Beyond the Sapphire Gate: Epic Fantasy-Some Magic Should Remain Untouched (The Flow of Power Book 1) (50 page)

A FLASH OF RED

Malkor shuffled backward toward Darwin, hurling a series of attacks at Crystalyn. Hardened, multicolored crystals shattered against her symbol, jagged lightning bolts struck from above, and shadowy insect-like creatures swarmed to bite. Crystalyn felt them as mere pinprick annoyances, not the excruciating drain they’d been before she tied her symbol to Jade.

A flow of energy surged from their clasped hands. Healing a wound as dire as Lord Charn’s should have left her a sleeping babe for a day, but not now. With Jade strengthening her, she was determined to stop Malkor while she could. How she was going to accomplish it for the moment was beyond her. The absorption symbol required her as the power source even though she’d tied it to Jade, which meant she had to be diligent with its upkeep or watch it dissolve without a link back to her. Jade, bless her sister heart, had relieved a lot of the pressure by providing that extra boost from somewhere, but it was up to Crystalyn to use the symbol. Every hit was taking a toll. Even now, she could feel the black candle heating inside her dress pocket.

At the rate Malkor was firing, she hoped he would soon drain himself. Crystalyn switched direction. The evil man could squander his power on the symbol while she tended to Darwin’s wounds. She must hurry; even with Jade’s help, each hit required her to use energy to sustain it.

The onslaught ended with an abruptness that made her pause. Standing above Darwin, Malkor turned his back to her. How odd. Was he that confident in his abilities? Had he guessed her predicament? Did he know she’d have to release her sheltering symbol to switch to an aggression symbol? Or, was he waiting for her to make the switch so he could lob in an attack? She wouldn’t put any of it past a man like Malkor. Her best course of action for the moment was to keep it in place.

Spinning on his heel, Malkor turned and hurled a dozen black cones one after the other. As the last few struck, he scooped Darwin into his arms as though the bleeding man had a child’s weight, and jumped behind a pillar.

Dropping the absorption symbol, Crystalyn brought out her trusty knockback symbol; she couldn’t take the chance of Malkor’s actions aggravating Darwin’s wounds. Symbol readied, she waited for Malkor to appear on the pillar’s far side. There was no way she’d let him leave with Darwin,
her Darwin!

Tense heartbeats passed. Then a slow-dawning realization struck her, spiking her frayed anxiety. Malkor wasn’t going to reappear.

Dropping Jade’s hand, Crystalyn dashed around the pillar where she’d seen the two men last, finding what she’d feared. Two topaz obelisks stood a narrow doorway apart. “Great!” Crystalyn shouted at the empty air between the obelisks. Spinning, she released her symbol at the black-robed figure.

Scurrying away from Lord Charn’s whirling hammer a long dagger in hand, the figure noticed her symbol only when it flew through the smoky barrier. At the same instant, Lord Charn’s hammer connected with the figure’s shoulder. Batted across the room, the black robe thudded into the wall, then fell to the floor and lay still. The dark cowl fell to one side. Correlda’s waxen face lay exposed to the light of the room. Drops of dark blood dribbled from one corner of her red, full lips.

Slipping his hammer through the ring on his hip, Lord Charn went to the fallen woman. Removing a gauntlet, he dropped to one knee, checking her pulse. He stood, pulling on the gauntlet. “This is…disturbing, yet not wholly unexpected. Correlda had always shown affection for young Darkwind, yet I foolishly believed she had moved on to someone else or some other addiction.”

Crystalyn felt ill. Had the two of them been together secretly? No wonder the woman had treated her with such animosity.

Lord Charn’s dark helm turned to regard her. “It is unknown if the traitor ever returned the affection.”

“Will she live?” Jade asked. Heat rose in Crystalyn’s face. She should have asked the question before Jade had. She was the healer in the family.

The helm swung toward Jade. “She may if I send for a healer soon. I have not yet made the decision to do so.”

