Page 77 of The Demon Tide

We still for one tension-fraught moment, then Trystan nods, his aura of power steadying.

“How fast can Vogel’s forces get across the desert?” I ask.

Trystan draws in a breath, his jaw tensing. “A month, maybe two. So the Eastern forces might have time to gird the East against Mage attack.”

“The Shadow magic in Vogel’s wand... Chi Nam thought it originated from some type of primordial demonic power.”

Trystan seems to consider this. “If that’s the case, then Smaragdalfar varg runes might be of use against it. The Subland Elves developed those runes to fight the demons the Alfsigr use to control them.”

My worry is only partially assuaged. “Could the Gardnerians have more portals they can get here through?”

Trystan shakes his head. “The scorpios tipped the Vu Trin off to the existence of that one hidden portal. They cast a search-net over Noilaan and didn’t locate anymore. The portal was stolen from the Amaz. It was incapable of sending large numbers of people or beasts across such a vast distance.” He pauses and gives me a grave look. “Ren...it was the portal the Mages sent the assassin through who killed Yvan. I only just learned of it—”

“No. Yvan’s alive,” I emphatically counter. I tell him of the powerful Wyvernfire aura that seized hold of me when the scorpios attacked me and again when the kraken struck. “Ifelthim, Trystan. Iknowit was Yvan’s fire.”

“I don’t understand. How?”

An ache cuts through me, chafingly raw. “Yvan kissed me and gave me his Wyvernfire. He...bound himself to me in that way. But then we were separated... I don’t think the connection can be felt from far away. But when I portaled here...”

“You might be close enough,” Trystan finishes, realization starting to dawn.

“What were you told about Yvan’s ‘death’?”

He gives me a weighted look. “Kam Vin told me that he was killed by a glamoured wandmaster sent by Marcus Vogel. Ren, Vogel sent a spy to confirm Yvan’s death. Are you sure it was his fire you sensed?”

Doubt wrests hold, and I struggle to beat it back. What if Yvan was killed and I’m picking up some echo of his power that he sent out to me before he was slain? Or...what if the sensation of Wyvernfire was some enchantment of Vogel’s—something he sent through the Sealing spell to lure me?

What if Lukas and Yvan are both truly dead, and Vogel is toying with me?

“I’m not sure,” I shakily admit, looking to my wand hand as I tell Trystan about the shadowy lines that briefly appeared there. “I think Vogel’s infiltrated my fasting.”

Trystan’s eyes take on a graver cast. “He’s likely found a way to send a tracking spell through it.”

I blanche, gripped by the sense that I’ve set myself against power that can easily best and manipulate me.

“There is one bright spot,” Trystan offers and I look to him in question. “If Vogel is using your wandfasting to track you, he has to keep Lukas alive and well to do it. And Ren,” he says, a pointed glint entering his gaze, “tracking spells can be accessed from either end.”

Realization ignites. “Which means I could track Lukas through it,” I breathe out.

Trystan’s lip ticks up and he nods. “You just need to get control of your power.”

My mind spins over this newfound, albeit slim, advantage. I’m suddenly quivering with possibility, not just to go after Lukas, but to locate Yvan, as well.

“Yvan told me that our Wyvernbond would enable him to sense when I’m in danger. If I could connect to his Wyvernfire long enough, I might be able to find him too.” My brow tenses with consternation. “I almost want to face down more kraken to trigger the connection.”

Thoughts of Vogel’s kraken send my hand sliding to find my Ash’rion blade.

It’s in the river, I realize.

“Stand back,” I caution Trystan before we both rise and I hold up my hand, pressing the glamour-hidden retrieval rune Valasca marked on my palm. After a moment, the Ash’rion hurtles through the cloud ceiling and down into our rocky crevasse, its hilt slapping against my palm. I meet my brother’s look of surprise as I resheathe the blade.

He cocks a brow. “You killed some kraken down there. Didn’t you.”

“I killed one. And I’m going to kill Marcus Vogel.”

Trystan studies me closely, as if considering me in a whole new light. “The Vu Trin might pose a bigger problem for you at the moment.”

“Well, the Vu Trin tried to kill me once already, but I escaped.” I let out a hard breath. “I’m a weapon the East is going to need. Whether they realize it or not. Because Vogel’s Wand... I think it’s the Shadow Wand talked about in all the myths.” I reach down and draw the Wand of Myth from the side of my boot. It glows a soft, pearlescent green in the dim light, humming with a barely perceptible vibration against my palm.

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