She slashed her sword through the last spikes and no more appeared. Tears formed in Serak’s eyes, spilling down his cheeks and staining his tunic. He reached his hands out to her sword and gently placed it on his throat.
“Please,” he pleaded. “Please remove my shame.”
Elenyr withdrew her sword and shook her head. “Shame is not removed by the sword,” she said.
He swallowed and wiped at his face. The conflict passed through his features, the muscles contracting and releasing, his lips trembling as if in pain. Helping Elenyr went against everything he’d built, but it was his only chance of repairing the damage of his failure. His shoulders slumped . . . and he spoke in a whisper.
“Two thousand years ago, I opened the Dark Gate myself. The Dark of Kelindor entered Lumineia, nearly consuming me. It did kill my four lieutenants in the room.”
“That’s where you got the cloaks for Draeken’s generals,” Elenyr said.
He nodded. “The Dark is a power of its own, and I managed to insert my will upon the cloaks, turning them to my command.”
“Why did Mimic not die in the acid?” she asked. Serak’s jaw worked but no words came out, and she advanced a step, her voice hardening as she repeated, “Why did Mimic not die?”
“Because I built a contingency into the Dark Gate,” he finally said. “I linked the four generals to the Gate, so if they perished, they would merely be Gated back to Kelindor.”
“Only the generals?”
He grimaced and refused to meet her gaze. When he spoke, his voice was hollow. “After the battle in the valley, I feared what Draeken would do, so when I rebuilt the Dark Gate, I ensured the same magic will attach to anything that passes through the portal.”
“How does this contingency work?” she pressed.
“The krey control the Gate energy through machines,” he said. “But it is an energy like any other, and that means it is magic—magic that can be manipulated by mind mages.”
“Like my son,” Elenyr said.
Serak nodded in agreement. “Zoric unknowingly created a web of Gate energy across the Gate, so anything that passed through it would be linked to it. Every fiend that enters Lumineia will be leashed to the Dark Gate. If the portal is closed, they will be drawn back to Kelindor.”
It was the truth she’d sought for, the secret that gave them a chance at victory. It seemed so simple, destroy the Gate and the army would disappear. A spark of hope kindled in Elenyr’s chest.
“So closing the Gate will draw the generals back through as well?” she asked.
Serak shook his head. “Their link is only partial. If the Gate is closed before the generals return, they will remain on Lumineia. You must kill them before you close the Gate.”
“How do I kill them?”
Serak shook his head. “An opposite magic will kill them for good, but any normal death will simply push them back through the Gate.”
Elenyr saw the path to victory form in her mind. Tenuous and dangerous, she imagined killing the four generals, and then shutting the Dark Gate. Permanently. If they did it right, the Draeken War would be over.
“Does Draeken know about this?” she asked.
Serak held her gaze. “No.”
“And Zoric?”
“I told him it was part of the function of a Gate,” he said. “None but you and I know this secret.”
“Then I will use it to stop him,” she said.
He reached a hand to the broken entrance corridor and the stones shifted and lifted, reforming the exit. She could have departed with ease as the Hauntress, but she recognized the gesture for what it was, an act of trust.
“Please, Elenyr,” he pleaded. “Please, remove my shame.”
Elenyr inclined her head. “I will try.”
She turned and departed up the corridor, her step lighter than at her approach. For the first time in months she saw a way to victory. The Gate could be closed, the fiends destroyed, the war ended. She paused and looked back, wondering if she should kill Serak. But she had no thirst for his blood, so she turned and walked away.
“That was interesting.”
She nearly leapt from her skin when Shadow materialized at her side. “You watched?” she demanded.
“Of course,” he spoke like the question was ridiculous. “I came in through the hole at the base of the chamber. Did you really think you could lock me out of anything?”
She smiled and reached out to tousle his hair. “I guess not.”
He smiled and jerked a thumb back at Serak’s prison. “Are we going to kill him?”
She paused and looked back. “No. Draeken has chosen his fate, and on this, we have an accord.”
She faced forward and advanced up the corridor to the secret exit, a plan forming in her mind. It would work, of that she was certain, but the timing would have to be flawless. For the first time in months, a smile spread on her features.
“When you get that look, someone always dies,” Shadow said.
She grinned and motioned to him. “Can you get a message to the other fragments?”
“Of course.”