The Weight of a Wing (The Stolen Wings Book 1) (23 page)

They lay on their backs on the granite-tiled floor, an arm’s
length away from each other, Vale kneeling between them. He held the blade
ready while they unbuttoned their shirts. Above them, the cloud monster had
covered the ceiling and was slowly filling the hall. Rafe took one last look at
the upcoming threat, and discarding it from his mind, he turned his attention
to Vale. “Ready.”

Alise nodded.

Vale drew in a breath. He gripped the handle of the blade
and his muscles spasmed along his arm, but his hand didn’t hesitate when he cut
into Rafe’s chest. Blood spilled then stopped pouring out of the open wound as
the Guardian’s healing abilities kicked in.

Rafe gritted his teeth, barely holding back a groan. He
clenched the healing stone in his fist, struggling to resist the impulse to use
it. He had been badly hurt before, but it had never come by one of their own
blades. The pain was excruciating. Every muscle in his body tensed, and the air
left his lungs with a whoosh.

He turned his head to the right. Alise was staring at the
ceiling, doing her best not to look at the approaching blade. The tense jaw and
gaze fixed on something that wasn’t there told Rafe she had to be reminiscing
about the time her wings had been cut off. He wished he could have spared her
from this new ordeal. He had considered knocking her out, but a head trauma
took longer to heal, and they needed her awake. They didn’t have time for that.

“Close your eyes,” Vale said.

Alise screamed. It only lasted a second, and then her body
relaxed beside him. She had passed out, for which Rafe was grateful.

Vale dug inside her, and Rafe wished he’d hurry. The cloud
monster had conquered one more floor.

“The heart is free of poison,” Vale said.

Rafe inhaled deeply and prepared for the hardest part.
Vale’s blade cut inside his chest, separating his heart from the rest of the
organs and pulling it out. The pain was nothing compared to being aware of
every cell in the heart screaming to be put back where they belonged. He could
still feel his heart pulsing in Vale’s hand when he moved it away.

Bent over Alise’s body, Vale repeated the procedure with a
little more care, still holding Rafe’s heart in his hand. He pulled the heart
out and frowned at what he saw inside the cavity.

“Would you … hurry?” Rafe grunted. Blood bubbled over the
edges of the wide wound. He might be a Guardian, but he still needed a heart to
survive.

Vale hesitated, holding one heart in each hand. “They’re
growing back.”

“What?”

“Her wings… They’re growing back.”

Rafe struggled to grasp the concept, even if only in theory,
but his consciousness was slipping away, along with his heart. He shook his
head to sober up. “Just do it.” They’d deal with the consequences later.

“Right.” Vale went back to work. He tossed the Fairy’s heart
into the opening in Rafe’s chest then took his time gently inserting the larger
heart inside Alise’s, correctly setting it in place with the help of the
healing stone.

Rafe groaned, feeling the smaller organ twist and turn
inside his heaving chest as it fought to realign with the veins and arteries
that fused back together. He used his healing stone to seal the wound while
Vale was busy attending to Alise. He couldn’t help but feel amazed when he felt
the heart flutter then settle to beating in a steady rhythm. It was
her
heart.

“I don’t think it’s working,” Vale said.

“What?” Rafe dropped the healing stone.

“The heart is not beating.” Vale frowned at her. “Maybe it’s
not a match.”

“Mine’s working. Hers should be, too,” Rafe said.

“We’re not the same. We’re built to take a lot, but she’s
been through too much already.” Vale shook his head, about to give up. “Maybe
the poison interferes—”

“We’re made to fight all kinds of poison. The heart should
still be able to do that.” Rafe propped himself on an elbow and, wincing,
turned to the side. “Come on, sweetheart. Don’t give up on me.” He placed his
hand on top of Alise’s chest. There was some blood, but no sign of the scar.
“The heart is still good. I can feel it.” The part of him that was now in her
reacted to the proximity of his hand, giving out a faint buzz, but not enough.

He pushed the fear out of his mind and tried to focus
harder. He could do this. It was his heart. It should respond to him, listen to
him. He sent a small blast. Light flared above and below his palm. Alise’s body
shook once before going back to being motionless. Inside, the heart gave a
faint beat, like the flap of a wing, then remained quiet.

