Page 15 of Son of the Drowned Empire

Chapter Fourteen

T reetops raced toward me. Blood rushed to my head, and my heart rose to my throat. My gryphon screeched from above, and before I could hit the branches, Garrett’s arms wrapped around my waist, his fingers digging into my belly. His body hugged mine. One second, we were falling, the shadows of our gryphons flying past, the next, our boots were tapping down on the forest floor.

I stumbled, unable to catch my breath.

Garrett had saved me. Again. Using his vorakh. Again.

“Rhyan,” he gasped, choking out a breath. “Okay?” Garrett swayed to the side and stumbled to a tree, his palm slamming against it for support.

I pressed my fingers against the side of my nose, gently testing. “Just dizzy. Getting nose-punched two days in a row like that isn’t really good for my face.” It wasn’t broken, thank the Gods. But it hurt like fucking Moriel. I groaned, running my hands through my hair, breathing through the remaining pain in my head. “Garrett. You shouldn’t have done that.”

“What? Saved you?”

“Risked your life for mine.”

His throat bobbed, his knuckles whitening as he pressed himself away from the tree. “The fuck you talking about? I had no choice.”

I breathed in and out through my mouth, trying to calm my nerves. “Because of the blood oath?” I joked.

Frowning, Garrett clasped my shoulder. “No. Because you’re my friend, you asshole.”

My chest heaved, adrenaline still rushing through me.

“You would have done the same,” he said, taking stock of our surroundings. We were deep in the darkest part of the woods, in Gods-knew-where Glemaria.

Wings blew a forceful breeze through the leaves, forcing snow from the treetops to blast at me.

“Of course, I would have done the same,” I said a moment later, turning to see Garrett petting the gray gryphon. “Otherwise, your little blood oath would have murdered me.”

Garrett stiffened, dark and regretful shadows shading his aura. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I… I got scared that night. So fucking scared. I wanted to protect so many people. Protect myself.”

“I know,” I said gently.

“Shit. Rhyan, I’ve wanted to talk to you about that. Apologize.” He stared down and kicked a rock. Looking back up, his gaze settled on mine. “I should have never made you swear. You’ve been protecting me this whole time, carrying your own burdens, your own secrets and promise, and… I’m sorry.”

He’d owed me that apology—I hadn’t realized just how much until he’d said it. He never should have sworn a blood oath with me nor forced the consequences onto either of us. But I understood the fear, the desperation behind it. My mind had gone there, too, that night.

A sharp breeze rustled through the moon trees canopying us, as fresh snow began to fall. “Well, as long as we have each other’s backs,” I said, “we’ll be okay.”

Our gryphons growled in annoyance as they settled down on the forest floor. The gray gryphon looked curiously at Garrett as if questioning where he’d gone. But the bronze gryphon, she was pissed. I could see it in her eyes. Stomping her back paws against the ground, she was letting me know that she took my falling off her mid-flight as a personal insult.

I would have managed to stay on if she hadn’t allowed the light to spook her.

The gray gryphon rolled aside, attempting to lure mine back into a wrestling match. Garrett tightened his belt buckle, adjusting his weapons. “First, we’ve got to get out of here.” He exhaled sharply, still catching his breath, but some of his color seemed to be returning.

I looked up at the trees, trying to find some slivers of light, but the day had grown so overcast with snow, I could barely see a thing. I pulled back up my hood.

“Wait a minute. Catch your breath.”

He sank against the tree. “You think Dario’s okay?” he asked anxiously.

I frowned, wishing he’d taken the vadati stone instead of Garrett so we could know for sure. But said, “I do. As long as he’s sober.”

“He is.”

I tightened my gloves, reclasping the wrists. “Then, I’m not worried.”

“Maybe we can check in with Aiden,” Garrett said, fishing through his pouch. “Get a feel for what’s happening. See if Dario’s back.”

I nodded. “You know how to use it?”

“Speak his name into the stone?” He held the clear white crystal in his palm, rolling it back and forth.

“It’ll turn blue when it connects.”

Garrett focused on the vadati. “Aiden,” he said, his voice breathless, excited, like he’d been dying to say his name, to speak to him this whole time.

Mist swirled, cloudy but white.

Garrett frowned.

“Give it a second,” I said. “He’s not supposed to have it, he might not be able to answer right away.”

I remembered these stones from when I was a boy. I’d call my mother on them while playing hide and seek in the fortress. She always gave me clues to her location that were far too easy to solve. I’d thought I was so smart at the time for figuring them out and sneaking up on her, but she’d wanted me to find her. I learned years later. We’d played when my father was in his worst moods, when his aura was thundering like a storm through Seathorne.

