“Oh, forgive me.” Spencer smiled. “I forgot you’re a conduit as well.” He leaned in close, close enough for me to smell the blood from the chalice mixed with his own. “I trust you’ve had a pleasant stay in Quivira.”
What did he mean by had? I felt the ribbon straining against my neck, rage rising up inside of me.
“There you are,” Brennon said behind me.
Thankful for the rescue, I grasped his arm, but then I thought of the apple blossom—the promise. I didn’t want to lead Brennon on, but I needed him to keep up appearances. I didn’t want anyone to suspect Dane of wrongdoing.
“It’s time,” Spencer said with a dark glint in his eyes.
As he walked away, the drums began to beat, slow and steady. The community quickly took their places, waiting with bated breath. Brennon led me to the front of the sculpture.
Strange electricity filled the atmosphere.
“Friends,” Spencer announced as he paced around the giant sculpture with a lit torch. “We’ve been waiting for almost five centuries. There’s much to celebrate, but we must also remember our loved ones who were taken from us along with the brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who’ve walked the corn in order for this to come to pass. Nina will be the one to bring us light, but there can be no light without darkness.” My brother and I exchanged uneasy looks from across the gathering.
Spencer threw the torch onto the bed of kindling, igniting the sculpture, bringing to life the shape of a man. I didn’t have to ask who it was supposed to symbolize. The look of rapturous hatred on the community’s faces as they watched Coronado burn in effigy reminded me of a crazed mob straight out of a horror movie.
Suddenly, the wood at the base of the sculpture settled with a loud groan. Coronado’s jaw had come unhinged, sending a hiss of flames shooting from his mouth into the night air. A sick familiar feeling rose up inside of me. Not now. Not here.
My muscles quaked, my knees buckled. I felt the past clinch around my heart like heavy chains.
? ? ?
“You will not come to my home and threaten my people.” I glower at Coronado and his army closing in around me. “You have no power here. Not anymore.”
“That may be true.” Coronado steps aside. “But she does.”
Aiyana walks toward me through the corn. The sight of her nearly takes my breath away.
“Sister.”
“Katia, this must stop,” she says, her eyes shining like black shale in the dying light.
“Is it true? Did you bring my enemy to my door?” My breathing becomes shallow as I stare over the Arcanum positioned throughout the field. “Did you betray me . . . tell Coronado of my plans?”
Aiyana’s eyes cloud in sorrow. “Coronado has wronged you, but you cannot unleash the Dark Spirit into the world without paying the price. I fear for you and your future generations. Let me help you through this, I can break the blood bond between you and Coronado, here and now.”
My nostrils flare. “But can you bring Alonso back to me?”
She stands tall and strong, her long black hair whipping around her. “The answer is still no.”
“This I cannot live with.” Raising my hands to the sky, I call upon the Dark Spirit, “Kahnah’k’an’day hahawca’suh daka’ah.”
Coronado and his men hold their ground, but Aiyana’s warriors begin to waver. They know what’s coming for them.
As the Dark Spirit gathers strength, a screaming wail rings out over the corn.
Some of the men charge, some flee, but none will escape. The deadly force seeks them out, ripping through armor and bone, tearing them limb from limb.
Aiyana spreads her arms like wings, releasing a flood of black birds, which encase her and Coronado like a cocoon.
It’s a powerful spell, but I am more powerful now than Aiyana ever was.
I stretch out my fingers, summoning a ferocious wind.
As I force them back through the field to the outside world, I let out a primal scream.
And then there’s silence.
The only sound I hear is blood dripping from the leaves of the stalks, soaking into the fertile soil.
As Aiyana and Coronado stand on the outside, looking in, I turn my back on them.
Tears stream down my face as I step over the hundreds of bodies of the slain Quivira tribe, and Arcanum littering the fields.
I take in a deep breath, letting the Dark Spirit fill the void inside of me.
With each step, my path becomes crystalline.
I drag my fingers along the stalks, feeling raw power flow through me, the energy spreading through the corn, bending it to my will. “Let these fields be a barrier, protecting us from the outside world.” The stalks quake as I pass, a deathly recognition of our accord.
There will be darkness and I will feed the darkness.
And then there will be light . . .
? ? ?
“Ashlyn,” someone whispered.
“Hey there, lovely,” Brennon said as my eyes fluttered open. I lay on blankets in front of one of the smaller campfires, Dane on one side of me, Brennon on the other.
I tried to sit up, but it felt like I had an anvil embedded in my skull. “What happened?”