Nemesis (33 page)

Instead of replying, Eidora shoved Nell, roughly, through the doorway. As she crossed the threshold, she turned back and stared at me–as were all the others behind the door–which was already sliding closed.

Shit. “There’s a threat to your entire world,” I said to the centaurs, as the door closed with a final
click
. “I don’t know where the Conners are, but they’re on Aglaia somewhere. They were colluding with the Anthos tribe, with Tryfon, and they’re after your source.”

“You blasted Alliance people want it,” Eidora said. “I knew it. You were after the source all along.”

“Are you out of your mind?” I said. “Your whole world dies if we don’t stop Conner. Who apart from you knows about the source? You notice I didn’t tell the council members? I could have. The entire Alliance would know.”

As it was… only the people in the clearing did. Most of whom had probably known already, even if they didn’t know the name. Lustre.

Three spears pointed at me, close enough to brush against my jacket. For a heartbeat, I thought it was game over for me. And then Eidora gestured to the others to lower their weapons, still eying me with distrust.

“Until now, only the royal family.”

Crap. “Including Tryfon? He was trading something with offworlders.”

Her eyes narrowed. “If it wasn’t for Markos and his arrangement with the Alliance, human, you’d be dead now.”

“Yeah? We’re all going to be dead soon if you don’t answer my question. Do you think I’d be wasting my time here if I wasn’t trying to help? Someone attacked your world already. You might be next. Tell me what you know about your cousin’s involvement with offworlders.”

“I did not know any of this,” she said haughtily. “The traitors are dead.”

I indicated the other centaurs, who pointed spears at me, too. “Any of you want to contribute?”

No answer, but they came closer, until I was pinned to the spot. Even if I turned invisible, if I moved in any direction, I’d get speared. I didn’t like my chances here.

“Okay. The source, then. Do you use it? Because someone’s planning to turn it into a weapon. How much is there?”

Something in my voice seemed to get through to her. “Tryfon was a fool to think he could trade with offworlders. We don’t use the magic, humans, we do not destroy.”

Okay…
“Either way, I reckon at least one of your family was impersonated by someone using bloodrock solution at some time or other. That’s disguise-magic.”

The tip of a spear touched the back of my neck, and it took all my self-control not to flinch.

“It’s true. Someone set you up. Somebody must have told the Conner family about the source in the first place. They aren’t in the council. None of them have even been here, as far as I know.”

Unless they’d used those doorways before. But that thing had carried a hell of a lot of magical energy. No way could they have done that under normal circumstances without drawing attention.

“Tryfon was foolish. Like my idiot brother, he decided to travel offworld, to a human city, and talk to them. He thought he could win us glory through sharing the information.”

“With Conner?”

“With humans. You’re all the same,” said Eidora.

“Not all of us want to blow things up with magic sources,” I said. “So Tryfon decided to trade it for obsidiate. For what purpose?”

“For revenge,” said Eidora. “He was attacked by a mage when he was a child.”

Obsidiate was used in Alliance stunners, so I supposed that was where he’d heard about it. Even centaurs, who couldn’t use magic, would be able to create a hell of an explosion with it.

“Where is the obsidiate now?”

“The Alliance confiscated it,” said Eidora. “Tryfon confessed to speaking with an offworlder, and trading some of our source in return. He could not recall who this individual was.”

“That’s it?” I said, disbelieving. “No details? He just handed the information over to a random offworlder? Where?”

“In the Valerian capital. I believe there were threats involved,” said Eidora. “I can assure you that
I
would not cave in so easily.”

Yeah, right.
Valeria’s population of offworlders was so high, it might apply to anyone. It was beside the point now.

“And the Conners?” I said. “I suppose they’d have got the information out of whoever they told…” Offworld politics at its finest.

Magic surged through the air, without warning, and all the centaurs turned to face the direction it had come from. Somewhere in the middle of the forest. It split the sky in two, rippling outwards, opening to show… a blue-lit corridor.

The Passages. And a smoky shape emerged from the doorway.

“The kimaros!” Eidora shouted.

Holy shit.
The air hummed with residual magic, the aftereffects of a spell gone horribly wrong. It was a warped creature, more shadow than living, a larger version of the creature that had attacked Markos before.

The centaurs all turned towards it, weapons levelled. Apparently unconcerned, Eidora aimed a crossbow at the creature, and it hit home.

The beast didn’t flinch, but the impact rippled through the whole forest. The centaurs were already charging towards the monster, leaving me an opening.

But the kimaros was between me and the source. Where the Conners must no doubt be.

“Damn it all to hell,” I muttered. It was use magic, or die, and the centaurs would just have to deal with it.

I ran back to the official Passage door. Pushed it open.

“Anyone up for a fight?” I asked the perplexed council members.

***

ADA

I was too surprised to yell as the centaur pelted through the forest, kicking undergrowth aside. I lay flat to avoid hitting low-hanging branches and getting tangled up in foliage.

“Wait!” I gasped. “Slow down–” My words were cut off as a branch smacked me in the face. “Ow.”

“You told me to hurry.”

“Yes, but…”

I didn’t know for sure what we’d find when we got there. Could I really trust myself not to let magic swarm out of hand? Kay had said the magic level here was the same as Valeria, and there, too, it didn’t feel like the Passages. It didn’t pull at me constantly like a wicked temptation that might blow up the world.

I had to believe it wouldn’t. I could absorb it.

Markos stopped so suddenly, I almost went flying. Clinging to his back and gasping for breath, I saw the cliff edge ahead. And the site of the source.

