Page 153 of Enchanted Shadows
He was trying to crush the cage itself again.
I saw a blur of Miles moving, lit up by his power, as he rushed and tackled Calix. He couldn’t see him until he got close enough to illuminate him with the light of his own skin but still managed the feat.
They went rolling, a sword swiping, a dagger jabbing. A grunt was heard, but I wasn’t sure which man it came from. At one point they tripped over Bram’s still unconscious body, causing him to groan.
I kept shoving my barrier outward, using the distraction ofMiles to our advantage. Calix was no longer holding onto the shadows. Nor was he trying to crush our cage. With a final grunt, I drove my weight into my heels and shoved, removing them entirely, keeping them out of our cage. Giving the advantage of sight.
“Owen.”
I could hear her concern, her pain. My head snapped in Kessara’s direction. And only for that brief second, did I falter. But it was distraction enough for one side of my dome keeping the shadows at bay to bend. A slight amount of shadows came pouring in, as if a small leak, before I was able to stop them. I sent thick chains of my magic to fix that breakage, not allowing any more shadows in. We needed to only separate Calix from his power source.
Half of the cage was now dark, half light.
“Does it eat at you?” Calix asked. “To always know in the back of your mind that I know all her breathy sounds too?”
Miles looked to me, wondering what our plan was.
The answer was murder, obviously.
I sent out more and more thick strands of my power, making sure the dome stayed strong and no more shadows than Calix already had would enter. “Keep an eye on Bram.”
And then I took a step, veins still pulsing with power, begging to be used. I wasn’t afraid of the dark, never had been. So I stepped into the dark chaos, the shadows immediately stinging and gnawing at my skin.
Calix and I began a vicious dance, one that would end in one of our deaths. He used the shadows to shove and toss me, delivering one punch to the side of my jaw before I managed to get a hold on one of his wrists, cementing it down, and rendering it useless.
He swiped out with his dagger, but having listened to the flare of my power, I met it with my sword and shoved hard, the dagger going flying.
The darkness was all around me, nipping at me from everyangle. It felt like he was trying to filet my skin from my body, but I kept my focus on my glowing power, on Calix’s form as he pulled what shadows he had in, trying to get himself free.
On and on we went, I sent out another vine at his feet, and another aimed at his free hand. If I could get them both bound, a barrier on his hands, this would be over.
But his shadows sliced through my attempt at his hands. One of the vines I sent at his feet caught and held. When it did, I didn’t hesitate to try to get a hold on one of his hands. His left foot and right arm were now covered with dark green magic.
He sent the full power of his mass of shadows back to focus on me, and I hissed under the pressure of them. They were focused on my weapon, trying to pry it from my hand. Would my skin be bloody and raw at the end of this?
My shoulder dropped as I fought against them but was thankfully able to see Calix now, as they concentrated on my arm. I refused to drop my sword. While keeping my hold on Calix, I sent numerous determined strands of dark green magic out to attack the shadows on me. But I was not prepared for the sharp onslaught of them to my face. I threw up my arm and sword to block them, feeling the burn of one along my jaw, and then they moved, wrapping tightly around my arm. Twisting in different directions.
I let out a curse just before there was a crunching noise, a pop in my forearm. I gasped out as my sword dropped. I looked down at my arm still crawling with my green magic for only a moment but could see the fractured bone peeking from my skin, blood dripping towards my fingers.
If the shadows retrieved my sword and gave it to Calix, this would be over. And not in my favor. For one painful second, I feared the worst—that I wouldn’t succeed in this, would never hold my wife again. So, I ignored the piece of bone sticking out of my arm and quickly looked for my sword.
I watched as the dirt swallowed my weapon where it landed. The ground rumbled and vibrated in that spot, and without warning, a root launched out of the dirt, slamming Calix into the ground. The surprise and shock of it were enough to lose his hold on his shadows. Miles and I both sent them outward and everything came into sharp focus, all shadows gone.
Bright white circles of light hit my vision as pain flooded my system.
But Calix was stuck, the shadows gone. Chased away by a power that none of us understood, that all of us underestimated. The queen’s tree.
“Raikes,” Miles called before tossing Calix’s sword at me.
I caught it in my left hand, the grip of my right hand wrecked and causing me nothing but a blinding pain. I strode for Calix, needing this to be over. Before I collapsed or couldn’t see from around the pain again.
He was struggling and wiggling, trying to get free from the roots of the tree. Weapon in my left hand, I bent and moved the sword, his own weapon, to his throat. I didn’t hate a person in the realm like I hated this man. This man who had used and manipulated my wife, who had known how powerful she was but tried to taint it, claim it, hold her back. Who had been fool enough to presume he could tame her.
“Does it eat at you?” I asked him. “To know thatmyname will be on her lips so long as we both may live?”
His eyes went wide, but I moved, using my left hand and slicing his throat. Knowing from past experience this would be a gruesome death, one which could lead to him choking on his own blood depending on the exact location of the slice, I let my power build in my palm and up my arm. I swung around and downward. His sword made a sick wet noise as it embedded in his chest cavity. I sent my magic chasing down his sword, willing that it would stay, no lingering shadows to help remove it.
As Calix bled before me, I gripped my hurt forearm and looked to Miles, who stood above Bram. Somewhere in the chaos, Miles had retrieved the dagger that went flying and was using it now to properly motivate Bram. Bram, who was now awake again.
