Page 153 of Skyshade
It was time.
Isla dug the sword into the grass. With shrieking cries, the dreks emerged and formed a barrier around the maze, encircling it, trappingthem within. They moved in sync, as a single, giant being under her command.
Lark looked up at them, then at Isla. “Did you think they could stop me?” She took a step forward. And even though they were both within the maze, her wounds began to heal, flesh and muscle and bone rebuilding. Her face split into a smile. “Did you think my power would be nullified here? So close to a door to the place from which I came?”
“No,” Isla said. “I didn’t.”
And then she portaled them both to the center of the maze.
ORO
He didn’t know what was taking her so long. Grimshaw was pacing the forge, shadows eating away at the newly fallen snow, destroying everything in their path. That was what he did, it was what he was good at. Ruining all that was good in this world.
“Your acute hatred of me is flattering,” the demon said, sensing his emotions. “But best to keep it at bay while we work together.”
Speaking of working together, where was she?
The Nightshade seemed to sense his impatience, his concern, because he gruffly said, “She’s coming.”
“Let’s go to her,” Oro insisted. “She could—”
“She told us to wait here,” Grim said, his anger making the shadows at his feet point like a dozen swords in Oro’s direction. He could see it in his face, though, the concern they shared.
“For what, exactly?” Grim had barely told him anything.
“Closing the portal requires all our power. The blacksmith has enchantments here that can bind our abilities together. She’s going to portal here, and we’re going to send Lark through for good.”
Oro frowned. He was just about to ask him what the hell kind of plan was that, when a screech clawed the air in half.
Dreks.
They were supposed to be gone now. The storm was over.
Oro stilled, as the realization dawned on him. “She doesn’t need us to open the portal,” he said. “She doesn’t need an enchantment. She has our power. She can do everything herself.”
Fear, potent as anything he had ever felt, filled his chest. “She has her own plan. That was why she only told you. I would have known she was lying.”
Grim shook his head, still disbelieving. “Why would she lie? What could she possibly have planned?”
Oro tried to think, tried to put the pieces together. “I’m not sure, but she must mean to sacrifice herself in some way,” he said, flames curling from his palms. “To try to get around the prophecy.”
The Nightshade’s voice seemed to shake the world as he said, very slowly, “What prophecy?”
PORTAL
The portal in the Place of Mirrors was crafted from shade-made metal...with Wildling blood infused. It had taken her time to figure out the technique, with the auger’s help.
“It’s like a shield with a sword-sized gap in it,” he had said, musing.
That was how she had gotten the idea to come to the maze and infuse her own blood into the metal of Cronan’s tomb. How she decided to create a new skyre, from the metal’s blood.
They were one.
Her power slipped through the shield.
She unleashed that power right at Lark as they landed in the center of the labyrinth, sending her shooting back against the maze.
Lark recovered quickly. Her hands were out, and Isla was swallowed by the hedges. Their entire interior was made of thorns like pointed teeth. Without her armor, they would have ripped her to pieces, but this metal did not scratch, it did not falter.
