Ferer transcends us, and soon we’re far from the Endless Mountains, far from the Queen’s River, far from Astra. We step out of a circle in the woods near the hills at the Western Domain, close to the castle’s location, at least as far as last night.
Last night, when we spent hours there, undisturbed, when Renel could have shown me the location of these journals.
I take a deep breath. Being annoyed at my brother isn’t going to help, and it’s not as if I don’t already have a mountain of grievances against him—which I shouldn’t have remembered, if my goal was to ignore them.
We pause for a moment for Lidiane to work her magic. Her glamour usually feels ticklish, but this time it’s more like a subtle vibration, I guess because the goal isn’t to change our appearance, but to make us unremarkable. When she’s done, we advance through the forest, and soon I see part of the Crystal Castle, sunlight gleaming from its tip.
The sight makes me uneasy. I don’t want to face Zorwal, at least not yet, and, most of all, I don’t want to face my sister again, or even accept the fact that she joined that cruel man. Once the Witch King is defeated, I’ll find a way to rescue her, put some sense into her head, but now’s not the time.
We walk some more, until we can see the base of the castle and the guards surrounding it. The guards that in theory should be answering to my brother, except that now I suppose their loyalty is anyone’s guess, and they could challenge us.
Lidiane told us her magic will allow us to walk right through them, and even though I trust her, it feels somewhat foolish to simply walk to the castle and hope to enter through the servants’ door unnoticed. To make things worse, I must avoid using my magic at all costs, lest some bloodpuppets come my way.
My heart speeds up as we approach the back door and continues speeding as we cross the two guards watching it. The door is open, though, and we pass through as if we were invisible. After that, we head to the interminable stairs climbing up to the main part of the castle. Ferer goes first, followed by me and then his sister. I turn and give her an appreciative nod, grateful for her magic, and she narrows her eyes, perhaps thinking I doubted her, which is not true. I swallow a chuckle and continue climbing, hoping that the way will be clear to that hidden compartment with the books.
If there’s a compartment. I’m placing a lot of trust in my brother, which is odd, but I trust Renel’s survival instincts to know that he would want to see the Witch King defeated.
When we’re almost reaching the living quarters, a door slams open above us. As agreed, we keep climbing without breaking our pace, and yet my stomach chills when I realize who’s waiting for us.
My sister. Standing in the middle of the stairs, arms spread out, forcing us all to stop.
“Marlak, it’s a trap,” she hisses between gritted teeth. “Zorwal is expecting you to come to the castle. And he has bloodpuppets after you. Turn around while you can.”
Is she… trying to help me? Trying to discourage me from finding the journals? How did she even notice us coming? Should I threaten her? Plead with her?
At a loss for words, only one sentence comes to mind. “I don’t want to fight you.”
She raises an eyebrow and huffs. “You sure better not. Not with magic, at least. Turn?—”
Doors open above and below us, and a multitude of steps echo in the staircase. There must be at least some eight guards. Not a lot—if I were to use my magic. Mirella’s face is impassive, until she turns to look at something.
Someone. My stomach sinks even deeper.
Zorwal is descending the stairs and smirks at her.
“Well done.”
We’ve been caught. The longer we dwell, the worse it will be to escape. At this point, hiding my magic would be pointless, and it’s not like there’s enough humidity in the air for Ferer to defend the three of us. I throw a blast of air at Zorwal—and it does nothing. It’s as if the air disappeared when getting close to him, and yet it doesn’t look as if he used air magic to counter my blow.
Use your fire.
I hear it in my brother’s voice, and yet Zorwal’s close to Mirella, and I don’t even know if the blast will reach him. I don’t know if it will hurt her. As I’m measuring my options, I hear ascream. Behind me, Lidiane is trembling, her face contorted as if in pain.
I move toward her, but then hear Zorwal’s sharp, horrific voice.
“Stand down or I’ll kill her.” He’s descending the steps, approaching us.
“Stop hurting her!” I yell. “She has nothing to do with this.”
Zorwal tilts his head. “Should I hurtyouinstead?”
Yeswould be the obvious answer, but the truth is that this is a trap. If I say that, he’ll break his oath not to hurt me, and there’s no guarantee it will help us escape.
“What do you want?” I ask, toning down the fury in my voice.
He passes by me and reaches Lidiane, placing a hand above her head.
At that moment, a strong whirlwind sucks me away. Away from this place. Azur must be here.
