The Flute Keeper's Promise (The Flute Keeper Saga) (58 page)

“Emma?”

It was Valory, already straining
from having to bear my weight. “Are you okay? You got a funny look on your
face.”

“I’m fine,” I said, not daring to look
at Lev because he’d know I was lying. “Let’s go.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

It was madness. The air was
shattered by the bursts of power emanating from the bottom of the throne room.
We descended slowly into the mayhem. Beyond the pale blue halo of my barrier,
all I could see were confusing flashes of light.

Bolts of lightning punctured the
chaos. It was a good sign. At least Bazzlejet was still alive.

Valory breathed heavily. The slow
trip down wasn’t easy on her having to bear my weight. Lev followed just behind
and to the left of us. His eyes kept darting over, watchful, like a hawk. I
wasn’t sure who was guarding whom.

I felt sure the lightning bolts
were coming from the far right corner of the room. Blasts of magic collided
with my barrier constantly. Each blow seemed to ripple through the barrier
straight into my veins. Lev watched me with growing concern.

“You should go no further,” he said
when we were almost down to the floor.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” I said. “You
can’t dodge all of this! Let me down. I’m fine!”

Valory obliged, letting my feet
touch the floor. I got my bearings while the Slaugh landed behind me.

Our presence went unnoticed. The
magical attacks appeared to be concentrated around Bazzlejet. I started moving
that direction through the smoke and flying debris.

There was nothing left of the
marble throne. It was smashed to bits, along with the statue that used to flank
it. The floor was cracked and charred.

A robed figure stumbled into sight.
It was a priest from the cathedral. He paused in confusion when he spotted us.
Like the Seelie Court judges, his eyes glowed white.

He didn’t hesitate for long. He
raised his hand at us. A burst of red light splayed from his fingertips.

Whatever the spell was, it was
frightening. It sizzled the air. When it collided with my barrier it felt like
a fountain of molten lava. My focus wavered, causing the barrier to flicker.

A Slaugh dodged through the
flickering barrier and took out the priest before he could cast another spell.
I stumbled to my knees, breathing hard.

Lev and Valory were at my side in
an instant.

“Are you hurt?” Valory asked.

“No,” I said. “I don’t think so. It’s
just that their magic is so strong I can feel it through my barrier.”

Lev’s lips drew tight. “Can you stand?”

I took a deep breath to steady myself
and got back to my feet. “Yes. Yes, I can.”

A rogue lightning bolt flew towards
us. I held up both hands and willed a small barrier to stop it. Knowing it came
from Bazzlejet didn’t soften the blow any. His power was just as potent as the
priest’s.

Lev swore. “We’ve got to hurry.
Come on.”

We began to move forward again but
there came a peel of cackling laughter behind us. The Slaugh all turned around
to look. I was behind them now, so it took much more of my energy to extend my protective
magic in front of them.

A pair of white eyes gleamed from
under a green hood. “Look who else has come to call. The bird has returned to
the nest.”

I stiffened. “High Priestess
Grimmoix?”

The woman lowered her hood. “Yes,
my pupil.” She sneered at the Slaugh. “I see that you’re fouling up the place
as usual. Who let in these soulless heathens?”

Lev shook a dagger at her. “We let
ourselves in! Where is the duke?”

The priestess’s eyes narrowed
maliciously. “Ah, so it is you.
Her
brat. I had hoped you were dead by
now.”

“Sorry, to disappoint you, Auntie,”
Lev said.

Some of the Slaugh made sounds of
surprise. They did not know that High Priestess Grimmoix was the aunt of Lev’s
mother, Linaeve. Even though I had been aware of the connection for a while, I
still had a hard time accepting that they were related to each other.

There was something dangerously
similar in the way Lev and High Priestess Grimmoix squared each other up. Their
animosity for each other was equal and it filled the space between them with a
strength all its own.

“Hell spawn,” the priestess said
with a sneer. “You play a dangerous game with fate. You cannot keep twisting
its will.”

“Watch me,” Lev said with an
unsavory sneer of his own.

