Chapter 8
Before I can react, Kaelis steps forward. The Knight of Swords rises from his deck and hovers suspended in midair for a second—just long enough for me to realize what’s about to come.
The card explodes in a burst of light and shadow.
A countless number of silvery arcs race away from Kaelis like shooting stars.
Midflight, they elongate and twist, reshaping into swords of pure magic.
The spectral weapons dance around the guard as if carefully choreographed, so precise that I wonder if Kaelis is commanding each one.
“Efficient” is the sole word that comes to mind as I witness Kaelis using the card that’s practically synonymous with him. It’s brutally, terrifyingly efficient.
In a heartbeat, it’s over. Sevan doesn’t even have time to scream before the breath is stolen from his lungs by a blade across his throat. I don’t think he even felt pain. One moment, he’s there, and the next, he’s bloody ribbons on the floor.
The swords fade away, and I turn to Kaelis. He has one hand in his pocket, weight shifted almost casually. There’s no warmth to his expression, but also…nothing sinister, either. His face might as well be forged of cold, carved marble.
Kaelis adjusts his coat and retrieves his deck, shuffling through the cards effortlessly. They fan across his chest from one hand to the next, half propelled by magic.
“If we are going to do this, then let’s get it over with,” Kaelis says. “But there can be no reputable survivors to say that I was working with prisoners.” I presume he doesn’t deem any former prisoners as reputable.
“Is the prince known as ‘void-born’ worried about his reputation?” Ren quips.
“At least I have one to speak of.” Kaelis doesn’t miss a beat.
Ren’s mouth drops open.
“Ouch.” The word is somewhere between a chuckle and a wince from Jura.
There’re the outlines of a rapport among them. They have stories to share about how this relationship came to be when we’re not here and Arina is safe.
“We need to move. We’ll go floor by floor for the main three levels, opening the cells just like we did below. The prisoners will help keep the guards busy. Then down to the docks,” I announce.
“Are you sure it’s wise to delay departing?” Gregor asks.
“I find myself in unlikely agreement with him.” Kaelis gives Gregor a nod.
“We can sit here arguing over it, or we can just do it. The latter of which gets it done with faster.” My tone makes it clear I’m doing this with or without them.
Ill-advised? Absolutely. But I cannot take another breath while Halazar still stands.
There is no future for Arina and me in its shadow.
“Gregor and Twino, straight to the docks with you both—guard our boats and if something goes wrong, get Arina out of here.”
There’s not another word of protest. Gregor passes me, cradling my sister’s limp form to his broad chest. In the light of Glavstone’s office, I can see her more clearly—the crusted blood that puckers her ashen skin, the deep and gnarled scars.
I touch her gently, but her blank stare doesn’t even swing my way. She’s awake, yet completely lifeless.
My hands ball into fists. I shift slightly, focusing on Kaelis. He must sense it because his attention swivels and then narrows on me.
“The deck you inked for me, is it complete?” I ask.
He nods.
“Good.” With that knowledge, I throw myself into the chaos Halazar is devolving into.
We head in the opposite direction from Twino and Gregor. Halazar is not complicated in its layout—simple enough that I was able to get an almost complete sense of it the last time I was here as Glavstone took me from my cell to ink for him.
We reach the first-floor cellblock.
Familiar rows of iron bars line either side. Prisoners recoil at the sudden light and sound. Our footsteps are punctuated by the clanging of metal as Ren undoes the locks with the key and the sounds of iron and stone shattering as the rest of us use magic to forcibly open the cells.
The prisoners pour out and we move on to the next floor.
The air thickens with the sound of guards shouting. Magic flares. We free more prisoners in the same fashion. One more floor left.
My legs burn and every breath feels like inhaling daggers as I race up the last staircase. But I can’t stop—not when there are still cells locked. Not when I hear the cries of men and women whose position I was once in.
“Clara, we should head to the docks!” Jura calls from behind me, equally breathless.
“We’re almost done.” My feet hit the stone of the final hall of cells.
“We don’t have time,” Jura pants, catching up.
I stop her with an outstretched hand. Ren as well. Kaelis hovers behind them. They both regard me questioningly but don’t push past.
The King of Swords hovers over my shoulder. Not the rudimentary figure of a man wielding a greatsword like Glavstone had inked…but a detailed and embellished king upon a throne of swords, everything down to the tiny gems in his crown carefully rendered.
Kaelis’s cards feel delicious. Since I learned to ink from such a young age, I’ve rarely used anyone else’s cards. And when I have, they paled in comparison to those I could ink myself.
But this…This. Magic dances across every inked line. It’s as though Kaelis folded power even between the elements of the design, storing more than should be possible.
He’s not a Major. Yet this card feels like one. It’s staggering. It leaves me breathless with delight. Desperate for more.
Reclaiming my focus, I thrust out my hand and the card.
The hum of magic that had surrounded it erupts into a gale of wind.
Hundreds of shimmering swords of light unfold from shadow.
They slice through locks and bars with earsplitting cracks.
At once, the doors fall, every prisoner freed.
The exertion of magic has me swaying slightly, but I keep myself upright.
“Move!” I yell. “To the river! To freedom!”
I take my own advice.
Beneath us, prisoners are taking their revenge on the guards, paying back years of brutality. My boots skid on blood-slicked stone. I barely stop in time as a guard lunges from an adjoining hall.
