Midnight Magic, page 72
She didn’t know anyone in the group she was assigned, but wasn’t nervous until Mitaru’s group returned and all of them, including Mitaru, looked spooked.
He stared down at his feet as he moved to the opposite side of the arena, where those who had already finished the day’s Trial were gathered.
She had a feeling he wasn’t looking in her direction to keep her from seeing the distress in his eyes.
It didn’t matter though because she could see it every line of his body, in the way he moved and in the slump of his shoulders.
And just like that, all the nerves that had disappeared after winning her first bout in the Arena Trials came roaring back.
They didn’t lessen as the day wore on and more and more groups left and returned and the sounds in the arena became more and more subdued.
It was late afternoon and the crowds had dwindled until only Kalina and her group were seated in their section, when they were finally called.
They were led out of the arena and down a path toward the woods. Right before they would have entered the woods, their guide veered to the left and walked them along the edge of the woods until a new pathway appeared.
As they entered the woods, they met the group that had been called right before them. They each filed passed silently, the same subdued look on their faces.
Once the group had passed, their guide led them further into the woods and down a steep winding path.
About fifteen minutes later, they exited the woods again and found themselves in a large clearing with the woods at their back and if she wasn’t mistaken, a very tiny veil in front of them.
They were nowhere near the official borders where the Guardians served and yet, there it was: a tiny pocket in space.
A roaming Veil.
She’d never seen one before, but she knew they existed.
Most Fae hoped never to encounter one.
A roaming Veil could appear anywhere at anytime and they were a magnet for the Sorenalaya.
The Fae had many tales and songs of the Sorenalaya, the Fae who had faded so far from this world, they were reduced to the insubstantial forms of their beasts. So thin as to be almost transparent, with claws and fangs, they craved human flesh and souls, and so roamed the borderlands, constantly testing the Veils in the hope to cross over and feast upon the mortal worlds.
It was a Guardian’s job to stop them.
It was why the majority of Guardians served close to the Veils, so that they could monitor and strengthen the Veils when they weakened and drive back the Sorenalaya.
“I see some of you recognize what we have here,” Commander Tanier spoke quietly, but the sound of his voice brought stillness to the Fae as everyone turned to listen. “As Guardians, your job will sometimes involve traveling days on end to reach one of these isolated, weakened portions of the Veil. You may arrive exhausted and wish for nothing more than a good night’s sleep, but the mortals the Sorenalaya prey upon will not thank you for your hesitation.
“Even when exhausted, covered in mud from a weeklong journey across brutal terrain, you will be expected to battle any Sorenalaya still lingering around the Veil and to pursue any that managed to cross into the mortal realms. In other words, to sum up.” He ticked off each point with his fingers. “Battle-ready. Healing magic and a strong life force to strengthen the veil. Glamour to shield your true form from the mortals. Tracking abilities to find the Sorenalaya. And compassion to offer them peace as swiftly as possible. These are the bare minimum qualities required of a Guardian, regardless of how exhausted or weary or even injured that Guardian may be.
“This will be your duty, day in and day out as a Guardian of the Veil. And your reward for a thousand years of service to this duty shall be death. You will throw yourselves upon the Veil, surrender your physical forms and burn your life force to ash for the good of all the Fae.
“This is the lot of a Guardian of the Veil. If you were hoping to become a Royal Guardian, that honor is only ever offered to a Guardian after many centuries of service to the Veil and it is a rare Guardian, indeed, who is chosen. If that is your hope, you should leave the Trials now.” He waited.
A few of the Fae shifted their feet uneasily, but no one left the clearing.
“Very well then. Today, you will discover whether you have what it takes to become a Guardian of the Veil in truth. This portion of the Veil has been guarded since it was discovered. No Sorenalaya have been allowed to use it for entrance to the mortal realms. You ten will work together to ensure this continues to be true.
“I’ll be observing from that tree there.” He pointed to one at the edge of the woods, then held up his battle horn. “Your task is to defend the Veil at all costs against any Sorenalaya who come near, and believe me, they will come.
“Do not hesitate, Fae, for hesitation will result at the very least, in the loss of mortal lives, and at the very most, in the loss of your own souls. Be vigilant, Fae, and protect the Veil.”
“We need a plan,” Kalina said the minute the Commander left them to walk toward the tree he had chosen.
The other Fae turned to her. They looked as nervous as she felt and they hadn’t even seen a Sorenalaya yet.
The Sorenalaya had lost their connection to life and to nature. To defeat them, the Fae had to fill their forms with both.
It required a delicate balance of both life and earth magic, but first a Sorenalaya had to be contained and the best way to do that was through fire magic.
“Who has the strongest fire magic among us?”
“I’m pretty strong,” a male Fae with bright green eyes and hair said.
“I am too,” a female said.
“Okay, you two need to be by the Veil. Surround it in fire. Everyone else—”
“Sorenalaya!” one of the Fae cried out.
“Fire magic,” Kalina shouted. “Defend the Veil and ring them in fire, Fae!”