One day while I’d been hiding, I’d called her and watched the stone mist and cloud again and again. She hadn’t answered. My father had found her. He’d abruptly ended the game.

I stopped playing hide and seek after that.

In the darkness of the forest floor now, a blue spark glowed, filling Garrett’s palm. The light illuminated his face.

“Garrett?” Aiden’s voice was urgent. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

“We’re fine,” he said, a smile spreading across his face. Even his eyes seemed to smile at Aiden’s voice.

“Are you sure? You sound winded.”

“I am,” he said uneasily. “But I’m okay. It’s just me and Rhyan right now. We were… unseated from our gryphons. Haven’t seen Dario yet. He went to another location. Is anyone at the Pits?”

“Shit. Wait, you were unseated?”

“We’re fine. We’ll be flying in a minute. Have you seen Dario?”

There was a long pause before Aiden said, “No. Not yet. But your father has been making announcements. We’re expecting the tournament portion of the Alissedari to begin within the hour. Scouts reported two dozen gryphons with riders on the way.”

“Two dozen,” I said. “That’s such a low number.”

“There were three dozen reported originally, but a handful flew into Hartavia instead. And some grounded to get rid of their riders. A few soturi were thrown. Medic gryphons are supposed to be rounding up the injured.”

“Okay, just checking in,” Garrett said. “We’ll see you soon.”

“Be careful,” Aiden said. “I love you.”

“I love you,” Garrett said, his aura flaring around him with a burst of warmth.

I folded my arms across my chest, not wanting to intrude on the moment between them. Somehow, they always seemed to be in their own little world.

Garrett looked up at me with a sheepish grin and coughed.

I stepped back, signaling it was okay. My heart panged. What I would do to have someone on the other end of that stone that made me feel the way Garrett looked in that moment.

“Is Rhyan okay?” The vadati shone with a fresh blue glow as Aiden spoke through the stone. “How’s his head?”

Garrett lifted an eyebrow.

I felt like shit. It was the reason we’d lost our gryphons. But I didn’t want to worry Aiden, not when there was nothing he could do to help us at this point.

“I’m fine,” I called. “Just feeling delicate .”

Aiden snorted, then his voice lowered, “See you both soon. Call again if you need anything.”

“We will,” Garrett said.

The stone went white.

“Here.” Garrett handed it back to me. His aura still felt warm, elated after having talked to Aiden. “I don’t need it now. I’m with you.”

I slid it into my pouch with the other. “Let’s get out of here.” I stared down my gryphon, hoping she wasn’t going to give me this attitude the whole way. I stepped forward, motioning for her to lay down.

Her knees bent and then straightened, her eyes alert, her tail still.

The gray gryphon growled low in his throat, stepping back from Garrett. He went preternaturally still beside mine. For a moment, they appeared frozen as statues.

Then, without warning, they both took to the trees, their tails vanishing through the canopy of leaves.

“The fuck?” Garrett said. “Get back here!”

Sticks cracked behind us, and the ground shook with heavy footsteps. A snarl released into the air.

I froze, my body filling with tension. The air was freezing already. But there seemed to be another source of cold now, creeping through the forest.

Garrett inched closer to me. “More gryphons?” he whispered.

The heaviness of the steps felt familiar. It could be the gait of a gryphon—older and meaner than the ones we’d found. Gryphons were territorial and fought for dominance over anything they’d claimed as theirs. But they weren’t afraid of each other, and the way our gryphons had left so suddenly—they’d been scared.

There wasn’t much in Glemaria that could scare a gryphon.

A hawk flying above the trees circled overhead then took off, his wings flapping furiously before stilling for him to soar. The forest had fallen silent. There were no birds, no insects, no movement. No sound. Only Garrett’s and my breath.

I strained my ears, trying not to breathe.

Another branch snapped. The ground continued to shake as the cold intensified.

I peered closer at the trees, realizing the shape of the leaves had shifted. Glemarian moon and sun trees had a very distinct shape, one that started to shift by the Hartavian border. My heart sank. The western borders were weak and suspectable to akadim attacks, as they liked to travel through the human lands to reach us.

The snarl became a growl. Two growls.

Garrett’s face paled.

His hand slid down to his sword, fingers tightening around the hilt of his blade. I mirrored him, and we stepped closer, our backs were touching. The metal of our starfire steel blades sounded as we withdrew our weapons, but the starfire remained silver. There wasn’t a single flame in the darkness to light the sword.