Rafe swore under his breath. It was his heart! It would make
her live. And it could take more than her frail body. He sent a full blast this
time, making her body arch as if shocked, and a thrill of fear went through her
smaller heart, which was now in his body.

Alise gasped, and her eyes snapped open.

“It’s all right.” Rafe smiled with all the tenderness he
could muster given the difficult situation. “You’re back.” His hand kept moving
lightly over the sensitive skin, enjoying the faint thumping coming from inside
her. She groaned, and he laughed. “You’re welcome.” When he followed her line
of sight, he realized she wasn’t groaning at him but at the dark cloud above
them. Only about a meter or so separated it from Vale’s head.

Rafe pulled himself up and rolled onto his knees, happy to
discover the small heart didn’t succumb to the pressure. In time, it would grow
and fill the void left by his own. Vale helped Alise get up.

“Only blasts, okay?” Rafe said. “The blades don’t work. Wait
for us to turn it solid and then crack it,” he told Vale.

The waiting was torture. They couldn’t reach it from their
position and direct contact was mandatory. Rafe could have gotten up to full
height and done the job faster, leaving them all more time to flee if it didn’t
work, but he had a feeling he couldn’t stand up for long by himself. Alise
couldn’t, either. They both needed a bit of time to recover.

“Ready?” Rafe looked down at Alise.

She finished pulling her top back in place and straightened
her back.

Rafe took her hand in his, and they blasted the monster.
Instead of radiating from his hand, the magic first traveled along his arm,
constricting his veins, and then flew out freely. The cloud turned rigid under
their palms, and the portion that solidified slowly spread, but the monster
continued to come towards them, pressing them down with its mass, which became
heavier and heavier the more they fought against it.

“It’s not working!” Vale’s voice came out strained from the
tons of rock pressing down on him.

“Just wait.” Rafe grunted, pushed into the ground by the
unrelenting monster. This had to work. And his heart would hold. It had to.

Beside him, Alise whimpered and, losing her balance, fell
onto her back. The entire building protested, floorboards groaning and walls
shaking under the monster’s crushing weight.

“Now!” Rafe roared.

He repeatedly blasted the mountain that compressed his chest
and burned his skin. Vale joined in with his own blasts. Cracks appeared from
underneath their palms. Their blasts dug deeper into the cloud monster until
they could see through the cracks. Another fight was going on in there. A
shadow moved. The monster was also being attacked from within.

Two blasts later, Rafe said, “I’m out!” He pulled out his
blade and slammed it against the monster over and over again. The cracks
expanded a fraction.

Luckily, Vale had more magic left. His blasts echoed like
thunder in the limited space and lit up the monster, going deep inside and
straight to its core. The monster shook and split wide open. Big portions broke
off and fell on them, crushing everything on the way.

Rafe held his breath and counted the seconds. The foreign
matter wouldn’t dissipate until the monster died, and he worried for Alise. He
couldn’t see her under all that debris. He couldn’t see Vale, either, but he
was a little farther away. There was one more distant blast. He hoped it wasn’t
going to take much longer; otherwise, they were finished. He already felt like
the monster had not only crushed him, but gone right through him. He reached
out blindly, but couldn’t find Alise. She must have moved away.

He was wondering if he was going to die there when an ocean
of sand collapsed over him. Rafe coughed and fought his way to the surface. A
breeze helped by taking the sand away.

“Wow, that was close…,” he said in a somewhat amused tone,
relieved to still be alive. “Is the world still out there?”

While Vale went to check, Rafe searched for Alise. When he
found her, her eyes were closed, but her chest was rising and falling evenly,
and her heart beat in a steady rhythm. He smiled and brushed the hair off her
face.

“Yep, still there, looking mostly normal,” Vale said.
“Cassie might not be for long, though. There’s a vortex forming above the place
we left her.”

“We better go save her then,” Rafe said more cheerfully than
he felt. He cradled Alise in his arms and lifted her up with great care.

“How is she?” Vale came closer.

