20. Tahlia

Agolden light flickered below them, beside what looked like the ruins of an old castle. Marius looked to Tahlia and motioned to the light. She nodded and their dragons began to dive. Ragewing came to a stop on what had once been a rutted cart path. The two lines of expertly laid rock were now mostly covered with the greenish-black moss that seemed to grow everywhere here. Lija perched on a tumble of rounded building stones. Both riders remained on their mounts as the strange light approached. The illumination morphed into an outline of a Fae male.

The ethereal Fae had large ram horns that curled away from his pleasant-looking face. He had cheekbones like Fara’s, sharp but not long. His hair and his skin were fashioned of that same golden light, as was his cloak and the simple leather boots that stuck out at the bottom of the woolen wrap. A thick torc shimmered around his neck, a traditional accessory that the Fae of the king’s city still wore today.

“A ghost?” Tahlia suggested out loud to Lija. Speaking through minds was difficult. She’d had to get used to it.

Marius glanced her way, a mix of sadness, hope, and wonder crossing his features and clouding his eyes. He looked like he wanted to grab her and leave here without helping anyone do anything. Her heart surged, pushing her from her saddle and off Lija’s back. But he, like Tahlia, had to know that wasn’t possible.

“I think so,” he said.

Tahlia found her footing off the pile of stones. Marius must have thought she was talking to him, of course, because he didn’t know about the plant and all of that madness.

The ghost is quite old, Lija said into Tahlia’s mind, but his spirit is bright and full of life.

“Vodolija says he is bright, which I’d guess means he’s not a kidnapper of friends.” Fara, please be all right, she prayed silently.

Marius dismounted and paused, hands still holding the reins. “Your dragon says?”

“Yes. That’s a story for another time.” Tahlia pointed at the spirit.

“Right.” Marius cleared his throat and gave the ghost a shallow bow. “Spirit, we are searching for our friend, a female named Fara.”

“She has purple skin, and dark hair, and is afraid of life in general. Have you seen her? Please say you have. She can’t handle things like this.”

Marius lifted an eyebrow at Tahlia.

The ghost floated farther away, his body partially obscured by the age-blackened remains of a gatehouse and wall. Vines grew over the stones and hung across the entrance like a curtain. The dragons flew over the old castle wall while Marius and Tahlia walked under the portcullis.

“That is why I have come to you,” the spirit said. “Your friend is trapped below with the varjuline. They haven’t drained her blood yet, but a portion of her spirit has been siphoned. Their feeding is accomplished through a dark, wordless magic. They glean blood and spirit from their victims and the wisps of energy and blood crawl through the very air and soak into the varjuline. They also save a portion of their victims’ blood in bowls for Katk.” The ghost pressed his eyes shut as if he’d seen the act and wished he hadn’t.

Fear cut Tahlia again and again. “What are the varjuline?” Her voice had gone shrill. “Is that what those shadows are? We dealt with them once already. Is my friend alive?”

The ghost studied Tahlia, then Marius. “Oh, a whip. Fascinating.” He raised a glowing eyebrow at Marius’s favored weapon and grinned naughtily.

Tahlia waved both hands, impatient. “Please, focus. Tell us what to do.”

The ghost rolled its eyes. Vodolija snorted and took a step toward the ghost.

“Easy, big beauty,” the ghost said. Then he turned back to Tahlia. “Your friend still has a chance to live because she remembers her life and her center.”

Tahlia exhaled, nearly falling to her knees in gratitude. Alive. Fara was alive and they were going to save her.

“That’s what keeps me from becoming a varjuline,” the ghost said, “which is a shadowling that exists only to feed themselves and to feed Katk. In life, I was called Trevain. Not that you asked.”

A breeze that smelled like stagnant water drifted across Tahlia’s face.

“Are they ghosts like you, but evil instead of oddly informative?” she asked, her hands shaking.

The ghost nodded, his partially transparent ram horns fading in and out. “As long as I retain my mind and my memories, I can withstand the call of the sleeping Katk.”

