The Dark Throne (78 page)

Jess swore under his breath. “Have to take this dagger out.”

“He might bleed to death,” I protested.

“He’s already dying because he can’t breathe,” the older man said unshakeably. “Hold him.”

I gritted my teeth and held Liam’s shoulder. Jess steeled himself and drew out the dagger in one quick motion. Liam shuddered, and Jess pressed down again on the makeshift bandage.

“He is dying.” The Morrigan stood at Liam’s feet, gazing down at him as he gasped and jerked. “He cannot hear our words anymore.”

“Get away from him,” I snapped. Arcana met my eyes, and for the first time I saw a flicker of something like emotion on her face. She looked…
weary
. One of her arms was charred to the elbow—the hand that she’d used to grip Malravenar. The copper sparks drifting from her mouth spilled over her lips slowly, like oozing threads of blood.

“Do you wish me to leave when I may save him?” she asked in her level voice. I saw Jess swallow hard, watching the strange woman-child out of the corner of his eye.

“No,” I said vehemently, startling myself with the passion in my words. “I will not let you wear his body.
No
.” Liam coughed. Pink foam flecked his blue lips. I clenched my jaw as hot tears spilled down my face. I looked back up at Arcana. “I would rather he die in peace than have his body worn by you.”

“I will not be wearing his body. I will heal his body,” the Morrigan replied.

“We just imprisoned one necromancer,” I said, the Sword’s words rising readily to my lips.

“It will not be through necromancy. It will be a fair trade,” said the remnant of a deity. “Your brother will probably inherit some of my power, and maybe a distant echo of me in his head. But I am weary of this world, as the one who gave me this body was, and I will trade what is left of my life for his.” She tilted her head in that eerie copy of natural motion. “Is death preferable still?”

Jess reached over and grabbed Liam’s face, too urgent to be gentle. “
Hey
. Hey, boss, stay with us.”

“You’re one of Vell’s Three,” I said to Arcana, even as I watched Liam’s face turn paler and heard his breath slow.

“So he shall be one of her Three,” she replied, undeterred.

And then Vell was there, a terrible fear in her eyes beneath her regal bearing, her blade and her staff stained with gore. Her golden eyes found mine and she nodded.

“Tess,” Jess said warningly, “he’s going.”

“You must choose now,” said Arcana. I gripped my brother’s hand and looked down at his still face.

“Do it,” I said through numb lips.

“Back. All of you,” said the Morrigan as she advanced. Though revulsion flickered across Jess’s face, he was slow to leave his teammate, as I was slow to release my brother’s hand. Vell grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away as an alien power rippled through the air. Liam shuddered and choked. Arcana pressed her hand against his side and then lapped up his blood from her palm. Vell stiffened beside me—feeling the proceedings through her link with Arcana, I guessed.

It was over quickly. Copper sparks coalesced into a jagged shard of light, which slid like another dagger into the wound in Liam’s side. My brother jerked, Arcana smiled beatifically and held out her hands to someone we couldn’t see, and then she slumped to the side. Vell closed her eyes and swayed suddenly, but then Liam coughed and color rushed back into his face. The High Queen took a deep breath, opened her eyes and gave me a nod.

Jess peeled away the blood-soaked remnants of Liam’s shirt from his side, and there was no wound but a scar that gleamed copper against his skin. I sagged in relief.

“Thank you,” I said to Vell shakily.

“It was the Morrigan who offered. Even I could not have forced her to that,” she replied. Then she raised one eyebrow, a gleam of humor in her tired eyes. “And besides, did you think you’re the only one who loves Liam?”

I smiled a little at that, and then the clutching fear surged back as her words reminded me of Luca. “Where’s Luca?” I cast about, looking at the corpses surrounding us with a shudder. Most were Dark creatures, with one Seelie and one Unseelie fighter whom I didn’t know by sight. Somehow, even though I’d
seen
him disappear, I expected Luca to appear out of the shadows.

“He got…sucked through.” Liam sat up with a grimace, Jess helping him but watching him warily all the same.

“I…I saw, but that doesn’t mean…” I grasped at words, my voice failing.

“The black hole. Whatever it was. He tried to push me clear and get to Duke, and it sucked him through. And your navigator too, I think.” Liam prodded his side experimentally, his surprise turning into thoughtfulness as a bit of copper gleam escaped his lips.

