Page 49 of Crowned By the Shadow
“So we’re going back into the dragon’s lair,” he said when I finished. It wasn’t a question.
“More like the dragon’s minion’s lair, but yes, we are,” I confirmed. “We can’t go in blindly. We need to be smarter this time.”
“I can help with that,” Wyn said, her voice carrying a new confidence. “The transformation... it changed more than just my appearance. I can sense things now, pathways between shadows, currents of magic. I might be able to find a way into the Keep that bypasses Eldric’s defenses.”
“And the corruption in the fortress?” Thorn asked. “Will it affect you?”
Wyn shook her head. “Not anymore. The darkness is part of me now, but I control it, not the other way around.” She held up her hand, where shadows and light danced across her palm in perfect harmony. “I can use it to hide us, to move us through the Keep unseen.”
“What about the Empress?” I asked, the memory of those ancient, terrible eyes still fresh in my mind. “If the convergence is as close as you said...”
“We’ll have to be quick,” Wyn acknowledged. “In and out before she can gather enough power to break through completely. But Senara...” She hesitated, her starlit eyes troubled. “Even if we rescue Van and Volker, we’ll still need toface her eventually. The convergence is coming whether we’re ready or not.”
“I know,” I said, my hand going to the pendant at my throat. “But we’ll be stronger with all of us together. Van and Volker might know something that could help us, something about the artifacts, about the Empress, about how to stop her.”
“Agreed,” Thorn said.
“So it’s decided,” I said, looking at each of my companions in turn. “We go back to the Obsidian Keep, we rescue Van and Volker, and then we prepare to face the Empress.”
“When do we leave?” Ronan asked.
I glanced at the rising sun, feeling its warmth on my face. The Moon Mark on my skin, now threaded with gold, seemed to pulse in response to the dawn light.
“As soon as possible,” I said. “But first, we need to gather our strength and knowledge. Wyn, how long will it take you to find a path into the Keep?”
She closed her eyes, her face going still as she reached out with her new senses. “A few hours,” she said after a moment. “I can feel the shadows of the fortress, even from here. They’re... calling to me. But I need time to map a safe route.”
“Then we rest and prepare until midday,” I decided. “Thorn, check our supplies. Ronan, scout the area, hunt if you can, but make sure we’re not being followed. I’ll help Wyn with finding our way in.”
As they moved to their tasks, I sat beside Wyn, watching as she entered a trance-like state, her consciousness reaching toward the Obsidian Keep. The pendant warmed against my skin, responding to her magic.
“I can help,” I said softly. “The pendant can create passages between realms. Maybe it can help you find a path.”
Wyn nodded without opening her eyes. “Hold it between us,” she instructed. “Let me channel through it.”
I removed the pendant from around my neck and held it in my open palm between us. Wyn placed her hand over mine, our fingers not quite touching, but the pendant floated up slightly from my palm, suspended between our energies.
The connection formed instantly, a bridge between my moon and sun magic and Wyn’s twilight magic. Through her, I could sense the shadows of the Obsidian Keep, vast and labyrinthine. Through me, she could feel the pendant’s ability to bend space and create doorways.
Together, we began to map a path. It would not be a direct assault like before, but a subtle infiltration through the fortress’s own shadows. Wyn’s new powers let her see weaknesses in Eldric’s defenses, places where the corruption was thinner or more malleable.
“There,” she murmured after what felt like hours. “A servant’s passage, forgotten and unused. The shadows there are... quieter. Less watched.”
I saw it through our shared vision. A narrow corridor deep within the mountain that supported the floating fortress, bypassing the main chambers where Eldric would expect us to enter.
“It leads directly to the dungeons,” Wyn continued. “Where Van and Volker are held. We can slip in, free them, and be gone before Eldric even knows we’re there.”
“And if we’re discovered?” I asked.
Wyn’s eyes opened, meeting mine with calm confidence. “Then we fight. But this time, we’ll be ready.”
The pendant cooled between our palms as the connection faded. I slipped it back around my neck, feeling its weight settle against my heart.
“We’ll get them out,” I promised, as much to myself as to Wyn. “And then we’ll end this, once and for all.”
Wyn nodded, her transformed features solemn in the midday light. “Together,” she said simply.
As Thorn and Ronan came back to us, I explained our plans to them, and a strange calm settled over me. The path ahead was dangerous, perhaps even impossible, but we would face it as one. Van and Volker needed us, and we wouldn’t abandon them to the darkness even if it meant facing down Eldric one more time.
