All's Fairy in Love and War (Avalon: Web of Magic #8) (13 page)

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VERWHELMING DARKNESS SWALLOWED
Kara, Starfire, and Goldie as they tumbled, free-falling out of the mirror until they finally landed.

Kara eased herself down from Starfire and gripped the horse’s fiery flank to keep herself from pitching forward. The floor tilted steeply, making a screeching sound like rusted metal. “Where are we?” she asked.

“Dwarf mines,”
Starfire said, tottering precariously backward as Kara peered over the edge.

They had landed in some sort of mining car. Beneath the car, jewel light bounced off steel tracks that dropped into complete blackness. Kara gingerly took a half-step forward and confirmed her fear—they were precariously perched on the tip of a terrifying drop.

“Nobody move!” Kara ordered.

Everyone froze as the car teetered forward and back.

“Affg…” Goldie slapped her feet to her mouth.

“Goldie!” Kara hissed.

“Ahhh…” The d-fly’s cheeks puffed out.

Kara put her finger under Goldie’s nose and the mini relaxed.

“Whew.” They all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Ah-
CHOOOIE!”

The car tilted back, lurched forward and plunged straight down into the black, dropping like a runaway roller coaster.

“Ahh!”

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

“Neighhhhh!”

Kara’s stomach rolled over as the car plummeted through blinding gloom. She clung to Starfire as Goldie clung to her.

Streaks of red and diamond white reflected off silvery tunnel walls as the car swung wildly around a bend, then dropped again, whisking them farther down.

“Where’s the breaks?” Kara screamed, grabbing the edge of the car, her knuckles white.

The car veered up and around sharp corners, swinging Kara and crew back and forth, finally lurching to a sudden stop at the cavern floor.

“Watch that first step.” Kara staggered to her feet and clambered out.

Starfire leaped out and sniffed the air.

The trio gazed in awe at an immense underground grotto. Pools of silvery liquid cast steely shadows upon the high walls soaring above them. Some pools lay still, but sudden violent currents churned others, swirling the smooth surfaces.

“Quicksilver,”
Starfire warned. “
It’s very volatile.”

“Quicksilver?” Kara flashed on Lyra, melting in the goblin laboratory. Looking at her own distorted reflection in a silver pool, her throat ached. Something wasn’t adding up. Lorren’s question echoed in her mind—Tangoo was a sorcerer who worked with quicksilver to make mirrors. Why couldn’t he help Lyra?

The quicksilver sizzled and popped, exploding in a frothing mass of bubbling liquid. Kara backed away and ran her hands over Starfire’s flaming hide. She could sense the horse’s fatigue. “How are you doing?”

“I am still here,”
the horse snorted.

Kara glanced at the silver pack, glowing on her back. “We have two talismans. Let’s use one to increase your magic.”

“No,”
Starfire said sternly. “
We need them to attract the power crystal.”

Kara bit her lip. She steeled herself and surveyed the area. “Where to?”

Goldie sprang into the air, pointing like a little retriever.

On the far side of the cavern, a corridor disappeared into darkness.

“Let’s go,”
the stallion said. Kara was already swinging onto his back.

Starfire carefully threaded his way through the bubbling quicksilver. The silvery liquid rippled toward the stallion’s hooves, drawn by his powerful magic and the blazing star that rode him.

Leaping over the final pool, Starfire trotted into the dark corridor. Feeling her jewel pulse, Kara slowly released a tendril of magic from her fingers, watching it snake forth.

Starfire snorted anxiously. “
There is strong earth magic ahead.”

“I can feel it pulling at my magic,” Kara’s voice echoed down the dark passage.

The unicorn gem illuminated shimmering walls leading deep into the mines. Rounding a bend, the corridor split in two directions.

“It’s a giant maze!” Kara realized.

The wall behind them trembled. With a roar like thunder, a section of it detached and shot toward them.

“Look out!” Kara screamed.

