Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
The air around the veil crackled with tension as I stepped forward, my blade lowered, and my palm outstretched toward the weak point we’d found. Kaelith crouched beside me, wings half-furled, her pupils narrow slits of golden flame.
Are you ready? she asked, her voice low, urgent in my mind.
“No,” I whispered. “But I’m going, anyway.”
Kaelith’s power surged beneath my skin, the bond between us flaring bright and fierce.
Her magic flowed into me—not like the steady anchor it usually was, but like wildfire finding dry grass.
It mixed with my own power, threads of Stormlight and shadow and something older—dragon and fae and whatever I’d become since that cursed trial beneath the mountain.
I lifted my hand, fingers trembling, and pressed my palm against the smoky veil.
It wasn’t solid.
Not exactly.
The barrier rippled at my touch, reacting like it had been waiting, as if it recognized me. Kaelith’s fire crackled through my veins, and I pushed, not with force, but with intent. A test. A beckoning.
The mist parted slightly, just enough for a shimmer of light to flicker behind it.
Then the silver mark on my shoulder—Severeth’s gift, her curse—ignited.
Pain lanced through my arm like molten lightning. I screamed, staggering back, but the magic was already unraveling. Not Kaelith’s. Mine.
My power twisted violently outward, snapping through the clearing like a cyclone of white-blue light laced with threads of silver. My back arched as it tore through me, wild and unstable, burning the edges of the barrier and searing deep into the ground.
Kaelith roared and tried to steady me through the bond, but it was like grabbing a live wire—sparks flew between us, too chaotic, too fast.
Ashe! she called, but even her voice was fading under the rush of it.
The mark on my shoulder pulsed again, and I felt it—Severeth’s magic reacting to the barrier. Like it knew something I didn’t. Like it wanted in.
My knees buckled.
The veil shivered.
And something… something on the other side stirred.
Kaelith moved between me and the smoke, her body shielding mine as the twisted flare of magic finally began to die down, leaving only ash on the wind and the silver mark still glowing like a fresh brand.
I coughed once, breath ragged. “What… what was that?”
Kaelith’s voice was harsh with worry. Severeth’s gift. It’s entangled with your core. It didn’t want you to enter. She paused. Or it didn’t want what’s inside to come out.
I stared at the barrier, now trembling where I’d touched it, and the whisper of something beyond called again.
I kneeled at the edge of the scorched soil, my hand still trembling from the blast of wild magic. The smoky veil pulsed softly in front of us, rippling like water disturbed by a distant storm. The silver mark on my shoulder had dulled, but the ache it left behind still throbbed deep in my bones.
Kaelith lowered her massive head beside me, her breath slow and controlled, but I could feel it; she was shaken. Her scales twitched as if her body hadn’t yet settled from the blowback. Ash clung to her wings, and she snorted with irritation.
We need Zander, she said, her voice tighter than usual. He should’ve reached the southern coast by now.
I closed my eyes and reached through the bond.
Zander?
Silence.
Zander, answer me!
Nothing.
It wasn’t blocked; it was absent. A hollow quiet where his presence should’ve been, like reaching for a hand and finding empty space.
I looked up sharply. “I can’t feel him.”
Kaelith’s pupils narrowed. My link to the others is faint. Faint, but still there. She lifted her head, her thoughts sharpening. I’ll try to reach Hein through our mate bond. It’s deeper. He may feel me, even from this distance.
I swallowed hard. “Kaelith… what happened back there?” My voice cracked despite myself. “That wasn’t just magical backlash.”
She didn’t answer immediately. Her great head turned toward the veil, nostrils flaring as she sniffed the air again.
It was a strike, she said finally. Like being hit with every part of your magic at once, and then having it stolen.
She looked back at me. I’ve flown through arcane storms. Survived fae blight and blood tempests.
This—her wings twitched again—this was worse.
I was anchored to you when it hit. It tried to separate us. Tried to unravel us.
My stomach knotted. “It nearly did.”
She exhaled slowly, the heat brushing my face like a warning. This veil… it feeds on something. I don’t think it’s just a magical prison. It’s alive in its own way. Reactive.
“Then how do we break it?”
Kaelith’s eyes shimmered with fractured light. There are a few ways, she said carefully. None of them are safe.
I leaned forward. “Tell me.”
Find the anchor. She gestured toward the base of the smoky shimmer. Whoever cast this, weakened or not, left a tether. A spell like this always has a center. A heart. If we find it and disrupt it, the barrier may collapse.
I nodded slowly. “And the other options?”
You use Severeth’s mark again. But this time… intentionally. Let the wild magic take shape. Guide it rather than resist it.
I stared at the silver brand glowing faintly on my skin. “That almost destroyed me.”
Yes, she said. It may again.
My jaw tightened. “And the third?”
Kaelith didn’t speak at first. Her eyes flicked to the sky, toward where Warriath lay beyond the horizon.
