Yasmine Galenorn - Night's End

“There’s a way we can keep that from happening. I have a potion . . . I bought it from a sorceress I know. She is the most powerful of the magic-born. The potion will bind our souls so that we can return in the future. Return to each other at a time when our love won’t be forbidden.”

My heart thudded. I wasn’t afraid of death—hell, I was death incarnate by nature. But I was afraid of losing Shy. He was my all, and now the only fear I had was of seeing him hurt or taken from me.

“I like that. We’ll fight to the end. Maybe there’s some way we can survive and escape. Maybe some miracle will allow us to win through, but if we can’t . . . If we can’t, we’ll drink the draught and flee into the future.”

And just like that, we agreed that, to ensure our life together, we’d do whatever it took. Even if it meant dying to do so.

Snapping out of the flashback, I looked around. We were deep into the heart of the Golden Wood, past the turnoff for both the Marburry and Eldburry Barrows, headed toward the higher elevations. The going was getting tough, even for us, and I glanced back to see how Kaylin was faring, but the guards were making sure he stayed atop the snow, helping him along. They were able to go at our normal speed by carrying him under the arms. I had the feeling he wasn’t too happy about this, but there was nothing for it. While the vampires could keep up with us if pressed, Kaylin couldn’t, and he’d been warned to expect this.

As we curved around a thick patch of trees, a figure glistened through the veil of falling snow. And a second—and a third. Ice Elementals. They turned toward us and began moving. Were they aligned with Myst? Or were they my own?

I stepped toward the front, pushing through the guards. There was only one way to find out. Holding up my hand, I struggled for that odd mind link that I’d had to learn when dealing with the sentinels of the ice. It was like the slipstream, only a few steps removed. Once I found the current, I could speak into it, project my intentions and communicate with them that way. But it had been a tough path to master because the frozen giants were so alien in their nature that I had to think in a pattern to match their frequencies.

I gathered my thoughts, then projected out a question, probing their intentions cautiously. If they were bound to Myst, she might immediately know that we were here, and she would guess what we were searching for.

Waiting for the answer, I held my breath. Would they be friendly? Would they obey me? Or would they attack? At that moment, one of them caught the current and turned, followed by the others, and began to walk toward us. Now, we would see.

As the Ice Elementals moved closer, the guards raised their swords, waiting. But then, with a rush of cool wind, Ulean flowed around me.

They are unaligned. You can take control of them. They are not bound to Myst, so better you make them yours than let them run free for her taking.

I knew the spell to bind them to me—Strict had taught it to me first thing, but it took concentration. It also took a confidence I still didn’t have down pat.

But you’d better get with it girl, or you’ll never manage Myst. The thought echoed in the back of my head, and I realized that there was no more time to learn, no more time to question myself. I motioned for the others to stand back as I moved toward the approaching creatures.

Ice Elementals lived in a world of their own. I had several bound to me at such a level they would die—cease to exist—before betraying me. During the formation of my heartstone, they had become my own guardians. They stayed back in the realm of Snow and Ice, though, waiting by the outer door of the Barrow should I need them.

Elementals were so far from human that they might as well be aliens. They lived in a world bounded by their own element, and while they often showed up on the physical planes, they still ran true to their natures. Fire Elementals would never be found in the snow, and Ice Elementals would dissipate and return to their own plane of existence if they were suddenly transported to the desert.

Elementals were inherently neutral; they were neither good nor evil—they couldn’t even think in those terms. If someone bound them, they would obey, but there was no malice or goodwill in what they did. They had no emotions, not of the human kind. Oh, they hungered, and they had their own agendas, that much I had learned, but jealousy? Anger? Love? These were generally foreign concepts to their worlds, as were their motives to us. Elementals simply were.

Avatars of the forces making up the whole of life, Elementals encapsulated energy—and that energy could be harnessed and directed. And while all things seemed to have some desire for freedom, the Elementals didn’t resent their use any more than a frying pan resented being used to cook food.

I was still tapped into the current of communication that had been established between us, and now I began to sing the charm of binding that Strict had taught me. It would bring them under my control, and since I was the Queen of Snow and Ice, they wouldn’t resist like they might normally do. But it took focus, and confidence. I had to prove to them I had the right and power to take control, and once that was done, they would be mine for life.

The energy wove between us like a frozen tendril branching out, a vine of ice that came from deep within me to swirl around the group of Elementals—and the notes of my song froze in the air, a bluish vapor that narrowed into a beam of light to entwine around the shimmering creatures who now watched me with what seemed to be utter fascination.

They stood still, having stopped their movement, as the icy fire began to burrow into their chests, the tendrils burying themselves into their very core. I pushed harder and the ice tendrils glistened as they blended into the energy making up their bodies. Another push—there was minor resistance but it was nothing to worry about. They were simply curious and hesitant, having never been bound before.

So deep in the spell casting was I that I didn’t notice the movements off to the side. It was only when Ulean gave me a shout that I wrenched my attention away from the Elementals. The charm had taken, though, and they were mine. I could feel the bond there, the obsessive focus they were giving me. They would await my every command.

Cicely! Tell your men to watch out!

At Ulean’s cry, I whirled around. Out from behind a stand of trees to the left emerged a sparkling cloud. It was hard to discern it from the falling snow, except for the fact that it glistened and shimmered—illuminating itself like a neon haze, the color of LED blue lights. What the hell?

What is that? Ulean, what the hell is going on?

It belongs to Myst’s realm, whatever it is. I sense a sentience, and a malevolence, but I have no idea what the thing might be.

We backed away—by now my men had seen it—watching as it drifted closer and closer. The Ice Elementals shifted, and I sensed their discomfort. I couldn’t easily ask them what it was, but they were loyal to me now, and they moved in front of me, forming a barrier between whatever the cloud was and us. I turned to Hunter.

“Do you know what this might be? Have you ever seen anything quite like it before?”

He frowned, cocking his head. “Once, but it was a long time ago. And I’m not certain it’s the same thing.”

“What was it you saw, then?” A half guess was better than nothing, and right now, the vapor made me nervous. “Ulean says this thing has a nasty feel to it, and the more I look at it, the more uncomfortable it makes me.”