It was the middle of the night and Ryza found herself coughing. To call it that wasn’t fair though. It was something more labored and deeper in her chest. Something she couldn’t taste. Something she couldn’t just touch. Something that was deeper. Hurt more.
Down on her knees in the desert dirt, she coughed and held her chest. This hurt more than before. She hadn’t even done magic and yet it tore at her chest. She dug her own claws into her chest and spat onto the ground. When she looked she saw something black on the sand. Black like tar. She stared at it, dipped her fingers into it, and felt it drip off her hand. It was thick, thicker than any other liquid she had seen before. She flicked it away glaring at the ground.
“A curse. Dammit.”
She leaned against their den and did everything in her to keep herself standing up properly. It had been almost a week since they’d returned from the Free City. Five days since she’d talked to Alison and Penny. Since she learned that she was going to die of this demon’s curse.
It was something that she had a hard time accepting let alone Snow and Stephanie. It had been a silent run back home. Ryza didn’t know how to process it herself let alone to them. They didn’t ask her much when they came back. It was hard to broach the subject. Stephanie tried. Snow definitely tried. But the questions died in their throats.
They didn’t want the straight answer that Ryza would give them.
Ryza looked up at the sky and saw the stars together. She saw the moon and the streaks of light. She saw the evening sky that was so normal. So, comforting. She reached out her hand toward the moon and winced feeling the pain in her chest radiate to the rest of her. But she looked at the rings she wore that caught the light. Bronze and white.
Raising them she pressed them to her lips, “I’m sorry you two.”
“Ryza.”
She stood up and turned as Snow walked toward her. She stood taller than her and saw the way her mate was bent. Saw how she tried to stand proud but knew the pain without her having to say it. Saw the effort and wrapped her arm around her waist. She pulled her close and didn’t let go.
Ryza gasped and pressed her face against her side and hid it. Snow brushed her fingers through her hair slowly and held her tightly. Neither cried or said anything. They just held onto each other, their tails rubbing up against one another.
Ryza took a step back rubbing her eyes. She looked toward the sky and sniffled laughing. “Come on. And get Stephanie. I wanna show you both something. Properly.”
They both walked back into their den. Ryza heard Stephanie’s voice and realized she didn’t ever really get back to sleep. She couldn’t blame her either. Sleeping didn’t come easy for the three of them these days.
Ryza jumped to the second floor getting her bag and then jumped to the roof. It was a barren thing up. Some dust. Some foliage. Nothing special. They had joked about clearing it off for a while to use it. They didn’t know what but it was something they never committed to it.
Now she walked and swept things away with her toes as she saw them. Rocks here, dust piles there. She walked to the center of the roof and sat down slowly. Pulling over the flap of it she didn’t even bother going through it. She just leaned back and lay staring at the sky. She crossed her hands over her stomach and closed her eyes.
She smelled them coming up to the roof before she felt or saw them. When she opened her eyes, she motioned for them to lay beside her. They did, Snow putting her hands behind her head and almost hitting Ryza with an elbow while Stephanie just lay her arms at her sides. They lay down in silence for a long time just hearing nighttime Luthagen. Some raised voices. Barking. The occasional howl and hoot of an owl.
“What are we doing out here Ryry?” Stephanie asked.
“I wanted to show you both something,” she said bracing herself.
She pressed her hands together in the air. She took a very deep breath and then began casting the spell. It was a simple one to weave through the simple incantation. But the pain was unimaginable. The pain lanced through her chest and she fought the urge to cry out. She fought the pain and the flaming claws that tore through her throat.
“Ryza what are you doing?” Snow sat up quickly her ears going flat.
“Stop it. You’re hurting yourself!” Stephanie shouted taking her arm.
But she continued and then spread her hands out and took both of theirs. They both gasped as the magic raced across their skin until it went to their eyes. They leaned back their eyes turning silver and when they looked at the sky they marveled at the lights above them.
Ryza slumped backward against the roof breathing hard. She held a hand over her chest gasping and closing her eyes. When she opened her eyes she saw the glowing and worried eyes of her wulves. She forced a smile and motioned for them to lay down beside her.
They frowned but did as she asked and lay down beside her more concerned than before. But now with their eyes the way they were, they could see the stars above their head in colors they could even imagine. Some stars shined bright like blue beacons, others soft red, and others electric yellow. A rainbow of colors that turned everything infinitely more beautiful.
