Air

by Rosie Scott

  “Gods, how I wish that were the case,” I groaned, before a snort of laughter. When our chuckles died down, the talk of conquest reminded me of another subject I wanted to bring up. With my eyes on the two Sentinels, I asked, “Do you think Kirek and her army have reached the shores of Nahara by now?”

  “If not yet, they'll reach it soon,” Cyrus replied. “It would have taken about a moon for an army that large to cross to the eastern coast and depart, and another moon for them to cross the sea. I'd have to assume they'd dock in Al Nazir. It'll be a while yet before they reach T'ahal.”

  I nodded, my gut full of anxiety for Hasani and his men. “It took us a little over half a moon to travel from T'ahal to Al Nazir. I'd have to imagine it'll take them longer than that with an army so large.”

  “From what we heard, Kirek expected to get there in mid-Dark Star,” Uriel said.

  “I wonder if they'll be too late,” I murmured.

  “Do we have any idea when Chairel would have attacked?” Anto asked, looking for my opinion.

  “Hasani's letter told me that their armies surrounded Comercio at the time, and that was...what? High Star of last year. We know they were waiting for support from Hammerton. If they were going to attack, I'd have to imagine they would wait for their reinforcements and attack before the weather got too harsh in Chairel. Depending on how quickly Hammerton responded, that could have been Red Moon of last year or this year.”

  “Hammerton is quite a distance from Nahara, and even further from Comercio if they go around Celendar rather than pass through the forest,” Uriel pointed out. “Their reinforcements would not have arrived until this year.”

  “When did Chairel's diplomats arrive in Eteri?” I questioned.

  Uriel glanced at Cyrus as if he couldn't remember. The other Sentinel finally answered, “The middle of 419. Diplomats were sent to us as soon as Queen Edrys learned of the results of the Battle of the Dead. She asked for a military alliance.”

  “Really?” I blurted, shocked. “I figured she would try to smooth over relations. I had no idea she'd go that far.”

  “She only wanted an alliance with us to ensure we would not side with you,” Cyrus replied. “Chairel intended to use Eteri as a pawn, nothing more. I think the plan was to ally with all of the major world powers to quell your rebellion simply by leaving you with no options. Chairel was not worried about your alliance with Nahara because I think they figured it would be easily bullied into submission. They did not even consider the wildlands or the underground because there's never been a reason to. Eteri?” Cyrus shrugged. “We were your only option, according to the queen. Take us out of the equation, and they figured your quest would run out of steam because it had nowhere to go.”

  “So Queen Tilda denied giving them what they wanted, which I suppose pissed them off enough to immediately declare war,” I mused.

  “Yeah, Tilda didn't even let the diplomats fully explain themselves,” Cyrus replied. “I was there. If you think she was nasty with us, she was on a whole other level with them. She was insulted and told them as such. The diplomats accused her of already making a deal with you since she was so defensive, and she told her guards to drag them out of her castle. Needless to say, she hadn't made the deal yet, though she wanted to. A declaration of war was delivered to us a few moons later, just last year.”

  “The night Tilda refused to ally with Chairel was the night Vertun left us,” Uriel commented, as if he knew that would be of particular interest to me.

  “I'm surprised he didn't run off to Chairel, then,” I said.

  Cyrus shrugged. “They are already after you, and he felt slighted by Eteri. His dealings with the Icilic are not simply over you. He wants to live here in Eteri. He always has. And if the mortals ruling the land get on his bad side, perhaps he figures he will have a hand in replacing them with more agreeable people.”

  “Kai.” Azazel's voice turned my attention to him, where he held out a leather-bound book to me. I recognized it from Aleyah's room in the cavern earlier that day. It was an old book with yellowed and frayed pages, and though the cover was worn, it was not titled. “Take it,” the archer added, when I'd merely stared.

  I took the book from him, bringing it to my lap, and opening the front cover with a creak.

  “What is that?” Uriel asked Azazel.

