Crystal Caged (Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles Book 5) Read online

  “He’s suspicious of me.” Vi sheathed the sword. Even though it could no longer be seen, her magic fed the illusion. “I need to give him something.”

  “Then I’ll pray to Yargen it works.”

  Vi nodded. “Be ready to move, too. You might want to start gathering your things.”

  “So early? I thought we needed to see them to the Crystal Caverns?”

  “We’ll see. The crown isn’t here; I think it’s in Oparium.”

  “Then you know where all the weapons are.”

  “The crown’s location is still just a hunch.”

  “And if your suspicion is right, you want to move to get the weapons all at once?” Vi nodded again. “I bet Taavin loves that.”

  “Yes, well…” Vi looked at the sword, promptly ignoring the remark. “I should be getting back to Victor.”

  Deneya stopped her from leaving by grabbing her wrist and locking eyes with Vi.

  “Remember, Vi, he’s only seen how you fail. Never how you succeed. You’re the Champion, not him. You’re the one who’s going to show us all how this ends.” Deneya continued to hold her gaze. Vi opened her mouth, but couldn’t quite find words. So she shut it slowly, settling for a third dip of her chin. “I’m following you into this future, not him.”

  “Thank you.” That was all Vi could think to say. It wasn’t nearly enough, but it was everything she meant.

  “You’re welcome.” Deneya released her and the woman’s lighthearted manner returned. “Now, off with you. Go quell the rage of a sorcerer who thinks he’s powerful.”

  “With pleasure.”

  Sword in hand, Vi made her way back through the palace to the Tower of Sorcerers. The good thing about having spent years studying the architecture and maps of the Imperial Palace meant that if she didn’t want to be seen, she didn’t have to be. There was always a passage, and a passage deeper still, winding within walls and behind doors to get someone from where they were to where they needed to go.

  Muffled voices indicated Egmun wasn’t alone, but Vi knocked anyway. “Enter.” And, for the second time in one day, she did.

  Egmun was seated behind his desk, Victor across from him. The young man gave her a satisfied smirk. Vi ignored him completely.

  “I have what you requested.”

  “Show me.” Egmun’s eyes never left the sword. But Vi’s darted to Victor. “He knows of the crystal weapons.”

  “Very well.” In a sweeping motion, Vi unsheathed the sword. It was whisper silent; the steel hardly reverberated underneath the illusion that remained solidly in place.

  “There it is,” Egmun breathed, drawn to his feet. “It’s really there.” He walked around his desk, as if he were approaching a sacred relic. Vi continued to hold out the sword as he approached, holding her breath, waiting. Egmun’s fingers trembled as he reached upward. They came in contact with the illusion. Vi’s magic held. “It doesn’t feel the same as the other crystals.”

  “This much power wouldn’t. It’s far more refined, not wild like the stones you use. This has been honed.”

  “Yes, I read all about how Jadar honed the crystal with the blood and sacrifice of Windwalkers,” Egmun said lightly, as if stating a passing fact about the lineage of Solaris and not the most heinous period of the Dark Isle’s history. “Finally, after all this time, it’s—”

  “Minister.” Victor stood, breaking the moment.

  “What?” Egmun turned to glare at his young apprentice. But Victor wasn’t deterred.

  The young man reached out his hand. With one finger, he touched the hilt at the guard, running up along the blade. Victor’s eyes narrowed. When he pulled his finger back, a line of red was cut into it.

  “It doesn’t feel like our crystals, Minister, because it’s not.” Victor leveled his gaze at Vi. She met it and kept her face passive.

  “What are you talking about?” Egmun balked.

  “Look closer,” Victor practically snapped at the man. It seemed to jostle Egmun out of the power lust that had clouded his eyes. Now, he inspected the sword far more intently. “You’re a Waterrunner too. You know illusions.”

  “What do you see?” Egmun asked.

  “It’s a subtle… shift. Only visible when you touch it. A good illusion, indeed. But not a perfect one. There is no such thing as a perfect illusion.”

