Glyphbinder (30 page)

“And I let you do it,” Kara whispered. “I gave you the way.”

The rock rolled away, revealing a rubble-strewn arch and a stairway leading below. As Cantrall walked them inside and closed the hole behind them, Kara resolved to do whatever she could to stop this from happening.

Maybe she could simply throw her body down the stairs.

THE GLYPH ANCHOR ARYN had found was a short walk, but the climb was the longest Byn had ever made. Each painful step reminded him of the thousands of questions inside him. Breathing and moving took everything he had.

The pain he felt was davenger poison, and it had left him as weak as a sick child. Byn didn’t care. He refused to stop.

They followed a rocky path that threatened to toss them free. Gray, sloping rocks stretched out below them, cloaked in bits of scrub brush and dirt. Wispy clouds moved below the path.

Finally, they stepped onto a shale covered plateau. The Martial Steppes were visible all around them, a carpet of green fields and forests. They stood high above the clouds as the rainbow storms of the Unsettled Lands crackled on the horizon.

“Here,” Jyllith whispered. “This is where we leave.”

Trell dropped Byn’s arm and walked forward with his hand on his sword grip. Melyssa led them to a tall stone of black marble that jutted like a fin on a shark. She passed her hands over it and Byn heard an odd sound, like a tuning fork. Melyssa looked to Jyllith.

“Make the stone ready to transport us to Terras.”

Jyllith walked to the stone without a word, without looking at anyone. She painted strange blood glyphs on its sides that Byn neither recognized nor understood. He could barely stand up.

“He’s pale, Melyssa.” Xander wrapped an arm around Byn to steady him. “What’s wrong with him?”

“We are too far from the earth. Land is weak at high altitudes. He’ll be better in the Unsettled Lands.”

“Unsettled Lands?” Byn looked to the distant storms. “We can’t go there. The spectral storms would rip us apart.”

“They would,” Melyssa agreed, “were we not expected. Torn saw to it that I could pass through the storms when he first sang them onto the sky. All who have my blessing will be unaffected as well.”

Xander grunted. “How can you be sure of that?

“Torn’s abilities were far beyond ours. He was a Bloodsinger. The complexity of the ancient language offers intricacies our simple glyphs cannot match. I can’t tell you how Torn did what he did. What I can tell you is those storms will not harm us.”

“Who has my daughter?” Xander demanded. “Who is this Cantrall?”

“It doesn’t matter who he was. That man is long since dead. What abducted your daughter is a puppet of the Mavoureen. They are determined to break the ward that blocks them from this world, and now they have the blood to do it.”

“What blood?” Byn asked.

“I’m going to explain this as simply as I can, because you all need to understand it if we are to succeed.” Melyssa sat herself beside the echo stone and crossed her legs. “Torn was not natural. I’m not sure if he was even human, and I married him.”

“Yet you had a child together,” Trell said.

“Varyn.” Melyssa almost smiled. “Yes. He was such a kind boy before June died. Xander’s mother. I wish you’d known him then.”

Xander scowled. “I know my father well enough. I know if I ever see that bastard again, I’m going to cave his face in.”

Melyssa sighed and moved on. “No one knows where Torn came from. Even I never learned. What I do know is his blood was unlike any ever seen in the Five Provinces. Incredibly powerful.”

“What was he?” Sera asked.

“My husband,” Melyssa said. “A good man. All that matters is that he stepped into the Underside to save us all. Once inside, he closed the gates and scribed them shut. That seal has held for seventy years. We were certain it would never break.”

“What does that have to do with Kara?” Trell asked.

“Torn locked himself inside the Underside almost seventy years ago. The Mavoureen have been torturing him since. I know he would not give up his secrets willingly, but one does not need to be willing to betray themselves to the Mavoureen. Somehow, they learned how his blood was different from others. Once they learned that, they sent minions to find Torn’s descendants. They altered an unborn descendent to have the same type of blood that Torn did.”

“That’s why Ona’s dying?” Sera asked. “Because the demons altered Kara’s blood to be like Torn’s?”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Xander shouted. “What good would it do them to make Kara more powerful?”

