Last of the Temple Line Page 17

  Smoke twisted in the air when he breathed in the scent of his son's blood.

  The Akkadian cleared the thorny brush with a swipe of his claws. Beside the bushes, a pool of Caelwin’s blood had already begun to congeal in the dirt. Dalaric kneeled beside the crimson stain and searched for signs of the attackers with eyes gone to black.

  “Return to the palace. Aegwin took the north path. Tell him to track me. Caelwin may have need of him. I will follow his trail.” His claw traced out the imprint in the wet soil. A footprint. Fours small toes prints and one large. Human. Many of them circled the pool of blood and led to the south. Without waiting for Loren’s reply, Dalaric took of at a run, following the trail of blood and footprints.

  A quarter hour later, he broke through the trees into a clearing. A small cottage came into view. It had been long abandoned. Birds flew up from the hole in the collapsed roof. He sighted a mop of dark hair and a still form hidden in the shadows beside the collapsed south wall of the cottage.

  Dalaric called out, "Caelwin!" His son did not respond. Hyper-aware senses caught the faint thumping of his son’s heartbeat and kept him from losing control. The clearing was quiet. Insects buzzed faintly as they called for mates. An owl had found prey. Whatever had been present was missing from the area.

  He approached Caelwin and kneeled beside his son. Bruises that stank of the same disease which had killed many humans were fading upon Caelwin’s exposed flesh. Sores covered his face which smelled of the same. He turned Caelwin's hand over and saw his son had torn his own palms with his claws. Clever. It was his blood he had followed to find him.

  Wild Ki tore through Dalaric's senses. Caelwin's eyes fluttered. He opened them on a scream.

  "Caelwin!" Dalaric yelled, hands gripping his son's arms to hold the male still as he struggled in his grasp. Dalaric's heart stopped as he watched inky darkness begin to swirl within Caelwin's eyes.

  Whatever had happened to him had managed to push him too far. Not even mana wine could save an un-blooded with onyx-stained eyes. Caelwin’s only hope would be to Ascend before he lost himself completely. Was it already too late? Dalaric wondered when he lifted Caelwin to toss him over his shoulder, avoiding the snapping teeth that threatened to rip into his neck. He ignored the fangs that sunk deep into the muscle of his back. His Ki would heal it before Caelwin had even released his hold.

  Why take him? Dalaric wondered when he broke into a headlong run to Gilvern, Caelwin’s weight nothing to his strength. Without an enemy to fight, his anger had not been subdued. Instead, it transformed into cold rage that was caged until it could be unleashed upon the one responsible. Their lives would be forfeit. Caelwin began to howl. Dalaric became nothing more than a passing blur through the forest, too afraid of pushing Caelwin beyond redemption by a use of Ki to fly.

  He did not stop until he slammed into the cottage Emersyn shared with the elder woman.

  Emersyn was startled out of a sound sleep from where she had fallen to rest beside the fireplace. Gasping, Emersyn's shocked gaze took in the bloodied and bruised male hanging limply over Dalaric's shoulder.

  Caelwin woke up, screaming and howling while he thrashed in his father's arms. Dalaric kneeled to wrap both arms more tightly around Caelwin. He looked at her. "Caelwin was forced to madness," he yelled over Caelwin’s rabid struggle, "He may have a chance. If I can blanket his Ki with mine, he may Ascend before it is too late!"

  The young witch swallowed thickly but nodded. "What do I do?"

  "Heed his call. Give him what he needs." He grimly added, "If he cannot hear me and cannot manage through the madness, there will be nothing either of us can do."

  He would be forced to kill his own son. She put a hand on Caelwin's arm, trying to ignore the gnashing teeth of the male much larger than herself when he tried to bite her. "I am ready," she said, determined.

  Dalaric's Ki swallowed them all. She sighed when the familiar power caressed her skin, giving her a measure of comfort, and then engulfed Caelwin in its electric light. Suddenly Emersyn felt Caelwin’s Ki respond. It spiked dangerously high. She trembled, uncomfortable with unfamiliar Akkadian power so close to her skin. His body was encased in a glowing green power that temporarily blinded her.

  "Caelwin," Dalaric growled out, "perform the Rite. Release your true form. Reach for it, my son. Do not lose yourself to the madness!"

