Page 63 of House of Embers
Audria gaped at him. “Wasthatwhy they needed a healer?”
“Indeed. They usually send a very powerful healer to be the water elemental.”
His pause made it clear what he thought of Audria being the healer chosen. She would be the first person to say that she wasn’t strong nor had she ever wanted to be a healer. But since she was Bryonican, it was an honor, and it had been chosen for her the moment she’d entered the tournament.
“There’re only two of us,” Kerrigan growled. “You didn’t mention we’d need four people.”
“It’s not necessary. It’s just how members are typically chosen for the ritual. A single person with all four elements could fulfill the bargain. Though it hasn’t been done since the second year of the Great War…”
He prattled on about some commander who had bypassed a dragon speaker to try to get more dragons for the cause and made it past the ritual but had been roasted on a spit for a misstep inside.
“Great,” she said on a sigh. “What’s the likelihood we die here?”
Lowan paled. “As long as you follow my lead, we should be fine.”
“Reassuring,” Audria said sarcastically.
“You two need to divide the elements. Air and fire on one side, earth and water on the other.” He gestured to Audria. “I assume the healer will keep water.”
“You assumed right,” Audria said on a sigh. “Kerrigan is the strongest fire user in a century anyway.”
Kerrigan snorted. “Hardly. I always preferred air.”
“That’s not the same thing as what you are best at. Fire was too easy for you. That’s why you hated it. It scared you because it could get out of control so easily. You never embraced it like you did air magic.”
“When did you become this intuitive?” Kerrigan asked, deflecting.
“Always have been, but thanks for noticing.”
Audria was right about Kerrigan’s relationship with her strongest element. Air had always felt like a compromise element. She’d forced herself to be good at it to compensate for how easy fire was. Also, it wasn’t good for a half-Fae girl to appear good atanyelements, let alone fire, which was the most ravenous. She’d never figured out how to buck that stigma even from her own training. She’d rather use spirit magic—which no one had seen in a thousand years—than fire. She was going to have to get over that.
Lowan set them up on either side of him at the base of the lake. The waves lapped in a serpentine fashion against the bank. He began speaking ancient Fae that Kerrigan couldn’t comprehend. Audriachanneled water first, the lake providing the initial element of Lowan’s ritual. Kerrigan breathed air into the water, sending it upward into a spiraling cyclone. The sand was drawn up into the tornado, the bits of dragon scales creating a shining rainbow effect to light up across the lake. Kerrigan touched the tap on her fire, letting it flicker into place. But as soon as it touched the other elements, a pull came from the well of her magic.
She gasped, and her eyes snapped up to Audria, who had a mirrored expression of disbelief on her face.
“What is happening?” she asked.
Lowan frowned but continued chanting as if he didn’t hear her.
The magic was draining away. As if they were at a tap and it was pouring out. No wonder they typically used four people for this mission. It would only drain enough from each person equally. Two elements a piece would mean the drain was twice as much. Kerrigan was starting to wonder how that old general had been able to do this alone. How much magic had he had?
“Lowan,” she cried, “you’re going to drain us dry.”
“How much longer?” Audria asked with worry in her voice.
Kerrigan had more magic than Audria, and after seeing the starlight goddess, she was even stronger. If she was feeling the effects of the magic drain, Audria had to be twice as much.
Tieran and Evien hadn’t moved from their positions, flanking their riders. Their eyes were locked on the dark, imposing Holy Mountain beyond the lake, rising precipitously in the distance.
If they weren’t worried about their riders, then it would be okay, right? Or was something worse coming?
Audria dropped to a knee with a gasp.
“Audria,” Kerrigan yelled across the growing torrent. “Look at me, Audria. Right here.”
Audria’s gaze lifted. Her face was pale. Her pink lips had gone blue at the edges. Her bright eyes were dull and panicked. She lookedfragile, as if at any moment, a single touch would make her crumble to dust.
“We are going to get through this. We’ve survived everything else, and we’ll do this together.” Kerrigan reached across the divide. She couldn’t touch her—they were too far apart—but she could give her that ounce of hope. “There’s too much to live for to let this ritual take it all away now. You understand?”