“The only way to undo what Torn did is to scribe blood glyphs on this side of the gates, but those glyphs must be just as powerful as those on the far side. As Torn’s.” Melyssa grimaced. “Kara is the only person powerful enough to break through my husband’s wards.”

“Well,” Xander shouted, “thank the Five you had the forethought to steal her away and erase my mind! That worked out so well, didn’t it? Everything’s just perfect now!”

“Enough!” Melyssa’s word came out hard, and Xander flinched. It seemed all Bloodmenders could silence people with a word. Melyssa was better at it than most.

“I’m sorry for what I took from you, from Ona, but I knew it was the only way to save your daughter. Torn knew this might happen.”

“And if it did?” Trell stepped closer. “What was your plan?”

Xander answered for them. “Melyssa and Varyn were supposed to kill her. Kill my daughter. Torn charged them to kill any person who they thought could undo his wards, even if that person was their own blood. As if that would make any difference.”

Trell frowned at Melyssa. “Odd you didn’t mention that.”

Melyssa shrugged, eyes on the distant clouds. “I learned what Kara was when she was still in Ona’s womb, and yes, I considered killing her. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I think the Mavoureen knew that about me. That’s why they changed her instead of someone I didn’t love.”

Byn sat down. “I’d never want to make that choice.”

“Neither did I. I let Kara live, and I thought my plan would protect her. I think it even would have worked, if not for Cantrall.”

Trell clenched his fists. “He betrayed you.”

“Not at all, dear boy. The Mavoureen stole Cantrall and did things you cannot imagine. He was there when Varyn and I hid Kara away. They tore the secret of her birthright out of his soul, and once they tore him apart they corrupted what remained. They made the brave man I trained into their puppet.”

“So what are we still doing here?” Aryn asked. His raspy voice sounded like Trell’s now, like he had spent his life breathing desert sand. “What is this glyph marker? How is it going to get us to the Unsettled Lands where we can roast Cantrall?”

“This stone is a link between this location and its twin stone in the Unsettled Lands.” Melyssa glanced at Jyllith. “That stone exists in two places at once, here and there.”

Byn watched Jyllith as she moved her palm once more over the stone. She had been doing that constantly, with some variation, and Byn couldn’t tell if one pass was different from the other. He just knew he hadn’t heard that tuning fork hum again. So was that sound a warning? Would making it louder destroy them?

“Torn devised its mechanism long before his death,” Melyssa said, “but it was the Mavoureen, using the knowledge they ripped from his soul, who created this link. Only those who know the proper combination of glyphs can use this anchor to journey from one location to another. We now have one who knows those glyphs.”

Jyllith removed her hands from the stone. The earth rumbled in a way Byn felt more than heard. “It’s ready.”

Byn felt a growl rising in his throat. Jyllith had tried to make Sera into a demon. She had send Aryn to the Underside. He wanted to grab her and snap her neck.

“Byn,” Melyssa said. “We need her. I cannot make you forgive what she has done, but she has been shown the error of her ways. I made sure of that. She knows everything she did was wrong.”

“How wonderful for you both. I hope you have a good cry about it.” Byn clenched his fist. “I’m going to kill her.”

“No, you’re not.” Aryn grabbed his shoulder. “That woman gave me to Balazel. After we stop Cantrall, I’m going to burn her alive."

Jyllith didn’t say anything in her defense. She hunched down like a dog that had been in too many fights. If anything, Byn hated her even more for surrendering before he could strangle her.

Melyssa looked to Jyllith. “Take us now. Open the portal.”

Jyllith passed her hands over the black marble stone, one after the other. It hummed in response to her motions, the tuning fork sound increasing. The vibrations increased as well, and they made Byn’s hair stand on end. The earth rippled like water would.

“If you cannot find it in your hearts to forgive her,” Melyssa said, “I will not intervene. But murdering her now changes nothing.”

The air around them crystallized and cracked. The summit broke apart beneath them, but the alarm that caused was nothing in comparison to the sight of the sky splitting in two. Byn’s world folded in upon itself, like stiff paper, and he couldn’t even scream.

