Lydia the Siren's Arc

Chapter 31 of 37

The warning note held in Lydia's ears. The roots would not open. Bastion's voice pressed against the wall of wood, close now, ragged with fear. She struck the roots with both fists and got nothing but her own bruised hands. Then a shape rose from the crystal heart. It pulled itself out of the great jewel, blue and faceted, with sharp offshoots for arms and legs. It stood taller than her. Its voice did not come through the air. It spoke inside her mind, quiet and clear. "You do not know what he is," the crystal said. "He took what you were. He drank your power for himself. He left you his weak human self and kept your beast." Lydia shook her head. "No. He gave me the cure. He gave me a home." "He gave you a cage of flesh," it said. "Look how you starve. Ask why food no longer feeds you. He carries your hunger now. He carries your song." "You're lying." Her voice cracked. "He hums my song because he learned it. He is a bard. He saved me from the knight." She pressed her palm to the wall. "Let me out. He's mine. I claimed him." The crystal did not move. "I will not open. I keep you from him." The wall of roots split with a wet crack. Bastion came through. Not with a sword. He struck with claws, long and dark, curved like a hawk's. They tore the wood apart in one pull. His arm ended in talons. Feathers ran up past his wrist, brown streaked with black. His eyes had gone flat and yellow. Lydia stepped back. Her heart slammed. She knew that shape. She had worn it. The beast the potion had taken from her stood inside her man. "Bastion," she said. "Is that you?” He did not answer. He came for her, claws raised, moving fast. There was no song in his throat now. Only hunger, the kind she had felt a hundred nights on the road. The crystal being threw itself between them. Its stone arms spread wide. Bastion's talons raked across its faceted chest and struck sparks. A crack ran up the blue surface. The crystal did not fall. It held its ground and shoved him back through the broken wall.