Shadow Queen (13 page)

Astrid stared past his twisted face. She
watched Merrick’s blood mingle together with hers and seep through
the rusting floor. Her thoughts wandered for a moment to memories
of him that she had locked away. She was ripped away from them by
the growing pain in her chest. Her heart felt like lead, dark and
heavy with a sickly chill. The veins in her wrists darkened as if
filled with ink.

“I’ll never become like you. I’d rather die.”
Her voice was weak and distant, but her strength still burned deep
within her blackening eyes.

Luthen scoffed at her reply and threw her
face from his grasp. He paced back and forth before her like a
captured predator daring his audience to stick their hands inside
the cage. “Death has never been an obstacle for me. Do you honestly
think it’ll stop me this time? Go ahead, die. It’ll make things so
much easier for me
. The more suffering the better
.” He
gnashed his teeth in a gruesome grin, a laugh bubbling deep within
his throat.

Her vision dimmed. The world around her caved
in, crushing her battered body beneath its weight. She clung to an
iron column nearby the pulsing Anvalin, allowing the blue stone’s
warmth embrace her, protecting her from the approaching
darkness—then an idea sparked deep within her mind.

The Anvalin. Maybe I could get close enough
to use it...

“You’re right…” she gathered the will to
stand. “There’s no use fighting you anymore, my strength is gone.”
She swallowed hard, pulling herself to her unsteady feet.
Please
let this work
. “Take me. My will is yours.”

He seemed taken aback and stared hard at her.
A twisted smile of disbelief snaked its way across his face. “My,
my, what an interesting turn of events.” Luthen leapt to where she
stood clutching the cold iron. His breath burned at her nose,
reeking of death.

“How do I know you’re not trying to trick me,
you pretty little thing?”

“If I was trying to trick you would I do
this?” Astrid grabbed him by the collar and pulled him toward her,
pressing her lips against his. She tried hard not to gag when his
long, rotting tongue shot into her mouth. She turned him toward the
Anvalin, her arms lashed around his neck. His body pressed up
against hers. She could almost hear his lustful thoughts echoing
inside her head. They stumbled together, getting closer to the
great blue stone. His wicked hands crept like spiders on her skin.
Astrid reached out a shaky hand and slipped it onto the surface of
the Anvalin, just as she had seen Anya do. She felt the power jolt
through her body and into Luthen. He pulled away, convulsing and
screeching, his face contorted like a murdered corpse.

Tingling warmth crept over her body while the
stone blazed blue in rhythm with her heart, quickly getting
brighter and brighter. She fell against it, trying to keep herself
from crumpling onto the floor.

“A bitch after my own heart!” His icy gaze
glared down at her. “
Death it is then
.”

She didn’t see him pull out his wicked scythe
from behind his back. He thrust its blade into her chest, pinning
her to the gigantic stone behind her, twisting the jagged metal
blade deeper and deeper until it finally stopped at the hilt. She
could hear the muffled cracks and pops of splintering bone and
shredding muscle as she struggled against the blade. Blood erupted
into her lungs. It trickled down her chin and seeped from the
crater in her chest. Her limbs hung numb and unflinching from her
body despite her mind’s pleas. All she could feel was that strange
warmth of the Anvalin, growing hotter and hotter. The warmth felt
so peaceful that a withered smile fluttered across her ghostly
face.

The Anvalin cracked, rumbling in its iron
cage like thunder. The blue stone splintered in half, releasing the
scythe’s blade from its surface. The ground gave a sudden lurch.
Screams pierced inside the chamber from the war torn world outside.
The city had begun to fall.

Her chest heaved against the metal for
breath, her mouth spurting blood with each breath. “
I will
destroy you
,” she said, letting the words hang in the air.

He howled as the floor rocked beneath him,
running every which way to find some sort of escape. Finally, he
stopped and stared at her, rage burning black in his eyes.

“I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU SOONER!”

She made a gurgling laugh. Her skin felt as
if it were on fire. She didn’t notice the blue flames creeping
along her body, crawling around her from the shattered Anvalin and
pulling her deep into its exposed core.

