The Broken Song

Chapter Thirty-Nine

—Courtyard of Isca Kiverryn—

There was no way around it. The only way into the castle was through the front doors and past the numerous traps she had placed before her army of undead that she kept tucked near the throne room. If Lulu hadn't known any better, she would have guessed the Sorceress was frightened, but that wasn't a word she would use to describe someone who had terrorized Kiverryn for as long as she had. No, frightened didn't suit her. There was only one word that did.

Prepared.

Lulu shook her head, groaning unhappily. With the combined forces of the Lower Town Guard, the Light Wardens, and Brandy-Bran-Face's men, they might have a chance of forcing an encounter with the Sorceress, but it was hardly a certainty. More like a shot in the dark while blindfolded, spun in circles, and asked to lick a tree frog first. Actually, that might give them higher odds than the ones they were faced with now.

"Damnit, Ori," Lulu mumbled under her breath. "Where'd you go?"

"Even if she comes back, she might be of little help," Thancred said as he joined her in the main courtyard. Lulu didn't turn to face him. "She may even return against us."

That made her laugh. "You clearly don't know my cousin very well, Thandy. The things that girl can do...I broke my leg when she was six-years-old. Six, and she didn't need anyone to tell her what to do. She just fixed my leg and that was that."

"I don't doubt her skill, Lulu. I doubt her ability to fight against whatever's trying to control her. She's only eighteen summers old and the world calls her a Savior. I can only imagine what that's done to her confidence."

Lulu frowned, facing him with a troubled expression. "What do you mean?"

"How would you feel, if the world looked to you as though you had all the answers, as though you could never make a mistake because you would always choose what was right?"

"I do that on a daily basis."

He leveled a serious gaze. "Lulu, think about. Everyone is always counting on you to make the correct choice at the correct time to save everyone against odds that would be impossible to others. That sounds like a living hell to me. And, she is meant to shoulder this burden with almost no outside help. If I was her...I'd be a wreck inside."

Lulu shook her head. "That's not Ori. She isn't pressured into making the right choices. She just does."

Thancred chuckled, earning an annoyed look that only made his laugh louder. "Such hatred for the Path, and, yet, you're the one with the most faith in the Savior. Ironic isn't a strong enough word."

"Watch it, Thandy, or you might suddenly find yourself without your favorite appendage. I have no faith in the Path. They want you to blindly follow, devote yourself to a power never seen or heard. But, Ori? My faith is with her because of what I've seen. Even now, whatever is troubling her, the staff, the Sorceress, the sludge...Whatever it is, she'll defeat it."

"I never knew you cared so much." Ori stood there, a few feet behind Thancred, her face stoic, shoulders straight, and eyes focused on Lulu. The staff was gone from her possession, her father's sword, instead, returned to her back. Lulu couldn't deny the rush of relief to see that staff was finally gone from her reach.

"What happened to the stick of death?" Lulu asked.

"Gone," Ori answered simply. "Have we figured out how we're going to attack?"

Lulu shrugged. "I was planning on just throwing myself in there until she gets bored enough to let me through."

That brought a small smile to her cousin's face. "How many times have you walked in there on your own?"

"Seven," Thandy answered for her. "Seven times, each one stupider than the last."

"Unsurprising."

"Ah!" Lulu held a hand over her heart. "You both wound me. I was perfectly fine. I think I made her break a nail once."

"As inspiring as your suicidal attempts are, we're going to need an actual plan of attack," Ori nodded. "We'll need everyone for this. The Sorceress isn't going to go down easily."

"I thought you didn't want to kill her?" Thancred asked, his brow furrowed.

Lulu noticed the way he still kept himself angled between her and Ori. To others, it would have been seen as a thoughtful gesture of protection. For Lulu, it would be as helpful as a fly standing in front of her with a tiny shield. If she and Ori ever came to blows—Wait, it was best not to think about that.

"I don't want to," Ori shook her head. "But, we have no choice. I don't think the Sorceress meant for things to be this way, the death, the destruction. I think she genuinely wanted to save people from Tal'Dovah. That's why I think she killed her in the end anyway. But, the Grave is a much different place from our worlds. Aether runs freely there. It's mingled with every breath, but here it's harder to channel. It's like traveling to another world that has less oxygen. You may be able to survive, but your body has to work harder. I think that's what's happening to her. She's just trying to survive, but in trying to do so, her aether is seeping out into the land. This world doesn't have the ability to withstand such a pure force of aether. If she isn't stopped...it will consume everything."

"But, we've faced her before and we didn't stand a chance. What'll be different about it this time?"

"This time, we lead with The Broken Song," Ori explained, cutting off Lulu's vehement protestation before it could begin. "I know you don't trust The Voice, but we need The Broken Song to give us our opening. Once we have it, Idelle and I, acting as one, should have the power to contain her, even if just for a moment."

"And then I come in and stab her with the pointy end?" Lulu held up her sword, a skeptical look on her face.

Ori nodded. "Yes, but not with that. With this." Unsheathing her sword from the holster strapped to her back, the sword glinted in the morning light, golden runes glowing with power.

"I'm not going to deny that's a much more impressive looking sword," Thancred grimaced. "But, I see no difference another sword will make."

Lulu laughed. "Right. The sword wielded by Baloren Tor'Varyan, Alpha-Commander of Valdornne and Eir'ezaach of the Draagan Horde, carried through countless generations of legendary fighters that helped build the greatest empire of all time, and forged in the Grave itself by Emrys and Nimueh, High Priests of the Old Religion couldn't possibly have the strength to kill anyone. Why didn't you think of this plan sooner?"

Ori shook her head. "The sword may have wounded her before, but now it has the power to kill her. The magic of the Staff of Taerynas was absorbed by the blade. We'll be using her own magic against her."

"That's where the staff went?" Lulu rolled her eyes. "For fuck's sake, you should've chucked the damn stick into a ravine, not join it with your father's sword."

"I may have lacked the strength to withstand the pull of the staff's magic, but Excalibur is of a different matter. It cannot be swayed from its purpose, to defend the innocent. Countless generations of my family have wielded this blade. It won't allow the power to corrupt anything ever again."

"So," Lulu leaned heavily on her left hip, arms crossed over her chest. "After everything we went through, every horrible thing we've seen, our plan stays the same? Me poking a bitch to death with a pointy weapon?"

"Disappointed?" a sardonic smile unfurled over Ori's lips. Lulu couldn't hide her smirk either.

"Not even a little. I like stabbing things."

Ori tossed her the sword, the warm metal, pulsing with unparalleled power sliding effortlessly into her palm. Lulu felt the weight of it in her hand. It was like no other blade in the worlds. Perfectly balanced, thrumming with magic, it seemed to guide the wielder's hand, knowing instinctively where to aim, when to block, and how best to achieve victory. With this blade, now brimming with magic from the staff, they would be a match for the Sorceress.

"Let's go kill a bitch," Lulu nodded, and made her way out of the courtyard.

Remaining behind, Ori watched as her cousin's form grew smaller and smaller in the distance. Only when she was certain she was out of earshot did she turn to Thancred.

"I need to speak with you."