“How did you find us?” I ask her now as I come over, shock flowing through me that she could even get to this place through the mist.
“When you all left the dining solar after your… additional bonding, I felt your energies go to the library,” she says now as her vibrant gaze flicks to me, then takes in the ancient space. “Once you were there, something happened, however… and I lost you. I lost Mikkel.” Her gaze flicks to him now, roving him as if to make sure he’s alright. “So I rushed to the library. But when I got there, I ran through the door into… this place, instead of that one.”
“The portal-way must be open now.” Baldur’s eyebrows rise as he comes to us, Ström and Bjorn with him. We stand in a group with Lærke,as we asses this fresh development. “Whatever magic kept that space separate from the underground must have been nullified when we solved its riddle.”
“So, what happened to the library?” Ström asks as his eyebrows rise.
“Who knows?” Baldur shakes his head. “It most likely still exists, probably in a different location now than where it was, acting as a cover for this space. Now that we’ve broken the magic that kept this place separate from the underground citadel, however, it appears the way to the library leads here now. Instead of there.”
“All the better to get back and forth, and be able to prepare what we need, for Baldur to create this Soulstone thing,” Bjorn says now as he comes to my side, wrapping an arm around me. “We should all eat again, rest, and prepare ourselves for a long night, or even a few nights, of high-level magic. Even with a hotspot of power such as this to aid us… we could be a very long time in a Bloodwalking ceremony, to break whatever curse is around you, Rikyava, preventing you from contacting the Ancestors properly. Not to mention do all the craziness we need to, for Baldur to gain enough memories of the Five to imbue their essences into a Soulstone.”
“Bjorn’s right,” Mikkel chimes in now, as I’m surprised to hear him agree on anything with my First Drake. “Even though this is a place of power, immense evil has been done here. We’ll need all our wits about us, if we are going to counter it with our ceremony.”
I hadn’t completely sensed it before, but as Mikkel speaks, I’m suddenly aware of a barely there sensation Mikkel’s dragon has picked up on in this place.
Because although everything around us looks mysterious and noble, arcane and protected the fuck up with all those massive dragon-mummies snarling at us all around, something about this space isn’t right.
It shimmers in the air as I glance around now; a strange, oilslick-black sheen of barely there magical remnants, thousands of years dead but still present inside this space.
It lingers in the crack through the floor, too, as both dragons inside me bristle, snarling at what they’ve discovered.
Because even as I glance at that crack with my inner sight now, rather than my regular eyes, I see the vicious black and charred crimson taint that spreads along that crack, like a disease.
Shot through with jagged, ugly sigil-marks, like they were bitten into the ancient stone or scratched there by talons, they are barely visible along both edges of that crack, between the glimmering runes.
Once I see them, I can’t unsee them, however. As if something beyond diabolical crawled up out of that crack in the cavern when it was first made, those nasty, scratched black-red runes make my skin crawl as everything inside me snarls.
Terrible.
“Mikkel’s right. Evil was done here.” Baldur’s quiet words communicate everything I’m feeling, as we all see it now, through our shared Bloodbond. “Evil far older than the Black Dragon. Hedda only used that monstrous violation to power her creation during the War. Something far worse happened here, though. Something that unleashed hell upon our people in ancient times—which was the entire reason this chamber was hidden in the first place. Until Hedda found it and made use of it. Then us.”
As Baldur speaks, a terrible sensation of doom floods me. Because if this incredible space has only been used for dark purposes before, then who are we to cleanse it and make something good come out of it?
“We have to try,” Bjorn says suddenly, answering my unspoken question as all thoughts are shared between our group. “Because if we don’t, the Black Dragon rampages forever. Our King, our people, our loved ones… all will fall to this monstrous beast of despair and devouring our Ancestors created. We are the ones to stop it now, though.Weare the ones who have been tasked, through our ancient bloodlines, to bring it down. We will cleanse this place with our fire and use it for good. Else, the world dies. And everything we love dieswith it.”
As Bjorn speaks, I know he’s right. As a sudden, deep sensation of righteousness fills us all now, even Mikkel, I know we will face whatever evil happened here or die trying.
“It’s what we do,” I say now as I gaze around the space, then pin my gaze to each of my drakes. “We are the last stand against evil in our world, tearing everything down in our time. Like hell am I going to sit around and let that happen, not when we could do something about it. Let’s head out, get some food, rest, and prepare. Because Bjorn’s right; we need to come back ready to face this, and counteract whatever evil magic was done here in ages past, to do what we need to.”
“But we will do it,” Ström says as he takes my hand, gripping it tight.
“Because we’re heroes, right?” Mikkel snorts, even though he reaches out, touching my hips lovingly. “First time for everything, I suppose.”
“It’s not the first time you’ve been a hero, Mik,” Lærke says as she steps to her brother’s side. “All those Bone Mages we’ve saved in our clubs, from the terrible fate they faced, running from the false Council. You’ve been a bleeding heart all your life. You just didn’t see it until Rikyava came along.”
“Heroes come in many flavors,” Baldur agrees as he touches my cheek, then Mikkel’s, then Bjorn’s, smiling enigmatically. “Not all of them taste like springtime upon the tongue. But power is power, and power can be used for good or for ill. It is up to us to ensure which way the power moves when we’re in it. And we will.”
Though none of us understands Baldur’s poetic reference, all of us understand his words. As something strengthens in us, I feel us come to accord.
To do good here, or die trying.
Like the heroes we are.
26
RITUAL
We’ve eaten, we’ve rested—and now we’re back inside the cavern of the Black Dragon’s birthplace, to make that ancient wrong right. Glimmering rune-worked stone towers around us, the ancient guardian dragons snarling at us with their dead faces, as we finish levitating supplies in on our Bloodwinds. We’ve set up everything we’ll need for the next few days in a vault next to the door.
