Nym's Arc

Chapter 37 of 41

They reached the mountain cave at midday. The runed arch stood deep inside, taller than three men. Ivy spilled down one side. Its carved runes glowed in bands of red, blue, and gold. Nym pressed her palm against the cold stone. The runes brightened at her touch, then dimmed again. The arch stayed shut. Drasila stood beside her. Titus waited near the cave mouth, holding his warthog-wolf's lead while the pegasus grazed on moss. "Only light opens it," Drasila said. "Your light. Not fire, not blood." Nym raised both hands. White light poured from her fingers and struck the arch. The runes flared. The stone groaned. But the light shook in her grip, thin and wild, and the arch held. Nym's arms trembled. Sweat ran down her neck. The light guttered and died. She fell to one knee. "It's not enough," she said. "I can't hold it steady." "Try again," Drasila said. But her voice held doubt. She had carried this same light for three hundred years and never learned to mend flesh. Her daughter had. Yet even Nym could not force the arch alone. Titus knelt and set something soft in Nym's lap. The green cat. Its fern-colored tail curled around her wrist. Titus had given her this cat to keep her calm, and it had taught her to summon light without grief. "Stop pushing," he said. "You don't force it. You did that with the pegasus's wing. You held it gentle." He pressed his hand over hers. "Breathe. Let me steady you." Nym closed her eyes. She felt the cat's warmth, its slow purr against her legs. She thought of the healed wing, not the burning prophecy. Her breath slowed. When she raised her hands again, the light came soft and even, no longer clawing to escape. Titus held her wrist to stop the shaking. Drasila stepped close and laid her marked hands over Nym's. "Together," Drasila said. Two lights joined into one steady beam. It struck the arch and did not waver. The runes blazed white, one after another, top to bottom. The ivy shivered. Stone ground on stone. Slowly the space inside the arch cleared, like fog burning off water. A road appeared beyond it, paved and old, winding toward a green valley Nym had never seen. The light faded. Nym lowered her hands. Her knees still shook, but she was whole. The arch stood open. Drasila stared through it. The white streak in her hair caught the glow. "The ancient road," she whispered. "It hasn't changed." Her hand found Nym's shoulder and gripped hard. "His kingdom lies at the end of it." Nym rose and looked down the open road. Somewhere beyond it lived a father who had never heard her name. She had proven she could hold the light. Now she had to walk through and learn if he would want her. "Then we go," Nym said, and stepped through the arch.