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Traveling down the other side of the hills was easier as the smoke cleared with the breeze. There was a little-used path that switched back and forth down the side of the chalk downs, bringing them back to level ground at last. To the east the wolds continued rolling into the distance, but by keeping closer to the shore they remained in low scrubland. In the late morning the wind picked up, coming off the sea, bringing relief from the hot sun that had climbed far above them as they traveled north, the clouds having cleared away.
As Dusk sat on the back of the cart, he couldn’t help hoping that Birchwood wasn’t too much further ahead. None of them really knew how long it would take to get there, but Dusk was getting tired of being on the road. It had already been a few weeks since the spring equinox and although it was cooler in the north, signs of spring were everywhere. Some of the trees already had their leaves coming on, giving the world a much greener hue than it’d had previously. He glanced over to Nedarya who was still passed out in the back of the cart. It had been a few hours since she had killed all those men so impressively. He knew she’d used magic, that was obvious, but he didn’t understand what had been implanted below her skin. Obviously it was different from the dust the other men had used, because it would have just been used up after a time. There was no point in implanting it within her body. That and her skin was still pale and healthy looking, unlike the dust users who were always ashen and sickly.
Dusk reached down and peeled the scale off his chest, revealing the crystal still attached to his sternum. He’d been told there was only one crystal like his, but that didn’t seem to be completely true from what he’d seen. The magic Nedarya had done was incredible, although it must have taken a lot out of her. He reached out and touched one of the scars on her forearm, manipulating it so he could feel the hard lump buried beneath her skin.
An idea occurred to him. He kept his hand over the scar while he lifted the other to his chest, laying it across the crystal. Closing his eyes he searched for the magic again, focusing on his intent. He just wanted to know what Tiernan had done to her. Maybe, if he could figure out what the material was, he could figure out a way to help her. A single symbol flared up in his mind. He concentrated on it for a moment, feeling it out with his thoughts, knowing that it would cost him very little energy to merely pinpoint what the material was. Channeling the magic down his arm, he let the warmth reach his fingertips before pressing it through into Nedarya’s arm.
With a brilliant white flash Nedarya cried out and a boom like thunder rocked the inside of his mind. Dusk was lifted clean off the cart and shot fifteen feet across the grass before crashing down on the earth. The air flew out of his lungs and he lay there gasping, trying to force it back into his body. In his mind he could hear words echoing in Tephyss’s voice.
“Shattered. Twisted. Abomination.”
They continued to repeat over and over until the voice finally faded away into nothing. Air found its way back into Dusk’s lungs as he lay there, chest heaving on the ground. Lex was at his side a moment later, kneeling down next to him.
“Dusk,” he gasped, reaching out to pull him up. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Sitting up with Lex’s help, Dusk looked back at the cart where Tara was holding Nedarya in a similar way. There was a look of fear on her face as she hugged her arms to her chest. She was staring wide-eyed at Dusk, unblinking.
“I... I’m fine,” he groaned, not taking his gaze off her. “I was just trying to help. What... what was that?”
Nedarya was silent, still staring at him, a look of fear in her eyes.
“What did you do to her?” Tara snarled, looking back at Dusk.
Dusk swallowed hard, realizing he might have hurt her by accident. “I... I was trying to figure out what’s under her skin. I just wanted to help if I could. I didn’t expect it to backfire. The magic I used was so small...”
A tiny voice cut Tara off before she could continue. “I heard a voice,” Nedarya said. “Like thunder rolling from far away.”
“Tephyss,” Dusk whispered so that only Lex could hear him. He raised his voice, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“You didn’t...” she replied. She paused for a moment, hugging herself tighter. “I’ve never heard anything so terrifying.”
The other three stared at her for a long moment, watching as she became lost in her own thoughts, her gaze distant and clouded over. Lex helped pull Dusk to his feet. Brushing the dust off himself, he walked back to the cart, standing beside Nedarya. Tara was still cradling her close, like she was afraid to lose her. It was time they found out what was going on.
“What... what did Tiernan do to you?” Dusk asked gently, sitting down beside her. She shook her head. “We want to help you, but we don’t know what’s going on.”