Starfire jumped just before the slab of rock slammed against the opposite side. Doubling back was no longer an option.

“That way.” Kara held her jewel, feeling the pull of the magic.

A section of maze in front of them shuddered and disappeared as if the earth had swallowed it whole, opening up an entirely different path. Another wall sprang up beside them, turning them down the left corridor.

Goldie fluttered overhead, trying to survey the maze from above. But the little dragon was getting confused as walls opened and closed, hiding the correct way to the maze’s center.

Before they knew it, they had lost all sense of direction.

“This is worse than the time we couldn’t find the pretzel kiosk at the Galleria,”
Starfire said, picking up on another of Kara’s memories.

They stopped as one corridor forked out on either side of them.

There must be a way to navigate this moving maze, Kara thought. Her unicorn jewel could light up sections of the corridors, but they’d have to waste time exploring every dead end if they relied on light. Kara considered the other tools at hand. The bunny slippers wouldn’t do much here, but what about the harp?

Reaching into the pack, Kara removed the instrument and plucked a few notes. The chorus of “Supernatural High” reverberated in the passage to her right, dramatically amplified. But the passage to her left seemed to swallow the music, leaving only a faint echoing.

“The passage to the right is a dead end,” Kara announced. “The sound bounces right off a wall and makes it louder.”

“But to the left is a long tunnel, making the music echo,”
Starfire concluded.

The stallion stepped into the left tunnel. A long passage stretched before them, and they advanced quickly until they came to another fork in the shifting maze. Kara strummed the harp. Following the echoes, they made swift progress, but walls were moving more rapidly as they traveled deeper into the mountain.

“We’re getting close.” Power snaked through Kara’s senses, a tingling presence along her skin.

Rounding a curving wall, they found themselves suddenly standing at the edge of a giant bubbling pool.

“Quicksilver,” Kara gasped. If she didn’t succeed, Lyra would melt away into a puddle just like this. And she would lose her best friend forever.

“Magic,” Goldie said.

As each bubble broke the surface, twinkles of bright magic were released into the air.

Kara closed her eyes and concentrated. Raising her hands, she sent silky tendrils of fire from her fingertips.

What was she supposed to make this time? She tried to focus but all she could see were Lyra’s beautiful green cat eyes.

Goldie hugged her neck.

“Thanks, Goldie.”

“Look.” The d-fly pointed.

Floating above the pool was a pulsing silver heart. The glistening heart turned slowly, reflecting twinkles of light around the dark walls.

“The heart of the magic,”
Starfire said quietly.

Goldie flapped, pointing to the bright mirror on the other side. Behind them the sound of sliding stone closed in.

“Okay, Starfire, let’s do it.”

The stallion backed up a few steps, then took a running leap. Soaring over the pool, Kara reached out and grasped the gleaming heart as they plunged through the mirror

Crisp air lifted her hair and sent flames licking from Starfire. A dark and foreboding forest surrounded them, deep woods where the sunlight could not penetrate and all was cloaked in shadow.

A bolt of jagged lightning seared across an ominous sky.

Kara’s pack now contained three talismans of elemental magic, symbolizing water, air, and earth—which meant the last one had to be fire. But in a forest?

She felt a tremor run through Starfire as howls erupted from the trees.

“
Something comes.”
Starfire shifted, ready to run.

Kara’s jewel burned hot against her chest. Something itched along her arms, a darkness clawing at her, turning her stomach.

“We will outrun them.”
With his fiery legs still protected by Kara’s diamond magic, the stallion took off at a gallop. Twigs and leaves flew as his hooves pounded the earth.

Kara bent low, intent on one thing: finding the fire talisman. Holding her jewel high, magic streamed behind them.

Everything was a mass of shadows and mist as the woodlands rushed past. Kara leaned forward, Goldie clutched close. She watched the timber begin to thicken steadily around them as they charged through leaf-strewn gullies, leaping over deep hollows and log jammed ravines.

