“Calysta…” Maddox growled before being interrupted by Rory.
“Now, now, kiddies, no arguing until after we get the Assassin out of the fire.”
“Rory...” Calysta, Rian, and Maddox all grumbled in unison.
“Yeah, yeah I know I need to be bitch slapped. Whatever. Do it later.” Rory rolled his eyes but Rian could hear an underlying trepidation in his youngest brother’s voice and noticed the wound on his arm had bled through the T-shirt/tourniquet on his arm.
Wonder why he’s not healing? Gotta be because we’re still in this God forsaken place.
“The kid’s right. What do we do now, Grand Priestess?” Maddox asked with tremendous sarcasm accenting Calysta’s title.
Ignoring the crazy dragon, Calysta instructed, “Put the Focus Stone as close to the fire as possible. Form a Circle with the purified salt. Then y’all stand outside the Circle with your toes as close as you can to the salt without disturbing it. Close it with this simple spell—Gods, Goddesses, Guardian Angels, and Spiritual Guides, please be present with us during this ritual. Bless this Circle and keep us protected. No unwanted entities are welcome here. Only pure, divine beings are welcome into this space. The Circle is cast. So mote it be. Blessed be. Blessed be. Then take the bags of herbs and each person drop them at your feet.
“When you’ve done all that join hands and everyone must say the following in unison, “Quench an tine! Quench an tine! Mharú an draíocht dubh! Scaoileadh an dragan! Do you understand?”
Rian had never heard Calysta talk so fast or repeat herself so many times. She was also moving around so much and so quickly that most of the time he was looking at the leaves on the trees over her head. The Guardsmen all had a theory about what was going on and it seemed the witches were in agreement but no one was saying it aloud.
“Yes, ma’am. We’re ready.”
“The Circle is closed?” Calysta questioned.
“Calysta, Rian said he was doing it. We’re ready for the spell. Are you?” Maddox answered the Grand Priestess as testily as she had questioned Rian. There was definitely something going on with those two that the Dragon Leader had not the time or inclination to examine at the moment.
Motioning to Audrey, he said, “Come here, a mhuirnín.”
“But…”
“But nothing. You are my mate. This is all part of it. We’re saving our own. The love you and I share, our bond…the one we’ve forged between you, me, and my beast will make our dragon magic stronger.”
He could see the doubt on her face but was overjoyed when she came to him without further delay. She was part of their clan. Had been from the first moment he laid eyes on her. No better time for her to realize not all magic was bad. It was going to take time but slowly, Rian planned to erase the last hundred years of pain with thousands of years of happiness.
As soon as her hand was in his and was tucked between him and Maddox, Rian nodded and the Guardsmen, along with the witches, repeated the spell Calysta had given them just moments ago. They all stared at the fire as they repeated—Quench the fire! Quench the fire! Kill the black magic! Release the dragon—over and over.
The longer they chanted, the more the fire changed colors, like a kaleidoscope. First red, then orange, then yellow, repeatedly, color-to-color on a loop until they were whirling so quickly it was a blur.
“Throw the last bag of purified salt on the fire and say the chant one more time as loud as you can,” Calysta commanded.
No sooner had the white crystals hit the flames than they burst to the ceiling, hissing and whistling before immediately falling to the ground. The fire became translucent although still holding the same colors, only washed out as if they’d been bleached.
Rian couldn’t believe his eyes. A quick glance around the Circle confirmed that all the Guardsmen were either opening and closing their eyes or shaking their heads in disbelief. He could hear their thoughts of utter shock and awe and wondered if maybe it was a mass hallucination caused from way too long in hell. Audrey and Maddox seemed to be the only ones taking the craziness before them in stride.
“You okay?” he asked his mate, squeezing her hand for reassurance.
“Would you be surprised to know that’s not the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen down here?” She snickered, melting away some of Rian’s anxiety.
Turning to the crazy dragon, the Dragon Leader watched Maddox take the stone of Rose Quartz out of its polished silver setting. He noted the burn marks on the tips of the older dragon’s fingers from contact with the caustic metal and figured that was why he was dismantling the amulet, but true to form, the crazy dragon was full of surprises.
Discarding the silver, Maddox uttered, “Ara is chugainn mo dheartháireacha,” and threw the stone into the fire.
A blast that reminded Rian of the land mines him and Kellan had led their men through during their time in the armed forces filled the cavern. Thankfully, there was no shrapnel with this explosion. The only side effects were the ringing in their ears and the black dots before their eyes.
As the dust settled, the picture was clear. The fire had been extinguished. The sigils on the box had ceased to glow. And what they had all believed to be a figment of their imagination was lying right in front of them. There was no denying it.
“Just to be sure I’m not losing my mind, y’all see what I see, right?” Lennox asked. It was the first time he’d spoken since their descent.
“Yes, Lenn, we all see it,” Pearce responded as Zen as always.
Maddox walked forward, knelt down, and shook his head. “I swear I’m getting too old for this shit.”