“That’s too much to ask, Dusk,” Tara murmured, pulling Nedarya away from him. “We have no idea what she’s been through.”
“That’s the point,” Lex added, stepping up beside them. “She can do magic, she has something implanted under her skin, and she’s been raised from the dead.” He looked directly at her, then lifted his gaze to Tara. “Even you have to admit that this is a dangerous situation. If the Circle is looking for her and us there’s no way we’ll be able to avoid them. At least not for long. We’re wandering blind in the middle of nowhere. They could already be ahead of us.”
Tara slipped out of the back of the cart, pulling Nedarya into her arms. “Not yet,” she said, taking her around to the front to put her in on the driver’s bench. She came back to them, keeping her voice low. “You’re right that we need to know, but she’s scared and in shock. Let’s give her until we set up camp tonight.” Tara looked between the two of them with a pleading in her eyes. “Please.”
Dusk and Lex both glanced at one another. It was the first time Tara had ever said the word ‘please’.
“All right, but no further. We need to know if there’s more people on the way to kill us than usual.”
“Thank you.”
***
The afternoon slipped by slowly in silence as the cart rumbled along the uneven roadway. Seagrass surrounded them on all sides, brushing against Dusk’s legs as they hung off the back of the cart. He kept to the left side where Maribel was tethered, absentmindedly petting her as the day went on, lost in his own thoughts. As the sun sank to the horizon, Tara steered the cart towards a small bunch of trees that were little more than a group of shrubs to break the wind. He and Lex stumbled down to the beach in search of driftwood while Tara stayed behind with Nedarya. It didn’t take them long to find a few sun-bleached logs lying in the white sand. They were still warm from the sun and stunk of salt as they carried them back.
After a fire was built and their simple meal of dried meat eaten, Dusk walked over to Maribel, feeding her the last of soft apples he’d purchased. She ate it voraciously, always looking for more. Her smell had grown more intense and flowery, but he’d gotten used to it. He ran a hand along her sides, brushing off dust from the road. Her belly was still growing and although she didn’t look exactly pregnant yet, he could see the difference in the way she moved and how much food she was eating. The foal inside her was growing fast and although her personality hadn’t changed, she seemed more tired than usual. Making a mental note to feed her a bit extra in the morning, Dusk gave her one last pat on the neck before going back to the fire and taking a seat across from Tara. He gave her a small nod as if to say it’s time and she returned the gesture.
“Nedarya,” she said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I know this is hard and I’m sorry for asking... but I need you to tell us what’s going on.”
She shook her head in response, but Tara didn’t let up.
“We can’t help you if we don’t know what’s going on. Please, talk to me.” Tara took Nedarya’s hands gently in her own, pulling her close. “I swore a long time ago to protect you in every way I could. Help me so I can protect you again.”
Nedarya leaned forward, her forehead resting on Tara’s shoulder. She was quiet for a long moment, her face buried in the cloak.
“Tiernan has a lot of plans in play,” she muttered, her forehead still resting on Tara’s shoulder. The firelight reflected off her blonde hair that hung around her face, obscuring it from view. “He’s the one that helped Arius kill my father.”
“Your brother killed his own father?” Tara asked, keeping her voice low.
“You knew him, it shouldn’t surprise you. It was Tiernan’s plan to blame it on the Inahandrian ambassador, but Arius wanted the war. He played right into Tiernan’s hands.”
“Why would Tiernan want a war?” Lex asked, also keeping his voice soft like Tara’s, as if he was worried about scaring Nedarya into silence.
“So nobody would notice what he was about to do next.” She took a deep breath and pushed herself away from Tara. Keeping her head hung low, she continued. “Tiernan’s plan all along was to take over the thrones and combine them with Alamond. With the three crowns he could rule without question, especially with his lineage.”
Dusk nodded, none of the information new to him. Tiernan had admitted to that much himself when they’d almost come face to face in Emerald Deep.
“But two things happened that he didn’t expect. The first was that Arius betrayed him once the war started, removing him from Eblesal completely.” Nedarya turned her gaze to Dusk, lifting her eyes so they caught the firelight. “And the second was you, Dusk.”
He looked up at her, the fire dancing between them.
