Free Treasure of Light (The Light Trilogy) by Kathleen O’Neal Page A

the fate of this universe. If we don’t plan—”
    “NO!”
    She shoved past him, ducking out of the cave to run madly along the base of the towering white cliff. Starlight turned the wind-sculpted world into a pewter and black painting, throwing her shadow like an amorphous giant over the bluff.
    “Rachel?” He called from somewhere behind, voice carried away by the wind. “Rachel, you’ll freeze to death out here! It’s a hundred below zero. And Jeremiel needs you! He’ll be looking for you. You have to stay near the cave!”
    An amber glow fluttered like a thing alive over the rough-hewn parapet. She stifled a cry of fear and turned in the opposite direction, climbing a rocky slope to escape him. Cold blue shadows clung to the hollows. The words about Jeremiel were certainly false. He knew nothing of her location. How could he? She’d left Seir with Adom only hours ago. No one knew where she’d gone—except Ornias. A prickle of terror touched her spine.
    For an eternal time, she just climbed and ran, until at last, she dragged herself to the top of an icy plateau. Wind hurled itself out of the silvered blackness, shoving her back and forth, draining the warmth from her body. Starlight fell like strewn pearls across the gravel-pocked ice at her feet, shadowing every undulation.
    She forced her leaden legs forward, breaking over the crest—and stopped dead in her tracks. A fiery violet halo grew on the horizon. Like a massive bank of roiling clouds, it swelled with each second. The war? No, it couldn’t be. They had no weapons on Horeb that could wreak such terrible devastation.
    “What is that?” she whispered to herself.
    From behind, a soft and startlingly beautiful voice answered. “A scorch attack.”
    She spun. He stood regally, arms crossed over his breast as though against some pain. His golden face flared like a beacon of salvation.
    A scorch attack? But that would mean that the Magistrates had come to Horeb. When had that happened? Adom hadn’t even mentioned the possibility.
    Aktariel looked up at her curiously, as though judging what she’d do next. “At this very moment, Jeremiel is fighting for his life and the lives of every living thing on your world.”
    Her gaze went to the starry sky, seeking the source of the violet fire. “He’s not on Horeb?”
    “No.” The gale buffeted Aktariel’s blue cloak, whipping it into snapping folds around his legs. Against the pewter maze of rock and ice, he seemed a lonely embodiment of light and color. “The civil war here ended an hour ago, but Captain Tahn of the Magisterial battle cruiser, the Hoyer, was ordered to scorch Horeb anyway for breaking the Treaty of Lysomia. Jeremiel thought he might be able to stop the attack if he willingly went along with Ornias’ plan. Ornias sold Baruch to the Magistrates for five billion notes.”
    “He used himself as a bargaining lever?”
    “Of course. You know him. There was nothing else he could do. But the Magistrates just took him and continued with the attack—punishing Gamants for disobeying in the first place.”
    “Then what’s happening now?”
    “Ah,” Aktariel breathed, cautiously walking forward to stand a few feet from her. He lifted an arm and pointed to the starry horizon just above the lavender halo. “Jeremiel and Harper took over the shuttle transporting him to the Hoyer and are now trying to take the cruiser.”
    Rachel’s fear of Aktariel ebbed, replaced by a deeper terror—the loss of her entire world. She clenched her fists, lifting her chin to stare him defiantly in the eyes. “Will he win?”
    “For a time.”
    “What does that mean?”
    The crystalline glory of starlight gilded his upturned face with a frosty shimmer. “It means unless you get aboard that ship with him—he’ll die.”
    The word cracked like thunder. She wanted to run, but couldn’t force her feet to move. “Why? Why does he need me?”
    “Because, Rachel, you are a bridge to me.”
    As though in