“That is me,”Elspeth said.“I can heal him now.”
Elspeth unceremoniously pushed me out of Owen’s body. The healing glow around Elspeth’s hands intensified, but she kept her eyes closed. I heard loud, angry voices behind me. Avie and Darius were in a heated discussion. My heart told me to stay with Owen, but Elspeth made it clear she no longer needed my help.
Silently, I left my brother to join my uncle and sister.
“I’m not leaving them and that’s final,” Avie said. “They might lead us to Blackstone.”
“They’re more likely to kill you.” Darius had the authority of a thousand years of studying magic.
My sister excelled at her job because she’d stayed focused. Some called her a cold bitch, but detachment was necessary. As this argument proved. “The trap’s still active, Avie.” I waited for her to look over. “Owen’s going to be fine. Take a breath and consider what I said before you respond.”
Her eyes blazed in defiance, but my sister had risen to the top for a reason. No one was better at keeping their emotions in check while sizing up a situation. This, however, was personal. Avie had seen Bart nearly die, and then Jan. Those events shook her, but she’d maintained her composure. Seeing Owen hurt was different. He was the baby and everyone watched over him.
The silence stretched for another few heartbeats, but I let her get to where she needed to on her own. She blinked, and it was over. “You’re both right. Thank you.”
“As are you, Niece,” Darius said. His stone blazed, and tendrils of blue energy flew across the battlefield. “It might be too dangerous to touch them, but we must still secure them.”
Blue energy encased the enemy mage stones. From across the circle, pink light drifted across the battle-scarred ground and surrounded those who had fallen. Two bodies rose, enveloped in Eldwin’s magic. These were the only survivors. The dead, he sealed in energy, like his brother had done to the fallen gems.
Color returned to Owen’s face, but he remained unconscious. A calmer Lysandor cradled Owen’s head. All traces of the dark magic were gone from my brother’s body.
“How is he?” I asked, still scanning for a counterattack. “Can we move him?”
“He’s well enough to travel,” Elspeth said, fatigue tinging her words. “But I need to treat him again once we’re less exposed. I’ve never seen dark magic like that before. It... resisted me.”
Of course it did. Any chance Blackstone got to kill us, he’d take. Bodies lay scattered across the wheel site, and magic built into the stones hummed with agitation. Something pressed against my senses, unsettled and wary.
Avie approached Darius, pointing to the black mage stones contained in blue energy. “We should take those with us if we can,” she said. “They may have useful information we can extract.”
“I’d advise against that,” Darius said. “Eldwin and I devised that spell because Blackstone has a habit of killing his co-conspirators by detonating their stones.”
“I know, Uncle,” she said in a tone that was only slightly patronizing. “I was there when his people’s stones exploded. I still think we need to try.”
Darius sighed and looked at Eldwin. Avie was pragmatic, not stubborn. If she persisted despite the danger she had a good reason.
“Provided we can do it safely, I agree with her,” Eldwin said. “We need as much information on Blackstone and his plans as we can get. I believe our magic will keep the self-destruction spells in the gems dormant until we can study them.”
The chance was slim, but better than letting them explode. Jan joined us, his emerald stone glowing faintly as he maintained vigilance. At the edge of the wheel, the two surviving mages lay unconscious, wrapped in Eldwin’s pink containment spell. If these were like the mages Conall captured on his brother Braylin’s farm, they wouldn’t be privy to Blackstone’s plans.
I studied the nearest captured stone—a smoky quartz that pulsed with unnatural energy. Something about the rhythm of that throbbing struck me as wrong. “Something’s happening.”
We raised shields to protect ourselves and the non-mages. The pulse intensified, the glow grew brighter with each beat. Around the circle the other stones acted similarly.
Darius and Eldwin strengthened their containment spells, but I doubted they could stop the gems from exploding. Blue and pink energy swirled around the captured stones, fighting against the building pressure. For a moment, it seemed they might succeed. Then a gem cracked, and a flash erupted from its core.
Avie cursed under her breath as the stones exploded one at a time. Darius and Eldwin’s shields held, and only a fine crystalline dust remained.
I watched the two unconscious captives, wondering if they’d explode as well. Fortunately, only the gems self-destructed.
Beneath the closest stone, I noticed something peeking through the dirt. While Avie discussed what to do with the prisoners, I knelt by the anomaly. Brushing dirt aside, I exposed a partial glyph.
“Darius,” I called out, not looking up from my discovery. “Can you look at this, please?”
My uncle joined me, crouching to get a better look. “That shouldn’t be there. Not like that.”
I pressed my diamond against the soil and channeled a gentle burst of energy. The dirt shifted, vibrating away, revealing more of the hidden pattern beneath.
“Someone—three guesses who—drew runes on the ground and then covered them in dirt,” I said. Clearing more space, I realized the glyph was massive.