“Enough talking,” Marius said, drawing his sword. Ragewing flapped his wings, turning the area into a small windstorm for a moment. “We must rescue our squire.”

Tahlia gave him a look, then smiled at the ghost. They wouldn’t get far if they insulted anyone trying to help them. “We want to learn all about you, Trevain, but for now, can you take us to our friend?”

“I will do it for you,” he said to Tahlia.

He bowed to her, then floated over a scattered floor of flagstones, moss, and earth.

An open doorway led to the remains of a staircase that descended underground. They trailed the spirit, the ghost’s light illuminating the timeworn stone and the water dripping from the partially collapsed ceiling of the staircase. A corridor, as black as night, stretched out past the stairs. Marius remained in front of Tahlia, just behind Trevain.

“Stay back three steps,” Marius ordered Tahlia over his shoulder.

“Aye, High Captain.” She had to figure out why he was so insistent on not touching her.

The corridor opened into a chamber that smelled strongly of illness and blood.

Fara lay in the center of the room, surrounded by a cage of golden fire. They hurried inside, stopping at the ring.

“Fara?” Tahlia touched the ring. The flame didn’t singe her skin, but the strange magic blocked her like a wall of stone.

Fara opened her eyes. “Tahlia?” She struggled to her feet and stared out at them through the flickering light. Her arms were covered in golden boils and instead of being the color of a rare amethyst, her skin was as pale as a shade-loving periwinkle bloom.

“You have only moments before the varjuline return,” Trevain said, turning toward the doorway like he expected the villainous ghosts to enter this very second. “Though they will be less drawn to you, Tahlia, because of your human blood, there are many and they are hungry.”

Tahlia unsheathed her short sword. “Move as far away from this edge as you can, Fara.”

Fara did so and Tahlia swung her sword, aiming to slice through the flames. The sword passed through and Fara gasped, hope lighting her eyes. But the flames returned before she could escape.

“Damn it!” Tahlia whirled. “Marius, any ideas?”

“High Captain. Please.”

“Really? You’re worried about rules and regulations at a time like this?”

“This is exactly the time to remain disciplined and to follow protocol. That’s all we have to rely on when so much is out of our control.”

“All you might have to rely on, but rules don’t always work toward an end goal.” Exasperated, she waved her hands. “Just forget about that. What do we do?”

Marius stepped closer to Fara. “What happened? Who trapped you here?”

“I told you. It was the varjuline,” Trevain said.

“Apologies, but I don’t trust you yet,” Marius snapped over his shoulder.

Tahlia gave Marius a look. “Sorry, Trevain,” she said, glancing the ghost’s way. “He’s a bit of a grouch. He does trust you, or he wouldn’t have followed you in here. He especially wouldn’t have let me trail along. He’s very protective.”

Trevain nodded. “I know that type. The whip also says a lot.”

Marius’s eyes were lightning. “Will you please remain on task?”

Tahlia studied Fara, her chest caving at the color of her skin. “Fara, we will get you out of here.”

Fara coughed and a spot of blood showed on her bottom lip. “Dark shadows…” More coughing interrupted her and she crumbled to the chamber’s stone floor.

“Fara,” Marius said, his voice stern but somehow incredibly comforting, “Lady Tahlia speaks the truth. We will free you. Have no doubt.”

Tahlia melted inside. If only they could be back at the keep, feasting or flying or both. She hated seeing her two favorite people in such agony.

Fara only nodded, seemingly unable to say anything else.

“Duck your head down,” Marius ordered her. He faced Tahlia. “Take my sword. It will strike a wider path. Once you cut the flames, I will lunge for her.”

“You can touch her?” Tahlia asked.

Marius’s eyes shuttered for a second like her words had struck him a mortal blow.

“He is only cursed to never touch you,” Trevain said.

Tahlia whirled. “What do you mean? You know what’s wrong with him?”

“It’s insulting that your knee-jerk reaction is to think I’m an idiot just because I’m not quite alive.”

“That’s not,” Tahlia started to say, “that’s not what I meant, I?—”

The ghost waved her apology away. “I know some things. For instance, Katk is trying to rise. A new champion has awakened him from his long slumber, as evidenced by the activity of the varjuline.”

