Finn grabbed Jari’s boot, pulling her back, even as she fought the creature on top of her.
Another eagle dived for Finn, its cry that of a predator who knows it has won. As the talons struck him, he was driven away from Jari, fighting his own battle even as she struggled under the weight of the eagle as it dragged her toward the rim of the sacred area where mist obscured the drop below.
“Enough.” Perry stood up and raised his hands.
The black tendrils in Sienna’s flesh reminded him of the cost of their magic, but Finn — and even Jari — were part of the team now and they had only mortal weapons to defend themselves. He didn’t have to like them, but he did have to save them.
He summoned fire from within, the burning sensation rising inside until it burst out of his palms into white hot balls of flame.
Perry ran toward the warrior woman, catching her outstretched hand and pulling her away from the edge even as he threw the fireball into the side of the eagle. It caught fire, its feathers burning as it shrieked in pain, freeing its talons from Jari’s clothes. It tumbled off the edge of the cliff, a three-meter-wide fiery death.
He spun around and hurled another fireball at the eagle attacking Finn, the blow driving the creature off its prey momentarily. Finn rolled away and ran quickly back to Jari, huddling over her as Perry stood protecting them both, hands raised to the sky, palms burning with almost blue flame.
The gigantic eagles circled above, wary now. Perry watched them, turning as he noted the passage of the largest. It dived once more, then another came from the opposite direction.
Perry waited, his muscles taut as he held himself in check, waiting, waiting …
When he could feel the wind of their descent on his face, he spun around, whipping his flames into a burning pillar then thrusting his arms out wide, creating a towering vortex of fire. The second eagle burned up almost immediately, plunging down to dash onto the stone beneath.
For a moment the largest eagle appeared more like a phoenix, its whole body alive with flame, its beak open to tear apart its prey. Then it too dropped to the flagstones, feathers burned and body roasted, the smell of scorched flesh in the air.
As the flames died down and the smoke from their bodies swept over the side to join the mists below, Perry stood once more, arms raised to the sky, challenging the flying eagles above. Those that were left, circled and then flew away, their cries echoing across the pinnacled valley until it was quiet again.
Perry dropped his arms and sat down heavily on the flagstones, a wave of exhaustion flooding him as the magic dissipated, leaving an emptiness that almost brought tears to his eyes. His shoulders slumped, his mind whirled. He would have fought on until he had been consumed by the flames. Part of him wished the eagles would come back, just so he could feel that surge of power again. In that moment, he understood why Xander had chosen the shadow side.
“Come on, Jari.” Finn’s voice was desperate.
Perry turned to see him wiping blood from the warrior woman’s face, but her wounds were deep, gouges from the talons across her chest, through her armor, along her arms. Her eyelids fluttered and she tried to get up, hand reaching for her sword.
“Rest now. It’s okay. They’re gone.” Finn calmed her and Jari lay back, her breathing a harsh rattle.
“We need medical help.” Mila walked over from behind the statue. As she reached them, she squeezed Perry’s hand, gratitude in her eyes.
Sienna stumbled over from the altar and sat down next to Perry. They were weakened, but they were still together.
The sound of a slow clap echoed across the sacred ground.
Perry tried to stand but his legs were too frail. The others could barely move either. They were helpless.
The slow clap grew louder and an old man stepped out onto the sacred ground, his face grim and set in craggy features. He wore a feathered cloak that dragged along the stones as he walked toward them. Behind him, a group of soldiers emerged from the trees, each one wearing a helmet in the shape of an eagle’s head with a cruel beak spiking from the front.
The man stopped clapping. “No one has killed three of our sacred birds at one time for a generation. No one has ever killed the alpha male.” He pointed at the still smoldering body of the biggest bird. “These are Haast’s eagles, extinct many centuries ago on Earthside. There are a few left here.” He looked pointedly at Perry. “Even fewer now.”
Mila stood and faced the man. “They attacked us. We only defended ourselves.”
The man pointed at Perry. “No, he defended you all.”
Perry noted a strange look in the man’s eyes, the look of someone starving who had finally found a good meal.
The man smiled, the stony expression on his face dissolving into friendship. He held his arms out wide. “Welcome to Aetofolia, the eagle’s nest. I am Aguila, ruler of this eyrie. You have passed the test of entry even before you were challenged, so come inside. Rest.” Aguila nodded toward Jari. “We have medical help for your friend.” He gestured for the soldiers to come forward.
Perry felt Finn tense beside him, a coiled spring ready to explode into action, but there was nowhere for them to go. In one direction there was only sky and mist. In the other, soldiers and perhaps help. Perry noticed the way Aguila looked over at his hands, scanned his body for evidence of magic, and he knew a reckoning must come. He glanced over at Sienna who had shrunk behind Mila. As long as they didn’t realize what magic she had, they might be alright. At least for a while.
As Finn relaxed behind him, opening his hands in a sign of surrender, Perry nodded. “Thank you. We gladly accept your help.”
Sienna watched Perry walk forward and clasp Aguila’s hand, assuming leadership of the team with the natural confidence she had seen before in his father. But then she noticed the slight delay in his step, a halting stride that spoke of the weakness that came after using magic.
They were all fragile right now.
