50. Caspyn
Chapter 50
Her Catalyst.
I nearly laughed at that, but bit my tongue before I did something I regretted.
I may have thought myself a Catalyst at one point in my life, but that was lifetimes ago.
The muscles in my back that had been taught since the moment I left those red pack wagons tensed more as the queen stepped closer, looking me up and down even as everyone mumbled and questioned and looked between Elara and I in disbelief.
“Her Catalyst,” The queen scoffed, she clearly didn't believe it either. Then again, she knew exactly what I was, and if I had to guess she knew exactly what I was capable of.
It was no wonder she was looking at me as though I was something she would like to eat, like I was something she would like to cage and play with.
My magic buzzed over my core again, that feeling of light that emanated from Elara burning right after it. That light was pulling me forward, right to her, right to her end.
Princess Elara, who had magic on her own, powerful magic of every kind. According to the stories I knew she also had a Catalyst, an odd Catalyst that she found later. I had heard it a hundred times, and now I stood in the middle of it.
Her Catalyst… it was me. No wonder the stories I was raised with portrayed Elara’s Catalyst as odd, I wasn’t a Catalyst at all.
But if it would end Dalyah, I would be whatever I needed to be.
“Yes, I am her Catalyst,” I raised my voice, letting the sound carry over everything as I stared into the icy glare of the queen.
“Well, then. Let us celebrate this moment, even in light of such a tragedy.” Queen Dalyah’s sneer turned from me to Elara as she stepped to the remains of one of the attackers, her dainty toe kicking the head towards the tangled mess of its torso. It rolled end over end, Elara tensing as the shroud of black fabric that covered his face fell away, revealing a face with a strong jaw and inky eyes that looked into nothing. Eyes like pitch; the same color as the guards she had sent to attack me in the camp. The same color of Vaelar when I had first encountered him. If everything else about the man hadn’t been so starkly different I would have thought it was him.
But those eyes…
“The Boy,” Dalyah mused, her feigned sadness apparent as she turned to Elara, her body still stiff as her hands gripped her skirt in tight little fists. I wanted to remind her that it wasn’t him, tell her that I knew where he was.
“He… he…” Her voice cracked as she stood there, heaving until that strength I had seen in her before returned in a rush and she lifted her chin to face her mother. “He was not loyal.”
Elara was firm, strong, but Dalyah still looked at her as though she was toying with her food. It was clear they had both played this game before.
“So, it seems. I suppose he wasn’t much of a guard after all,” The queen kicked the head again, sending it rolling into the gaping line of the broken ground after the others before she turned, her eyes darting right back to me.
She wasn’t a fool, she knew exactly what magic had caused that crack in the world. Thanks to the events of the last few days she now knew exactly what magic I carried now. There would be no surprise, at least not from me.
“As her Catalyst, I can take the place of her guard. I can face whatever comes for her.” Including you. I was firm as I faced the queen, making sure she read my hidden meaning. She only licked her lips again.
I knew I was playing into her hands, she had wanted to take me alive the other night for some unknown reason. She did not want me as her daughter’s Catalyst, however, she wanted me for her. I didn’t want to know why.
“I can face anyone who attempts on her life.” I spoke slowly, my eyes narrowing on her.
“I am sure you can.” The queen stepped before us once again, those icy eyes looking me up and down like meat as more whispers rumbled through the crowd in the wave. I wanted to look away from her, to where I knew Lyani and Ryndle were standing, but I couldn’t force myself to do it, not when I knew what was coming.
“Seeing as we are at the Temple of the Sister, we should make it official before the altar of the Goddess.” The Queen stepped close enough I could feel her ice wrap around me, the buzz of her magic strong and unfamiliar, I had felt this strength in her son before, that odd taste of blood that mixed with the power, but it was stronger in her, it was wrong.
Everything about her magic tasted wrong.
I recoiled, struggling against the guards that still held me as she stepped closer, one of her long spindly fingers dragging its way down my jaw.