As the Fae scrambled into position, forming a loose circle around the tiny pocket in space, Kalina caught her first glimpse of the Sorenalaya.
There was nothing that even remotely resembled the Fae in their appearance. They were all fangs and claws and a terrible screeching sound as they rushed toward them.
*.*.*.*.*
* * *
“Earth magic,” Thorne shouted as they faced off against the Sorenalaya.
He called roots from the earth as quickly as possible, causing them to explode from the ground, where they writhed through the insubstantial forms of the Sorenalaya.
Still the Sorenalaya fought on, breaking free of the roots to attack again and again.
The Fae slowed them down with more and more earth magic, roots exploding everywhere, but it wasn’t enough.
The Sorenalaya continually broke free and fought on, desperate to reach the Veil.
They would need more than just earth magic to win this battle.
Digging deep for a tiny drop of his own life force, Thorne sent a coil of life magic down his swords, infusing the blades with its power.
He swung them at the closest Sorenalaya. It was so insubstantial, he wasn’t certain his blades, even glowing with life magic, would have an effect, but the Sorenalaya exploded, ash cascading everywhere, floating on the wind.
Thorne leapt to the next Sorenalaya and shouted, “Infuse your blades with life magic, Guardians!”
*.*.*.*.*
* * *
Kalina wasn’t sure how other Fae conjured fire, but she simply envisioned a tiny sun sitting in the palm of her hand and then hurtled it upward, closing her hand at the very last second, catching the tail end of the fire rope she’d shaped from that tiny sun. Arm up, she whirled the fire rope round and round so that it crackled and snapped in the air above her.
All around her, the other Fae were conjuring their own fire lassos and as one, they snapped their hands out.
Kalina’s rope met the ropes of two others and they formed a giant lasso that fell around two of the Sorenalaya, becoming a ring of fire that surrounded them.
Though the Sorenalaya were insubstantial and could not be harmed by fire, for reasons no one quite understood, they were terrified of the flames and would often freeze when faced with fire, perhaps simply an instinctive remnant of their long-forgotten physical lives.
A quick glance showed her that the Fae had managed to ring all of the Sorenalaya in fire.
Distantly aware that the horn was finally blowing, Kalina focused on the next step. She imagined roots sprouting from the souls of her feet, digging deep and spreading through the lands.
She then envisioned the earth pouring its energy through those roots in and out, over and over again, until they were quivering with life.
When they were ready, they moved toward the ring of fire that surrounded the Sorenalaya.
She became aware as her roots expanded through the soil that there were roots moving on either side of her, the earth magic of the two Fae whose lassoes had joined hers.
The roots met beneath the ring of fire, right at its center, and exploded from beneath, twining around and through the Sorenalaya frozen inside.
Kalina tried to ignore the shrieking of the Sorenalaya, just as she tried not to think about how this had been the fate of—
One of the Sorenalaya let out a shriek and leapt forward, breaking free of the roots and hurtling past the barrier of fire. It caught the Fae to Kalina’s left in its grasp and with a shrieking wail began to suck the Fae’s life force from him.
For a moment, Kalina was frozen, then she heard as if from a great distance, “Infuse your blades with life magic, Guardians!” and grabbed her dagger.
She wrenched free a tiny drop of her life force, twined it around a strand of magic, and poured both over the blade. She then plunged the dagger through the Sorenalaya, right where its heart should be.
For a terrible moment in time, she thought it hadn’t worked, but then the Sorenalaya fell back away from the Fae it had been feeding upon and on its way down, morphed for one split second back to the Fae Kalina imagined it had once been, then was gone in a shower of ash.
The Fae fell to his knees and coughed out his thanks.
The rest of their group was in a standoff with the Sorenalaya. The fire was enough to keep most of them pinned and the earth magic had them wailing in pain, but they weren’t dying.
“How did you do that?” The Fae on the ground wheezed.
“Our swords aren’t working on them,” a Fae from across the way called.
“They’re too insubstantial,” a third yelled.
“Infuse your blades with life magic,” Kalina called back as she decapitated another Sorenalaya.
“I didn’t even know you could do that,” the Fae she’d saved called to her as he rejoined the battle to give peace to the Sorenalaya.
Neither had she, at least not until she’d heard that voice.
Later, when they had dispatched the last of the Sorenalaya, she questioned the other Guardians in the clearing and the Commander who had watched from the trees, but none of them admitted to being the one she’d heard.
They all believed it was her intuition telling her what to do, but Kalina knew the truth.
She’d heard a voice—strong, male, compelling—and she’d done exactly what he’d ordered without thought, without hesitation, and in the process had saved a Fae’s life and given peace to the Sorenalaya.
*.*.*.*.*
* * *
“Well, that was just horrible,” Nako said.
Thorne had to agree.
No matter how he’d prepared for the possibility of becoming a Guardian and no matter how many accounts he’d read of Fae Guardians defending the mortal worlds against the Sorenalaya, nothing could have prepared him for what they had just seen and done.
Knowing they were once Fae made it all the worse.
