Page 46

“Ollo, be understanding,” Maev whispered.

“I’m being cautious. For our sake, for the world’s sake and Liv’s. This situation just got more dangerous.”

Maev mouthed me an apology, and I shook my head. “Ollo is right. It wasn’t exactly him. But then, I am not the woman he last saw, either.”

I raised my hands, flexing my working fingers, seeing the physical evidence of change. My eyes and hair, my magic, it all spoke volumes. “We are enemies now,” I whispered.

The room was eerily silent. Neither of the twins had any advice or wise words, so I said. “We make a plan, forge on ahead. Find the gods. Get rid of the magic.”

What I didn’t say was that I had a new resolve.

I was going to save him, too.

“Ollo and I mapped out our journey home.” Maev directed me to the table.

“You’ve drawn even more on it!” I exclaimed, noticing more of Nuo’s map filled in on the Aethar side.

“Yes. The Interrogator doesn’t like detail, it seems. It shows impatience. He didn’t even try with the canyons. There’s no useful information about them or the path through.”

“He wouldn’t have travelled them. Are we going through?”

Would the Aspis follow? Panic seized me at the thought of missing the chance to see him again. Would he be lost to me if I travelled away from Veydes?

“Over them,” Ollo interrupted. “They’re safer to fly over than the seas.

The seas have pirates and Guardian ships in every direction, but the canyons aren’t frequented by pirates as often because there are far fewer travellers.

We may find trouble if they spot our ship, but we will move fast and not stop. ”

“Why would pirate ships bother us if we fly over the canyons?”

“Pirate ships travel by sea and in the air. They have the advantage. The Guardian airships have a hard time taking them down, let alone a crew of three. Well, one, since the two of you can’t pilot as well as I.”

Pirates in the sky. I wanted to see it, yet I was glad we were avoiding them.

“Canyons it is. Is that how you flew here? Over the canyons?”

“Yes, and nothing got in our way,” Ollo replied.

“Doesn’t the Desert Eagle live down there?”

Maev covered her mouth to hide her laughter. “How do you know so little of this world and yet know of the Desert Eagle?”

I looked down at the small drawing of the Eagle that Nuo had sketched on his map. “It’s one of Nuo’s favourite stories.”

Did Nuo know he was alive?

Maev dropped her hand, and her smile vanished with her distaste. “It was Ollo’s too. I had to read it to him a million times as a kid. The Eagle was one of the reasons he wanted to learn to fly.”

“I am not like the Interrogator.” Ollo pointed a finger in my face, and I didn’t mention that standing in this airship, wearing Guardian black and mapping our trip, made him look very much like Nuo.

“Bastane told me many young boys liked the story. So you are like many young boys. Stop getting so offended that they were my friends.”

Ollo’s skin paled.

His earlier comments about the asshole came back to me.

“I’m not offended,” he said. “Only, I don’t wish to be compared to murderers. If we were similar as young boys, it was simply because stories like the Eagle made us want to grow up to be heroes.”

“Depending on what people they were saving,” I said.

“Well, the Eagle didn’t save anyone. He took down his entire bloodline—the Feathers.

They were an ancient Mount-leg bloodline that controlled the island south of the canyons.

The Eagle’s mother was their matron. She was cruel, took Sea-legs as slaves and controlled the passage from Veydes to Rydavas.

Eventually, the Eagle saw her cruelty for what it was and, in secret, helped free the slaves.

In the end, the best thing he could do was destroy his entire clan. ”

“He killed his whole family?”

“Yes, the later part of his story isn’t so savoury.

He burned the entire island to the ground.

That was a few hundred years ago. That’s why he’s not a concern, because he isn’t even alive anymore.

If he was ever real at all. Anyway,” Ollo said, giving his sister a look, “I think we should hit up Mayra’s shrines on the way north to Avenmae. ”

I was stuck on the viciousness of the Eagles tale, the part I had never heard, before I clued into what Ollo was saying. “Avenmae?” The name was familiar.

The twins both nodded. “Our home,” they said together.

“It’s a grand city, with structures built in the golden era of the gods.” Maev’s face lit up. “There are schools and shrines and all kinds of business. It’s the capital city of Rydavas and one of the oldest standing cities in all of Arde.”

“Is it bigger than the Guardian City? Or Danuli?”

“About twice the size.” Maev nodded. “It’s a beautiful place.”

It was still hard to believe there were more than wastelands on the other side of the border.

“You said we are going to Mayra’s shrine, but we also need to go to one of the Night gods. Where is Erabas’s shrine?”

The twins gave me identical sympathetic glances. Likely, they knew I was avoiding the biggest topic of conversation.

I took my shaking hands off the table and hid them at my sides, playing with the fabric of my sleeve.

Ollo bent over the map, searching it. “Unfortunately, there are none. Many have searched for his lost temple but haven’t found that either.”

“I could go see Cal,” Maev suggested.

Ollo gave her a deadpan look. “That guy is a quack, Mae. Better to scour the library.”

“He’s not a quack. He’s brilliant. Cal’s ideas are strange, not wrong.”

“Who is this guy?” I asked. They had mentioned him before.

“Her friend . He’s asinine.” Ollo’s mouth twisted in distaste. “He’s also in love with Maev, but she won’t admit that.”

“He’s just friendly,” she said, her cheeks turning pink.

I wondered if there wasn’t more to the story.

“If you’re taking Liv to meet him, count me out.”

Maev rolled her eyes as her hands went to her hips and her mouth went into a flat line—her most impressive show of irritation yet. “I think he may be able to help us with the theory on the crystals, as well as ideas about the missing gods. He comes up with all sorts of brilliant ideas.”