“Make what official?” I tried to keep the snarl from my voice.
“The binding of Requisite and Catalyst. One celebration certainly calls for another,” she whispered, licking her lips as though she was tasting me. I would cut the tongue from her mouth before she even got close enough to try.
The bright light in her eyes was too hungry, that same greediness screaming at me.
“Grab them,” she whispered as she stepped back, smiling. The guards rushed us as they grabbed Elara and doubled their hold on me. “Search him.”
Shit.
I was sure I could face Dalyah without my blades. I had trained enough to fight in any way needed, but if she took my blades it would not be as it was with Ryndle. I would not see them again.
I had very little time left. I had pulled life from the red trees, but the thickness of it was harder to use. I wasn’t sure if I could rely on it, even though I could still feel the strength enough to jump more than once. I would need that, but this was important. I closed my eyes, blocking Dalyah from seeing anything as I pulled at the tree’s time, everything freezing to a stop as I pulled myself into the Ether, moving as quickly as I could to conserve what little time I had left.
Getting out of the guard's weak holds was easy enough when time was moving as it should, but easier there, where bodies were like stone and glass. If anything, I had to be more careful to stop myself from breaking their precious little fingers.
Stepping away from the guards, I raced toward where Lyani and Ryndle stood, both of them staring at the spot where Elara and I were, or rather where Elara was. Lyani’s face was broken and streaked with tears as she leaned into Ryndle, his hand firm on her back.
Pain and loss was painted on her face in streaks so dark, I had never seen their like, nor had I seen such desperation directed at me. She had been so firm about me promising to return, but somehow, seeing her there, it was as though she didn’t expect me to. As though she was saying goodbye.
I could have sworn that crack I had felt split across my chest so many times in my life both cracked and healed at the realization.
No one was behind them, and it took only a brief amount of pressure to lift Ryndle’s hand where it was placed against Lyani’s back, to place the jeweled hilts of my blades beneath his palms before I turned away, ready to race back to the guards, toward the fate that was screaming my way.
I only made it one step before I stopped, before the wreck of my heart beat heavily against my chest and I turned, facing Lyani and her tear streaked face, her gaze still plastered forward.
“I will see you again,” I promised, even though I wasn’t sure I could keep it, even though I wasn’t sure what Okivo would look like after this. Careful not to touch her too much I pushed her hair behind her ear, pressing my lips against her forehead in the softest touch.
It wasn’t more than a whisper.
It wasn’t near enough.
I wish I would have realized what she was before now.
I wish I would have kissed her.
But now it was too late.
For everything.
In five steps I was back to the guards, my wrists back in the slimy grip of their hands, my blades safe in the one place I knew they would be protected. Closing my eyes, I released my hold on time, letting everything piece back together as the sharp intake of Ryndle’s shock mixed with the near scream from Elara as the guards rushed her, the crowds whispered gasps cracking as sharply as the queen's smile as she turned.
“Sound the horn. There will be two more celebrations tonight.” I didn’t like the way she was smiling. I really didn’t like the way she said ‘more’. “To the Temple.”
Elara fought them the whole way. She did not stop fighting as the guards dragged us up the Temple steps. She didn’t stop fighting as they kicked us both into that large room I had chased Vaelar through what felt like only minutes ago.
Except where there were ribbons of light beaming through high windows, now there were only large torches and hundreds of candles that flickered over every surface, casting light and shadow over everything until it looked as if the snakes were truly slithering over stone pillars, smothering the glowing light of the caspyn lilies.
“Let me go!” Elara screamed, her shout rattling the high glass as the guards dragged her and I toward the dais and the altar had been erected there, the surface already stained with red blood from the wedding ceremony.
The crimson stained altar.
“Let us go!”
This was it, in all the stories Da told, this was where Elara would take on the queen.
This is where the Red War began.
My magic was screaming now as the guards dragged us forward, strong boots kicking the backs of my knees and sending Elara and I down before the altar.
