Page 21 of Bonds of Blood
“All are welcome,” Dr. Fang said, “but especially you, my little hellions. Count yourselves in.”
No better choice for an invasion of a plane of elemental fire than actual tiny demons, who were indeed intrinsically resistant to fire. Cutler brandished his fork and uttered a tiny battlecry, the gesture and call mirrored and echoed by his peers.
Blazing fires consumed their utensils. The stainless steel melted away, revealing their true forms: demonic pitchforks and blades of black iron, forged in the very fires of the prime hells themselves. The imps loved their work, but it was good to know that they weren’t above a bit of violence.
Gods above and below, the Wispwood really was rallying. It made my heart swell seeing everyone — students, faculty, and staff alike — coming together to fight in this greatest of our battles.
“Don’t think you’re going without us.” Bruna stepped up to join me, arms crossed, as if I would even consider leaving her behind now that she’d volunteered.
Namirah was with her, too, looking just as intimidating. “We’re in this together, Locke. I knew you said your father was a prick, but this is something else.”
The telltale sound of tinkling bells drifted in from the staircase, and out shot a ball of fire. Ember’s flames burned especially bright when he got all worked up, and he was more agitated than ever.
“I’m coming, too,” he announced, with as much confidence as the day he declared he was coming home with us from the Oriel of Fire.
“Of course you are.” I patted my shoulder, offering him a landing pad. He puffed up his chest and kindly turned down the heat as he alighted. It went unspoken between us, but I would never imagine going in without Ember. Satchel would be thrilled to know we were all so worried about him.
Cornelius Butterworth cleared his throat. “I suppose that leaves me here to contend with keeping the Spire of Radiance from being overrun. I’d argue that this is the most unsavory position possible, but knowing that the rest of you will be doing your damnedest to safeguard the oriels from the inside will be enough to bolster my spirits.”
In the end, Headmaster Cornelius would also have the largest force to fall back on, the remainder of the student body at his beck and call. He wasn’t wrong, though. If they didn’t hold the Spire of Radiance, our efforts within the oriels would be for nothing. What was the point of coming back if there was no longer a Wispwood to come back to?
“On your word, Cornelius.” Headmaster Belladonna’s fingers were still carving out the same motions from before, tracing patterns of light to maintain the barrier. “Tell me when, and I shall break the seal.”
He studied our faces, gazing somberly across the entirety of the chamber. On happier occasions, the headmaster might have something sappy and sweet to say. But this was not a happy occasion in the slightest, and the gravity of his silence only reinforced that unsettling truth.
I held my breath. Cornelius nodded. Belladonna dropped her hand.
All at once the four stained-glass windows glowed. More creatures began to rip their way out of the oriels. A writhing mass of sentient vines from the Oriel of Earth, a matching beast covered in wriggling tentacles from the Oriel of Water. Rounding out the set were a feathery reptilian creature crackling with electricity and an oversized lizard bathed in flames, again an oddly matching set, as if the oriels themselves were coordinating.
The Spire of Radiance erupted into chaos. More and more elemental beasts spilled from the oriels, exploded, flayed, and hacked apart by the combined magics contained within the chamber. Every slain creature brought us another step closer to the stained glass, the entire point of the slaughter being to cut a path deeper into danger.
I held my hand high, focusing my senses on the colors of the rainbow, on the elegant spikes and curves of unicorn horns and hooves that gleamed with the luster of precious metals. With every second of concentration I repeated the names of the unicorn sisters in my head and my heart.
Vanessica. Gwennifer. Triffany. Swimberly.
When we first entered our pact, they’d explained that they would always respond to my summons, but might only afford to send one or two of their number. Who was I to question the busy lives of unicorns? But now I needed the help of the entire squad of sisters. I projected my thoughts, praying they would answer.
The distant thundering of hooves crashed closer and closer, the thin shaft of light piercing the Spire of Radiance’s high windows transforming into a thick rainbow. A bridge. A ramp. Neighing and stamping, three beautiful unicorns came skidding down the beam of light, followed by a multi-colored ball the size of an actual car.
Vanessica, the first of the unicorns charged the nearest monster, skewering it straight through the belly with her deadly horn. Her sisters followed suit, attacking the minions of the oriels with their hooves, with horns, with magically-conjured blades in every color of the rainbow.
The giant beachball split open halfway, leaving the bottom intact as a bowl of seawater. Out came Swimberly the narwhal, spraying torrents of water at the creatures of elemental fire, destroying them within seconds.
Dr. Euclidea Fang fully squealed, a sound I had never heard her make before. She’d pulled out her phone amid the carnage in the chamber, snapping photos of the unicorns mid-battle, even catching one of them long enough for a selfie.
I knew from all her haranguing that a picture of a real, live unicorn was important to her, but I never truly realized quite how important. Dr. Fang finally got the ultimate horse-girl photos she always wanted. I only wished she could have taken them in happier circumstances — but knowing her, snapping selfies in the thick of bloody battle was still a dream come true.
The Oriel of Earth was so close I could smell it. Freshly turned dirt, the sweetness of grass, dew on the leaves. But I knew it was all wrong, and would all be wrong once we entered the dimension itself. Baylor was waiting there with his eidolons, or maybe he was speeding through the other oriels already, enslaving even more minions to add to his collection.
A flash of gold, then silver, then copper as the unicorns impaled and trampled new victims. A fireball crashed into a leaf insect, Ember’s anger channeled into magic, setting the creature aflame. Namirah bounded past in the guise of a lioness, tearing through an enormous bird with her claws and her teeth. Bruna hurled a phial against a monstrous frog, encasing it in a sheath of solid ice.
The path was clear. I ushered my friends forward, leaving the unicorns to finish their work, knowing they would vanish as soon as I passed through the stained glass. My friends leapt through the window first, Ember leading the charge. I gripped Sylvain’s hand tight, giving him one last nod before we leapt into the portal. Our bodies fell through warm molten glass, the world bright with the oriel’s mosaic of color.
It was time to kill my father.
12
Somehow I’d expectedthe Oriel of Earth to be in a greater state of ruin. I’d certainly expected more traces of the Withering. The curse had all been stamped out throughout the Verdance and the arcane underground, but its originator was the same man who’d bent this dimension to his perverted will.