  Emersyn nearly jumped when she felt a tendril of power touch her. Not as Dalaric's did. This felt wrong. It entered the hand that lay on Caelwin's arm and pushed inside. It felt as if her fingers were being flayed wide open.

  She gritted her teeth and held on even tighter.

  Caelwin's body fell into seizures in Dalaric's arms. "No!" Dalaric snarled. "Caelwin!"

  She felt the tendril begin to retreat. He was fading. He could not do it.

  No, her heart whispered. No! She snatched the tendril with her mana before it could slip from her completely.

  It burned.

  If he could not come to her she would take her mana to him. She latched onto his wrist with both hands, trusting in Dalaric's strength to protect her from Caelwin's fangs and claws while the male continued to convulse in his father’s strong arms. She would not give up on him. She would not fail again to keep a child safe!

  Emersyn poured her essence into the Akkadian.

  Fire. Flames licked at her insides. Horrific. All-consuming. Emersyn could not think. Could not move. Caelwin’s Ki did not welcome her as his father’s did. She could not withstand the hellish torment!

  A small push to her skin brought her to the fore of her own mind. Caelwin. The young male was pushing her away. Lost to madness, he knew what she was attempting and was trying to push her away. As wild Ki raged within, he tried to save her. To force her out even though it would mean his certain death.

  She took a deep breath. Then another.

  Emersyn jumped into the fire. Every nerve within her body screamed at the contact. A pulse of energy echoed inside Caelwin's soul. Emersyn swam through the pain. A thousand daggers punctured her flesh, rending it to the bone. Her soul essence curled up in pain.

  Please! she prayed. Please let me save him.

  The energy pulsed again. She saw it. A fount of power. It was caught. Trapped. This was what the Rite would release, she realized. How could she open the gate? How? It appeared to her as if a glowing, pulsating barrier of darkness protected it with thousands of jagged blades woven together with hellish mana. How could she possibly access that? The barrier would shred the soul of anyone attempting it!

  Dalaric, what happened? she briefly wondered amidst everything. What had forced Caelwin to such a point? She could feel the Ki that still surrounded her. The horrible foreign essence

  The young witch felt the pulse of Caelwin's heart slow. She did not think. Emersyn threw a piece of her mana against the barrier. It shredded her first onslaught to pieces.

  Dalaric felt the pulse of mana as it entered Caelwin despite his son's inability to maintain the bridge. He watched as Emersyn’s essence streamed from her, a tidal wave of power. Caelwin shook uncontrollably in his arms. His youngling’s eyes stared unseeing into the room, small tremors traveling through his muscles.

  Dalaric's eyes widened on the female when she slumped against him. He shifted to bring Emersyn to lay next to Caelwin within his arms. He tried to pull her fingers from his son's wrist. He could not allow her to die. Not when his grieving heart knew Caelwin already to be lost. No one returned from the Ki seizures.

  Her grip refused him. Without breaking her fingers, he could not get her free. And then Caelwin grew completely still. The Ki within him was caught, ensnared by mana. Emersyn began to sweat blood. She was daring the Rite on her own? Dalaric swore and tore a swath of fabric from Caelwin's robe to wipe the sweat and blood from her forehead.

  Foolish female! He cursed. Her gentle nature had yielded to a ferocious will to see the Rite through. To bring Caelwin back from the madness. To save his son.

  His father had w
itnessed the last Rite ceremony. He had said the witch sweat blood as she fell into seizures. She released the youngling, but it had done no good. Both witch and youngling died within moments.

  Emersyn willed the mana to return to the barrier. To push through the all-consuming pain. Emersyn withdrew every single mote of her mana, her soul, and threw it at the barrier. Just a little more, she chanted as the lines of weaving holding the barrier in place began to shatter with each piece of her it sliced through. Just a little more!

  Her mother's face filled her heart. Her father. Visions, not of the before time, but of this time, inundated her from all sides. Sarah. Jaela. Will.

  She had lived a blessed life. Thank you, her soul whispered as it entered the shredding ground. The last piece to the barrier yet held. Thank you, for all that I have been given. The memory of Dalaric leaning over her, his arms wrapped around her just bare hours ago, filled her heart.