“She’s still breathing.” That was enough for Rafe. He pulled
her around so Vale couldn’t get to her, and he stumbled towards the stairs.

The sun had crossed the horizon and heated the air again.
There was no wind, no breeze. Nothing moved, except for the purple vortex that
pulsed above the ground. Time seemed to have stopped everywhere else.

Alise stirred in Rafe’s arms when he arrived on the border
of the lake’s basin. He set her down on the concrete, murmuring, “It’s all
right. You’re safe.”

Vale jumped over the edge to get Cassie from the bottom of
the enclosure. The girl didn’t move when he laid her down next to Alise.

“I wonder who will drop in through that.” Rafe nodded at the
vortex.

“The pattern is the same as the one we found at Gorem’s
house.” Even the colors were identical, a thousand shades of purple that
swirled as if alive. Vale shrugged. “Must be his.”

“Gorem can’t open portals, but his Wizard can.” Rafe
smirked. “Want to bet which one will show up first?”

The vortex stirred, purple flames extending and licking the
air, spitting out a man dressed in a blue tunic. Fabian. He landed on his hands
and knees but was quick to jump to his feet, raising his arms to defend himself
or attack. Or both.

Holding onto Rafe’s arm, Alise stood up, staggered, and
moved behind him. Cassie whimpered on the ground, eyes rolling in her head.
Part of Rafe noticed she’d become sensitive to the presence of the magic, but
his focus remained on the Wizard and the blades in his own hands. Vale had his
blades out, too.

Another man stumbled out of the vortex behind Fabian. The
brown coat and receding hairline was nothing out of ordinary, just like in the
portrait they had been shown before starting after him. Gorem. His plain, brown
eyes landed on Alise, and a smile stretched across his lips, but he held back,
waiting.

Pulsing light enveloped Fabian’s hands.

“No!” Rafe yelled, but Vale had already launched himself at
the Wizard.

Fabian shot him down with one blinding blast. Then he turned
towards Rafe and aimed his magic at him.

Lightning shot through Rafe, frying his nerves and sending
spikes of pain everywhere, but when it ended, he was still standing. Behind
him, Alise gasped and collapsed to her knees. He didn’t have time to check on
her, though. His heart was still beating, so she would be all right if they
survived the confrontation. He was all alone, fighting in an environment
unfriendly to magic users after he’d used part of his magic defeating the cloud
monster.

Rafe drew in a breath, preparing for another blast, and took
a step forward. Fabian’s repelling force made it hard to move. If only he could
get close enough to jump at Fabian and reach him with his blades… His skin
prickled when he inhaled. He marveled at the feeling because, although he
didn’t have any wings, he was absorbing magic from his surroundings the way
Fairies did. And he had three sources of magic nearby, Alise, Vale, and Fabian.
Even Gorem had his fair share.

Another breath, another step.

Rafe pulled magic in from all of them, grabbing onto
everything that leaked out and more. Alise whimpered, but gave no resistance.
Vale groaned, fixed Rafe with his eyes, and released his control on the magic.
Gorem showed no sign that he was aware of what was going on, but his magic was
weak and unsatisfying. Vale was losing strength fast, Alise had become a mere
shadow on his magic radar, so Rafe locked on Fabian. The skin cracked along his
arms, and old wounds he’d forgotten about tore open, although his hands never
shook.

Alise let out a sob. Vale twitched. Fabian frowned.

“Can you feel it?” Rafe grinned and drew in even more magic.
His hands were glowing. “And you have nothing to say?”

Fabian took a step back, a stricken expression on his pale
face. “You’re not supposed to be able to do that.”

“
You’re
not supposed to fight me, so I can do
whatever the hell I want.” Rafe advanced towards him. His blades turned golden,
and the suns on the back of his hands flared. “This would be a good time to
run.” The tip of his blade pointed at the Wizard’s heart. He wanted to fight
Fabian, but he wanted Gorem more.

Fabian’s eyes swept over his audience, stopping briefly on
Gorem before returning to Rafe. Magic hissed and crackled around him while his
body shook and sweat covered his temples. His lips trembled when he spoke,
“This isn’t over.”

