Cael stood on the beach of the volcano island, listening carefully and scanning the area. Finally, he turned and nodded to the others. Falcon and Ayden came out of the ocean and joined him. Being soaked wasn’t desirable, but their clothes would dry quickly in the hot temple. The only annoying part was their waterlogged boots. But jumping ship and swimming had been their best option, the best way to stay undetected.

There were only two ways into the temple—the front entrance and the side door, which Cael and Falcon knew from experience led to the dungeon. They headed around the back of the island, heading to the dungeon door, guessing it would be less guarded.

“A man is telling the captain that Mathias called off the ambush,” Cael told them, not bothering to whisper since they were far enough from the captain and dockhand to be heard, though Cael could hear them well enough with his elven hearing.

“Don’t think I buy that,” Falcon said cynically.

“Nor I,” Cael agreed. “Especially with how many temple guards there were in Port Vallyn.”

“I do,” Ayden put in, remembering the look in Matt’s eyes when he told him. “He cares about her. He wants us to save her.”

“Hope for the best, expect the worst,” Falcon told him.

Ayden just nodded.

It took them a while until they spotted the door, which was over three hundred feet up the mountain. They would have to climb up to it. Luckily, they had Cael, who was a ranger and could manipulate nature. He could shift the ground enough to create hand-and-footholds for them.

They had only made it a couple of yards before Cael stopped them. “Ba’erda!” he swore under his breath in Woodlander, then spoke louder in common to the others, “Down. He has hellhounds on patrol, and they have caught our scent.”

They barely had time to get back to level ground before five of the monstrous black dogs came charging down the mountainside, their fiery eyes glowing, and their huge paws pounding into the rock and dirt. Their claws gripped the ground, keeping them from sliding; this was their territory, giving them the advantage.

But there was water nearby, and Cael was quick to make the connection. When they got close enough, the ranger sent a forceful gust of wind at one, knocking it down the rest of the slope, and then used another gust to send it into the ocean. It sizzled as the fire inside it went out, and splashed around uselessly before finally going under.

Four more of the beasts bounded toward the group, snarling and baring their long fangs. The ferocious beasts were the most deadly creatures on Kelstone now that the dragons were extinct. Kieran’s son had known what he was up against and had planned accordingly. He had taken no chances and sent plenty to stop them, including the six guards that were now running down the stairs from the main temple entrance. But it would take them a while to make it to the bottom of the mountain and around to them, so the group focused on the hellhounds for now.

Cael continued with wind attacks, but the next monster—a slightly larger one with a chunk out of its right ear—was smarter than the other and moved in a zigzag pattern until it reached the bottom, successfully dodging the gusts of wind. As soon as it got to level ground, Cael reached back like he was scooping up the air and threw his hand forward. Several gallons of water parted from the ocean and splashed the hellhound. It sizzled, but its fiery eyes kept glowing and most of the liquid turned to steam. It wasn’t enough to do any real damage.

Meanwhile, one of the monsters jumped for Ayden, who was a couple of yards away, and another went for Falcon, who was standing beside him. The mage sent a couple of ice shards, pushing the first back, while Falcon slashed at the second with his sword and struck its front leg. It growled and snapped at him.

Ayden quickly cast a shield as his dog breathed fire at him. The shield glowed blue for a moment, then broke. He cast another. The hellhound swiped at it with its massive paw and broke it again. Its strength was too much. The mage sent more ice shards as he backed away. One hit the monster in the face and it yelped loudly.

Nearby, Falcon jumped aside, dodging a stream of fire that the hellhound he fought shot from its mouth. He slashed back and ripped a gash in the thing’s shoulder, then thrust his sword into its side. Just then, the dog that was still on the mountain above them bounded forward and jumped at him from behind.

Ayden turned just in time to see it and cast a shield between the dog and Falcon. The shield broke under the pressure of the huge beast, but it stopped it long enough for Falcon to turn around and drive his sword into its chest.

Ayden felt his personal shield break under a fire attack and returned his attention to his own dog. He quickly cast another shield, but not before he felt the heat of the flames, the fire catching the bottom of shirt before he pat it out. He waited for the hellhound to get closer, then threw his hand out and cast a lightning bolt. This time it hit the creature in the head, and the thing collapsed onto the ground.