  The barrier fell.

  Dalaric's eyes widened. He had lived a long life but had never felt such a surge of power as was suddenly released from Emersyn into his son.

  Ki clapped loud, thunderous, and wild. Caelwin's eyes bled to green, black ink faded into nothingness. He screamed as his body was suffused in bright green Ki that swirled over the male while limbs popped and snapped.

  In less than a moment, the space of a breath, Dalaric held the feather-less true form of his dragon son. Caelwin had Ascended. The white dragon clan would live on. The pure, unrestrained blood of his grandfather would not die with him.

  Bright green eyes blinked up at him, tired but alive. No sign of the madness within their depths.

  "I'm glad he is okay," Emersyn whispered with a serene smile from next to the larger form of his newly blooded son. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell into the darkness.

  Dalaric carefully laid his son on the floor and twisted his body around the woman. Her blood covered him, and he reveled in it. The price of her power. He took in the delicate sound of her heart beating. The breaths that came from behind cracked lips that bled from where she had bitten through them while resisting the pain. His knuckle brushed aside the sweat and blood-soaked strands of hair that clung to her face. He had never beheld anything so beautiful.

  A female without compare. Unique. The only.

  Emersyn had done what none other had ever managed. She brought a youngling back from the madness. And she would die for it. Her mana leaked in a small trickle from behind the walls she had shattered to throw all she was against Caelwin's barrier. Her body could not contain its flow.

  Dalaric's eyes glowed. No. She would not die. Never.

  Anchored

  “My coven holds more secrets than Wulfram does sages. I wonder: Do they know how many of their fellows turn to us in their need?”

  -Nialle’s Grimoire-

  Startled awake, Emersyn blinked her eyes to focus them. She scanned the darkened cottage. The sun had set some time ago, leaving the occupants in murky shadows. A meager fire flickered weakly. Catching sight of Sarah sitting next to Jaela as they whispered quietly together at the table, she smiled.

  "Hello," she whispered. Her throat hurt terribly. The greeting came out as a scratchy growl

  Jaela gasped. "Emersyn!" She began to cry. Jaela crying?

  Sarah's lip trembled. "How are you? Do you need anything?" she asked. "Water?"

  Without waiting for a reply, Sarah leaped from the chair and rushed to Emersyn's blankets to hand over a cup. "Here," she said, as she helped Emersyn slowly sip the water until it was gone. The cool liquid soothed the burn in her throat.

  "What happened?" Emersyn asked.

  Jaela slowly rose from the table and kneeled beside the pair. "You exhausted yourself. You have been asleep for two days. Lord Dalaric summoned another Akkadian and Paelia. Between the two of them, they anchored you.”

  "Caelwin?" Emersyn asked as memories flooded back. "How is he?"

  Sarah stroked her hand. "Lord Dalaric spoke to us before he left. He said you saved Caelwin. You performed the Rite, Emersyn," she said. "I do not think I will ever live to see an Akkadian so awed by a human. I overheard him talking to the other Akkadian. He said no witch has ever dared the barrier. They are trained to unweave the barrier. You broke something which was never broken before just by the force of your will and raw power."

  Everything hurt. Emersyn groaned. "I will happily let them do all the work in the future."

  Jaela snorted. "We will see, my warrior sister. Rest, Emersyn. You have earned it."

  A thought occurred to Emersyn. "What happened? Did Dalaric explain what happened to bring the madness on Caelwin?"

  Jaela said, “He doesn’t know. He left you here under our guard while he makes necessary preparations. He will return when all is ready with his mother. He sent Caelwin on with Aegwin, the other male, to the palace for protection. He was told not to move you until you could walk on your own by the other male, but Dalaric said once you did he would carry you to the palace. His mother is to carry us to the palace with you while Aegwin guards Caelwin.”

  Sarah huffed. “Bannon is in a right temper over that. I am not terribly fond of the woman, but if she will help us, I do not care what happened in the past. Given what you told me about how her son had died, I can forgive her this once for her actions. Willa is no worse for it.”

  Emersyn swallowed. “What day is it?”

