Page 26 of Keldori By Daybreak

“It’s okay. I can help.” I concentrated on the meager amount of Skal still in my system. I felt the magick gather and warm in the palm of my hand before a tiny blue flame sparked to life.

“No goggles, no Skal,” Ciarán barked.

“I’ll close my eyes.” I rolled my eyes at Orla.

The magick fled my body, and the tiny fire in my hands snuffed out. I recognized the feeling. It wasn’t the first time Ciarán had used our connection to yank my magick away.

“You don’t get to take my magick!” I whirled to face Ciarán where he continued to inspect the walls of the ice cave.

“You don’t get to burn your retinas.”

“I get to do whatever I want with my retinas. They’re mine, and so was that magick!” I felt for the intangible tether that buzzed between us. It crackled against my fingertips. I siphoned his magick away from him as easily as he had taken mine from me. The flames in his hands died, and something powerful snapped into place deep within me.

“Dammit, Blue!” Ciarán hissed. “Don’t—”

A horrible, screeching howl brought my thundering heart into my throat. Boulders cracked against each other as they rolled down the river embankment, dislodged by the beastly shadow barreling forward.

The rotsbane had found us.

“Put out your fires!” Ciarán tackled Orla, extinguishing her purple flames, but it was too late. The rotsbane already knew we had Skal, and it bore down, tearing at the rocks and dirt with its four sets of long claws to get at us faster. The shadowy skin of its face stretched over a misshapen skull, and its jaw unhinged to reveal a toothless black hole of a mouth.

Another earsplitting scream issued forth. Ciarán pulled at our tether, but I kept hold of our magick. Magick made us targets. He was safer if I kept it for myself.

“Get in the cave!” I screamed and let the magick boil inside me until there was nowhere left for it to go.

Ciarán howled my name, and I released the magick just as the rotsbane was nearly on top of me, reaching out with its claws to tear me open and drink whatever Skal it found inside.

The cave shuddered and ice cracked like thunder. Something ripped me back from the entrance just as the ice supporting the cave mouth collapsed. I landed on my backside with Ciarán over me as ice fell in chunks.

Long, dark claws reached for the hair that had fallen from his bun, and I pulled him back out of the rotsbane’s reach. Three of its four arms were free, as was its head, but the bulk of its body had been crushed by the collapsing cave entrance. The rotsbane’s eyes were green pinpricks of light glowing from the depths of its skull, and its jaw gnashed at the air as its claws continued to reach out for us.

It wasn’t dead, but it wasn’t going anywhere either.

“You did it.” Orla’s shaky laugh echoed in my ears, distant and tinny even though she was next to me, helping me to my feet. I winced at the pain in my sides, fearing the outburst of magick might have re-bruised some ribs. “All that magick, I knew you weren’t—”

The mountain groaned, and the rocks beneath my feet slipped out from under me. Orla’s long arms wrapped around me as we fell to the rocks together. A purple shield umbrellaed overhead at her bidding, stopping the falling ice from hitting us as another earthquake rattled the mountains.

When the earthquake subsided, the rotsbane screeched another unearthly wail.

Fana cowered under Ciarán where he had pushed her to the ground to protect her. When he stood, she stayed on the rocks, watching him with scared eyes. I’d taken all his magick, so he’d shielded Fana and Jonquil from the falling ice with his body.

He unhooked a Skal bottle from his hip, sipped at the contents, and an orange javelin formed in his hands, illuminating the blood that streamed down the side of his face. The glow of the weapon dimmed until it solidified into a metal javelin in his hands, and I remembered the advice he’d once given me when it came to rotsbane.

Aim for its mouth…

Ciarán thrust the javelin down the rotsbane’s throat. It squealed and gnawed at the metal as its limbs twitched like a dying spider until its head fell forward and its body dissipated into dust. Ciarán stood over the remaining rubble, his shoulders heaving with heavy breaths.

“Are we all okay?” Orla asked.

Ciarán turned and nodded, but his orange eyes were trained on me. A tight frown pressed against the contours of his cowl, and he pulled the fabric down away from his face.

“I’m sorry,” I started. I knew facing a rotsbane like I had was stupid, but the instinct to save my friends had taken over. I hadn't meant to play the hero. “I didn’t—”

“It’s you,” Ciarán cut me off.

I faltered, confused. “What’s me?”

“The earthquakes, Blue,” he hissed. “You didn’t feel that just now when you nearly killed all of us? That wasn’t ordinary Magick. The earthquakes, it’s you causing them.”