He stepped back and leapt into the vortex. The purple
swirling hole roared silently and closed, leaving only static behind.

“Nooo!” Cassie wailed, stretching out an arm after Fabian.
“He’s still got Sarah!”

“And we’ve got him.” Rafe nodded at Gorem.

“But…” Cassie’s protest came out like a combination between
a sob and a whisper.

Vale picked himself up from the ground, groaning, and
watched Gorem warily. His blades had never left his hands, so he put one away
to open a green vortex in the same place where the purple one had been.

Cassie gasped at the pretty colors.

Rafe grabbed Alise by the arm and pulled her to her feet.
“Is this the man who took your wings?” It didn’t matter that he already knew
the answer. The protocol required her to make a formal accusation, and he was
in a hurry to be done with it. Their world called to him.

She swayed by his side, but when her gaze fixed on Gorem,
her eyes filled with more hatred than fear. “Yes. It’s him.”

“You’re summoned to appear in front of the Council for your
crimes,” Rafe told Gorem. “Take him away,” he said to Vale.

As Vale gestured for him to step into the vortex, Gorem gave
Alise a long look, accompanied by an elusive smile. “I’m glad you’re still
alive.”

He bowed his head, turned around slowly, and crossed to the
other side at the same time as Vale.

“Well, that was easy,” Rafe said, despite the cracked skin
on his arms and torso. Flesh wounds. He was used to those. Pain didn’t matter,
not his anyway. But hers did. “Ready?” he asked Alise. “This will get worse
before it gets better.”

“As ready as I will ever be,” Alise said, but her grasp on
Rafe’s arm tightened.

“What’s going to happen now?” Cassie asked, sitting on her
knees.

“We cross over and present our case to the Council,” Rafe
said, adding before Cassie could protest, “And then we go after Sarah. The
Council will send us after Fabian anyway.”

Cassie hurried to get up. “I’m coming with you!”

“You don’t trust me?” Rafe feigned a hurt look.

“Oh, I trust you to protect her.” Cassie nodded at Alise. “I
don’t trust you that much with anything else.”

“Well, you’re not coming.” Rafe shook his head. “I’ll be too
busy to babysit you.” Not to mention that answering thousands of questions—and
she would probably have more—was exhausting. And Alise would be too sick to see
to her human friend.

“I am not a child!” Cassie inhaled deeply and pursed her
lips. “Besides, it’s my right. She owes me. When helped by humans, you magic
people are in debt to us, right?”

Rafe sighed and stage whispered, “I wish she didn’t learn so
quickly…”

“She has a point…,” Alise murmured, suspiciously quiet.

He’d expected her to protest louder than that. Maybe she was
tired of fighting, just like he was. Her dark vines were striking on her
discolored skin. Fearing she’d collapse any moment, Rafe wrapped an arm around
her waist.

“I want to speak to the Council,” Cassie’s said, lifting her
chin up. “I want to urge them to find Sarah. If anything, I was a witness. I
can testify about Gorem’s and Fabian’s attempts to kidnap Alise, and the disruption
they brought into my world. And I can make people tell the truth.”

Alise leaned harder on Rafe, trembling against his side.

“You’re lucky I don’t have time to argue with you,” he
muttered. “Fine. Come on. But don’t blame me if you don’t like it there. It’s
like nothing you’ve ever seen.”

Rafe slipped an arm under Alise’s legs and lifted her up.
“Brace yourself. This is going to hurt.”

His gentle voice was repaid with a weak smile as Alise
rested her head on his shoulder.

“Okay, kiddo. Hold onto me,” Rafe told Cassie. “You don’t
have enough magic to cross over by yourself, so don’t let go.”

Cassie looked over Rafe in search of a place where she could
touch him. He was a mess, blood still dripping from the wounds that should have
closed by now. She rested her hand on Rafe’s shoulder on a patch of his shirt
that wasn’t soaked in blood.

He winced.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“Ready?” Rafe asked her, and she nodded.

They stepped forward, and air trembled around them. Alise
felt weightless in Rafe’s arms. Another step and the world exploded, the light
and colors becoming ten times brighter.

Cassie’s eyes opened wide in wonder.