Page 10 of Winds of Darkness
Whatever the fuck that meant.
Rayner didn’t have time to waste on this now. He had other things he needed to know, then he needed to get the fuck out of here while he still had the power to do so.
“The most powerful. Where does she keep them?”
Something hardened on Feris’s face as though he were going to decline to answer, but Rayner merely needed to lift his hand again, ashes drifting from his fingers, and Feris was blurting, “In one of her secret chambers. I haven’t seen them since she moved them there.”
Interesting.
“Aravis. Where is she being kept?”
At that, something sinister crept across Feris’s face. “When she’s not fulfilling her assignments, she warms my bed, Ash Rider.”
A snarl of rage left Rayner as his hand plunged into Feris’s chest. This time, he didn’t leave it as ashes. He let his flesh reform, solid fingers wrapping around Feris’s heart.
The male gasped, face contorted in agony, but he still managed to say, “She let me take her for the first time. Let me teach her how to prepare for her duties. And she will use her to claim you once more.”
He bellowed a roar of pain when Rayner sank a dagger deep into his side, twisting sharply. “Arius will welcome you into the Pits of Torment,” Rayner snarled.
“You will be in the Pits with the rest of us,” Feris rasped between ragged breaths as Rayner’s fingers tightened around his heart.
“I’m counting on it,” Rayner replied. “I will find you there and finish what I started here.”
He ripped his hand back, Feris’s heart in his palm. Blood bubbled from the male’s lips as he sank to the floor, and Rayner watched the life drain from his eyes before he tossed his heart atop the body and disappeared among the smoke.
He’d been right. That would forever be one of his fondest memories.
Chapter 3
He took a drink from his mug of ale. This was one of the more rundown taverns in Solembra. It was tucked into a back alley on the edges of the capital city, and it was frequented by some rather questionable patrons. But they had the best ale in the Fire Court, and he was one of those questionable patrons, so Rayner found it rather suitable. He had to hand it to the prince of this Court. While this might be one of the more shady establishments in the city, he’d seen much worse throughout the continent. But even the Fire Prince couldn’t keep every corner of his lands neat and tidy and perfect. It was a far cry from the legends of the Black Syndicate, but thieves and cheats and hirelings still found their way in.
He was a prime example.
He had a small house located farther into the city, closer to the markets and businesses. The Fire Court seemed the natural place to have a home, if he could even call it that. When he spent too much of his magic, it was where he recovered. Like he had been doing for the last two seasons. It’s where he planned and plotted when he wasn’t off wandering to the farthest reaches of the continent trying to track down answers. He’d had a house on the outside of the city at one point. A small estate with room to run.
He’d sold it as soon as he’d remembered he owned it.
Decades. It had taken him decades to overcome the enchantment Moranna had put on him when he’d left the cliffs on the Southern Islands. He’d wasted so much godsdamn coin on false seers and Witches who swore they could brew up a tonic to bring back his memories. He’d found it a better use of his time to live among the smoke and ashes and pick up on rumors throughout the various kingdoms, then follow the rumors to see if they were true. Even that had been largely a waste of his time.
Until the day he found his way to the Oracle.
He paused to catch his breath. This was stupid. Foolish and idiotic and stupid to try to get through the Witch Kingdoms without alerting any of the Covens. The High Witch had eyes and ears everywhere. He was running out of ashes and smoke too. Once he cleared this small town, he would be hiking to the cliff cave.
And hopefully avoiding any run-ins with the Witches.
He took another few moments to breathe deep and let his heart rate settle before he set off again, flitting between the smoke billowing from the houses of the village. The ashes of a fire pit a few miles out let him get a little farther than anticipated, but here was where his magic wouldn’t be of much use for traveling.
He fingered a few of the small medallions in his pocket. He’d wasted a lot of coin on false Witches, but these had actually come in handy. They had been created by magic, so he was able to imbue them with some of his own. He stored ashes in them, allowing him to throw them and move among the ashes released if there were no smoke or ashes around to move through. If he ran into a Witch, he’d need all the advantages he could get.
He pulled a map from a pocket realm, looking it over before folding it up and tucking into the pocket of his cloak. Detailed maps of the Witch Kingdoms were nearly impossible to find. Another thing he’d paid an obscene amount of coin for, and it wasn’t even a decent one. It had simply been better than any other map he’d ever come across.
Knowing it was foolish to linger too long in one spot when he did not have permission to be in these lands, Rayner set off at a brisk pace. The grey skies only added to the chill of the territory. There wasn’t snow on the ground, but frost still clung to everything.
There were various rumors about where to find the mythical Oracle. Too many rumors to ever try and substantiate them all. Some were ridiculous, but some he’d looked into. Most had led to dead ends, but a few had paid off. Bits and pieces of a few rumors woven together over the last few decades were how he’d finally figured out where she was.
Or where he hoped she was (if it was a she), because if this turned out to be a complete waste of his fucking time and he had to start over from scratch, he wasn’t entirely sure what he would do.
He stepped from a copse of ancient trees at the base of the cliffs when he heard it. The screech of an eagle.