“She won’t go back.” Vi sighed softly, removing her scythe and leaning it against a tree. “She’s exiled if she doesn’t finish her mission.”
“If the king can make those rules, he can break them,” Taavin cautioned.
“I know. But the king who breaks his own rules is a ruler soon to lose his crown.”
“Spoken like a true princess.”
“Perhaps because I am one.” Vi removed her satchel next, setting it down heavily. “Besides, we’ve made her a good offer. She stands to gain a lot more than lose.”
“What’s been happening this past week?” Taavin asked cautiously, looking from the weapon she’d been carrying to the satchel Vi was rummaging through. “I’ve had precious little by way of information.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.” Vi sat, beginning to sort through the items in her satchel and looking for the blanket Sarphos mentioned. Of course, it was at the very bottom.
Vi took a deep breath and tried to fill in the gaps in Taavin’s information with broad strokes. He remained silent as he positioned himself at her side to listen. The sun was low in the sky when she finally finished.
“So that’s it, then?” Taavin nodded at the scythe. “This weapon the king claimed was from the Dark Isle and bestowed on you?”
“I believe him.” Vi rested on her elbow and reached for the weapon, surprised once more at how light it was. Laying it across her lap, she slowly undid the upper strap and then unwrapped the cloth tucked around the blade.
Taavin let out a soft gasp. He slowly reached out a hand, then withdrew before he could touch it. There was a reverent expression on his face, as though he gazed on a holy object.
“I take it you believe his claims now, too?”
“Vi… This… It shouldn’t exist,” he breathed, eyes drifting up to her. “What do you know of its history?”
Vi ran her fingers over the shining crystal of the weapon. It was as if the whole thing—blade and shaft—had been crafted from a single, flawless stone. But there were no marks of the crafter, no sign of any tool on its surface. It was flawless in every way. She closed her eyes, feeling the magic pulsing from it, familiar and yet slightly unnerving at the same time.
The longer she was in contact with it, the more dangerous it felt.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Vi started thoughtfully. “Trying to piece it all together… I know Raspian’s return aligns with the destruction of the Crystal Caverns—so I know the caverns were where he was sealed away. One of my final lessons from my tutors was how my mother had a role in starting the war that led to that destruction, beginning with a crystal axe she found in Soricium. And I know that, in the lore on the Dark Isle, there were four of these weapons—an axe, a scythe, a crown, and a sword.”
“Yes, you have the main points…” His hand finally rested on the scythe. Magic swirled up from the crystals, wrapping around his forearm in hazy blue light—as if reaching out to him, before it sank into his skin. His eyes seemed to shine an even brighter green in the fading light.
“What am I missing?”
“Yargen’s sacrifice.” Taavin looked to her. “When Yargen defeated Raspian in the last great war, she broke off a piece of Meru, sending it into the sea and sealing away Raspian there for what was to be eternity. She then split herself—her power—to ensure he remained in place. A third was bestowed on the Champion as a staff of frozen fire. Another third encapsulated Raspian in the same frozen fire to prevent his return. And the final third remained here on Meru as living flame, to guide her world.”
“Frozen fire…” Vi repeated. Before her lips could close, her jaw went slack.Frozen fire. “No, not fire,” she uttered. What would frozen fire look like, if not magic captured in shining stone, faintly glowing with a power greater than any man had ever known? Stone that would turn to coal—obsidian—when the power diminished. “Crystal.”
“Just so,” Taavin said solemnly.
“But all the crystals are dark and dormant since the caverns were destroyed… why does this persist?” Vi stared at the weapon in her hands that still glowed with a life of its own over a thousand years since it was first created.
“As I said, the Crystal Caverns sealing away Raspian were one part of her power. The other part was given to the Champion in the form of a staff to guard the tomb and ensure none sought it.”
“Then, this is not from the tomb… but from the staff?”
Taavin gave a noise of affirmation. “That’s my belief. The Champion was to use the power of Yargen bestowed on him to guard the tomb and ensure none came to seek it out. For over two hundred years, the Champion kept his lonely watch. But as with most things in time, details become hazy… the severity of a threat is forgotten.
“Eventually, people came to the Dark Isle, and the Champion did not send them away.”
“Why?” Vi couldn’t imagine why the Champion would turn back on his duty. But she also couldn’t imagine spending centuries alone. The notion that such could be her own fate, that it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility, crawled under her skin like invisible bugs.
“Why does any man turn from duty? Love, loneliness, family… I can only speculate,” Taavin murmured softly. Vi wondered if he was speaking about himself and the duty he’d left by fleeing Risen for her. “But he wasn’t foolish. The people he let on the Dark Isle were mostly human—all born without magic.”
“Without magic? I thought everyone has magic outside of the Dark Isle?”
“The vast majority do… but once in a hundred, a child is born without. And this world is not kind to those without magic.”
