Lady Mystique waved a hand. “Your companion could no sooner harm you than she could herself. Do not fear.”
Focusing on the Tia Auran, Alex said, “What am I doing here?” She glanced around at their barren landscape and added, “Where are we?”
“I’m sorry for pulling you from your bed,” Lady Mystique said, gesturing to Alex’s pyjama-clad body, “but I needed to speak with you urgently, and this is a safe place.”
Alex could attest to that. There was nothing in sight for miles other than craggy rocks, like a flat, volcanic wasteland but without any actual volcanoes.
“Aven has been relentless in his hunt for me, but my time has not yet come,” Lady Mystique went on. “When it does, I shall go willingly. But until then, I cannot allow him to find me. It is places like this, the forgotten lands of this world, that help shield me until there is no longer a need to remain hidden.”
Despite the balmy temperature—not at all like the wintry landscape she had been transported from—Alex felt chilled by the woman’s words.
“Lady—”
“I can’t stay out in the open like this for long,” the Tia Auran interrupted, “and neither can you, Alexandra. But what I have to say is important enough for such a risk.”
“I’m listening,” Alex said, sensing her urgency.
“It is imperative that you win your next fight in the vatali targo. The Shadow Walkers must hear your warnings. You must turn their attention towards Meya, towards joining you in the coming war.”
Alex blinked, not at all expecting that.
“You fear that you cannot afford to wait a month,” Lady Mystique continued, her ancient eyes solemn, “and you are right. If they do not listen to reason before then, it will be too late.”
Rubbing her arms at the dire warning, Alex said, “I don’t even know if the elders will let me fight again.”
“They will,” Lady Mystique said.
“Then I don’t know how I can win,” Alex returned honestly, just as she had earlier with Niyx.
“You cannot.”
Alex looked at the old woman for a beat before throwing out her arms and all but wailing, “Then why are you telling me I have to? How can I do something that can’t be done?”
“You cannot win a match in the vatali targo,” Lady Mystique repeated, “but you have a chance of winning against the victor of the vatali targo.”
Forehead scrunching, Alex said, “Come again?”
“Impressive as your combative skills may be, even you cannot prevail against multiple Shadow Walker opponents, as their shadowing abilities will not allow for a fair fight,” Lady Mystique said, something Alex was already acutely aware of. “However, if you petition to battle against the victor of the tournament at the end of the week, a one-on-one match will even the playing field considerably.”
Weighing the possibilities, Alex said, “What makes you think the elders will agree to something like that?”
“Because the victor is someone who completes the entirety of the vatali targo and wins against six opponents in the one fight. They will be considered the best of the best in the shadowed side of Graevale. And if you, a human, offer a challenge defying that belief, the pride of the elders will prickle them into wanting to see your defeat.”
“And they will,” Alex said. “If this winner can take on six Shadow Walkers at once and still come out standing, what chance do I have against them?”
Lady Mystique looked steadily at Alex for a silent moment before speaking again. “There is a saying in your world: to fight fire with fire. Have you heard it?”
Tentatively nodding, Alex said, “So?”
“So,” Lady Mystique said, “you will have one opportunity to do as such, to use the weapon of your enemy against them. They will not be expecting it, and if you time it right, you have a chance—a strong chance—of coming out the new victor.”
Baffled, Alex said, “What weapon?”
The Tia Auran stepped closer and reached for Alex’s hand, holding it up in the dying light of the sun.
“This weapon, Alexandra,” she said, running a finger across Alex’s Shadow Ring. “Two walks remain.”
Alex snatched her hand back, shaking her head. “No. No way. The last time I travelled through the shadows on my own, it was…” Awful. Traumatic. Terrifying. “… unpleasant.”
“It was unpleasant because you were fighting them,” Lady Mystique said. “You needed only to resist. And once you did that, you were able to use them, were you not?”
Alex thought back to when she’d activated her ring to escape Aven and Jordan to get back to Raelia, and she again tentatively nodded.
“You now know how it feels, you now know what to do, you simply have to do it,” Lady Mystique said. She cocked her head before adding, “However, you need to do it faster than you did that time. Which is why we will practise now, using one of your walks. It will mean you’ll only have one left—a single opportunity during your fight—but if used correctly, one is all you shall need.”
“You want me to use my ring now?” Alex cried. “Like, now, now?”
Lady Mystique looked at her blandly. “Yes, now, now.”
“But—”
“We cannot stay much longer, Alexandra,” the Tia Auran said, looking out across the volcanic landscape as if she could sense the looming threat. “Focus on your ring, call forth the shadow, concentrate on where you want to appear—that boulder over there, can you see it? Aim for that—and step directly there.”
Alex couldn’t help sarcastically saying, “As simple as that, huh?”
“You have already fought the shadows,” Lady Mystique said again. “You conquered them, now it is your right to command them. They will yield to you, so long as you resist the pull of their darkness.”
Realising that on the off-chance this worked, she would indeed have a surprising weapon to use in a fight against the Shadow Walker victor, Alex took a deep breath and held out her hand.
“Remember, do it fast,” Lady Mystique urged. “Not just because our time is running out, but also because in your battle, you will have a split second to decide when to act, and you will need to move instantly.”
Here goes nothing, Alex thought, concentrating as hard as she could and trying to remember how she’d managed it last time. ‘We’re all born with Shadow inside us,’ Caspar Lennox had once told her. ‘… Immerse yourself fully in the Shadow.’
But… Alex was different now. Whether it was from her bond with Xiraxus or something else, the darkness that once swirled around her was no longer there, drowned out by the golden light of her vaeliana.
“Darkness is everywhere, child,” came Lady Mystique’s quiet voice as she witnessed Alex’s struggle. “And where it is not, we have the unfortunate ability to imagine it so. Use that to your advantage. Call forth a troubling memory, Alexandra, and it will give you the power you need.”