A Baron of Bonds (Conduit of Light #2)

77. Karus

Chapter 77

Karus

THE BARON TRIAL

My focus was keen.

Revich had sent me here to prove I could wield the power of a Baron.

He’d never meant for me to become a conduit.

He’d meant to share his power all along.

Little snippets of our conversations, little implications he’d left, they all made sense now, like the key to a map I’d been given, unknowingly leading me here to prove myself a fifth time.

I was livid.

I was enthralled.

I was hurt that he hadn’t shared this with me, but knowing Rev, he was likely following some rule that made him unable to.

And I understood that, but felt the jab of his omission all the same.

Could I become a Baron?

Would this power be something I wanted and had strength wield?

When he’d said he wanted to train conduits with me at his side, he’d meant this.

He’d meant two Barons instead of one, and I struggled to even fathom how .

One magical forest, one Baron to lead it.

For hundreds of years since the Blightress had given some of her power to Baron Adaynth, that’s how it had been.

And a woman?

Never happened.

The Baronship always passed to a man.

What would it look like in me? What would change, if anything?

I wanted to prove this one badly.

More than any of the other four trials, I wanted to succeed here, to show Rev that he was right, that I could do this.

But what exactly was I supposed to do?

“Hand me that shovel, son.” Byn pushed down on a long wedged piece of metal, forcing his whole weight on the end of it, prying one of the larger roots from the mud.

It made a sucking noise as the root separated from the sticky soil. Rev handed him the shovel to wedge underneath, holding the root upright.

Rhyzolm mining really was dangerous.

Byn pulled up his sleeves and went in, crawling under the massive root that, if the leverage did not hold, would snap over his body, breaking it and killing him instantly.

I wouldn’t miss him.

When his boots had disappeared, Rev moved to the entrance of the exposed underbelly of the marsh tree, ducking under with a lantern to help light his father’s way.

I could see him digging with a small spade, the sound of metal hitting wet soil striking my ears.

“Anything yet?” Heirah asked, coming around the massive tree and wiping her hands on her skirts.

She’d been working on the other side, digging under the smaller roots where smaller rhyzolms might be found.

Rev shook his head and bent low, watching his father dig further.

Byn shoveled thick slaps of sludge from under the tree, piling up beside Rev as his little hands dug through, searching for any stones.

We all heard it. The crack of wood.

Byn scrambled out from underneath, just as the wedged shovel gave way, the root crashing down into the silt, splattering the three of us, but leaving everyone unharmed.

“This tree needs rest. We’ve dug here enough today,” Heirah said, motioning to others nearby.

“Something big is under here. I can feel it.” Byn pulled the shovel from under the root, walking around the giant trunk, looking for another way in.

Heirah followed and I could hear their argument, hushed and angry.

Rev poked at the base of the tree, his small spade digging under two roots that wove around each other in tandem, each the same size and width, each holding the other in a spinning weave of the perfect balance.

He jabbed his spade under once more, prying the braided roots from the muck slightly, and peeking underneath.

I saw it, too.

The oddly shaped clump of mud.

He reached in and pulled it out, dropping his spade and dropping the roots, sweeping the silt from the irregularly shaped stone that I knew well.

Revich had found his first rhyzolm.

A yell came from behind the tree and Byn stormed off. Rev dropped the stone and stood, his heart pounding as he searched for his mother.

“Don’t lose it, Little Love.” She came around the other side of the tree, noticing the rhyzolm and cleaning it on her skirts. She held it out for Rev to take and he did, his hand shaking slightly as she bent down to meet his eyes. “This one is yours. Our little secret.” She winked and smiled to the side. The expression was so familiar, my heart broke watching the woman who gave him life and loved him so deeply.

I wanted to know her. I wanted to spend more time here, learning about her life, learning about what kind of woman she was.

But I’d never get to.

She was dead and this was just a memory.

Revich pocketed the stone, saying, “What were you arguing about?”

She rose to her full height and sighed. “This tree. Your father insists there’s something big here.” She paused, her eyes following the trunk all the way to the dark leaves at the top. “If we did find a large piece, the warden would be off our back, and we could rest the next few days.”