“Stop this! Stop, Silas! Let me go!” Elara was still yelling, still fighting as they pulled her arms around, pulling both our hands forward across the altar where a set of chains were waiting.
“This isn’t what we had planned these for, but I have a feeling this will be even better.” The guard, Silas, wrapped the chain around Elara’s wrists, the snarl in his voice a grind as he pulled my wrist forward toward the waiting chain.
My mind ran through the motions of removing his head from his body, of sending what was left of him over the crowd and into one of those stone pillars. A flame across his chest, a shift of ground to bring the temple down…
“Accidents can happen in these ceremonies after all–” Silas continued, only to be cut off by Elara as she spit in his face.
“That’s for the Boy,” she snarled, hatred dripping from her as she leaned forward and the guard recoiled, his hand lifting to slap. He didn’t get that far before I wrapped my hand around his, the chains he had been attempting to clasp around my wrist rattling to the ground as I grabbed him.
“You really don’t want to be doing that. Any of it.” My fire was prepared to flare, to singe his skin and let him know exactly what was coming. I memorized his face, the hooked nose, the blonde mousey hair. I had a feeling he had hit her before, that many of them had with how she fought.
That wouldn’t be happening again.
Especially not after we ended the queen.
“I’ll do what I want, Catalyst filth. You won’t have a say soon, anyway.” Silas grinned in supposed victory, and pulled his hand away. Or tried to. Before he could make more than one attempt, I pulled him in, rising up as I clenched his hand.
“Funny. Because I do what I want to.” He looked confused for only a moment before I slammed my head into his, releasing his hand as he fell back screaming, clutching head and nose as blood rolled down his face from his nose, splattering over the surface of the altar.
The shadow of pain lashed over my forehead as he stuttered back a step, clutching his nose as I sent a whip of flame his way. The crackling power cut through the air, spreading over the ground in a ribbon as it snaked through everything to reach him. Screams echoed over the marble and stone room and I turned, ready to send the rest of the guards and the frightened onlookers into the ground. I only wanted the queen after all, even these casualties would be nothing compared to what was coming. To what I could stop.
Everything rattled and shook as the marble floor cracked. The priestesses were still even as everyone else attempted to flee.
“We have to get out of here, we have to find the queen,” I hissed at Elara, sending a few more guards back in a whip of flame. I grabbed the one closest to me, my hand wrapping around his wrist as I let my magic shift. My icy glare reflected back to me as he stared up in horror.
The expansive flavor of his life and magic was as deep as a forest, the vastness of everything and the depth of a world. This was the taste of golden life that I had somehow been missing my entire life. I had tasted this before, when I had taken it from my great-grandfather. It was then that I first felt that endless edge of power. That taste that consumed me.
The taste of Fae.
Part of me screamed that I should care, but how could I when a taste like this was rushing into me. It tightened through me, pleasure and desire mixing with a taste as though I had eaten a forest whole.
I have never tasted a life like this. So rich, so deep. I wanted more. I wanted all of it.
“Tell me,” I growled, well aware my voice rumbled with the desire of his magic even as it swelled and sparked inside of me. “What color are my eyes?”
He only sputtered, his skin wrinkling in a sallow gray as he faded away.
“I… I…” the words were little more than air, cut off by the scream of the princess right behind me.
I turned, letting what was left of the Fae drop as I faced the girl who was attempting to fight with one hand, water and fire streaming from her as she worked to free herself from the shackle that bound her to the altar.
“Hold still Elara!” Raising my hand, I pulled at that fire, ready to burn away the metal and free her so that we could fight the woman that was coming. Take on the icy chill that was suddenly everywhere.
The chill that was wrapping over everything.
That was freezing everything in place.
Too late.
I hadn’t been able to summon more than a spark of a flame when everything turned to ice. A shimmering sheen of it covered everything, it rippled over the cracked marble and the blood splattered floor, covering what was left of the Fae whose time I had ripped away.
Even my magic slowed as the chill of her ran through me.
