Page 6

Chapter Six

T he nerves fluttering in my stomach made me feel sick. I tried to focus on breathing slowly, on the cool flow of air, but I couldn’t seem to get enough of it into my lungs. How could I think I had any right to go before an entire Song Circle and ask them for help? Though, the only person who knew my intention was Rhiandra, so perhaps I could still change my mind. I could graciously accept the Elder’s decision to allow me to stay indefinitely and hide here forever. Maybe one day I’d be so entrenched in the Living Valley that I’d forget that there had ever been a life before it.

‘You’ve gone pale as cream.’ Tanathil’s warm voice snapped me out of the tangle of my thoughts, and he chaffed a hand at my back, as though he thought some warmth would stop my trembling. ‘Don’t worry, they aren’t going to revoke your right to stay. This is all just ceremony.’

‘I’m alright. Just nerves,’ I said, glancing at where he sat next to me on one of the curving tiers that formed the Song Circle, a sunken amphitheatre carved into the ground in the centre of Faerendor. His ginger hair was tied back today instead of springing wildly around his face as it usually did, and his lanky form lounged casually against the back of the tier. He wore a cream-coloured tunic he’d embroidered with twists of vines and flowers along the sleeves and the gaping neckline, which was the sort of thing he did with most of his clothes.

‘We’re all here with you, dewdrop,’ he said, smiling brightly. And they were. On his other side sat Maelyn, with Goras beside her and Daethie on the end. Elias was speaking with the Elders before the Song, so he wasn’t here. Because despite Tan’s assurance, my acceptance as one of them instead of as a visitor could be contested. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been before I returned to Lee Helse. Before I brought Rhiandra back with me.

I glanced to my other side, where she sat with her arms folded tightly, frowning around at the slowly filling amphitheatre. It hadn’t been easy getting her up here. She’d balked at the base of the mountain, glaring at the walkway curving up the limestone cliff, and the flash of fear in her dark eyes had been disconcerting. I’d expected her to face the climb with the same grim determination with which I’d seen her challenge my father’s council, or wrangle Valoric into taking the both of us on his back when I’d been injured and barely conscious. Even when she’d taken to flying with so much cursing and moaning, it hadn’t seemed like fear, more like anger at being forced to endure something so uncomfortable. I’d never considered that she could be afraid.

But she had definitely been afraid on the climb, her gait faltering and hesitant, breath panting, hand sliding up the railing in a white-knuckled grip. Still, she was here, and I was grateful to her for that. Her gaze turned my way, and her frown softened slightly.

‘There’s more of them than I’d realised,’ she muttered.

‘Some come from the surrounding villages,’ I said, referring to the other floating mountains in the Living Valley. Some supported other, smaller groups of Yoxvese homes, but Faerendor was the biggest, the place they all gathered. ‘There’s a lot of riders living on Etherpeak with their wyvern, too,’ I added. If I was accepted today, if I took the hand of belonging they might offer me, I’d be allowed to join them. To live on Etherpeak with Valoric and learn the ways of the wyvern riders. I’d learned the basics of flight and communication with Goras’s help, but there was so much more to know. The bond Goras shared with Ignis was deep, instinctual. They moved like they were one body when they flew together. It wasn’t the same yet with Valoric. There was affection and cooperation, and he was patient with me as I clumsily tried to use my feet and hands to steer like he was a horse. But I knew there was more.

To leave the Living Valley meant turning my back on all that.

Below, a line of Yoxvese were mounting the platform at the centre of the amphitheatre. They weren’t marked by any decoration of their appearance, all dressed in the same simple fabrics and colours, but they carried themselves in a way that made you want to sit up straighter and check your face was clean. These were the Elders, those whose wisdom was trusted to guide their society.

Elder Meira, a tall, commanding woman with long hair an impossible shade of blue, stepped forward. The crowd quietened down with no prompting, all eyes turning to her. She placed a hand over her heart. Around me, a soft hum began to rise, one pure note spreading outwards, finding resonance deep in my chest. The trees clustered around the amphitheatre shivered, leaves rustling. A dozen violet wishlights appeared in the shadowy spaced beneath their foliage, drifting over our heads in a lazy swirl. The magic in the air prickled against my skin, rising with their voices, and beside me Rhiandra shifted in her seat. When I glanced at her, I saw the mistrust in her face.

‘What are they doing?’ she asked in a hushed voice.

‘Singing,’ I replied.

Their voices began to rise and fall, becoming not just one note but many, the melody causing the hairs on my arms to rise. Beside me, my friends had joined them, eyes closed, singing a string of what sounded like a language I didn’t understand. Perhaps it was words, but they were twined so tightly with melody, so seamless in the way they wound around each other, that it was hard to tell. I felt lighter listening to them, like my burdens of worry and guilt were lifted. Like I could just be, one girl beneath the wide-open sky, connected to and accepted by those around me, grounded by the roots of my feet against the mountain beneath me. I wanted to join them in their song. My heart ached to do so. But I didn’t know the words, didn’t have the magic to contribute. So I sat and listened with a chest full of yearning.

The song reached a breathtaking crescendo, then began to die away again, growing quieter as the shiver of magic trickled out of the air.

‘Don’t ever ask me to come to one of these again,’ Rhi said, leaning in to speak. I was surprised to see she was speaking through her teeth, gripping her skirt tightly in her fists like she was holding on through some discomfort.

‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, but she only shook her head. Before I could press her further, Elder Miera began to speak.

