Layala took a deep cleansing breath, trying to stop the tears from streaming down her face. Words wouldn’t come from her achingly tight throat. How could she tell him she’d failed their Ravens? They were hers too. Shaking her head, she reached back and pulled her sword, Lightbringer, loose, then slid the sharp edge of the blade under the vines, careful not to slice into his flesh. He tensed as the cool metal slid along his torso.
“Layala,” Thane urged, more forceful this time. “Did I hurt you? Why are you crying?”
“No.” She continued cutting through the vines. She considered she might be able to dissolve her own magic, but she didn’t have the mind to try anything new at the moment.
Fella’s boots clopped loudly as she made her way over from the ship’s railing. She stood over them with her mouth twisted into a frown. “You lost someone, maybe more, King Thane. Me and my girls did what we could. We fought hard.”
He shoved his arms out, snapping the vines down the center until he was completely free of his binds. “Who?”
Scooting off him, Layala sat and pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. She didn’t want to know who she’d failed or how many. Was the All Seeing Stone even worth it? What if they didn’t even make it in time and this was for nothing? They’d known it would be dangerous, yet she never expected to lose anyone. But the Ravens’ battle prowess apparently meant nothing against the sirens and none of them anticipated that.
Thane pushed up, squared his shoulders, and the sound of his slow footfalls toward the edge of the upper deck, made her heart beat faster. She watched him acutely, as he gripped the railing and peered down. He turned back. His face ghostly white. Maker above, were they all gone? Her body trembled but Layala shoved to her feet on weak legs. She worried he might collapse but she could barely stand herself.
Was Piper dead too? Were Aunt Evalyn and Piper slaughtered and the boys dragged away? Was Piper’s last scream not for someone else but for her own death?
The woman with silver eyes and gold jewelry appeared at the top of the steps. “One of the sirens got fully on deck and cut through his ropes. I’m sorry.”
Layala’s hand dropped. “Who?”
Thane’s mouth twitched and he glanced down before saying, “Gunner is gone.”
“Can we get him back?” Layala demanded.
Fella stood at the wheel again. “If you could breathe underwater, you ladies could go fight for him, sure. But you don’t, so you can’t. And it’s been well over five minutes already. He’s gone.” Her chest rose and fell heavily. “If it helps, he believed he was with the love of his life and happy as can be as his lungs filled with water. You saw the way your king reacted to them. He thought it was you calling to him.”
It didn’t help.
“We’re coming up to the dock,” Fella said and gazed up at the dark clouds. “And I don’t mean to be insensitive but a storm’s coming and we’ll need to hurry to unload your horses so we can get back.”
Layala finally dared to look down at the others. Piper knelt at the edge of the ship, sitting back on her heels. Her arms hung loosely at her sides; her bloodied sword lay next to her. The others were being cut loose by the ship’s crew. Aunt Evalyn attended to a wound on one of the ship crew’s calf. Knowing her friend needed comfort, Layala quickly descended the stairs and knelt beside Piper. With a gentle hand on her shoulder, she said, “You did everything you could, Piper.”
Red, tear-brimmed eyes still searched the water. “At first, he kept fighting to get away from me. Then the siren grabbed his leg, and he fell onto his back. But I had him, Laya. I held onto his arm, pulling as he was being dragged to the edge. When he looked at me, he knew. Gunner KNEW. He gripped me back and kicked at the siren but another one of those things latched onto his other leg and he was—gone.”
“I’m so sorry, Piper.” Layala’s throat was unbearably tense again and her voice came out weak and strained. “I’m so sorry. I heard you calling to me,” a tear rolled down her cheek, “I failed you—failed him.”
She sniffed and wiped the back of her hand across her wet cheek. “You had to protect Thane. I would have done the same thing. Gunner would understand that, too. But I had him. He was right there.” She took in another deep breath and reached over to Gunner’s eyepatch lying on the deck. It must have fallen off during the struggle. Piper clutched it to her chest. “He’d been with us since the beginning, since Thane formed the Ravens. He has a younger brother who wanted to join us at the proper age and Gunner always promised to watch his back.”
There were no words to console her, no poems to heal the loss.
The ship jolted and scraped against the stone dock leading out from the shore of the island. Wide canopied green trees with leaves as large as her head covered most of the island. There was something haunting about the water cascading over the black rock from fifty feet high into the lake just down the shore. It wasn’t the waterfall itself but the memories it raised, where she collapsed into darkness with an arrow through her.
Loud bird calls of all kinds singing from high branches snapped her out of her stupor.
“The island itself has never given us any troubles. You can rest easy about that at least.” Fella stood behind Layala and Piper and gripped the brim of her hat, tilting it slightly. Her gaze lifted to the lush trees. “Hopefully the portal you’re looking for is here, and you can make it work. We won’t return for a week, and I’d hate to see you all lose any more of your people on a ride back.”
Gathered on the black sand shoreline of the island, the horses munched on the grass at the jungle’s edge, and where an array of colorful wildflowers grew thick and full. There was no obvious path to take. It appeared as if they’d have to make their own and with the closeness of the tree trunks and twisted, curled, protruding roots, it would be slow going with the horses.
Holding onto two horses’ reins, Fennan stared out at the water. “I can’t believe he’s gone. Just gone, not even a body to mourn.”
Tifapine’s chubby hands gripped the rim of the saddle bag. Her little chin trembled and her eyes glittered. She didn’t have to witness anything while she hid below deck, thank the Maker. Her tender heart couldn’t take it. And who knew if she would have survived the attack had she been exposed.
