Page 15

Chapter

Thirteen

Liv

The Keepers controlled us with strict rules and harsh punishments.

It was predictable and easy to hate them, but when my neighbours and fellow townspeople turned on one another, that shocked me.

We lived on the same streets, bought from the same baker, worked just to live, and then looked down on one another.

That’s how the Keepers won in the end. They broke us so fully that we became feral beasts, hungry to make others hurt as we did.

“ H ey!”

We all looked up as a burly Guardian aimed for the table of four on the other side of the patio. They all waved him over, telling him to bring over a seat. “Have you been watching the skies? Aspis is a day’s ride away. It’s doing circles in the east. Kinda weird, right?”

“It must be looking for the Ikhor,” another Guardian replied—a Mount-leg, based on their scaled skin.

“It’s going to get away!” another said.

“The Ikhor isn’t gonna win. The Aspis’ll pinpoint the evil scum and tear it to pieces.”

Everyone on the patio cheered, and I sank into my seat. Ollo wasn’t shy about staring as the patio lit up with energy.

“Thought it would be over quicker than this,” the burly Guardian said. “The lands can’t take much more of this rain.”

“It could be the Guard’s fault.” A Danuli citizen said, who had joined the patio with a group of two others. He was a Day-leg with a round belly. They sat a table away from the Guardians. “Everyone knows the Night-leg isn’t with them.”

The burly Guardian whirled on him. “Hey, that’s one of our own. I’ve met Erebrekt of the North.”

I shrunk farther into my seat, wishing I could close my ears.

“He was a loyal Guard and a fierce warrior. He wouldn’t abandon. If he’s missing, it’s probably because he’s gone ahead on his own, tracking for the others.”

Maev tilted her head my way. “It’s true then. They don’t know who the host of the Aspis is.”

I wiped my sleeve along my cheek, thankful Ollo wasn’t looking my way. “Likely the Council’s doing. Or Falizha’s. Not giving him the credit. Maybe she never told her father it was—it was him .”

A stabbing pain hit my lungs, but the Guardians weren’t done. “Tracking would be left to Guard Kazhi. Erebrekt must be doing something else.”

“What’s more important than killing the Ikhor?” demanded one citizen.

“He’s probably turned to shadows! I saw him do it once.”

“I heard that the Ikhor was one of his whores. That woman on the poster? He dragged her around the Guardian City before the fires hit the Median. I bet he’s seeking revenge.”

“Would you like to leave, Saviour?” Ollo reached out a hand, putting it over my wrist.

I went still from the contact. The warmth he offered was kind, but … foreign. I pulled away. “No.”

The round Day-leg continued his complaints. “All I’m saying is the Aspis isn’t what we thought. It’s not protecting us. Look at our lands.”

The big Guardian, drink in hand, walked right up to the table of citizens, getting into the face of the Day-leg. “You’re sounding like an Aethar, friend.”

Ollo turned fully in his seat, folded one leg over the other, and sipped as if watching a show.

The Day-leg stood, pushing his chair back. “Do I look scarred up to you? Friend?”

“Do I look scarred up to you?” Maev muttered to herself and sipped her drink. “Ew, it’s sweet.”

The Guardian swung, throwing the patio into a brawl, while the three of us watched the chaos. It was strange seeing how the people perceived the legends come to life, not knowing one was sharing a patio with them.

“Little do they know, most Aethar don’t know how to fight.” Maev smirked.

“We are too intelligent to be reduced to—” Ollo waved his hand toward the brawl. “This. They seem to know nothing of their own Guards. It now seems even I know more of Guard Kazhi than that lot.”

Maev took another sip of her drink, wincing. “I much prefer our drinks back home.”

Just then, a Danuli tree lizard landed on the path outside the patio, and the fighting stopped, attention fixed on the creature spreading its thin membranous wings.

It was the colour of bark, with green spots running down its back.

Much like the cave lizard, it had slits for pupils and a long tongue that darted out, tasting the air.

It gave a long screech—a coarse sound like its voice travelled over rocks.

Its long, thin body didn’t have a rider, and it seemed uninterested in the people around it.

It jumped high, landing on the tree I sat against, and I tipped my head all the way back to see it high above.

Then it disappeared, soaring off to another pathway.

“Anyway, Saviour.” Ollo twisted back toward the table, speaking low again as the brawl continued behind him. “The Aspis isn’t what they expected, and neither are you. The legends are quite old. So don’t let what they say bother you.”

“Will your people fight like this? When they realize I’m just a girl?”

“Perhaps, but?—“

The Guardian knocked the patron out, who landed with a thud on the ground.

Ollo continued, “It will not be so impressive. We do not have many trained in hand-to-hand combat.”

“But you fly airships. Does that not make you a warrior?” The captain of the Guardian’s airship was a supposed fighter.

“I am a pilot. I know airships and flying, not—” He peeked over his shoulder at the waiter bringing ice to the Day-leg. “That.”

“Ollo is a boring pilot,” Maev told me. “He does nothing else but show off and try to get other’s attention.”

Ollo’s face fell, jaw tensing, but he quickly replaced it with a forced smile.

“I don’t understand why you two thought to come to save me,” I admitted. “The Guards couldn’t protect me from danger. How can you?”

“We were counting on the power of the Ikhor to protect us ,” Ollo said, scratching the back of his neck. “We were the brains to get you out. I am the fastest flyer in our aerial defence unit. I got Maev’s help because her invention could track you down quicker than any method we came up with.”

“How old are you two?” I realized they hadn’t answered me the first time I had asked.

“Twenty-four,” they said together.

So they were twins, as I had guessed. “A year younger than me.”