“I might be able to do it with Jade’s help,” Crystalyn said. It was a big
might
, though. She was feeling the consequences of so much symbol use.

“I’m not sure I could do it again, but I will try,” Jade said.

Lord Charn’s helmed head swiveled between both of them. “I do not believe I comprehend your meaning.”

The sound of voices coming from the room’s entrance drew their eyes. Broth leapt inside, followed by Jade’s strange Dark Creation. Burl had discarded the hooded robe.

Four guards charged into the room, glaring at Broth and Burl. Atoi strolled into the room and leaned on the wall. Folding her arms, she gazed at them impassively as if she’d been there all along. “Leave them be!” Lord Charn bellowed. “One of you shall fetch some healers, make haste!”

The guards straightened as the anger upon their faces shifted to embarrassment. They sheathed their swords, standing straighter still. Without a word of discussion, one broke away, slipping from the room with a fleeting flash of his golden, elite armor.

“The rest of you will guard Correlda. If she lives, bind her and take her to holding. She shall be judged for treason by the Onyx Table.” The guards’ faces grew blank as Lord Charn went on. “General Darkwind and Flow Master Malkor are hereby given the blood mark. As enemies of Virun, they will be hunted down and executed upon sight,” Lord Charn decreed. The guards eyes widened, but they did as ordered, taking up position around the woman. Lord Charn’s helm fixed on Burl, and then swung toward Jade.

“Do you know where they went?” Crystalyn asked, as she moved to the topaz obelisks wondering if she could activate them. Even if she could, she had no way of knowing where Malkor had taken Darwin. Jade stayed close by her.

Lord Charn moved beside her, his voice low. “I am aware of the general area; the color of the crystal denotes the region, but not the precise location.”

“So you
know
where they went?” Crystalyn pressed, getting excited. She might be able to help Darwin after all.

“The topaz crystals would likely be attuned to somewhere in the Blistering Sands, a large and arid region southwest of here. I will set up a Contacting to one of my…field contacts,” Lord Charn nodded slowly toward a guard, who immediately trotted to the entrance door and spoke a few words to someone beyond the doorway. “Even with every troop garrisoned there searching, spotting them will not be simple. The region is nearly the size of a continent.”

Crystalyn’s excitement fell. How would she find him there?

Jade pointed at the topaz obelisks. “Wait! A sapphire gate brought us here; couldn’t Crystalyn make these take us home?”

Lord Charn hesitated, his helm moving to include all in the room. He lowered his voice. “Alas, no one is certain how the gates are constructed or how to tune them. The knowledge has been lost when the ancient people who built them vanished. It is one of many tests I wished to conduct with you, Crystalyn. It may be possible one of your symbols could change a gateway’s attunement with controlled experimentation. The advantages of such an accomplishment would be of tremendous value. It would require extensive research and development, something I am eager to assist with simply for the scientific knowledge, alone.”

Crystalyn gaped. Now he wanted to talk of experimenting. A woman was dying. Darwin had vanished and might be…no, she wouldn’t let herself think it.

Lord Charn’s helm looked toward the door. The guard still hadn’t returned. He continued. “At present, a positive return to your home world would require a pair of sapphire obelisks, but they are rare. I have the entire Dark Citadel scouring Astura for a set, but no one has reported success.”

Crystalyn exchanged a look with Jade. “Not everyone has been truthful with you, it seems. We overheard Darwin and Malkor mention one.”

“Are you certain? Did they speak of a location?”

Crystalyn answered readily; the conversation burned into her mind. “We’re certain. Darwin had recently come into possession of them. He mentioned his rooms.” Trotting past Atoi, the golden-armored guard returned to resume his position by Correlda and the other guards, not far away. The woman stirred. Opening her eyes, she stared up at Crystalyn with furrowed brow, “Sureen? Why are you here?” Closing her eyes, she slipped back into unconsciousness.

Crystalyn was startled. “What did she just say?”

Lord Charn was already moving. “Send a messenger to me as soon as the healers have finished here. We shall be in the traitor’s former chambers.” He strode past the guard.

