A Battle of Blood and Stone (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 4)

Because Rainey, Myles, and Titus are new to this story, Carrick filled in some details that Lucien left out, mainly that Micah had transformed into a twisted monster after drinking his bitter tears from the chalice. “But we can talk about how to deal with him physically in a bit. For now, we need to know how to slip into his realm unseen.”

For this, Lucien pushed up from his chair and moved to the opposite end of the table from Carrick. He pulled the image of the blackened realm with him, then stopped it from rotating so we were looking at the mountains from the perspective of the dried-up ocean floor with the lava river flowing up the slope of the middle mountain before disappearing inside. It was extremely weird to see the flow go against the laws of gravity.

Lucian enlarged the hologram-like image, then zoomed in to an area at the base of one of the mountains. It had large boulders the size of minivans scattered about. Pointing at a dark crevice, Lucien said, “This is the cave where Micah lives. Inside is a stone table and a chair carved from rock and on the table is the Blood Stone. Or at least, that’s what it looked like when I was last there.”

“So, we have to go into the cave?” Maddox asks, scratching at his chin. “That’s going to be tricky, so at this point, I’d like you to tell me there’s a back entrance.”

Lucien shakes his head. “Only the one you see, and the cave is small. Barely room but for the table and chair.”

“We have to draw him out,” Myles posits, and then smiles sheepishly. “And by ‘we’ I mean ‘you’.”

Lucien nods. “Some type of distraction he’ll have to check out.”

“What would draw him out?” Rainey asks.

Lucien shrugs. “He doesn’t want anything but Charmeine.”

The table is silent as we consider his distinct lack of desires.

It’s Rainey who breaks the quiet. “Make him think Charmeine is outside of the cave.”

I turn in my chair her way. “What do you mean?”

“You have magic at your disposal. I’m sure you can create a magical mirage, or transform your likeness into that of Charmeine’s.”

“Absolutely not,” Carrick says. “Finley isn’t going to be in his direct line of sight.”

“Then let Maddox transform himself,” Rainey suggests.

“I’m not going to dress up like a girl,” he whines dramatically, but we know he’s kidding. He’ll do anything it takes, and he’s all about the mischief.

“It could work,” Lucien murmurs as he steps back from the floating image of the black island. He puts one arm across his stomach, propping up the opposite elbow so he can rest his chin in his palm. Pointing at the beach area, he says, “We could enter the veil here.”

“Those boulders are enough to give us good cover,” Carrick says.

“If we’re lucky, Maddox can distract Micah enough for us to slip in and out of the cave quickly,” Lucien adds. “I’m the one who will grab the chalice, though.”

“And what do the rest of us do?” I ask.

As it turns out, the plan ends up being a lot more complicated than a distraction while we slip in and out. We spend the better part of two hours planning for every possible contingency or surprise. At one point, we scrap the dressing up Maddox as Charmeine plan and discuss going in with full magical force. Stun Micah to incapacitation, then take the chalice.

But that seems risky and far many more things can go wrong, especially since we don’t know the depth or breadth of Micah’s powers. He might not be so easy to take down and if there’s even a second where he thinks the Blood Stone is at risk, he could kill Charmeine with a snap of his fingers.

Thus, we go back to the original plan.

We also discuss the ethics of what we’re doing. Yes, it’s wrong to steal, but screw those sensibilities. For the fate of the world, it’s an easily forgivable sin. But the big question is what do we do with Micah?

Kill him or let him live?

It’s a question that inspired furious debate, and we were split along gender lines. Rainey and I wanted to spare him while all the men—including Myles to my surprise—felt it would be idiocy to let a monster like that live. He’d be hell-bent on revenge was their argument, and no one wanted to be looking over their shoulders.

Ultimately, it was a majority rule type of thing and the decision was made that Micah had to be terminated. I forced that tender, empathetic part of me to ice over and accept it. I knew this would only be one of many horrendous choices I’d be faced with in the coming weeks.

We’re wrapping things up and I’m exhausted. I can’t fight back the yawn and despite having the beauty of a demi-god in bed with me tonight, I really just want a good night’s sleep so I’m fresh for our march tomorrow.