Spells of Breath and Blade by Sarah Piper

Author:Sarah Piper [Piper, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Two Gnomes Media

Twenty-One

BAZ

Stevie’s thrashing around in bed again, but this time it’s not because of me.

“Wake up, Little Bird.” I wrap my arms around her and pull her against my chest, stroking her back. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”

Finally jolting awake, she pulls back, her wild eyes searching my face in the moonlight. “Baz? What… what happened?”

“Another nightmare, from the looks of it. Do you remember anything?”

“I… yes.” She turns over onto her back, then pulls her hand out from beneath the sheet.

She’s clutching a bouquet of black dahlias.

“For me? You shouldn’t have.” I take the flowers from her hand, inspecting them closely. They’re dried and desiccated, their edges burned. “You really shouldn’t have.”

“I guess it’s a new thing with me now.” Stevie sighs, staring up at the ceiling. “It was just like last night. The battle on campus, the Princesses. I followed them through the Breath and Blade lands, but then they vanished before I could figure out where I was. I wandered into the holly bushes again and I… I saw him.”

“The Dark Magician?”

“No.” Stevie closes her eyes and shakes her head, dropping her voice as if she’s afraid of saying the name out loud. “Dark Judgment. At the cave with the Fool.”

I set the flowers on the nightstand. “Are you hurt?”

“I don’t think so. Not this time.” She turns toward me again and rests her head on my chest, her warm, ragged breath swirling against my skin. “I’m at the cave, feeling like there’s something I’m supposed to see there, to find… But then I’m just standing there watching him devour the Fool and incinerate you. All of you. You’re there, and then you’re just… just gone. Ashes. The worst part was I knew I could fight him—defeat him, even—if I had my sword. But all I had was that useless bouquet, and there was so much mist and I couldn’t find anyone to help… I felt so powerless. I still feel it—that emptiness. Helplessness.”

“Okay, first of all, you’re not powerless or helpless. Far from it.”

“Then he’s got a hold over me in some other way, because I couldn’t access any magick. I couldn’t even move.” She shudders against me, and I tighten my hold on her, kissing her forehead. “There’s more—different from last time. The ashes—your ashes… He brought you guys back, Baz.”

“Brought us back? How?”

“With the staff. There was a chant… ashes… something…” Stevie sighs, then repeats the words from her nightmare:

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

With flame and with fury, the ends are just

Cleansed by fire, Arcana must die

From Death we return, in Darkness we rise

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