Luthen’s screams melted away from her world.
Astrid could no longer see the aged iron bars of the Anvalin’s
chamber or even Merrick’s lifeless and mangled body. She was
submerged into the Anvalin’s core like a babe in the womb. Ring
clad fingers and gauntleted hands plucked the sword from her chest
as if easily as removing a thorn from her finger. The Anvalin’s
fire filled her lungs and trickled into every inch of her, twisting
and jerking the pieces of her body until the skin on her chest and
back laced together. Voices spoke, reciting words in a forgotten
language. So many voices were melded together they sounded as
though they were only one.

Then a face appeared, one Astrid recognized
instantly.

“Mother—”

“—
Hush, now. There is much to say and not
enough time to speak,”
she said, her hand appearing from the
blue haze to brush back a piece of Astrid’s hair
. “The world
that your ancestors created is dying. The stone is broken. What we
have tried to keep safe for generations has caused more danger than
any enemy from the outside. We have become our own downfall. We
have protected ourselves against the world we so feared that we
have created our own evils. Luthen is the product of our ignorance.
You, my daughter, must be our salvation.”

Astrid choked as tears overwhelmed her. “I am
no one’s salvation. This is too much…”

Evanna’s eyes blazed. “
Have I taught you
nothing? Have you learned nothing? The city must fall. The people
must learn suffering and pain. We will be strong again. But only
through fire will we regain our strength. There is a greater evil
than Luthen, a demon that will bring the destruction of
worlds.”

“
I don’t understand,”
said Astrid. She
suddenly felt as if she were being ripped from her sanctuary by the
weight of the world.

“
You will know where to go. We will guide
you. Look to the sea.”

She fought to stay near her mother, swimming
hard against the current of the Anvalin’s core. “Mother, don’t
leave me!”

“
Save us. Save us all.”

The core spilled onto the cracked tile floor,
spitting out Astrid. Its warmth trickled away through the crevices
of the stone leaving her body tingling with her own new found
warmth. The chamber was empty except for Merrick’s hollow-eyed
corpse. Luthen had fled. His heavy scent hung in the air like smoke
though he was nowhere to be seen. The city suddenly gave another
great heave, throwing Astrid up into the air.

She hobbled to her feet and hung her head out
the window, searching the world outside. People ran frantic through
the ragged stone streets—going mad, screaming, wailing, jumping
from ledges or pushing others out of their way to find a safer
grip. The city was tilting, dangling from the last threads of the
Anvalin’s power.

A mighty gust and blur of red flashed before
her eyes.

“Luka! You’re alive!” Astrid stood upon the
chamber’s ledge, hanging by the warped metal frame.

“Of course I’m alive. It’s you I’m worried
about,” he said, stretching his slender phoenix wings, preparing to
catch a gust of wind with the twitch of his feathers. “Give me your
hand! I have to get you out of here.”

Astrid hesitated, gazing at the hell around
her.

“But the city—”

“—there’s nothing you can do! JUMP!”

She reluctantly sprung from the window and
into his arms. The city grew small below her as another thunderous
crack rattled the sky. It rocked as if the last cord had been cut.
Astrid’s heart stopped as the city began its free fall.

“NO! LET ME GO!” She pounded and struggled.
My people! What have I done?
She could feel the fire of her
ancestors burning inside her chest, begging to be released. “Trust
me,” she whispered, the sudden calm shocking him enough for her to
catch his gaze. “Please, let me go.”

Luka’s brow furrowed. Her gaze was reflected
in his worried eyes. His hands slipped apart. She fell like a star
through the clouds with arms spread. She felt a calm and power
hotter than lightening burning throughout her body. Her fall slowed
as she grew close to the city. Her skin was electrified with blue
sparks and her eyes shone brighter than the sun. She could feel the
weight of Alainia drag her down as she caught it in its descent,
using up the Anvalin’s power to gently rest the city back into the
earth. She pushed it away from the defenseless inner city of Limra
toward its outer streets.The power drained from her like water,
leaving her emptied body to spiral down to the black world
below.