The akadim stepped into view. I reached for my dagger, a blade in each hand, as my throat tightened.

Garrett’s back was still to mine, which meant only one thing. There were two akadim.

No bells had rung. We’d have heard them by now, loud and clear.

Again, akadim had gotten past our defenses, taken us by surprise. And if we didn’t kill them, if we didn’t ring the alarm, there was no telling what damage they’d do.

“Do you think,” Garrett asked under his breath, “do you think they… they came for us?”

For vorakh. They’d hunted us last time.

My throat went dry. “It doesn’t matter if they came for us,” I whispered. “You know what to do.”

“Stop the threat,” Garrett said, though it sounded like a question.

I swallowed. “Stop the threat.”

The akadim before me was female, well over ten feet, with white-blonde hair braided with sticks and leaves. Scraps of dingy clothing barely concealed her body. Red stretchmarks ran across her pale skin. Her eyes blazed red, and long sharp teeth jutted out of her mouth. Behind me came a roar, and Garrett’s elbow bounced against mine.

“Become the weapon,” I said. The second rule of being a soturion.

“Any commands?” Garrett’s voice shook.

The third rule of being a soturion.

“Kill it,” I snarled.

Garrett launched himself forward. His battle cry raged behind me as I took off, blades up.

I still wasn’t fully recovered from Thorin’s hits. A burst of fear rose up inside of me, and I used it to travel, unleashing my vorakh. But I landed too far off to the side to hit her directly. Still, I was fast, and I took off, sword ready.

I caught her off guard, and my blade sliced through her arm. She snarled. I’d given her a small cut, not enough to hurt her or slow her down. Instead, she seemed to grow angrier. Her claws swiped out at me, reaching for my face. I dodged and leaned back, focusing on her other side.

Behind me, Garrett swore.

I vanished, my stomach tugging, my boots hitting the ground, and with a grunt, I slashed my blades across her arms.

She released a jarring screech of pain, her spiked nails nearly piercing through my armor.

My boots barely seemed to touch the ground as I ran. I was just beyond her reach when I heard a ripping sound behind me. Garrett hollered in pain, the sound unlike anything I’d ever heard before.

I jumped without thinking, traveling just beyond the akadim’s claws as I yelled, “Garrett!”

He was lying flat on his back, his akadim crouching over him, claws spreading his leathers, trying to clear the way to his chest—to his heart. He was going to eat Garrett’s soul.

I was gone without thinking. Stomach tugging again, I traveled behind his back. With a roar, I launched myself on the akadim, my sword lifted.

Garrett screamed, his elbows barely visible in my periphery, as he struggled to free himself. I zeroed in on my target—the akadim’s neck—and thrust my dagger into his back, using it for leverage to pull myself up to the monster’s shoulders. But he remained crouched over Garrett, his mouth making a sickening sucking sound, like he was preparing to feed. My thighs tightened around him. I lifted my sword with both hands and, with a battle cry, plunged it down his neck. The blade sank in.

The monster froze and shook, claws scratching at his back to get to me. One sliced my boots, the other cut my thigh.

I started to pull the sword back and forth. I’d saw off his fucking head if I had to.

The beast rushed backward to squash me against a tree, still fighting even with his neck severed. With a grunt, I pulled my sword all the way out and retrieved my dagger. Feeling the trunk rush against me, I squeezed my eyes shut, the hook in my stomach pulling me.

My boots touched the ground behind Garrett, who looked remarkably recovered. He jumped to his feet, wide-eyed, his mouth hanging open. There was a gash on his forehead, but his leathers were in place, and his hands full of weapons.

Before I could attack, Garrett rushed forward, death in his eyes. He leapt at the last second, his body vanishing then reappearing, flying past the akadim’s shoulder. Garrett unleashed his sword, finishing what I’d started. The akadim’s head severed from his neck in a swift, fluid sweep of Garrett’s sword.

A crude, wet thud sounded as the akadim’s head hit the ground.

My eyes met the female akadim’s. She hadn’t helped her companion but seemed to be waiting for us to finish with him so she could attack. I stepped protectively in front of Garrett, whose knees had given out. His sword fell to the ground, as he retched on the forest floor.

The akadim launched her body forward, her eyes wild, her teeth bared.

I held up my sword, but she was faster, grabbing the steel. I pulled back the hilt, slicing her hand open, but she didn’t care. She kept holding the blade, bleeding, and letting the steel tear her apart. The sound of her skin ripping mixed with her screech of pain, but she still held fast.

