Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“What?” Thalia sputtered, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
Larellia stalked forward, kicking the head aside. Even now, the creature’s body was trying to reform, its neck beginning to twine.
“That is no soul-bonded creature.” The scythe flashed, and Thalia scrambled backward. “That thing was made. By dark magic.”
Thalia blanched. “What?”
Before the Mage could question her further, Cassius stepped in front of Thalia, sword drawn. “Back off.” His words were lethal.
Larellia stared at Thalia, eyes gleaming. “She needs to explain herself.”
“Explain what?” Thalia gasped, finally managing to get her legs under her. “I don’t know about any magic or creation or anything!”
Larellia didn’t look like she believed anyone until Lady Decima appeared, Keegan behind her. “Perhaps,” Lady Decima said, watching the tendrils in the creature’s neck stretch and slither toward its head. “We should continue this conversation inside. It seems there’s much to discuss.”
Thalia decided she’d be living in the strange meeting room in the mountain, given how many times they’d all gathered there since arriving.
The creature’s body was splayed out on the table, the head next to it, although Larellia had embedded her scythe in the table so that anytime the tendrils of the neck stretched to join with its head, it would get sliced to ribbons.
Already a pile of bloody tendons had gathered like grotesque fallen rose petals.
“Someone want to explain why it keeps doing that?” Camilla broke the silence, staring at the corpse.
“It was made. It was created to be near impossible to kill,” Larellia said, her lips twisting. Her gaze landed on Thalia. “The question is why was it made and by whom.”
Thalia’s anger rose. “I told you, I didn’t make anything. I’m human.”
“Are you?”
Thalia was taken aback. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Larellia’s eyes flared. “Made creatures used to be favored amongst the Mages. But it wasn’t until one of us created a creature of such atrocity that the other Mages put an end to their creations.”
“What was that creature?”
Larellia cocked her head. “The Nestos.” Thalia shivered as she continued, “These creatures were meant to serve only their master. They were unstoppable, near impossible to kill. But Klae, the head Mage at the time, saw the danger of using such magic, how the pockets of magic they pulled from had to be corrupted. They had to use the magic and twist it into something other. This creature”—Larellia nodded—“was made.”
“How can you be sure?” Cassius countered.
Larellia slowly slid her gaze to him. “Because I was there when the first creatures were made. They have an aura, one that only the most skilled Mage can detect. The symbols of your own Houses were made creatures at one point.”
Lady Decima nodded, her golden gaze harsh. “Indeed, I can’t put my finger on what it is, but this creature is wrong.”
Thalia shook her head, pushing aside the fact that Larellia was hundreds of years old—she’d think about that fact later. “I didn’t make it.”
“Someone close to you did,” Larellia said, her silver eyes glowing. “Given it didn’t kill you.”
Thalia shook her head. “I’m human. No one in Agripa even knows that the pockets of magic left in this world are real, much less how we’d use them to create something like this.”
“Do you not have great libraries?” Larellia countered. “You are either ignorant of the information at your fingertips or incredibly stupid.”
Cassius let out a low snarl, but Thalia didn’t let the insult land. “Our libraries are vast. In fact, before the treaty was broken thirteen years ago, many came to learn from them.” She cut a gaze to the others. “But that doesn’t mean we have magic.”
“There is magic everywhere,” Larellia snapped. “How do you think the humans managed to sustain themselves for so long when the world is set to kill them?”
Thalia’s anger rose. “Maybe we figured out how to do it without magic.”
They stared at each other, and something charged the air, the Mage’s hair starting to rise on a phantom wind.
“It doesn’t matter who created it,” Cassius said, breaking the tension like a knife. “How do we stop it?”
Larellia looked like she’d argue but turned back to the creature. “The other spawn that was near Cupisco is already dead, but nothing matters if we don’t cut off the head and burn the entire thing. And it’s impossible to find its mother in that damned forest.”
Thalia gasped. “I—I know where it is.”
Everyone turned to her.
“Where?” Camilla’s eyes widened.
Thalia shook her head, the memories of the creature coming to surface. With all the accusations flying like arrows, she’d had little chance to dwell on what she’d seen. “When I touched its head, I went into its memories.”
She looked to Cassius, if only for some comfort as she plunged ahead. “It showed me a place in the forest. One with five pools of water.” Thalia’s stomach twisted, nausea rising in her. “There’s—there’s hundreds of them.”
“What?” Larellia paled.
Thalia shook her head, her throat constricting. “It’s laid … eggs. In the pools. They’re corrupted now.”
Keegan let out a curse as Cassius turned to her, voice quiet. “Are you sure about the pools?”
Thalia nodded, fighting the growing dread. “Yes.”
Cassius glanced at the others, and Larellia let out a bitter laugh. “It’s spawned.”
“But—but how?” Camilla shook her head, not believing the words. “We went to the pools when the humans finally let loose their rivers. The springs were thriving, nothing was amiss.”
