CHAPTER 14
CLOSING THE GAP
Nightshade is the only known substance in Arcanthys capable of suppressing a magical gift. Its use against another is considered an act of magical assault without High Council authorisation.
– The Order of Magical Conduct, Clause XVI
As they galloped away from the ruined bridge, the wind and river spray were cold on Kara’s face.
He’s heading for Hale. For home.
“The Air Shard is on Eitherwift Mountain, north of the Caldris border,” Henry called over to her. “Only one way up – a staircase carved into the rock. Guarded at the top.”
“You think he’ll go straight for it?” she asked.
“We’ve no reason to think he’ll delay.”
They rode in tense silence after that, until the road narrowed to a shaded, root-tangled track – the way ahead covered with downed trees, some splintered, others torn up entirely, roots jutting out from the earth.
Damn it.
“The diversion sent us through southern Durent territory, didn’t it?” Kara asked.
Henry slowed his valmare, scanning the mess. “They’ve been having earthquakes.”
“We’ll have to go on foot,” she said.
They dismounted and began the awkward clamber between fallen trees, branches snagging at their cloaks, every step arduous and likely to break an ankle. All the while, Kara’s thoughts refused to settle. What she’d seen at Saltmoor was burned into her.
The mothers clutching their children.
The sunken ship.
The grief.
Henry must have been thinking of it too. “He knew, Kara. He knew that wave would kill people.”
She took a breath. “He warned them. Most got clear.”
“Don’t fool yourself. The chaos made his job easier. You’re mistaking calculation for mercy.”
“No, that’s not what–”
“If he wanted them to survive, he would have waited until the ship came back to shore,” Henry interrupted. “He didn’t.”
That’s not fair. He told them to come in.
Kara hesitated, then said, “I don’t think he was trying to kill them. But I wish he’d waited.”
“Well, he didn’t. He’s not here to make you feel better, Kara,” Henry snapped. “Shouldn’t you wish he hadn’t taken the Shard at all?”
“I do,” she said vehemently, tugging Whisper onward harder than necessary. The mare nickered in protest, and Kara murmured an apology under her breath.
Unbidden, her mind conjured up the image of Sebastian in the water, crimson magic flaring as he fought the current, just as she’d seen him do before.
Surely, if all he’d cared about was the Shard, he’d have let that little boy drown – vanished before the wave struck again?
Instead, he’d stayed and rescued him. Risked being caught.
The same man who had stood unmoving in fire for her, as though her life outweighed his pain, had unleashed a wave that drowned strangers.
Ripped sons from mothers. Husbands from wives.
Both truths pushed down on her – impossible to reconcile.
She was fiercely grateful that Henry wouldn’t read her thoughts without permission – he wouldn’t like what he found.
Henry urged his valmare over the last fallen branch. “Come on, we’ve lost enough time.”
It had cost them another hour.
They slept little, driving their valmares with hours of punishing riding, but it wasn’t until late the next afternoon that the mountains of the Caldris border came into view.
Henry slowed their pace, scanning the terrain the way only someone from the land would, until he finally nodded towards a rise sheltered on three sides by rock.
“This will do,” he said, swinging down from the saddle.
Kara followed suit, grateful to stretch her aching legs – they’d hardly stopped riding for two days.
They made camp in exhausted silence – hitching the valmares, gathering kindling, lighting the small fire.
She sank onto a flat stone near the flames.
Only when they’d eaten a few mouthfuls of bread and dried meat did Henry speak again, his gaze fixed on the fire.
“We should make it there by tomorrow,” he said with a confidence she didn’t feel. “I know quicker ways through this land than he does.”
Kara nodded. They had to get there first. “If we make it in time, I’ll go to the top. Be waiting for him.”
“We’ll make it,” Henry said fiercely. “You should tell me, Kara.”
“What?” she asked.
Please don’t ask me, Henry.
“What it is you’re going to say to him.”
Kara stood and busied herself with the valmares, pouring water from her canteen into their bucket. The silence stretched.
“No,” she said eventually, without looking up.
“Why?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “Because I don’t feel good about it, okay? But I have a plan.”
Henry studied her. “Did something happen between you two? Before all this?”
Her head came up too quickly. “No. Nothing. He’s a Thorne.” The words sounded defensive, even to her.
Henry raised a brow. “The way you look when we talk about him–”
“Is what, exactly?”
He tilted his head. “You tell me, Kara. You seem conflicted.”
“I’m not conflicted,” she said sharply.
I’ll have to give him something.
“I... I find it hard – the idea of using my magic like that on someone... someone who saved my life.”
His eyes widened a fraction. “I didn’t know he saved your life.”
“In the Fire Trial,” she said. “And I didn’t see this in him, Henry. I didn’t. But it doesn’t matter. What he’s done since...” She held his gaze, willing him to believe her. “He needs to be stopped.”
Henry still looked doubtful. “But you didn’t want this mission. It was just another thing your father asked of you.”
Kara straightened. “Yes. And I’ll do my duty. I know how dangerous Sebastian is. I’m not blind to it.”
“Good.” Henry nodded, apparently satisfied. “And so you know, if he tries to fight you, you won’t be alone.”
Kara scoffed. “If he tries to fight me, I don’t have much of a chance.”
She was a healer for Gods’ sake. A pacifist. Sebastian could kill her in an instant if he wanted to. Her only hope of success was getting close enough to cast her spell without him realising her intentions.
“I’ll be with you. Caldris magic can do more than send messages and read minds, you know,” Henry said.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s possible to... control a mind – to a degree. Make someone see things, or see nothing at all.”
