Chapter 69 Ro #2
In the distance before us, I could see the gap in the mountains.
Witches Pass. Tactically, this wasn’t the best move for us.
To the north, the enclosure of Windguard’s border mountains.
To the west, Witches Pass, riddled with cursed veins.
South, The Order’s camp. We should be fleeing east. Yet, I trusted Kasia’s instinct.
She was far more familiar with the layout of these woods than I was.
I searched for Dae again, but the blur of green and brown and the cacophony of snapping twigs and rustling leaves drowned out my focus.
“Why did you—” I began to question why Kasia would risk bringing the horn back to camp, when roots and vines burst from the ground, weaving an impenetrable wall. Kasia didn’t hesitate to dart along the length of it, keeping me in tow. We couldn’t get through it, but we could get around it.
We ran and ran, managing to find the edge and slip around it. A familiar lake came into view. A few people bathed along its shore.
Kasia hauled me around its border. She was leading me back into the camp.
I didn’t question it, understanding that we’d be less noticeable running across flat ground than crashing through the untamed forest. We broke through the trees, but an arm of water stretched out from the lake, encompassing the whole thing and swirling around us like a tornado.
Several wielders emerged from the path that led back into camp, holding their hands in the air to control the man-made cyclone.
By the size of it, they didn’t know where exactly we stood. Her shielding could still save u—
Water began filling the inside of the tornado. First, my ankles were covered quickly, then my shins.
“Shit,” Kasia muttered, taking stock of our increasingly dire situation. She faced me. “I’ll hold on to you and my magic as long as I can, but I—”
A stream of water blasted around, spraying us with such force that we were ripped apart.
The moment her hand left mine, water swirled around me with vigor and precision.
It spun me so rapidly that I lost all sense of direction.
My arms flailed wildly, but had nothing to anchor against. I was cold, wet, heavy, and dizzy.
Immense force directed my body through the swirling wall of water.
Crashing through it had the water cutting my skin like glass.
I tumbled onto the bank, slamming my hands onto the ground once I stopped rolling and gasping for air.
Disoriented still, I found myself perpetually leaning to the side, desperately wanting to stabilize myself against it.
My fingernails sank into the dirt and pebble-covered terrain for leverage.
The cyclone continued raging and filling. Hold on, Kasia. I tore my tearing eyes away, hoping that if I acted like no one was left behind, they wouldn’t think she remained inside.
A dozen members of The Order barreled onto the bank, some from the trees, others from the path that led to camp. The raging water fell away, running back into the lake as if it had never been.
I lifted my head, my soaked hair hanging all around my face. I peered through the strands, not seeing Kasia on the ground. If she was there, her magic hadn’t failed her. Silent prayers were sent to the gods to keep her protected and unseen, no matter how the rest of this turned out.
Members rushed me, hauling me from the ground and binding my hands in rope.
I didn’t fight. Truthfully, I couldn’t. I hadn’t consumed a proper meal in weeks.
My body was worn from travel, and knowing Kasia more than likely needed me to give her an opening to run, I allowed them to lead me away from the lake.
A tiny path through the woods led east. They dragged me along, muttering threats the entire way.
“If I’m too inconvenient to haul, you’re more than welcome to let me go.” Quite a thoughtful suggestion, I thought. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t accept my offer. Cursing me was a little much, though.
I’d sneak glimpses of the forest through my cords of swaying wet hair, but found no evidence of anyone hidden within the greenery.
Good. Dae and his brothers needed to leave. My heart wept, knowing he’d risked what mattered most to him all to rescue me. But they’d failed, and I had to hope they would accept the loss.
My heart wept harder knowing he wouldn’t.
Whatever fate awaited me, he had the chance for a life. For freedom. To be reunited with his family. Even if I made it home, I wouldn’t get that chance. Half of my family had been taken from me by an evil king.
My steps grew heavier knowing that hug goodbye to Tio was certainly the last time. That Braxius would be waiting for me at Rahana, or wherever else they called home now, and I would never arrive. That Tula would lose the last family she had left.
It wasn’t just the crushing despair that had me feeling weighted; it was the shift in energy around us. The same feeling as being buried under a dozen blankets. Each step, another layer was added.
Tears stained my face as members brought me to a clearing.
No, another lake. Except this one held death in its waters.
The black, glassy surface looked too still to be natural.
It almost appeared soft to the touch instead of liquid.
A false lure for this world to draw living things near before snatching them into its depths.
The air tasted thicker, a strange resonance emitting from the Black Pool. It was as if the surrounding nature had been stunned into silence.
From fear.
No one around me seemed to notice. Maybe they’d acclimated to it. Maybe they’d grown to thrive on it, letting it sink into their very souls, welcoming its awful power. How any of them could stand getting this close, I didn’t know.
The Eleven stood in a single file line, hands behind their backs. The dark marks around their eyes, tracking their veins, seemed to darken, seemed to breathe. Nearest to their power source, their auras became visible. Shadows spread around them, void of color.
