Page 125 of Blood Feast

What had Kalos said?A focus has to be made. You give it life by using it during rituals.

Perhaps the pendant wasn’t the only focus she had. Perhaps it wasn’t the right one for this ritual.

Perhaps Rosethorn was not a beginner’s artifact at all.

She let her eyes slide shut and placed her trust in the constant power of her spade.

The letting site honed in on the blade. Its staggering power concentrated into a focused current. She Willed it out at the vines.

As if time had stopped, they froze. The air seemed ready to explode with a single held breath of magic.

She pushed harder with her magic through the dagger. The vines whipped backward, retreating. They reformed themselves into still, tame walls.

Lio faced her and took hold of her arms. Only he could be smiling at a time like this. “Well done, Silvicultrix.”

She wrapped her arms around him. “That was too close.”

“It was brilliant casting.” Lyros leaned on Night’s Aim. “Not everyone can learn and adapt under duress like that.”

Mak ran his hands through his hair. “I’m sorry my suggestion got us deeper into trouble.”

Lyros put an arm around him. “Mine wasn’t any better.”

Cassia held out her dagger. “Mak, you’re the one who got us out of trouble. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t saved my spade and reforged it for me.”

He frowned in confusion. “But cutting the vines with the weapon didn’t work.”

“Casting through it did. It’s not just a weapon, Mak. It’s one of my three foci.”

The regret on his expressive face cleared, giving way to a hint of a smile. “Really? Those artifacts Kalos told you about?”

She nodded. “I need three to form a complete triune focus. They’re incredibly hard to make, especially since so much knowledge is lost. This one was forged through all my experiences. It’s irreplaceable. And it just saved our lives.”

Mak put one arm around her and hugged her. “I’m glad.”

Lyros pointed at Rosethorn. “Can it lead us out of here?”

“Perhaps something better.” Cassia closed both hands around the hilt and directed the letting site’s magic through the blade again. She let the power permeate the veins of the ivy. The vines shrank in on themselves, turned back into fresh green seedlings, then ducked into the soil and wrapped themselves tight in their seeds.

The labyrinth was gone. What remained was a wild marsh wreathed in fog. The cool damp crept around their ankles, and night insects hummed. A semicircle of standing stones blocked the path behind them, and a single trail led ahead of them into the mists.

“This can’t be inside the tower,” Mak muttered.

“It’s not anywhere in the surrounding woods, either,” said Lyros. “We would have smelled the water.”

“It’s a world of the Changing Queen’s making.” Lio started forward, holding his staff like a walking stick, his robes swirling behind him. “Let’s go further in and see what mystery she has in store for us next.”

Cassia held on to his fearless curiosity, so strong in their Union. Together, they all forged deeper into her ancestor’s strange testing ground.

TRIAL BY CLAW

Lio conjured a spelllight to illuminate the narrow path through the marsh. The glowing orb dissolved into the pale mist as if the Lustra had consumed it. He sighed. His magic was as useless in here as Mak and Lyros’s wards.

Knight splashed through a stand of reeds ahead of them, sending mud flying. Mak paused at the edge of the soggy ground. “Thorns. We can’t levitate, either?”

“Seems not.” Lyros waded through the puddle.

“I’m sorry,” Cassia said.

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