I gritted my teeth, digging my heels into the ground, gripping harder, my muscles burning. I almost had the blade free when she pulled the sword with renewed force, dragging me forward. She roared, the scent of death on her breath before she released her grip and pushed the blade back to me.

The hilt punched into my stomach, knocking the air from my lungs. I wheezed, gasping, trying desperately to breathe as my knees hit the ground.

Laughing, the akadim stepped over my prone body. Garrett was behind me, but he still seemed to be in shock. I couldn’t get up, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. I was seeing stars everywhere I looked. I needed to stand, to travel, to at least roll away. I needed Garrett to act, but we were both weakened and stunned, and she was too strong and too close. And I realized with horror that she was in Glemaria, in our country, and we were the only two souls who knew. It would be hours before anyone found us.

We’d be akadim by nightfall, too close to our loved ones, able to travel, able to kill.

“Garrett,” I wheezed, but barely any sound came out. I didn’t even have the strength to turn around and find him.

“Mine,” she growled, her tongue lolling out to lick her fangs.

“Gods!” I tried to yell, but my voice was still gone, my breath still too far away.

She lifted her hand, bleeding and destroyed, but her claws remained sharp, some inhumanly evil power keeping up her strength.

I sank back, trying to crawl, to roll, to travel, to do anything to get away from her, but I couldn’t move. I was stronger than this. I fucking knew I was. She was a rope, just a fucking rope. But I’d been caught off-guard, twice, brutally attacked in the same place, twice—almost like it had been coordinated. The idea seemed preposterous, and yet every event that had happened today was pointing closer and closer to that reality.

Sev had said something had been ordered. Thorin had confirmed it. But what?

A violent shriek cut across the forest.

One second, her claw was about to strike, and the next, a gryphon flew out from behind me and Garrett, throwing her to the ground.

The akadim roared as she was forced onto her back. She clawed at the animal and kicked, but it was no use. The gryphon dragged her deep into the shadows of the trees. With a shriek that ended in a low, violent growl, its talons pierced her chest, its hind paws crushing her thighs as its beak attacked her face.

My breath returned, and I rushed to my feet, turning to see Garrett standing frozen, his face still pale, his hand clutching his chest.

I scanned him quickly to see if there were any tears, anything out of place, but he seemed to be covered, his leathers buckled.

“Garrett,” I said, reaching for his shoulder, squeezing. “You’re all right?”

His eyes were glued to the gryphon ahead of us, unblinking, unmoving. A shudder ran through his body as the akadim screamed.

The gryphon screeched, its call echoing as it battled, wings lifted in the dark.

Then, from the shadows of the trees, two more gryphons stepped forward. One gray, one bronze.

“Garrett!” I yelled. “Talk to me. Are you okay?”

He stared down, his eyes on his hand and chest. Blood dripped from his forehead. He wiped it away then looked back up at me, staring for a long moment, his eyes distant, before he said, “Yes.”

“Go,” I said, urging him forward. He still seemed stunned as he stepped toward his gryphon, crawling onto its back like he’d never seen the animal before.

I turned, ready to jump onto mine as the akadim’s screams came to an abrupt stop. The akadim’s leg twitched once, twice, and then she was no more. And then the gryphon turned to face me.

Large familiar silver eyes stared from the shadows. My heart stopped. The gryphon stepped forward and spread its wings, covered in bright, fiery red feathers.

“By the Gods,” I muttered, stepping forward.

The red gryphon trotted to me with a slight limp, an injury I knew he had incurred as a baby when he’d fallen outside my window. He kneeled before me, and his head pushed into my chest. I gasped, touching the space between his eyes, and one talon reached for my arm, and wrapped around me. The last time, it had only fit around my finger.

The baby gryphon had lived. Artem had lied to me.

The night I had met Aemon, Artem said no gryphons could be shot down. It must have been his way to tell me the truth, that all gryphons were safe, even mine. At least today.

“Rhyan!” Garrett yelled. “We need to go! Now!”

The bronze gryphon stalked behind me, pushing her beak against my hand, and the red gryphon stepped back into the shadows.

Another growl sounded, a deadly threat teasing its way through the breeze. I climbed on.

We couldn’t wait any longer. We had to get to the Gryphon Pits. We had to warn everyone.

Red feathers soared into the sky above and vanished.

I leaned forward as my gryphon raced past the dead akadim. She leapt as her wings spread, and we were off. There was no sign of the akadim below—nor the red Afeyan in the sky.