Arcemis's Arc

Chapter 10 of 16

Amira slept inside the temple while Arcemis kept watch at the door. He knew Rhademus would come for her. So did the others. If the wounded king reached her sleeping body, the dark shadow inside her would spread past even Gaia's power to hold. They had to guard the temple as if it were her heart. Circe stepped past Arcemis into the open air. She opened her worn spellbook, its cover marked with old runes that glowed faint under her hand. Her purple eyes narrowed. "He wants her," she said, voice low and cool. "So we make the ground refuse him." She spread her fingers. Shadow poured from the pages and rose in a ring around the temple. The ring hardened into a barrier of dark light. "Hold that line," Arcemis told the guardians. Tharon took position on the steps, a gleaming gold pistol in each hand, goggles down over his eyes. Lucien crouched beside him, twin blades bare, his white fur bristling as he scented the trees. "Something's coming," the wolf-man growled. The barrier shuddered. Circe's arms trembled as she held it. "He is stronger than I planned," she admitted. "I need help, or it breaks." Marina and Lira came fast. Marina raised her shell staff and began to pray, water light flowing into the ring to feed it. Lira set her shield against the steps and braced, lending her giant strength to the wall of shadow. The barrier steadied and burned brighter. Then Arcemis saw him. Rhademus walked from the tree line, pale and calm, one hand pressed to the wound Arcemis had given him. Behind him surged a pack of green hounds, snarling, eyes like coals. "Move aside," the king said softly. "The girl is mine. She always was." His hand lifted toward the barrier. Before Arcemis could answer, the temple doors opened behind him. Master Archadious walked out, his brown robe loose, his old face hard. The monk who had raised Arcemis rarely raised his voice. He raised it now. He stepped past the barrier and stood alone before the king. "You shall not enter this space," Archadious said. Light burst from him, gold and blinding, wider than anything Arcemis had ever seen his father summon. The wave slammed into Rhademus and the hounds and threw them backward into the trees. Whimpers faded. The king struck a trunk, snarled, and vanished into shadow, gone for now. Silence fell. The barrier held. Circe lowered her book, breathing hard. Arcemis stared at his adopted father, who swayed and gripped a vine-wrapped pillar to stay standing. "How?" Arcemis asked. "I have kept some things from you," Archadious said quietly. "Later." He looked at Amira through the open door. "He will return with more than hounds. He knows we defend her here now. This temple is no longer hidden." Arcemis understood. They had won the door. But they had made the temple a target, and the war would come to Amira's bedside next.