Heir of Pendel (A Pandoran Novel, #4) (72 page)

Eris's eyes narrowed and he turned away from me to face Alex. "I know that sword." Eris moved in a blur of grey, much faster than humanly possible, and stood right before Alex. Alex barely had time to react, just managing to block Eris as Eris brought his own sword down upon him. Their swords crossed in an
X
, Alex's sword flaming brilliantly. Eris yelled, and in another blur of motion, he appeared behind Alex. Alex spun just in time to thwart Eris's blow.

A dozen more shadowguard streamed in through the main doors, engaging Thad, Vera, and Ehren in battle.

I had to do something. I had to do something before this ended as my vision had predicted, before Eris killed Alex. I could send a spell at Eris, but he and Alex were moving too fast. I might hit Alex instead.

Alex cried out and his pain shot through me. Eris had sliced Alex's thigh and Alex limped. Eris attacked again, and Alex barely fended him off, and then Eris punched Alex's arm—his bad arm. His pain torched my body as he keeled over, heaving and straining. Eris punched Alex in the face, and he reeled back, barely catching his footing. He righted himself and wiped blood from his nose.

"So this is the great Alexander Del Conte?" Eris laughed. "It's almost too easy! I must admit I'm disappointed."

Alex yelled and charged Eris, but Eris vanished and reappeared behind Alex and elbowed him in the back. Alex collapsed to the ground and Flamebearer ricocheted away from him, spinning on the ground in a pinwheel of flames. Was this the choice I was supposed to make? Was I supposed to help my uncle so those I loved wouldn't die at his hand?

"Stop!" I screamed. "I'll help you…I'll do anything you ask, I swear! Just…stop!"

"This is familiar, isn't it?" Eris walked in a slow, predatory circle around Alex, who crouched on all fours, his back sagging between his shoulder blades as he heaved, blood draining from his leg. His face was so, so pale. "I seem to remember another instance, not very long ago, when Daria swore to do anything I asked just so that I might spare you. And I believe we all remember how that turned out."

"Please!" I cried, still fighting against the shadowguard holding me. "Just…stop…"

Eris paused before Alex. "Look at you. The last of the great Estroians, brought to his knees just like the first because he is too weak. You are all too weak, and that is why you lose." He grabbed Alex's hair and jerked his head back. "Where is your precious Gaia now?" Eris sneered. "Once again standing aside and doing nothing while her most devoted servant dies for her?"

Alex spat blood in Eris's face. Eris's face flashed with that ghoulish nightmare, and he shoved Alex on the ground. He grabbed Alex's bad arm and pulled it back too hard and too far, and Alex cried out.

A greater explosion came from above, sounding as if the sky were ripping apart. And then a great black mass moved down from the clouds, swallowing the light as it descended.

Mortis.

The air crackled and hummed as the shape up above swelled, growing larger as it consumed the air and swirling dark clouds around it, as if it were stretching from its long and cramped captivity. Dark shapes moved out of it, falling, flying, dropping, catching fire and raining down on the earth. Something like thunder rumbled like a bass drum, but it did not stop. It kept rumbling and the earth trembled as though cowering in its wake.

And I felt…cold. Cold and terror, as if this giant mass above were sucking every bit of hope and warmth from my body. As if Mortis were consuming my purpose, my will—feeding on it, and in doing so, Mortis grew stronger. I noticed Thad and Vera and Ehren had slowed in their individual battles against the shadowguard. They felt it, too. Mortis smothered their desire to fight, stealing their drive to live. He was too much. We could never overcome a power like Mortis, and somehow my uncle had brought him through. He had actually freed Mortis, and now he wielded the power of a god.

"He is free," Eris said with terrible joy. "He is free and he is coming and there is no stopping us now."

Thad and Vera and Ehren were still in their own battles with shadowguard at the other end of the room. Vera was on her knees, staggering back to her feet, but her movements had no life to them. They were sluggish and sloppy, and she didn't seem to care. I could feel the warmth leaving her, too, and Thad and Ehren. They all struggled against battles on the inside which made it almost impossible for them to fight their battles on the outside. Alex wasn't immune, either, and though his strength waned from his duel with my uncle, his life force grew dimmer, colder. Helpless. He was losing his will to fight back, his need to go on. He was slowly and steadily giving himself up to the power looming above us, coming closer and closer.