Kara’s throat tightened. That was horrifying. And not how Arcanth magic was supposed to be used. Forbidden, like time magic. For good reason.
Henry saw her expression and rushed to add, “I’ve never used it like that. I just know the theory.”
A log collapsed in the fire with a sharp pop.
“Theory,” she repeated hollowly. “What kind of theory?”
Henry tensed. “I could blind him. Or make him see a threat that isn’t there – people he cares about in trouble. He has sisters, doesn’t he?”
The nausea hit her in a wave. Illusion magic. Henry was suggesting they use Sebastian’s own instincts, his family, against him. She looked down, picking at the seam of her cloak. “I could never use magic like that.”
Henry’s expression didn’t change. “I’m not asking you to. But I’ll use it if I have to, Kara. Simple as that.”
A gust of wind blew through their camp, making the flames flicker, and Kara pulled her cloak tighter. She wondered how many others in the realm learnt magic like that in secret.
“It’s easier to bind someone in nightshade when they can’t see you coming,” Henry added.
“You brought nightshade?”
Nightshade bonds were enchanted to suppress Arcanth magic. They were reserved for criminals. A punishment rarely used – rarely needed in Vallenna.
“Of course I did.”
Kara wondered which Council member had suggested it.
Or if Henry had simply thought of it himself – packed it like another supply.
She wasn’t sure which was worse. She edged closer to the fire, though it did little for the chill that had settled inside her.
It did even less for the guilt. Guilt was her constant companion now – guilt over telling Henry half-truths, learning his magic under false pretences, over what she meant to do to Sebastian if she caught him.
She told herself she was the lesser of two evils.
That her way was kinder – forced sleep instead of risking his mind.
Henry’s casual talk of stealing someone’s sight – of twisting thoughts to make Sebastian see nightmares made real – it frightened her.
She didn’t want Sebastian anywhere near that kind of power.
If it had to be done, better by her magic than his.
Before sunrise, they were riding again. Kara’s muscles screamed with every stride, but she pushed onward.
Henry must be hurting too. He wasn’t an experienced rider, but he’d managed better than she’d expected.
By late morning they were climbing through Henry’s shortcuts, winding through narrow valleys where towering rock faces pressed close on both sides.
Steeper – the valmares were breathing in short, hot bursts – but faster.
The mountains loomed close now – their tops dusted with light snowfall.
They reached Highstone, a northern Caldris town by mid-afternoon, its main street winding between grand stone houses built to weather the mountain winds.
A pair of scholarly-looking men bowed low to Henry as he approached.
“Lord Caldris,” the older of the two said respectfully. “Have you heard about the Shards?”
“Unfortunate business. The Council will catch the criminal,” Henry said, mildly.
The younger man glanced at his companion. “A Thorne rider came through about ten minutes ago. Alone. Said he’d heard reports the thief was heading this way and meant to intercept him.”
Kara’s heart quickened. Thornes passed through Caldris on guard rotation or peacekeeping duty, but rarely alone.
Sebastian.
The older man frowned. “He kept to himself. We thought it odd, but... better not to get in the way.”
Henry inclined his head. “Wise.”
Once they were clear of the gate, Henry’s easy expression slipped. “We’re closer than I thought,” he said, already urging his valmare into a canter.
The road narrowed as they climbed. Fresh hoofprints appeared in the earth – minutes old, untouched by wind or rain.
Close enough that every turn in the path felt like it might reveal him – her heart thumping unevenly with every corner.
They pushed on for several more miles until the track ended abruptly at the base of a sheer cliff.
A staircase was carved into the rock itself, steep and uneven.
And hitched beside it – a Thorne valmare. Deep ebony, strongly muscled.
“He’s already here,” she breathed.
“We knew he would be.”
Kara dismounted clumsily, her legs trembling both from exhaustion and adrenaline. She ran a grateful hand down Whisper’s neck. “So, this is it?”
Henry nodded and glanced upwards. Eitherwift was the tallest mountain in the range. It would be a long climb. “The Air Shard’s shrine is up there.”
Her gaze swept the first few flights. Frost clung in the corners of the steps, and at the first sharp turn, a boot print stood out dark and fresh against the stone.
Henry approached Sebastian’s valmare and searched its pack, before throwing it to the ground.
“The Shards aren’t here. He must have them with him.”
Kara nodded mutely. She was still staring at the boot print on the steps. The next moment, Henry untethered the ebony valmare and slapped its hindquarters, driving it off. The creature cantered away down the slope.
“Henry–”
“I don’t want him to have a way to escape,” Henry said evenly.
Kara inhaled sharply. No escape meant Sebastian would fight harder, even more dangerously, if her plan went wrong.
They tethered their valmares and started up.
The mountain rock was cold under Kara’s palms, the wind tugging more violently at her the higher they went.
Her breathing was coming fast now, stinging her lungs, and her legs burned – but still she climbed.
Somewhere above, the faint metallic clang of steel echoed down.
“He’s fighting the guards,” she told Henry, and they quickened their pace.
As they neared the top, Kara caught his arm. “You can’t let him see you.”
Henry nodded once and stopped at one of the ledges off the staircase. “Shout if you need help. I’ll come running.”
The metallic ringing stopped abruptly. Silence. The fight was done. Kara’s chest tightened. This was it. All the miles, the planning, the second-guessing – it had all led here. A single path. The last few stairs. No more time. No more hiding.
This was the most dangerous thing she’d ever done. But she urged her feet to move the last few steps.
To where Sebastian Thorne was waiting.