“The gift has not passed on?” Wolfe asked, frowning.
“And if it had?” Kalisa snapped. “There is no magic here, Chaosreaver, you saw to that. Airions need magic to survive, as so many things do. I preserved what I could, and used the last to sustain my life. The spell fades, after so long. I fade with it.”
Wolfe extended his hand. “I could—”
“Don’t touch me,” Kalisa hissed.
Kalynn stepped back into Wolfe; the hate was palpable in her sister’s eyes and her heart broke to see it. “Kalisa, please,” she asked, extending her own hand.
Kalisa looked away. “Why have you come?”
Kalynn let her hand drop. “I have seen,” she said. “The day comes, Guardian. Be ready.”
“Nothing more helpful than that? No date, no time, no real idea, just a vague warning?” Kalisa snorted.
“Kalynn has seen,” Wolfe snarled. “You have a duty, Guardian.”
“I will do as I see fit,” Kalisa snarled right back. “But do not think I do this for you. I do this for Xy, and for my people, and for my love that no one but I remembers. But do not expect forgiveness, Chaosreaver. Or you, sister, for that matter.” Her swollen hands tightened into fists. “I thank you for your warning. Leave.”
“Let Wolfe offer you some ease, at the very least,” Kalynn took a step forward. “Please, Kalisa—”
“You say ‘please’?” Kalisa shook her fist at them. “You, who created this nightmare? You, who deprived me of everything dear?” Her face was reddening, her eyes alight with madness. “If I had the power, I would smite you to the ground, and burn and burn both of you to ash.” Her voice dropped into a dark, evil hiss. “You killed my Uppor, and I will never, never forgive. May the very air deny you breath. May the very—”
Wolfe’s arm snaked around Kalynn’s waist, and she was turned and through the glaring white of a portal in an instant.
They appeared in the tunnel, Wolfe muttering his own curses in her ear. “If you think I was going to let that bitch curse us out the door and up the mountain, think again.”
Kalynn shook her head. Everything ached, her body, her heart, her soul. She felt as if all the strength had left her limbs.
“Bitter, withered, dried-up turd.” Wolfe stepped to the saddle bags, and started pulling out their bedroll. “We will spend the night here, and leave in the morning.”
“She might follow,” Kalynn glanced back at the tunnel’s edge.
“Without power? In her crippled condition?” Wolfe shook his head as he shook out their blankets. “No. Besides that path is bad enough no one is getting up here this night. Come and get warm.”
“I’m not cold,” Kalynn said.
“Then why are you shaking?” Wolfe asked as he knelt on the blankets. He opened his arms. “Come.”
She went. Let him wrap her in a blanket, and sit beside her. With just a few gestures and words, he had a fire burning and a mug of hot kav in her hands. Then he joined her under the blanket, and wrapped his warmth around her.
“You’re wasting your power,” she muttered.
“No,” he said quite strongly. “I am not.”
Kalynn sighed and let her tears come. “She’s like Charrin and Verice. They’ve locked their bitter hate in their hearts, and won’t let it out.”
“Only she’s been at it for years in the making,” Wolfe said. “Almost one hundred.”
Kalynn choked out a smile. “Give or take,” she reminded him as she took his hand.
“Give or take.” Wolfe looked at their linked hands. “Here I sit, Stalking Wolf, Mage of the Plains, Chaosreaver, feared and hated and yet I cannot ease your pain.”
Kalynn put her head on his shoulder. “No, Wolfe. You are my tent, my winter lodge, my shelter, my home.”
“Then shelter in my love,” Wolfe said. “Sleep.”
Kalynn nodded, and closed her eyes, but sleep eluded her. Instead, her eyes drifted to the solid wall at the end of the tunnel. It seemed to her that shadows moved within, images...and her mind flooded with all the possibilities.
