Page 35 of Sons of Sorrow
A mighty neigh cracked through the oriel’s smoky sky, echoing from such a distance and with such volume that even the phoenix took pause. Its head angled left, then right, bright eyes flickering, like it was listening for what was to come.
Then it spilled from the clouds, a rainbow bridge touching down onto the ground before us.
Luna groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Oh, trust me,” Evander said. “It gets gayer.”
The bridge rumbled and rattled as something began to tumble down it. Two things, in fact. First, a unicorn with a golden horn and hooves. Vanessica. And second, a rainbow sphere big enough to crush a hatchback.
“Swimberly!” I shouted, never so excited to see a ridiculous, giant, multi-colored beach ball.
Vanessica’s hooves thundered across the rainbow bridge as she raced ahead of the sphere, her white coat glistening with froth. She hit the ground first, making way for her sister, then immediately racing after her again, picking up with an unearthly burst of speed.
Eyes steely with focus, Vanessica spiked the rainbow sphere with her horn.
Metal clanged as the point of impact lit up with the golden glow of Vanessica’s magic. The blow propelled the orb faster, harder than before, sending it straight toward a curious and very confused phoenix. The phoenix stretched its neck up high, spreading its wings, enlarging itself as if to strike an imposing figure, to frighten away these new attackers.
Swimberly’s rainbow egg hatched mid-flight, emptying its payload of water right in the guardian’s face. The phoenix screeched as the flames of its feathers snuffed out, doused instantly on contact.
“Is that really all it takes?” Sylvain asked. “A great quantity of water?”
The phoenix answered for us. It threw its head back and cried at the sky, its flames rising higher, wisps of steam curling from its body as it evaporated every drop of water.
“Holy crap. We just made it angrier.” I pointed at the phoenix. “And is it bigger, too?”
Through some fancy physical trickery, Swimberly maneuvered the one half of the sphere she occupied onto the ground. Gods, these unicorn sisters had some slick maneuvers. She raised her head from her rainbow fish bowl. I watched her horn, waiting for an incredible display of narwhal magic.
And then she opened her mouth.
A furious torrent of water emanated from somewhere deep within her body, gushing and relentless like a geyser. The phoenix stood no chance. There was no coming back from this.
Swimberly’s endless waterspout pinned the once-majestic bird of myth to the ground, its feathers soaked and soggy, rendered flameless and flightless. It raked at the air with its talons in frustration, then let out a weak, strangled cry.
Light flashed, a puff of flame, and the phoenix was gone, transformed once again into a perfect egg. I lunged forward, reaching for my dagger — what the hell was I going to do to an egg with a dagger? But Vanessica acted faster, stomping violently on the egg with one golden hoof.
Everyone but the unicorn sisters gasped. None of us had come to the oriel that day expecting to see a unicorn kill a phoenix. When Vanessica lifted her leg, there was no yolk smearing her hoof. Somehow that might have made it worse. The egg was empty and brittle, just a lifeless husk.
Well, empty, except for something that burned like the brightest ember. Vanessica pawed at the ground, snorted at the eggshells, then raised her eyes to meet mine.
“I believe this belongs to you, Lochlann Wilde.”
There it was. The Heart of the Flame.
I gulped, approaching the gemstone with steady legs and a trembling hand. What was I so nervous about? This was supposed to be a good thing. Mastery of the four elements, in a sense, at least in recruiting a guardian representing each one to my cause.
The gem was only comfortably warm despite its blazing white. Smooth and polished, much like the others. I lifted it to my throat, prepared to deposit it among its brethren. I could feel all eyes on me as I brought the Heart of the Flame to its recess.
It snapped into the medallion of its own accord, almost like it was magnetic. Again I swallowed, closed my eyes, waiting for something to happen. Something grandiose and earth-shattering. I opened my eyes. Nothing.
Evander scoffed. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”
Vanessica snorted. Evander flinched.
“I guess we’ll find out the next time I speak to Aphrodite. In any case, it feels good to have all four of the gems embedded in the medallion. It feels right, somehow.”
“And now you have a tool for every occasion,” Evander said. “Right? Just like how Doctor Fang taught us. You’re a switchblade summoner or whatever. The right tools, in the hand of the right tool.”
“Ha, ha. Very funny.” I rolled my eyes, but that was probably one of the nicest things Evander Skink had ever said to me.