Suddenly, Kara was jolted forward, nearly knocked off, as Starfire reared and spun. Flashes of black fur and snarling teeth were all Kara saw as the horse erupted in flames. Something huge had lunged into their path, sideswiping the stallion. The ridge-backed beast stood upright like a man, with a long, spiked tail keeping it balanced. Massive claws on long fingers flailed as it sprang forward on powerful legs. Kara’s jewel blasted diamond light, throwing the beast back as Starfire charged forward.

Three more of the things leaped from behind trees, trying to bring down the stallion.

“Are you okay?” Kara cried, watching fire trail behind them in long tendrils.

“Yes, hang on!”
Starfire barreled between two beasts, knocking them apart.

Before them lay a twisting path of glowing purple trees arcing through the forest.

“They must be markers,” Kara exclaimed. “Follow them!”

Starfire galloped onto a wide path laid out like a bright racecourse. As he passed each purple tree, their trunks and branches flashed and glimmered back to green, illuminating the whole forest with an eerie emerald glow.

They were far from safe—more and more creatures were joining the race, closing in from all sides. There were packs of scaly lizards and dozens of snarling wolf-like creatures, all charging after them.

Two lizards blocked the stallion’s path, heedless of Starfire’s flaming hide. But the stallion leaped high, trailing fire over their howling fury.

Starfire staggered as he hit the ground, stumbling, unable to stop Kara from pitching forward. She watched in horror as Starfire lost all form, erupting into pure flame, then sprang instantly back to his horse shape. Fear ripped through her. Starfire was fading fast.

“Hang on, Starfire!” she cried. She could feel his magic depleting as if it were her own. The spell that Tangoo had used to create him had an expiration date; it was never designed to last. Now, whatever magic he had left, he was giving to Kara in a last desperate race to save the Fairy Realms.

Starfire plunged through towering oaks and elms that surged from the ground like massive spears. And still the creatures came after them.

Kara saw the line of purple trees end a short distance ahead, seeming to lead into a wide clearing. “We’re almost there!” she shouted.

They shot through the last line of trees like a blazing comet, streaking full force onto the field.

Behind them they heard the rush of mighty winds as the forest gave up its magic. Spirals of golden magic surged from the trees and launched into the field, drawn to the fire stallion and rider. Kara pulled Starfire in a tight circle.

She reached out, firing shafts of light from her fingers. She only had seconds to create the talisman.

“We are fire!”
Starfire filled her with power.

“There it is!” Kara cried. A brilliant golden stone, sparkling with the magic of sun fire flew toward them.

Urging the horse forward, Kara sent her magic to ensnare the last talisman. The golden sunstone gushed light as she jammed it into the bag with the other talismans. The bag billowed, the elemental magic binding together in a storm of dazzling power.

“Go, go, go!”

Streaming magic, the stallion raced forward.

“Where’s the last mirror?” Kara cried to Starfire and Goldie, wind whipping her hair into her eyes. She scanned the area. Deep woods lay to the right, left, and behind her. Ahead lay a vast, open plain with rolling hills. Then something sparkled over the next hill, reflecting sunlight. “There!”

Despite the intense power surrounding the trio, Starfire was slowing down. Fearfully, Kara glanced behind them. The pack of beasts had broken from the woods and was gaining on them.

“Starfire, take the magic!” she screamed, pushing the bag of talismans against his fiery hide. “Use it for yourself!”

The horse ignored her. Head lowered, he pushed faster, shimmering in and out of shape.

Kara felt it before she saw it. The air above her rented, splitting open with a jagged tear. An incredible glittering jewel of blues and greens skimmed behind her just out of reach, gliding on the air streams of elemental magic.

The power crystal! The talismans had done what they were supposed to, attracted the power crystal of Avalon.

Behind them, the horde of beasts closed in, howling and roaring, driven mad with the desire for magic.