Page 82 of Up In Flames
“Oh, fuck,” Kel said next. “No, you're dead. You're not real.”
“They're real, but we can't let them sway us,” I said. “I'm so sorry, Xae. Tell her you love her, but we have to keep going.”
Tears were streaming down Xae's cheeks. He had lost his entire family to the war. “Mother! I will avenge you!”
I almost rolled my eyes. Leave it to my Ladrin to shout words of vengeance to his beloved dead instead of words of love.
“Go back to your rest, my friends,” Taroc said to a group of spirits coming up on our left. “We are here to save someone who still lives.”
“You're not going to stop us!” I shouted at Death. To my lovers, I said, “We're almost there. Xae, for fuck's sake, tell your mother that you love her.”
Xae grunted and nodded at his mother. “I love you. I love you all. I feel you with me always.”
“Vengeance,” a feminine voice ghosted over to us.
Huh. So his first choice had been correct.
“You will have it!” Xaedren swore.
The ghosts vanished and flames erupted from the ground. They shot down from the ceiling and blasted at us from the front.
“We're immune to fire, you fool,” Taroc muttered.
Suddenly, through the flames, dragons appeared.
“Not immune to them though,” Kel drawled.
The massive beasts snapped their jaws at us as they blocked our path.
“They can't hurt us,” I said. “We are living beings in the land of the dead. Those are ghost dragons. Nothing here can hurt us. They are all phantoms and illusions. They only have substance if you believe they do.”
My men trusted me and followed me forward. We walked right through the yawning mouth of a crimson beast. As soon as we were past the dragons, giant blades came swinging down at us, held by invisible hands. We cringed when they sliced through us but kept going. Next, it was a herd of horses—a stampede. Then a tidal wave. Illusion after illusion came, but we forged on. I could feel Ara. He was weakening. So, I sent him strength down our bond.
And I prayed.
I felt nothing from the Goddess, even after that prayer. And I knew then that Death had brought Ara there for a reason. Not just to keep us from him while he sought to reclaim him. But to also keep Ara from the Goddess. She couldn't enter Death's domain.
We were on our own.
I should have insisted that the others bond with Ara. If they had formed connections with him too, we could have united to fight off Death. As it was, Ara only had me. I would have to be enough.
My wraith blasted out of my body—the dark version of it. Our bond was already settled, so the white would do no good. But maybe this wraith, the one I used to free him before, could help Ara free himself. I sent it forth and watched it meld with the darkness. But I could still feel it even after it vanished from sight. It soared along the line between Ara and me. Then it reached him.
A terrible shriek echoed around us.
I grinned as my wraith returned to me.
At the other end of the line, I felt Aranren gather his strength. He was fighting, and he was stronger than he'd ever been. I sent him my love next, knowing he needed that even more than magic. And I felt a pulse of love return to me. That was the thing about love; the more you gave, the more you had.
“We're almost there,” I said.
And then I saw him.
Aranren was splayed between two iron posts, hands and feet bound to them with manacles. They looked like magic-suppressing manacles, but they couldn't be. Death couldn't put them on Ara without Ara himself helping, and if Aranren had helped, he'd only be able to secure one manacle. The other would need magic to fasten. Magic that he wouldn't have. So they were an illusion that Death had convinced Ara to believe.
“They're not real, Ara!” I shouted and launched more power down our cord. “It's all illusion here!”
Ara met my stare, his eyes widened, and his expression hardened. With a gasp, he fell forward, his wrists sliding through the non-existent metal, and landed on his hands and knees. Shouts came from all around me, the other lords circling in, but I was intent on Ara. I ran forward and dropped to the ground beside him. He was in my arms seconds later.