The guards finally reached the bottom of the stairs at the base of the mountain and Falcon ran a couple of yards to meet them, killing one almost as soon as he got to them. Cael, finally getting an opening, drove his sword into the monster’s chest. As the unusually smart hellhound howled weakly and fell limp, Cael headed toward Falcon to help, but suddenly another two hellhounds came charging down the mountainside. He used a wind attack on one, but the other jumped at him.

Ayden spotted a rope laying twenty feet away, as if it had been tossed out of the temple window several stories above it. He ran closer and cast his animate rope spell. Under his guidance, the rope shot through the air, and then, as he made several circular hand motions, it quickly wrapped itself around the dog’s front legs, causing it to tumble down the hill and into the ocean, where it sizzled and died.

Cael smiled, amused by the comical scene. He sent another blast of wind and knocked his hellhound into the water as well. It tried to get out, but slid on the slippery rock, and then it was too late. The ocean took it, extinguishing its life.

The two of them headed to the bottom of the stairs to join Falcon, who had already taken out several of the guards, and together, they quickly killed the rest.

But the battle wasn’t over yet. Now they had to get into the temple where more obstacles would be waiting for them. At least there shouldn’t be any hellhounds left, eight of them were probably all the temple had.

Seeing no more guards or monsters, the group headed up to the temple, climbing the stairs as quickly as possible. Halfway up, Cael grabbed Ayden’s arm to help him keep up. When they got to the side door, Cael let him go. Ayden’s lungs were burning, but he couldn’t stop to catch his breath—the attacks had slowed them down too much already, and now there were two more guards waiting for them.

Cael and Falcon killed the men, and then Ayden followed them through a series of rooms and up a staircase leading out to a balcony above the altar room. Four guards, armed with bows and focused on what was happening in the room below, stood around the railing. Falcon and Cael both took out their daggers and sliced the throats of the ones nearest to them as Ayden took out the other two with lightning bolts to their heads.

Ayden turned and looked down, his hand half raised, ready to cast. Two of Malluk’s clergymen were standing on the left side of a large stone altar, just a few feet away from the lava pit that ran the length of the room. On the other side of the altar, a ghost hovered in the air, watching excitedly. Her lips were red and she had some color. It seemed she was already coming back to life.

And there, lying on the altar, was a sacrifice. Fear clutched painfully at Ayden’s heart when he saw Tess. Matt stood beside her, bent over her slightly with his back to Ayden. Then, before Ayden or the others had time to move or even make a sound, Matt’s arm moved in a slicing motion, and when his hand came into view, Ayden saw the blood on the dagger.

They were too late.

All the fight immediately drained out of him, replaced with intense anguish. His hand fell to his side. That was it; there was nothing left. Tears flooded his eyes and his chest hurt so much that he couldn’t breathe. She can’t be gone, he thought. Not her, not Tess.

Suddenly, an invisible force knocked Matt back onto the ground just as the ropes fell away from Tess' wrists. Ayden gasped. Matt had cut her free, he was saving her! He was turning on his mother and his god for her. Ayden could have cried with relief. Tess was alive! Though he knew now that she was truly lost to him, Matt loved her, but at least she was alive—that was what really mattered.

Matt got to his feet and pulled out his sword just as the cleric started for Tess. She sat up and kicked him toward Matt, who stabbed him through the middle. Matt pulled out his blade and went for Kieran as the cleric fell to the ground, but the priest shot a dark red, glowing ball out of his palm and hit Matt’s shoulder. Matt fell forward, catching himself on the altar.

“Kill her!” Kieran ordered furiously. “And tie my son up!”

Two guards ran closer. Matt got back to his feet and killed one, while Tess fought with the other. After a moment, she landed a hard kick in his chest and he stumbled back, past the altar, and fell off the ledge into the lava pit.

The priest turned toward her, but Ayden sent an ice shard and it hit him in the stomach, shattering on impact. The priest doubled over from the icy blow. When he stood upright again, there were several small tears in his robe.

