Page 106 of The Last Wish of Bristol Keats
“I know,” Tyghan said again. He knew.
“Behind you!”
They both spun instinctively, like a precise timepiece, still remembering how they moved together, and a restless dead was split in three clean pieces.
Tyghan spotted a flash beneath another hot spot of the battle. It was Eris, making a crazy, dangerous dive toward the floor of the valley. Something was wrong.
“Team with Sloan!” Tyghan told Kierus. “I have to check on Eris!”
But Kierus had other places to be—and another person to find. Someone who needed him. He hadn’t seen her brilliant copper hair anywhere. He had even called her name near the Mother Ring. The battle only drowned him out. But the skies had thinned now. His chances were better. Or he would hunt down Kormick. The coward always kept her close.
Eris dodged hyagen, restless dead, and Fomorian warriors as he dove in a straight line to where Dahlia had fallen from the plateau to the shadows below. He refused to lose sight of her. The short distance seemed to take forever. He finally landed near her still body and jumped from his horse. All he saw was blood. Pools of blood. “Dahlia!” he cried as he ran to her, hoping for any signs of life. He fell to his knees and brushed her silver hair from her forehead. He called her name again, and looked at the gashes around her abdomen. He pressed his hands to them, but the blood only gushed through his fingers.Cantes! Shant!He shouted every spell he knew to close, weave, and stop. The flow slowed, but he had to get her to Esmee or Olivia.
He scooped her gently into his arms. “It’s all right, my love,” he whispered. “You’re going to be fine.”
Her eyes fluttered open. “Eris?”
“Yes, it’s me. I’m taking you to Esmee. Everything is—”
“Eris, I’m sorry. At the tent, I was going to say—”
“Don’t talk. Save your strength,” he ordered. “There’s nothing you need to say. We—”
“Yes,” she said weakly, “I need to tell you.” Her gaze rose to meet his, her pale blue eyes glassy. “I love you,” she said. “I’ve always loved you.”
“I know. Hold on, Dahlia. You are my rain. Without you I am the scorched earth.”
He pulled her onto his horse, holding her tight against him, and then Tyghan was there, clearing the way for him as they rushed to get help.
“Where are they?” Kormick screamed, not expecting an answer from the twelve guards who surrounded him. He scanned the sky. The restless dead were already thinning—and no more clouds were in sight. His army of warriors was thinning too. How long could they last without the endless supply of demons streaming in to support them?
Below him, there were still too many archers for him to take a chance and make a run for the Stone of Destiny. The protective ward above the ring and his wall of shield warriors would keep it secure for now. He circled, trying to get a glimpse of Maire, but he was too high to see her. Only the tops of stones and the dark shadows they cast were visible. Had she summoned the dead as he ordered? She had to be there, safe in the shadows somewhere. “Go down,” he ordered one of his guards. “See what’s taking her so long!”
The guard had just reached the ground when he was shot by an arrow, killing him instantly. Elven arrows. Kormick hated the creatures. He ordered another guard to go down, and he left hesitantly.
And then Kormick spotted a figure skirting the standing stones. Maire? He flew a little lower on his horse, and saw her weaving among the stones again. Chestnut hair. No horns.It was Bristol. She hadn’t left as promised. Was she the one thwarting Maire? He reached up and touched the crown on his head, its protective magic humming beneath his fingers. Other than with Tyghan, and a small skirmish as he escaped him, he hadn’t encountered any other combat that would deplete its magic. He could risk a few arrows—and use his remaining guards as a shield for the rest.
Maire whirled, her eyes flaming. “What have you done?” she said, not as a question but as an accusation. “You promised me you would leave.”
“I lied. You know about lying, Mother. Can we stop now? Can we finally stop?”
“You said if I gave you Cael—”
“You aren’t listening, Mother.I lied. I said what you wanted to hear.”
“ForCael?”
“No. For Elphame. For Father. For Cat and Harper. For you. I’m taking you home. Your time here is over.”
She shook her head like Bristol was speaking gibberish. “How were you able to close the portal?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m bloodmarked just like you. The tick is gone.”
Guilt flashed through her mother’s eyes. She glanced down at her palms, like they itched. The power. Bristol understood. She had felt its enticing allure too. “You don’t understand,” Maire said. “I need—” She turned away and lifted her hand to a stone on the outer perimeter. A bright stream of energy burst from her palm making the stone light up. She began to name coordinates, “The caves, the—”
Bristol raised her palm too, allowing her own energy to stream out and wind around her mother’s, and then pulled back. She felt the sharp tug of her mother’s energy snapping. Maire’s light and power disappeared.
“Stop!” her mother screamed, her chest shaking as she gasped for breath. She lifted her hand again, brilliant light streaming out once more, and Bristol did the same, choking her power, closing it up before it could even take hold.
