Page 34 of A Conduit of Light
TheBlightloomed before them, and she could sense the apprehension in her lumen’s gait as he slowed his pace.Sherubbed his ears in encouragement.
“Walkinto theBlight,Ash’Arah.Takeit in.”
BaronHeimlen, still mounted on his lumen, nodded to her as she slowly dismounted from hers.Shedidn’t want to be here, but knew it was the price for her choices.Shewalked to the line in the forest, clearly drawn between life and death.Itlooked so out of place, especially here, on the edge of endless green compared to the pure dark of it through the door inViridis.
“Stepinside,Ash’Arah.”Hiscommand was taut, his patience with her running thin.
Warily, she took a step into the mass of black forest floor, rotted fallen trees, and even more corpses of varying sizes that littered the soil as unearthly adornments.Thestench of decay was so overpowering, she again had to cover her nose and mouth to reduce the need to retch.
Thethick, black vines that spewed from the dead earth wound their way up the trees with small, vein-like ribbons of black almost pulsating as they smothered the life of each one.Shebent down, forcing herself to touch one of theBlight’svines, solely to remind herself of her task, her purpose in coming here.
Thump.Thump.
Shetore her hand away and stood in shock.
Aheartbeat?Hadshe imagined it?
Sheturned her head back to theBaron, questions on her lips.
“Yousee, my dear.Itmust be destroyed.This”—he gestured to the consuming dark around them—“must be stopped.IftheBlighttakesFelgren, where do you think it will go next?TheHallowMarshes?Hyrithia?Withoutus to stop it, it will consume the isle until there is nothing left to consume.”
Butthe heartbeat.Didhe not know?
Shetook a breath and reached down once more.Thebeat was steady, just as her heart had been a few moments before.Thepulse spread through the vine, telling her what she did not wish to ever admit.
“Do…do you know it’s alive?Ican feel a pulse, a thrumming—like a heartbeat.”
TheBarondismounted and walked briskly to her side, a slight limp in his left leg.Hebent down to the same vine she had touched and placed a gloved hand across its thorny surface.Hewatched her face, eyes narrowing in confusion or revelation, she couldn’t tell.
“Imust continue my research.”Herose quickly and with a newly found gait that showed no signs of illness.Hethrew a leg over his lumen and turned the beast to leaveAshwhere she stood in the decay.
“Takeyour day.Iexpect to hear of your studies tomorrow morning where you will be rested and fed.Nomore excuses, no more delay,Ash’Arah.Yourtime to serve your purpose here is coming fast, whether you acknowledge it or not.Andyoumustbe trained before then.Whenthe season of autumn descends upon us, we will have no choice but to fight theBlight.Ifit spreads any further beyond that time, it will be too dense to stop.Winteris its time to flourish whenFelgrensleeps and cannot continue its battle against the suffocation.”Hegave a command to his lumen and she lunged forward in haste back to her den.
Ashwatched asBaronHeimlenleft her there, standing amidst the poison which was killingFelgren, and which would kill everything on the isle if she couldn’t help stop it.Sheshook her head in disbelief at her discovery.TheBlightwas not only alive, but somewhere it had a heart that could possibly be destroyed.
* * *
“Thestrangest thinghappened this morning,Ash.”
Asif waiting in roguish attack,ClairanniaandFiguerahwere lingering in the entrance toViridis, practicing their magic by tossing a cinnamon bun in the air and the other using her magic to catch it.
Flashesof brilliant red sparked fromClairannia’shands whileFiguerah’swas a luminous gold light, illuminating the dark stairwell before the doors ofViridis.Theircolored magic matched the stones of their conduit rings.
“Therewe were,”Figuerahsaid with a grin of playful mischief, “happily eating breakfast like good channelers do, when who do you think bursts into the dining hall—”
“Whistling,”Clairanniaadded.
“Yes,whistling,with three fresh cinnamon buns on a plate just forClairanniaand me?”
“Idon’t care if it was theBlightressherself, please just tell me you kept that one,”Ashgrowled, pointing to the cinnamon bun flying through the air, held tight in a crimson orb, “for me.”
“Wedid, of course,Ash.But…”—Clairanniabrought the bun to the plate resting on the stairs—“you only get to eat itafteryou tell us what happened last night.Becausewe don’t thinkBaronRevichwas just being nice.”
“Howdid you even knowI’dbe here?Thisseems like an ambush,”Ashmuffled in reply, ignoringClairannia’sdemands and stuffing the dripping iced bun into her mouth, her stomach rumbling at its first food for the day.
“WesawBaronHeimlenstorm into theFortressjust as we were leaving forViridis.Heheaded straight to his study, and we figured you’d probably head here.”Figuerahshrugged. “Well,Isay probably because for all we knew, you’d be out inFelgrensomewhere with theotherBaron.”
“BaronHeimlenhas a study?”Ashasked, licking her fingers.
