A Darkness Forged in Fire

FIFTY-SIX

The sun rose like a glowing ember caught high on a morning breeze, casting its light on the ruin of battle. The Colors were blown full out from their poles, their ends snapping as a strong wind picked up. Konowa stood in the middle of the battlefield, looking at what he'd done.

Everywhere, the trees burned. Their black limbs slashed the air in a futile attempt to put out the flames that consumed them. Screams filled his head as the sarka har died, their dark need extinguished in a blaze of pure, red light. The sapling towered above them all, now a great tree, its limbs reaching high into the sky. The Star was now a bridge between the earth and sky, a tree coursing with power so pure, so elemental that the very air around it thrummed like lead crystal.

The acorn against his chest beat with the rhythm of his heart, its cold need satisfied, its oath unbroken. At the very edge of his understanding, Konowa heard another scream. It confused him at first until he understood it wasn't a scream at all, but laughter.

The Shadow Monarch was laughing.

The Iron Elves stared at him in silence. Konowa had consigned them all to a fate none had asked for. In trying to save them, he had doomed them all.

In choosing to destroy Her forest here, Konowa had condemned the souls of the Iron Elves.

The enormity of it threatened to crush him where he stood. All he had ever wanted was a chance to make things right for the regiment and the soldiers he commanded.

Visyna had seen the truth, but he hadn't listened to her. He thought he could control the power, bend it to his will, but in the end all he managed to do was Her will.

The Shadow Monarch had deceived them all. She'd allowed Konowa's father to escape with the acorn from Her silver Wolf Oak, knowing the wizard would bring it to him. And she counted on Konowa's thirst for redemption, and like a fool he had allowed that desire to blind him to the truth.

The Shadow Monarch had never wanted the Star.

She wanted Her children back.

She wanted the Iron Elves.

Konowa raised his hand and let it brush the top of his ruined ear, feeling the scar that marked Her curse. He looked at the burning forest.

In the fire and the heat, a new purpose rose from the ashes.

A cold, merciless smile crept across Konowa's face as black frost began to sparkle along the shattered remnants of his saber. So the Shadow Monarch wanted Konowa and the Iron Elves for Her own. So be it. Konowa would show Her just how deadly it could be to get what you wished for.

All around him, the trees screamed as they burned.