We wait. Call the others. Try again together. Dragon fire. Fae magic. Our bond. Maybe all of it combined can unravel the weave.
I exhaled hard, standing slowly, blade still gripped in my hand.
The veil rippled again.
Behind it, I swore I saw a flicker of red. Just for a moment.
“I don’t think we have time to wait.”
The mark on my shoulder still pulsed. Like an echo waiting to be answered.
I stared at the veil, jaw tight, breath ragged. The red shimmer I’d seen within had vanished, but I knew what I saw. Siergen was in there. Trapped. Alone. Maybe dying.
I touched the silver mark with my other hand and let my power rise again, hesitating only for a heartbeat.
Then I stepped forward.
“Kaelith,” I said quietly, “I’m going to use it.”
I’m not sure that is the best recourse. Her answer came immediately. It nearly unmade you.
“But it reacted to the barrier. That wasn’t a coincidence. It’s connected somehow. Severeth gave it to me for a reason—maybe this was it.”
She didn’t answer. Her hesitation was answer enough.
I took a slow breath and held my palm toward the center of the veil. The mark flared to life—cold at first, then searing hot. Power surged through me, different from Kaelith’s warmth, more volatile, as though the magic didn’t flow from me but through me.
It latched onto the veil like a tether snapping taut.
The barrier rippled hard, stretching and groaning at the edges. Shadows within the smoke howled without sound. The pulse of the mark throbbed in time with something deeper—older.
I pushed harder.
Light bled from my skin in silver streaks, winding with my own magic, wrapping around the edges of the barrier like vines looking for a crack. The veil screamed, a high, distorted wail that rattled the air itself.
Then—
A tear appeared.
Thin. Jagged. The size of a dagger blade. And widening slowly.
“Yes,” I breathed. “Come on—”
Ashe, stop! Kaelith’s voice cracked like thunder in my mind.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I shoved more magic into the wound in the veil, the mark now burning so bright it blinded me. My knees buckled, but I stayed upright, focused. Gritting my teeth.
Ashe—stop! Kaelith growled aloud now, her tail slamming into the earth. You’ll tear yourself apart! Hein is coming!
I gasped, finally stumbling back as the silver flared once more and vanished, snapping shut like a slammed door. The rift remained open. Still trembling. Larger than before.
My arm was shaking, the skin around the mark felt hot and blistered.
Kaelith moved beside me, crouching low and furious. Hein is close. You will not do that again until he is here.
I swallowed, still panting, still staring at the wound I had made in the veil.
“I think… I think whoever cast this knows I’m here.”
Kaelith didn’t respond.
But she didn’t deny it either.
Hein and Zander landed hard, wind and fury trailing behind them.
Kaelith lifted her head as Hein touched down, wings folding in a clean, fluid motion, but it was Zander who leaped from Hein’s back before his dragon had even stilled. His boots hit the ground hard, his jaw set tight, his eyes locked on mine with heat.
“You should have waited,” he snapped, voice low but intense.
I pushed to my feet, shaky but defiant. “I’m not sure Siergen has that kind of time.”
Zander exhaled hard through his nose. “Are you even sure he’s in there?”
“I saw red scales,” I said simply, pressing a hand to my burning shoulder. “I felt him.”
Zander didn’t argue. His eyes darted to the still-trembling veil, then back to me. He stepped forward and extended his hand. “Then let’s end this.”
I took it without hesitation.
Our magic met like colliding storm fronts, his Dark Fire curling into the silver-blue lightning still laced through my veins, pulled from Kaelith’s bond and Severeth’s cursed mark.
But with Zander beside me, it didn’t burn out of control.
It centered. His presence steadied mine, like an anchor in a raging sea.
Hein stepped beside Kaelith, and the dragons mirrored us, their necks lowering, horns nearly touching as their ancient bond flared bright between them.
The surrounding air sparked. The veil recoiled.
I stepped forward, placing my hand against the smoky surface without hesitation.
The magic surged.
Silver lightning crackled from my palm, merging with Zander’s Dark Fire, coiling together like twin snakes. Kaelith roared, and Hein’s magic thundered like distant drums.
The barrier hissed like a wounded snake. Then snapped open—violently.
A blast of pressure threw us backward, Zander catching me with one arm as we skidded across the earth. Dust rose. Light flickered.
And then—
Siergen emerged.
He stepped through the smoking tear like a nightmare given form—massive, radiant, his scales gleaming crimson-gold in the morning sun. No longer the lean, streamlined Courier form he favored. This was his true size. Towering. Fearsome. Ancient.
His wings flared wide, and the earth shook with the force of it.
He is pissed, Kaelith muttered.
Siergen’s eyes blazed as they found mine, his fury undeniable, though aimed at those who imprisoned him.
But I smiled anyway.
Because he was alive.
The world tilted sharply.
Zander’s voice came from far away—panicked. “Ashe!”
Then the sky spun.
And everything went dark.