Alena kept a grip on the threads as the priest walked to the gate. It flared briefly as the priest stepped through, and a rush of fresh energy filled her.
A presence appeared, not quite solid.
They’d met before, but this time she recognized him.
Anders I.
The man who had founded the empire. The man whose lies and secrets threatened to destroy that same empire.
She turned away from him, but a gesture from his hand froze her in place.
“Coming here again was foolish,” he said. “Blood has limits.”
Her body was frozen, but her mouth still moved. “I need the strength to kill the queen.”
Anders shook his head. “Do you know how many you would need to face her on even footing?” He sighed. “Literal rivers of blood have been shed for that woman. Is that a burden you’re willing to place upon your own soul?”
“I’m open to other suggestions,” Alena said bitterly. “But there’s too much we don’t know.” Her gaze focused on him.
Her stare didn’t intimidate the emperor, although she thought she caught a flash of sadness cross his face. He didn’t rise to her disrespect. “You need to return. I understand Hanns’ choice, but it was a poor one. Her control of that realm is unmatched. When he reveals his possession of the second gate, you’ll need to take advantage of the moment.”
“What do I do?”
“Cut off her connections.”
With that, Anders disappeared, nothing but empty space where he had stood.
Alena swore the next time she saw him she would begin their discussion by punching him in the face. She hated cryptic answers.
She took one last look at the gate, feeling the new power flowing through her.
The feeling didn’t seem as strong as she remembered it the first time.
She returned to the cave, slammed into an assault on all her senses. Vomit rose in her throat but she forced it down. She threw a barrier over herself. It wouldn’t last long, but it gave her a moment to catch her bearings.
Brandt was dying. He was impaled on the queen’s fist and his eyes were glassy. Death here was every bit as permanent as it was in the physical world.
But his death gave Hanns time to recover from the queen’s assault. Alena saw him gathering his strength. With the queen distracted by Brandt’s last breaths, there would never be a better time to attack.
Alena twitched, eager to throw herself into Brandt’s rescue. Anders I’s words stuck with her, though. She needed to break the connection between Hanns and the queen.
But what connection?
Her vision swam with the attacks and defenses the two rulers launched at each other. Even with one distracted and the other recovering, their assaults never halted. They lacked intensity, but an undefended attack could still change the course of this battle.
Alena didn’t sense a connection between them.
Alena’s own barrier faltered. She didn’t have Hanns’ gate-assisted strength, and she suspected that if she didn’t act soon, Hanns would unveil his second gate to no effect.
The gate connection.
Was that it?
The queen wasn’t attacking Hanns directly. She was attacking him through his gate.
Alena sensed Hanns’ connection to the gate easily enough. It burned brightly here.
And there, a wispy thread from the queen that led to the same place, a thread that seemed insignificant.
That was what she needed to cut.
But Brandt needed her help, too.
She couldn’t save him and the empire.
So she chose the empire.
Alena allowed her barrier to break under the queen’s constant assault. She appeared behind the final priest, now approaching Hanns. A dagger appeared in her hand. Part of her desperately hungered to entwine their souls as she sent the priest to the gate. Only Anders I’s warning stopped her. She drove the dagger into the back of the priest’s skull. It resisted for a time, the priest’s defenses almost as strong as Alena’s skill.
Then the blade slipped in and the priest collapsed.
The death of the priest earned her the queen’s attention once again. A dozen spears appeared in the air, all pointing at her heart. Alena swore. She’d experienced this attack before.
The spears leaped at her.
Alena vanished and reappeared at the other end of the cave. The spears passed through empty space, embedding deeply in the stone.
The queen raised an eyebrow, giving Alena even more of her attention.
Hanns chose that moment to unveil his second gate. The world exploded with light.
No longer were they in the caves.
Alena looked around. Tall trees surrounded her. Sunlight filtered through a dense canopy of deciduous trees. The air held a stillness, a peace Alena felt in every breath. Off in the distance, birds chirped a morning song.
The queen dropped Brandt to the ground, crossing her arms in front of her as though warding off a physical assault.
Hanns stood tall, waves of light emanating off him.
Alena blinked and Hanns was gone.
He reappeared directly in front of the queen. His fist glowed as he drove a powerful uppercut into her chin.
The world warped, shattered, and reassembled itself as the energies collided.
The force of the blow knocked Alena off her feet. She landed and rolled, coming up awkwardly against a tree trunk.
She found the two combatants again.
Through all that, the queen had only been knocked back a single step. Surprise was painted on her face.
Alena understood the queen’s strength then. Or perhaps more accurately, she understood she couldn’t comprehend the depths of that strength. The emperor’s punch would have killed a dozen Alenas working together.
Hanns wasn’t deterred, but Alena felt the desperation in his actions. Both fists glowing, he laid into the queen, a combination of blows any wolfblade would have been proud of.
Alena hadn’t realized Hanns possessed such a deep knowledge of martial arts.
The world rumbled.
Trees tore from their stumps and cracked in half with earsplitting claps. A moment later the trees would return, only to suffer the same fate again, trapped in a loop of destruction and rebirth.
Against the chaos, Alena focused on the thread between the queen and the empire’s gate.
It took her several moments to find it again.
Her father’s knife appeared in her
