Page 120 of The Court of Secrets
My energy wilted, and a pressure grew in my head. “I am not.” I gasped as I felt my brain swell against my skull.
“Let go of the Sword. Give it to the river, or we will hurt them.”
I knew they were talking about Morgana, André, and Adius. My heart ballooned, but I wouldn’t let them sway me. They wouldn’t die or suffer for nothing. My lips quivered. Cold prickled my ankles and calves, forcing twitches through them. “Never.” I gave everything I had not to drop it. Currents strengthened as I attempted to wade through the raging waters. I couldn’t be far from the spot. Morgana said I would feel it when I reached it. Shaking, I pushed on as the elders grew closer.
One, who had once been an elderly woman, attempted to reach me, but her touch fell through my arm. “Do not forsake us.” Her voice hollowed as the words poured.
Whispers of pain surrounded them as others came. The trees lining the riverbank cast shadows over where I walked. I ventured into a darker, murkier part where the waters calmed. The surface hit my torso as the riverbed deepened. My heart pounded, the freezing temperatures standing every hair on my exposed skin on end. My icy fingers tightened around the hilt of the Sword.
The elders followed, shouting in echo—some taunting, others pleading, and many angry—lost in a mixture of unintelligible whispering. I could feel their want to attack me, but they were too tired. I silently praised Morgana for her brilliance, her sacrifice pushing me to keep going.
Something moved around my ankles. I peered down, and my heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t see beneath the surface, but whatever it was, more joined it. Flickers of touch sent a shudder down my spine. My teeth chattered as I forced one foot in front of the other. The branches hanging overhead shadowed grappling fingers, appearing to ripple under the final arrows of sunlight. Sunset loomed on the horizon, pressing me to hurry. The stench of decaying plants and rotten eggs made me wretch, and the water darkened to a murky green.
“You are weak.” One of the elders, a young man with long hair tied back with bands, snarled. “You reject the ones who have given you power… who have protected you.” He was taller than the rest. “We aided you on your journey. It was us who gave you the strength to fight the merfolk before.”
My voice stuttered from my lips as I white-knuckled the Sword. “I am only weak because you’re trying to take my energy,” I said through clenched teeth. Hundreds crowded the river and me but were unable to touch me. I forced myself ahead, flicking my eyes along the water’s surface so not to be distracted. “You helped me because you foolishly believed I would join your plan, like my father had and his father, but I am not like them.” A jolt of energy straightened my slumping posture. “You use the souls of my people, of your people once, to fuel an afterlife for yourself. You have forsaken us, and now, because of Morgana and others who fight for this kingdom, your terror will end.”
The Sword shook in my grip. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could carry it. My eyes began to close as lures of slumber came in waves. They were taking everything from me. I tried to force my eyes open to continue searching for the source, but the blackness behind my lids was tempting.
Then I felt it. It was like a beating heart sprawled over the riverbed. I peeled back my eyelids, and the corner of my lip curved. The water was deathly still in that area, far from the safety of the banks back there. The river had narrowed, twisting around high mounds and bare trees leading into the darkness of the forest. It was the same place I had once felt safe in; a sacred, beautiful area now tainted with the lies and betrayal of those who died centuries ago. I glanced at the banks where Adius and I had walked earlier in the day and pressed my lips together to stop my tears.
The elders’ fingers grasped for the Sword as I pushed it deep into the water, never letting go. I knew I couldn’t. They would have the current drag it away, burying it under the riverbed where I couldn’t reach it.
My heart pounded as I pushed it farther. In the riverbed was a pulsating thing. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was what I needed to stab from seeing their panicked expressions.
A harsh current hit me at the same time something touched my hands. A wave knocked me back. The Sword tumbled from my hands. “No!” I screamed, my voice drying. Water poured into my mouth, gurgling my cry. Reaching through the river, I felt around for it, but it wasn’t there. The ancestors sneered and rejoiced, taunting me once more. I ducked under the water and felt around the muck, but it was gone. I opened my eyes under the water, but I couldn’t see a thing.
With the sword gone, they came for me next. Something slimy wrapped around my neck and tightened against my throat. My last breath felt heavy in my chest. I couldn’t stand, and my legs buckled, lying me on the bottom of the river. Spluttering, I grasped at the surface. I could feel the pulsing heart of the veil under my body and hands. It was three times the size of me and felt hard but alive. I was kept down as roots and vines took on new life, wrapping around my wrists and ankles until the need for air was too much.
Stars filled my vision as I drowned. Panic jolted me, convulsing my body to rise, but the weeds and plants of the river, manipulated by magic, held me down.
The final flickers of energy drifted from my body, and I opened my mouth. I had failed my final task, and no one else would know how to do it. There would be another high priest appointed, and the cycle would continue. My brother would not find peace, and Louis would take the throne. Morgana would have died for nothing. I fought back against the vines, pulling on the slimy plants.
A lump formed in my throat as water filled my mouth, but nothing pulled into my lungs. My need for survival blocked my taking in the water, but my lungs felt as if they would combust under the pressure. I couldn’t even drown properly.
Hands pulled me from of the water, ripping the vines from my hands and feet. Spluttering, I tried to suck in a breath once I emerged, but nothing happened. I opened my mouth, panicking, then a gush of air swept into my mouth and lungs.
It was painful to breathe at first, and the coughing forced me to double over. It was only when it subsided that I wondered who had saved me.
Tears ran in the lines of waters trickling from my dripping-wet hair as it slicked down my cheeks and forehead. “Morgana.” My hand shot to my mouth. My heart swelled. She nodded over my shoulder, and I turned to see André. “Brother.”
“Do it now,” he said firmly, ferocity lining his features.
Next to me, Adius smiled. “Tell Florence I love her, and I’m sorry.”
“I will. I promise.” Hesitance shook me. “I don’t want you to go.” I pressed my lips together, my tears falling thick and fast. The ancestors were kept back, and I could tell it was taking Morgana, Adius, and André everything they had. Some others I didn’t recognize had joined them to help keep the elders from me, to save me.
“They’re from the battle,” he said quickly, seeing me look around at the spirits of men and women. “They want peace, Winter. We want peace. We don’t have much left in us after fighting the necromancer. You must do it now.”
I looked at Morgana and sniffed loudly. “I love you both.” I looked from my brother to my friend, and my heart sank. It took every ounce of strength, through blurred tears, to unsheathe the Dagger. My lips parted, my good-bye swallowed at seeing their pain. They held strong, but their defenses against the elders were wavering. I looked at them one last time, admiring every line on my brother’s face, seeing the ghost of a smile on his lips, looking at his eyes so similar to mine and his watery smile.
“We’re proud of you.” Morgana’s final words calmed me as they always did, until I realized it would be the last time I would hear her voice.
I pushed the Dagger down, dipping under the surface, and stabbed it into the center of the hard alive thing in the riverbed. I held it in place as shockwaves rippled from it. I broke the surface and saw André, Adius, and Morgana fizzle away, right as André shouted, “Run!”
I hurried for the banks, wading against the current. I reached the mud and mounds and grasped into the crumbling sides. It was caving in on itself. I tried to climb out but was flung back into the river. The banks muddied the already-dark waters. I tried to swim upriver, but the ground shook as if one of the rare earthquakes were shuddering Magaelor.
A fallen hollowed trunk floated near me, and I grabbed it. Kicking my legs up, I let it pull me farther downriver, figuring I had no other way to go. As I was swept away, the last of the bank wrapped into the water, becoming a slosh of mud.
