Chapter 48
Chapter Forty-Eight
Boreus was scared; that wasn’t a familiar emotion, but the more Auster told him, the worse the fear got. He didn’t know what to do to help Autumn against things in her own mind that had tried to hurt Auster and had managed to hurt Autumn.
She was right, and so was the Song. There was absolutely something in Autumn’s mind that shouldn’t be there. And the more Auster talked about it, the more Boreus knew that getting rid of it wasn’t going to be simple. He couldn’t march into her head and just cut it out, or freeze it into oblivion.
The removal needed a scalpel, not a hammer. Boreus was not a scalpel, he was Winter’s Heart, and he wasn’t delicate enough to save her.
But the Highest would, he just had to wait for Chaos to bring them here.
In the meantime, he would work with Auster to hold her steady. It was worst at night, taking both of them and the occasional assistance from the Song to hold her above the drowning pain that came from the inside of her own head.
Where had it come from? The poison she bore now? None of them were sleeping, and the days were passing with no sign from the Highest.
“Do you know for sure it was Chaos?” Autumn asked after another battle with a nightmare. “I just thought of it, but there’s someone running around on the Mountain wearing the elder’s face and I wonder if that was whoever that was and not Chaos.”
Boreus nodded, “It never occurred to me.”
“Find the Highest,” Auster said. “I will stay with Autumn; the Song and I can hold her steady, and you move faster than I do.”
Boreus nodded, streaking away from the spring to find the only people on the Mountain that would be able to help his love.
She was fading, exhausted from her fight to stay above the rising sea of despair in her mind. Eventually, it was going to win, and that was no something that the North Wind was willing to accept.
He was going to do whatever it took to save her, including violating the Summit un-summoned. If he was punished for it, he would take whatever it was on the chin and know he’d saved the woman he loved.
All five of the Highest were sitting on their thrones, having a conversation. Boreus caught Autumn’s name and Theria’s before he skidded to a stop in the middle of the room and looked at Light.
“Autumn’s been poisoned,” he barked. “We don’t know how or why, but her mind is coming apart, and you are the only one who can help her.”
Light rose. As did the others. “Poisoned?”
Boreus nodded, “that’s what the Song said.”
“You took her to the Song?” Intellect looked gobsmacked. “Why would you not come to us at the first?”
Boreus sighed. “Chaos took us to the spring, told us to stay there. I’d thought he would come for you, but we’ve been there for days and she’s getting worse.”
Light raised a hand and carved the air, stepping between the summit and the spring like taking a breath. Auster was kneeling at the side of the Song, both of them singing to Autumn.
The Song stopped as soon as Light walked in and knelt at Autumn’s side, pressing a hand to her forehead before jerking back as if she’d been burned.
“Magic,” she snapped, looking up at the others. “Somehow, there is a fragment of Magic lodged in her head.”
“That’s not possible,” Intellect knelt at Light’s side, pressing his hand to Autumn and pulling back an instant later. “I would know that signature anywhere. It’s not him, but it’s his miasma.”
Light narrowed her eyes. “But where did it come from?”
“She was in Charan,” Intellect said. “You know what haunts those caverns.”
“So you believe she picked it up there?”
Intellect nodded, “I do.”
Light nodded, “is it is simply a miasma, a memory, then it is simple to remove.”
“Can we help?” Auster asked, still hovering at Autumn’s side. “It hurt her, one of the grease things. It was meant for me, but she took the blow instead.”
“All will be well, East Wind.” Light reached for Autumn, laying a hand on her head. “Get back, this will be a bit messy.”
Boreus took Auster by the hand and they went to the other side of the spring, both of them not taking their eyes off the Highest, who were all looking down at Light.
A soft light gathered, slowly turning sharper and sharper, until it was the scalpel that Boreus couldn’t be. Autumn rose into the air, limp and unconscious, but breathing.
And then Boreus forgot how to breathe as Light took the scalpel she was holding and plunged it directly into Autumn’s forehead. Something shrieked, but it wasn’t Autumn’s voice that was screaming. Something was screaming with her throat, but the voice was strange.
Light pressed a hand to Autumn’s throat and twisted the scalpel buried in her brow. Whatever was screaming with their love’s throat got louder, more tormented, until the sound filled his ears entirely. It was pleading, begging for help, but that was not Autumn.
And then something flew from Autumn’s mouth, something dark and greasy and wrong in a way Boreus couldn’t express. Light reached out and caught the thing, crushing it in a fist that burned like the corona of the sun.
It screamed itself to silence, until even the ash of it was gone. Autumn drifted to the floor, Light following until she was back on her knees next to their love.
The light went from sharp to soft, soothing, and it covered Autumn in a blanket. Boreus still couldn’t breathe, looking at the blood running from between Autumn’s eyes. But the blood slowed and faded, pulled back beneath her skin as Light healed her.
“She will sleep for a day or so,” Light rose to her feet, supported by Love. “Take her and put her in bed. I am going to see to my advisor.”
“Autumn said it wasn’t him, Highest.” Auster said, never taking his eyes from Autumn. “She knows the way he feels in her magic, and if she said it wasn’t him, then someone is on the Mountain wearing his face.”
“I will look into this claim.” Intellect gave Auster a stern look. “You will say nothing about this until I come and see you.”
“And she will not rise until I have seen to her.” Light said from Love’s arms.
“We’ll see to it,” Boreus went to Autumn and lifted her from the floor. “Thank you, Highest.”
“This is a mystery,” she said. “One I will not permit to exist.”