  “Malachi's logbook of requests for Aleyah's powers,” the archer replied, as I started to read.

  29th of New Moon, 91

  First new request for the new book. Was on my way back from delivering my message to Makani. Everything has to be so confusing with these people. Nanya made the request for Malgor's location and current name, but she wants it delivered to Kacela in Celendar. I guess she wants Kacela to hunt him down since that's what she's best at. Well, I'm not going all the way to Celendar looking the way I do. Had to rely on some mercenaries to take the message. Paid them real good not to talk or peek, but the message will arrive late regardless. Nanya will be pissed. Kacela might not even wait for the message that long. Who gives a shit? Not me, that's for damn sure.

  Anyway, I was on my way back and passed Hades in the Highland Pass. Was bleeding from a new wound on his neck. Don't know what trouble he got into, but I don't really care. I was just shocked to see he could still bleed. His request is the same as all the ones before it, so I'll just list it here: Ciro, Vertun. Oddly, now he also wants to know about Nirit. Not sure why. She recently set up some sort of place in the rainforest down south, that's all I know. Apparently, she got into some scuffle with the Knights of Celendar and fled for fear of her identity being found out. Oh well, adding her to the list.

  One last thing: forgot to add that Nanya requested we never deal with Malgor. Request denied. Not that he's ever contacted us, but I hear he's loaded with gold. Not turning that down if he ever asks.

  -Malachi

  “Hell,” I murmured, noting the date of the entry. “This was written in the year 91, and the gods were jumping all over the world trying to kill each other even then, mere decades after swearing to remain hidden.”

  Cerin chuckled as he read over my shoulder. “Some things never change, I suppose.”

  “Who is Kacela?” I questioned. Hers was the only name I hadn't recognized out of them all.

  “The goddess of the hunt,” Azazel replied.

  “Mm,” Cerin murmured, finding that interesting. “Malgor didn't just try to kill your mother, your mother retaliated.”

  “From a distance,” I added, finding that fitting. Nanya seemed to be one to do everything from a distance. She watched my upbringing from afar, and hired assassins to kill my biological father for her.

  “Kai,” Azazel pointed to the back of the book in my hands. “Read the most recent entries. It'll take you all night to get through it if you start from the front.”

  I chuckled softly, shrugging. “Well, I'll read it all eventually. This is extremely interesting to me.”

  “You'll need to pass it around,” Jakan commented.

  “Don't worry, I will.” I flipped through the pages to the last entry, before skimming through and finding the requests over my lifetime which were most relevant to me.

  13th of High Star, 419

  Vertun's request delivered successfully to Judai in T'ahal. Forget the exact date, but it was in Dark Star since the land was all torn up from the Battle of the Dead. Judai asked me to deliver a message in return. She rejects Vertun's idea because she's already trailing Kai Sera and has her own. Judai's message is to inform Vertun that the half-breed does plan on coming to Eteri next and that she will try to circumvent her crew to the southern wildlands. If Judai's assassination attempt fails, Vertun will be the back-up. Delivered message successfully to Vertun when I passed him coming back here, but he wasn't happy. Was pissed about something already, and ranted to me about having to go so far out of his way.

  Anyway, given the time-sensitive nature and importance of this request, I came immediately back to Eteri after getting Judai's messag
e, so I sent Nanya's letter with a different messenger when I was in T'ahal. My original message was informing her that Malgor is now settled in T'ahal, but while I was there, I learned of his death in the Battle of the Gods, as the mortals are calling it. I re-wrote the message with this news and sent it. Left the other parts of the message the same. Kai's location, her actions in Nahara, et cetera. I informed her of the assassination contracts between Sirius Sera and the gods since she requested any information I knew. Not sure how she'll feel when she finds Kacela accepted the hit given their history. She might not care. She seems more curious about Kai's whereabouts than concerned. The news of Sera's massacre invigorated her.

