“Ditto. Now do something.”
“Right.” No one knew as much about pyramid magic as she did,after all. She needed four people with Fiendish Aspects, and no one could giveone to Felix right now, so he’d have to get one from somewhere else. Think, shetold herself. Remember every book. Remember—
She gasped. Where had the Umbriels gotten their Aspects all thoseyears ago when they’d first defeated Yanchasa? From the Fiend himself.
She looked at her hand. What was her Fiend pyramid but a siphon?Designed to channel Fiend magic at Yanchasa and placate him, but why couldn’tit work in the other direction, too? And what better way to stop Yanchasa thanby siphoning some of his energy, weakening him, then using that same essence topacify him?
“Put your hands on the capstone,” she said to Duke Felix as shestepped forward again.
He licked his lips and hesitated before complying until Callaturned her glare on him and stepped behind him as if she might shove. As soonas he touched the capstone, Thana fell into her pyramid again. She could sensethe energy that connected Dina and the Umbriels to Yanchasa, but Duke Felix waslike a void in the magic, a sandbank in a river. How to change him?
Something Sylph had said came back to her. The essence of Fiendmagic waschange. And it changed humans into monsters, so perhaps all she had to do waslet the magic wash over him, almost consume him.
The flow was hard to turn, and she grunted under the weight ofit. Yanchasa didn’t seem willing to let go of any more power, but he was stilldistracted. When Thana called to that power rather than sending it away, itmoved sluggishly toward her.
She steered it as she might a skiff on unruly waters, swearingwith the effort and gripping her pyramid until cramps went through her hand. Asthe Fiend power filtered up through the capstone, she wrestled it away from theUmbriels, Dina, and herself, and shoved it toward Duke Felix.
He screamed, an agonized sound that harmonized with the crunch ofbone and shredding cloth. Thana squeezed her eyes shut harder and tried toblock out the sounds, hoping he’d either pass out or enter the same fugue stateas the others, who wouldn’t remember their transformations. But they’d eitherbeen born with Fiends or had received a weakened version, already carried bygenerations of humans. Duke Felix was getting his from the source.
Now she had Yanchasa’s attention.
Thana gasped as the trickle of power flowing into Duke Felixbecame a flood. He howled, and Thana cried out as well, terror filling her atthe idea that Yanchasa might be seeking a new way out since they weren’t goingto let his body free. She opened her eyes to find a monstrosity standing nextto her, horns and wings and spikes and barely any human left at all.
She had to stop it, and her first thought was to kill him, muchas that appalled her. Such a creature could not escape this cavern, but shedidn’t have any weapons.
An anti-Fiend pyramid like the one she’d used on Gunnar’s Aspect?But she’d need more than that. The magic had to get inside him. Instinct movedher, and she rammed her pyramid into his chest, turning the siphon back theother way. He screeched, an inhuman sound that filled her mouth with the tasteof blood. Agony filled her head, and the sounds of the world faded to a dullroar, but the flow of power reversed.
Thana sobbed through her pain and clenched her teeth. When theduke retained only a little Fiendish essence, she pulled the pyramid from hischest and focused on the capstone. The four Fiendish essences seemed to beworking in harmony as they were meant to during the Waltz.
The rumbling of the palace eased, but Yanchasa had gotten a tasteof freedom, and he wasn’t going lightly. She felt his will fighting to get pastthe four Fiendish essences, to get to her. She could almost hear him, couldfeel his rage. She shut her eyes tightly and fought the instinct to drop herpyramid and flee from the room, out of the palace, across the kingdom, as faras she could get from this exemplar of evil.
She held her breath and stood firm. She would keep going. ForSylph.
A whisper in dual voices slid around inside her skull: “She’sdead.”
“No!” She let anger overtake her, adding to it all her worriesabout her worthiness, the kingdom, her friends, and Sylph. If this monsterthought her sorrow would be greater than her desire for vengeance, it could thinkagain.
With a cry of rage, Thana used the Fiendish Aspects like abattering ram, pummeling Yanchasa under their weight. His control faltered,awareness slipping. Thana didn’t let up her assault until she felt him goslack, and even then, she kept blanketing him under the weight of his kindreduntil they howled.
At last, she dropped her pyramid and ran for the stone stairs.
* * *
Sylph came back to herself slowly. She barely recognized her ownbody. She still sagged in her own stone prison, not sure where she ended andthe rock began. The softness, that was her, and the stone scraped against her.It hurt.
It would be so easy to lose herself in the stone magic, to leaveher fragile flesh behind. Why would she want it when she could be hard,immovable, indestructible?
Alone.
That idea could piss off, as Thana would say.
Stone couldn’t have a nice bath, then cuddle with a lover andsleep for two whole weeks. That sounded wonderful. All she had to do was bringherself into the light. She reached for her power.
Nothing happened.
A twinge of worry went through her. The smooth side of herpyramid still rested in her palm. The stone called to her as it had since thisadventure began, but it would not obey. Maybe it could grow tired, too?
Impossible, surely.
Still, when she commanded it…nothing.
Worry turned to panic, fluttering in her like a bird against itscage. She tried to cry out, but only a dry wheeze hissed through the darkness.Every breath hurt her throat and chest, sealing her with dust, turning her tostone