Ollo finished his meal at the same time as Maev. I hadn’t eaten half of mine and noticed Ollo eyeing my food, so I pushed my plate over to him. When he grabbed it, our fingers touched, and I quickly pulled away.

Humour flickered behind the once-over he gave me.

He reached into his cloak and pulled out a rolled-up paper.

“While we are on the subject of the Ikhor coming to our lands.” He passed the scroll to me.

“This is the official letter I was sent with. It’s from the Elders to request your presence in our city. ”

I reached for the paper, swallowing my rising panic. What would they ask of me?

“I would have given it to you sooner, but the timing didn’t seem right. Nor did you seem inclined to read it.”

“Read it out to her,” Maev said. “She will likely have difficulty seeing in this light, and we all know you’ve read it many times over by now.”

Ollo pulled the paper back and unrolled it.

He cleared his throat, winking at me before he began, and kept his voice low so only we could hear.

“To the attention of the Ikhor. We, the Elders of Avenmae, Capital of Rydavas, welcome your return. As history suggests, you have been the saviour to the people, protecting us from harm caused by the gods’ beast, the Aspis. ”

“Wait,” I said, stopping him and causing his mouth to form a line. “I was told the Aspis always wins. Do your people say differently?”

Ollo shook his head. “In the end, the beast ends our time of prosperity. As it says in this next bit,” he said, impatiently gesturing toward the paper. “Your original form took the power from the gods so that we may find peace in our lands during times of war.”

“So you see, Saviour, the Ikhor does much for our people before the final battle.” He cleared his throat to continue reading.

“We fear that war is starting anew. We humbly request you be escorted to Avenmae, where we have provided you with every comfort you should need while you settle into your newest cycle of life.

Our most trusted attendant and pilot of the first division?—"

“That would be me, though I have wondered why they didn’t call me by name,” Ollo said, interrupting the reading, before he resumed, “has offered his aid in bringing you swiftly to our home where we will ensure you are kept from the ruthless advances of the Guardian armies. Yours sincerely, the Elders of Avenmae.” Ollo rolled the scroll back up and passed it to me.

I set it on my lap and stared at it.

“It is signed by all members.”

“Why did you bring Maev?” I asked. “She wasn’t mentioned.”

“They said I had to figure out how to locate you, and I did.” He thrust a thumb in Maev’s direction. “She’s my locater.”

“And you two are twins.”

“Obviously.” Maev gave me a deadpan look.

“Just in looks, though. Ol was born before me. We share the same ambition for learning, but where I went the route of research and invention, he was pulled into using the machines I worked on. He studied under the city’s best flight program.

He is the youngest pilot to reach his rank in the program’s history. ”

“I can speak for myself,” he said. I saw their resemblance in more than looks when Ollo gave me a sarcastic roll of his eyes.

His expressions were muted compared to Maev’s, but they were there—still more apparent than the Guards.

But I suppose the Guards were hiding secrets.

These two surprisingly answered most of my questions.

“He’s also stuffy. Boring most times,” Maev added, leaning her temple on a fist and smirking. “And always quick to jump into action before thinking. Part of his show-off behaviour. Don’t fall for it.”

“And your people? You’re Aethar. I’ve only met murderous people from across the borders.

I will admit you two are not like the ones I have met, but I can see you come from a place far different than Veydes.

I have never heard of universities or inventions.

It sounds to me like you are from a powerful place.

I worry what a powerful place wants with powerful magic. ”

The twins gave me withering looks. Identical indeed.

Maev was the first to be on the defensive.

“My people are not the same as the ones you’ve met here.

” She nodded toward the patio, but I knew she meant all of Veydes.

“We have a long history of suffering and have forgotten none of it. We lead with empathy and knowledge. Ollo does a lot for our city and considers everyone in his decision making. He always has since we were children. I may joke about his behaviours, but those are my dislikes, not for anyone else to look down upon.”

Ollo was better at hiding his thoughts, but his tone hid none of his irritation.

“Our people were shunned from these lands long ago and sent away to our continent. The southern lands are the wastelands you know of—barren deserts that are barely habitable. That’s where the south clans have grown in numbers despite the harsh environment.

They live near the crossing and are the ones you run into if you enter Rydavas on foot.

But north are the civilized legacies. That’s where Maev and I were born, in our largest city. It’s not like you think, Saviour .”

On the pathways in front of the river, Danuli citizens walked back and forth. I had a hard time seeing the twin’s version of the Aethar lands when the one I was told of was cruel. What they described was unlike any place I had seen in my life.

“How come no Guardians know of your lands? They have airships to fly over there. They think it’s barren.”

“Our defence units take care of some,” Ollo said. “They attack sometimes. But the last attack on my city was when I was young.”

“But it doesn’t make sense that no one knows you exist. Even the Guards believed the lands were destroyed.”

“They’ve been lied to.” Ollo shrugged.

The Council. Which meant that those who had seen the Aethar lands were either sworn to secrecy or …

“We have also learned while travelling Veydes that things are not what we were taught,” Ollo admitted. “The citizens here are not like the Guardians we know of. Perhaps all of our eyes need to be opened.”

I crossed my arms as I scolded myself. The way I had spoken to them, treated them, wasn’t fair. I was so angry at the world for judging me before it knew me, and now I was doing the same. Maybe they weren’t my enemy after all.

“You can call me Liv, by the way,” I said tonelessly.

If they thought I was rude, they didn’t show it. I would try because I didn’t want to sink further and go back to being the girl I used to be—making choices out of fear. I had a goal—get the magic out of me and do it without harming anyone. Maybe these Aeth— Rydavians would help.

“There’s an inn we passed a few trees back,” Ollo said, leaving some coins on the table. “Let’s spend a wasteful amount of my coin on a decent sleep for tonight and start tomorrow in a better mood.”