Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 143: Event Horizon

Naereni

I heaved for breath as I leaned against a wall, trying to get my breathing under control. I brushed my hands against the bricks as I looked up, spotting Karsien's mist bubble at last. It had been a tense few minutes as Sevren and I had run toward the Joans' estate, and sure enough, I could see the blithe gas concentrating over the estate.

I walked toward the mist, the one-armed highblood in tow behind me. Something in what old Renton Morthelm had done had shaken the man deeply, his steps almost coming a moment too late every time we moved.

I entered the mist without reservations. As expected, it didn't hamper my senses at all. Karsien had keyed his spell to the both of us, after all.

Caera ran through the fog, enveloping her brother in a tender hug. "Took you long enough to get back," she said tiredly. "After you were knocked out of the bubble, the others said you'd be back. That Naereni would lead you here just fine, but I didn't entirely believe them." Caera looked at me, swallowing with emotion. "Thank you."

I waved dismissively. "It's no problem, Boulders," I said. "Your brother here can't help but throw himself into danger."

Boulders, of course, looked as affronted as the first time I'd called her by her new moniker. Then her features shifted into something more devious. "So you say, twitter-fingers," she said, puffing her chest out slightly.

I blinked, then looked down at my hands. Sure enough, I'd been wriggling them as I sometimes did subconsciously whenever I was stressed.

Oh, she can hit back too, I thought, a grin stretching across my face. I patted Caera's arm playfully as I passed her, and for once, I didn't even try and steal something by doing so. "You're a quick learner."

Karsien was camped outside the gate into the Joans' estate. The leaves had finally started to come in on the trees surrounding the large courtyard, and they provided excellent cover. His eyes traced a spot of blithe mist as it entered the dilapidated estate, still decrepit and broken from the battle that went down inside months ago. The area was silent as a grave, the only sound the occasional explosion or rumble from the far distance.

"It's too quiet," Karsien said. "The attacks from the vicars dropped off shortly after we got closer."

I hummed nervously, acknowledging that truth. There was an almost palpable darkness radiating from the estate, a queasy sickness that seemed to infect the air and make breathing difficult. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, a silent warning as power gathered in that estate.

How much mana has been siphoned from the people of Fiachra? I thought, licking my lips which felt suddenly dry. The trees around me seemed to cringe away from the ominous aura that churned in the heart of our destination.

"Our plans don't change," Sevren said, patting his sister on the back as he walked forward. He withdrew the beastward from his dimension ring. "Breaking this around the central node of basilisk blood should disrupt the hivemind functions of the blithe itself. And once the blithe is inert, it shouldn't spread so dangerously."

I summoned a dagger of ice, closing my eyes as I kissed the pommel. I remembered my father's cold body, the blithe needle stuck in his arm just like a dagger.

We end this today, one way or another, I thought, walking in lockstep with my mentor as we passed the gate. The Joans' estate yawned like the mouth of an old mausoleum. Yet a mausoleum would hold nothing but dusty bones and forgotten memories.

This place? It held demons.

Karsien's hands gripped the doornob. He looked at everyone present, giving them each a quiet nod of acknowledgment, before opening the door.