I swallowed hard. “Well, at least they’re not dead.”

Vell looked away at my words. “They might be,” the High Queen said.

“No,” I said fiercely. “They went through the Gate into the mortal world.” I stood, and touched the hilt of the Sword over my shoulder, feeling its comforting solidity beneath my fingers. “So we’ll open the Great Gate again, and I’ll go through to get them.”

“It is not so simple,” said Mab, striding over to us with her star diadem shining brightly.

“Oh, it’s
very
simple in my estimation,” I retorted. “Malravenar is gone. Imprisoned,” I amended. “And those three fought for us. They helped us do that. We owe it to them.” I looked behind Mab to where Finnead gathered the limp cloaked form into his arms. “And if you can expend power to try to save someone who might be beyond reach, then so can I.” I looked Mab squarely in the eyes, catching the spasm of anger that crossed her face.

“For now,” said Vell, touching my elbow, “we must focus on our wounded, and return to our army.” Beryk appeared at her side, his dark fur matted in several places with gore. Kianryk loped over to the dark altar, sniffed at it and showed his teeth to it; but he kept scenting the air restlessly where the Gate had opened. He whined low in his throat and looked about the cavern, then settled on the ground in the middle of the Seal, laying his head on his paws.

“For now,” I agreed heavily. I looked at Mab and then I looked at Vell. “I won’t stop until I bring them home.”

Vell smiled a little. “I’d expect nothing less.” Her hand drifted to Beryk’s head, and then she called out to Kianryk in the Northern tongue. He raised his head and then hesitantly left his post, glancing back at the bare ground as though he, too, expected Luca to appear at any moment. My chest ached. “I will help you. Luca and Merrick are both my people still.”

I nodded silently, and then we set about the grim task of finding the wounded and counting the dead. Of the thirty warriors we’d brought through the portal, twelve remained. Sage survived, but would likely never raise a blade in his right hand again. Mab’s Vaelanseld lay unconscious from grave injuries, and the wound Ailin had taken from the Dark sorcerer in the courtyard worried Titania.

I didn’t miss Liam’s look of relief when Quinn waded back through the carnage to report that the way out of the Dark Keep looked clear. The tattooed man looked slightly confused and a bit suspicious when he saw Liam on his feet, but then he just shrugged and accepted it as one of the many implausible things he’d seen since crossing into this strange world. Vell talked quietly with Liam for a few moments. I watched my brother’s face as I bandaged Quinn’s knee. His eyes widened briefly, but Liam seemed to accept his new position without much need for clarification. I gave him a hard, wordless hug, and he ruffled my hair as I ducked away. But despite my happiness at Liam’s wholeness, I still felt bone-weary, somehow more tired than after I’d crowned Vell in Brightvale. I felt…empty.

“Shouldn’t we be hastening to the White City to help the rest of the army?” I asked Vell as the survivors carried their fallen comrades to a clear space in the center of the room. A group of warriors traveled to the courtyard and brought the bodies of those who had died there to the bier before the Great Seal. Seelie, Unseelie and Wild Court laid side by side in death. I watched Robin and another member of the
vyldgard
carry Elwyn’s still body reverently. My throat tightened.

“We spent far longer here than we realized,” said Vell without elaborating. “The battle is won, but at great cost.” She smiled humorlessly. “Sometimes the connections between a Queen and her Three are useful.”

We burned the bodies of our fallen, watching the smoke rise whitely into the dark cavern. Vell sang her wild Northern song, and her remaining handful of
vyldgard
joined her, their voices echoing through the shadows. Chael stood between Rialla and Beryk, his amethyst eye traveling every few moments to where Kianryk lay mournfully on the Seal. I retrieved my plain blade from where I’d dropped it before the dais. I spoke each name to it softly, and then we bowed our heads for a long moment of silence. We left the funeral fires burning behind us, and I hoped vengefully that the fire would spread to the entire throne room and burn it to the ground. I felt the weight of the darkly glimmering stone in my belt pouch, heavy now with Malravenar’s struggling spirit; and I vowed silently that losing Luca would not be the price I paid for our victory. Beryk and Rialla glided over to the Seal and circled Kianryk, finally convincing the great tawny wolf to stand and follow them as we made our way out of the great cavern.