Matt looked up at the mage with a small smile and eyes filled with relief. Then something directly under the balcony, out of view from Ayden and the others, got his attention. He looked over to Tess and back, then suddenly he dropped his weapons, pulled her into his arms, and turned with her. In the next second, two arrows plunged into his back. He let her go as he collapsed onto the ground.

Ayden cast a shield around himself as the priest shot a glowing red orb at him. Falcon headed for the doorway, hurrying downstairs, while Cael just hopped over the railing and landed lithely on the ground floor.

Tess fell into a crouch beside Matt, her hand caressing his face, her eyes tender and pained. Then she looked up at the two men who had shot him, both of which were readying more arrows. She screamed in fury as she jumped over Matt and ran at them. One threw down his bow and took out a sword, but she kicked him in the stomach immediately and he stumbled back. She grabbed the other’s bow and ducked when he swung at her, slipping around behind him and hooking the bow around his neck so that the string pulled against his throat. She twisted it around, letting his own weapon strangle him.

The first man came at her again, but before he could reach her, Cael stabbed the man through the middle. He kicked him off his sword and turned to grab the other man from Tess, killing him quickly. He was completely against causing someone to suffer, regardless of who they were, and Tess had been letting the man die slowly in her rage. “Stay calm and focused,” he told her firmly, then moved quickly towards the guards that were now entering the room. Falcon passed her a moment later and went to fight alongside his friend.

Ayden stayed on the balcony, dodging and blocking the priest's spells and shooting his own in turn. The man had a shield of his own, which surprised Ayden since he knew that Kieran hadn't had one when Falcon and the other fought her nineteen years ago. It must have been a new power that Malluk’s clergy had. A lightning bolt worked well to break the translucent, red barrier, but the man was quick to create a new one.

Matt was next to the priest. He glanced at Tess, then grabbed the Spirit Dagger off the floor and pulled himself up slowly, using the altar for support, his jaw clenched in pain and his eyes narrowed in fierce determination.

Seeing that Matt was going after his mother, Tess went for her as well, attempting to distract her. She only made a few steps before she was hit with Kieran’s energy magic and thrown back against the wall. She hit her head hard and slid limply to the floor.

But she had given Matt the opening he needed. Several things all happened at once. Matt stabbed his mother’s ghost. The priest picked Matt’s sword up off the floor and stabbed him with it from behind, running him through. Ayden sent a lightning bolt at the priest, striking him in the head, while the ghost screamed and then burst into nothing. Matt and the priest both collapsed onto the ground—neither moving again.

Ayden jumped down off the balcony, using his feather fall spell to land softly, then ran to Tess. He checked her quickly and sighed with relief. She was only knocked out. Suddenly, seeing them from the corner of his eye, he turned and shot ice shards at one of the fire elementals that had just come out of the lava pit. The living, humanoid infernos sizzled, but kept coming. Falcon came, scooped his daughter into his arms and headed out of the room with her, while Ayden finished the battle with the fiery creatures easily, having the advantage of distance and ice spells.

With the last of the guards dead, Cael hurried to Matt and knelt beside him. He took the Spirit Dagger and threw it into the lava without a moment’s hesitation—Ayden knew that Cael believed no one should be allowed to possess such power.

Ayden watched as the ranger removed the arrows. Matt didn’t even stir; he was barely alive. Cael rolled him onto his back, then put a hand on his forehead and one on his stomach for a moment. He closed his eyes and silently called on the spirit of nature to heal him.

After a couple minutes, he stood and turned to Ayden. “Help me get him to the boat.”

Ayden didn’t move.

“Put it aside,” Cael ordered firmly. “He saved her, now we will try to save him.”

Ayden hated Matt more then he had ever thought he could hate anyone. He wanted to leave him there to die, or even help by shoving him into the lava pit. But then he thought of Tess. Matt loved her—he had risked his life for her. Tess had done the same for him in the Spirit Cave. And the way she had looked at him when he had been hit by the archers...

He took a deep breath. If being with Matt was what made Tess happy, then he would help save him. He wiped away the tears that had started slipping down his face. His chest ached as if it were hollow and ready to cave in, but he nodded and walked closer.