The Sorenalaya were more terrifying than he’d realized and he’d thought them pretty horrifically terrifying before.
Now he knew exactly what the future looked like for the Faded and he made a pledge then and there to never fade from this world, no matter how bleak his life became.
Then again, he was closer than he’d ever been to achieving his dream of becoming a Guardian of the Veil, and if that happened, he would never have to worry about fading, for he would sacrifice himself upon the Veils long before old age had him ever contemplating a fade.
If old age did not drag a Fae into the fade, the only other thing that could, was the loss of a mate. More often than not, though, mates went into their eternity together.
Not that Thorne had to worry about that eventuality either since no Guardian of the Veil had ever found a fated mate.
“I wasn’t sure my group was going to survive for a minute there,” Nako said.
“I’m pretty sure that was the point,” Thorne said.
“What do you mean?”
“That whole Trial was a demonstration of what we’ll be facing as Guardians of the Veil. I’d be willing to bet there are any number of Potentials packing their bags right now.”
Nako groaned. “Can you imagine? Getting this far and then giving up?”
“Better to give up now than discover too late you’re not cut out for the job. It would be a thousand times worse to die in your first battle with the Sorenalaya.”
“True.”
“Besides, those who show up for tomorrow’s Trial will be truly dedicated and believe this is their calling.”
“Well, that’s definitely me,” Nako said. “Because while it was rather terrifying, it was also an awesomely powerful adrenaline rush.”
Thorne gave a snort of laughter. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”
*.*.*.*.*
* * *
Rumors swept through the Trials that only two groups had been able to dispatch the Sorenalaya without help from the Commanders observing.
Other groups managed to trap the Sorenalaya or drive them back, but none had managed to give them peace.
This was the lesson every Guardian learned that day: to fight the Sorenalaya required more than one skill set. They had to be gifted in both earth magic and life magic and agility with blades and fire magic was a bonus that could save lives.
More importantly, to give peace to the Sorenalaya, to ensure they did not suffer needlessly, a Guardian had to be able to think under pressure and pull on any of those skills effortlessly and at a moment’s notice.
Kalina was still pondering those lessons that evening at dinner when Mitaru joined her.
“I heard you made history today,” he said.
“What are you talking about?”
“I overheard the commanders talking. Commander Yarina said in thousands of years of Trial history, not one group of Fae has ever managed to dispatch peace to the Sorenalaya. It requires years of training.”
“That doesn’t even make sense. Why would they set us up for failure?”
“It makes perfect sense. It’s a huge part of the job. We have to understand viscerally how difficult fighting the Sorenalaya really is. Think about it. I bet a hundred Fae, at least, are packing their bags right now, unwilling to spend their lives in battle with the Faded.”
“I suppose.” What a depressing thought, though.
“One of the Commanders said he’d never even considered infusing life magic into his blade before. He’d never tried it.”
“I hadn’t really considered it either, not until—”
“Until what?”
Kalina shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I might be going crazy.”
Mitaru let out a snort of laughter.
“So how do they usually fight the Sorenalaya if they don’t use their blades?”
“I guess they just throw the magic at them.”
“That seems rather wasteful. What if the Sorenalaya move or the Fae’s aim is off? So much magic would be lost if it wasn’t contained somewhere.”
“Yeah, that was the commander’s point. He said it was ingenious and an excellent way to conserve one’s power, and he was shocked none of them had ever considered doing it. That’s why the commanders are so impressed. You know what Commander Yarina said about you and the Fae from the Eastern Trials?”
“What?”
“He said you two were the best candidates he’d ever seen, that you were truly something special.”
Kalina shook her head. “But it wasn’t me.”
“What do you mean?”
“It wasn’t my idea. I heard a voice, a Fae. I think it was him.”
“Who?”
“Did they say who the other Fae was? The one in the Eastern Trials?”
“No. For all I know, it was a female.”
“No. I heard his voice, commanding the Guardians to infuse their blades with life magic. I heard him and that’s how I knew what to do.”
“That doesn’t even make sense. How could you hear a Fae halfway across the world?”
“I don’t know, but I did.”
CHAPTER 8
“What do you think the final trial will be?” Luna asked at lunch the next day.
“I have no idea,” Kalina said. “All I know is everyone’s Trial is different.”
“That seems pretty time-consuming,” Zara said.
“Not if they use magic,” Kalina said. “I’m just not sure how they would manage it.”
“My guess is a fear spell,” Mitaru said. “They’re not that difficult to build or maintain so they can work on any number of people at the same time.”
“Well, what’s your worst fear?” Luna asked.
“Losing you two,” Mitaru said.
“Aw,” Luna and Zara chorused together.
“What about you, Kalina?” Zara asked.
Kalina shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t really think about fears that much.”
“Well, my guess is you’ll know what it is by the end of the day tomorrow,” Mitaru said.
“Great.”
*.*.*.*.*
* * *
Thorne left the arena feeling sick. If anyone had told him what he would face in the Final Trial, he may not have signed up.