  1st of Dark Star, 420

  Received a message from Tyrus today. Haven't heard from him in centuries. Asked for Kai Sera's location and current actions. Aleyah found her in the tunnels coming to Eteri from Quellden. Boom, just like that, the underground is taken. It's been all of a few moons since the last request for her. The half-breed moves quickly. I wrote as such in my return message to Tyrus. Speaking of which, I wish one of these lazy bastards would just kill her already. She's a fucking half-breed. It can't honestly be that hard. I'm tired of writing her name in these damned logs.

  69th of New Moon, 421

  Hades stopped by in person earlier. Guess what for? Ciro, Vertun. Informed him that Vertun has left for Glacia, and he seemed disappointed. Aleyah told him Ciro's in Mistral and that he'll be leaving in a week for Tal. Apparently, the half-breed made it to Mistral yesterday and came to an agreement with Tilda today. It was odd because Hades seemed all excited to see what he could do to Mistral until Aleyah told him Kai was there. Then it was like he didn't want to attack it at all. I doubt Hades and the half-breed know each other since Kai just got here and Hades has never left Eteri as far as I know. Anyway, he left for Tal today. Even with his head start, he'll be too far to get there in time, but Hades doesn't seem to need sleep. I swear he has some secret passages leading to the western coast from here because he zooms around Eteri almost as fast as I do.

  I closed the logbook, done reading for now. My head swarmed with names, dates, and events of the past few years, trying to piece everything together. Behind the scenes, so much had been going on. So many gods were on the move.

  “Is there a god named Tyrus?” I asked the group. As I'd read, some of them had started talking amongst one another. With my question, they quieted.

  “Aye,” Maggie replied. “He is a god of the dwarves. The god of the forge, as they call him.”

  “Does he have it out for you?” Uriel questioned.

  “It seems he does. He sent in requests for my whereabouts. And apparently, Kacela is one of the gods that accepted Sirius's assassination contract.”

  “So our problems with the gods will continue despite our work today,” Nyx muttered.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” I replied. “The last request came from Tyrus last year as we were leaving the underground. With Aleyah and Malachi dead, he'll get no further updates. The gods will be back to square one when it comes to finding me. It might be a while yet before they even realize this whole system has been destroyed.” I handed the book to Jakan since he seemed excited to look through it.

  “Our work here today was immensely beneficial,” Uriel said, watching Nyx as he spoke. “Costly, given our casualties. But beneficial. Eteri's now working with three separate gods, and the others will have no way of knowing without Aleyah.”

  Cyrus nodded beside him. “Yes. So let's find victory where we can, and focus on returning to Mistral.”

  Twenty-one

  81st of Dark Star, 421

  The plan was to return to Mistral to inform Queen Tilda of our success. As usual, that ended up becoming more complicated than we ever could have imagined.

  Overall, our trek back down the Pedr Crags had been uneventful. We had made a quick detour to Esen for the last time to give them supplies from the casualties of our mission. Naolin wished us well on our journey, though she pleaded with us to tell any reinforcements we passed on our way back to the capital city to quicken their pace. The defensive Sentinel said that during our absence another Icilic warship had been spotted scouting the area. It was a bad sign. To come across one scout was concerning, but it was a typical occurrence of war. To see two scouts meant that the Icilic were definitely thinking about launching an attack. For as crazy as Cicero was, the god was right about the timing of events.

  The entire cold season of Dark Star was spent traveling down the northern half of Eteri and back through the Highland Pass. We did not stop by Welkin because going there from through the passages beneath the Cleves took time that we did not have. Jakan and Anto were a little disappointed by that, but they understood. Neither of them wanted to part with us to go there on their own, so we only hoped we would have time to go there in the future.

  A heavy feeling of anxiety and foreboding sunk into my gut in the midst of Dark Star and refused to leave. I'd never been one for superstition, but I couldn't help but feel it was a sign. Out of the many things Theron had taught me in our relatively short time together, one of them was to trust my gut. The ranger had been right about everything else thus far, so I decided to do just that even though it did not bode well for us. The worst part about it all was that Eteri and I had so many enemies all at once that I couldn't begin to imagine what was happening. Had T'ahal been taken? Was Hasani dead? Had Chairel decided to attack the underground, now that they knew of their ties to me? Was Calder okay? Had Glacia given the order to attack?

