Page 5

Chapter

Five

Liv

My mother had told me a story of a hero who sacrificed himself for the people.

He died for those he didn’t even know. It didn’t make sense, but I had wanted to be him.

Now that I’m older, I know—as a girl from the Endless Forest, I had wanted to be recognized.

I’ve met more people in the world since then.

People like Falizha exist. I’m not dying for her.

“ S o, all Aethar believe the Ikhor is good?” I asked.

The scarred Aethar, the Southlanders, wanted the Ikhor because they, too, were evil people. Right? I wanted to believe her if only for the hope that I wasn’t becoming the evil destined to rise and burn the earth.

“May I remind you, once again, I am not an Aethar . And to answer your question, the first child fought for the people. He wanted us to have power like the gods.”

“So you and your brother thought the magic was best protected in your hands? That your intentions are best? Because I won’t kill my friends if that’s what you wish in the end.”

Maev’s features tightened. Her damp, near-white hair stuck to her temple, which seemed paler than before. “Which friend were you referring to? Kazhi, who’s an Aether herself? Or the Guard who let everyone hear his promise to find and kill you?”

I opened my mouth, but my retort fell flat—what could I say? She was right.

Thunder boomed again, and the rain came harder.

“Sorry,” she said, reaching over to me and wincing from her burn.

The colour drained from her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to say it like that.

I think we started off on the wrong foot.

I am truly not your enemy, Olivia. And we need the rain to stop.

The Aspis may come for you regardless of the storm, and I can’t navigate in this.

Not on a racer. We need my brother and our airship.

” She pulled back, holding her arm to her chest again.

Her attempt to comfort me failed when her eyes rolled, and I grabbed her shoulders to hold her up as she swayed. “We need to heal you.” As reluctant as I was to do anything right now, let alone help my enemy, her arm sent my skin crawling. “Do you have any magycris?”

She shook her head. The healing liquid was valuable, and she was travelling light.

“Are you ok?” I asked stupidly. The blue markings on her skin were turning white.

“Sorry. The pain is really bad. Not to make you feel worse.” She clenched her teeth.

“I don’t know how to control the weather. We may have to go out in this.” I wanted nothing more than to curl up and never leave the damp cave.

She put her head between her knees and spoke to the ground. “The rain comes down harder when you look sad like that. Try to think of something calming.”

“How is magic affected by emotions?” I stared at the tree’s roots and wondered what kind of thoughts would calm me. Not my old friends, not the family I left far behind. What part of my life was good?

“You need to find a way to shield yourself from it all.”

“A shield …”

“This energy is an iron will.” The Oracle’s words floated back to me.

The ones she spoke before I departed for the Guardian City.

“ It surrounds you like the hardest metal and darkest storm. It is a beautiful essence and divine love. It is feminine energy. It will carry itself with you, Liv, into your darkest days. When you feel your heart is being ripped from your chest and your mind is split in two, don’t let go.

Do not rip away your shield. It will be all that can save you. ”

“I think I know how to calm a little. Can you drive your racer?” I asked as Maev attempted to sit up again.

“The Aspis … there won’t be many places to hide on the plains. We will have to go fast. I wish my brother were here.” Maev gave me a worried look. “If I start the machine, can you hold onto it and direct us?”

I eyed the racer. “Is it like riding a horse?”

“Not at all.” She closed her eyes.

“Okay, I will try. Point me in the right direction. Let’s get this thing ready, and we’ll make a run for it.”

She rose on unsteady feet to start the racer, jolting when I screamed and grabbed her swollen arm. The shadow passed by our cave again, darkening Maev’s figure before it disappeared.

“What is wrong with you?” Her face scrunched in pain.

“You didn’t see that?” I yelped, a chill running down my back.

A roar drowned out her response as it shook dirt and stone loose from the roots.

We both stared at the rain. “It’s not above us,” she whispered.

“But I bet this racer that was the Aspis flying overhead you saw. Which is bad news for us.” She diverted her attention to the racer again, grimacing at the pain in her arm.

She wobbled, struggling to stand through the pain.

With a few presses of buttons and turns of metallic dials, a square-shaped area on the front glowed.

