Chapter 9: Blood Bonds
The cold hit first. Sharp, dry and unnatural.
Kaela's eyes snapped open. She knew that temperature. It wasn't just the chill of midnight in the highlands, or even the ancient cold of the Moonspire's stones. This was Dread cold a magic that tasted like regret and bled through bone.
She rolled instinctively to her left, and not a heartbeat too soon. A poisoned dagger whistled through the air and embedded itself in the sleeping furs she had just vacated. The hissing metal smoked where it landed.
"Rise, daughter of ash," came a voice from the shadows. Soft, feminine, but void of warmth.
Kaela was on her feet in a heartbeat, cloak discarded, blade drawn. The embers of the dying fire in the hearth flared briefly, casting molten light across the stone walls of the guest chamber. She spun as three dark figures emerged, cloaked and masked in ceremonial bone. They radiated power the unmistakable presence of the Dread Coven.
She grinned.
"Took you long enough."
"You knew we would come," the tallest of the figures said. A woman Kaela recognized her voice though it had been years. Elder Theryn, the High Whisper of the Dread Court. Her presence made the air thick with black whispers.
Kaela twirled her blade lazily. "Well, I did steal something precious."
"The Mirror Fragment belongs to the Coven. Return it, and you may still walk away with your life."
Kaela's smile turned savage. "The only thing I'll return is a corpse."
From the corner of her eye, she watched as the other two flanked her. Their steps were impossibly quiet. Their magic clawed at the edges of Kaela's sanity.
She stepped backward toward the hearth, grabbing the poker with her free hand. A plan formed.
"You want the fragment?" she asked sweetly.
Theryn didn't answer.
Kaela hurled the poker into the embers, sparks flying blinding and bright. In the same motion, she slashed upward toward the figure on her right, catching cloth and drawing blood.
A scream split the room.
The other two surged forward.
Kaela ducked, rolled, slashed again.
But she was still cornered.
Magic surged behind her. Something cold and sharp slammed into her side, sending her crashing into the wall. Her ribs screamed in protest.
"You cannot run from what you were born into," Theryn snarled. "You are Dreadborn. A child of the Void."
Kaela spat blood onto the floor. "I was. Not anymore."
The air shimmered. The darkness thickened.
And then
A burst of silver and steel exploded through the window.
Seralyn.
She crashed into the chamber in a whirl of movement and wind, her twin crescent blades already spinning. Her presence was fury and precision, deadly as moonlight.
Kaela blinked. "You really know how to make an entrance."
"Try not to get killed," Seralyn grunted, parrying a strike from the masked Dread sister.
"I wasn't planning to."
They moved together, almost seamlessly. Seralyn spun low, slicing through an incantation before it could form. Kaela followed with a backflip over Theryn's strike, landing lightly and stabbing forward with both daggers.
The two fought as if they'd done it for years.
"Why are your ex-friends always trying to kill you?" Seralyn panted.
"Because I'm fabulous," Kaela shot back.
"Seriously."
"They want the fragment. The one embedded in my spine."
Seralyn's eyes widened. "You embedded it?"
Kaela grinned. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
Together, they pushed the Dread sisters back. Sparks flew as steel clashed with bone. Kaela summoned a fire rune with a snap of her fingers, forcing Theryn to dodge. Seralyn disarmed one attacker with a feint, then drove her blade into the woman's shoulder.
"Yield," Seralyn growled.
The Dread sister hissed and vanished into smoke.
Theryn growled in frustration. "You've allied with the Moon Queen's lapdogs? You've fallen far, Kaela."
Kaela's blade ignited. "Funny. I feel taller than ever."
She lunged. Theryn barely blocked the blow, staggering.
Seralyn was already moving, flanking her.
Together, they unleashed a flurry of strikes. Theryn retreated, whispering a dark incantation that twisted the air. She vanished into the wall like mist.
The chamber stilled.
Blood dripped from Kaela's side. Seralyn was panting, her arm bleeding.
Kaela dropped to her knees. "I hate magic duels before breakfast."
Seralyn joined her, kneeling close. "You're hurt."
"You're hurt too."
"I asked first."
Kaela rolled her eyes. "Just a scratch."
Seralyn tore a strip of cloth from her tunic and began wrapping it tightly around Kaela's waist. Her fingers were gentle but firm.
Kaela hissed in pain. "Could you be less competent?"
Seralyn didn't reply. She focused on tying the knot just below Kaela's ribs.
Their eyes met.
The chamber was quiet now. The tension had shifted.
Kaela's breath caught. "Why did you come?"
Seralyn didn't answer immediately.
Then softly, "Because I couldn't let them take you."
Kaela swallowed.
Their hands touched.
A pulse rippled through the air.
The sigil on Seralyn's collarbone lit up.
The mark along Kaela's spine flared in response.
Then… the marks began to shift, glowing brighter, forming new constellations.
"Seralyn," Kaela whispered. "Do you see "
"Yes," Seralyn breathed. "What does it mean?"
"I… don't know."
The symbols aligned.
From deep within Kaela's body no, from the fragment a low hum began to resonate. Not a sound, but a feeling. As though something ancient and slumbering had just turned over in its sleep.
Then a voice.
Not from either of them.
Not from the world.
"Two become one. The Bond has chosen. Now… awaken the Gate."
The light exploded outward.
For a moment, Kaela and Seralyn were no longer in the Moonspire.
They stood in a space without edges, surrounded by stars and mirrors. In each mirror, reflections of them danced some as lovers, some as enemies, some as corpses.
Seralyn reached toward one mirror.
"Don't," Kaela said, grabbing her wrist.
"But they're…"
"Not real."
A path appeared ahead of them cobblestone and silver, flanked by torches that burned with blue flame. At the end of the path stood a door carved from obsidian, marked with both of their sigils.
"What is this place?" Seralyn asked.
Kaela's voice was low. "I think this is the Gate."
The obsidian door pulsed with power.
And behind it… something waited.
They didn't step forward.
Not yet.
Because stepping forward meant answers.
And sometimes, answers hurt more than questions.
But the voice returned once more.
"Awaken the Gate… or the world dies in shadow."
Kaela and Seralyn looked at one another.
And together, they stepped onto the path.