“That’s quite enough of that!” Dalyah roared from behind us, her chill rushing through my bones as it moved inside of me. As it was everywhere. The ice inside of me was freezing me into place, my knees curled, pulling me back down to the altar with a clang and a groan.
“You thought you could take us on?” Silas sneered, his face bloodied and swollen as he yanked at my hand, wrapping the shackle around my wrist with a pinch that I already knew would be turning my fingers purple in quick order. The chains rattled as they were pulled, metal clanking against stone as we were forced down. Ice and chains plastered my and Elara’s heads and torsos against the white stone, freezing us against the carved surface of the altar.
The strength of her power was more than I would ever have assumed. I had seen her ice, I had felt it as recently as the night before, but this was so much more. I had never felt magic this strong. If we were to succeed in this we would only have one shot. I was ready, I had time stored, magic pulsing at my fingertips.
It was time.
I needed her to be in front of me. In front of Elara.
The princess continued to grumble and fight from where she was restrained, where I was lashed down by her side. I could practically feel the strength of her magic rumble through the stone below us.
We only had one chance.
“Elara–” I began.
“It’s purple,” Elara whispered, staring at what I had missed before, what had become so normal I hadn’t even noticed the color of the blood that had flowed from the guard.
Swirls of red and amethyst were streaked over the intricate carving of a forest, the deep crimson blood having dried in what looked to be a sun setting amidst the trees. The fresh drops of damp purple blood had sprayed over everything, giving it the illusion of flares and embers from the sun in the center of the forest.
The Forest of Ok.
We had just stood among those trees, that smell. Where we had glowed like the sun, just as the carving displayed a sunset in shades of purple.
Invisible icy hands pushed us down, Elara still yelling as I stared at that sun and the carving within it that the blood consumed, two people, standing before a city more expansive than Turin.
“Let us go! I will not let you do this! Not anymore!” Elara’s shout echoed in my ears but I didn’t look away from those people, at the blood.
Purple blood.
That was not what I had been raised hearing. My father had always said Princess Elara took her stand before the Crimson Stained Altar. Something was wrong.
Was this how it had always happened?
What had Vaelar said?
‘The crimson stained altar is not the end. Do not be afraid to fail.’
I had spent so long working to this, to this moment, but something deep in my core was screaming how wrong this was. This was not how it was supposed to end.
Do not be afraid to fail.
I tried to move, to shift, to pull at time or anything to figure it out, but my magic had frozen as much as the ice that was everywhere.
“You will do as I say, Girl!” Dalyah snarled the name, the ice smothering everything now as she grabbed our hands pulling them forward so that we were spread over the altar as though we were to be roasted by it.
All it would take was a simple counterbalance and I could spin forward, fire rippling through the air behind me and cutting through whatever ice had consumed us to free myself, to face Dalyah. Another whip of fire around her and she could be gone.
Could be.
Except that everything else was playing out exactly as I had been told. Would that mean we would fail too?
Do not be afraid to fail.
His words screamed in my mind as I stared at that blood, at all that deep indigo blood.
I had planned for this for years, but even with the plan and skill before me I could not shake the feeling that I was missing something.
Pulled as we were, all I could see was Elara. All of the fury I had seen from her before blazed through those bright eyes, blazed through the tightness in her jaw, through her magic that I felt absolutely everywhere.
“This is supposed to be a joyous occasion, let’s not ruin it shall we?” Dalyah said as the familiar sound of a blade against the whetting stone cut over everything, I only knew others were there by the gasps as she held the blade above us. The chains were pulled so taut I could not even turn enough to see it. If I was to stop it I would have to pull the entire thing over, use it as a barricade as I burned through the chains.
“It’s time.”
The ground rumbled beneath us at her proclamation, but it wasn’t my magic which had called to it. It was hers. She was a wielder of w?der, of ice. How would the soil of Okivo answer to her? I could not feel the power of vio in her. In fact, now that I was close, with her long silhouette towering over us like an apparition, I couldn’t feel anything.