  On an evening just over a week before the new year, our army was passing through the grasslands from the cliffs to the Ternion Trail. Army was perhaps a generous word, given most of our soldiers were dead. With the Highland Pass behind us, the land was open and free once again, and sound traveled far. Maybe we shouldn't have been surprised, then, when Azazel stopped and looked to the east.

  The rest of us slowed to a stop and quieted. The archer held one finger out requesting for us to wait before he glanced over at Cyrus and Uriel. “There is a low hum coming from the east.”

  I watched the two Sentinels carefully. “Makani,” I murmured.

  Cyrus stared at me a moment, before directing a careful question to Azazel. “What kind of hum? Describe it. Is it an animal? Does it sound like a weapon?”

  “It sounds like an instrument,” Azazel replied. “It comes and goes in short bursts. It's extremely deep in tone.”

  “War horns,” Uriel said, glancing at the other Sentinel.

  “We have no men,” Cyrus replied, his blue eyes troubled.

  “When the call is made, we have to heed it,” the sixth Sentinel reminded him.

  “That means the horns belong to Eteri?” Azazel asked.

  “Yes,” Cyrus replied. “They are utilized as a call for attention, whether in battle or to call the Sentinels to battle from afar.”

  “Then I don't really think we have a choice,” I said. “Altan and I spoke with each other before we left Mistral. He said that he thought Tilda would send him to Makani because it had no Sentinels. If that's true, that could be him making the call.”

  Cyrus abruptly turned toward the east and motioned for us to follow. “Come, then. Change of plans. We will head for Makani.”

  Though we'd already been traveling for the better part of a day and evening, our pace quickened. As my friends asked questions of the Sentinels, I found out that we were still a fortnight away from reaching Makani. Even though we were heeding the call as soon as we heard it, it was possible we wouldn't be quick enough. Eventually, we would have to stop and rest. There had been no enemies recently which would have allowed Cerin and I to leech to replenish our tiny army with energy reserves, so we would have to rely on sleep. As natural of an occurrence as sleeping was, it was yet another time-consuming inconvenience for us to weather.

  Over the next few days, we slept for barely six hours per night before continuing our course. Just two nights before the end of the year 421, we received our fi
rst clue into the current state of Makani.

  FWOOSH. FWOOSH. FWOOSH. FWOOSH.

  A patch of stars in the sky to the east was blackened out with a presence. Frequently such a noise indicated an attack, but it sounded like an approaching griffon, and I felt no hostility from it as the noise loomed ever louder.

  “Are there Sentinels among you?” The voice was female, and I did not recognize it. She called out from the skies moments before directing her griffon to land. The creature landed with a whirlwind of air in the grass before us, the soft white light of the small moon of Eran glistening off of black and white feathers. It tilted its head to eye us from one golden iris, its gaze full of curiosity and intelligence.

  “Cyrus and Uriel,” the second Sentinel replied. “What has happened to Makani?”

  “Makani is under attack,” the messenger answered, her voice strong but anxious. “Narangar has sent its navy. We only had two days' notice. Our navies were sent out to retaliate, but not before the dwarven bastards caused massive damage to the city.”

  “When did this happen?” Uriel questioned.

  “The night I left,” she replied. “The 81st, I believe.”

  “Is Altan the first Sentinel there?” I asked her next.

  The messenger nodded. “Altan arrived there with an army just weeks before the attack, thank the gods. He has five thousand men with him, and Makani already had eight thousand there as a defense.”

  “Is he focused on attack or defense? Did he send the whole navy?” Uriel asked.

  “This is Altan we're talking about,” Cyrus said with a huff. “He'll have stuffed every ship to the brim until it threatened to sink with the weight. I know him. He believes in an eye for an eye. Altan will sail for Narangar if he can live long enough.”