Glittering Shadows (46 page)

“I’m sorry, Urd. Verthandi, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“I love you,” Nan said.

“We both love you,” Marlis said, but she bit her lip. She loved Skuld, but not Ingrid.

“I love you, too,” Skuld whispered.

And when she died, magic died with her.

I
n that moment, Freddy’s magic felt like a ghost that had possessed him since birth and had become a friend—a friend that was gone in
an instant. Every man he had revived fell where they stood. He had brought back over a hundred, and when they were gone, he felt—not weaker, not stronger. Just strange. Like a different
person altogether.

It’s gone. It’s just gone. Like that.

“Tell the fifth division to cover Nan and Marlis as they get out of there,” Sebastian told the radio operator. “Quickly, quickly, before Otto regroups.”

Freddy climbed into the jeep and stared at his hands. All the tingling heat in his fingers and the prickling sense in his temples that always occurred when he was around the dead was gone like
it had never existed.

“Freddy?” Sebastian clamped a hand on his shoulder, making him jump. “Are you all right?”

“Fine. I’m fine.” He forced himself to think only of the moment at hand. “Are we going to try and get Otto? If Ingrid’s gone?”

“We’re almost out of ammo,” Sebastian said. “Nan and Marlis did what they needed to do, but…” He surveyed the scene. The center of the field was opening up as
Otto and Sebastian’s scattered men drew back toward their sides. “They do seem disoriented. They still outnumber us, though not as badly as before. Should we attempt one final push?
Losing magic should have hit their morale more than ours.”

Another jeep pulled up next to them with Marlis and Nan inside, but the first to climb out was a silver-haired witch with one hand. Her face was drawn and weak.
This must be one of the magic
users from the Mausoleum.

“Jenny!”
Sebastian ran forward to embrace the woman. He looked close to tears when he pulled back. “I’m so sorry. Not your hand, too…”

“Rupert.” She was firm. “Don’t be sorry for any of this. You’re still so young, to challenge your father’s armies like this. You have done all you could and
more. Support for you in Irminau grows by the day.”

Sebastian looked grave. “Do you think his army would surrender to me?”

“I want to address them now.” She coughed, her thin body rattling.

“We’re low on ammo. I think I have enough for one last stand, but it’s a gamble.”

“I’m going back to face Otto, even if they are the last steps I take,” Jenny said.

“For what it’s worth, I think we should try,” Freddy said.

“We’ve lost a lot of men, but they’ve lost more, and you are the prince.” Seeing Jenny and the other magic users who had come back twisted him with guilt; he would
survive this, but they wouldn’t come back from the state they were in. Jenny was surely thinking she had nothing to lose.

Marlis had stepped out of the jeep while they were talking; she watched quietly.

“Marlis,” Sebastian said. “Do you mind taking care of things here, making sure the injured make it back safely? And if the worst happens to me…you’re in
command.”

She opened her mouth as if to protest, then looked at Nan sitting in the jeep with Ingrid’s body. She nodded.

Then, quickly, she kissed Freddy on the cheek. “For luck. That’s all,” she said, and climbed back in the car.

The touch of her lips left a tingle of surprise; he rubbed his cheek.

“I don’t get one?” Sebastian called, even as the vehicle was pulling away.

“You already got something similar back at the base, I’m sure,” Marlis said.

Sebastian took one of the guns from the revived men who had fallen nearby and handed it to Jenny. “For protection,” he said. “Don’t do anything rash.”

They climbed in the vehicle, and he addressed the men directly with the radio. “This is Prince Rupert speaking. You’ve all done a fine job; their numbers are substantially reduced.
I’d like to avoid further bloodshed. I’m going to try and work out an agreement. Please provide cover but hold your fire unless necessary.”

The Irminauer soldiers were closing in around the vehicle. Sebastian picked up his megaphone.

“Let me say something first,” Jenny said. She grabbed the megaphone and stood up to address the soldiers across the field while Sebastian still looked unsure about this plan.

“Men of Irminau! I have been working for King Otto since I was fourteen years old—and not by choice. I was unlucky enough to be born with magic, and for that I was forced to spend my
very short life under Your Majesty’s nose. I’m still shy of my fortieth birthday, and I look seventy. He doesn’t care about you. All he cares about is his own power and glory, and
he’ll stomp on you to get it. But here with me now is Crown Prince Rupert. He is here today fighting you, but what he is really doing, whether you know it or not, is fighting
for
you.
This is the side you should be on.”

Sebastian stood up and Jenny handed him the megaphone. “Irminau is my homeland. I’m here to fight my father, because he is, truly, the enemy of my country.” He hesitated.
“I am the leader of the Urobrun Army, and I’d also like to serve as your king. I want to see a strong, wealthy nation like we once were. King Otto can force Urobrun to fall in line, or
I can bring about a peaceful union.”

A very long moment occurred in which no one moved at all, and then an old woman—
no, not old,
Freddy thought,
just another poor magic user
—slowly hobbled out into the
center of the field. Looking at Sebastian, she dropped with difficulty onto her knees, and then her arms. Finally, she dropped her forehead to the cold ground, prostrate to Sebastian as if he were
the king.

