We’d gathered in the hall, after a measure of sleep.
“So, what do our numbers look like now?” Kate asked the following morning in the hall.
“Better than before,” Danielle replied. “But we still aren’t strong to mount a full-out assault against Baladon’s forces. These people have been caged for months. Their weak, sickly. They’d be slaughtered.”
“Right so a full-on attack is out,” Kate agreed. “What about a distraction?”
“Distraction, for what?” Danielle was tapping her mug on the table in a steady rhythm, grinning slowly as Kate, Sabella, and I all exchanged a look. “You know you three are damned dangerous together.”
“That’s what we’ve been saying all along,” Tristan chimed in. “What are you thinking about?”
“We need to cut Baladon off from the abyss,” I insisted. “It’s the logical next step—”
“Not until you’ve had more time to recuperate,” Forrest argued, cutting me off. “I will not have you doing this blood magic while you’re still weak from the last bout you used. Your magic might have returned, but the darkness is still affecting you. All of us.”
I considered arguing, but it wasn’t worth it. Not when I knew he was right. “I’m not saying we go do it right this second, but it’s what we need to decide to do next. With that said, we’ll need a distraction.”
There was more to it than just a distraction, but until we got into the details of what would need to happen, I would keep the extremely dangerous part of this next mission to myself. No need to worry him more than he already was.
Kate started to talk about what we could do—
Sabella let out a curse, gasp and fell backward. Tristan growled and rushed around the table to her side. He caught her, and we all fell silent, waiting to hear what would fall from her lips this time.
“The field,” she gasped, her face crinkled in pain. “I see them at the field… they’re looking for us… all of us.”
“Right now?” I asked alarmed.
“Think so, they’re there. I can’t—I can’t see anymore,” she whispered, then opened her eyes.
“Take it easy,” Tristan whispered, helping her sit back upright on the bench. She was shaking, but at least this vision hadn’t been as terrible as the last one.
Still, it was bad news.
Danielle was on her feet, moving toward the door. “I’ll send out the scouts—”
Two elves sprinted into the hall, shouting her name.
Danielle turned to the elves. “What is it?”
“Baladon’s forces, they’re on the move,” one exclaimed.
“Where?”
“The field where you escaped to. At least fifty minions and monsters. We didn’t cover our tracks as well as we assumed,” the second blurted. “If we don’t stop them now, they’ll reach us. Here.”
Forrest glanced down at me, but I grabbed the front of his shirt, pulled him close for a kiss, and then shoved him on. “Go, kill some minions for me while you’re at it.”
“Tristan, Craig? Up for some hunting?”
“You’re not leaving us behind.” Sabella shook her head as she and Kate rose. “Let’s go.”
Danielle said she would round up Hank, Luca, and a few others to tag along.
Forrest stopped for a heartbeat at the door, his eyes locked with mine, and then was gone.
I let out a heavy breath, wishing I could go with him, but he was right. Using so much magic had been smart and dumb at the same time. I was weaker than I expected and not recovering as quickly as I’d hoped.
I finished off my coffee and then searched for Lucy throughout the fortress. There was much I needed to discuss with her anyway regarding closing the abyss. And maybe she had some understanding about how the six of us were meant to kill Baladon in Sabella’s vision. Everyone agreed simply marching up to him was a bad idea, especially when he was still so strong. But after he was weakened, we’d have a limited window to take him out, before he found a way to build himself back up again.
Part of me felt the orb had something to do with the endgame, but as of this moment, it had only been used as a doorway, a tool to travel between worlds.
We couldn’t trap Baladon, not this time. We couldn’t afford to. No this time we had to destroy him completely.
I searched several different areas of the fortress, speaking with those who stopped me. I gave them all encouraging smiles, keeping morale as high as possible, and finally came across Lucy, Abby and several other witches. They were in a room by themselves. The same room I’d found Kate and Sabella in the other day.
“What’s with all the hustle and bustle?” Lucy asked as I joined them.
“Scouts reported Baladon’s forces at the field. Forrest and the others have gone to wipe them out, hopefully stop them from tracking us back here,” I explained. “I was told to stay behind to heal a bit longer.”
“And from the look on your face, I’d say you’re not too upset about that, for once.” Lucy’s brows drew together, and though I was old, her eyes shone with the wisdom of her long years and all she’d been through.
“No, because there’s something I need to discuss with you. Several things actually.”
“And those would be?”
I considered finding a less blunt way to say it, but at this point, the truth was easiest. “To seal the portal to the abyss will take more than blood magic, just as it did to open it and keep it open,” I told her, keeping my voice low, as though Forrest would magically appear behind me.
“What else must be done?” Abby asked.
“It takes the power of a god and blood magic fueled by sacrifices. I’m assuming Baladon used his minions and monsters to open it the first time, possibly some of the prisoners,” I rambled on, hating I could not be delivering good news. “My plan is to drive his forces into the abyss and use them to seal it for good, but… ” I trailed off, unable to say anymore.
“But what?” Lucy urged. “Mori, you might as well just tell us.”
I flattened my hands on my thighs as I forced the words out. “There’s a chance any who are near me when I recite the incantation will be sucked into the void, too. I can’t have any of our own near the abyss, but there’s always a chance we’ll lose someone.”
“Or that it won’t work with Baladon’s minions because they’re not truly living, as we are,” she added, saying what I refused to. “Well, that certainly complicates the matter a bit.”
“A bit?” I blurted. “A lot you mean. As in it might be impossible. If we can’t, though, he’ll continue to pull his power from it. And no matter what the prophecy tells us, we will never be able to kill him. Which, funny, we still have no way of knowing what to do.”
I held my head in my hands praying that a simple answer would fall out of the sky for once.
“There is a way you may be able to see,” Abby said.
I looked up.
She and Lucy were nodding. “It could be dangerous.”
“How?”
“It may harm you, and there’s a chance the magic will backfire, and instead of seeing what you need to see, you may be faced with something much darker instead,” Lucy said.
I had a feeling she wished Abby hadn’t said a thing about it.
Lucy fidgeted. “We can’t perform the spell, but you can. It might be our only way to get the advantage back.”
“What do I have to do?”
Lucy kept her mouth shut, but Abby hefted herself out of her chair and said to follow her. “You don’t win wars by hiding out in mountain fortresses, Lucy,” she called over her shoulder. “Come, Mori, I’ll have you mix the potion, then all you have to do is drink it and use your mind and your starlight to guide you toward what you need to see.”
“And you’re sure this will work?” I asked, hurrying to keep up with the old witch.
“Eh, fifty-fifty.”
“Abby, those are not good odds,” I pointed out.
“Where’s your sense of adventure, child?”
“Child?” I laughed as she threw a mischievous look over her shoulder at me. “You do realize how old I am, yes?”
“Ah, but who has truly lived more, you or me? Trust me, if you want answers, this is the way to get them.”
“But what’s this darker something I might face?”
She came to a dead stop in the hall so fast I nearly ran into her. “Yourself, my child, you may wind up facing yourself. The darkest part of yourself. And if you’re not careful, if you can’t remember what’s real and what’s not, there’s a chance you will lose yourself.”
“Oh, is that all.” I paced the width of the hall as she watched, weighing the risk against the reward.
Was it truly worth it? If Forrest heard anything about this, I’d never hear the end of it. But if he came back and I had a way to stop Baladon, he couldn’t hold it against me for too long, right?
I was strong, I could do this. For everyone in this fortress, I would risk myself so we could end the war.
“Let’s just hurry,” I finally told Abby. “I’d like to have this over with before Forrest gets back.”
“That’s the spirit,” she said firmly, and we set off again deeper into the fortress.