Liberator (25 page)

As Mallerin flew close to Arxad’s cave, she dropped Jason off in front of the entrance, then swerved to avoid it. Hitting the ground running, Jason let his momentum carry him inside. A lantern sat on a tabletop, creating a pair of silhouettes on the table’s surface in the shape of a human and a dragon.

Jason dashed to the table and held out his hands. The radiance lit up the surrounding faces — Elyssa and Fellina. “Quick!” Jason shouted. “There’s a container in my trousers pocket. Get it out!”

“The crucible?” Elyssa yanked it from his pocket and set it on the table. Jason balanced the ball on top.

“Stories later!” Jason blew on one hand while pulling the cloth from his tunic pocket. He laid it out on the table and peeled the sticky material from the finger. “Now you should have all the ingredients. When you make the medicine, bring it to the Zodiac. My father and brother are in mortal combat, so I have to go.”

When he turned to leave, Elyssa grabbed his wrist. “Tibber is dead.”

Jason stared at her. A huge lump swelled in his throat.

“Tibber? Dead?”

Her lips trembling, she nodded. “He died a hero.” Her voice pitched higher. “He saved Fellina’s life.”

Jason looked at Fellina. With his throat so tight, he couldn’t squeeze out a word.

“It is true,” Fellina said. “Magnar would not let me join the battle because of my open wound, but Elyssa has stitched me quite well, so I will now fight in Tibalt’s name.”

Jason swallowed, loosening his throat. “So where is his body?”

“Don’t worry. We have someone guarding him.” Elyssa pulled Jason into her arms and whispered into his ear. “Don’t forget our promise. We all go home together, dead or alive. And you know what to do with the medallion.”

Heat from her medallion radiated across his skin and into the recent incision. Warmth flowed, similar to the warmth Cassabrie brought when she dwelt within. Yet this sensation was fuller, more luxuriant, a message of love and healing. Every ache and pain in his body eased.

He pulled back, keeping a hold on her hand. “I will honor the promise, and that medallion will be around your neck when I walk down the wedding aisle.”

Tears welling, Elyssa kissed him on the cheek and stepped back. “Go get ‘em, warrior!”

Jason spun in place and ran from the cave, his sword again slapping his leg. The sounds of battle rolled down the rise—grunts, growls, screams, and clashing of metal on scales. In a matter of moments, he would be battling for his life and for the lives of his family and newfound friends.

Drawing his sword, he continued running.
And that’s exactly what I came here to do.

K
oren stared at the open ceiling. Surely Taushin would show up soon. Even if Fellina was badly hurt, what could Taushin and Mallerin do to help her? Bring her to the Zodiac? She looked at Randall, still unconscious at her side. If only he would wake up and show some sign that he wasn’t near death. At least she wouldn’t worry about him so much.

She shifted her gaze to the hidden door Jason and Deference had gone through. Deference should have returned by now. Only she could bring the key, but she had to wait for Taushin to arrive first. Once he was convinced that Jason had escaped on his own, Deference could slip the key to her. But when would everyone show up? With all the terrible noises outside, maybe it would take a long time.

A light glimmered above. High in the sky, Exodus descended.

Koren rose to her knees. Taushin wasn’t here yet to hatch his plan. Maybe she could secretly warn Cassabrie before he arrived.

Her heart pounding, she looked again at Exodus. The star flew straight toward the dome room. Inside, Cassabrie shoved frantically against the wall to her right, as if trying to redirect its course.

As Exodus continued downward, the Reflections Crystal pulsed wildly. A shaft of light shot out from the sphere and attached to the star, like a radiant spear stabbing a flying dragon. As if pulled by the beam, Exodus drew closer and closer. Cassabrie pounded on the star’s back wall but to no avail. Finally, Exodus rested on top of the crystal, wobbling for a moment before settling in a perfectly balanced position, a large sphere atop a smaller one.

The Reflections Crystal slowly grew brighter, while Exodus dimmed at the same rate. Cassabrie fell to her knees and covered the connection point with her hands, white radiance streaming from her eyes. “Don’t drain the star!” she shouted. “I need its energy!”

Koren lunged, but the chains held fast. “Cassabrie! Is there any way I can help?”

“Koren?” Cassabrie stared at her. “Are you all right?”

She jerked at a chain. “I’m trapped.”

Cassabrie’s eyebeams penetrated the star’s membrane and washed across Koren’s face. “Who put you in chains?”

“I did it myself to fool Taushin, but I have access to a key.” Koren shouted toward the hidden door. “Deference! Where are you?”

“Deference is here?” Cassabrie shook her head and refocused on the connection point between the two spheres. “Never mind. I need some kind of plug to stop Exodus from draining into the Reflections Crystal. Long ago, the crystal was beneath the floor of the star chamber in the Northlands, so there were rocks between it and Exodus. That barrier made the energy drainage too slow to notice.”

“What do you need? A rock? A board?”

“Almost anything solid.” Cassabrie jumped up and threw herself against the inner wall. Exodus vibrated slightly but didn’t budge. Cassabrie slid on her back down to the star’s floor and sighed. “If you have any ideas, I’m listening. Once Exodus is drained, it will die, and I will die with it.”

