The One Who Could Not Fly

by E G Stone

  “She searches for more remains,” Davorin muttered. Realisation struck him. He closed his fist around the tooth hard enough for it to bite into his skin and draw a few drops of blood. The power in the ancient relic was strong enough to make his head sing. Dragon remains were rumoured to contain vast magical powers. They would grant the bearer power in ways that were beyond reckoning.

  If Seraphina gained that power, then Davorin—and the Empire—would fall at her feet.

  Davorin smiled at Nadira, pulling her in for a swift kiss. Then, without a backward glance or a goodbye, he ran from the treasure trove and back to his tent. Within five minutes, he was packed and walking to where his mercenaries waited, the chest of gifts for Lenore under his arm. The dragon’s tooth was tucked firmly into his waistband. In another five minutes, the whole party was gone from the camp.

  Seraphina would not discover his theft for two days.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “What are we doing?” Ravenna asked.

  Miska kept polishing the silver border around a mirror in one of the myriad of hallways in the Red Palace.

  Ravenna set down her own rag and touched Miska on the shoulder. He turned and fixed her with a smile.

  “Done already?” he teased, though Ravenna had not actually been cleaning. She had been cleared by Warra to spend more time out of bed—as long as she neither ran nor fought. And she had promised the healer to see her if the wounds bothered her at all, and to sit if her strength flagged. Miska had then offered to let her stay with him while he worked, so she would not be bored. Ravenna had agreed.

  “Miska, what are we doing?” Ravenna asked again, as if it were not obvious. “I mean, I’m a sylph, formerly a slave. I hardly know anything of your human world. And you have grown up amongst this wealth and splendour and…what are we doing?”

  “Ravenna,” Miska murmured. He brushed her cheek with his thumb. “Does it bother you that you are a sylph and I’m human?”

  It was so much harder to talk with Miska, sometimes. If Ravenna felt uncomfortable with others, she could look away, or turn to face a window and the other person would still be able to hear. With Miska, she had to watch every instance of emotion flicker across his features, no matter how painful because if she looked away, he would not hear. But he needed to hear.

  “When I was young, I learned about humans in the vast tomes we have. They don’t feature much in our recent history, but the stories we have about them were akin to nightmares. I knew them only as cruel, warmongers who drank strategy and death like wine. Then, I was captured. Everything I had heard, no matter how absurd, seemed to be perfectly true. Humans were monsters.”

  “Oh, Ravenna,” Miska said, his green eyes swimming with pain. He started to pull away from Ravenna, but she grabbed his hand and held it tightly.

  “When I was in the Pits, I met these two slaves, Radim and Tekko. They were charged with teaching me to fight, so I wouldn’t die immediately when pitted against another slave or a starved animal. I thought they were like the others, revelling in death. But it turns out they were just trying to survive. Then there was Davorin…” Ravenna took a deep breath and shook her head. “The specifics don’t matter, only the fact that he is like the old sylph stories.”

  “We know about Davorin,” Miska murmured. “Queen Lenore is on her guard. It wouldn’t do to have the Salusian Empire bearing down on us. But she knows the truth.”

  Ravenna nodded. “Good. But my point is, Miska, the overwhelming majority of humans that I’ve met have been exactly as they were described. Then I came here. And everything is so different. Lenore actually cares about her people. The servants and soldiers are happy. And you! No matter how I snapped or ignored you or fought you, you were always there with a smile and a friendly word. I shouldn’t want this. But I do.”

  Miska, for once, did not smile. He just tilted his head downwards so that his forehead rested against Ravenna’s. He closed his eyes. “I want this, too,” he said.

  Knowing Miska could not hear her, Ravenna took action herself—lifting her chin just enough so that their breath mingled, she kissed him.

  Miska was fire, passion. He surged against Ravenna with more force than she would have expected from the mild-mannered man. This was wing-tingling, feather-rustling, heart-pounding fire. It was like nothing Ravenna had ever experienced with any sylph and she knew that she would never want to.

