Brian Rathbone: The Dawning of Power

With a thunderous crack, her energy exploded over the stone yet was utterly absorbed, and the stone demanded more. Her energy rushed out of her body like a draining flood, and she knew there would soon be none left; she would die.

Use my energy.

At her side, Prios waited, but Catrin knew it would not be enough. He would only become a slave to the stone, and Catrin could not allow that. "Attack the building," she said through gritted teeth. "Don't get close to Edling's stone."

Rolling forward, Prios surprised everyone as he leaped into the air. Spinning as he flew, he unleashed a rapid series of short energy bursts. Looking like balls of pure fire, they slammed into the tops of the columns that supported the terrace roof with concussive force. Chunks of the roof began to fall even as the flagstone shook.

"Kill the prisoner!" Master Edling shouted above the din.

"No!" Catrin wailed, driven to her knees by sadness and weariness.

I'm coming.

More like an expression of emotion than exact words, Catrin felt the message.

In a moment that would forever remain clear in her memory, one of the guards surrounding her father drew his sword. Reaching back, he gritted his teeth as he prepared to thrust, but then he was suddenly cast into shadow, twisters of dust and dirt rolling through the air. With a triumphant cry, Kyrien grabbed Wendel in one claw and used the other to send Master Edling tumbling over backward. Like rolling thunder, each flap of his wings sent people sprawling. Grabbing a shocked Benjin in his free claw, Kyrien turned on his wingtip and soared back into the sky.

"No!" Wendel screamed as he disappeared into the clouds. "Catrin!"

Though the years may change us, we see each other as we were. -Ort Sisteva, wanderer

With the connection between her and Edling's stone broken, Catrin reeled. Prios reached her before she hit the ground, and he lent her energy; her head swam with it. All around, people panicked. Many sought to flee, others seemed frozen by fear. The guards pulled Master Edling back to his feet, and he wiped the blood away from his nose. Before Catrin could compose herself enough to stand, he stooped to retrieve his stone. Prios lashed out, again using only short bursts of energy. Edling deflected each one with his stone, but he was losing ground.

Do not connect yourself to him. Disconnect from the energy before it reaches him.

It had never occurred to Catrin before, but even in her muddled state, it made sense. Struggling to stand on her own, she let Prios bolster her strength, and they attacked in unison. Edling could not block every attack, and he was sent spinning. At the same moment, a brief buzzing filled Catrin's hearing, as if a bumblebee had flown past her ear; then there was another. Looking up, she saw arrows raining from the sky; archers lined the trembling roof.

Before she could draw enough energy to protect herself, the sky went dark as Kyrien intercepted the hail of arrows; some bounced harmlessly across the flagstone, but Kyrien cried out as he soared away. Using his wing, he took a parting swipe at the archers, knocking three from the roof and sending the others sprawling. With another cry, he wheeled and swooped, plucking Chase and Prios from the crowd, like pulling grapes from the vine. His thoughts flooded Catrin's mind as he gained the clouds: Your flock is safe, my queen.

On the terrace, only Master Edling and two of his guards remained, all others had fled. Demanding all her body had left to give, Catrin charged Master Edling, howling as she came. He held up his stone and she laughed. Then, using short bursts of energy, she attacked the flagstone, sending a shower of fist-sized rocks and debris into his face. Both guards went down, and neither tried to rise. Only their breathing gave any indication of life. Master Edling teetered and looked as if he would fall, blood trickling down the side of his face.

Catrin took advantage of the opening. Rapid bursts flew toward Edling and he screamed. Energy slammed into him and sent him spinning. As Catrin stopped her attack, Master Edling stood facing her on wobbling knees. With finality, she issued one last attack, sending a ball of lightning and fire soaring into Master Edling's chest. Tumbling over backward, he landed in a sprawl of arms and legs. Catrin knew she could easily finish him, but she'd had enough of killing.

For a moment she stood, swaying on her feet and breathing deeply. Then, from the corner of her vision, she spotted movement. There, someone crouched behind a collapsed bench, but he could no longer hide from Catrin, and he must have known it, for he stood.

"You," Catrin said, a haze of blood clouding her vision.

"Please," Baker Hollis said. "Let me explain."

"Explain? You want me to let you explain? Did you let my mother or my aunt explain? Did you?" she demanded, and he cowered before her wrath, but she was denied retribution. A blast of wind cast Baker Hollis's hair away from his face, and Catrin drank in his fear. She wanted him to suffer for what he'd done, but quick as a snake, Kyrien snapped her up in his jaws, somehow keeping her secure without impaling her on his daggerlike, back-turned teeth. In the next moment, she was soaring through the skies, and the beauty of it was almost enough for her to forgive Kyrien. He'd deprived her of revenge, but he had saved all that was truly precious to her, and she let her anger slip away.

Her father was safe.

In a clearing north of the Wall, Kyrien landed and gently lowered Catrin to the ground. Benjin and her father approached with concern on their faces. Only when Catrin stood did either of them visibly relax. Kyrien craned his neck and brought his eyes level with Catrin's. She saw his pain, felt it as her own. Slowly he extended his wing, and Catrin ran her hands along the smooth skin that covered his wing structures. At the second joint, she found a broken shaft protruding from his flesh, blood seeping slowly from the wound.

No one spoke; all were seemingly mesmerized by Kyrien, who watched Catrin as she worked, making low noises in his throat. Using both hands to get a grip on the slippery and splintered shaft, she pulled. With a wiggle and a jerk, the shaft and point came free, and Catrin stepped away from Kyrien's wing. In the next breath, he turned and flapped his mighty wings and, using his powerful legs, thrust himself into the air.

"Wait!" Catrin shouted. "We should clean your wound!" Kyrien trumpeted in response and sent her a vision of him swimming in the seas, letting the salt water cleanse him. As she turned, though, nothing mattered more than reaching her father, and she collapsed into his arms, sobbing.

"Oh my dear Cat. You've come home to me. I'm so sorry. I let you down."

"No you didn't," Catrin said. After wiping her nose, she wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. "You're here. That's all that matters."

Inside the new Watering Hole, a fire burned in the hearth, and the aroma of food drifted from the kitchens. Catrin thought it was perhaps the happiest moment of her life. Sitting in the same room with her father, her uncle, Chase, Strom and his mother, Osbourne flanked by his parents, and Prios by her side, she could hardly believe it. Laughter filled the hall as exaggerated tales were told, and Catrin raised her mug. "I want to thank you all for being here. Without the people in this room, I would certainly be lost."

Those gathered cheered and raised their mugs. Miss Mariss emerged from the kitchen with a roast over potatoes and onions. For the first time that any of them had ever seen, Miss Mariss sat down to eat with her guests. "We're all family here," she said, smiling. "You all can help yourselves." A moment later, the door opened. Kenward entered, followed by Nora and Fasha, all grinning like fools. "Here comes the rest of the family now."