“Is this what it looks like for you?” Stephanie asked.
“Not always. Sometimes though,” she mumbled. Ryza grunted as her own eyes glowed and she smiled motioning toward the sky. “Can you see it? Momma bear?”
“What?” Snow asked. “Where?”
But Stephanie nodded, squeezing one of Ryza’s hands. “I do. Right there, right?”
“Exactly,” Ryza smiled. She reached out toward her bag and pulled out the star chart. Her hands were shaky but she managed to hold it out above their heads. But it wasn’t easy to hold up like this. So she sat up and pulled Stephanie up with her. She rested the chart in her lap and took Stephanie’s hand before pointing up at the sky.
Stephanie moved her hand with Ryza’s until they both found the guiding star above their heads. Once she found that she guided their hands towards a bright white dot and traced them together in the sky and watched as lines appeared with her finger. They moved them together until she found the horns and connected the dots of the constellation.
“There. That’s the bull right?” she looked at Ryza her eyes shining with excitement.
Ryza gave her a warm smile, “Very good. I didn’t show you that one.”
“I was doing my own research,” her tail wagged as she winked at her. “And there! That’s the hunter!” They looked together and found it, connecting the dots of the stars until it appeared before them.
“Isn’t that the twins?” Snow asked crouching behind them. She took their hands, overlaying all three together. Curving her finger along the line she drew with them, connecting the dots, and blinked quickly. “That’s only happening because of what you did to our eyes right?”
“That’s right.”
“It’s cool,” she said and turned her shining eyes onto her. “What else is up there?”
“A lot,” Stephanie said already casting her gaze in every direction trying to find more. “Can you show me them all one day Ryry?” Ryza smiled gently and nodded. “Promise?”
Ryza kissed her and nodded, “Promise.”
Snow on the other hand rested her head on Ryzas, “You met the twins, didn’t you?”
“Yes I did. Feels like a lifetime ago.”
“You met them?” Stephanie looked back at her. “When you say the twins do you mean those twins?”
“Mmhm.”
“But you said they were stories and legends.”
“Some stories and legends are based on truths,” Ryza closed her eyes. “The scorpion, Scorpio. The twins, Gemini. The crab, Cancer. And the virgin, Virgo. I met those four almost two years ago. If it weren’t for them I don’t think I could have beaten my mother.”
“You had a lot of friends back then.”
“I want to visit them again one day. In their own homeland.” She looked down. “At least I wanted to.”
Stephanie and Snow both looked down as Ryza said that. The unspoken truth of their lives. The fact that Ryza’s days were potentially numbered. The fact that they would potentially have to say goodbye to her. The fact that they could do almost nothing about it. It hurt.
Ryza tried to smile at them but started coughing into her hand. Great heaving coughs that shook her body and made both of her wulves eyes go wide with panic. She coughed into her hand feeling the burning in her chest like a fire had been set. She looked at her hand, stained black with the tar and swore.
She couldn’t bring herself to raise her eyes and look at either of them. To see their fear. So she didn’t. She fought the urge to cough again and instead looked at the ground. “The spell.” Snow said slowly. “The spell. The one you put together with your brother’s book. It can save you from this. Can’t it?”
Ryza coughed and shook her head, “No. It can’t sadly. My version of the spell is a modified version of my brother’s. A general lich has a phylactery that keeps them alive, and binds their soul to their body. Destroy that and they go with it.
“My brother created something more durable with the core method. He tied the soul to a crystal that would reside within the body of the lich. It kept Isaac tethered and gave him an almost indestructible body in the process. Almost. Find a way to bypass the body, break the core and they go away.
“I wanted to go beyond what my brother did. To find a way to untether my soul from this body. Let it linger in this plane of existence even beyond my death. Like becoming a ghost with benefits. But a demon’s curse is tied to my soul. No running from that. No hiding from it. Whatever is going to happen to me is going to happen.”
The magic that gave them the ability to see the stars and the colors of them faded away. Her shoulders sagged and she gave them both a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She just wanted to reassure them. But she knew she couldn’t. Not with this.
“So what do we do?” Stephanie asked and for the first time, her voice sounded weak. Deflated.
Ryza reached out and took one of her hands and kissed it softly. She reached up and ran her fingers across Snow’s cheek as well. “There’s one more place I want to go. Before things are over and done with. Someone I want to meet again and someone I want you two to meet.”