My stomach churned as a cold sweat broke over my skin. This was what Dae had been able to see. My pulse picked up and my heels found the strength to dig into the ground. It didn’t help. I tried again with more force, but with two members dragging me along, I had no chance of overpowering them.
Marvoe’s smile came into view, and I thought I might faint or throw up. Adrenaline coursed through me like lightning. I would have thought coming face-to-face with my own mortality would have been the scariest thing I’d ever experience.
But then I saw who they’d already captured.
Dae and his brothers were forced to their knees, upper bodies fully bound in iron chains.
The darkness crowding my lungs was something stronger than fear. It was a thing of the most horrifying nightmares. Sadness and despair and desperation so great the world seemed to stop.
My heels stopped digging in, unable to resist getting closer to Dae. In my mind, I screamed, cried out, begged for mercy for Dae, for his brothers, but no sound escaped my lips. They placed me next to one of Dae’s brothers, the fire wielder, Jai.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to the young man I’d never get to know who’d risked his life for me.
Dae had found and lost his brothers within the span of a week, all because of my hair-brained scheme.
I should’ve told him everything I’d learned, but I knew he never would have let me go through with it.
I glanced around, studying the faces of everyone present. The Eleven. Members of The Order. No sign of Kasia. The one saving grace of this entire debacle.
“That was…quite the stir,” Marvoe said, breaking from his perfect line formation to casually pace before us.
“Clever, I’ll admit, to let word slip of the light wielder.
” He huffed a laugh. “You know as well I do what these miscreants will do for a taste of glory. But that’s never been your motive, has it, Dae?
” He stared at Dae with a gentle smile, as if they were old friends.
Dae remained silent.
“You know, I always wondered why the great tiger shifter in our camp didn’t line up for an opportunity to gain more magic. Respectable humility, I assumed. If I had seen it for what it truly was, silent non-compliance, I might have decided to use your death as an example.”
Jai attempted to break out of his ropes, but to no avail.
Marvoe spotted the reaction, his nearly black eyes darting between the two brothers.
His face lit up. “Ah,” he said, “family. Judging by your dramatic coup, I doubt you’ve brought them here for the cause.
Well, my cause. I see you have a cause all your own.
” His eyes shifted to me. The inky black lines on his face slithered away, giving me an unstained view of the man he once had been.
He tsked. “More things I should have questioned about you, Dae.” Marvoe closed the distance between them, crouching in front of Dae until they were at the same level.
“But your strength and power are something that I’ve admired since you showed up here.
I thought to myself, before this is over, Dae will successfully enter the Black Pool and rank among us, standing by my side.
He’ll go down in history!” Marvoe rose and turned away, raising his arms high, proclaiming the future he’d envisioned.
“Fearsome were the members of The Order of Darkness, wielding dark magic for the first time in a century. Possessing all the elements among them, shifting into animals that tore apart those who opposed.” He dropped his hands to his sides and sighed loudly.
“Such a shame.” He faced Dae again, clasping his hands behind him. “But, I suppose, there are always lessons to be learned. Plans that need to… evolve.” His voice dropped, sending a shiver down my spine.
Members behind us moved, placing their hands on Dae as they brought him to his feet.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? NO!” I yelled, unable to stop myself. With every step they forced him forward, he moved closer to the water’s edge.
I scrambled to my feet, but the world blurred. When I cracked my eye open, there was a pounding pain radiating from my skull, and my cheek pressed against the ground.
A high-pitched ringing overtook my ears, and my body sloppily tried executing what my brain told it. Get to Dae, it said. My hands were awkwardly smashed underneath the weight of my body, tied together.
Dae stopped, and those who were prodding him along hastily retreated. My vision focused from its tumbling state as I watched vines emerge from the Black Pool and creep toward him.
“NO!” He’d warned me about what happened to those who dared beckon the Pool. It perceived him as an offering, the tendrils sniffing out his feet and slowly twining around his calves in earnest interest.
Dae didn’t balk. He didn’t resist or run.
Gods, I wanted him to. The man so beautiful he could have descended from the heavens, been born of stone carved to perfection, who sacrificed his life to keep the people he loved safe, even after it robbed him of himself.
He never wavered. All strength and courage and devotion.
The last moments I would have of him were blurred. My tears formed faster than I could blink them away.
Those tendrils wrapped around his entire body. Fragments of my soul split apart when they ripped him from this world into the murky unnatural depths below.
My voice wasn’t my own as I screamed. The forest around me woke, like it gasped.
“The Pool feeds on magic, on power. Dae’s sacrifice will further the cause. His death is honorable.” Marvoe held his chin high, glaring at the rippleless surface.
My jaw hung wide, my body shaking. The inside of my heart had been hollowed out by icy claws. I summoned everything in me and rose to my feet, charging after him.
I would follow Dae into those depths. Seek him in the dark and press my lips to his and give him my last breath. He would not leave this world alone.
I made it all of one foot before brute force tackled me from behind, sending me into a nosedive. Recovery would have been quicker this time, but the oppressive force remained, keeping me down. “NO,” I shouted, staring at the black water. The still water.
Too still.
Until it wasn’t.