He wasn’t out of breath, even though I knew the research tent was pretty far away. Dark eyes flashed as he quickly detailed his findings.
“The ritual is the same, but so much more intense than we anticipated. I’m … I’m not sure you can all survive, but I can’t find any other way.”
His brow was so furrowed his eyebrows had formed a single line.
“I have every available Walker researching. There’s just no other solid theory on how we can imprison them. The originals tried many different ways to lock the Seventine away, and this ritual was the only one that worked. The sacrifice of power. The loss of the life-giving blood. It was a transference that basically sucked the Seventines’ energy into the prison and secured it to the wall.”
“Sacrifice was the key,” I sort of murmured.
Jedi nodded. “Another little obstacle is that the Seventine must be within the round room of the prison. Now that they’re corporeal, this closer proximity to the prison is required.”
Awesome, that should be totally easy. I’ll just ask the first to come with me right now.
He grinned at me. “I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not as impossible as it might seem. I’ve gathered some of the white energy stones. We can use them to form a barrier. If you trace the first into the round room, we’ll trap him inside the barrier. He’s the first. He’ll draw in the rest of his brothers. Their energy is linked strongly, and that’s an advantage to us in this situation.”
“I just have to touch him long enough to trace, right?” I double-checked the details.
Every time we’d tried to engage against the Seventine they’d ended up with the upper hand.
“I believe so,” Jedi said. He reached forward and grasped my forearm. “Good luck, Abby … and look after Sapha for me.”
His depthless eyes flicked up over my shoulder, and I knew he was searching for the Dronish half. The bond between those two had sprung up fast and was quite mate-like. I doubted anything physical had happened between them yet. Sapha was not used to that sort of relationship. Jedi had his work cut out with her, but she was worth it and he knew that.
His eyes touched on me one last time before he turned and exited in the same way he had arrived. Full sprint. He wouldn’t waste any time. He’d head straight into the cave and set up that energy cage.
So now all I needed to do was find, touch and trace the first. Easy as.
I crossed back to Fury, who was waiting for me. Her hands were on her hips and her foot was tapping, but she didn’t say anything.
As we turned toward the royal forest, I noticed the half-Walkers were now standing in a line with their backs to us. The sacred guides at their sides. The girls and their animals were staring out across the field.
A flickering of unease trickled down my spine. Then I felt the surge of power; it was distinct, and I recognized the energy. It was the first of the Seventine.
Those bastards had finally decided to show their faces.
Through the gaps in the five half-Walkers – who stood shoulder to shoulder – I could see shadows across the plains. I squinted and leaned forward. Why was my view so distorted? For some reason it was all shadowy out there, and I couldn’t find a spot to focus on. It wasn’t until Fury and I joined the line of girls, stepping in next to Delane and Lina, that I finally understood the problem.
The Seventine were surrounded by a dome-like bubble, a bubble of shadow and smoke and wind. It was a weird kaleidoscope which both drew my attention and repelled it. I couldn’t focus my eyes and yet I couldn’t turn away either. I didn’t know what they looked like. There was no way to truly see their forms through the smoke.
I somehow knew that this dramatic entrance was courtesy of the first. He’d be trying to create an unparalleled level of fear. Fear turned sane beings into crazies, and crazy people made mistakes. They were trying to throw us off before we even started to fight.
I wondered if they had forgotten that we were from original power too, and we had our own shadow fighter. This didn’t scare me and, even though I wasn’t connected to the girls right then, I could tell by their hard expressions it didn’t scare them either.
The rest of our army was another story. I could hear the whispers from close by, all the way back to the dark mountain. Fear was filtering through and, for some of them, it was too much to handle.
Walker doorways opened and those of weaker disposition disappeared. Surprisingly enough, most of the pixies, faeries, sprites and First Worlders stayed. Most of the Walkers did also, and at least we knew who the weak were now. The princeps would take note. They could sense those that had deserted ship, and they would not forget. Honor was a badge you could rarely re-gild once it was tarnished.
“I vote that we end their little shadowy drama show right now,” Eva said, her New York attitude shining through. “This sort of crap is for the theatre, not the battlefield.”