Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Kalden, Niles, Joss, and another Sol make landfall in front of us, dust exploding from beneath their feet. Niles tugs at the air, and the Sols leap ferociously into a barrier he’s erected out of sand and willpower.
Kalden glances at Gem and Twilynn, who hover over Demi. “Don’t remove the blade. We need to deal with this first.”
I tread to his side, voice unsteady as I ask, “Can you stop them?”
Kalden’s lips thin. “It doesn’t matter if we can or not. We fight anyway. And if one of us burns, we do what we must. Whatever it takes.”
Whatever it takes.
Whether Kalden knows it or not, his words are an echo of my parents’ plea.
Though theirs was a call for survival, his is a call for sacrifice.
Kalden will kill every Pyre, drive the Caligans back underground, and seal the nightstone door shut himself if he has to.
I have no doubt that he’d scourge his humanity completely if that’s what it took to protect the people he cares for.
But I won’t let him do that alone.
“Kalden!” Niles struggles against the talons and tongues lashing through cracks in the sandy blockade. “Could use your help when you’re done batting lashes at your girl. I can’t hold the barrier much longer on my own.”
“I’ve got him,” I say to Kalden.
Niles lifts a brow as I race to his side. “You got anything left?”
Almost no part of me isn’t consumed by the sun’s warmth. If it weren’t for the cool, lingering thread of nightstone sliding its way back and forth from my heart to my fingertips, I’d say it was almost pleasant.
“It doesn’t matter. We do what we must,” I urge, repeating Kalden’s command.
Niles smirks. “I’ve heard that before. But not many people can keep up with him. It’s okay to hold back. All I need you to do is place your palm here and don’t let go.”
He nudges his chin towards his shoulder, and I do as instructed.
Before we close the breaks in Niles’ fortification, Kalden and the two other Sols dive into the pack of Pyres, forming constructs of energy into thin curving blades and piercing staffs.
Between each lash, the constructs vanish, only to renew for the next blow.
We hold the barrier a little longer until the grunts taper.
Niles drops his hands and allows the sand to fall back into place.
The dusty battlescape comes into view. A Pyre appears through the choked air, tongue splintering as it readies to feed off of whatever humanity I have left. I shove my hands forward and push an uncontrolled blast of solar energy out in panic.
Niles reacts faster than me, and a sharp-headed spear of light hurls through the air and embeds itself through the chest of the Pyre, passing completely through it before evaporating.
The creature’s lower half is paralyzed, but it continues to grab at the sand, pulling itself closer to me.
Bending to retrieve a discarded nightstone blade from the ground, I wait for the Pyre to thrust its pincered tongue towards me.
I swipe the blade across the thick tendrils, severing them from the Pyre’s throat.
Blood pours from the blackened creature’s gaping mouth.
Only seconds pass before the squirming motion stops.
A multitude of Pyres sprawl motionless from the edge of the shield’s remnants to the chasm, yet a dozen more must’ve been released while the barrier was formed. A new horde catapults themselves across the opposite dune to where Kalden, Joss, and the other Sol now hold a defensive position.
Niles points towards the Sols. “They need help. Can you stay here?”
Before I can offer an answer, Niles compresses the sand with a flare and propels himself over the valley to attack the Pyre pack from behind.
I glance down at the nearest threat: the cluster of black-armored guards, no longer in disarray. Ranks reassembled, the chancellor’s men reascend the hill around the rift’s border.
Sweat pours down my temples. If I push myself too much further, I might not be able to come back. I can’t turn into a Pyre here. Gem, Demi, Aruna, Twilynn . . . They can’t handle fighting the guards and an ally turned foe. But maybe I can stop all of this another way.
I glare at Chancellor Bren, sitting untouched and unfazed across the dune while Gabe, Commander Guffian, and several shadows stand around him. With a surge of energy, I hurtle myself over the valley. A hiss escapes through clenched teeth as my leading ankle rolls on impact.
His shadows rush forward forming a wall between me and their leader.
I stagger forward. Just a few more bursts, that’s all. I beg the heat gathering in my blood.
“Stop this!” Gabe pleads.
“Why?! He wants us dead. All of us. Our entire lives have been at your father’s mercy. I won’t let our deaths be the same.” My weight shifts forward as I lift my palms towards the wall of men.
He chokes out my name. “Orelle!”
Chancellor Bren places a gloved hand on his son’s shoulder. “Now do you see? The Orelle you knew is gone.”
The commander pulls the chancellor further behind the line of guards, but not before my attention flicks to the box in Bren’s hand. If I can take the controller, maybe I can take back control.
Shifting all of my weight into my good ankle, I launch myself over the guards. I clear the front line, but the commander grabs my injured ankle during the descent. Neither of us are able to guide the landing, and I crash into the chancellor’s sturdy frame.
His visor lens shatters as it smashes into the ground. Chancellor Bren’s shadows rush forward to retrieve their leader, but I grab the Pyre control box from his belt and tuck myself alongside the chancellor’s dazed body.
My skin broils.
Just one more. That’s all I need.
Grains scatter beneath me as I expel one more burst while clinging to the chancellor. Our bodies spin through the air, until I can’t hold him anymore. We both land in the fray of Sols and Pyres.
I scramble for the remote and twist the knob.
Nothing happens.
The handful of remaining Pyres notice my intrusion and the scent of pure humanity laying on the ground motionless a few yards from me.
I frantically twist the knob further and press the only button on the controller.
The Pyres that were closing in on the chancellor suddenly seize, bodies stiffening and dropping in unison.
The entire field of battle quiets for a moment.
I stand on one trembling leg and lurch toward the chancellor, pulling him to his feet.
Kalden and Niles finish off the incapacitated Pyres before appearing next to me.
