Then we heard screams, hissing shrieks of horror and surprise, echo from the hall up ahead. My stomach dropped, my blood freezing to ice, as the whole mountain seemed to awaken.
“Vok,” Rath Kitala cursed as we, and the handful ofdarukkarsthat accompanied us, pressed close to the walls.
Most of the population of Ghertun lived on the level where the great hall was and soon, I heard hordes of them begin to approach from all directions.
We slipped into a shadowed alcove, my nails piercing half-moons into my palm around the heartstone. A moment later, there was a rush of dark bodies, the walls vibrating as more and more Ghertun streamed into the hall, all heading towards the awing blackness at the end of it.
Davik was in there.
I knew it. I couldfeelhim.
And I couldn’t afford to wait until the hallway was cleared because Ghertun would pour from every dark crevice of the mountain until we were swarmed and unable to move.
“Kalles,” Rath Kitala bit out when I stepped out from the safety of the alcove. A Ghertun ran into me, making the breath whoosh from my lungs, but I felt the heartstone burn even hotter in my hand. The Ghertun wouldn’t think anything of a human—one who wore the slave mark—so I ran with them towards the great hall, getting lost in the crush of their bodies, the acrid and bitter scent of their flesh, until I reached the entrance and peered within.
What I saw made panic claw at my throat.
The Ghertun king was bleeding and slumped near his throne. And Davik was near him, a deep wound in his chest, blood dripping down his face, fighting off a legion of Ghertun that had begun to swarm, no doubt at Lozza’s command.
“No,” I whispered, throat tightening with fear and panic. There were too many.
My power rose.
My first instinct was to help Davik, though I didn’t know how. My only thought was of saving him because he wouldn’t be able to fight off the hundreds of Ghertun that were pouring into the great hall alone. And more would come. They wouldn’t be satisfied until he was dead on the floor.
No.
If he were gone from this world…I didn’t think I’d be able to bear it.
Kakkari, help me,I pleaded, panicked, pressing my palm around the heartstone tighter and tighter until I thought it would burrow into my hand.Help me save him.
That burning heat sank into me and filled the cavern of my chest. Just like at the tree in the ancient groves, that heat began tosearme from the inside, painful and scraping, a silent scream lodged in my throat as it rose and rose. The pain from thevovicwasnothingcompared to this.
My vision went dark. My skin prickled like a thousand needles were piercing me at once. But despite the pain, I felt my gift building inside me, the energy that I could conjure at will becoming something far more powerful, roving and roiling inside me, desperately seeking an escape.
Through a thick haze, I heard him.
“Nik! Vienne!” Davik roared.
But it was too late.
That power flooded out of me as I screamed. As it left me, my lungs filled and I felt like I could breathe again.
Directing that power, I felt it travel through the great hall like a wave, stopping all the Ghertun in their tracks, freezing them into place. When the power hit the walls, it delved inside the stone and I directed it to encase the entirety of the Dead Mountain. I could see it rushing through the tunnels, filling and filling them all, stopping all the Ghertun in their tracks.
In my mind, I felt thousands of souls. I was in themall.
Unfathomable power…
I could have killed them all. In a single moment.
And for a moment, I was tempted to. I was tempted to bring the Dead Mountain down, once and for all. I was tempted to end thousands of lives in a single moment.
Because I could.
“Vienne!” Davik bellowed across the still, quiet place.
When I locked eyes with Davik, I felt my chest fill with something else. I felt suspended in time as he pulled himself from the bodies of the Ghertun around him, who made no move to stop him as he sprinted towards me, pushing and weaving.