  She made a low sound in her throat and threaded her hands through his dark brown hair. Miska’s fingers ran along her waist, brushing the feathers of her wings and her stomach. They moved closer together, as if trying to bridge any differences they might have. And between them, an insatiable and impossibly strong fire kindled.

  Ravenna did not know how long she had kissed Miska, only that a smirking cough startled her awake. Ravenna jumped back, looking past Miska to see Lenore standing in the hallway, a blushing young serving boy at her side.

  Miska, unaware of the cough and unapologetic, turned to see his queen standing there.

  He nodded respectfully, but he was not quite able to wipe the pleased expression from his face. “My Queen,” he said.

  Lenore laughed. She touched the serving boy on the shoulder, “Thank you for bringing me here. You may go.”

  The boy ran off before anyone could blink. Silence descended on the hallway, with Lenore at one end and Ravenna and Miska on the other. Finally, Lenore started forwards, shaking her head and wearing an enormous grin. “Finally! I wondered how long it would take you to woo her,” Lenore said.

  “You expected this?” Ravenna demanded. Miska, thank goodness, had his attention focused on Lenore and did not catch her words.

  “But of course,” Lenore purred. She stopped just before the two and clapped her hands, almost giddy with delight. “I couldn’t imagine a better match! Miska is the best man you’ll ever meet. And you are all strength and goodness.”

  Ravenna tossed her head at that. “Goodness? I don’t think so.”

  Miska caught those words. He tilted Ravenna’s chin up so she was looking him in the eye. “It’s true. You have saved me twice, without thought for your own safety. You worry about people even though you have been hurt so many times. You are bitter, perhaps, and sharp, but you care so much.”

  “Twice?” Ravenna frowned.

  “The lion,” Miska said, tracing a finger along the bandage that Ravenna still wore. “And in the hallway, with Davorin. You told him that I hadn’t overheard him because I couldn’t. You gave him the only plausible explanation to keep me from death.”

  Ravenna blanched, having forgotten about that conversation. It seemed so inconsequential at the time, so completely normal that she had not thought anything of it. Davorin had been the one who controlled her, whether Lenore and Miska thought so or not. He still had a sword poised at her throat, metaphorically speaking, but now perhaps Ravenna could fight back. Perhaps she could make her life here without Davorin. After all, Lenore was already wise to his dangers.

  “Thank you,” Ravenna breathed. “For seeing me better than I ever have.”

  Miska pulled her into a hug, his arms encircling her shoulders and her arms wrapping around his ribs. Her wings folded around them until it seemed until they were the only ones in the world.

  Lenore coughed pointedly again.

  Ravenna pulled away, more slowly this time, and linked her fingers with Miska’s.

  “I did come to find you two,” Lenore said after a moment. Her easy smile fell away and she looked a little nervous, nothing like the grand queen that ruled the Red Desert.

  “My Queen?” Miska asked, frowning. “What is it?”

  Lenore sighed. She shifted her gaze to Ravenna; the sylph felt her feathers flare out slightly, fear gripping her spine. “What do you know of Captain Nadezhda?” Lenore asked.

  Ravenna wanted to spit in disgust. Instead, she bared her teeth like the lion that had mauled her and snarled, “She is a monster.”

  Miska and Lenore recoiled slightly at Rave
nna’s harsh tone. Lenore licked her lips and tentatively prodded further. “I would have thought…considering her master, that you would, well, think her…”

  “Think her less dangerous?” Ravenna asked, her fire quickly tempering to ice. “Yes. Nadezhda is less dangerous than Davorin. She has none of his cunning and calculating mind. She does not plan for the future as he does, nor does she have the innate grasp of power that flows through his honeyed words. That does not mean she is not a monster!”

  “We never said she wasn’t,” Miska murmured, kissing Ravenna’s hair gently. “Your vehemence just surprised us.”

  Us. Like Ravenna was separate. She knew that Miska did not think of her that way, but the choice of words reminded Ravenna that she was still an outsider. She might have fit there well, but it was not her world. Perhaps it could be, though.

