Blood the color of tarnished gold smeared the folds of Khramelan’s wings: deep, diagonal cuts and scratches that the demons had given him. In this condition, he couldn’t hold them off forever.
The ghosts rose to Khramelan’s aid, and in a soundless clash, a great battle was fought. Humans and cranes and paper birds had no place in this fight, would only die in this fight. But I couldn’t do anything to help them.
“Get out of here!” I cried when I saw my brothers dip through the mist. They had returned, and bit at the invisible chains that held me.
“You fools,” I whispered through the relief in my heart that they were alive. “Leave before the demons kill you. Go!”
Of course they ignored me. So did Takkan. My vision was too faint to make out his face, but I recognized the soft tap of his footsteps, the warmth of his hand on mine.
“I’ve one arrow left,” he told me. “Your brothers and I think if I shoot Bandur’s amulet, we can free you.”
“Do it,” I whispered. “I’m ready.”
Takkan was swift. I couldn’t imagine how he would pick out one demon amid the horde, but I heard the snap of a bowstring and the whir of his arrow flying.
Then, a beat later, I dropped. His arrow had found its mark.
My brothers caught me as my fingers scraped against the lip of the well. Takkan reached for my arms, and Kiki grabbed my hair, the seven paper birds nipping my sleeves and collar.
Six princes, eight birds, and one lordling, all here to catch you from falling into a well, said Kiki, shaking her head at me. Not your finest day, Shiori. She landed on my shoulder, the glint of gold and silver on her wings shining brighter than ever. But we’ve been through worse.
“So we have,” I replied as I took Takkan’s hand and slowly pulled myself up.
Spinning out of a hidden corner, the pearl crept toward me.
I crossed my arms. “You’re no more than a child, aren’t you?” I scolded it. “I brought you halfway across the world, nearly getting killed a dozen times, and you’re too afraid to go back to him?”
The pearl pulsed—rather ruefully, it seemed. It didn’t come out of the shadows.
Irritation radiating from my core, I limped toward it and scooped it under my arm. “Your home is his heart, and his heart is your home. You don’t belong to anyone or anywhere else. Whatever has happened between you, you two must sort out. Help him now—or Khramelan will die.”
A wink of the pearl’s light bathed me, which I took as assent. “Come,” I said to it firmly. “We know what we have to do.”
There was little time. Powerful as Khramelan was, he couldn’t defeat Lapzur’s demons on his own. Already, Bandur was starting to howl his triumph.
I clasped the pearl in both hands. Its halves began to open, sparks of light dancing out like fireflies, but I didn’t flinch. I wouldn’t even blink.
“Free Khramelan of this island,” I commanded the pearl. “He is the dragon you belong to, and you are the heart he seeks. The island and all its demons and ghosts will be Bandur’s. Make it so.”
In a searing burst, the pearl’s power exploded over Lapzur. The pearl floated above my hands, spinning faster than ever, the great fracture in its center crackling like lightning.
That’s enough! Kiki exclaimed. The pearl—it’s killing you!
I barely heard her. Light and wind and heat gushed from the spinning pearl, and my back arched as it tugged at the glimmering silver-gold threads of my soul.
Brighter and brighter the pearl shone. My pupils burned just from looking at it, but I couldn’t turn away. By now, its light encompassed the entire island, casting a net over every demon and ghost, even Bandur. I could feel it was on the verge of breaking, its center splintering a hair further with each moment to emit more light, more power.
“Stop,” I told the pearl. “That’s enough.”
Of course it didn’t listen. I reached up to hold it, to stop it from cleaving in two.
It was like holding an exploding star. Heat scalded my cheeks, and my hair came undone, flying wildly. Before my eyes, every strand turned silvery white…until I couldn’t tell my hair from the light. Just before it became too much to bear, the pearl whizzed out of my grasp to Khramelan’s side.
A firework of light rocked the sky, and the demons snapping at Khramelan’s wings and stabbing at his flesh blew apart. Khramelan emerged from the frenzy, his claw curled around the pearl, and he let out a deafening roar.
The island’s ghosts rose once more. They picked up their fallen skulls and hacked bones and thronged into one teeming mass that tore into the demons. Khramelan too found his strength.
Launching from the sky, he dove and landed on Bandur’s back, pinning him to the ground. “You wished to become the King of Demons,” Khramelan boomed. “Welcome to your domain. From now on, your power extends not past these waters. My reign is done, and now yours begins. I bind you to the Forgotten Isles of Lapzur.”
Bandur began to writhe, his fur blurring into smoke as the magic of the island seized him. “No!” he cried. “No!”
The demons of Lapzur squealed as the feast began, and the ghosts stretched open their gaping maws and consumed each of them whole. Championed by the power of Khramelan’s pearl, the ghosts wielded their cursed touch, and every demon on the island transformed into a ghost. It was a fitting punishment for betraying their former guardian—and ironic for Bandur, for now he would be the lone demon of the Forgotten Isles.
With magnificent strength, Khramelan grabbed Bandur by the tail and flung him into the well, sealing it shut with a flare of demonfire.
The tower made a great and terrible shudder as Lapzur claimed its new guardian.
Takkan and I had fled to the tower ramparts, but now the stairs were blocked by demonfire. There was no way out.
“We have to jump!” I shouted. My brothers hovered below, assailed by ferocious winds.
You’ll never make it home without the basket, wailed Kiki.
I gritted my teeth. She was right, but getting off this island was my primary concern. I’d worry about Kiata later.
Hand in hand, Takkan and I dove off the tower.
As we plummeted toward the sea, my brothers swerved to catch us, but the winds were too strong and buffeted them off course.
Out of the darkness, Khramelan swooped into view. Takkan and I tumbled onto his wing, rolling from the impact until we hit against the spikes along his spine.
“Hold on!” I yelled to Takkan, grabbing a spike and clinging on with all my might.
Faster than the sons of the wind, Khramelan surged past Lapzur, piercing the mist that shrouded the Forgotten Isles. I held my breath, waiting until I caught sight of six crimson crowns in our wake.
Had every muscle in my body not been utterly spent, I would have let out a jubilant whoop. But I settled for a ripple of satisfaction in my heart.