“I will kill you for this. Your pain will sustain me until I can find a new vessel,” he hissed, shooting away from the tree.
Shea watched him come. Her energy was gone, her will as flimsy and insubstantial as paper. The strength to run had deserted her. It was all she could do to remain upright as death approached.
A sword speared through the air, burying itself into center of the dark at the same time as Ajari’s strong arms caught her, yanking her away. There was a wordless scream and dark cracks appeared in its form. The dark tried to pry the sword out, but it didn’t budge. The silveright coating that Trenton had subjected it to was eating away at the darkness, spiraling out from the blade until threads of silver ate away large pieces of the being, dissolving it in front of her eyes.
Ajari’s grim face appeared over hers as he raced away with her. “Little mouse, you are much more dangerous than you seem.”
She gave him a tired smile. “Symptom of being a Trateri pathfinder.”
Behind them, the flames licked higher, the last of the tree falling to the light.
Trenton waited at the edge of the grass where he’d thrown the sword from, his face intent and solemn as he watched what his sword had wrought. He let them pass before following, guarding their backs as they fled the flame and the horror the tree’s grove had become, the dark’s agonized screams of rage and pain echoing after them.
Ajari stopped outside the entrance and placed Shea’s palm against the stone. It gleamed yellow. The rock began moving, closing off the archway of moments before.
Then they were out, standing in the bowl with the butte behind them.
Ajari dumped her on her feet. She wavered but remained upright, blood coating her skin.
He took the necklace she’d given him, snapping it in half.
“Covath wanted that,” she stated, not particularly caring one way or another. The events had drained her. It was hard to think, let alone feel.
“That thing is pure evil. It subsumes the will,” Ajari said, his eyes flaring and a slight growl filtering through his voice. “It cannot be allowed to exist.”
Shea didn’t bother protesting. At least she hadn’t been the one to destroy it. Covath could take it up with his friend.
“What are you doing here?” Shea asked Trenton.
“You didn’t think I was going back to my warlord without you, did you?” he replied. “Your friend over there helped me survive.”
Shea looked up at Ajari, suddenly all the times he’d disappeared toward the end began to make sense.
“Is that thing dead?” Trenton asked.
“Doubtful,” he replied. “Though he’s significantly weakened. I had not thought to see a blade dipped in silveright again. We believed all of them had been destroyed. You’re lucky. That’s probably the only reason we escaped with our lives.”
Shea didn’t feel lucky as she held the Lux to her chest, its gleaming light a dim shimmer. In fact, she was struggling to feel anything at all.
The Lux had done something to her, drained her of those bits that made her Shea.
The journey home stretched before her, a vast, insurmountable obstacle, when all she really wanted was to lie down and sleep for a thousand years.
Shea’s movements were weary as she turned back the way they’d come earlier that day. She trudged away from the butte—the only thing keeping her from toppling over was the knowledge that Trenton would be forced to remain with her if she did so—well that and the promise she’d given Fallon. It seemed unimportant now, but something inside wouldn’t let her give up.
“Shea,” Trenton called.
“Time to go home,” she told him in a tired voice.
“What about that thing?” he asked.
She shrugged. “If my ancestors couldn’t destroy it with all the power at their disposal, I’m not going to assume I can do any better.”
She’d done her part. She’d recovered the Lux, given the mythological back his charm, and killed her first love. She didn’t have anything left to give. Someone else could deal with putting an end to the dark for good.
A small part of her said it wasn’t possible. Fear, hate and anger fed him. There was no shortage of any of those emotions in the Broken Lands. Until they were non-existent, he would be a clear and ever-present danger to those who lived there.
Still, for now, she’d won, taken care of the most pressing threat and set him back years, even if it didn’t feel like she’d come out victorious at the moment.