“And what about Rem’s temple?” Ollo cut in.

“I want to skip Rem. For now,” I said.

“And why is that?” Ollo’s mouth tipped up at the edges. “Could you be nervous about taking on another god?”

“Don’t egg her on, Ol. For once, I’m happy she shows caution.” Maev’s attention roamed over the map, smug about her comment.

“Something feels off about Rem,” I admitted, ignoring her.

The trembling in my hands reached my shoulders.

The force with which I held myself still made my back ache.

The two exchanged a look, and Ollo leaned closer toward me.

“Be careful what you say of the gods out loud, Liv. And our father Rem is good to his children. He’s kept us safe for generations where others have abandoned the legacies. ”

But something bothered me. It wasn’t something I could get into with the twins. It felt more important to find the missing gods first. However, they agreed to leave Rem for the last visit.

“So we head for the canyons,” I said, trying to understand the plan. “Then the shrines, and all the while, find crystals to fill for you two to take home.”

“Yes. And try to avoid the Guards and the Aspis in the meantime. Can you handle that, Liv?” Maev waited for me to answer, actually asking me.

If I said I wasn’t ready, would they agree to let me run from all of this? I think they would. I let out a long breath. “I can keep the magic locked down.”

“It hurts you.” Ollo said. “Tell me if this is too much for you.”

“What else can I do?”

Ollo and Maev exchanged a look.

I huffed the hair from my face and studied the map. Maev had filled out the bottom half of Rydavas, and the Southern clans took up a huge part of the map. “I’m glad we are flying over that.” I pointed to the clans.

“We wouldn’t make it past a single village,” Maev said, shivering.

“Even you two?”

“They don’t consider themselves one of us. We also don’t call ourselves Aethar. We are Rydavian.”

“You, on the other hand, Saviour,”—Ollo smiled, turning toward me—“the Southlanders would put you on a pedestal. They’d probably do awful things to you, thinking you’d like it.”

“How did they become so twisted?” I asked.

“Who knows,” Ollo replied. “How did the world become so divided? The Lost Lands so lost? Our histories are ripe with secrets.”

“Secrets are the reason nothing ever changes. An alchemist told me that. Maev, does your friend have any books written in the language of Night?”

“I’m not sure. But if he does, they won’t be of any use. He can’t read them. No one can.”

“I can.”

I hadn’t told them yet—I could read the scrolls she had mentioned once before.

Maev drew back. “It’s a language that’s been dead for a very long time. There are no records of it.”

“There was something written in the Guardian city, in the language of Night. I could read it.”

“How?”

“The ability came with the magic. As did speaking the common tongue. It comes to me easily.”

“Can you read the other old languages?”

“I tried reading the language of Day, and the understanding is just out of reach. I recognize the lettering, but the words don’t form.”

Maev paced again. “You said the magic glowed, like Rem, when it found you?”

“Yes. And when it spoke, it sounded so similar to him with a multilayered voice.”

Maev nodded as if her thought process was making sense.

“And Ouras looked like the Aspis.”

“Yes, although Ouras wasn’t black like the Aspis. But the horns, the eyes, certain features were the same.”

“And you can read the language of Night.”

“What are you getting at Maev? Sum it up,” Ollo said impatiently.

“They’re parts of each god. I wonder if the first Ikhor, the first child, stole more than just the god’s magic. What if it stole an essence of their being?”

Ollo thought for a moment. “If that were true, and Liv is part of each god, we could figure out how to use that to find the others.”

“Or what if Erabas created the Ikhor,” I asked. “It’s said the first child who stole the magic was a child of Night, making their legacy disliked, but what if Erabas made it himself? Are the Rydavian stories of the first child—the cursed child—are they the same?”

Both twins were speechless. “The stories are the same,” Maev said slowly. “If it were Erabas that created this whole mess, that would change our entire history.”

“Think about it,” I continued. “He’s hated. He’s been erased from history. Rem went to war with him. It would make sense if this were all his mess.”

“It’s known that Rem is good.” Ollo turned to Maev to see her reaction. “What if the other gods helped make the Aspis because of Erabas? That would also mean they would not want us to find him.”

“Maybe there was no first child.” Maev nodded and then quickly shook her head in denial.

She waved her hands as if wiping away the conversation.

“These theories have no proof. We have anecdotal evidence. And besides, why would Ouras tell us we must find all the gods to return the magic? Let’s focus on what we know.

The facts: you are changing Liv. It makes me wonder if more will happen to you.

The Aspis is also growing and changing. What if it—he—whatever, will become more powerful? ”

Ollo stood. “We need to get to Rydavas. Fast. Maybe it isn’t such a bad idea you visit your weird friend.”

Maev scowled at her brother before leaning over the map, forming a plan and an exact route home.

“By tomorrow, we will be flying over South Aspis,” Ollo said.

“Then the canyons. Your tracker can be refilled with crystals, thanks to Liv, and we won’t run out of power to get ourselves home.

And Saviour,” Ollo turned to me, chewing on his words before he said, “Keep close to us. It would be best if you didn’t have more run-ins like what happened on deck without us there.

We may not be able to protect you as Guards, but I don’t want you to face this alone. ”

I gave him a single nod. “I’ll keep close.”

He patted me on the shoulder, easing some of the tremors in my spine.

“Another thing I found while reading late last night,” Maev started, and we both waited while she chewed her lower lip.

“After going through the journals and logs from the Councilman’s daughter, I’ve compiled some disturbing information.

She is aware of attacks on Rydavas. She knows there are more than the Southlanders living there.

And she marked several coastal cities to be attacked once they stop the Ikhor. ”