More robed shapes began to emerge
out of the smoke. Spears, daggers and scythes were slid from sheaths as the Slaugh
anticipated an attack. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t shield all of them
against a dozen different powerful spells. The thought of trying made my gut
clench.

Valory was the closest to me. She
gulped. “We’re outnumbered.”

That was all she said, but I heard
the plea in it.
Do something
. What could I do? I was only as strong as
my barrier magic, and my confidence in that was fading.

Without warning the whole castle lurched
to a halt and switched direction. Everyone stumbled and fell to the floor.

“What the heck?” Valory exclaimed
as she scrambled to her feet. “Do you think Chloe and Garland did that?”

“Maybe!” I said with a swell of
hope.

The Slaugh were faster to recover
than the clergy. Seeing their opportunity, they rushed at the nearest priests
and priestesses.

High Priestess Grimmoix backed
away, all the while using her magic to hurl debris at the Slaugh. She targeted
Lev in particular, sending huge chunks of the old throne his way.

Lev broke through one of the debris
chunks with his fist.

“Coward!” he shouted after her as
she vanished into the smoke.

So many battles raged around me
that I couldn’t keep track of them all. The Slaugh were scattered. My only
objective was to get to Kiros and Bazzlejet.

“Follow me!” I shouted to Valory.

Valory fell in behind me as I made
my way blindly to the corner of the room. Lev flapped his wings and swooped in
above us.

“To your right!” he shouted.

Without hesitation I flung up a
barrier on my right side. I saw a priestess there, readying a spell. Thanks to
Lev’s warning, the spell missed us. I pressed forward and let Lev deal with the
attacker. I heard a muffled thud and then Lev was airborne again, keeping watch
from above.

A red cape stumbled groggily out of
the smoke. He looked as though he’d taken the brunt of a lightning bolt. His
clothes were blackened and what was left of his hair stood on end. He was in no
shape to fight, but when he saw Valory and me he let out a roar and charged
towards us.

A lightning bolt whizzed through
the air and finished off the red cape.

“Bazzlejet!” I cried.

I saw his source crystal shining
through the gloom. He was making his stand with Kiros Rubedo huddled behind
him. There were burns on his hands. The burns might have been from his own
magic or from someone else; I couldn’t tell. All that mattered was that he was
in one piece and so was Kiros.

“Couldn’t you have gotten here
sooner?” Bazzlejet asked. “I mean, it’s been fun and all, but I’m starting to
get bored.”

A priest made a lunge for him. He
zapped the man with a lightning bolt.

“Looks like you’ve got things under
control,” I said.

“Bazzlejet Larue, Electromage Extraordinaire,”
he said. “I always aim to please.”

It was good to hear him joke, but
he was clearly fatigued. His voice was hoarse.

“Hey, big guy,” Bazzlejet said as
he spied Lev. “Nice of you to show up. And I thought you didn’t like me.”

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Lev
said. “Can you fly?”

“Of course I can fly!” Bazzlejet
said, sounding offended. “I just didn’t want to put this nice lady behind me in
jeopardy.”

Kiros Rubedo peeked over his
shoulder. Even through the lines of middle-age I saw that she had the same
bright eyes and finely-formed features as Tobin. She might have passed for a
human were it not for the strange tattoos on her forearms and the pointed ears
that had escaped her lopsided head scarf.

“Are they gone?” Kiros asked in a
voice that was raspy with exhaustion.

No more clergy came at us through
the smoke.

“It looks clear for now,” I said.

“What about the duke?” Kiros asked.

I glanced around. “We haven’t seen
him.”

“I maimed him pretty good,”
Bazzlejet said. “I haven’t seen him since. I’ve just been zapping red capes and
clergy. They don’t know when to quit.”

“Let’s get out before they start up
again,” Valory said. “I reckon I can help you carry Miss Rubedo.”

Figures came out of the smoke. I
gasped, but then I realized that it was all Slaugh. Some were badly injured.

Lev took them all in with a glance.
“Victory?”

“For now,” replied one of the men.

Valory and Bazzlejet grabbed Kiros.
Bazzlejet’s orange wings and Valory’s fleshy, bat-like ones lifted her up. Lev
gave the order and the other Slaugh followed after them. They flew up to the
shattered spire.