People were there. I counted at least four of them, setting up a metal structure exactly like a bigger-scale version of the metal-plated bomb Delta’s father had strapped to me. I wouldn’t forget it in a hurry.

That was what they’d been making at the Campbells’ place.

“Oh, shit.” I gripped Markos’s back. “Oh, my God… they’re making a bomb.”

Could I counter something on that scale, even with antimagic? If I threw myself in the way, I didn’t even know what would happen. I’d almost died last time. And the thought brought me out in a violent shivering fit. My breath came too fast.

“Human. Calm yourself down.”

“Bit difficult,” I gasped. “What the hell am I going to do?” If I used magic, I could destroy everything. Wipe out the whole world, without the Conners needing to do it.

I scanned the people moving about. Most were gathered around the machine, but others were holding something, lifting it out of the ground and carrying it to a spot at the foot of the cliff I’d almost fallen off. A gleaming black multi-sided shape.
The source.
It was smaller than I’d expected, but if they put it in that bomb… No. I had to stop them.

Energy surged through the air, sending me flying from Markos’s back. I wildly shot level one magic at to the ground to stop myself hitting a tree and landed on my feet, the backlash fizzing through my skin.

Using magic to take down the Conners would be the obvious solution, but if that source got hit, we’d all die. I couldn’t risk it.

I felt the magic before I saw it, awakening in my veins, and surging upwards in a spiral of red smoke from somewhere ahead in the forest. Tearing the world in two, into another door. In the air, above the trees.

The magic slammed into us like a wall. Markos reared up on his hind legs, and the trees around us were ripped from the ground. But I wasn’t sent flying this time.

Adamantine was a built-in shield, and the magic couldn’t get through to me.

A fearsome shape appeared from the doorway, taking form in the air as a raging red cloud, with vaguely defined limbs and a long, muzzled head like a lion. It crashed through the canopy somewhere ahead, and cries of alarm sounded. It must have attacked the centaurs. I spun around wildly, looking for Markos, and found him staring up at the door in horror.

The forest came to life around us. Rustling noises sounded and centaurs ran past, all heading towards the doorway and the monster. To defend their home from the beast.

Hit it. With magic.
The humans hadn’t managed to kill it. But… that would risk everyone in the forest, everyone in this world. Unless I managed to control magic.

Ignoring Markos’s shout, I pelted through the trees. God help me if I ran into any centaurs, but they had a far bigger problem to worry about right now. I ran, pulling magic towards me. The energy within me buzzed in synchronisation with the magic in the atmosphere. In the monster.

Before I had the chance to consider my options, I’d already run right into the middle of a battle.

Ruined trees lay everywhere, scattered and torn. Centaurs were amongst them, relentlessly firing arrows and hurling spears at the monster. They’d driven it back, but it was closer to the cliff now.

To the source.

Magic pulsed from it like a malevolent energy. Wild as the Passages. Uncontrollable. Pit-like dark eyes locked onto me.

“Shit,” I whispered, seeing my own death reflected back at me. The centaurs were too close. If I used magic, I’d take them all out.

No. Aglaia’s magic was still there, beneath the chaotic trail the beast and the door had left. Stable. Controllable. And I could absorb it. As much as I needed.

I splayed out my hands, and
pushed.

Magic surged through the air, and the beast’s smoky form faded then became distinct once more. I hit it again, hardly able to believe this was happening.

I pulled on Aglaia’s magic, and the beast pushed forwards with its lionlike paws. I stumbled, barely keeping my feet, and trees were ripped from the ground. The centaurs staggered and as magic surged out from the beast, they fell.

“NO!” I screamed, and pushed again. Energy surged from my skin, and the monster fixated its attention on me. I stepped forward. One foot. Then another. I pushed against it, sweat dripping down my forehead, magic rising to a static pitch. No way could I keep this up forever.

The beast stopped, snarling, as though stopped by an invisible force. Something bolstered me, helping me push the monster.

Someone else was using magic. More than one person…

Mages. Aglaia’s magic-wielders. And there were others, too, appearing amongst the trees. Alliance members. Not just from Earth. Someone had let them into this world.

I wasn’t fighting alone anymore. I pushed, and this time, the monster moved, its smoky form forced back towards the place where sky and earth were divided. The doorway.

We had to get it through before it closed, and the monster was trapped in the forest. Which was probably the Conners’ plan.

It yowled and struggled against the force but to no avail. Sweat dripped down my face, and I staggered despite the antimagic in my blood. One final push sent the monster through the door in a torrent of smoke.

And then someone held me from behind, supporting me.

“We’ve got this, Ada.”

“Kay.” As our hands touched, I felt the magic inside me bolstered in response. He was amplifying it.

I drew in a shuddering breath, stumbling into Kay.

“Holy hell,” I gasped, tilting my head to face him as he switched off the camouflage. “Did you just amplify
my
power?”

“Honestly? I’m still not sure how it works. But we took out the monster.”

“Yeah. We did.” I looked around, only now becoming aware of just how many people had gathered behind us. Mages and centaurs alike stared at the doorway, which remained even with the monster gone. Other Alliance members conversed. Even Eidora had come to stand at her brother’s side.

“Ada. The source. We’ve got to take down the Conners.”

“Really?” I brushed sweaty hair out my eyes with a shaking hand. “That sounds like suicide.”

“Before the council get to the other side of the door. If they see it, I’ll bet Conner will attack, and using magic near a source…”

“Crap,” I said. The door itself was more like a
split,
from earth to sky. And the Conners were behind it.

Magic sparked up my left arm as Kay took my hand and turned us both invisible.