It was as though she had no magic at all, even though I could feel her everywhere.
“We bond with blood the magic of Okivo–” Dalyah’s voice rumbled over everything as I focused at Elara, at the violent hatred that bled there, at the determination that colored her cheeks.
“I can’t let her do this,” Elara whispered to me, her voice near a snarl as her cheek was smashed into the dried blood. “Not anymore. I have to fight her.”
My entire life had pulled me to this moment, to this death. I had enough time saved that I could try again and again. I could find victory somewhere in the time I had saved.
But everything was wrong. I didn’t know why, but this was not right.
Do not be afraid to fail.
“No, Elara. We can’t. Not now.”
“Not now?” I could have sworn her voice broke, some of that strength and fire that was erupting through her eyes dimming in a pain that I wasn’t sure I understood.
“Trust me. I need you to trust me.” I said it, but I wasn’t sure I trusted myself.
I was sure something else was breaking in me as I looked beyond the princess, to the line of priestesses standing there, and I swore I saw Lily standing amongst them. I swore I saw her watch as I reached the altar. Reached that final goal.
And I failed.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, unsure if it was to Elara or to my sister as the blade pierced through my hand, the sharp edge sliding through skin and sinew, and grinding against bone before it came out the other end and sliced through hers, not just our blood, but our very flesh blending together.
As one.
I had been cut before. I had felt a sword and barbed ends cut through me before. By the Goddess, I had been speared through by a harpoon only a fortnight before. I had never screamed.
This time, I screamed.
The sound ripped from my throat only seconds before Elara’s did, her scream and sob mangled in a defeat that echoed through me as clear and as panged as the bells on the Qits when a boat went down.
I felt it everywhere. But it was so much more, so much worse.
I didn’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t the feeling of fire that spread through my skin as her blood mixed with mine and I felt her inside of me.
Elara’s scream echoed over everything, that mournful bell becoming a song as the bright light that I had seen in the clearing, that had erupted over the carriage, that I had stared at on the surface of the altar, exploded from us. Pure white light whipped through the Temple like a gale, sending everyone back. Screams and shouts of shock and fear rippled through the Temple as the sun consumed the world.
The light faded into a hollow ebony in a second flood of wind, this one pulling back and leaving everything in a pitch as dark as night until it too began to fade, leaving everyone staring in shock at the pair of us lashed to the altar, our hands locked together by the blade that was still between us, a blade that looked like a white snake.
The altar that was now absolutely stained with bright red blood. Elara slumped over it. That wind had not just breathed over her, but cut through her. Ripples of red streaking over skin and clothes like the beasts that I had seen in the high desert of Dám. The red and white stripes of the horses suited them, turning them into the mirages you see on the sands. But to see them there, that bright red the color of blood, my heart clenched as though I was still screaming.
By the Goddess. What had I done?
I didn’t second guess anything. Three snakes were already charging toward me. No, toward her, their hands out to grab her, hurt her. I wasn’t sure which, but it didn’t matter. Seeing them rush her snapped something inside of me and I flung myself between them, one hand still chained and locked to hers, the blade still plunged through our hands. I reached for my blade, remembering too late that they were gone.
No matter, I pulled at my magic, ready to face them, to protect the princess who didn’t rouse from where she sagged over the altar.
“Stay away from her. I won’t let you touch her. Not anymore.” A territorialism that I didn’t expect exploded from my lips as I pulled at my power, pulling all of it forward. Except there was no burn. There was no spark of fire in my veins, or flame between my fingers.
There was nothing.
No magic.
Nothing inside of me.
The snakes continued to approach, one rushing to grab Elara. I grabbed him before he could get too close. His skin was fire beneath my hand as I pulled at my magic, pulled at his magic, at his life, at his time.
Still, there was nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
I could still feel the burn of their magic, still feel the pull that told me exactly what they were, and what they were capable of, but my magic was gone. All of it.
It had vanished completely.