With stuttered breath and tears streaming down her cheeks, Piper shook with silent sobs. This was the first time Layala had ever seen Piper cry. Not even when her own life was at stake did she shed a tear. There wasn’t much emotion in her after the battle at Doonafell either, but this one hit her hard. Maybe watching as Gunner was ripped away was the final piece that snapped her usually stoic demeanor. It was difficult to see her face buried in the neck of her horse to hide her tears. Layala almost felt worse for her than for Gunner. Almost.
She turned her attention to Leif, who was Gunner’s closest friend. Water lapped over his boots on the shoreline as if he contemplated diving in to retrieve his friend’s lifeless body. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye. I didn’t even fight for him.” He kicked, sending an arc of water soaring and let out a heartbreaking roar.
It hurt too much to watch them any longer. Layala turned away and gripped the saddle of what was Gunner’s horse to keep from breaking down to her knees. She was their future queen. She must be strong. Thane didn’t cry, didn’t speak, his face hard as stone. Since he’d found out what happened, he wouldn’t look at her. Maybe he wouldn’t look at anyone directly, but it felt personal.
To get her mind on something other than loss or what Thane may or may not be thinking, she scanned up and down the shoreline. The island wasn’t large. Perhaps a mile long. It shouldn’t take them much time to find the stone circle but what could lurk inside among the trees? It reminded her a bit of the unnamed forest with massive scorpions and giant one-eyed men. Although the energy around it didn’t feel dark. It might be peaceful if not weighed down by sorrow.
“I know we’re all hurting,” Thane said, finally breaking his silence. “But we can’t stay here. It’s time to move.” He turned to Siegfried. “Any idea where the portal is located?”
Siegfried brushed his palm along his horse’s shoulder and then pointed toward the water cascading violently down the rockface a quarter mile away, “It should be near the waterfall.”
“On top, behind, at its base?”
“Near the top.”
“With me.” Thane started down the sandy shoreline, tugging Phantom along behind him.
Layala hung back to give him some space and let the others go around her. Whether he blamed her, himself, or the world, sometimes people needed to be left alone. Heavy silence between the Ravens weighed like a stack of bricks, and then the thunder cracked above. The ever-darkening, inflated clouds seemed to be angry too at the death that infected the air. A raindrop hit her cheek. Layala groaned, and then another until a downpour rivaling the waterfall itself hit. It made the grass slick as they started their climb. Those in front hacked furiously at twisting roots the size of Layala’s thigh and sliced through low-hanging branches to clear a path up the incline. It was an hour before they made it to the summit, nearly dusk, but as Siegfried said, there the portal stood.
It was covered in moss, the edges chipped, the runes running along the top weather warn, and at its base, ivy and white calla lilies grew densely. Thane wasted no time in placing his palm flat against the stone. Everyone gathered in a half circle and waited. And waited. With the horses and elves shifting uneasily, Layala’s grip on the leather reins in her hand tightened. Was his magic still suppressed by the katagas serum?
Although the rain had eased, droplets hung on her lashes and dripped from her nose. She swiped a hand over her face to clear the water. This couldn’t be a good sign. The other portals had filled with warmth and life within moments.
With a frustrated sigh, Thane dropped his hand to his side and tilted his chin up. His shoulders rose and fell sharply. “Layala, come here please.”
Everyone stared, except Thane. His back was still to them. Letting the horse’s reins go, she quietly stepped forward and to his side. It took strength to look up at him. He kept his gaze narrowed on the stone. “Can you get it to work? I can barely feel my magic because of the serum.”
She lifted a shoulder and with bated breath, touched her fingertips to it. It was cool, slick, and the energy that hummed from the others wasn’t there. You can’t be serious. She closed her eyes and flattened her hand, willing something to happen. Come on, wake up… a moment passed… there was… something there. A spark of warmth barely discernible.
Hello? Layala silently called.
Nothing. She was about to let go when soft voices said, “Hello.” She somehow knew that it was only in her head.
Can you take us to Newarden, Calladira?
Our power is weak. Long have we lay dormant.
You can have some of mine.
A long pause.
We sense sadness in you, mage.
Thane cleared his throat, and Layala opened one eye. “I’m—communicating.”
“Communicating? What is it saying?”
She shut her eyes again. “It senses—sadness.”
“Can we go through or not?”
Impatient, much? Can we pass with my magic’s strength?
We need more.
“Thane, touch the stone. It seems my magic alone isn’t enough.”
“I don’t have much to offer at the moment.”
“We need to at least try.”
She didn’t look to see if he complied. A tugging sensation down her arm and through her hand was tell enough.
This is old magic… ancient, the wispy voices said. Somehow familiar.
Thane finally met her gaze. He must have found that as strange as she did. Neither of them had ever been here.
How? Layala silently asked.
A pause. We can’t place it.
It kept taking and taking. It was like trying to swim against a violent current that towed her back, until fatigue set in her legs, her shoulders sagged, and her arm felt like it was weighed down with sandbags.
“That’s enough,” Thane said sharply. Cool fingers wrapped around Layala’s wrist, and he pulled her touch away from it.
The inside of the portal flickered, like a spark of two rocks clashing together then nothing happened.
We need more magic to regenerate fully.
“Then you’ll have to wait,” Thane murmured, seemingly out of breath himself. He peeked over his shoulder. “Set up camp. We’ll rest here for now.”