“As you wish, my lord,” the guard replied to Lord Charn’s receding back.

Crystalyn grabbed an obelisk. “Bring the other one,” she said, slipping past Jade.

Running past two guards stationed outside the doorway, Crystalyn caught up to Lord Charn in the Great Hall. Even with the weight of his armor, Lord Charn moved too fast for questions, his anger fueled by Darwin’s betrayal. Crystalyn couldn’t bring herself to believe he would have gone through with the dark hooded man’s plan. Had he felt nothing for her? The man in the hood had seemed to think he did. Her disappointment ran deep, deadening her emotions as her affliction did to the point of not caring about his fate, but she didn’t want him to die. She had to find him somehow, and keep him alive. She could change him,
she could.

Lord Charn stalked to the end of the hall, choosing a sharp branch to the right in silence. Crystalyn and her companions struggled to stay close, particularly her and Jade since they carried the obelisks. But not Broth, the Warden loped beside them with ease.

Stay close to Lord Charn, my Do’brieni. We can’t lose him now.

Broth leaped ahead.
Be at ease. I shall follow.

The pristine pillars of the command quarters sprang into view. Darwin’s chambers were the first ones in the opulent section. Crystalyn’s own chambers were farther along the grand hallway. Two of Darwin’s personal guards barred the way to his room, standing alert with their two long pikes crossed.

“Stand aside,” Lord Charn commanded, halting out of range of the barbed weapons. Crystalyn used the reprieve to catch her breath, but kept her eye on the guards. Jade wheezed nearby. Broth growled low in his throat. Squeezing in between her and Jade, Burl positioned his odd burlap body protectively beside her sister, his charcoal face providing no clue as to why he did. Raising his one good arm, he held up her pack and Jade’s bag. Setting the obelisk in the crook of an arm, Crystalyn took her pack, working it onto her shoulders. Jade retrieved her bag. Atoi stood with her back to a pillar, her small hand resting near the slit in her dress.

“Our most sincere apologies, my lord, but Great General Darwin’s command was explicit,” one of the guards was saying.

“His orders were no one but himself or Malkor shall pass, but surely he didn’t mean to exclude the Great Lord,” the other guard hurried to add.

“Your
great
general is likely drawing his last breath. You will join him if you don’t stand aside,” Lord Charn said, his voice low and deadly.

The guards exchanged a look. Then, as one, they moved to one side, setting the pikes’ dull ends on the floor, barbs safely pointed to the ceiling.

Lord Charn swept past, halting at the door. “Locked and warded,” he mumbled aloud. “An inferior ward, however. The
great
general was a fool not to set it himself,” he sneered, raising a hand toward the door. A flash of red left Crystalyn’s vision spotty. There was an audible click as the door swung inward. Lord Charn stalked inside. Crystalyn followed with her sister and companions in tow.

SAPPHIRE GATE

Setting the topaz obelisk down, Jade took a step closer to Lord Charn. Stamping his metal-shod boot with impatience, the huge, black-helmed man seemed preoccupied with gazing around Darwin’s airy bedchamber. While his attention focused elsewhere, she wanted to attempt a reading. The one time she tried before hadn’t gone so well. His rotation had refused to slow enough for a proper viewing.

For the second time, she fought his stormy aura slower, bearing her will down upon it. As before, it barely slowed. This time, she drew heavily from the power contained within the white candle—or from whatever source; the candle drew from when she touched it. Perhaps even a catalyst for the river of power she now knew as the Flow; the energy gleaned from it felt much the same as when she’d circulated it to Crystalyn. Whatever the case, she blessed Burl’s dark heart for bringing her bag and Crystalyn’s pack along. Rotating slower and slower, she strained to make out images in the turmoil of Lord Charn’s aura. The arrowhead amulet grew warm under her shirt, the whirlwind revolving around him slowed little by little.

A black dragon barreled out of the darkness. Gigantic maw open wide, it spewed forth darkness more absolute than the rotation’s abyss from where it came.

