically,” Nori adds.
I nod and offer them a genuine smile. They turn and follow Mozi into the desert. I watch until the three figures become silhouettes.
Now, there’s nothing else left to do. I go and face my brother.
Kairyn doesn’t notice me as I take my first steps onto the bridge; his helm is tilted skyward, and I know he’s focusing everything on the sandstorm.
Against my better judgment, I cast a look over the side of the bridge. The canyon plummets down thousands of feet, so far that the bottom is hidden by darkness. I wonder if it goes all the way to the Below.
I know the moment Kairyn sees me because the world goes silent. The wind dies instantly. The sand stills. The desert doesn’t even dare to breathe.
The morning light bathes Kairyn in a fiery halo. He stands rigid, his long shadow stretching before him. The token of the Queen hangs on a chain around his neck.
“Here we are, brother. Together at the end of the world.” His voice booms over the expanse.
I say nothing.
“You know it has to be like this, don’t you, brother? Alone in the darkness, you’d feel me, wouldn’t you, as I feel you? A constant reminder that while one of us lives, the other must suffer.” His words descend into a raspy growl. He touches the wooden token that hangs over his chest plate. A light flashes, materializing into a war hammer, one of the Queen’s weapons: the Hammer of Hope.
“Even after I made you pay for your crimes, after I banished you, destroyed you in battle, you still continue to vex me!” Kairyn hauls the hammer over his shoulder, then brings it down, smashing a huge chunk of sandstone out of the railing. “You haunt my soldiers through the desert, disrupt my affairs, and steal the nobles I mean to make prisoner! Ever since we were children, I could never do anything well enough for you, could I? You always had to challenge me!” With another roar, he smashes the other side of the bridge.
I stay still, silent.
Kairyn stalks closer, light glinting off his hammer as he brings it down once again on the stone in front of him. “Is this what you wanted me to turn into, brother? Is this what you wanted to make me?”
My chest is heavy with grief at his words. “It’s not too late, Kairyn. I’m not here to fight with you. I’m here to offer you a second chance. You don’t have to side with Sira. We can fix this. Together.”
A half-laugh, half-cry tears out of him. “How dare you speak to me of such notions? You failed me, just as you failed Mother. As you failed Father!”
I take in a deep breath. Feel the steadiness of my feet on the stone, the warmth of the sun on my skin. “I know I have, Kai. I am so sorry.”
Kairyn staggers back, hammer crunching against the stone as it drags. “Stop. It’s too late. I have nothing but what they give me.”
“That’s not true. You are a son of Spring, not of the Below. You have our people, our home. You have the beauty of the Vale and …” Unconsciously, I reach up and touch the ragged points of my ears. The storm that once swelled in my breast stays quiet. “And you have your brother’s love.”
Kairyn shakes his head back and forth. “There is no path to peace while both of us live. You couldn’t kill me, yet you won’t die!”
I close my eyes. So, this is how it will be. I only hope I can give Delphia and Nori enough time.
“Draw your blade,” Kairyn says. “Draw it and let us see this through.”
“I won’t fight you.”
“Then this will be the end of you, brother,” Kairyn says sadly. “I will mourn you.”
My brother attacks.
Kairyn charges at me, swinging his hammer with wild abandon. I dance away from his strikes. I do not draw my blade. I don’t give in to the storm, nor do I fight it. With each frantic swing of my brother’s hammer, I flow as the river flows, drift as the breeze drifts. I am the wings of the birds and the leap of the deer.
Kairyn roars, his grip too tight around the hammer. Each missed swing slams against the ancient stone, creating divots and cracks.
“Draw your blade!” Kairyn screams. “Fight me!”
I roll under another one of his rage-fueled swings. My mother’s sword remains sheathed in its scabbard. I will not draw steel against Kairyn again.
“You’re a coward.” Great clouds of dust erupt from each of his heavy steps. “Why do you run but not flee? Take up steel, as a son of Spring should!”
But I am more than a son of Spring. I flick along the edges of the bridge, fast as one of Farron’s flames. I dance backward to avoid a swing, my footwork honed from darting away from twin blades wielded by Dayton. I dash toward Kairyn, billowing past him and out of striking distance, as Kel always erupted upon a battlefield.
When Kairyn turns to face me, shoulders shaking with rage, fists clenched so tight around his hammer that the hilt seems close to snapping, I stand and face him as the Golden Rose stands and faces all the hurt of the world.
“What is this? A game?” Kairyn roars. “Either you or I die on this bridge. There is no other path for us!”
“Then I shall forge one,” I say.
