But Ven hadn’t reached her yet, and they were all still deep within the untamed lands, backed against the cave. Bayn positioned himself in front of Erian and Llor, protecting them, and she let him guard her children as she focused on the spirits, driving them back but losing ground.
Hurry, Ven.
The circle around them tightened as the untamed spirits advanced, and despite all her strength, her spirits began to die.
It felt like part of her was dying with them.
Chapter33
Daleina kept screaming at Merecot. “Stop! Merecot, you have to stop!”
Around them she heard the trees creak and crack. Leaves were falling faster, like rain, and coating the grove in a thick blanket of gold. Every breath felt wrong, and the air tasted sour. She couldn’t reach far enough to feel the damage throughout Aratay, but if it was here, it was everywhere—the spirits touched every piece of her land.And Semo.
“You’re killing both our countries!” Daleina shouted. “Stop! It’s not working!”
But Merecot’s eyes were vague, and her lips were curled into a smile. She was elsewhere, deep within the spirits.Why can’t she feel them dying?Even Daleina could sense it—the threads that linked Merecot to them were gray and frayed.
Daleina felt herself shoved aside. She stumbled, and Hamon caught her as she fell into the leaves. Dust billowed up from the too-dry earth beneath the leaves, and the leaves crinkled as they shriveled. Garnah had pushed past her and was kneeling beside Merecot. Reaching into her robes, she pulled out a vial and held it up to the light, checking its contents. It was thick and ruby-red, the viscous fluid clinging to the glass of the vial.
Yanking away from Hamon, Daleina lunged forward. “No!”
Garnah shook the vial, mixing the liquid until bubbles formed. “She must be stopped. You have to see that. This is the only way. This is why you asked me to come!”
She’d asked her in case Merecot betrayed her. But this wasn’t betrayal!
“I can’t watch another friend die,” Daleina cried. She’d lost so many. Linna, Mari, Revi, Iondra... all of them had died, so many of them here in this very grove. Their bodies were deep in the earth beneath the leaves. She couldn’t add another to their number. “There has to be another way!”
“Daleina.” Hamon’s voice was soft, gentle, a healer’s voice, her lover’s voice. “You have to let her go. With her death, the spirits will be released. Aratay will be saved.”
“And Semo,” Garnah added. “You’re letting two countries die out of sentiment.” She spat into the leaves and unstoppered the vial. “It will be quick, I promise you that.”
The spirits will be released...
“Thank you,” she said to Hamon, and she knocked the vial out of Garnah’s hand. Both mother and son watched, startled, as the vial shattered on the ground, and the poison spread into a puddle—Garnah would have more, but Daleina didn’t give her a chance to reach for it. She shoved her mind at the frayed threads connecting Merecot to the spirits.
And she severed them.
Thousands of spirits, unleashed at once.
Merecot hissed out air, and her eyes focused on Daleina. “What have you done?”
Around them, the spirits flew into the grove. They tunneled through the earth. Out of the corner of her eye, Daleina saw Garnah reach into her robe, pull out a new vial, and hurl it at the spirits. It exploded into sparks.
Hamon rushed to Daleina’s side, but was knocked back as an earth spirit burst through the ground in front of him. Daleina reached for the spirit’s mind to stop it, hold it—and Merecot slammed into her.
“You took them!” Merecot screamed, clawing at her.
“I saved you!” Daleina yelled back. She pushed against Merecot.
Merecot drew a dagger from within her robes. Daleina tried to send the commandChoose...But Merecot was striking at her, filled with as much fury as a spirit. “Listen to me!” Daleina cried, dodging. “The land was dying! Your plan was failing!”
Merecot was beyond listening. She was as consumed with the same rage as a spirit. As she hacked at Daleina, Daleina dodged as well as she could even as she reached for her own knife, the one that Ven always insisted she carry.
She fought back.
Merecot was swinging wildly—she was untrained. But Daleina had been trained by the best champion alive. Kicking, dodging, twisting, and striking, she used what Ven had taught her as both Merecot and the spirits attacked her.
Choose, she thought at the spirits. But she couldn’t hold on to the thought, not with Merecot striking at her and the spirits diving for her. Caught in the swirl of spirits, she couldn’t see Hamon and Garnah.
