Awakening in the pre-dawn light, Emily shivered with the strong sensation that she was being watched. Her eyes fluttered open to the sight of two dark shapes at the foot of her bed.
Instantly awake, Emily shot up to a sitting position, the bed linen falling about her waist. With a whoosh, she ignited a fireball in her right hand, filling the room with light. "Who's there?"
"It's just us, Emily," said Talyndra, the Stoneshell fire flickering in her eyes. Beside her stood Dorian, his features etched with a serious expression.
"Am I late for the ritual?!" Emily gasped, gripping the bedsheets with her unlit hand.
"No, there is still some time before dawn," said Dorian, making intense eye contact.
"Has there been a change of plan?" Emily asked. "Are we still meeting at the Stone Circle?"
"The plan remains the same," replied Talyndra. "We came to talk to you about something else. Something important."
Emily furrowed her brows. "What could be more important than the ritual to break the curse on the statues?"
Talyndra and Dorian exchanged a glance. They seemed to be wordlessly debating which of them should speak first.
"We've been talking," Talyndra said at last. "Dorian and I. Comparing notes. And we've both noticed something too big to ignore. Something that could put us all in great danger."
Dorian nodded, now looking at a point somewhere above Emily's head. "We've done some research too. So we're sure about it."
"There hasn't been much to go on," Talyndra added. "We weren't sure we should tell you. Spent all night arguing about it, just about. Abbess Althea said not to worry you with it. But it's too dangerous."
Emily frowned. "You guys are talking in circles! Just tell me what it is you have to say!" The fireball in her hand flared with her irritation. She flung it at a wall-mounted torch, illuminating the room.
Dorian drew in a deep breath. "It's about the Nightmoss, Emily."
Emily's pupils shrank to pinpricks. Beneath the covers, she felt a soft tickle against her ankle. Shadows flitted through her mind, and she recalled her escape from the Shimmerwood spirits and the death of Richard.
"We've both seen it in action," said Talyndra. "In Shimmerwood and beneath Tiedavon Abbey. It's incredibly powerful, and it has a mind of its own."
A pained expression crossed Dorian's face. "I should have realized it sooner. When I first met you... the Nightmoss on the cavern wall reacted to your touch. The cave where you confronted Victus was full of the stuff. You almost drowned in it! I should have checked you all over, made sure you were clean."
Something in Dorian's words made Emily belatedly realize that her upper body had been exposed since she'd first sat up. Blushing, she pulled the bedsheet over her chest.
"You didn't know what we know now," said Talyndra, looking sympathetically at Dorian. "You didn't know what the Nightmoss was."
"I should have," Dorian muttered.
"W-what is it?" Emily asked, a chill running down her spine. The Bronzeband weighed heavily on her ankle.
"A powerful force," said Talyndra, her voice flat. "Its purpose is to grow and devour. But it can only do that through certain powerful magical artifacts, artifacts that it resonates with."
Emily used both hands to pull the bedsheets up, exposing her calves. She looked fearfully at the Bronzeband. "Get it off me!" she screamed.
At once, Dorian took the anklet in both hands and pulled. It refused to budge.
"Harder!" Emily shouted.
Dorian grunted with effort, twisting and pulling the anklet, but it remained firmly in place. Talyndra joined in, placing her hands between his and pulling with all her might, but still it refused to move. Even when Emily leaned forward and joined in the effort, the Bronzeband remained in place, as though it were permanently fused to her ankle.
After much futile straining, the three fell back, huffing and puffing. "Well that's just great," Emily said. "I've never had problems taking stuff off before!"
"I can prepare a spellbreak that might remove it," said Dorian. "But it will take time."
Emily frowned. Then she had an idea.
Her ankle lit up with fire, lighting the room and causing Talyndra and Dorian to stumble back, shielding their faces. "Sorry!" Emily said. "I figured this would be quicker." She reached for her ankle and slipped the Bronzeband off. "Ha!"
Emily inspected the inside of the band, looking for telltale signs of black moss. Finding none, she shrugged and tossed it to Dorian. "I can't see any moss there, can you?"
Dorian looked at the inside of the band, and Talyndra stood on her tiptoes to join the search. After a good five minutes, both admitted they could see no sign of the Nightmoss.
"Great, we got rid of it!" Emily cried, dropping the sheet in her excitement and then hastily picking it up again. "Nothing a little fire can't take care of."
Dorian frowned, placing the Bronzeband back on the bed. "I wouldn't be so sure it's gone," he said. "You've been traveling with it for so long, there's no doubt it's spread from the Bronzeband by now. And if there's even the smallest amount on you, well... the ritual will release an immense amount of magical energy. Once the curse on the Stoneshell is lifted, it will return to its full magical potential. And the Nightmoss will be perfectly positioned to harness that."
"Humans and their artifacts," Talyndra scoffed. "My grandmother always told me, no good could come of binding magic to dead things, or things that never lived to begin with."
"I think you can clearly see that I don't have any more Nightmoss on me," Emily said flatly. "And no, I'm not dropping this sheet again." She cast her eyes between Dorian and Talyndra, and then at the window of her chamber, where the first light of dawn was appearing.
The night before, Althea had informed her that a portion of Stoneshell fire would be transported to the Stone Circle in preparation for the ritual. She had also made clear the importance of beginning at dawn. To abandon the course now, after all she had been through to retrieve the ingredients, was unthinkable. There would not be another chance.