We were all going to die here, and Mortis would continue consuming the resistance in this world while my uncle grew unstoppable. Gaia had warned me this would happen, and now I stood watching it come to fruition. I hadn't been prepared for it. I had failed. Those in this room I loved would die, and certain death would come to those on the battlefield, including Mercedes and Tran and Fleck and…

Fleck.

His Sight. He had been right. He hadn't been able to See Gaia's future, because Gaia wouldn't exist, which meant…

A chill trembled through my body as a million things clicked into place.

You are the only one who truly understands the choice before you,
the voices in my vision had said.
You are the only one with the knowledge and the heart to make the right decision, and you must be prepared for it or all you see now will come to pass.

I thought over all that had happened to me since my coming to this world. The strength of my magic, and, through the gift of the Draconi, the tie I had with this world. The intrinsic knowledge I'd been given, knowledge my uncle had been after since my birth: the knowledge of how to wield the power of the shield. I'd thought he'd been mistaken, that I knew no such thing, but now I felt that power deep in my bones, like some skill long forgotten. My nerves thrummed with the knowledge that I knew exactly how to tap into it and bend it to my will. Only I wouldn't use that knowledge to wield power and take over this world, like my uncle was doing. I would use it, as Gaia had always intended me to use it, to wield the power in order to destroy the shield forever, which would also destroy her world.

That was why Nexus had been silent. He'd realized that in order to save the people of both worlds, I would need to destroy this world—to contain Mortis. Nexus had understood, since he was tied to Gaia's will, that I would be destroying his home and what that might mean for him. Would the dragons be able to flee to Earth? Would any of the magical creatures that existed only on Gaia be able to exist on Earth? I had no way of knowing. How could I choose this? How could I choose to destroy an
entire world
—the home of thousands upon thousands of people and creatures? And even though I'd been at odds with this magnificent and terrifying world ever since walking through the portal to Valdon, that didn't mean I wanted it gone…forever. So much history and magic and people and cultures, built upon generation after generation—who was I to wipe that out forever? Who was I to tear it all apart?

And what about Alex and Vera and Thad? If I did this, would they make it out of here? I had no idea, and my heart ached when I thought of what this might mean for them and for everyone else I cared about in this world. But seeing the great and terrible power above grow before my very eyes, and the way he was already destroying the free will of man, no one would survive on Gaia or on Earth if I let Mortis reach any further.

I
had
to do it. It was the only way to contain Mortis. I had to believe the people of Gaia had had enough warning and that they'd make it to Earth in time. I had to pray Alex and Vera and Thad might have a chance to get out of here, but this had to be done. If not, Eris would use Mortis's power to destroy them anyway, because they weren't fighting back. Mortis was paralyzing them.

I reached down inside of myself, drawing every ounce of warmth into a hot ball inside of me. I strained and pushed, and the ball grew hotter and hotter—so hot I was sweating—and when I finally couldn't stand the heat anymore, I let it explode out of my body. The light threw back the guards holding on to me, and I sprinted for the shield. My legs felt like lead as I ran, my breath labored and ragged. That magic had cost me a great deal of my energy, and I needed all the energy I could muster to do this very last thing.

The ground shook again, more violently this time, followed by a sonic boom. Large chunks of ceiling broke off and crashed upon the marble floor, and the oily black mass above came closer…or larger. I couldn't tell, but it was probably both. The sky filled with terrible, keening wails and thundering vibrations. I stumbled but kept lumbering toward the shield. The earth shook again and a chunk of ceiling fell, knocking me down.

I groaned, rolling onto my stomach, when I saw Eris raise his sword over Alex in preparation for the killing blow. Alex didn't even lift his head. He'd given up.

My world slowed to a stop, Eris's sword raised high. Vera and Thad and Ehren each stumbled through debris, noting Alex with horror-stricken faces.

"I'm sorry, Alex," I said to myself, tears streaming down my face. Because I didn't know if I would survive, because I didn't know if he or any of them would survive. And then I threw a quick prayer to Gaia, "Please…if you're still there…all I ask is that you get them out of here safely." With a yell, I shoved myself up on my elbows and launched myself at the shield.

