Please stop, I begged, though my pleading grew quieter as consciousness ebbed. Please…
I was floating again, yet somehow, the pain remained deep in the recesses of my mind. There were no sounds, nothing to see or touch; only the pain remained, digging, burrowing into my brain. What Theht was doing would be irreversible. I was sure of it. She was altering me somehow.
I got the impression it wasn’t easy for her to stay on this side of the portal—even in a spirit form. The pain stayed with me as my thoughts drifted. Somehow, I knew that Theht had gone, but then blackness surrounded me.
Time passed. I must have been unconscious for several hours when I gasped awake suddenly, feeling cold and wet. I coughed and sputtered as water moistened my face and dampened my clothes. Opening my eyes, I focused on my surroundings.
I was no longer in the cave, but outside in the snow.
The pain was gone.
A piercing, brilliant blue sky spanned overhead, and it seemed like the most beautiful sight I’d ever beheld. I stared, mesmerized, thanking the Father above that I was alive.
I am alive.
The Wults and elves were standing around me, but why could I only see their backs? A gentle swaying motion beneath me made me realize they were carrying me on a makeshift gurney. The urge to call out and tell them I was awake came to me, but I found I didn’t have the energy. Instead, I only stared at the sky once again until my eyes closed and I fell into a deep sleep.
“Can you hear me?”
When I opened my eyes, I found a candle burning on a table beside me. It was the only light in the room. As my eyes adjusted, I found Heidel standing over me.
She smiled and patted my arm. “I’ll fetch the others. They’ll want to know you’re awake.”
She left the room, leaving me alone. I straightened, discovering every muscle in my body hurt when I moved. Staring around the room, I had trouble deciding where I was. Was I in the Wult keep? The rough wooden logs with bark still clinging to their surfaces didn’t look like something I would see in the keep.
I got to my feet, and although I wore only a white dressing gown, I refused to stay in bed any longer. How long had I been there? Days? It didn’t matter. I was awake now, and I needed answers. How had the others been able to rescue me with the portal in the way? Had they found the fairies’ stone? Were the fairies restored? Had Officer Gardener made it out alive?
On bare feet, I exited through the room’s only door. As I pushed it open, the outside view caught me by surprise. Dragon Spine Mountain loomed in the distance, which must have meant I was in the Wult village. Although I’d experienced unspeakable terror at the top of the mountain, the peak did look beautiful with the first rays of pink-tinted morning light shining on it.
The ground felt cold under my bare feet, but I ignored my discomfort to make my way around the building. I found that I had been recovering in a small cabin sitting atop a hillside away from the village. Below me, the Wult outpost still slept, with only the smoke from chimneys giving any indication of life.
A roaring wind came from behind me, and I spun around to see Fan’twar land not far from where I stood. Heidel also rushed up beside him.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “You should be resting.”
“I’m fine. I’ve rested enough.”
“You’re not even wearing shoes.”
I wiggled my toes, feeling the dewy grass beneath my feet. Though cold, it felt heavenly. “I don’t need them.”
Fan’twar chuckled. “You are back to yourself again, I see.”
I nodded, trying to agree with him but knowing I would never be the same after what Theht had done to me.
Heidel crossed her arms. “You are lucky that my sister is not your nurse. You’d get a tongue-lashing for sure.”
I inhaled a lungful of fresh air, feeling more grateful than ever before that I was alive. Fan’twar studied me, and I knew he wanted answers. I was sure I’d had him worried when the Wults and elves had carried me unconscious down the mountain.
“I saw Theht,” I told him.
His eyes widened. “Saw her?”
“Yes. Sort of. She wasn’t able to take her true form.”
“What did she say?”
I sighed, knowing I couldn’t tell him everything. He was like a father to me. I knew he would worry if I told him about my magic acting on its own to destroy the bloodthorn—or about the vision Theht had shown me—so I stuck to the basics.
“She told me that since the bloodthorn wasn’t able to complete the spell, she could no longer use the stone to cross worlds. It was odd… she didn’t seem angry that I’d killed him. It was almost as if she’d expected it to happen. So that’s how I was able to retrieve the starstone. I don’t completely understand everything that happened. And I don’t understand who she is or where she comes from, although I have my suspicions.
“Fan’twar, do you know what’s on the other side of that portal?”
He shook his head. “I only know that whatever lies beyond the portal is a danger to us.”
“But is it more than that?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s where Theht comes from, isn’t it?”
“Do you believe so?”
I nodded. “Yes. And she’s trying to enter our world. Although for now, she can’t.” My stomach clenched as my thoughts turned to the prophecy. “If she ever returns, she will use me to destroy our world.”
“I agree. She is waiting to be summoned, just as the Regaymor tried to do. And if she is ever summoned, then the Deathbringer prophecy will be fulfilled.”
A fragile stillness clung to the air as Fan’twar spoke of the Deathbringer—a name I never cared to hear again.
“Fan’twar, isn’t there some way to undo a