He stopped when he noticed the sword, the Farlon Lightning Blade, lying on the ground. He was tempted to take it—it didn’t belong in the hands of someone like Matt.

Cael followed his gaze. “Why do you feel so possessive of it?” he asked, picking up on Ayden’s feelings with his Woodlander perception.

“Because it belongs in the hands of a Farlon descendant, not him,” Ayden answered quietly. “But my great-uncle was a gambler and sold it along with many other items, even Farlon Castle just last year, paying off his stupid debts.”

“You are of that bloodline?”

Ayden didn’t usually say much about himself and rarely spoke of his family. He didn’t want other mages finding out about his bloodline, and so knowing how much power he had, how much potential. Then they would ask him why he was wasting his life on the road, fighting, instead of doing his mage’s duty. He should be married to another mage, having children and working to advance magic, to keep it strong.

In that moment, he knew what he had to do, where he would go. There was another life waiting for him, one he had given up to be with Tess. He would enroll at the Arcane University and be who his grandmother wanted him to be. Become a researcher, an enchanter; maybe even teach someday like his grandfather had.

Ayden would have to learn how to be happy with that, he supposed. And somehow, he would have to learn to let go of Tess. He swallowed hard as the thought caused a sharp pain in his chest, and his eyes stung with fresh tears.

He nodded, focusing on Cael again. “I’m the last of the Farlon line. The sword belongs to me... or at least to my grandmother.”

“Will you take it, then?”

Ayden picked the sword up. He felt its power and it felt good, right, like the sword had been made for him. But then, the enchantment on it had come from his own bloodline. He sighed heavily as he slid the weapon into the sheath on Matt’s belt. “No. He bought it, and I’m not a thief.” Just another thing he has that’s supposed to be mine, he thought miserably.

Cael nodded approvingly. “Help me.”

Ayden nodded, too, and grabbed Matt’s feet.

When they reached the boat, Cael thanked the captain for keeping their arrival quiet, and then they took Matt to a cabin below deck and laid his body on a small built-in bed.

“Will he make it?” Ayden asked.

“I do not know,” Cael answered. “He is very strong, so he is holding on... barely. But the arrows were poisonous, and their venom is spreading through him quickly. It is an unnatural poison, and I cannot even slow it. It must be some sort of divine magic. I will bring Sera to him once we reach Port Vallyn.”

Ayden just nodded slowly.

Cael gave his shoulder a pat, his eyes filled with sympathy now. “I am sorry,” he told him. “Sometimes things do not work out the way we hope. Many years ago I suffered the same lost. At least in your case, she is still alive.”

“Yeah,” Ayden said solemnly.

“Will you return with us to Brunya City?”

“No.”

Cael nodded. “Will you speak with Tess before you go?”

“No. I don’t wanna see anyone, I just... I wanna go away.” He looked back at Matt and held his hatred in check. “I hope he makes it,” he said tightly, “for her sake.”

“You are a good man,” Cael commended. “I wish you the best on whatever path you choose to take now.”

“Thanks.”

__________

When the two gods watched Matt destroyed Kieran in the silver font, Malluk roared in rage and stormed off, but Mortalia smiled. “Well, what do you know,” she murmured. “The boy has a heart.” Then she noticed Matt’s wrist and frowned at the hellhound birthmark that was still there. “Let him go,” she called to Malluk.

The dark god turned around. “What?” he growled.

She faced him. “Take your mark off him. Let him go.”

He just glared at her.

“I let Kieran return as a ghost, regardless of what happened. I did that for you. Now do this for me. This man isn’t yours anymore, he’s found his heart, let him go so that he might be able to learn to use it.”

Malluk looked at her as if she were crazy for a moment, but then shrugged. “Fine. It’s not like he’ll survive the poison anyway.” He laughed coldly and left the room.

She turned back to the font and gazed at Matt. Tess and Ayden had gotten to him. They were able to find the heart in Malluk’s perfect disciple. It made her happy, and things rarely did that. She wanted this man to live so that she could keep watching him, to see where his story would go from here.

“Are you coming?” Malluk barked suddenly from behind her.

Good luck, she thought to Matt, then turned and left with the dark god.