Wystwood

81. Rise and the fall

Ada didn't want to believe it, but with each passing second, the truth of the Lady's words became clear in her aching head. Every clue had been presented to her from the moment she had tumbled from the Wishing Well; the dying Wystwood forest, the horror of the fae when they saw her face, the mad seers locked away from the city.

"So, the Stone Circle have sent you on a fool's errand," sighed the Lady. "A name is a powerful thing. But I am not the Saltsworn. Have they truly never realised? Or are they left to deceive themselves in their desperation? Hear this clearly: there can be no Saltsworn without magic. There has not been one since before you were born, and yet you were sent out to find the impossible without a care to your life or safety. This is the blind cruelty that magic brings."

The finality in hearing from the Lady of Wysthaven herself that she was not the Saltsworn came as a blow harder than the dagger's hilt. Ada felt as if she could scarcely draw in a breath, her head pounding and her chest cinched tight.

"They wish to control me?" the Lady went on. "I belong to no one but myself."

"Just like Wysthaven should belong to its own people!" said a small, bold voice from the end of the chamber. "You can't control us any longer!"

"What's this?" cried the Lady in astonishment. "Is she the best you could gather as an accomplice?"

At the sound of the little girl's voice, Ada had turned her head so sharply that her vision swam out of focus. But then, there Min was, standing inside the chamber and facing the throne.

"I created this city, child," said the Lady plainly. "Everything you've ever known has been moulded by me."

"Even if you did make it, it doesn't belong to you," repeated Min, her voice echoing around the domed ceiling.

"How could you come here, Min?" Ada croaked. "We made a deal. You said you'd leave."

Min frowned, her small hands bunching in her skirts. "I said I wouldn't enter through the doors with you, and I didn't. But I wasn't going to leave you alone, Ada. We made a promise."

Ada swore, and the moment the word left her lips, several things happened at once. First was the stray sunbeam, which pierced into the chamber from the wide opening behind the throne, glinting on the iron dagger still lying on the floor, and on a thin glass vial tucked within Min's fist. It was filled to the brim with a pale power that Ada recognised. Burdock root.

The next was the Lady's furious scream, for she had noticed the vial before Ada, and the sight of Min's magic had released a storm of anger locked beneath her frail ribs. She spoke very quickly, "Do not let her use that filth!"

At first, Ada was confused, but then a cold horror took its place as Raeph rose from beside her and took two wide steps between the throne's roots.

"Raeph," Ada gasped, watching Min try to dart away before her wrist was easily shackled within Raeph's fingers. "No! You don't have to listen to her."

Min started to scream, kicking wildly at Raeph's legs as he twisted her arm and plucked the vial of powdered burdock root from her hand. He didn't look at the girl, nor at Ada or the Lady, but his eyes were dark and dangerously empty.

Ada turned back to the Lady, almost shaking with fury as she forced out, "Please, stop it. She's only a child."

The Lady was clutching the ebony dagger in one hand, and had seized the little wystwood box once again from its hiding place. Ada thought she could hear the heart beating from within, but it may have been her own frenzied pulse rushing through her ears.

"You deign to think that he will listen to you?" breathed the Lady, unnervingly quiet in spite of Min's screaming. "You think he is yours? That he has not told me of you? I allowed him to leave Wysthaven that morning he travelled up into the Wystwood, for I knew he would return again to me. Did he tell you why he was waiting? He went there to kill you."