And the Sword of Jadar turned to obsidian, fractured, and dissolved into dust.
Chapter Ten
“What?”Egmun lowered his arms and spun as the light of the Caverns faded. “What did we do wrong?” he shouted to the ceiling above. The echo of his voice was the only reply.
“M-minister… I… I don’t feel so well.” Aldrik swayed. His eyes were still on the mangled body before him.
“She… it’s her fault,” Egmun seethed, ignorant to the boy. Vi almost felt proud that he was laying blame at her feet. “She knew what must be done and kept it from me and now—”
Aldrik interrupted Egmun’s ravings by turning up the contents of his stomach. Egmun jumped back to avoid the vomit splattering on his shoes.
“We should go, you foolish boy.”
“Foolish?” Aldrik looked up at the minister, as though in a daze.
“Your power was not enough,” Egmun sneered. “And now your desire for power has opened the heart of the Caverns once more to any who would dare use it against your Empire.”
“I only did as you asked!” Aldrik pleaded.
Vi’s breath caught in her throat. This young man, thischild, who stood stained with blood and bile, would one day become the rough-tongued, harsh man her father had always been rumored to be. It wasn’t Fiera’s death that had set her father on a torturous path of transformation. It was this moment.
Either way, it was her fault.
She tried to steel herself, but everything ached. The only thing she could tell herself was that this was all worth it. She would make it worth it. It didn’t matter if he was aware of the vortex or not, this would be the last time Aldrik would suffer the loss of his innocence in such a brutal way.
Rumbling filled the Caverns, as though a mighty beast within was starting to wake. Vi looked around, as startled as the two men. The sound was followed by a burst of light that rose from the floor and flowed out the Caverns, rushing to the opening like a torrential river of magic.
“We must go,” Egmun said grimly. “Before the crystal taint claims us.” He grabbed Aldrik’s arm and wrenched him from the room.
As the two sprinted out, Vi knelt down, dipping her fingers in the river of light. It felt like nothing. There was no power here, only air.
Vi lifted her eyes and released the glyph fordurroe watt radia. She stepped out of the inner chamber and through the doors just in time to see Deneya emerging from where she’d wedged herself between two crystals. The two men were long gone.
“Think I need to keep this going?” Deneya held up her arm, a strip of golden magic rotating by her elbow.
“Maybe for a bit longer.” Vi dragged her feet down the steps on the other side of the door, but she didn’t quite make it to the bottom before she sat heavily. She still felt dizzy. Though Vi couldn’t tell if the dizziness came from her earlier wound or the current of power still rushing through her. “Just until we’re certain they’re far enough away.”
“Durroe watt ivin,” Deneya murmured, flicking her other hand toward the entry. Vi saw a haze of light fill the air.
From Egmun and Aldrik’s perspective, the beast that was the Caverns had been woken with a roar, unfurled its tongue, and was letting out a sigh of pure magic.
“Clever.” Vi appraised Deneya’s handiwork.
“Thank you.” As Deneya spoke the words, she tilted her head in a motion that said both, “don’t worry about it” and, simultaneously, “I know I’m pretty great.” Vi couldn’t help but chuckle and shake her head. Deneya came over, glyphs still hovering around her forearms. She sat next to Vi. “I doubt we’ll be seeing them back here anytime soon.”
“They’ll be back soon enough.”
“Why?”
Vi sighed heavily, running a hand through her hair. Most of her braids had slipped out. “Because the river of fate moves forward, and the War of the Crystals Caverns is next.”
“People fight over the Crystal Caverns?”
“Fightagainstthe Caverns.”
“How does one fight a cavern?”
“I wondered that myself, when I first learned of it.” Vi thought back to her lessons with her tutors. The War of the Crystal Caverns had seemed like impossible lore. “In my world, the magic of the Crystal Caverns seeped out into the land and tainted the people and animals; they called it ‘crystal taint.’ The crystal taint disfigured man and beast, changing their minds and bodies into monsters.