Koren jerked both chains as hard as she could. The links rang, but the manacles just tore at her wrists. The hooks embedded in the floor creaked but wouldn’t give way. The granite tiles were too strong. “I’m so sorry, Cassabrie. I did this so Jason could get away. I thought I would have access to the key, but Deference isn’t here to get it for me.”

“How strange that I didn’t know this.” Cassabrie knelt again at the connection point and touched the inner membrane. “Maybe the Reflections Crystal is not allowing the events in here to reach me. It seems to absorb various kinds of energy, so the tales are not exiting this room.”

Koren rose to her knees and leaned as close as she could. With Exodus taking up half of the dome room, the outer wall was only a few paces away. “Taushin probably knows you can’t see what he’s been plotting here. He
wants to trap you and use you to heal the slaves. I think he wants to influence you to give him parts of your body.”

Cassabrie furrowed her brow. “Parts of my body? What makes you think Taushin wants that?”

“To make more medicine to heal the slaves. He thinks I will give myself over to him if more than half the slaves are healed. He wants me to be his eyes.”

Cassabrie shoved the wall with her hands to no avail. “Well, it seems that the trap has already been sprung, but don’t fool yourself. He has no desire to use my body parts to help the slaves. He simply wants vision and power, and he is skillfully filling your ears with lies and guiding events in hopes that one of us will be persuaded to give in.”

“His schemes will fail. I won’t be persuaded.”

Cassabrie’s pained expression returned. “Are you listening to yourself? You put your own wrists in manacles! Koren, how many more times are you going to enslave yourself? You think you won’t be persuaded to join the darkness, but your bonds say otherwise.”

Koren jerked a chain again, but the effort brought only more pain. “I provided for a key. It’s just not here yet. My reason for locking myself in this room was to explain Jason’s escape and to be sure I could warn you about Taushin’s plot.”

“I appreciate your loving motivations, but don’t expect to outwit a master deceiver by playing his game.” Cassabrie nodded toward the exit doorway. “Taushin knows Jason is free, and he has not come here to see how or why he escaped. He has thrown a net over you by giving you the idea that he wants to hurt me. Even if you were not in
chains, he knows you would not leave. He is using your love against you. Such is his devilry.”

Koren shook her chains. “Then all of this was a waste!”

“Not necessarily.” Cassabrie’s voice weakened to a whisper. “Your confinement might be just what I need.”

“What
you
need? How?”

Cassabrie laid herself down in a curl, her eyes still on Koren. “When mercy is offered to the many, and the one who is supposed to deliver it fails to act, we never know when or if another offer will come. Invitations are precious.” She closed her eyes and said no more.

“Cassabrie!” Koren lunged, but the chains again held her in place. “What do you mean? Am I supposed to deliver the mercy? How can I do it while in chains?”

Koren closed her eyes and slapped her hand against the floor. How much more frustrating could it get? She locked herself here to warn and protect Cassabrie, and now Cassabrie was dying and the chains and manacles kept her from helping at all.

“Koren?”

Koren looked toward the voice. “Yes?”

Deference appeared at the doorway to the main entry corridor. “I’m here. Sorry about the delay. Jason needed me, and it took longer to crawl along the wall than I thought it would.”

“Do you have the key?”

As Deference approached, she pointed at the hidden door. “It’s still where Jason hid it. I’ll get it now.”

“No. Wait.” Koren nodded toward at the trunk. “The lid to that trunk is loose. Can you move it?”

Deference glided to the trunk and set her fingers under the lid. “A little at a time, I think. It has to be lighter than Randall.”

“We don’t have much time. Cassabrie is dying. Someone has to push the lid between Exodus and the Reflections Crystal, or maybe even knock Exodus away.”

“I’ll try,” Deference said, “but the crystal draws me toward it. I think it might swallow me if I get too close.” As she stood in place, she slowly faded away.

“No! I don’t want it to swallow you.”

“But if Cassabrie is dying—”

“Randall!” Koren elbowed him in the ribs. “If you can hear me, we need you now!”

He fell to the side again. This time Koren caught him and bit his ear as hard as she could.

“Augh!” Randall shot up and banged his head against Koren’s chin. He climbed to his feet and swayed in place while rubbing his ear. “What’s going on?”

Koren pointed at the trunk. “Get the lid and shove it between Exodus and the crystal!”

Randall looked at the trunk then at Cassabrie. “Why is she —”

“Don’t ask questions! Just do it!”

Randall lumbered over to the trunk, grabbed the lid with both hands, then, looking like he might tip over at any second, shuffled toward Exodus. Just before he reached it, he toppled forward. The lid flew from his grasp. His face smacked the floor, and the lid leaned against the Reflection’s Crystal. Exodus vibrated, rousing Cassabrie.

“Randall!” Koren screamed. “Are you all right?”

Randall lay quiet and motionless.

Groaning, Cassabrie pushed up to all fours. “So weak! I can barely breathe.”

“Cassabrie!” Koren shouted. “Hurry and tell me what to do. You said something about me delivering mercy.”

“There is something.” Cassabrie climbed slowly to her feet. Teetering while standing, she looked at Koren. “Do you have the control box I asked Magnar to give you?”