“I’m so confused,” Tahlia said. “Let’s put a pin in that for now. How can we get Fara out?”

“You’ll need a really big pin for that one…” Trevain exhaled, clearly annoyed. “I have never witnessed anyone escaping a varjuline’s cage.”

Tahlia’s heart sank.

“Then ready yourself, Lady Tahlia.” Marius set his sword on the ground.

She picked it up. The hilt was still warm from his hand. She bit her lip, praying and wishing and begging all of the Old Ones to come to their aid with this whole mess.

Tahlia swung Marius’s longer, wider sword along the middle of the cage. The flames sputtered and cut out and Marius moved in a blur of astounding speed, his arms reaching down for Fara. He grunted in pain and drew back just as quickly as the flames reignited themselves.

“I can’t do it. They’re too quick to reform.”

“If they’re too fast for you, they’re too quick for anything in any realm. You are so incredibly fast, Marius. I mean, High Captain.”

Marius’s stone face gave none of his thoughts away.

“Do the creatures fear any force or being?” he asked Trevain, even though his gaze was on Tahlia. She felt his look like a hand on her cheek, and to steady herself, she took a deep breath.

“Only their master, Katk.”

Marius made a quiet humming noise like he was thinking. “What does he wield?”

“Plague, of course.” Trevain gestured to Fara.

“Well, I don’t have experience wielding illness,” Tahlia said, “aside from sneezing on folks when I have an ague.”

“It’s a bit more serious than that, I’m afraid,” Trevain said.

Oh, how Tahlia wanted to hear Fara say something dark and worrisome. She looked awful, slumped inside the cage of flames.

“Maybe we should fight fire with fire?” Tahlia ran from the chamber, heading for the dragons.

Vodolija?Tahlia tried to speak to the Seabreak inside her head again. Lija? No answer. Perhaps Tahlia needed more practice.

“Vodolija?” she called out as soon as she was back in the remains of the great hall.

The dragon flew over the half-collapsed roof, then dove into the great hall, her wings barely able to work in the broken space.

Marius and Trevain ran up behind Tahlia.

She climbed onto Lija, scrambling to the saddle. “We need to get the chamber uncovered so they can try their fire on the cage.”

“Worth a try,” Marius said quickly.

Howling erupted outside the walls. Goosebumps ran the length of Tahlia’s body.

Trevain grew even more transparent. “They’re here. The varjuline. I don’t know if they can hurt your dragons, but you, you must flee!”

Staring the ghost down, Tahlia shook her head. “I’m not leaving Fara.”

“We don’t abandon our own,” Marius said.

Ragewing hovered above the ruins, wings blowing the spindly branches of a tree growing out of the wall.

“Which is why I haven’t left you yet, High Captain,” Tahlia said, climbing onto Lija’s back.

Marius growled and showed his fangs to Tahlia, then he leapt onto Ragewing.

Black shadows coursed into the old keep, their movements like oil seeping into the empty spaces in the walls and spreading over the floor, only to crest like waves. When they peaked, their Fae-like silhouettes had heads, flowing hair in varying lengths, arms, and torsos.

“Gods, they are creepy. Lija, try frying them.”

I like that plan.

The Seabreak’s four wings fluttered as she flew out of the ruins and hovered beside Ragewing. Both dragons blew fire into the oily shadows, but the dark shapes fled before the fire could hit them.

“They are running from the flames, so it must hurt them,” Tahlia called out to Marius. “Can you not use that power you wielded last time?”

“I will attempt it.” He lifted his hands, but no sparkling magic flashed.

Damn.She guessed he couldn’t control whatever that power was.

Shaking his head, he pulled his whip from his shoulder and let it whirl and crack over the area where the varjuline had gathered. They didn’t dart away from the whip’s end like they had from the fire, but their heads had turned.

Marius locked his gaze on Tahlia. “At the same time.”

She knew what he meant. He’d crack the whip and distract them while the dragons breathed fire again.