Another pause, but shorter, before another man joined her, a young soldier this time.

And then it was like a spell had been cast—or broken. A few more came, and then more, and then the entire Irminauer army was on their knees.

Amidst this, in the distance, a figure emerged. Unlike Sebastian, Otto had not been at the front lines. Freddy picked up the binoculars and found him. He was wearing a fine uniform with gold
braiding and medals. He was speaking to someone. Then he mounted a horse and rode forward.

“Move up. We’ll meet him in the center,” Sebastian told the driver.

“Rupert.” King Otto looked imperious on his horse, but his hands twitched, and the horse stepped sideways and had to be reined back in.

Sebastian climbed out of the car. “Father, the era of magic has ended, and your men seem to agree it’s time for a new regime.”

King Otto’s eyes were pure rage. But he lifted his hands.

Jenny started to move, and Sebastian clutched her good arm.

“He’s a liar,” Jenny hissed.

Sebastian looked at his father again, still holding Jenny’s arm.

“He should die,” another man called. “He killed my sister. Don’t you dare spare him just because he’s your father, Prince Rupert, I beg you. Get justice for
everyone he sacrificed.”

Freddy thought this an alarming statement, coming from someone who had been fighting for King Otto moments ago. He hadn’t considered that people would fight for someone they hated if they
were afraid to do otherwise.

A counter-rumble was beginning, some people defending Otto’s actions. This could get ugly quickly, Freddy thought.

He lifted a hand. “I’m a magic user myself; I’ve dyed my hair, but it’s pure silver. I was used by Chancellor Horn the same way Otto has used his sorcerers here. But we
can’t build a new country by executing someone without trial. That is the right of every citizen in a modern nation.”

Otto had clasped his hands during this conversation as if in prayer. “My son, I am grateful for your mercy. Considering how long I have thought you to be dead.” He had replaced the
fury with almost tearful repentance.

“No. No trial.” Jenny’s voice was so low, it was like she muttered to herself. She pulled her arm away from Sebastian, who snatched his hand back as if she’d caused him
pain. “No trial,” she repeated, firing the gun. The recoil knocked her back into Sebastian’s arms, and blood sprayed from Otto’s chest. He stayed mounted, his eyes widening
with surprise. One of his healers rushed toward him, but she must have forgotten that magic was gone. A few other men helped him down from the horse. He was looking at his own hand, his white glove
now bright red, but then they couldn’t see him anymore for the crowd surrounding him.

“He’s dead,” one of the men announced.

“Long live King Rupert!” someone cried, and then the whole crowd began to take up the chant until it was a roar.

Jenny looked at Sebastian. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But you’re too kind, my dear Rupert. You haven’t spent ten years trapped in bed while your hatred poisons
you. Now it’s not on your hands. And I won’t make you put me on trial either. My life is over. Yours must begin fresh.”

She turned the gun on herself.

N
an had wrapped her coat around Skuld’s body, bringing her back to the camp. This didn’t feel like a victory. Cries and groans of pain
came from every direction as injured men were treated right on the ground, as soon as a doctor could get to them. The healers were useless now. Bright red blood was everywhere—spattering the
snow, turning the slush pink, staining clothes, and matted in hair.

Nan stood still amidst the commotion, overwhelmed by the color and sound. Everything seemed so different.

“Nan.” Marlis looked torn. Volland was already waving for her attention. “I need to make sure everyone’s attended to. But—”

“I know you need to help here,” Nan told Marlis. “I can bury her alone. If you don’t mind.”

“I’ve said my good-byes.” Marlis hastily wiped tears.

Nan walked outside of the camp. A stand of evergreen trees rose up at the edge of the field, along with one deciduous tree with a thick trunk, reminiscent of Yggdrasil itself. She put
Ingrid’s body down among the roots and tried to sing the wyrdsong, but it was gone. She couldn’t even quite remember how it sounded. After a faltering moment, something else came out
instead—a note of human song. Just like the color green, she recognized the sound, as if it had been waiting for her to find it.

She heard footsteps squelching behind her. The field was getting muddy with the snowmelt. Sigi walked up to her with two shovels.

“Marlis said you might need these. I don’t know if you want some help, too. I think digging a grave might be pretty hard work.”

“I do.”

“Were you singing?”

“Trying to. Maybe you could teach me a song.”

“I can teach you a lot of songs.” Sigi leaned the shovels against the tree. “How do you feel?”

“Strange. But I see all the colors, too.” The sun was sinking low in the sky, and everything looked golden.

“This is the most beautiful time of day,” Sigi said.

“It is beautiful, and I dreamed of this, but it’s also…” There were no words for the feeling of losing that life.

Sigi held out her hands. Nan took them. They were ice cold. She realized Sigi was just wearing a wool dress with no coat.

“Aren’t you cold, Sigi?”

“Watching that battle was so terrifying I warmed up. I am a little cold now, but shoveling will take care of that.”

Nan leaned her head on Sigi’s shoulder and cried. For once she didn’t feel like the strong one, and it wasn’t a bad way to feel.