Koren touched her pocket where the box lay. “Yes.”

“Good.” Her cloak streaming behind her as if blown by the winds, Cassabrie withdrew a tube from an inner pocket and clutched it against her chest. “I am ready. Push the button.”

“Push the button?” Koren jerked the control box from her pocket and laid it on the floor next to her hip. “That tube will destroy you! I’ve seen what it can do.”

“It’s the only way, Koren. I am the mercy cure. I know you heard the prophecy:

“A liberator comes on high With mercy streaming from her eyes.

The slaves must take her blood and bone And plant within this mercy sown.”

Koren rubbed her thumb and finger together. “But I thought we could just take stardrop material and combine it with your —”

“My blood and bone. I know.” Cassabrie’s voice grew weaker again. “But it won’t work. First, the medicine must be swallowed. Second, mercy is the missing ingredient. I ingested that, and now all the components are in place.”

“The flower petal?”

Cassabrie nodded. “Now push the button and release the cure before the crystal once again drains my energy.”

Her throat cramping terribly, Koren picked up the box and laid it in her lap. How could she —

“No! Don’t kill her!” A flash of light streaked toward the center of the dome room. Deference picked up the trunk lid and shoved it between Exodus and the Reflections Crystal. The lid wedged in place, but before Deference could turn, her radiant body stretched out. Like a slurping beast, the crystal sucked her in, and she disappeared.

“Deference!” Koren lunged once more, but the manacles bit her wrists hard and held her fast. Her wrists now bleeding, Koren covered her face and wept. “Oh, Deference! Poor Deference! It’s all my fault!”

“She has given us more time,” Cassabrie said.

Koren looked between her fingers. Cassabrie knelt, again touching the connection point. “It’s draining very slowly now. Almost imperceptible.”

A shadow passed across the floor, then another. Two dragons flew in—Mallerin followed by Taushin. Blood dripped from Mallerin’s cheek and from Taushin’s underbelly, though neither wound looked life threatening.

Koren grabbed the control box, slid it behind her, and covered it with her cloak, careful to avoid the button. Cassabrie rose to her feet and looked on, her arms crossed loosely, apparently unalarmed at Taushin’s presence.

The two dragons landed on the run between the crystal and Koren, both stomping on Randall as they slowed. “Scan the room,” Taushin ordered, his eyebeams set on Mallerin.

The she-dragon cast her gaze around the perimeter. When her eyes met Koren’s, Taushin shouted, “Stop!”

“I’m glad to see you.” Koren gave him a painful smile. “Did you rescue Fellina?”

“You tell your tale first.” Taushin shuffled closer. “I see much has happened since I departed.”

“Well …” The pain in Koren’s gut suddenly spiked, and her cheeks flushed hot. “Cassabrie came. I think the Reflections Crystal drew her here.”

“Yes, I know that. Even a blind dragon can solve simple puzzles.” Taushin’s eyebeams flashed bright blue. “When you answer my questions, speak directly to the Reflections Crystal.”

“Okay.” Koren nodded.

He flared a wing toward Randall. “Did that Darksphere warrior hit you?”

“No,” Koren said, projecting her voice toward the center of the room. “Someone who was with him hit me. Randall is the only one who stayed. The disease kept him from leaving.”

The crystal flashed brighter than ever, then continued pulsing as it slowly drained Exodus. Taushin’s smile made it clear that he saw the flash through Mallerin’s eyes. “Where is the key to your bonds?”

“I don’t know. He took it with him.”

Again the crystal flashed briefly.

“He? Jason?”

“Yes.”

The crystal brightened again. “How remarkable.” Taushin smiled, baring several teeth. “The one you took a fancy to has bloodied your
head, enchained your wrists, and left you behind. It seems that you have become a pariah in his sight.”

Koren hid a gulp. That was the exact word she had used to describe herself. How could Taushin know?

He turned his beams on Koren’s chest. “Mother, leave before these Starlighters hypnotize you, and take the Darksphere human with you.”

Mallerin growled. “Leave you again? But—”

“Just do as I say. I need you to keep Fellina and Xenith out of the battle. I can find my way to the top of the portico, so if you see me there, come to my aid.”

Her brow bending, Mallerin launched into the air, snatching up Randall with her back claws as she rose. Seconds later, she flew over the Zodiac’s wall and disappeared. Cassabrie watched her leave, apparently making no effort to use her gifts to rescue Randall.

“Now you will submit to me.” Taushin shifted his beams to Koren’s eyes.

She clenched them shut and swung her head away. “No! You can’t! I won’t let you!”

“You will if you love your fellow slaves.” His voice was soft and smooth. “The battle goes poorly for the Southlands dragons, and it has encroached upon the sick and dying slaves. Soldiers from Darksphere have joined in, and they are fighting against both races of dragons. They are few in number and will not last long. With fire and ice flying all around, many slaves will die, so we must deliver the medicine immediately. The only way for me to convince Cassabrie to help is for me to look through your —”

“Never!” Koren’s heart thumped. “Spew your venom somewhere else, you lying monster! I don’t believe a word you say!”