  Vi watched as her hopes were crushed under the heel of Victor’s boot. Egmun wrenched the weapon from her hand. He waved it around, watching it carefully. Then, Egmun began to laugh.

  “Well done, Victor. You passed our test. You may go.”

  “Minis—”

  “I said go!” Egmun barked. Victor dismissed himself, but not before giving Vi a rather satisfied side-eye. She had to hold herself back from reaching out and snapping his neck then and there. The world would be better for it. Of that, she was nearly certain. Once the door was closed, Egmun brandished the sword at her. “What is this?”

  “The Sword of—”

  “Lies!” he roared, slashing it through the air. “Lies, lies, lies.” Egmun slammed the weapon into the side of his deck and Vi watched it leave a deep gouge. Sure enough, her illusion writhed as the weapon wriggled. He pointed it back at her, advancing. “You, you’re a Firebearer. I saw it. You can summon flames.”

  Vi held up both hands in an effort to be non-threatening. But tiny fires illuminated each of her fingertips. Both to prove his point, and to show that she could fight back if she wanted.

  “How are you doing this?” He stopped. “Unless… unless you have an associate. Someone working with you. Was that why you were in the Waterrunner storeroom?”

  “No one is working with me,” Vi insisted calmly. “The illusion is mine.”

  “Impossible.”

  Vi lowered her hands and with them, the illusion fell alongside her hopes.

  “That’s impossible,” he repeated, looking between her and the now unveiled sword.

  “It’s not when you know how to use the power of the crystals. I do have the Sword of Jadar. But I will not show you until we are leaving for the Caverns with Prince Aldrik.” Vi locked eyes with the man. “Consider this demonstration my proof of the sword.”

  “You—”

  Vi wrenched open the door behind her and stopped him mid-sentence. “You will summon me when we are to leave for the Crystal Caverns and not a moment sooner.”

  Before he could answer, she slammed the door and retreated to her room, where the empty scabbard in her hand and the silence that surrounded her were solemn reminders of her failure.

  Chapter Eight

  Vi paced her bedroom, looking out over the city of frost that glistened like fire in the light of the sun disappearing over the Western mountaintops. Solarin shone brighter than ever before, for every day brought them closer to the prince’s coming-of-age ceremony. The relentless march of time continued against her, seeming faster and faster with each passing hour.

  “We need to leave,” Vi said to Taavin, worrying the crystal stone that contained the power of the Sword of Jadar between her fingers. “We should take the Sword and go, get the crown before Victor can, and put an end to this.”

  “We need to stay. Aldrik must go to the Crystal Caverns with the sword, otherwise we risk disrupting the flow of time so dramatically that a new Champion won’t be born,” Taavin said calmly, clearly trying to soothe her anxious energy. Vi bit her tongue. “You have already proved you can transfer the energy from the sword to the Caverns. All will be well. You’ll preserve Yargen’s essence.”

  Vi curled and uncurled her fingers over the crystal in her palm, feeling the magic move and stretch. Manipulating Yargen’s power was becoming more and more instinctive by the day. The time she’d spent scouring the Tower and Imperial libraries for information on crystals, however little there was, seemed to help. It took a lot of reading between the lines, but there was knowledge there that enhanced her nightly practice.

  “What if—” A knock on the door interrupted the thought, sa
ving Vi from herself. It was three fast raps, followed by two slower ones. Vi opened the door to an illusioned Deneya.

  “He’s on the move,” Deneya said as she entered, casting her magic aside with a flick of her wrist.

  Several curse words lit across Vi’s mind. But she kept her voice level. “What’s happened?”

  “Egmun went out this evening. He rarely goes by horse anywhere, so I followed.” Deneya was still in her stable clothes, hay clinging to the rough wool covering her forearms. “He met with some Westerners down the mountain, at one of the last inns for travelers.”

  “Did you recognize these Westerners?”

  Deneya shook her head. “But you know humans, they age so fast. I couldn’t tell you for certain if they weren’t boys the last time we were in the West.”

  “What did they discuss?”