I collided with the shield. The pain was immediate and blinding, and as if my entire body had been thrown into an inferno. I yelled and screamed as I pushed, throwing all my weight against the shield, but it would not move. It just hovered there, as if it had been welded to the air. The edges of my vision darkened from both pain and weakness. The shield's power burned through me, overwhelming and terrible and beautiful, pushing me away and pulling me close, threatening to rip me apart. It was too much power for my little body to channel, and it was burning me from the inside out.

The power of the shield consumed me. I reached for it, but it slipped through my fingers, pushing me back, fighting me, refusing to bend to my will. My insides burned hotter and hotter, and when I tried pushing it away to protect myself, the power of the shield only held on to me tighter. It would kill me before I even tried wielding it.

But I had to be able to do it. I knew I could. And Fleck had Seen the end of this world, so it was possible. I couldn’t give up yet. My teeth ground and my temple wrenched as I strained to push back, as I strained to get a grip on the force before it crushed me within. The fire burned hotter, and just when I thought I had failed, just when the fire had finally grown too hot and that the power of the shield was going to burn me up, it stopped fighting me. It slid around me and through me like cool water, seeping into my pores, lending me strength instead of fire. And I felt alive.

Eris's horror shot through me.

"No!" Eris screamed.

Power moved through my veins. I felt every pulse of my blood and I heard every beat of my heart, but it didn't stop there. I felt every beat of every heart around me—Alex's and Vera's and Thad's and Ehren's. Their concern for one another—for me. Their awe and surprise and hope ignited. My senses were acutely aware of each element, not just in my periphery, but beyond. I heard the cracks splitting in the walls of the castle, the ground, the dome up above. I saw each tiny speck of ash as it fluttered so slowly from sky to ground, and I felt the fear of each man on the battlefield. Above, the spirits of the dragons burned like bonfires, and far below I sensed another life. A flickering and broken life. Nexus.

Heat and fear and awe and darkness pulsed above from the clouds up above. Mortis drew closer. I felt his hate and his rage at what I was about to do. He came faster now, faster so that he could stop me.

A thunderous boom wracked the skies, his fury unleashed, but I did not let myself focus there. My focus was only on the shield, because I had to use this power to destroy it before it was too late. I redirected the force of the magic back to the shield, sliding it over the surface, over each and every engraved scene, moving around the flames and through the cool water, over and under rock and sky, feeling every rise and fall of Gaia's craftsmanship as if I were holding her world in my hands. I poured every ounce of energy I had into those fragments, more and more and more, condensing it all there at its heart, right inside of the unity stone. The stone grew so bright I shut my eyes, and when I finally emptied myself of all my magic, I focused all my attention on pulling the fragments apart.

But the shield fought back. It held on to my magic with all its might, refusing to let go, refusing to break. Trying to break me instead. But I kept pulling. Harder and harder as sweat dripped into my eyes. My consciousness faded, and I knew I wouldn't be able to pull much longer. I'd already given too much of myself.

Don't let go,
Nexus whispered in my mind.

At the sound of Nexus's voice, my will strengthened.

This is what you were made to do, my little petulant one. You have the power inside of you.

Did I? My body felt as if it were being ripped in half. I pulled and I pulled, but I couldn't pull hard enough. The power of the shield began slipping out of reach.

A new power surged through my blood, lending strength to my body, intensifying my resolve. It pumped through my heart, my veins, clamping down on the power of the shield and holding it tight. Nexus was helping me. Nexus was dying on the bottom of a cliff, and he was using the last vestiges of his life to lend me the strength to destroy this world, our home.

Don't let go…

His voice was already fading.

I pulled harder and the shield strained. Tears streamed down my face, and with one final scream, I jerked.

Another sonic burst exploded from the shield in rings of light and air, like an exploding star, throwing me and everyone else to the ground. I coughed and wheezed, too tired to move, but I had to see. I needed to know if Nexus and I had succeeded. I raised my head to look back to where the shield had been, but it no longer hovered there. Instead, thousands of golden fragments rained upon the marble floor. I had done it, with Nexus's help. We had destroyed the shield, and by the blaring inhuman cries from the dark mass up above, Mortis had realized it, too. Hopefully Alex and the others would have enough time to get out of here before this world fell apart. At least their warmth had returned—their wills—and the people of Earth would be safe, now.