“Stop, Dayton!” I call. “You have to trust him.”
Dayton drags his hands through his hair, then turns back and begins rebuilding his ice shield.
My stars plummet toward the volcano.What are you planning, Farron?
That bright streak heads straight for the first star. My heart leaps into my throat. He’s going to get himself pummeled?—
But Farron slams into the side of the star instead. With incredible force, he pushes it toward the top of the volcano. The hiss sounds across the tundra as Farron drives the star right into the heart of Mount Rhuvenmark. The flow of lava doesn’t stop, but it slows. Farron lurches for the next star.
My breath is rapid, heart like a drum, but I can’t let Farron do this alone. With a roar, I reach back into the cosmos. Farron slams his body against another star, his fire blazing with the effort. A great crackle sputters out as the star plummets into the volcano.
A couple more, Farron says in my mind, his voice fractured with exertion.
Again, I throw everything I have into tearing down the stars. Pain radiates through me, not my pain but Farron’s as his body slams again and again against the plummeting stars, redirecting them. I think my bones may crack open, my spine split down the middle?—
Then a huge, rumblingsilenceechoes over the tundra. The glow of light that is Farron stands on the edge of the volcano, atop newly hardened rock. No more lava pours off the side. No fireballs shoot from the top.
Still, there’s remaining lava spreading across the tundra. Part of it has solidified from the falling stars, but I need to stop the rest.
The earth has ceased quaking, and Dayton and Ez return to me. I point to the smog-filled sky.Let the sky shine once more.
In unison, Ezryn, Dayton, and I reach up to the sky. Torrents of wind erupt from our hands, our blessings weaving together, strong and unbound. Now the scents of pine forests and cranberry and a crisp frost mingle with theirs. Our hole in the smoggy canopy begins to widen. But it’s not enough… I need to clear the sky completely if this is to work.
A wave of heat crests over us as Farron lands beside me. His flames fade, revealing my friend, golden-eyed and flushed of face. His hand juts up to join ours, and a torrent of Autumn wind blows forth.
I gasp, my blessing strengthened, renewed. The magic of the four realms, together for the first time in decades. It is as ifthe very fabric of the Enchanted Vale is crying out in joyous harmony.
One by one, stars spark to life. Smoke drifts away, and the glittering crown of the Vale reveals itself. The night sky as perfect and beautiful as its princess.
Emboldened by my friends, I stretch out my consciousness. A volley of my magic hurtles skyward, grasping tight to the stars. I give a final tug.
The sky rains with sparkling boulders. They shower the tundra, covering the remaining lava. One by one, the horizon is filled with the glowing light of the cosmos. Like the fae of the Above, the stars fall to the Vale, becoming part of our world forevermore.
When the tundra has become something new—a battlefield of fallen stars and hardened lava—I collapse to the ground, Ezryn, Dayton, and Farron beside me. I grab Dayton’s hand on one side and Farron’s on the other. They join hands with Ezryn until we lie in a circle, staring up at the sky.
A distinct navy meadow lies straight above us. A few stars still hang within that darkness. I squint. Yes, when I look at it from this angle, the stars seem to form an arrow.
I told you I’d bring the stars down for you.
96
Farron
The ground is slick beneath my feet, the frost on the strange,hardened lava making for difficult terrain. Sunlight beams down on the tundra, illuminating a place that no longer looks like Winter. I wonder if this is how Rosalina felt when she first came to the Enchanted Vale: a land reminiscent of home but isn’t.
It is the morning after Kel brought down the sky on Faustrius’s plot of vengeance. To carry something as sacred as fire from the Above, only to use it for revenge… I cannot imagine the holy magic of the Gardens of Ithilias was ever intended for an act so despicable. But as Sira and Faustrius have proven, fae of the Above are just as fallible as us mere Vale fae. Why, even Aurelia has made that clear.
A team of us came out early this morning to assess the fallout. George, Dayton, and I have spread out at the base of the volcano, while Kel, Ez, and Kairyn have climbed up to look within. Though Kairyn is still a prisoner and remains manacled, Keldarion said some physical exertion would be good for him.
The three of them are making their way down now, sliding across the slick surface of the newly formed rocks. Dayton andGeorge are examining one of the huge boulders. When Kel first brought it down from the Above, it was covered in ice, glowing with a celestial light. Now, most of the ice has melted where it connected with the lava, revealing stone.
George taps the rock. “Ore of the Above, isn’t it? This is valuable stuff. Isn’t this what Anya and the first rulers traversed across the Vale for? To make their divine weapons?”
Dayton scrunches his eyebrows. “I don’t think this is it. I’m sure Ez could tell you more, but this looks like plain old iron.”
“We could take some samples.” I walk over to them.
Dayton’s face hardens. He turns away, stalking off to another boulder. George gives me a sympathetic shrug, but I dart after Dayton.