  She shook her head and replied to Miska’s words with a weak smile. “Nadezhda was the leader of the slavers that brought me to the Pits. She kept me sounder than the others, but she was never fair nor kind. She delights in cruelty and violence. Her desires are base and her mind unchecked. Under Davorin’s command, she has become a dangerous tool to wield. Make no mistake, though, she is a monster. Just one contained.”

  “Perhaps not so contained, now that her master isn’t here,” Lenore said. The other two looked at her in confusion. Lenore winced, frowning almost apologetically at Ravenna. “She was found snooping around your rooms. Reading the journals of my ancestor. Is there something I should know?”

  Ravenna pulled back, her calm expression impossible to maintain. “I would never—”

  “No,” Lenore shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. I mean about the journals. Is there something dangerous there that would get back to Davorin?”

  Ravenna’s wings flared wide in alarm, even as she struggled to think of something that the man could use. She shook her head. “I don’t know. There weren’t any maps or descriptions of how he could get to Shinalea. And much of the information is outdated, considering it is generations old. I don’t think there’s anything.”

  “Perhaps you should come with me, anyways,” Lenore said, still frowning. “I’ve had Captain Nadezhda taken to one of the lower chambers for questioning. There isn’t much I can do, as Davorin is my guest and his people are as well. But I must do something.”

  “You may not want to risk this,” Ravenna murmured. Miska brushed his thumb along Ravenna’s jaw and lifted her chin. She saw his eyes swimming with confusion, as much as they swam with affection. Ravenna explained. “Nadezhda is second in command to Davorin. If he discovers that his Captain was being held and questioned, he may retaliate. He already wants…”

  Ravenna broke off and took a shuddering breath. She could tell these two exactly what Davorin wanted. She could tell them that he thought of her as his property and that he expected her to help his cause with Lenore. She could tell them that he would take the army of the Red Desert and add it to that of the Salusian Empire without a second thought. Lenore’s people would be subjugated to a cruel master. But Ravenna found the words stuck in her throat. There was a lingering feeling that if she said nothing, perhaps these people would be safer. Perhaps they would not be swept up in Davorin’s insane schemes. The truth was that they would just be more likely to be unable to defend themselves.

  “It’s alright, Ravenna,” Miska said, putting a protective arm around her shoulders. “You don’t have to put yourself in danger for us.”

  “Is that what you think this is? My reluctance to tell you is because I’m in danger?” Ravenna hissed. She shrugged Miska’s arm off and forced him to step back with a flex of her wings. “You are a fool if you think that.”

  “But I saw him talking to you in the hallway!” Miska protested. Lenore put her hand on his arm, amber eyes shining. “I saw him threaten you!”

  Ravenna scoffed. “His threats hold no sway over me,” she said. “But they will for you.”

  Lenore blinked. She shook her head, the tiny braids of her hair swinging along her back. “I don’t understand. I thought you had no magic.”

  “Magic? What does that have to do with anything?”

  “How else can you defy Davorin?”

  Ravenna looked at the floor, studying the swirls in the marble. In her fear and anger, she had built that man up to be something greater than he was. A pillar of stone, a monster of legendary capability. Even Lenore and Miska had begun to see him that way. And yes, he was powerful. He was cruel. He held no remorse. But for Ravenna, he was nothing more than another human. These people had more to lose by defying him.

  “Davorin seeks to marry you,” Ravenna said plainly. If she expected Lenore to react violently, then she was mistaken.

  “I expected as much, given the attentions he has paid me. At first, I thought he was merely seeking an alliance, such as I have with some of the other smaller bordering lands, but then he brought me you. I don’t think I was meant to see you as a slave to free, but as a gift.” Lenore tugged at the light fabric of her navel-grazing shirt. She lifted her eyes to Ravenna’s.

  Ravenna inclined her head.

  “I know the Red Desert is wealthy in resources and finances, but no one from the Salusian Empire has paid me anything more than a cursory visit. So what does he want?”

