Witching Time (The Wild Hunt #14) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,84
Ante-Fae, of course, but he has a mutated gene that puts him at risk of my father’s nature. So they can’t ever meet. It’s complicated. I—” I paused as Kipa’s men came pouring back into the clearing. “I guess we’re about to rumble.”
“Stay back and stay safe.” Ember glanced at me. “Well, after you use the wand. That thing’s as good as a bomb.”
“I know,” I said softly, clutching the wand. I turned to Herne, who—with Kipa—was speaking to the SuVahta.
“All right, we’re ready to rock,” Kipa said. “Spread out, and then Herne will give the signal.”
“Everybody, stay back—stand against the booths, out of the paths to the center. We want to give the wights room to come running in. Phasmoria, can you see them?” Herne asked.
Phasmoria nodded. “I’m a Bean Sidhe, so I can see creatures from the Between. I’ll let you know when it’s time to torch the kindling, Raven, so get a spell prepped.”
I sat down the wand. I didn’t want to use it prematurely. As I gathered my energy, focusing on raising the fire, Herne held up the mother crystal and began to speak in a loud, even cadence.
Shard to shard, thread to thread,
Crystals join and build a web.
Sing aloud into the night,
As you sing, so drive the wights.
There was a moment of silence and then, very slowly, the crystal in Herne’s hand began to vibrate as a low resonance filled the air. It was so low I couldn’t really hear it, but the rhythm jarred my teeth and bones, vibrating through my body with a deep, throbbing pulse. Disconcerted, I scrambled to regain my focus on my spell.
Then, from the very edges of the land, the earth beneath our feet began to pulse and vibrate, as though some mammoth creature belowground began to breathe, churning out of a deep slumber to thrash itself awake. I steadied myself and noticed the others doing the same.
The pulsating beat ringed us round from all directions, like concentric rings on a pond, only instead of rippling out, they were rippling in, bringing the tide to us.
At first, nothing seemed to be moving, but a few moments later, Phasmoria pointed toward the edge of the clearing. “They’re coming,” she said. “I see three of them.”
And true enough, I began to see the air rippling around us. I could feel the wights moving in. As they moved, I could almost hear them grunting and groaning, racing to get away from the sound of the crystals. Another few moments and my mother turned to me and nodded.
“Torch it.”
I closed my eyes and held out my hands, focusing on the ring of kindling.
Fire to flame, flame to fire,
build and burn, higher and higher.
Flare to life, take form and strike,
attack now, fiery spike.
The kindling caught hold of the spike of fire that shot out of my fingers and began to blaze, quickly enclosing the seemingly empty circle inside. There was a churning inside, and while the wights were invisible to the eye, the air waved and rippled with the movement of the wights.
Phasmoria waited until the ring was blazing, then yelled, “Cover your ears!”
We obeyed.
My mother dropped her head back and let out a shriek so loud that it made my teeth hurt. Ember and Viktor, and Kipa’s men all dropped to the ground, covering their ears. Only Herne, Kipa, and I managed to stand against her shriek.
As the sound died away, I gasped. I could see the wights inside the circle. They were hunched over, disfigured and twisted into terrifying shapes. Whether they had all been human, it was impossible to tell, but one in particular turned my way and, through the crackling flames, he caught my eye. I could tell he was male, and he stopped snorting and chuffing, standing as tall as he could with his distorted frame.
“Jericho,” I whispered. Somehow, I knew that he was Aida’s father. He dropped his arms to his side, giving me a pleading look, as though some part of him recognized that we were here to offer him release. It lasted for only a few seconds before he let out a shout and reverted to his feral form, looking for a break in the fire line.
“Hurry,” Phasmoria said, “before the fire burns out!”
I grabbed hold of my wand and motioned for everybody to move back. I pointed it toward the wights. I still wasn’t used to destroying others, but I caught my breath and closed my eyes, aiming the wand straight toward Jericho.