Startled, Jade loosened her grip. The aura twisted into a raging cyclone, whipping the dragon’s image away with it. Her mouth dried. The dragon’s red eyes had
glared at her
.
It knew she was here! Somehow, the bloody dragon knew!

Lord Charn spun, his horned helm leaning down toward her. He straightened. “What do have around your neck? How did you come by the arrowhead artifact?” he asked, and then went on without waiting for an answer. “With it, you may be able to discern if the obelisks are near,” he added, his voice rising slightly.

Camoe had been right all along. Lord Charn’s armory was where she’d first found herself on this world. The amulet must be his, but she wasn’t going to offer it back.

Crystalyn glanced at Lord Charn. “Jade can? How is it used?”

“Your sibling has to bend her will to the artifact, attune it to detecting that which is hidden.”

Jade frowned. “How am I supposed to do that?”

“That artifact will extend any innate ability for…observing that which is hidden from Use of the Flow. Keep it in contact with your flesh—as you seem to know—while you peruse the room. Search for anything that seems to…want to appear as something other than it should be.”

“Could you be anymore cryptic?” Jade asked with a frown. “Never mind, don’t answer. I’m going to look around, but don’t expect too much.” She turned away; feeling uncomfortable inside Darwin’s bedroom, the man had two full suits of his black armor in the room. Several more had lined the outer room. How many did one man need?

The bedroom looked similar to many of the other plush, someone-of-high-station living quarters she’d been in since coming to the citadel, complete with a four-post bed, massive wardrobe, cushioned alcove, and luxurious grooming table. All looked ordinary, at least for a room this rich.

Except…her eyes returned to the two suits of armor. They looked much the same as the others they’d passed on the way but darker on one side, as if they stood in shadow there. Acting on instinct, Jade walked to the closest one. Pulling off the helm, she reached inside and pulled out an oblong object. The suit vanished, the helm dissolving in her hand. A moment later, a second azure obelisk stood beside the first.

“Oh! Well done!” Crystalyn cried.

Lord Charn moved close. “Yes, you do not disappoint.”

The sapphire obelisks were indistinguishable in size and style from the pair that had brought her to the Dark Citadel and began her grueling journey. Jade still found it hard to comprehend. After all those terrifying months, they stood on the brink of going home. So why did she feel sad? Camoe and Burl…how could she leave them?

Jade clasped the butterfly amulet hanging from her neck, the medallion still warm to the touch from its recent use,
her
recent Using. That’s what she grappled with,
she
could Use artifacts, and
she
could unlock their hidden Use. Perhaps she wasn’t so helpless after all. Though she suspected she could only unlock certain artifacts that fit her ability. How had Lord Charn known?

“By the One God, they are beautiful,” Crystalyn said smiling. “I was half convinced we’d not see the blue ones again, great job.”

“Yes, yes, yes,
excellent
work,” Lord Charn said, a trace of glee in his tone.

Jade began to feel a little uncomfortable with the praises, but only a little.

Atoi spoke, her voice a monotone. “One is curious, Great Lord. How did you know the sister would be able to use the medallion? You could have demanded to use it yourself.”

The dark helm swung toward the little girl. Jade looked to her, as did everyone else in the room, including Broth. Atoi spoke so seldom, the question seemed odd, though it was close to what Jade had been asking herself. “In truth, I considered it. But the medallion grows stronger with association—she’s worn it for some time, I believe. Even so, the User would also need the ability to read the objects reveal. I have reason to believe it is so with her, which has strengthened my suspicion that she is the anomaly mentioned in the scrolls.”

“Crystalyn has to be the one to open…the Sapphire Gate, right?” Jade asked, wanting to change the subject. She didn’t feel like an anomaly; it wasn’t a flattering description.

The horned helm settled on her. Not for the first time, Jade wondered what he looked like without it. “Yes, that is so. I will repeat an earlier question. How would you know this?”

