Page 143 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

I nodded. “Take us both to Moriko.”

The same happy eyes shot wide almost to horror. “Why?” She cleared her throat and softly repeated, “Why?”

The Autumn Queen perked from her seat at the sight of Nia and quickly dismissed the members of her court from the room. “My ahana,” she greeted before rounding an arm around her waist and pulling her for a kiss. “Who do I have to thank for this?”

Nia hooked a finger in my direction.

Moriko gave me a bored look. “Kilian, is there something the matter?”

“Snow has gone to Isjord.”

Her expression didn’t change. “Did she?”

Sigh. “You helped her with this, didn’t you?”

She nodded. “A couple of the soldiers that Silas had sent for the rescue team were from Brisk. Ibe notified me first before I passed the news to Albius and Sebastian.”

“You didn’t tell me,” Nia said, moving a bit away from Moriko.

The queen quickly closed the distance and pinched Nia’s chin. “Ahana, the woman had a—”

Nia quickly waved a hand. “Never mind. I am sure she did something she should have not done. I just didn’t know Snow had been planning this for a while without anyone knowing.”

Moriko nodded. “Snow has a smart head on her shoulders, a reckless one, but extremely smart. It is why I decided to let her threaten me. I know she will make something out of this. She has to, otherwise Silas has already won this war.” She smiled down at Nia. “Are you staying?”

I cleared my throat and the queen’s smile died back to that hooded sternness she possessed. “Yes, Kilian.”

“The Ryuu. I’d like to visit the underground where the sceptre was kept.”

She sighed with disappointment and nodded. “Sure. And then Nia stays.”

“Actually,” Nia said. “Nia goes. Goes to Eldmoor. To finish important tasks like Snow is in Isjord.”

Like this was all my fault, Moriko turned a scathing look on me. “This is your wife’s fault.”

“You helped her.”

“A misjudgement on my behalf it seems.” She straightened her clothing and said, “The Ryuu then.”

There was nothing and everything. Piles and piles of bone—serpent bone. The air of lively magic radiating from the Ryuu root tunnels was also stained with something else. Not exactly rot but bordering with death.

“Three headed hydras,” Moriko explained as we descended the root tunnels. “A creature Dyurin created by imitating Cerberus, the three headed guardian of the hells of rot. The god of animals often compared that particular place to our realm.” She shone the torch over a piled of long thin bones and dried scaly skin. “You have to kill this three times, but we only found one injury on most of them.”

I bent down to touch one of the greyed carcasses and the pain in my chest turned sharp, shooting right to my head and making me sway from light-headedness. My magic screeched in the air, gusts of scorching darkness bursting, making the humid air hiss with death and mist.

“It appears I was right,” I said, straightening, taking a deep breath that sent more pain through my wounds that seemed to tear as though fresh. “This thing is an anima accissor.”

The queen frowned. “Soul killer? Impossible.”

I tapped a finger to my chest. “It still is going after my soul through the remnants of its magic. The hydras have three lives but one soul. It is how that thing has killed them with little effort.”

“Only the god of death can gift such magic. Besides the Obscur Aura and the weapons we forge with all the elements of the eight gods, nothing or anyone can be an anima accissor.”

“That we know of.” There was very little we knew about some dark magic. Mostly because there was not a lot to learn from. And then because there was no need for it to be used.

“It is worse than we thought,” Moriko said, frowning at the pile of serpents. “The beast still possessed magic within the veil of Ryuu, killed the serpents and—”

“Ybris, the last of the Arx Triad.”