“Who?”
She started to stand and Snow helped her to get there. “Close your eyes. And open yourselves to me. I’ll need your help to do this.”
They did as she asked taking her hands. They closed their eyes but Ryza felt the surge of their own magic. The wolves inside them coming at Ryza’s call. And Ryza’s answered but she winced sinking to her knee. Her pain came in a sharp bolt at her chest. Grinding her teeth together she felt her teeth scratch at her mouth.
She fought through it. She’d cast this spell once before and yet remembered it from memory alone. As the pain burned inside her it wasn’t as bad as if she had pulled it from herself. Her eyes burned with silver light and she looked at the edge of their roof and then it tore open with magic.
It was blinding in the dark and they shielded their eyes. But once it died down, they had a small portal on their roof. Ryza fell down to both her knees huffing and looked at the two of them. They were keeping her arms up and wrapped their arms around her pulling her back to her feet. She felt something dribble down her nose and brushed at it with her shoulder.
“You really need to stop doing that,” Snow mumbled cleaning her nose gently.
“One day I’ll learn,” she teased.
She met Snow’s and the pain there made her look away. Snow kissed her holding her tightly and shook her head. She blinked quickly and sighed. “Looks like we woke them up.”
Ryza turned around and watched as Grey, Rustle, and Ginger made their way up to the roof. How they got there, none of them could even fathom. But Grey looked at them, eyes narrowed from the light of the portal. They padded over to them surrounding the three of them but focused on Ryza.
“I don’t think they’ll let us leave them behind this time,” Stephanie said.
“I don’t think so either. And honestly this time I think I want them with us.” Ryza smoothed her fingers through Grey’s fur feeling him pant near her. “You’re a good boy Grey.” He looked at her and blinked slowly pressing his nose against her face. She met his eyes and whispered, “Shovel.”
He turned and darted back down the way he’d come along with Rustle. They were gone only a minute and came back with the shaft of Ryza’s shovel and the melted piece of the blade. It never stopped hurting seeing it in such a state. Sighing she put the blade in her bag and leaned against the staff.
“You two ready?” Ryza asked.
“Of course. Even though you haven’t told us where we’re going yet,” Stephanie said.
After a long period of thought, Ryza finally said, “We’re going to see a friend of my brother.”
Taking one of Snow’s hands and one of Stephanie’s she walked toward the portal. They walked through and suddenly they were on regular green grass.
It had been a very long time since any of them had stood on grass without sand or rock. It was definitely a different sensation beneath their feet and it was something they relished for the time being. Just looking around the air smelled cooler, not quite so dry as the desert. In fact, Snow took a step back and really looked around.
She looked at the trees behind them and then at the massive building in front of them. Her eyes widened as she looked back at Ryza. “We’re in the Sanctum?”
“Yes. Let’s be quick. We’re not far from him.”
They walked for the of the night, traveling off the paths as much as possible. It was early in the morning, just the earliest crack of the sun on the horizon when they reached their destination. But the small cottage was also in sight. Ryza leaned against the shaft as she walked up the cobblestone path to their door.
Before she got to the door it opened a man in a simple tunic and pants walked out. Short cut blonde hair and a recently shaved face. Still tanned skin and blue eyes that shined with what little light they could catch. He stretched a hand above his head but he saw them coming and blinked confused.
“Ryza? Is that you?”
“It is Isaac,” she smiled. “It’s been a long time.”
“Yes it has. Who are these five?”
Ryza motioned behind her, “This is my mate Snow. My girlfriend Stephanie. And our wolves, Ginger, Rustle, and Grey. They’re my pack.” They waved at the introduction.
“Your pack?” Isaac repeated eyebrows raised. But he noted the ears and tail and nodded slowly. Definitely something he wasn’t expecting. “Not conventional, are you?”
“Never have been.”
She started to speak but coughed into her hand hard feeling her body shake and chest ache. Snow and Stephanie were at her side in an instant but she shook her head.
A sad and concerned look crossed Isaac’s face as he looked at her, “Are you okay?”
“I’m dying Isaac.”
“Dying? What happened?”
“I’ll explain it to you after I’ve talked to Ryze.”
Isaac frowned hard, his mouth in a thin line but nodded. “This way. Around the back.”
The Harlequin Library 