The Flaw in the Stone by Cynthea Masson

Author:Cynthea Masson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2018-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

Flaw Dimension — Summer 1914

The rebels gathered around Dracaen awaiting response. If there was ever a time they required guidance from their High Azoth, it was now. As much as Kalina had wanted to leave, she realized she needed to stay. If the Rebel Branch could not restore the Dragonblood Stone within three days — the time it would take for the residual effects of Dragonblood to dissipate — complete annihilation would be their fate. The entire Flaw dimension would disintegrate, the rebels along with it. They must choose wisely now or live an eternity with no choice at all.

“Breach! Breach!” Dracaen cried. And the others soon followed, the rallying cry echoing through the chamber in the hollowed absence of the hallowed Stone.

The Third Rebellion had begun with Dracaen’s call to arms.

Though their time frame was severely limited, Dracaen insisted on protocols, maintaining that they could not breach Council dimension without a means, that they must take the time to formulate an infallible plan. He met for three hours with the Rebel Elders to strategize. Kalina waited impatiently with the Scribes and Readers. The chamber droned with hushed voices. Small groups of rebels speculated on manoeuvres, conjectured the details of the Elders’ battle plan, readied their literal and figurative swords.

Finally, Dracaen and the Elders emerged. They did not appear as the rebels had imagined they would. They looked drawn, fatigued, and, worst of all, older. They were now literally surviving on borrowed time — second by second, molecule by molecule, the Dragonblood Elixir in their veins fragmented in the absence of the Stone. Kalina and the others remained silent, fists closed, wrists crossed, heads bowed, awaiting word from the High Azoth, ready to reply, prepared to make their choice.

“Victory requires two steps,” announced Dracaen. “A portal and a sacrifice. We have one but not the other.”

Kalina lifted her head. She then realized that Thuja had already stepped forward, marked by the blood-red shawl upon her shoulders as a martyr to the cause. Kalina tensed with guilt, tears brimming. This woman, whom she had known as long as she had known Dracaen, had offered herself as the sacrifice. Larix too stepped forward then and kneeled at Thuja’s feet, lowering his head to the ground as a gesture of utmost respect. After all the rebels, including Kalina, had done the same, Dracaen too lowered himself to the floor. The High Azoth honoured the one willing to be sacrificed for the sake of all.

When Thuja gave the sign to rise, Dracaen once again assumed pride of place and addressed the rebels. “Kalina!” he called out, loud enough to startle her. “You must reach out to Genevre. You must call to her. You must ask her to bring Ilex and Melia back to Flaw dimension.”

Kalina could not respond. Perhaps the absence of the Dragonblood Stone was affecting her ability to process information. Had she heard Dracaen correctly? Had he suggested that Genevre was in contact with Ilex and Melia? She grimaced as she realized that once again he had withheld information from her.

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