“Thank the sun you did that,” Kalden huffs, his glowing veins obfuscated by reddened skin.
I peer at my own hand and see a similar hue. The blood in my veins grinds through my body. The pressure threatens to spill from my eyes and ears.
I grip Chancellor Bren’s arm tighter. “Give the order to return to Caligo. Before any more of your men die.”
Gabe inches closer to us before Kalden shouts, “We don’t want to kill him, but if you take one more step, you’ll be the next chancellor!”
Gabe’s purposeful steps stiffen from the threat, and he comes to a halt.
Commander Guffian follows his lead.
“You don’t have the right to command my men.
” The chancellor’s bent knees straighten.
Turning his gaze to avoid the sun’s rays through his broken visor, he lifts his head and shouts across the dunes.
“Who are you, men of Caligo, to listen to this woman—a feeder turned traitor? You have orders from the highest office above or below ground!”
All my hopes of a peaceful retreat crumble. I prepare to summon whatever power I have left.
Chancellor Bren continues, “Let’s be done with this. Kill them all!”
The guard formation marches up the hill, where the vulnerable Huntresses are attempting to slide a heavily bloodied Demi towards the village.
Kalden’s fist connects with Chancellor Bren’s head, lifting him from the ground and disconnecting the snug helmet from its wearer. Golden rays trace across the chancellor’s exposed face.
“No!” Gabe’s voice rings into the clear sky.
“Order them to stop!” I scream at Chancellor Bren.
The crumpled man on the ground clutches at his cheeks. “What have you done? You’ve infected me!”
Niles hurriedly kneels beside the chancellor. “We need to restrain hi—”
A blast of energy erupts from Chancellor Bren’s hand, and Niles falls back.
His body lands motionless.
Sensing my racing pulse, Kalden assures me, “He’s okay. Unconscious, but alive.”
The chancellor pulls himself up from the sandy impression left by his impact. “I’ll help you meet the fiery destruction you so desperately crave!”
I glance over my shoulder and watch the guards closing in on the Huntresses . . . and Gem.
Twilynn and Aruna have crested the next dune so far in front of the other two that they might make it to the village. But they left Gem dragging Demi through the sand, leaving a thinning trail of blood and a swarm of guards fresh on their heels.
I kneel to my side, where a fallen Pyre lies. The clasp of the collar around its singed neck unhooks after several awkward twists and pinches of the mechanism. I wrap my fingers around it, pulling it free.
The chancellor lifts his head, twisting towards me. But before he can react, Kalden directs a kick into his stomach, causing him to collapse once more.
I wrap the collar around Chancellor Bren’s neck, and it clicks easily into place. “Call off your men! Now!”
“No, no, no!” Through gasping coughs, he claws at his throat. “You can’t!”
“I’m done asking.” I stand over him, casting a shadow across his hunched frame, and jam my thumb into the button on the black box still in my left hand.
The chancellor’s body convulses, and he lets out an eerie garbled cry. Red skin blooms across his nose and quickly spreads along his face before emanating a glow. I step away while flickers of heat from his eyes threaten to burn me.
No. I need him to give the order to stop the guards.
I reach in to remove the collar, but the increasingly white-hot heat of his skin makes me recoil. Kalden grabs my arm and pulls me away. He picks up Niles and follows quickly after me. While I turn to shuffle back, Gabe stops and falls to his knees not far from the scorching shell of his father.
The sand surrounding the chancellor begins to flow into a glassy bubbling pit.
The glowing form of what was once a man lifts to its feet.
The deep navy armor falls away, engulfed in flames on the ground.
Its form stretches and wretches. A fiery orb expands from its skin and lifts into the clouds followed swiftly by a blinding light.
A quick glance reveals that the guards, the shadows, Gabe, even Gem have slowed or stopped to learn the fate of the chancellor.
An explosion of fiery magnetic force washes past me and Kalden, forcing us prone.
When we look back, Chancellor Bren is no more. In his place stands a monstrous black charred form with talons where its hands used to be. The creature gags, six long wiry tongues spilling out of its throat. A bitter smoke wafts through the air, stirring the acid in my stomach.
“I-I didn’t mean to . . .” My legs shake while Kalden pulls me to my feet.
“That’s not how it normally happens,” he says raggedly.
A roar resonates from the freshly turned Pyre, and it staggers towards us, gaining its bearings before taking small bounds.
I fumble for the box that fell into the sand. The creature takes a final leap, and I press the button. Convulsions tear through what remains of the chancellor, and the figure lands roughly. It stills for a few seconds before shifting forward.
Again, I press the button, and it finally stops its attempts to lunge.
I stare into the black-and-gold irises that were once an icy blue.
Circling the button with my thumb, I wait for the chancellor’s charred shell to make its next move.
It finally turns and lifts its tongues into the air, as if sensing the plentiful humanity on the other dune, then jumps towards the group of outlying guards who’ve been watching the spectacle.
Hundreds of guardsmen scatter across the golden landscape, and the chancellor’s husk tears apart his own forces as they haphazardly retreat towards Caligo.
Commander Guffian grabs Gabe’s shoulder and pulls him up. “Shadows, secure your new chancellor.”
Gabe peers over his shoulder as he’s prodded and pushed within a circle of bodyguards, and I sense his condemning glare prickling down my spine.
I don’t think he’ll ever forgive me for what I just did to his father.
And yet, something in me feels like I only revealed his true nature.
To so many of the women in Caligo, Chancellor Bren has always been a Pyre, feeding on our humanity.
His twisted words tore through us and made us believe we deserved a life of sacrifice.
I watch the sole Pyre chase the group of fleeing guards into the forest, leaving a trail of bodies and blood in its wake.