***

“Wake up, Astrid. Please… wake up.”

She thought she could feel Luka’s clawed
fingers caressing her cheek, but no matter how much she fought her
eyes would not open. Her body felt as if it were drifting in a cold
pool of water, blindly waiting to reach the surface. She reached
out to his voice, fighting against the numbing darkness.

“Please,” he begged. “Don’t leave me.”

She could now feel the steam from his tears
on her face. Astrid managed to open her eyes to a small sliver of
the world. Snakes slithered against the gritty sand while the
breeze whispered its secrets.

“Please, Astrid. I love you.”

Air exploded into her lungs as if she were
breathing for the first time. Every gulp, every breath stung with
the sweetness of a crisp summer night, a taste she had long
forgotten.

He laughed and kissed her face as she
struggled against his embrace to sit up. Her mind was spinning a
web of questions. Everything around her seemed to be magnified.
Rugged underbrush creaking in the breeze pounded in her head like
thunder. Animals that had crept in the shadows of the night,
usually unseen, stopped frozen in their tracks to meet her gaze.
The distant smell of bloodied, burning flesh assaulted her
nose.

“Astrid, what’s wrong?” He turned her head in
his hands. “Astrid—your eyes…”

“My eyes?” Each word was a labor to her
lips.

“They’re black. I don’t understand. They look
like—his.” His large fiery eyes pleaded for an answer.

“Luka,” she said, trying not to meet his
gaze, “I have to leave here.”

“Leave?” The feathers across face and neck
stood on end. “After all you have done, all we have done? These
people need you, especially now.”

“They don’t need me. They have Ethen and the
clan. They have you—”

“—I need you! Don’t do this to me. Not now.”
He pushed her away and stood with his wings unfurled, his gaze
burning down at her. She hid her hurt even though she knew he had
created a distance between them to keep from scorching her from his
rage.

“Guide the survivors to our village where
they can rejoin their kin. Alainia is forsaken. You must remind
them of this. Their new life will be rough, but it is well worth
their freedom.” Astrid pushed herself to her feet, trying to brush
the distractions of the night aside in her mind.

She could feel his eyes on her. She could
even hear his heart pounding hard in his chest. The sound of breath
catching in his throat as he tried to find the words to say echoed
in her head.

“I have to tell you one last thing, Luka,
before I go…” Her breath rattled in her tightening throat, trying
to fight back the tears. “Merrick, your father, and Ilsie… I’m
afraid they’re—”

“—
Dead
,” he said, not in questioning,
but almost in acceptance.

Astrid narrowed her eyes, confused. “How did
you know?”

Luka turned away from her, trying to hide his
rage. “It’s better this way.”

“
How did you know?”
She felt panic
squeeze her throat. “Luka, what have you done?”

Luka spun around, towering over her. “You
have no idea what he did to me, do you? He left me
to die
in
that damned canyon. Luthen was right, he deserved to die. And Ilsie
was just as wicked as he was.”

She felt her knees weaken. “
Luthen?
”
Her chest heaved as she fought back her rage. “You and
that—
monster
! How could you?”

Luka opened his mouth but the words escaped
him. The feathers around his face flattened as his eyes dulled to a
simmer. “I’m so sorry.” He kicked off the ground and soared into
the air, leaving his empty words hanging in the air like the snap
of a hangman’s noose.

His great blazing wings pounded into the
night sky, leaving Astrid bound to the ruins of the earth below.
She did not protest, or shake her fist at the desert sky. Nor did
she spit at the crumbling city that lay in heaps around her.

“Luka!” Her voice howled into the empty
air.

—
I love you.

Astrid’s eyes came crashing to the ground.
Near her feet lay the wicked scythe that had once pierced her
chest. She reached down and grasped it in her hands. It called to
her. She could feel its power vibrating in her hands. As she turned
it over in her grip, the scythe folded shut into a simple piece of
metal.

Astrid clutched it close to her chest,
longing for it to be Luka instead.

***

Look to the sea.

Those were the last words her dead mother had
said.