  Ravenna raised her eyebrows in surprise, looking between Miska and the Queen. They both looked slightly confused and worried. “You do not know?” Ravenna asked. She received blank looks in response. “Davorin seeks to acquire your army. Your people. He wants to add your fighting ability to that of the Salusian Empire. I don’t know why, but I think it has to do with another brother or some failed expectations by the Emperor or something. What I overheard was not comprehensive.”

  “There was another brother,” Miska said. “Dagan. He was killed during his latest campaign to conquer the surrounding lands. But everyone thought that the expansion of the Salusian Empire was at an end. Dagan was the bloodthirsty, ambitious one. Davorin was always seen as more of a scholar, a schemer, than a conqueror. His works in the Empire have balanced many economies of the conquered peoples. And made them completely dependent on the Empire.”

  “He wants to succeed Dagan,” Lenore breathed. Her golden skin grew pale and she staggered for a moment. Miska was immediately by her side, steadying her. Lenore pressed her hands to her stomach, fear written plainly on her face. “He wants to continue the expansion of the Empire. He wants to take this whole land and everything beyond. No wonder he felt threatened by Southron’s movements at the border. If his sister is half as ambitious as he is, then she’ll be clamouring to get her hands on my lands, too.”

  Ravenna placed a hand on Lenore’s. When the Queen lifted her head, Ravenna’s eyes were hard, cold. “Perhaps we should go ask his Captain about his plans.”

  “Perhaps we should,” Lenore agreed, though she still looked ill.

  “Maybe we can encourage her to tell her master that the Red Desert is not for the taking,” Miska put in. Both women looked at him, saw the hopeful and determined expression shining from his green eyes. Lenore smiled. Ravenna kept her expression blank, thinking that it would take more than sheer will to deter Davorin. But she followed Lenore to where Captain Nadezhda was being held. Her fingers twined with Miska’s the entire way.

  Nadezhda sneered as the trio came into the room. She was sitting on a stone bench carved from the wall in a room that looked like it had not been used for anything but storage for years. The guard gave a relieved glance as Lenore, Miska and Ravenna approached, as if he would rather not be there with the woman. Lenore set herself directly in front of the Captain, Miska and Ravenna behind. It was on Ravenna that Nadezhda focused her attention, though.

  “So, the little bird found herself a lover,” Nadezhda said, chuckling dryly. “What will Lord Davorin say about such a choice?”

  “Lord Davorin has no say in Ravenna’s choices,” Lenore said. Her voice held all of the natural command afforded her station. It slid off of Na
dezhda like water.

  “Doesn’t he?” Nadezhda said. “What gratitude to the man who rescued her from slavery, to consort with lowly servants. Where are you from, boy? You don’t look like any desert dweller I know, and you’re certainly not from Southron or the Salusian Empire. Though it figures that a flightless bird would end up with an inbred ingrate.”

  Now it was Ravenna’s turn to speak, and she found that all the fire in her belly had turned to that familiar feeling of ice. Her voice was cold and as unfeeling as the bitter winter wind, “This flightless bird is worth more than your pitiful life, Captain. I doubt your master would appreciate you alienating me, considering I am an angel, a divine being, after all.”

  Nadezhda paled, but still managed to spit, “You’re not an angel. There’s nothing divine about you. I’ve seen you bleed.”

  Ravenna gave a wing-shrug, “Perhaps. But the rest of the world does not know that. And I would imagine that Queen Lenore’s reach is farther and stronger than yours.”

  “Lord Davorin will hear of your insolence!” Nadezhda clenched her hands into fists, but she was wise enough at least not to jump and goad anyone into a fight. Ravenna was still injured, and Warra would have her head for getting into a fight, but if Nadezhda chose to attack, she would not mind taking the woman down a few notches.

  “Lord Davorin will hear that you have been snooping around my palace,” Lenore snapped.

  “He merely wished me to see how Ravenna was recovering after her devastating attack by the lion. He was worried that her wounds would get worse and that she might be forever maimed,” Nadezhda said easily. She looked at Ravenna in mock concern. “Should I have ignored the wishes of Lord Davorin on such a matter? He is incredibly fond of you, Ravenna.”

  “As he is fond of you?” Ravenna asked smoothly.