  Jaela answered, “It has been two days since you helped Caelwin.” Jaela dipped a soft strip of linen into a bowl that sat on the ground beside Emersyn’s blankets and rubbed the cloth across Emersyn's forehead. "You almost died."

  "I didn't, though, so it's all okay," Emersyn whispered. Her head really hurt. She missed the look that Sarah and Jaela shared.

  Sarah held her hand. "Paelia had to anchor you, Emersyn," she repeated what Jaela had told her.

  "Okay," Emersyn said. The words washed over her, not truly penetrating the haze of pain that flickered through her head. She would take the previous mana pains every day of her life over feeling that one more second.

  "The male, Aegwin, had to help her. Your essence was too weak and Paelia could not access it on her own, regardless. Something to do with needing Ki to weave it given you are a marked witch. You are bound," Jaela ground out. "Do you hear me, Emersyn? You were bound to keep you alive."

  Emersyn stilled. She felt like every inch of her body had been punched or kicked or a combination of the two. She was anchored? Only those who had fallen to darkness were anchored to prevent them from using their mana for evil.

  Emersyn struggled to sit up. Jaela held her down. "You must rest."

  "Did I do something bad while I was unconscious?" Emersyn asked.

  The women looked at each other. Jaela finally answered, "You would have died. Lord Dalaric said that you shattered the barriers holding your mana within you. That it would continue to bleed out of you. Paelia could not repair them. She and Alvin wanted to anchor you to a mana gem so that you could still hold your own mana, but Lord Dalaric refused and Aegwin stepped forward with a solution."

  Sarah broke in, "He said that you are in danger, and to place your life in something easily stolen was foolish. He told them to anchor your mana to Lord Dalaric’s sword. No one would ever be able to steal it. It will only ever answer Lord Dalaric’s call."

  A cry broke the silence that fell after Jaela's revelation. Sarah turned around and picked her daughter up from the basket she had napped in.

  "How long," Emersyn asked on a soft whisper, "do I have to be anchored?" She could not feel the mana within her. Not even a drop. Where it should have been echoed with stark emptiness. It would all be in Dalaric's control until he gave it back. Emersyn felt a wave of nausea. She had drunk too much water too quickly, she assumed. She breathed through her nose and fought it down. She slid back down to curl up on her side.

  "We will speak of these things later. Much later, Sister. Get some sleep," Jaela ordered. "I will keep watch over your rest."

  Sar
ah added, "I'll feed Willa and close my eyes for a moment then take second watch. I think, after all the excitement, we can all use a moment of rest. Bannon said we will be needed tomorrow to walk the perimeter and place the mana-powered gems Alvin had Paelia bless to guard against the sickness traveling closer to Gilvern before we depart for the palace." She rubbed her daughter's back.

  Emersyn nodded. "Tomorrow," she promised. "We will figure this out in the morning."

  Despite the pain, she smiled.

  ∞∞∞

  Drifting in the numb world one transitions to before waking, Emersyn slowly became aware of a chill in the air. Shivering, she pulled the blanket closer. That worked for only a few minutes as the chill grew worse.

  Just as she was about to open her eyes, a strange noise caught her attention. A wisp of sound, vaguely like the slide of a broom across stone, stilled her. Frozen, nervously waiting with bated breath to hear it again, Emersyn was almost convinced it had been her imagination when it happened again, this time closer.

  Reaching out with her senses Emersyn almost recoiled at the pain. She had forgotten she would not be able to use mana. A wash of frigid malice inundated her. Holding still only by virtue of pure stubborn will, Emersyn fluttered her lashes faintly.

  She wished she had not. There was something in the corner to her right. Directly across from Jaela's sleeping form where she lay in the heaviest shadows, a dark figure shifted. Staring, eyes watering from the effort she took not to blink, Emersyn saw it again.

  The shadows moved.

  Heart rate accelerating, Emersyn's mind whirled with fear.

  The cold became bone-numbing. Eyes never wavering from the corner, Emersyn monitored the strange beings as their sounds grew agitated. Then, her breath gushed out in terror as, before her very eyes, a hand reached out from the shadows. The mottled flesh was as black as shadows. Slowly, the rest of the figure stepped from the darkness into the dim light of a dying fire. Horror squeezed her throat, trapping a scream.