‘Warmest welcome to you all. We are fortunate to be beginning our Song with an embrace today. Some turns of the moon ago, we received our friend Gwin into our community, and many of you will know of how she has immersed herself in our way of life. Her time with us has been marked by her kindness and her open-hearted exploration of our culture. And not only that, but she has been chosen by a wyvern, and with our acceptance she can be trained in the ways of a rider.’

Heat flamed my cheeks, pleasure warming me all the way through as several Yoxvese nearby cast glances and smiles towards me. For a moment, my nerves were forgotten. They liked me. They accepted me. They didn’t see me as a burden or an obstacle.

‘Will you step into the circle, Gwin?’ The Elder continued, stretching a hand towards me with a smile. I rose to my feet, buoyed by that warmth of acceptance, nerves forgotten as I picked my way down the tiers of the amphitheatre to join her in the centre.

‘You have proven yourself deserving of a place among us,’ she said, taking my hands as when I reached her. ‘We would like to offer you a life here as one of us.’

Gratitude swelled my chest. They wanted me to stay. It would be so easy to just thank them now, to return to my seat and be glad I’d found a place for myself where I could be happy.

But I didn’t wat them to accept me on the basis of a lie.

I sought Rhi’s face in the crowd. She raised her brows at me. I released Elder Miera’s hands.

‘I want—’ I began, the words catching. I cleared my throat. ‘I want to thank you for your acceptance. It has meant so much to me to be here.’ I paused. I felt dizzy. Could I really say it? I had to. ‘But my life before the Living Valley is drawing me back and I can’t keep ignoring it,’ I finished lamely. My voice was too quiet to carry far, but Elder Miera heard me.

‘What do you mean, child?’ she asked.

‘I haven’t been entirely honest with you.’ I cleared my throat again. Prayed she wouldn’t hate me. Prayed they all wouldn’t hate me once they knew who I was. ‘My full name is Gwinellyn Daucourt. I’m the rightful heir to the Brimordian throne.’

Some of the warmth in her face cooled as she frowned. ‘I see.’ She glanced towards the crowd, back to where my friends were sitting.

‘They didn’t know,’ I said quickly, realising they were all about to be blamed for my deception. ‘I lied to all of you. I was trying to escape who I was.’ Her gaze stayed turned their way, though, and there was something in the grim turn of her mouth that told me who she’d fixed on. It was an expression she only seemed to save for one person. Elias. He had known, ever since he’d woken me and I’d told him why I had to return to Lee Helse. She would guess he had known. When I chanced a glance his way I saw his startled expression. Should I have told him I was going to do this beforehand? I couldn’t. I hadn’t wanted him to try and talk me out of it.

Miera inhaled slowly, and I wished I had magic to read what she was feeling, because her face was guarded. ‘I would like to consult with the other Elders,’ she said slowly, ‘I don’t wish to rescind our offer, but first I must ensure that sentiment is shared by all.’

‘Please, before you do, there’s something I need to say to you. To all of you.’ I raised my voice, turned my gaze on the crowd now. I could feel my pulse thudding in my temples and my fingers began to tingle, buzzing with an energy I’d come to recognise all too well. With a jolt of panic, I tried to calm myself. I focused on trying to keep my breathing steady, on calming my racing heart. I needed to get this right. Too much depended on it for me to fail. ‘I know the pain my people have caused. I know they've hunted you, demonized you, forced you into hiding. They've taken your homes, your loved ones, and left scars that can never fully heal. I know what the crown represents to you. I know what I represent to you.’ Breathe, I reminded myself. I had to keep my voice steady. I had to keep that tingling in my fingers at bay. ‘But while I’ve hidden the truth of my name, I have never hidden my heart. What you’ve given me, this acceptance, this place, it’s more than I ever had in the world I came from. I’ve come to love the Living Valley more deeply than I’ve ever loved my own home. The friendships I’ve made here mean more to me than any title or crown I could claim. I stand before you now because I’d never forgive myself for staying silent. I can’t ignore who I am any longer, and I can’t ignore what I owe to you. I want to reclaim my birthright and the throne of Brimordia because when I am queen, I want to put an end to the blood trade.’

The muttering the broke out around the amphitheatre this time was louder, an aural tapestry of whispered questions and thoughts and maybe suspicions. I spotted Rhi again. She looked wary as she surveyed those around her. Anxiety constricted my chest, making it difficult to breathe.

‘And how are you planning on doing that?’ Elder Miera said, and the scepticism in her voice chilled me. Because it was so familiar. Stupid girl.

‘I want to go,’ I began, but I had to gasp, feeling breathless, like there wasn’t enough oxygen around me. ‘I want to go to Oceatold. I’ll rally support and start a… start a…’ My vision blurred for a moment. A flicker, like a flash of light at the edge of my vision, made my heart lurch. No. Not now. I dug my fingernails into my palms, trying to anchor myself. Those dim, shifting balls of light above felt too bright, the whisper of the wind too loud. My pulse raced, the blood roaring in my ears. The ground shifted beneath me, but no one else seemed to notice.

‘I... I am asking you... I need your help to…’ I forced the words out, but they were slipping away, dissolving on my tongue. My body hummed with that familiar, terrible sensation. But I couldn’t push back the rising tide in my head. Everything around me started to blur, sounds stretching and warping like they were underwater, and a cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck.

And then it hit

A shudder ran through my body, the world tilting as I stumbled backward. There was a roar in my ears, drowning out everything else. My muscles tensed, then locked. I was falling, I think. Or maybe I was already on the ground.

The lights in my head flared brighter and brighter, until with a burst of white they cut out and everything went dark.