Sapphire (34 page)

“You knew. You’ve known all along,” Ava said.

“Of course we knew what Lorna was planning, and I
don’t like that tone of look, miss prissy.”

“I almost
killed
her! My own mother because
of you!”

“I wouldn’t say ‘almost.’ More like feebly,
pathetically, attempted to.”

“You
lied
to me.” Ava whirled around to Mira.
“
Both
of you.”

Sparkle fell from her shoulder, plopped face-down to
the floor, and continued snoring.

“Shut up, you twit!” Capella jumped out of the chair
with surprising grace. “Your intention to kill the woman you
believed to have betrayed you was the
only
way to break
Lorna’s spell.” She waved a frail hand dismissively. “There’s no
way to fake true intention.”

Ava glanced at Adhara, still expecting pain or
loathing to be hiding behind her mother’s eyes, but all she saw was
love and admiration. She was unable to keep her mother’s gaze, she
was too ashamed.

“I could have tried to pretend that...that I wanted
to hurt her.” She couldn’t say
kill.

“Do words go in your ears and get lost in the void?”
said Capella. “No, you could
not
have.”

Chester tried to make another futile leap to
freedom. She caught him mid-leap and absent-mindedly shoved him in
her hair. “Listen to me very carefully, if your ears are even
capable.” She shuffled up to Ava. “Action following true feeling,
true
intention,
is more powerful than false intention.”

Ava and Orin looked at each other then back at
Capella with matching expressions of befuddlement.

Capella sighed, shuffled back to the chair to sit,
and waved a hand at her younger looking sister. Looking confused
herself, Adhara came over to her beckon.

“What is it?” she asked as Capella cleared her
throat noisily.

“Any fire-mead around here?”

Adhara tried to hide a grin as she shook her
head.

“Ah, well, I would have drunk it all too if I had
been stuck here for sixteen years. Don’t blame you.”

Adhara laughed, and Ava felt herself relax a little
from the pleasant sound. Her mother, after all she’d been through,
had the most beautiful laugh.

“
Hey,
” Orin suddenly said, just as Capella
was about to say something else. “
Why
are we talking about
this right now?!” He swung his arm towards the window. “There are
countless beasts out there trying to get in! We need to
do
something! We need to find the last realm!”

Ava swore she saw Mira roll her eyes. Antares
huffed, but she wasn’t sure if that was an agreement or not on his
part. Capella just raised a droopy eyebrow at Orin.

“All right,” she said, waving him away like an
annoying pet. “Go on. We’re having a bit of girl-saving-the-world
talk right now. Go flex your muscles or something.” She turned back
to Ava as if Orin was not in the room at all.

He opted to stand there in confusion for a few
minutes, then he strode over to a window-seat and slumped down with
a sigh of exasperation. Ava thought that was probably a good move
on his part.

“As I was trying to say,” said Capella.
“
Intention!
” Ava jumped. “Intentions, or thoughts, are very
powerful. The power you wield, that we all wield, stems from this.
No matter what spell or action you take, it’s your
intention
behind it that matters. Are you following?” Ava nodded slowly.
Capella looked skeptical. “At least you’re following at the pace of
a legless lorlor.”

At the mention of ‘lorlor’ Ava remembered their
little tree-spy from so long ago and wondered if the cute little
guy was all right.

“Listen,” Capella said, snapping her fingers at Ava.
“This is
very
important.” Ava looked into her aunt’s eyes
and saw an unusual seriousness behind them. Capella leaned forward.
“I think, at least I hope, you now can understand what I’m about to
tell you. If you do something with dark intention, hatred, or
anger, it will create exactly that in return.” Ava nodded, not
averting her gaze. “If you do something with pure intention,
something completely selfless, then
that
is most powerful of
all.” Ava felt like there was no one else in the room for a moment
as Capella stared deeply into her eyes. “Ava,” she whispered, “do
you understand?”

“I think so.” She pursed her lips and nodded at
Capella, but was unable to keep eye contact.

“You
think
so?” Capella threw her hands up,
all seriousness gone. “The last thing
you’re
good at is
thinking.
” She shook her dreadlocks and Chester croaked
within them as she stood up.

Clucking her tongue, she shuffled away and picked up
a still snoring Sparkle from the floor, then turned back to Ava.
“We’ve been waiting for this moment since the day Lorna betrayed us
all. We could not tell you everything before it was time to tell
you, otherwise you wouldn’t have understood, you wouldn’t be ready,
and none of us were certain if
you
”—She nodded at Ava—“If
you really were a guardian.”

Ava saw Mira staring at her. She noticed something
strange in her gaze as Mira turned her head towards the window
where the cursed awaited them.

The castle shook.

“What was that?!” Ava and Lula said at the same
time.

Everyone but Capella looked alarmed.

“You asked how I got here,” said Capella. “To answer
that…” She looked at one of the large open windows.

“Good morning, little guardian,” said Sirrush, his
dragon head snaking through the window from outside.

“You.” Ava was both afraid and relieved to see the
shape-shifting dragon again. “
You
came to help us?”

He laughed and hot air blasted into the room. “Not
at all. I was merely interested to see what would happen next…and
to take you to the last gateway. However, If you all keep talking
and you don’t do something soon, you all might as well discuss this
in the comfort of your own graves, or perhaps over troll-tea.”

Chester peeped up from one of Capella’s knots,
looking hopeful.

“You know what we must do, sister,” said Adhara.
“Don’t pretend you haven’t waited a very long time for this
moment.”