The Five of Swords rises from my deck in a blur before bursting into magic that condenses into a light shortsword, which I wield with nimble precision. The guard falls with a grunt.
I don’t stop or slow as I barrel down the main stair of Halazar toward the docks. I pay the other prisoners no heed, nor the guards attempting to contain them. It’s utter chaos, and, in the mix, we’re disregarded.
Ahead I see Gregor, his massive frame standing firm as he fends off those who would take our boats. Arina is slumped against Twino in the back vessel. Twino uses his deck to assist Gregor and dissuade those taking their chances swimming.
We push our way through. Jura dispatches another guard who tries to stop us. Kaelis avoids harming anyone while in view of so many. He darts around most of the carnage, not even getting so much as a drop of blood on his boots.
“Took you long enough!” Gregor barks. His attention shifts, and he jabs a sword over my shoulder, yelling at another prisoner, “Stay the fuck back if you want to keep breathing.”
The freed prisoner jumps into the river, taking his chances with the water. Twino continues to support my sister and regards the man warily as he swims by the boat.
Jura and Ren dart past me, starting for the boat with Twino and Arina. I move to follow. But when Kaelis doesn’t take another step, I pause, two paces away.
He stares at the forward boat. His eyes swing back to me.
“You all go without me. I’ll take this one.”
“What?” Gregor takes a step forward. “If you think we’re going to let you sail back and report to the enforcers that—”
“If I was going to turn you in, I wouldn’t have even helped you get this far in the first place,” Kaelis interrupts with a sigh.
Luckily there’s too much chaos for anyone to overhear.
“I am going to attract attention. You can use that to your advantage. I’ll call the enforcers my way.
” His eyes find mine, holding my stare. “It’s your best chance to escape into the tunnels. ”
“How do you know about the tunnels?” I whisper.
He takes a step forward, head tilting, chin ducking slightly, voice lowering to a whisper. “I’ve always known much more about you than you’ve ever given me credit for.” Kaelis leans away a fraction, locking eyes with mine. “Trust me to give you a chance to escape.”
“You’re…letting us leave?” I breathe. He doesn’t know I hold the true golden Death card. But we both know he needs Arina if he has any hope of summoning the World.
“You said you wouldn’t see your sister suffer under an Oricalis prince again. Take her to where you think she’s safe.” A tiny, confident smile. “I know you’ll come back to me.”
You’ll never be done with me is the softest echo under his words.
“We need to go!” Ren calls.
It jolts me back into my body. I take a half step backward.
“You know where to find me when you’re ready.” Kaelis moves for the other boat. Gregor steps aside and allows him to leave.
I join my sister and crew, watching as Kaelis uses the Ace of Cups to glide effortlessly out of the watery entry of Halazar. We are quickly behind.
The stream of prisoners is beginning to slow. There’s nothing to loot within the building, so I can only assume that the people who took their chances have already made their way out.
As we emerge onto the river, we weave among men and women fighting against the waves, too fast for any to grab onto our boat and risk capsizing us.
The docks of Eclipse City, opposite Halazar’s island, are swarming with people. Enforcers are commandeering boats to reach the island and try to reclaim some semblance of order. But it’s too late. The prisoners have had their chance.
My focus returns to Halazar itself. There’s only me…and that nightmare of a building.
The prison’s alarm bells finally still, the last toll echoing off the sheer cliffs that surround the Farlum River. The sun is just breaking in the distance.
Two cards rise with me as I slowly stand, working to keep my balance as the boat continues to move.
“Clara?” Twino asks with a note of confusion.
“This ends. It all has to end.”
With a final, steadying breath, I gather my power and my pain. The cards begin to shimmer, and a faint aura of gold and cerulean clouds me.
I throw my hand skyward, casting the cards to the heavens.
The King of Coins explodes in a symphony of a million golden coins scattering across an unseen floor.
Simultaneously, the King of Cups unleashes a shimmering aura of blue and purple that races across the water’s surface, building into a ripple that reaches from city’s edge to cliffside.
Gold from the King of Coins streaks through the aura like lightning underneath the waves.
Destroy. Destroy. Destroy!
A scream rips from my throat as the raw power of casting two of the most potent cards in their suits at the same time threatens to cleave me asunder. Bones rattling, fists clenched, I force myself to stay standing and bear witness.
The earth groans and rumbles, echoing my rage as bedrock splits deep beneath Halazar’s foundations. The water rises, forming a towering wall higher than Eclipse City’s tallest spire. It dwarfs Halazar, making the building seem insignificant for the first and only time in its existence.
Don’t hold back, a voice all my own commands. It drowns out any of my mother’s warnings that would usually come forward. The time for hiding has ended. Let them know who I am and what I’m truly capable of.
Halazar’s swan song is a haunting melody of groans and rumbles, of twisting metal and crumbling stone that is ultimately swallowed as the earth beneath it yawns wide.
A chasm forms, sucking in the building, its island, and a swath of the river.
The large wave surges behind the last of the swimming prisoners who scramble in the water, before crashing over the briefly exposed expanse of riverbed and all remnants of Halazar.
That place and all its horrors is over…consigned forever to a watery grave.
My knees give out, and I collapse, utterly spent.