Marius raised his arm, but a shadow shot from the group and curled around his hand. He shouted, obviously in pain.

Had the shadows learned from the first battle? Did they know that Marius, possibly because of his curse, could wield magic? Were they taking action against that power somehow?

He shook his hand, but the shadow clung tightly. His grimace told her that the shadow’s touch poured agony into him. Ragewing flew higher, and finally, the varjuline dropped away from Marius. His whip hand looked paler. He put his whip in his other hand, then unleashed it with a crack.

The varjuline eyed the whip, their motions almost in sync.

“Now,” Tahlia said to Lija.

Lija and Ragewing blew fire into the varjuline. They scattered, their forms ragged and bits of their essence floating into the air like clouds of ash.

“Again!” Marius commanded. He cracked the whip twice this time, once on his right and then on his left.

The varjuline howled and Tahlia’s ears rang. Lija and Ragewing let loose two more streams of blazing fire, and the varjuline were no more.

“Quick, Lija, tear up the stones there. Open the place up!”

The Seabreak dove, smashed her talons into the old floor, and rose back into the air. Tahlia couldn’t see beneath her mount, but Lija must have been holding a few good scoops of dislodged rock because some of the debris was missing. Fara slumped, lifeless, in the fiery cage below the broken floor.

Ragewing and Lija flew down to the next level, landing beside the cage.

Marius flexed the hand the varjuline had attacked. “On my count, flame.”

“Stay down, Fara!” Tahlia hoped she would remain where she was. She didn’t want their proposed solution to be worse than the problem.

“One, two, three!” Marius called out with Trevain now hovering just behind him and Ragewing.

The flames from both dragons mingled to create a river of fire colored citrine, sapphire, ruby, and aquamarine. Fara’s head lolled to one side, then she ducked again, hands over her head protectively. The cage shimmered, grew brighter, then dissolved like the creatures who had built it.

Marius leapt from Ragewing, gathered Fara into his arms, then took off. Tahlia and Lija followed close behind with Trevain streaming along beside them.

At the first area of ground covered in moss and low grasses, they landed, Tahlia and Lija quickly getting a fire going for Fara and making her as comfortable as possible considering evil ghosts were lurking about and they only had one heavy blanket between all their bags.

Fara sat up against a boulder. Marius tucked the fine blanket around her. Silver embroidery sewn into cloud-like patterns decorated the top-notch wool. He stood and turned to face the ghost.

“Trevain, do you know a remedy for what ails her?”

A small shadow oozed from the ground and Marius leapt back.

“Watch out,” he said sharply. “One more.”

“That’s the little one that we saw the first time the shadows attacked,” Tahlia said.

The shadow flew past Marius, its movement erratic, as if it was afraid. It flew into the boulder beside the one Fara was leaning on and bounced backward, trembling.

Ragewing roared at the varjuline, and the shadow cowered low.

“I have heard of too dumb to live,” Trevain said, looking down his nose at the shadowling, “but too dumb to die is a new one, I must admit.”

Marius lifted a hand and Ragewing let out a quick blast of fire. The small varjuline disappeared into the mossy ground. Trevain pursed his lips like he was disappointed in the shadowling.

Tahlia knelt beside Fara and smoothed the blanket so that it lay just under her chin. “Marius brought out his rich fellow’s blanket for you, Fara. Soon, you and I will have enough to buy one of these too. I mean, come on. Don’t die before we get paid, all right?”

Eyes burning from unshed tears, she tucked her friend’s hair behind her ear. Golden boils showed over Fara’s right eyebrow and along her cheek. She wasn’t as pale as earlier, but she still hadn’t opened her eyes or uttered a word.

“I have never seen someone leave any of the fire cages, so I don’t have any information about healing her. It’s not the same as the plague that killed me. This is the plague wrought by Katk and his first champion, the plague set on those with Mistgold blood.”

Tahlia tried to get Fara to drink from her waterskin, but the liquid only spilled over her unmoving lips.

“Tell us the whole story, spirit,” Tahlia said. “We need to know everything.”

“How about I show you?” Trevain waved his hand and everything disappeared.