We found our way through the Dark Keep, which now just seemed a drafty old castle in disrepair, cobwebs spangling the corners of the halls, our footsteps raising dust as though no one had walked these halls in hundreds of years. I stayed beside Liam, reaching out every now and again to give him a one-armed hug, which he returned with the same fierce affection each time; Kianryk padded along beside Vell, but paused every so often to stare back toward the throne room. The tawny wolf seemed more confused than anguished, which I told myself meant that Luca was still alive, just not
here
. Beryk and Rialla flowed silently around him, touching him with their noses and padding through the shadows.

When we finally emerged from the front gates of the Dark Keep, sunlight poured around us. We staggered, blinking, into the brightness. The wolves slid away and disappeared. It felt like days had passed since we’d stepped through the portal. I thought of the sensation of wavering time in the courtyard, and the struggle through blood and shadows in the throne room. Perhaps it
had
been days. A small contingent awaited us, the banners of the three Courts flying gaily above the riders. As one, the riders dismounted, most of them lowering themselves down to one knee.

Gray stepped forward and bowed deeply to Vell, her golden hair bright in the sun, the wolf blazoned on her armor bisected by two new deep furrows from the claws of some Dark creature. Bandages bound one of her wrists and the opposite thigh, but she still moved gracefully. “My Queen,” she said, her eyes gleaming with love and pride, “we have brought your mounts, so that you may ride to your Court in victory.”

Vell smiled and put her hands on Gray’s shoulders. “You led the
vyldgard
well. It is your victory as well.”

Gray bowed again, and then she turned in my direction and touched her forehead in obeisance. “Lady Bearer.”

I nodded in acknowledgement, not trusting my voice; and with that, we found our mounts. Nehalim whinnied joyously when he caught sight of me; someone had painted him with bright cobalt designs. I wondered how long the battle had lasted…and for that matter, how long we’d stayed in the Dark Keep. I squinted suspiciously at the sun.

“How many days have we been gone?” I asked. Vell only smiled tiredly at me as she inspected her own fine-boned
faehal
. She grimaced at the scarlet trappings but resigned herself to it. Gray answered me instead.

“Three days, Lady Bearer. You’ve been gone for three days.”

I sighed and tapped the hilt of the Sword at my shoulder, unable to do anything but accept it. I glimpsed Finnead with the princess laid across the front of his saddle, her head resting on his shoulder; he’d kept the hood of her cloak drawn across her face, and his own face was grim. I felt a small, strange twinge of jealousy—at least he could hold the princess in his arms. The cut on my back ached in counterpoint to the pain in my chest as I thought of Luca, torn from his world and thrown through the Gate. I patted Nehalim and went to help the remnants of our party mount their
faehal
. Robin and I helped Sage onto his
faehal
. He gazed at me with slightly unfocused eyes, swaying in the saddle, his right arm bound to his chest in a makeshift sling. Then he grimaced and I grabbed his good shoulder as he almost fell from his mount.

“Don’t think I can…sit the saddle,” he gasped apologetically.

“I’ve got it,” said Robin, leaping lightly up behind the wounded Seelie.

I grasped Sage’s hand briefly. “You’ll be good as new in no time.”

“Might need a…nursemaid for a while,” he replied, struggling to keep his smile from turning into a grimace.

“You watched over me at the Hall,” I said, “so it would be only fair that I return the favor.” Then Sage leaned back against Robin and his smile faded as he closed his eyes, held securely by the red-haired
vyldgard
fighter.

It took the better part of an hour to ensure that our wounded were secure on their mounts. The sun settled into a red sky as we finally set out from the Dark Keep, the three Queens and I at the front of the formation. I’d balked, but Vell had insisted with characteristic stubbornness. So we rode side by side, the
vyldgard
banner raised proudly behind us with the standards of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts on either side. When we emerged from the shadows of the Dark Keep, Valkyrie appeared in the sky above us. There were only a handful of Valkyrie, and they, too, looked battleworn: nearly every mount had a broken pinion feather or long bloody scratches marring their fine gleaming coats, their riders bearing similar injuries.

“I’ll have to tell her about Merrick,” I murmured when I caught sight of Calliea on her winged mount.