It took Thalia a moment to realize that the springs were the ones sacred to the Vampyrs. The very water that seemed to fend off the poison of the creature.
“Did you see the mother?” Larellia directed her sharp gaze.
Thalia shook her head, fighting the sudden panic in her veins. Sweat dripped down her spine. “No. I—something pulled me out before I could see it.” At Larellia’s mistrusting stare, she added, “But I felt it, behind me—the creature, I mean. I don’t think it would leave its eggs unattended.”
“So we go, then,” Keegan said. “We destroy the eggs, and the mother will come running.”
Larellia shook her head, her face hard. “As much as I would like to agree, no.”
“What do you mean?” Camilla turned to her, wide-eyed.
Larellia didn’t take her attention off Thalia.
“We don’t know this creature’s habits. Whether or not it would even feel sorrow if its young were killed.
Even if we managed to destroy the eggs and purge the springs, it could have laid eggs elsewhere.
The entirety of Chaménos could be covered by its foul ilk. ”
Thalia closed her eyes. She didn’t want to think about it. The image of the eggs was enough to push bile into her throat. The thought of hundreds if not thousands of those hell-bent creatures waiting to unleash themselves …
“What do you propose we do?” Cassius asked. Thalia opened her eyes and found that he’d shifted closer.
Larellia laid her pale-white hands flat on the table. “Trying to destroy the creature and its spawn on our own will be futile. But there might be another way.”
Everyone stared at the head Mage, waiting.
Finally, Thalia could no longer stand the silence. “What way?”
Larellia’s gaze sharpened like the edge of her scythe. “It is true that the creatures made are meant to be near impossible to kill, but they are linked to their creator. If their creator dies, they will die too.”
Thalia blinked. “How is that possible?”
“Magic binds us all. When one takes magic and corrupts it, part of you goes into it. It’s a different kind of soul bond. One that can be severed as easily as cutting a string,” Larellia finished.
“So how do we find the creator?” Camilla asked.
Larellia tilted her head, something electric pulsing the air. “Seeing as it has some connection with a human, my guess would be to search there.”
Thalia barked out a laugh. “You’re suggesting you all look for a Mage in the human realm?”
“Not us. You.” Thalia’s eyes widened, and Larellia lifted her chin. “You have a connection to what’s going on, a connection to that creature, despite what you say. Someone very close to you created it.”
“How would I even find out?” Thalia countered.
Lady Decima stood, the movement catching Thalia’s eye. She placed a dark hand on the creature’s hide and it started glowing, marks and whorls appearing before they vanished. Lady Decima turned to Thalia and took a step toward her, and Thalia jerked.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, staring at Lady Decima’s outstretched hand. Cassius was tense beside her.
Lady Decima shook her head, not halting her approach. “It won’t harm you; it’s merely an imprint of the creature. When you are near whoever created it, that imprint will recognize itself. You’ll be pulled to the creator.” She stopped before Thalia, waiting.
Thalia slid her gaze to Cassius. She took a moment to look at everyone around the room. To read the bleakness and despair they were so desperately trying to fight. Then her mind flashed to the children in the citadel, to the Vampyrs hiding in Irenbis.
Thalia took a deep breath, then nodded. Lady Decima placed a hand on Thalia’s chest. Something zapped through her, and she shook her head, trying to get the tingling out of her limbs.
“It is decided,” Larellia said, her eyes glinting. “Thalia shall go to the human realm to determine who the creator is.”
Dread swirled in Thalia’s gut, not because of what she might uncover in the human realm about the creature and its creator but because of who she’d have to face. How she’d have to face the queen knowing that her own heart had begun to pull in a different direction.
“What happens if I can’t find them?” Thalia hedged.
“Then we shall prepare the mountain. As best we can.” The head Mage cut a look to Cassius, who’d been quiet through the whole ordeal.
“We can send a number of Mages to take care of the pools,” Lady Decima said, settling back down. “No need to let that fester any longer.”
Camilla and Keegan nodded their agreement.
“But what about the prince?” Thalia blurted out. Everyone in the room froze, all slowly looking at her.
“What about him?” Larellia asked.
Thalia slid her gaze to Cassius. “Shouldn’t he … I mean, shouldn’t he be informed?”
“He will,” Keegan said, his golden eyes flashing. “But the courts are already on the verge of collapse. It is better if he distracts them. If they knew that someone from the human realm created this creature and we’d just forged a treaty with them …”
“There would be dire consequences,” Larellia finished. Her silver eyes met Thalia’s. “You are now a part of this world. Whether you like it or not.”
Thalia swallowed, feeling the weight of their stares. She had no idea what to think or how to act—only that regardless of her mother’s mission, this took precedence. Because this creature was a far greater threat than any Vampyr Agripa could ever imagine.
That was her mission, after all—to keep the people of Agripa safe.
She lifted her chin. “Then I suppose we shouldn’t wait.”