“No, it wasn’t me. I’m as shocked as you are.”
“Did their spell backfire or something?” Stellon asked.
Off to my left, I heard a weak laugh.
Pulling out a globe of Auspex fire from my pocket, I walked toward the sound, spotting one of the witches trying to lift her head.
She was charred and smoking but obviously still alive.
“It’s Caitriona,” Raewyn said from beside me.
What on earth did the woman have to laugh about? She had to be in excruciating pain. Her entire sisterhood—at least those from this region—had just died brutally.
I was getting a very bad feeling.
Walking over to her, I squatted next to her scorched body.
“What did you do?” I demanded.
She laughed again and then convulsed in a wracking, clearly painful cough.
“You thought you’d get away with your broken promises and treachery against humans and Earthwives,” she said in a frail voice. “But we always exact our price.”
Another agonizing cough.
“This one will last… for eternity,” she said.
“What price? What have you done?” Stellon asked, his voice full of alarm.
“A curse… on all your people, all generations to come. Everyone under your rule. Weak seed will fall on barren earth. Your numbers… will dwindle, and your race will… disappear.”
She gave a weak chuckle.
“A fertility curse?” Stellon asked, looking between me and Raewyn and then back at the dying witch.
“How can they have cursed the entire Elven race when only the three of us are here?”
“The column of fire? It went so high. Maybe it sent it out over the land,” Raewyn speculated.
“Or maybe she’s using her final breaths to lie,” I said.
“You… will see,” Caitriona said. “One child only per couple, if any… and decades… or centuries to conceive. Your treachery will… end. Worth…”
She drew in a labored breath.
On the exhale she said, “... the sacrifice.”
And then she went still, her unseeing eyes staring up at the stars above, her body sinking with that final spent breath.
Behind me, Stellon let out a shout.
I whirled to face him, as did Raewyn.
He was clutching his chest, staggering backward. We both rushed toward him.
“What’s the matter?” Raewyn cried.
“What is happening?” I asked as his legs gave out and he sat hard upon the ground. “Is it your heart? Is it seizing?”