She jabbed the glowing square. “This display tells you how much power you are using and how much is left. We go max speed and find shelter again if it gets close to empty. This dot here is us, and this,”—she pointed to another spot on the square—“is where my brother is waiting with the airship.”

I nodded as I sat on top of the racer, which was hovering off the ground. It shifted as Maev got on behind, her warmth cradling my back. Taller than me, she could easily see over my shoulder.

“Do whatever you need to slow the rain, and let’s go.”

The Oracle had told me I needed to keep my shield around me—the feminine energy of my mother. She was the one person in the world who brought me strength. I conjured her image—her wild brown hair, a halo around her face, and the warmth she always carried.

The rain slowed, and light peeked through the clouds.

A shadow passed over us, another roar ripping through the air.

“Are you kidding? How did it find us?” Maev said.

“What do we do?” A fresh wave of fear locked me in place.

“It’s heading in the opposite direction we are facing. Go. Let’s pray it doesn’t notice right away.”

The handles of the racer moved when I pushed, and we shot forward into the open field. The drizzling rain pelted my face, and I blinked against it to see ahead. I recounted memories shared with my mother as a child, keeping the rain at bay.

We were farther than I thought we would make it before I heard the next roar.

“All the way, Olivia. Max out the speed!”

Don’t be afraid, I told myself while my arms shook so hard the racer veered to the side. Think of your good memories.

Maev’s grip was painful around my middle. How she held on so hard with her burn, I didn’t know.

The display showed our power was below half and going down steadily.

Grass plains stretched before us. There was nowhere we could hide.

To my right, a small collection of huts zoomed past, faces of those who lived there blurred.

We passed over one river, then another, until the plains turned into a blend of swamps and streams.

“We are in the river lands now.” Maev spoke into my ear. “Shift us to the left a bit.”

My shift was a sudden plunge toward the left, but I righted us quickly enough. Think of good things. Stop shaking so much.

“How far is the ship?” I yelled over my shoulder, which was a big mistake. As I turned back around, a swarm of bugs collided with me, and I swallowed several, coughing and spitting them out.

“Oh, cursed Night! The bugs! I hate bugs,” Maev cried. “The ship is not far now.” There was a pause as I felt her turn in the seat. “Olivia, I don’t think we are going to make it.”

I pressed the racer forward as hard as possible, my stomach bottoming out as the power went below the quarter mark. “We are running out of power!”

“Ohhh noooo …” she said in a low warning.

“What’s going on back there?”

“It’s not just the Aspis.”

I closed my eyes briefly. “Out with it, Maev.”

“A Guardian airship has found us.”

Alarm rang through every vein in my body. There was only one ship that would travel with the Aspis. “Oh god.” I clutched the racer with white knuckles, slowly turning, afraid to look over my shoulder.

The beast curled through the sky, cutting through the clouds. And passing it, gaining on us faster than the beast, was Falizha’s ship.

They found me.

Was Nuo up there? Was Kazhi still masking as a Guard and pretending to follow the Aspis? Were Bastane and Falizha there, hungry to watch me fall? Or would they do as Maev suspected and try to take the magic to the Council?

I spun back around and focused on where we were going. The racer shifted at the movement, and I steadied us so we didn’t fall. The display flashed a warning that the power was nearly depleted. Maev’s airship was close. So close.

“Do you have any other weapons?” I screamed over my shoulder.

“I told you, I am no fighter! I had my crossbow, and that was it. The Aspis ate it.”

“We need a plan, Maev. The racer is almost done.” As was my control over my emotions.

The racer bounced again as Maev said, “The airship is nearing us, and there’s no shelter in sight. I can’t think of a plan. I’m sorry.”

The racer slowed, the wind dying down. Far ahead, I could make out the outline of Maev’s ship.

“I have a reckless plan,” I said over my shoulder. One that would cost me. “You’re going to have to tough it out with your arm, Maev. We’re going to have to run for it.”

“Do what you have to do. They’re nearly on us now.”

I nodded, pushing the racer as far as it would go. I could see the rivers pass us in detail, no longer blurred colours but ripples reflecting the little daylight that came through the clouds.