Lev and I were the last to leave.
Ever vigilant, I listened for the approach of any red cape or clergy member who
hadn’t been immobilized.

“I guess you get to borrow my
wings, after all,” Lev said, offering me a hand.

I took one last look around before
settling into his arms. The throne room was completely destroyed. I tried to
remember what it looked like before, but I couldn’t. It didn’t matter. I was Ivywild’s
servant no longer. I was free now to make a future all my own.

Lev’s arms closed around me. His
wings beat, strong as always, lifting us both from the floor. As a king, he had
known victory on this day. I wondered if he felt the same way I did—if he was
eager to return to a life alongside others, not above them.

What about a life alongside me? The
thought made me feel lighter as we spiraled up and out of the smoke. Maybe we could
start over. No more secrets, no more battles, just two people who cared about
each other very much.
Friends
. That would be a good start.

Bazzlejet, Valory and Kiros cleared
the top of the spire. Six Slaugh flew out after them. Three more flew behind,
supporting two injured Slaugh between them. I looked to see if Chloe and
Garland were waiting outside, but I didn’t see them. I wondered if they had
found a way to control the tower crystals. If not, we’d have to evacuate all
the citizens somehow.

Lev laughed softly in my ear. “You
think so loudly. You’re the loudest thinker I know.”

“If it’s so loud then tell me what
I was thinking.”

“Mmmm…a nice, long rest. Then
food.”

I grinned. “Basic needs, huh? I
have to admit, my thoughts weren’t quite that primal.”

“Mine were.”

Friends
. Yes, that would be
a perfectly good place to start. It would give me something to look forward to.
There was so much to be done. We had to rebuild a nation, after all. It would
be interesting having two queens and a king in the mix.

We were nearly out of the tower.
Daylight gleamed bright overhead. The fresh air was a welcome change after the
smoky throne room. It filled my lungs, making me feel even lighter. It was
over. We’d paid a heavy price but we’d won this round.

From out of nowhere came a
crackling ball of light. It crashed into the tower crystal overhead. The rod
that supported the crystal broke in two and the purple gem crashed through the
remnants of the spire.

Lev dodged out of the way as glass
and stone rained down. The whole tower rumbled. The spire disintegrated inward,
bringing the top of the tower with it.

With the ceiling caving in, we had
no choice but to fly down to shelter. We huddled near the tower base where the
wall was still intact. Daylight vanished above as debris piled up on the ceiling
support beams.

The rumbling stopped. Dust swirled
around in the smoke. Our way out was blocked.

Coughing, I peered around the
gloom. “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” Lev whispered.

His voice had an edge. The fear was
back in it. I felt his pulse quicken. Mine did the same.

“Let’s find another way out,” I
whispered. “The main door is blocked, but Chloe mentioned once that there’s a
trap door somewhere to her room.”

“Shhhh.”

He was being absolutely still.
Instinctively I looked in the direction he was facing, though I didn’t expect
to see anything. The ceiling collapse had sealed off all light.

But I did see something. Not far
away, there was a blue glow.

“I told you,” said the spiteful
voice of High Priestess Grimmoix. “I told you that you couldn’t escape your
fate!”

Her triumphant laughter sent chills
down my back.

“What do you want?” Lev shouted.
“Give up! You’ve lost. This world belongs to us again.”

“No, it doesn’t,” said a different
voice.

My breath caught in my throat.

Lev gasped. “
You!
”

“Who else but me?” said the duke in
his silky, self-indulgent purr. “Who else but me is fit to rule this place? I
am on the brink of delivering the Fay a bright new future and here you’ve tried
to stop me. History will paint you as a villain, boy.”

“History will sing your praises,
Master,” the priestess cooed to the duke.

“You can see that?” the duke asked.

“Yes, Master. And so much more.
Death. Death for all the rebels. Death for all the heathens. Death for all
those who don’t recognize your absolute power.”

“What about you?” the duke asked.

Lev and I looked at each other
nervously.

“Yes, I’m talking to you,” the duke
said. “Do you recognize my absolute power? Or can you even see me? Here, let me
help.”