  “It was hard to hear from my hiding place. I had to remain inconspicuous so I stayed outside, underneath a window by the booth where they sat. But I know I heard mention of the Sword of Jadar.” Vi let out the string of curse words this time and ran her hand through her hair. Deneya continued, “It seems you haven’t given him enough. Egmun doesn’t believe you have the sword.”

  “So he found the Knights of Jadar to make sure they don’t have it.” Vi’s attempt at an illusion was costing them more than she could’ve imagined.

  “And, in the process, let them know that he does,” Deneya said grimly. “They attacked him on the spot, accusing him of somehow stealing it.”

  “And Egmun?”

  “He’s all right. Slipped out in the fray. Two Knights tried to follow him but their horses were spooked by a bear emerging from the woods.”

  “A bear?”

  “Like this one.” Deneya waved her hand and uttered, “Durroe watt ivin.” A large grizzly bear materialized in the corner of the room, roaring soundlessly. She released the illusion as quickly as she made it. “It was more convincing when I had curo with it, for the roar.”

  “Thank you for helping Egmun out of there.” Vi turned to Taavin with worried eyes. “What do you think?”

  “I think your time is running short.” He stood from where he’d perched on the low bookshelves by the window. “You can’t risk getting caught off-guard and having the sword stolen by Knights intercepting you. Aldrik taking the sword to the Caverns is a stone in the river, as I’ve told you. The sword will find its way to him… one way or another. But if you want to transfer the power, we ought to be the ones to see both prince and weapon to the Caverns.”

  “I know.” Vi chewed over her thoughts, which were unpleasant as a piece of raw fat. She looked down again at the stone in her hands. “I’ll have to get him there tonight.”

  “How?” Deneya asked.

  “I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something.” In one fluid motion of light and magic, there was the hilt of a sword in her hand where there had previously been none. It was shorter than the original Sword of Jadar, just the right size to fit in the scabbard Deneya had made.

  “You’ve gotten better with the crystals,” Deneya said, tilting her head to the side. Her eyes drifted to Taavin. “She been practicing when we’re not looking?”

  “She must’ve been,” Taavin thoughtfully replied.

  “No time to go over it now.” Vi returned them to the matter at hand. “Deneya, ferry some items between here and the horses. We’ll take Prism and Midsummer—get them tacked and ready.”

  “You want me to follow behind on the way to the Caverns?”

  “No, get out ahead. Go to the cabin and stash our things there. I don’t know what will happen, so I want you to be nimble and ready.”

  “All right, anything in particular you want me to ferry?”

  Vi pointed the sword at two packs in the corner. “All my things are collected.”

  “You were ready to go?”

  “I knew we’d have to move soon… I was just hoping it wouldn’t be like this.” She’d hoped to head right to Oparium and bypass the Caverns entirely. But there was no way to win Taavin over to that plan. “I need to go to Egmun.”

  Taavin grabbed her arm, stopping her. Vi swung to face the ethereal man. “Be careful,” he said, far more tender than the moment deserved. “Remember, everything you’re doing is a risk. And if you die now—” he touched the watch around her neck lightly “—if you don’t get this to Vhalla when the time is right. There is no Champion reborn.”

  “I know, and I’ll be careful.” Vi was growing weary of Taavin’s well-intentioned reminders. She’d been spoiled by fourteen years when he didn’t feel the need to press the issue nearly every day.

  “Your eyes say something different.” His touch was feather-light, but Vi was as immobile as if he’d snared her.

  “I’ll be careful,” she repeated, softer, gentler. Vi leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips, releasing her hold on narro hath before opening her eyes.

  “It’s a cruel existence,” Deneya said faintly, looking at where Taavin had stood just moments before.

  “It is for all of us, don’t you think?” Vi shrugged and left before Deneya could answer.

  She would take the sword and present it to Egmun now. It was only two weeks before the coming-of-age ceremony and Aldrik would be busy for at least one of those weeks. If she pressured Egmun hard enough, in the right ways, he’d spill about the incident with the Knights and from there—

  “By the Mother.” A gasp interrupted her frantic planning. Vi looked up. Egmun was there, staring up at her with a mixture of awe and, to her surprise, horror. “You look like Fiera reborn.”

