Page 46 of A Touch of Madness

I nod, gripping the edge of my cloak to steady my trembling hands. Every instinct screams at me to turn back, to run, but I force myself forward. This is what I’ve been preparing for—what I’ve trained for, albeit not nearly long enough. Lara’s face flashes in my mind, and I steel myself.

Ravenna steps to the front, her hands glowing faintly as she scans the corridor. “The wards in here are layered over centuries,” she says, her voice sharp. “They’ll be harder to detect and dismantle. Everyone, stay vigilant.”

“We’ve got movement up ahead,” Viago calls out, his tone clipped. He gestures toward the far end of the corridor, where faint shadows shift against the stone walls.

The group tightens, instinctively falling into a defensive formation. Dorian and Vada move with precision, their weapons at the ready, but the shadows ahead seem endless. The tension thickens, and just as I draw a shaky breath, they strike.

The first wave of Solstice members strikes fast and without mercy. They’re clad in black robes, their faces obscured by masks etched with glowing sigils. They move like phantoms, their attacks precise and unrelenting. One of them hurls a bolt of dark magic toward Ravenna, but Nicole deflects it with a shimmering barrier, the force of the impact rattling us all.

“Don’t let them pin us down!” Lucian shouts, his blade slicing through one of the attackers. The sharp clang of metal against metal echoes through the corridor as the vampires engage in close combat, leaving Solstice members slain on the ground before us. Their movements are a blur, faster than the eye can follow, but some of the Solstice members match their ferocity with crafty dark magic—others aren’t so lucky.

A masked figure lunges toward me from around Lucian, a dagger glinting in their hand. My breath catches, but I manage to conjure a shield in time, the blade skidding off the glowing barrier. I retaliate with a burst of energy that sends them sprawling, the force of it leaving my hands trembling as Lucian finishes them off, slicing their head completely from their body and causing blood to splatter the front of his body.

“Good work,” Ravenna says, her voice strained as she fends off another attacker.

The corridor erupts into a chaotic blur of magic and steel. Lucian kills another robed figure with a ruthless efficiency, his blade a blur of silver streaked with blood. Vada and Dorian fight back-to-back, their strikes deliberate and unrelenting. Vada takes down one Solstice member with a blade to the throat, only to spin and evade a strike aimed at her side. Dorian disarms his opponent before slamming them into the stone wall with a sickening crunch.

Rebecca screams as a masked figure grabs her arm, but Kristoff intercepts, his blade slicing cleanly through the attacker, the hand still clinging to Rebecca’s cloak as the arm is cut clean off. Blood sprays across the stone floor as another Solstice member falls to Nicole’s magic, her hands glowing with a fiery intensity.

The air vibrates with unbridled power as Ravenna launches a spell that slams three enemies into the far wall. Their bodies crumple to the ground, lifeless. But the Solstice members keep coming. One charges at me, their robes whipping around them like shadowy tendrils. I stumble back, barely managing to send a pulse of energy that knocks them off their feet. They hit the ground hard, but another takes their place.

A tendril of dark magic snakes out from the floor, wrapping around Lucian’s ankle. He growls, severing it with his blade, but the ground beneath us feels alive with enchantments.

“We’re being overwhelmed!” Viago barks, his blade dripping with ichor as he carves through two attackers. “We need to move forward, or we’ll drown in their numbers!”

Ravenna doesn’t hesitate. “Push ahead!” she commands, her voice ringing out above the chaos. She hurls another spell that creates a temporary barrier, forcing the Solstice members back. “Sylvie, stay close!”

I nod, my heart pounding as we surge forward. More attackers pour into the corridor, their weapons and spells tearing through the air. Lucian stays by my side, his blade cutting down anyone who gets too close. The corridor feels narrower, the walls pressing in as the bloodshed escalates.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Kristoff bite into the neck of a Society member, yanking his flesh from his bones and discarding him to the side.

Nicole sends a streak of fire racing down the hall, consuming two masked figures who scream as they’re engulfed. Rebecca deflects a spell aimed at Dorian, her quick reflexes saving him from a fatal blow. The floor beneath us shifts again, tendrils of dark magic lashing out, but Ravenna and the elders work quickly, their combined magic holding the chaos at bay just long enough for us to push through.

As we press on, the Solstice members begin to falter, their numbers thinning. The corridor feels alive with the echo of their screams and the metallic scent of blood. For a moment, I think we’ve won, but the oppressive energy in the air reminds me that the worst is yet to come.

“Keep moving!” Viago barks, his blade dripping with dark ichor. “They’re trying to stall us!”

We push forward, but the stronghold itself fights against us. The floor beneath us shifts and cracks, tendrils of dark magic erupting from the ground. One wraps around my ankle, cold and unyielding, and I cry out as it pulls me down. Before I can react, Lucian is there, his blade severing the tendril in one swift motion.

“All right, love?” he asks, his voice tight with worry.

I nod, scrambling to my feet. “Thanks.”

“Stay focused,” he says, his eyes lingering on me for a moment before he turns back to the fight. “I’m right here with you.”

Ravenna and the elders work together to neutralize the dark tendrils, their magic weaving a protective barrier around us. “Sylvie, we need your strength here,” Ravenna calls, her voice steady despite the chaos.

I step into the circle they’ve formed, adding my power to theirs. The energy surges, bright and blinding, forcing the tendrils back into the ground. The corridor stabilizes, but the reprieve is brief.

“We’re close,” Ravenna says, her gaze fixed ahead. “The relic’s magic is stronger here. I can feel it.”

The corridor opens into a vast chamber, its walls lined with flickering torches. At the center stands a pedestal, and atop it rests the Mirror of Thorns. I’ve only seen it in pictures since the witches at the Guild told me about it, but it’s unmistakable. The relic glows faintly, its surface swirling with shadows and light. The air around it crackles with raw power, a tangible force that sets my teeth on edge.

“There it is,” Viago says, his smirk returning. “The key to everything.”

Ravenna's voice cuts through the air, her words tight with urgency. “It doesn’t make sense,” she says, her gaze scanning the chamber. “The Mirror should have been surrounded by more defenses, wards layered like the forest outside.”

“They relied on intimidation and the strength of the stronghold itself,” Lucian murmurs, his blade glinting in the torchlight. “The creatures, the figure, and the weight of the magic were meant to do the rest. Few make it this far alive.”

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