“Like you, I didn’t, but it stands to reason. Crystalyn brought us here. She should be able to take us back to our home world, back to our world of Terra,” Jade said, eyeing her sister. Crystalyn gazed back the way they’d come. She seemed so sad, so forlorn, though one hand rested on Broth’s great shoulder. Going to her, Jade held her hand in her own, pressing her lips close to her sister’s ears. “Are you ready, Crystalyn? Darkwind was bad from the start. Try not to let it hold you back, he made his choice. Someday it will haunt him, if he still lives. Let’s go home. Please? I miss Dad.”

Crystalyn stirred, a look of resolve shining in her blue eyes, but the sadness never lessened. Cupping her hands into an inverted pyramid shape, a symbol, identical to the interlocking lines and complex curves on the gateway, floated away from Crystalyn, and locked between the two obelisks. Rotating, the symbols churned to a maelstrom. The black veil dropped in place from the top down, twisting into a swirl almost before the symbol had fully faded. Crystalyn was becoming adept with her symbols.

Jade found her gaze on Atoi. Was she going with them?

Looking oddly out of place on her too-white face, Atoi smiled widely.

It was the first time Jade had seen her smile. It didn’t suit her. Her smile didn’t look malicious, but it didn’t emanate any warmth either, it felt forced and…alien. Jade focused on the tiny girl’s image. Spinning much faster than any other aura she’d yet viewed, Jade concentrated on slowing the blurring whirlwind, still flush from the victory of finding the sapphire obelisks and seeing through Darwin’s illusion—seeing its reveal, as Lord Charn called it. The cyclone slowed minutely but a wave of vertigo rushed into her mind. She counteracted by dribbling the vertigo into the dark cloud, making her feel better. The cloud slowed a little. Atoi glanced at her, the smile gone. Without a word, she dashed through the gateway.

Crystalyn cursed. “Blast it, Atoi! I wasn’t quite ready to leave yet, but now we have no choice. Jade take the topaz obelisks through, you and Burl are next, then Broth. I’ll come last. Will you do us the courtesy of making certain no one follows, Lord Charn? The gateway should close as soon as I go through, but it’s possible someone could reactivate it. I don’t want any surprises.”

Lord Charn looked at Crystalyn. “You are correct. The gateway will close, but I shall not be here to view it for I shall accompany you. A new world to study is something I cannot ignore. I have always harbored a science inclination before a battle lord, though I will wait to go through right before you and stand guard here as long as possible. Your safety is fragile here now that Darwin’s cowardice has surfaced.”

Now he wants to follow a scientific path, unbelievable!
For many reasons, “scientist” didn’t fit Jade’s mental image of the dark-armored man. Though Lord Charn’s aura didn’t show anything specifically threatening toward them, it was still full of something dark. The bloody, red-eyed dragon had shown her that. Though he had given them exceptional hospitality, he’d claimed he wanted a resolution to the war, and he’d fought for them against Darkwind, nearly losing his life. For that last reason alone, she should trust him. “Don’t expect too much, Lord Charn. Our Terra is not the world it once was. Are certain you want this?” Jade asked.

Lord Charn stood tall. “You misunderstand how much I
do
desire this. I go with you or no one else shall step beyond the sapphire gate.”

Jade looked to Crystalyn. “Well, I suppose that answers my question. Can’t Broth do the guarding?

“I guess they both can, before following each other through. Now go. I don’t know how long the gate will stay active.”

Jade didn’t argue. Excitement settled inside. They were finally going home. She’d wanted to get away from this horrible world from the start. Now they could go back to being a family again, her, Crystalyn and dad. The family would be different now, but at least they’d still be a family. She’d miss Camoe, but Crystalyn was also leaving friends behind. If her sister heart could do it, then so could she.

The dark curtain awaited them, impatient and ominous. With a last glance at her big sister, Jade handed Burl the obelisks, grabbed his hand and stepped through, feeling confused. Crystalyn’s image had changed. Inside her slow-moving cyclone, a double-headed hammer now rotated.