Page 118 of A Tale of Ice and Ash
Chapter Nineteen:
A Pure Heart
Cole turned at the sound of Onyx’s scream and saw Eirwen with the dagger raised to her arm. He knew in a second what she planned to do. He raced towards her, shrieking her name, but the chamber erupted into a wall of light. He was blown backwards as the light expanded, the shades letting out a shrill cry as the blast reached them. They vanished in seconds, blown away in wisps of dark smoke. The light screamed against his eardrums, striking the heart in his skin. A force like a waterfall crashed against him.
The entire time, he could only think of one thing.
Eirwen.
As suddenly as it began, it stopped. The light dimmed, the crushing sensation vanished. Feeling returned to his limbs.
He climbed steadily to his feet.
Eirwen, Eirwen, Eirwen.
She was lying a few feet away from the drop, her back towards him. Onyx had already reached her side by the time he did.
“Stupid, foolish girl… why did you have to–”
The dwarf moved to roll her over, but Cole yanked her into his arms, shaking her as roughly as he dared. “Eirwen!”Wake up, wake up, wake up...
She moved slightly under his touch, murmuring something.
Onyx slumped, muttering a prayer. “Eira.”
She blinked and jerked upwards. “I’m… I’m all right,” she said, sounding as surprised as Cole was relieved. He dropped his arms away from her, his breath thudding against his chest.
Eirwen gripped her arm. A thin, silvery scar was all that remained of the wound that could have killed her. Onyx seized it, pressing against the mark as if he expected it to reopen at any minute.
“You should be dead,” he said sharply.
Eirwen stared at him, her eyes wide. “So why aren’t I?”
“That’s a very good question.”
“Why did her blood make the light explode like that?” Cole asked. “Yours didn’t.”
“Another good question. There must be something about her blood, or…”
“My mother wanted to eat her heart,” Cole said, remembering something. “At the time I thought it was just madness, but… what if Janus told her to do that? What if it could have done something like that for him?”
“A pure heart,” said Onyx underneath his breath.
“What?”
“I read about it in the book. According to legend, it has the power to…”
“To what?” asked Eirwen.
“To resurrect a god.”
Eirwen stilled. “But… but I’m… I’m just a human.”
“It’s old magic,” said Onyx stiffly. “Like the opposite of what turned Jasper into that… that thing. Old magic applies to all creatures on this earth.”
“But… what even is a ‘pure’ heart?” said Eirwen. “Because I’ve killed lots of things–”
Onyx shook his head. “That’s not it. It’s to do with real, genuine goodness. The kind that most cannot possess. Not in this world.”