  “So I’ve been told.” Vi lifted the sword, pointing its tip at him. The subtle threat was intentional. “You wanted the sword. I want the prince. Tonight, let’s put an end—”

  “I had a meeting with the Knights of Jadar,” he interrupted her a second time.

  Vi lowered the weapon. She didn’t even have to feign annoyance and irritation, just surprise. “You what?”

  “I had my doubts,” he began. “Perfectly rational… When we first met, you spoke of Fiera’s death with confidence. My research shows that the only people there when she died were the Knights. Then, after the fake sword, after I thought you had help from a Waterrunner—conspirators… Well, what would you have thought in my position?”

  He took a breath to continue, but it was Vi’s turn to interrupt him. She stepped forward, lifted the sword once more, and put it under his chin.

  “I would’ve known when I looked upon an entity greater than myself. I would’ve known not to question,” Vi said, dangerously quiet. Even though he was held at sword point, Egmun didn’t look the slightest bit scared. His eyes were wide with anticipation, thrill, and a shameful lust for the immense magic contained within the crystal. “Can you feel it? The power this sword holds? Does it make you shiver and shake and yearn for more?”

  He swallowed, the lump in his neck nearly scraping against the sword point.

  “There’s more of this magic to be had, much more.” Vi slowly lowered the weapon and his eyes followed. “We’ve wasted too much time. We go to the Caverns tonight.”

  “Tonight, there’s no—”

  “Let’s step into your office.” Vi glanced over her shoulder. Deneya would be coming down any moment with supplies to load before departing. She looked down the hall as well to avoid appearing suspicious. Egmun obliged her suggestion and Vi continued the moment the door was closed. “Soon Aldrik will be too focused on preparations for his coming-of-age ceremony. We should go now and break down the barrier. We can sort the rest later if needed. I can secure the prince. You go secure the horses necessary for our flight.”

  “You will secure the prince?” Egmun arched his eyebrows. “Don’t you think I should?”

  “I know where he is at this time of night.” She’d run into him in the library more than once when she skulked around the Tower in the dead of night. Like Vi, he had a tendency to take books and not return them with any speed, so she ha
dn’t put together a clear picture of everything the prince was researching so faithfully. “I know how to make him bend to our will.”

  “If you’re confident, then.” Egmun nodded, a satisfied smile spreading across his lips. “I’ll meet you down at the stables.”

  “Very good.” Vi sheathed the sword and emerged into the Tower hall once more. Just ahead, a Tower apprentice carried two bags slung over her shoulders.

  Deneya. Good, she got out without suspicion.

  Vi descended the spiraling walkway of the Tower. For a short stretch, Egmun’s footsteps followed her. But he soon veered off, departing through one of the doors that connected Tower and palace. Vi continued on, straight for the library.

  A man was seated by the lit hearth. Blessedly alone.

  Aldrik’s head bobbed as he fought off sleep. He didn’t notice her approaching. His chin had met his chest when her feet came to a stop right before him.

  Vi watched the boy for just a moment. He was fourteen, barely a man. A slip of a thing still in transition to the Emperor that would someday lead a united Solaris Empire. So much of the world’s future rested on his shoulders. All Vi could do was guide him in the right direction. When it came down to it, the actions had to belong to him, and Vhalla, and all the other mortals confined to time.

  “Wake up,” Vi said gently, kneeling down and shaking his shoulder lightly. “Your highness, wake up.”

  “What?” He blinked sleep from his eyes. His tone became sharper as his eyes focused on her. “Vivian… Is this a dream?”

  “No, it is not. Though you might wish it were come the dawn.” More like a nightmare. “I need you to listen to me, there’s precious little time.” She couldn’t keep Egmun waiting—he’d start to wonder. “Tonight, we must go to the Crystal Caverns.”

  “The Crystal Caverns, why?”

  “There is a barrier there, one only you and your magic can undo. It must be done, for the fate of this world… for the future of Solaris.” His eyes widened slightly as she spoke and Vi knew she’d struck the right chord. “Your father will bring the North to its knees with the power of the Caverns. But only you can unlock it.”