“Recount what happened in the field for me,” I told her, regretting the idea as soon as I said it. I didn’t want to remember. Not yet.

“What? We just got over—oh!” she said, understanding.

“Sorry in advance,” she muttered before reminding me exactly why my heart was torn to pieces.

“I tracked you on the field and found you being held captive by the golden Day-leg Guardian who thought you were the Aspis. She was giving you up, hoping you transformed so she could be named a hero. Then the Guards stopped her and tried to protect you against me and the horde advancing on you.”

The downpour began quicker than I had expected, encouraging Maev as we continued to slow.

“Then I put a bolt into the woman’s middle, yet she ran away.

The horde got a hold of you, and I lost you in the field.

The next time I saw you, you were facing off with the Guards, who were outnumbered and losing.

I was going to try to kill one of them before they got to you, but you screamed at me to stop.

It was when the Shadow Guard moved to fight off the Aethars that everything changed. ”

I didn’t hold it in—the sob that had been trapped. It exploded from me as the grief lashed out. I remembered the blade piercing his chest. It was so fresh in my mind.

“You weren’t the only one to cry out. The other Guard, the Sea-leg, did too and took down the Aethar that killed his friend. That’s when you turned into the Ikhor. You killed all the Aethar around you, burning me in the process.”

The sky darkened, and the rain stung as the racer continued to slow.

“It’s not enough, Maev. We need to hold them off until we reach your ship. They can’t follow us. The storm needs to be bigger.”

She paused behind me, taking in a breath and leaned back, before she said, “His name was Erebrekt of the North, the cursed child. He kept his eyes on you as he changed into the Aspis. I saw pieces of him fade away until he became the beast.”

She didn’t need to say it all. She only had to say his name.

I cried out a pain-filled howl to the sky, burning my throat.

The world turned dark. The sky became a nightmare as lightning tore across the horizon, illuminating the beast above, swirling in circles, searching for us below. I could no longer see the airship, and the racer came to a complete stop. They would never find us.

Maev was first to jump off, and she pulled me down with her as I wept. We both slipped on the wet ground. My feet sunk into the mud, and my knees nearly gave out. Any anger I harboured for being possessed by the magic vanished. There was only pain.

“I hate to say this, Olivia, but you can’t hold your emotions in. Let them loose, girl. You’re doing it.” She looped an arm through mine, limping as she pulled me along.

We moved as fast as we could through the swampy ground. I did as she said and felt it all. Everything from that field and from before it. It was no longer contained.

We were both choking on the rain—the downpour turned into a hurricane.

My hair stuck to my face, and I swiped at it, trying to see where I was stepping as I cried. My swords, strapped to my sides, thumped against my legs as my green billowing pants, soaked and heavy, slowed my pace.

“Keep going. Keep feeling it,” Maev muttered.

The airship came into view. I could see the faint glow of the mesmerizing patterns around its edges, powered from the magycris. It was the ship I saw the night I was on the deck with him .

The ground sucked my feet in and I fell into the mud. Maev pulled me up.

My throat hurt from sobbing. My eyes burned.

Closer now, a buzzing was building ahead—a noise I couldn’t place.

A roar came from behind us. I held onto that pain and let the storm continue. It was more than emotional pain now. My insides cramped, nausea threatening to pull me under.

The fog that was in my head grew heavier.

“Oh no, no, no,” muttered Maev, pulling me forward. “The ship is surrounded by Southlanders! They’ve taken it!”

Holding my free arm over my head, I searched. A dark shape came into focus, surrounded by a group of fifty strong.

“My brother.” Maev searched the area, but the rain made it impossible to see.

Aethars were tearing the ship apart from the inside—emptied and looted—commands shouted back and forth.

Maev’s ship was smaller than Falizha’s. Its sleek body gave the impression that it would cut through the skies.

Long, thin, glowing lines—powered by the magic crystals—pulsed across the side of the ship in neat, horizontal patterns.

“Over there.” Maev pointed to a collection of bushes along a river. “We need to take shelter before the Guards see us.”

Strange that it was the Guards she feared over the Aethar.

My world had turned upside down.