Shadow Heir

The torture chamber had been one floor down. There was a big temptation to go check on the situation there, but I’d already deviated from the plan once today. So, I kept going down the stairs, down to the fourth subterranean level. We met little resistance on the stairs but were swarmed with guards as soon as we headed down the corridor toward the room holding the gifts. It was closed with double doors, just as Kiyo had described to me. Hadic’s hands blazed with blue light.

“You know how to stop the blight?” he asked me.

“I think so.”

“Then do it. We’ll hold them off.”

All five monarchs seemed to be on board now, much to my relief. I had to assume their powers, even a little weakened, were more or less comparable to mine and Dorian’s. Could the two of us have taken on this force of soldiers? Probably. Or at least made a damned good showing. That seemed to favor the odds of this group handling everything.

“The room’s at the end of the hall,” I said. “Come to us when you can.” If the incantation didn’t work, I was going to have to try the brute-force method to shatter the enchantment.

Jasmine and I had to squeeze our way past the mob of guards and magic users, but fortunately, the monarchs did a good job covering us. Once we reached the double doors, we encountered a few more sentries, but the bulk of the forces were engaged elsewhere. Jasmine and I easily took this handful out and tried to open the doors. Unsurprisingly, they were locked. Rather than search for keys on the guards, I simply blasted the doors open. It was kind of therapeutic after my recent frustrations.

We hurried inside and came to a halt. It was exactly as Kiyo had described. A wide vault of a room with high ceilings. Two piles of objects sat before us, ranging from statues to jewels to cloth. One collection was quite small, the other sickeningly large. Each of those objects represented a kingdom held in thrall by the blight, every single one of those kingdoms suffering as badly as my own.

Jasmine darted toward them, the desire for destruction written all over her features. “Wait—” I called.

Too late. She hit one of the invisible walls protecting the stash and bounced off it, stumbling back and hitting the floor. Flushing, she got back on her feet and glared.

“It’s really there, huh?”

“Yup.” My ability to sense various types of gentry magic was erratic, but I could feel this, even though I couldn’t see it. It was strong—very strong. I wondered again how many it would’ve taken to build it.

Reaching for the scroll in my pocket, I cleared my throat. “Let’s hope this knocks it down for us.” I had to squint again to read the incantation, most of which was nonsensical syllables in an ancient language of magic. When I finished, I looked up at the objects. Nothing had changed, to my senses. That powerful magic was still in place.

“Shit,” I said.

“Maybe you didn’t pronounce it correctly,” said Jasmine.

“Maybe,” I said skeptically. It was written pretty much like it sounded, and Volusian had listened to my recitation in my cell, correcting me when needed.

“It’s because you weren’t born in the Yew Land,” said a voice behind me.

I spun around, instinctively reaching for the only weapon I had—which was the crappy wand. Varia stood in the doorway, wearing a sensible dress for a change, as she regarded us with that annoyingly condescending expression she excelled at. So help me, those ridiculous dogs were at her feet, wearing their bows, barking at us.

“Whatever spy got you that charm did an excellent job,” she continued. “I don’t know whether to be impressed or annoyed. It’s perfect, word for word. Unfortunately, what he or she failed to discover is that it must be performed by a magic user of significant strength—one who is from the Yew Land. You don’t really think I would have gone to all this trouble so that anyone could come along and destroy it with a little chant? Everything you see, everything having to do with the Winter Enchantment has been the result of years of preparation.”

“Fuck,” I said, realizing this needed an upgrade in profanity.

There was nothing to be done now but hope the monarchs and I could simply blast our way through the shield. Well, that and I could also take out Varia while I was killing time. She certainly wasn’t going to stand by when the rest of us attempted to destroy the gifts. Besides, after everything she’d put me through, I was kind of—

My thoughts grew disoriented as a wave of dizziness hit me. I shook my head to clear it and readjusted my stance. Too much exertion today, I supposed. I focused back on Varia, who was watching me with an amused curl of her lips. Beside me, I heard a surprised cry from Jasmine. She took a few steps forward and suddenly fell to her knees. She clasped her hands to her head and winced, as though she was being subjected to some terrible noise.