Page 114 of Skalterra By Nightmare
“Balin figured if he had a never-ending supply of Skal, he could channel it into his Nightmares, and they’d become unstoppable. So he came here.”
I looked around the chamber, trying to imagine it without the lichen that hung from the rafters, or the pillars and walls that had collapsed into the glowing pool.
“Then what stopped him?” I asked. “He killed the Tulyrs, but he didn’t go on to free the Frozen God. What went wrong?”
“Nightmares are powerful.” Iseult surveyed me with steely gray eyes. “You know that. But feed a Nightmare too much, and it’ll only become hungrier. Give it too much Skal, and no amount of Skal will ever be enough.”
I thought back to my exercise with Galahad on Tamora’s boat deck. I remembered channeling his magick away from him, and I remembered the elated hunger that had felt like I was being turned inside-out before Galahad had brought me to heel.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what would’ve happened if he hadn’t.
“And Balin’s Nightmares?” I asked.
“You’ve seen them. They grew in size until their skin stretched and ripped, revealing the monster underneath.”
“They— what?” My skin itched, as if there was a monster inside me too, begging to be let out. I grabbed my arms, trying to hold my pieces together, to keep the beast caged.
“That was the night Balin brought rotsbane to Skalterra.”
The chamber, so peaceful and beautiful a moment ago, now felt cursed. Blood screamed in my ears, or maybe it was the sound of a monster hiding inside my bones, screaming to be fed. To be let out.
“Rotsbane can’t be people,” I stammered. “Because I killed a rotsbane and I didn’t— I don’t want that. I can’t—”
“Don’t feel bad.” Iseult was watching Galahad again. “The human it used to be died fifty years ago. What you did was a mercy, and it had probably eaten Nightmares just like you.”
“Galahad’s Nightmares, the night Tulyr fell…” I trailed off.
“Devoured,” Iseult confirmed. “Consciousnesses and all.”
“No.” I looked at Galahad. He’d had no way to know he’d consigned all those people to death when he’d brought them to Skalterra to fight for him. I wanted to believe he felt bad about it, but if he did, would he have continued to bring Nightmares to Skalterra? Would he have consigned me to fight and possibly die for him?
“The Nightmares weren’t enough to sate the rotsbane,” Iseult said. “Nothing ever is. They tore the city apart looking for more Skal, eventually coming here.”
Iseult ran a hand over a stone pillar. Her fingers caught on gouge marks that marred its otherwise smooth surface.
I glanced around the chamber again. The lichen, moss, and years of wear worked to cover the scars left by the rotsbane half a century ago, but the marks were hard to miss now that I knew they were there. They were scratched into the walls and the floor, and I tried to imagine the space full of enough rotsbane to deal that sort of damage.
“What about Balin?” I asked. “Galahad’s brother. He was here, wasn’t he?”
“He was right there.” Galahad’s gravelly voice sounded behind us, and I spun around to see him pointing at the rock he’d perched on to fill his bottles. My cheeks heated in embarrassment at having been caught talking about him, but he kept his eyes on the stone.
“Galahad, I’m sorry, I—”
“My brother forsook his duty to protect the Tulyr family and brought destruction and death to the greatest city in Skalterra. A cathedral full of rotsbane, and he was still the biggest monster here that night. I tried to save him, but they got to him first.”
His gray eyes flickered to me, and I felt like he was staring through my exterior to the beast he knew waited beneath my skin.
This Wren, this blue-haired thing, was supposed to be the better version of me. So why did I suddenly want to crawl out of myself?
Galahad turned away, and the fresh bottles of Skal on his belt clinked together as he did.
“Lady Iseult!” A wail echoed through the Sanctum, and I jerked my head up to see an outline silhouetted against the night sky. Urian, the knight from before, leaned over the ravine. “On the southern cliffs, there’s—”
He cut off in a cry of pain as orange light burst behind him.
27. Combat Theory
Urian clung to the lip of the edge, and more orange lights flashed above him. Dread sat heavy in my stomach, rooting me to the spot.