Capella clapped her hands. “You’ve convinced me.
What a speech. All right. You”—She pointed at Ava—“get on the
dragon.”

Ava just stared at Sirrush’s smoking snout.

Capella stared at Ava. “Would you rather walk? We
can arrange that.”

“Well, um, no.” She flinched at the dry heat
radiating from his breath. “I’m just not sure…that I can do this.
What if I’m…I’m just scared of…of falling.” She laughed nervously,
then took a deep breath. She meant to say
failing
.

“Hey.”

She looked up at Orin who put a hand on her
shoulder. “Remember when you faced Karuna? You were brave. A little
crazy, but brave.”

“And Kryos,” said Lula. “You only had a piece of
crystal when you faced him.”

“You also walked through a waterfall.” Everyone
turned to stare at Antares. “Well
I
thought it was brave.”
He twitched his tail, daring anyone to contradict him.

“You were born to do this,” her father said. “Don’t
be afraid. We’re all here to help you.”

“Truly,” said Sirrush, talking over Warwick. “I’m
about to throw
somebody
out this window.”

Ava nodded, the weight on her chest lifting
slightly. “You’re right. If I have to do this, then we’re doing it
my
way.”

“Which I hope includes coming
my
way,” said
Sirrush, irritably.

She pulled out her sword, the iron figures
silhouetted within, the crystal aglow with sunlight. “
All
of
you are staying here.” Her gaze swept across everyone like she was
trying to bind them where they stood. She focused all her thought
on it, but the sapphires did not flare, nor energy spark down her
arms. Nothing happened.

“That’s nice, dear,” said Capella, patting her on
the head. “But not exactly what I meant about intention. Now.” She
flicked a hand at her. “Run along and play with the big dragon.
We’ll be right behind you.” Her eyes moved around everyone in the
room. “I mean,
they
will all be behind you.”

Ava frowned, then gasped. Two more figures had
appeared within the blade. Back to back, her tiny image stood with
Orin’s.

“I suppose there’s no denying it now,” Orin said,
pointing at the sword. “I’m coming with you.”

“You’re
not
coming with me.”

A gust of searing heat blew her hair into her face
and nearly knocked her over. Sirrush curled his lip. “That’s a very
shiny sword now get
on!
”

“We’ll be following you,” said Adhara. “I think all
of us together can handle a massive horde of these
demon-creatures.” Light flashed through her veins as she stood
tall.

Ava ground her teeth but knew it was pointless to
argue anymore. She sheathed her sword and walked over to Sirrush.
He took a moment to reposition himself and stick the end of his
tail through the large window.

“Climb up to my back,” he commanded.

She gave one last look at everyone in the room,
trying not to linger on anyone’s eyes, for she was sure her courage
would break. Her gaze lingered longest with Orin’s before she
turned away. She thought at first he was going to insist on coming
with her, but he remained where he was. When he just stood there
she was surprised to feel a slight pang of hurt. She strode over to
Sirrush, and trying not to fall or impale herself, she climbed up
his enormous back to sit between two scimitar-sized spikes. A
cacophony of howls, inhuman screams, and roars assaulted them from
far below.

The entire valley as far as she could see was a
black ocean of molochs and their soulless victims. Every molten eye
was on her and Sirrush. Only a few lone peaks in the distance stood
like islands, their tops free of the dark sea. As if reading her
mind, Sirrush pointed his nose to the nearest and tallest
mountain-top.

“There,” he said, spreading his wings. “There is
where you must go, little guardian.”

She could just barely make out a giant crumbling
stone arch atop the peak.

He turned his head and a crystal blue eye on her.
“You are sure you do not want anyone else with you? I can carry
—”

“
No.
”

“They’ll follow us anyway.”

She didn’t answer. She was hoping they would stay
safely in the castle, yet feared they would not regardless of the
danger.

Sirrush let out a thunderous roar, drowning even the
moloch’s dissonant symphony, and launched himself from the stone
turret. Just as the creatures realized a massive silver dragon was
diving from above, he opened his jaws wide and let loose a torrent
of blue fire. Every monster within a quarter mile radius was
vaporized. Ava thought her eyebrows had been singed away as they
passed through the flame then rose skyward. She had to use all her
strength and will to keep herself from falling off his broad
spine.

“Don’t go into the clouds!” she yelled, though she
knew he couldn’t hear her.

Lightning flashed and crawled across the darkening
sky above like enormous skittering spiders.

“My apologies,” he said, not without a hint of
delight. He had heard her. “We must.”

She risked a glance at the shrinking castle below
and saw that his blast of fire had been for the others. They were
racing out into the swarm of darkness, creating a path before them
with all their power. Frustration and guilt boiled inside her at
their determination to aid her. She had no more time to watch and
fear for them as everything was obscured by dense fog. As they
broke into the thunder heads, her whole body was immediately soaked
and shivering. Lightning crackled around them, and she was certain
they would be killed. The thought of such a quick death shocked
her, not because it frightened her, but because the thought brought
a feeling of relief. She shook the morbid thought from her mind,
angry at herself for even thinking such a thing.

I’m not going to die!
But she didn’t even
believe her own thoughts.

She could barely see Sirrush’s head or the tips of
his wings. He alone seemed to be enjoying the experience. Finally
they emerged from the storm into clear sunlight and warmth.
Raindrops briefly sparkled like jewels all around Sirrush’s
metallic wings before the crystal beads fell earth-bound again. The
clouds, illuminated here and there with flickers of white light,
blanketed everything below them.