Page 73 of Sightwitch
Then I watched the Six abandon our group and meet the Exalted Ones head on.
In those seconds that seemed never to end, only two words filled my mind:the girls.Fool that I am, I had let them join us in the cavern. I’d sent them up to the highest ledge, beside the spiral tomb’s entrance, where I’d thought they could watch everything proceed while safely out of reach.
Fool, fool, fool.
I had to get to them.
Then he was beside me, my Heart-Thread, clutching my arm to lift me from the stone. Together, we ran across the glamoured bridge that shook beneath our feet.
Wind roiled against us, water and ice sliced past—and fire, fire, everywhere there was fire.
But we did not stop. We did not slow. Hands grasped tight, we ran for the girls, who meant everything.
We reached the ledge. The girls were not there, but the tomb entrance was open, and Lisbet’s knife poked from the key slot. Its amber hilt glinted in the flames.
Clever, clever Lisbet. We could hide in the tombs until the war below had ended.
I yanked the knife free and flung a final glance behind.
I wish I had never looked. The Six were losing. Rhian and Midne lay crumpled on the stones, while fire engulfed Bastien. Baile was pinned by swords to the wall, and Saria was trapped inside a growing cage of stone. The Rook King—the one to whom I had given the Paladin-blade for safekeeping—was nowhere in sight.
There was nothing to be done, not with the girls’ safety at risk. So I hauled the door shut and led the way into the ice.
Our breaths hashed out, overloud. Our feet hammered and scraped. Until at last we reached the spiral’s heart.
And there, my darling, wonderful girls awaited. Lisbet stood tall, her sister clutched tight. Her eyes glowed.
Once to them, their father fell to his knees to inspect them all over. Lisbet rooted her brilliant gaze on me, though. “We must sleep now, Dysi.”
It took me a moment to understand what she meant. Sleeping was what dying sisters did when they saw their time come.
“No, Lisbet.” I cupped her face. “We can hide in the tomb, but once this battle is over, we will leave.”
“But it won’t end. He’s betrayed them all, don’t you see?” She pulled from my grasp and turned to her father. “Tell her, Da. Tell her that it’s time to sleep now.”
“Sleep?” He glanced to me, confused. “Lis, love, we need to hide. Like Dysi said.”
“No.” Cora pulled free from her father’s grip, and slipping her little fingers into Lisbet’s, she drew her sister away three paces. Then both girls thrust out their jaws.
“Lisbet saw what is to come,” Cora said, “and we have to sleep now. All of us—even you, Da, so you can be there when she wakes up.” Cora pointed at me. Then up the spiral. “There’s a tomb waiting for us.”
Their father rose. “I don’t understand.”
“I do.” The words slippered from my throat, for Ididunderstand. This was what Lisbet had seen.
And this was what Sirmaya had chosen for us all.
“It won’t hurt,” Lisbet said to me. To her father: “The ice will protect us for a time, and then we’ll sleep until it’s time to wake up again.”
My fingers moved to my belly. “What about … him, Lis?” I almost choked on the words. Tears slid down my face—when had those started?
“He’ll be fine,” Cora answered. “Lizzie told me all about him, and he’s going to be a very good older brother one day.”
“Older brother?” I tried to ask, but the girls were already marching for the spiral.
Their father did not follow.
“Come.” I reached for him and took his hands in mine. He looked ancient in this light, and so tired. “You must trust the magic of the Goddess, my love.”