“Impossible!” Kairyn thrusts out his hand, and the hammer shimmers, disappearing into a ball of light that twinkles back into his necklace. With a roar, he lifts his hands to the sky. The desert grass that grows in the cracks of the bridge bursts forward, morphing into massive vines. They thump down on the bridge between us. The weight of one causes a chunk of bridge to fall away near my feet. I look down at the canyon yawning below.
“Free me of this torment and DIE!” The vines whip up like great cobras, snapping toward me. I keep my breath steady and my movements fluid, slipping through their grasp like water through a sieve. Every moment I spend here with Kairyn is another moment Delphia and Eleanor have to escape. That thought above all else keeps me centered here in this moment.
I do not need to kill my brother to protect them.
Peace fills me with the thought, even as the vines grasp for my limbs, desperately trying to entangle me. Kairyn screams as he whips his arms around, each movement making the vines more chaotic, more tangled.
Cracks spiderweb across the bridge’s surface, and part of the railing crumbles away as a vine crashes into it. My feet barely touch the ground as I leap from the railing to the top of the vine to the railing on the other side.
Kairyn unleashes a roar of primal fury. With each passing second, his attacks grow more frenzied, more desperate. He hasn’t hit me once, but once is all it would take to send me tumbling over the side and into the pit below. My heart beats strong and steady in my chest, but I don’t know much longer I can avoid him.
His movements are frantic, erratic. He’ll do anything to get me in his grasp. But I know how these plants move. This was once my power; it lived inside of me for years.
I will not be caught in its turmoil again.
I dash behind Kairyn and take a single moment to catch my breath.
Don’t be afraid to make a big move. But do it logically.
Jumping away just as a vine smashes down where I was, I sprint toward my brother. The bridge crumbles below my feet, stones falling away and revealing the abyss below.
Kairyn balks as I run straight toward him, but I slide to his left just before I reach him. His vine whips around to grab me. I dart up and circle him, the vine following me.
“Get out!” Kairyn screams. “Leave me alone!”
The vine tails right behind me as I roll to Kairyn’s other side, then I’m up, jumping on the rail and propelling myself over my brother’s head.
“Stop it! Stop running!” Kairyn screams.
“I’m not running,” I say. “And I’m not fighting.”
With a huge leap, I jump over Kairyn’s head once more, then pull to a stop before him.
Kairyn gives a maniacal laugh. “So, that’s it? You’re giving up? You admit it finally. I am the strongest! I deserved Spring’s Blessing all this time!”
The breath is ragged in my throat, my muscles ache. I hold steady.
“Then this is it,” he laughs. “I’m not afraid. I’ll be free. I’ll be free when you’re dead!”
But nothing happens. No vine comes to strike me down, no hammer emerges. My brother jerks his arms, but they don’t move. His vines are twisted so tightly around him, his arms are pinned to his sides, his feet locked together.
Only his head can move. “What have you done? What have you done to me?”
“You have done this to yourself,” I say.
“No,” his voice cracks, almost boyish. “No. No, this isn’t it. I have to kill you!”
“I’m sorry, brother. I cannot die today. Not while there are still those who need my protection.”
“Ezryn!” he screams, my name echoing through the canyon. “Ezryn!”
I look down at my brother, thrashing helplessly in the cage of his own creation. Now, I draw my mother’s blade and hold it to his neck.
“Do it,” he growls. “Kill me. Take this misery from me. Rid me of it!”
My hand is steady as the steel fits perfectly beneath his helm. One push and I could cut clean through his neck.
I stare into the dark abyss of metal. The downturned feather brow melds away in my mind’s eye. I can picture my little brother as he once was, can picture the man he could have been.
Could still be.
I made a vow to Rosalina. I promised I would return to her.
If I kill my brother and slay the last of my kin, I don’t know what man would come back to her.
“Do it,” my brother breathes. “Free me.”
I move the blade slightly, just enough to slice through the chain around his neck. The token of Spring falls and I catch it midair. Without the Blessing, it is little more than a trinket to me, but at least this will keep the Hammer of Hope out of his hands. I tuck it safely into my pocket.
“You have the token and the hammer. Kill me and be done with this torment,” Kairyn growls.
“I can’t free you of your torment,” I say softly. “Only you can do that.”
With a cry, I bring my blade down. The tip of my sword digs into the cracks of the bridge. The stone beneath Kairyn gives way, crumbling into the abyss below. Kairyn falls, suspended in midair by his vines.
“Ezryn!” he screams. “You should have killed me! Ezryn! I hate you!”
I collapse to my knees as his cries echo through the canyon, suspended in the remnants of his own destruction.
A part of me wishes I could lie down here, in the remnants of mine.
But there are still those who would hunt Delphia and Eleanor.
I pick up the hilt of my mother’s sword and walk into the sun toward my brother’s army.