“Here we go,” Jyllith said softly.

A deafening thunderclap drowned out any noise Byn might have made. Then he opened eyes he had never closed and found the sky crackling with colored lightning. He gaped at the devastated ground.

Bare, twisted trees struggled to survive in a land free of sunlight. A black marble stone identical to the one that had stood atop the mountain rose just ahead. Its hum faded.

Trell swept his sword left and right, searching for any threat. Aryn moved ahead, balls of fire bursting to life in his blackened hands. Sera watched with narrow eyes as Jyllith hugged herself and shivered in the wind. Nothing else stirred in the ruins of Terras.

“We are alone,” Melyssa said. “Cantrall must have taken Kara to the glyphing room. That’s where we’ll find the gate the Terras elders opened to the Underside. That’s where we’ll stop him.”

The destruction that surrounded them made Byn miss his family, miss everyone he loved. Tiny memorial crystals were everywhere. Despite all the stories he had heard about what had happened here, seeing the actual slaughter chilled him to the bone.

“By the bloody Five.” Xander stared at his hands, then turned them palms up. “We should be charred clear through.”

“You would be,” Melyssa agreed, “if you were uninvited guests.” She glanced at Byn. “Get up.”

Byn stood. The first steps he took were easy. He clenched his fists and found no strength lacking. “How?”

“We are now below sea level. Land is at his peak. You will have no trouble walking here.” Melyssa hurried into the ruins of Terras. “Follow me, everyone.”

“Land.” Byn shook his head. “That’s the part I’m still not getting, here. What does Land have to do with me?”

“The Five are inside us,” Sera said as she walked past. “Trell hosts Life, and Aryn, Heat. Jyllith hosts Breath. You host Land.”

“But that means...” Byn reached for Sera’s hand, but she pulled away. “Ruin’s a demon. You wouldn’t dare scribe demon glyphs.”

“Ruin is Ruin. And you were dead when I called him.”

She hurried after Melyssa, outdistancing Byn despite his new strength. Trell caught up and gripped his arm. They had fought together at Highridge Keep, and Trell just seemed like a good man. Byn resisted the urge to dart after Sera.

“You must understand,” Trell said. “She scribed demon glyphs to help Kara defeat Jyllith. She sacrificed herself to save countless lives. She did it because she loved you.”

Byn watched Sera and grimaced. He knew that was exactly what Sera would do. She would die to save people she didn’t know.

“There’s only one path for someone who scribes demon glyphs,” Trell added quietly. “If she pushes you away, it’s only because she wants to spare you the pain of losing her. When she dies.”

Byn couldn’t believe it. Sera was
not
Demonkin! Yet why, if this was so, had she turned her back on him? How could she even consider killing herself when she had so much ahead of her?

He couldn’t let her do that. He wouldn’t. The reasons she had scribed that demon glyph were irrelevant. He loved her and he wasn’t leaving her. Simple as that.

They walked past Jyllith. She was wandering now, aimlessly. Aryn snatched her hand and yanked her forward. She followed with her head down, like a cowed dog.

“Kara’s waiting for us,” Aryn said. “Walk faster.”

Byn watched them both as they hurried on. He watched Aryn, charred beyond recognition, and Jyllith, broken body and soul. The two of them had broken each other.

“What happened to her?” Byn walked with Trell at the back of their small group. It seemed the easiest path at the moment.

“Melyssa did it. After Breath resurrected her, Melyssa searched Jyllith’s mind. Her memories. One skilled in memory alteration can recognize memories that others changed, and the man that changed Jyllith’s memories did a sloppy job.”

“Cantrall did that to her?”

“I think so. I think his revenants destroyed her town, murdered her family, and she witnessed it all. Except what she remembered wasn’t revenants. She saw Mynt soldiers execute her family.”

“That doesn’t give her the right to make people into demons.”

“I never said it did, but it does explain her hatred of you. In all the years she fought to destroy the Mynt, Jyllith never once examined her own recollections. When she did, her realization of how she’d been tricked nearly killed her.”