“Not only did you find the remains of an ancient dragon, but you also found the Crystal Eye, an artifact all, including Tiernan, thought had passed into legend.” She paused for a moment. “But there was something else there in that cave, hidden within Tephyss. Once Tiernan got a hold of it there was no stopping him from accomplishing anything he wanted. Including tearing me back to the land of the living.” Her face grew dark, hair cascading down to shield her from view. “I wish he would have left me dead.”
“Don’t say that,” Tara cooed, reaching out a hand.
“You wouldn’t be saying that if you’d gone through the weeks of torture he put me through,” Nedarya hissed, recoiling back from Tara’s touch, suddenly furious. “It took everything I had to convince him I was clueless. At first I was, my brain still half-rotten after being hauled up out of the castle catacombs. Slowly pieces began to come back, but I kept them to myself. He talked profusely, thinking I was deaf or stupid, still too much a corpse to understand as they slowly healed me back into existence.” She stopped, growling as she wiped away tears from her face. “If he succeeds with his plans, you won’t want to be alive either.”
“He told us he just wants to bring magic back,” Lex said, gesturing around him. “Is there more to it than that?”
“There’s always more than what he tells people,” Nedarya replied, looking up at him. “He wants to bring magic back for himself. The powdered bones his followers use are no more than children’s toys, and dangerous ones at that. I’m sure you’ve noticed how all of them seem gray and skinny all the time. The magic they are using is eating them alive from the inside out and it’s addictive. Once you start using there’s no way to stop until your body gives out. Many lower ranking Circle members were executed by Tiernan for trying to steal more dust away for their own purposes. Once they get a taste, they can’t stop. Most of them are lucky to last a year doing even the smallest of spells. Something about the dragon remains eats them alive.”
“What about him? He does magic all the time, but he’s still alright?”
“He had a stronger constitution than most and stopped using it after Tephyss’s remains were discovered. He found a greater power, and one that doesn’t require sacrifice on his part, not that he didn’t sacrifice many others to fulfill some of his larger deeds before.”
“What was it?” Dusk asked, terrified of the answer.
“He called it the Crystal Heart,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t fully understand what it is, but somehow it’s letting him tap into a lot of power.” She held out her arms. “But as you can see, even with multiple pieces, it has a cost of its own. It’s not unlimited. Tiernan planned to place more in my body to increase my power, but I managed to escape before he did.”
“So these pieces are like the eye then?” Lex nodded, cocking an eyebrow.
“No,” she said definitively. “It’s not. He knows the eye connects Dusk directly to Tephyss, giving him access to the unlimited power of the ancient dragon lord. The heart is a connection to magic itself, but the wielder still has to sacrifice their own energy to use it.”
“Tephyss isn’t unlimited,” Dusk said quietly. Nedarya stopped and stared at him. “I cast something I didn’t understand, a beam of light that ate through a stone cavern then blasted a hole through the clouds and into the sky.” He paused, catching her gaze. “Tephyss sacrificed his power to save me. He... he hasn’t yet recovered.”
Nedarya stared, her mouth pressed into a tight line and her brows furrowed.
“That’s why we’re heading north to the Anthurium Mountain,” he continued, feeling ashamed. “There’s another dragon still alive there. They’re going to teach me how to control this magic.”
Her jaw dropped, the hard expression falling from her face. “What do you mean there’s still a dragon alive?”
“That’s what we were told by Tephyss and the Legion of the Twilight.”
“How is that possible?” she whispered, looking at Tara.
“Don’t look at me, this is way over my head.”
“We don’t really understand it either, but it’s obvious Tiernan and the Circle need to be stopped.” Lex glanced at Dusk. “And I think Dusk is the one who’s been chosen to do it. Tephyss let him keep the eye, that alone is proof enough for me.”
Dusk felt his chest tighten as the weight of the situation began to press down on him. Up until that point he’d been ignoring it to try to keep himself afloat, but it seemed there was little running from the truth anymore.
“I don’t know what the future holds for any of us yet, but if the dragon can help Dusk, maybe they’ll be able to help you as well.” Lex turned his gaze back to Nedarya. “There’s got to be a way to set this all right.”