“Let’s keep looking then. I can go under, too. I’m old enough now,” he insisted, his voice a show of confidence.

She chuckled and tapped his nose. “Someday, Rev, but not yet. We need you holding the light to lead us back out when it gets too dark.”

He nodded and picked up his father’s shovel.

The looming conclusion to this day slid down my spine, solid enough to make Rev’s body shiver.

I knew what day this was.

This was the day Revich lost both of his parents.

“Just there, see that one? Wedge it right between, and I’ll push down this way.” Byn led Heirah as they continued to pry roots from the expanse of silt under this damning tree.

Rev watched, often shoving his hand in his pocket to squeeze his rhyzolm, curious at how it tried to lead him back to the village.

I would have been chewing my lip if I’d had my own to chew.

I needed to save his parents.

Well, I needed to save his mother at least.

Should I feign an injury and lead them back home?

Should I reveal the rhyzolm he’d found and his father would be satisfied enough to leave?

Should I injure Byn himself? Surely that would be satisfying as well as productive.

The problem was, none of those courses of action had to do with being a Baron.

I had learned in my studies and from watching Revich—even Heimlen—that the Baronship was about power. It was about precise training, searching for those who held powerful magic and helping them become more useful on the isle.

A Baron was a guide, a pathway, taking something unshapen that held potential, and molding it into something great.

The squelch of mud was sickening as two of the roots separated from the ground they’d grown into, leaving a dark, open space underneath the tree. There was a similar opening at the other end so that his parents could crawl through the entirety of it while they searched for rhyzolm.

Byn and Heirah pushed their wedges deeper into the mud, securing the opening as Rev brought the lantern closer.

His father went first, grabbing his spade, crawling underneath the root as it dripped its layer of silt. “I’ll search to the left, you to the right.”

His mother bent as well, ducking her head to follow.

“Don’t go,” I whispered through Rev.

She grinned back at me murmuring, “I’ll see you on the other side.”

Fuck.

Her last words to Rev, my last words to him as well before I entered the trials, churned my stomach. I wanted to grab her skirts and pull her away from what I was convinced were her final moments.

Rev was never going to see her again.

This is where she’d die, buried underneath a marsh tree, searching for the very stone that he was so adept at using.

I didn’t need to panic, I needed to save her.

I needed to save Rev from this memory.

Rev stayed bent, his lantern lit, guiding his parents to their deaths.

I saw the slip of the spade. I saw the way it slid ever so slightly to the left, beginning to fall away from the root it was tucked under.

I took control of Rev’s body once again, his hands shooting out to catch it, pushing it back down.

A Baron was a shaper, someone who could see the potential, the power in others.

I searched for that piece in this little boy.

I found it, hidden in what I could only call a cavern, a damp, dark place in his mind, and I burst the cavern door open.

Pulling from what I knew he would become, I gathered his power from Felgren and it shot forth from his hands in a blazing blue light, trailing underneath the tree, lighting the way and holding the roots above his parents as the wedge holding the entrance finally snapped in two.

In Revich’s memory, this had been the end.

This had been the moment he lost the woman who loved him, but I could save him from that.

His power held strong as his mother screamed at the sound of the break, the marsh tree groaning, swaying slightly while his parents rushed to the opening on the other side.

She emerged and rushed to him, squeezing his little body tightly and crying, her tears streaked with mud. Byn followed, catching his breath on his knees, eyeing his son with an awe I doubted Revich had ever seen.

“You are so powerful, Little Love. You saved us. You saved us from a sure death.” She hugged him to her chest again, her hands sliding over his hair.

I watched the scene as I was pulled from Revich’s little body, a brilliant flickering portal nearby, waiting for me to leave.

I stood there, taking one last look at the woman who gave him so many of his features, his mannerisms, and what I now knew was his heart.

I loved her.

I murmured a promise that I would take care of him and give him everything we both knew he deserved.

Filling my lungs one last time in her presence, I stepped into the portal that would take me to her son.