"Ignis Draken warned me about the Nightmoss," Emily said, slipping her foot back into the Bronzeband. "He told me not to give in to my shadow. He made it sound like I had some choice in the matter. And perhaps I do. The Nightmoss has been helpful before." She felt suddenly calm. Perhaps everything Dorian and Talyndra were saying was true, but hadn't she just burned all of the Nightmoss off the Bronzeband without a second thought? How much of a threat could it really be?
"Abbess Althea told us something like that as well," Talyndra said. "She said that you would be able to handle it."
Dorian shook his head. "I don't doubt your capability, Emily, but we can't take risks with such powerful magic. Surely you remember what it did to Richard."
"I could hardly forget."
At that moment, a brown-robed monk burst into the room, holding his hand over his eyes. "Miss Emily!" he cried. "The ritual is about to begin! You must hurry to the Stone Circle at once!"
Emily looked from the monk to Dorian and Talyndra's grave expressions. The first rays of sunlight poured through her window. She made her decision.
"Stone Circle," Emily said, leaving the monk, Dorian, and Talyndra to put out the fire in her bed.
The Stone Circle lay outside Paja Abbey, on a hilltop, where the air was cold and thin. Emily staggered forward from the Stoneshell fire in the formation's center.
Between the stone monoliths stood statues of all shapes and sizes, all materials and descriptions. At once, Emily caught Aria's eye, and the marble woman smiled so wide it seemed as though her face might crack. The other statues let out whoops and cries of joy at the sight of their savior.
The ritual ingredients were arrayed around the circle—the Shard of True Reflection, enlarged to a full-size mirror, was propped up against a stone monolith, and beakers of sparkling Azure Essence adorned a short plinth next to another monolith. But most spectacular of all was the Heartflame, which floated above the tops of the monoliths, aligned with the Stoneshell fire in the formation's center, lighting and heating the circle like a miniature sun.
"We were starting to worry," said Abbess Althea, who stood near the edge of the circle, facing away from Emily, towards the rising sun. "Let the ritual begin."
Emily took a deep breath, in and out, trying to calm her nerves. She wanted to ask Althea about the Nightmoss, to receive some reassurance after Talyndra and Dorian had unsettled her. But Althea was already letting out the deep, melodic hum that she had told Emily would signify the start of the ritual.
"The ritual must begin at sun-up," she had told Emily. "And once it begins, it cannot be interrupted."
Four female monks in brown Paja robes appeared from behind the monoliths, one at each cardinal direction. In unison, they bowed to Emily. The one closest to the Shard of True Reflection lifted it, and the monks walked towards her.
Emily's reflection smiled at her. The girl in the mirror was naked but for a few magical artifacts, as she was. Beyond that, there were several differences. Her body was hairless, and the hair on her head was tied back in a long, neat braid. Most strikingly, her skin was covered with intricate patterns, painted in glowing blue ink.
"The real must match the reflection," Althea's voice boomed.
Two of the monks gently took Emily's arms and led her to a large porcelain basin full of warm, soapy water. A third monk helped her into the basin, and then all three set about washing the ash and other accumulated grime from her body. The fourth monk stood before them, holding the Shard of True Reflection steady.
The sponges the monks used were soft, but vigorously applied. "I can wash myself!" Emily protested, but her cries fell on deaf ears. "Is this really necessary?"
"The ritual has begun!" snapped Althea. "Do not interrupt it!"
Emily gulped, recalling Aria's story of the failed ritual that brought about her curse. She took a deep breath and tried to stifle the flinches and giggles that arose as the monks continued to lather her body.
"Please hold very still," said one of the monks, producing a large razor blade.
The other two monks held up Emily's arms, and Emily's eyes widened as the blade approached her armpits. The blade looked sharp enough to cut her quite badly if she made any sudden movements.
The monk shaved Emily's armpits, and then the light hair on her arms, working quickly and methodically. She then moved on to Emily's legs, giving her a much quicker and smoother shave than she'd ever managed herself. Finally, with a significant look at the Shard of True Reflection and an additional exhortation for Emily to keep still, she removed Emily's pubic hair, which had grown quite thick during her time in Thessolan. As she worked, one of the other monks braided Emily's hair.
It took every ounce of Emily's willpower to keep still and allow the monks to continue. As their hands moved all over her body, and the razor blade removed what faint scraps of modesty had remained to her in Thessolan, she told herself that this would all be worth it, to see Aria's smiling human face. She looked up at the Heartflame to avoid making eye contact with the monks or the statues, who she could feel watching her intently.
The monks dried Emily with tiny hand towels and then pulled her from the basin. One of their number procured a beaker of Azure Essence and dipped her hand into it. The magical substance sparkled against her skin.
With careful reference to the Shard of True Reflection, the monk began to paint Emily, tracing the patterns over her skin with a soft touch. She traced long lines down the sides of Emily's hips and painted spirals up her legs and arms. A second monk joined in, dotting Azure Essence across Emily's stomach and breasts. A third monk drew patterns on her back, and the fourth applied Essence to her face.
When they were done, Emily was indistinguishable from the girl who smiled back at her from the magical reflection. She was naked and shorn, her hair neatly tied back in a braid that reached the crack of her buttocks. Though her skin was covered in glowing blue runes, they did nothing to hide her absolute nudity. The Stoneshell hung from her neck, the Bronzeband encircled her ankle, and her hair tie adorned her wrist.
"Good," said Althea, still gazing towards the sun, which had by now fully crested the mountains. "Now step into the fire."