Jari and Finn were both wounded by the giant birds, Mila was exhausted after Ganvié, and her own mapwalking sucked the energy from her. Sienna knew she faced a challenge ahead, too. Somehow she had managed to dampen down the shadow inside, but Perry had seen the black lines on her skin. He would have to tell Bridget and her father, and she needed him to, because she couldn’t do it herself. It might mean the end of her mapwalking before it had even really begun and she wouldn’t give up the heady experience easily. But something was different with her. Somehow the shadow leached inside her at a faster rate than the others. Sienna remembered the voice in the mist that wanted to keep her inside the map.
Perhaps that had been its goal all along.
She pulled her sleeves further down over her hands, praying that the black lines would not re-emerge.
Mila took her arm. “You okay?” she whispered, as they walked behind Perry and Aguila toward the rock face carved with a giant eagle. The soldiers jogged behind, one carrying Jari and two others flanking Finn with careful respect, instinctively noting his ability to fight even when injured.
Sienna nodded. “Just a little fatigued after traveling.” But as she took another step, she felt the world spin, her stomach clench with something like vertigo and her vision begin to narrow.
As Perry and Aguila stepped up to the rock face, the carving of the eagle split open revealing stone steps leading down into darkness. Sienna thought she saw the mist of the shadow curling out from the depths, undulating toward her with the head of a serpent. Panic rose inside, her breath coming faster and faster as she tried to control the dread rising inside.
They could not go down there.
The world turned to mist and Sienna fell to her knees as the serpent reached her, jaws gaping, fangs bared, swallowing her into the dark.
Sienna sat bolt upright, heart pounding as she imagined the jaws of the snake closing around her throat. But she found herself sitting up in a soft bed, luxuriant covers around her, a lamp casting a golden glow around the room.
“It’s okay. You’re safe.”
His voice was soft, gentle and Sienna turned to see Finn sitting in a padded chair by her side. He wore a new shirt, no longer ripped and stained with blood. He had a dressing across his right collarbone, just visible as it wound up his neck. Sienna was suddenly aware of how close he was, how his lips were only inches from her own, how she just wanted to be in his arms. But there was so much unsaid between them now.
He reached for her hand and squeezed gently. “How are you feeling?”
“What happened?”
“You fainted just as we entered the eyrie.” Finn got up and poured some water from a jug into a glass and handed it to her. Sienna drank deeply, suddenly parched, as he continued.
“You gave us quite a scare, but I know it takes it out of you to—”
Sienna put a finger on her lips and he stopped. They didn’t know who was listening down here and if anyone found out about her own blood magic, they might as well give up their quest right now.
“I know it takes it out of you to — travel.” Finn sat down again in the chair. “Perry has told of how he mapwalked us here, after Aguila enquired as to how we arrived on the sacred platform.”
Sienna raised an eyebrow. “Perry’s magic is truly all-encompassing.”
“Indeed. Mila’s sleeping next door and Jari is in their medical wing. They have special balm for eagle talon injuries, so she’s going to be alright.”
“And Perry?”
Finn sighed and leaned forward, chin resting in his hands. “We haven’t seen him since they led us in here nearly twenty-four hours ago.”
“I slept that long?” Sienna shook her head. “We need to get moving. The last piece of the map must be here somewhere. We’ll find Perry on the way out but we have to complete that map before the Shadow Cartographers find it.”
Finn frowned. “Sienna, there’s something I need to—”
A creak from the corner and the large door opened.
Mila walked in, her stride strong again. “About time you were up. Guess what I found out?” She sat on the end of the bed, eyes bright with the thrill of discovery. “The eyrie perches on the top of one of the pinnacles but there’s a staircase down to the forest floor below.”
“That must be hundreds of meters down?”
“Further than that.” Mila grinned. “There’s a tomb at the base, a tomb they say the ancestor lives in, a tomb marked with a special symbol.” She drew the two interlocking triangles on the covers.
“As above, so below.” Sienna smiled. “So we just need to get to that tomb. The final piece of the map must be there. Then we can go home.” Her voice trailed off as she caught Finn’s gaze, his eyes serious. Going home meant they would be apart again. But there was more distance between them this time than mere geography.
Jari.
Sienna still didn’t know what the warrior woman was to Finn but she certainly complicated what had once seemed simple.
“You’ll go as soon as you have that third piece?” Finn’s voice was halting, his question more of a statement. “You’ll just take them all back to Earthside?”
Mila nodded. “That’s the plan. There’s no way the Shadow Cartographers can find the island with only one quarter of the map, while we might be able to stitch together some options, find the island and destroy it or at least remove all traces of the way to get there.”
The door creaked again. Jari stood there, her arm in a sling, her head bandaged, her face still bruised and puffy. She looked every inch the warrior and Sienna was suddenly aware of her own slim frame, sitting in a soft bed with nothing more than tenuous magic. No wonder Finn didn’t look at her the way he used to.
“We’ll help you finish your mission.” Jari stared straight at Finn as she spoke, her eyes a silent challenge. As Finn hung his head, Sienna wondered once more what he was hiding.
Suddenly the deep bass sound of drums beat through the air, the vibrations shaking the lamp beside the bed.
Finn looked up, his eyes wide with concern. “It’s a call to worship, a call to sacrifice.”
Mila and Sienna looked at each other as realization dawned. There was only one of their team missing, the one person who would be considered a powerful sacrifice to the gods.
Perry.