Glista's expression sobered. After a moment of silence, she pulled Cam to sit with her on the edge of her bed. "We met two years ago," she murmured, folding her hands in her lap. "He visited our realm acting as a mere tourist. He stayed as our guest in the castle and danced with me at our balls. He thought me pretty." She laughed though her eyes did not reflect fond memories.
“You are pretty,” Cam agreed, noting once again the young woman’s cascade of silvery hair, her ivory skin, and sparkling sapphire eyes.
“Thank yo u. Leviathan said as much. He told me other things too. We were lovers.” She sighed. “Until I discovered he was a spy in our lands. He was found prowling in the caves, searching for the magic. My father had him banished.”
“I am sorry this has happened to you,” Cam murmured. Glista smiled slightly. “I am sorry as well. But it was good to discover his vague intention before he brought disaster on our realm.” The princess shivered. “I fear the day of his return.”
“Perhaps you can pretend to ally with him an d discover his weakness. Someone must bring an end to him.”
“Maybe it will be me.”
Camaria left the princess in her chamber to roam the dimly lit halls of the castle. All felt empty and strangely out of place. Questions still swirled through her mind. They would leave tomorrow without feelings being settled between her companions. “If only I knew which of Imber Fel’s gods to pray to.”
“My son is only five years from birth. One day, I will tell him all I have done in Enboria, in Mingroth, and here in Mirabelle. Emma, my wife knows, but Peter does not. One day, I will tell him, and I will pray he takes no vengeance. Elyon will avenge Leviathan and the Shadow Bearers when the time comes.
“On another note…my dear friends Cole and Cassia Caddell have arrived in Gnosi to celebrate their daughter’s third birthday with us. We are looking forward to the festivities. But we must be careful…they are on the hunt for us and the other Spirit Followers saying that all doves will be slain.”
-Excerpt from a letter written by Daniel Adriel of Gnosi to his comrades Queen Hana and King Azariah in the northern nation of Nazeria just days before his crucifixion.
Twenty-One
Cam and her companions wasted no further time in Imber Fel
once Cam had completed training. Armed with a plethora of concealed and earned poisons, they set out through the forest beyond the realm. By mid-day, they had reached a part of the forest which was warm, and they shed their outer garments, stuffing them into bags. “It will be a couple of days before we reach the Cinis Lumen,” Caleb told them.
“Do we have to stay in another inn?” Terra asked. “No, we will camp next to the valley tonight and make our way around it tomorrow.”
“We would make quicker pace by going through the valley,” Fiera objected.
“This is no ordinary valley. It’s the Valley ofthe Shadow and it's inhabited by…well by something…”
“Sure,” Fiera drawled with a smirk. But Caleb was being serious. Fiera finally asked, “What is the something?”
Caleb paused for several minutes before beginning a long explanation that was more like a story, “There was once a time where evil spirits appeared to become human and mated with mortal women producing half-human, halfangelic creatures.”
“Shadow Bearers,” Cam mused silently.
“Because of this terrible sin, an enormous flood wiped out an entire population, sparing only one family. These Shedim were sent down into the black abyss for the rest of eternity. Some of them are locked in chains in the Valley of the Shadow.”
“How did the flood begin?” Terra inquired.
“Some say it was caused by a superior being to even the spirit creatures. Some say it was Elyon.” Cam considered Caleb’s words, wondering if his story was merely a legend. She supposed that whatever they found in the valley would confirm or discard the story. She shuddered at the prospect.
“The evil spirits committed this evil other times and some of their ancestors lived. They’re called the Shadow Bearers now. Although most are aligned with evil, some form their own clans and hide away from humans. They were around shortly before Mirabelle was established. Some of them still exist. Those who attacked the Imber Fel Realm were Shadow Bearers and apparently have aligned with the Gnosi.” As Caleb’s story came to an end, no one said anything, until Fiera spoke up.
“Where do they often dwell?”
“Legend has it that many retire to the Infernal Cities once work in our world is completed.” Cam and Fiera, who had never heard of the Infernal Cities, shared a glance.
“Howmuch doyouknowofMirabelle’s history?” Cam asked in an effort to change the subject. Fiera groaned, realizing that Caleb would be telling more stories.
“I know just as much as everyone else I guess,” he replied. He chuckled. “My father insisted I study history when I was young. I preferred art and music any day.”
“How old were you during the Spirit Follower rebellion?” Cam blurted.
Caleb turned to eye her. “Only five. I do not remember it.”
“What was your childhood like?” Terra inquired.
Caleb’s shoulders tensed. “Not as it should have been,” he answered vaguely. “There were good memories despite dire circumstances. We were poor you see, but my twin brother and our young sister and I had great fun thieving in the markets when we were younger.” A smile tugged at his lips. “My sister stole the most, and my brother and I were always the ones caught.”
“But there are no markets in Mirabelle,” Terra replied.
“Who says I grew up in Mirabelle?” Caleb grinned, but his eyes were solemn.
Terra’s brow rose. Cam interjected. “We just assumed you did. You never told us otherwise.”
“You never asked.”
“But you seem to love talking about yourself,” Fiera said. Her tone was not scornful as one might expect. In fact, she was smiling in his direction.
He shook his head with a grin. "We grew up in Caranthia, which is to the northeast across the ocean on the border of the northern mountain nation of Nazeria." He paused as if considering if he should further elaborate. "I-I escaped when our village was burned and boarded a ship for here. I haven't seen my family since."
The remaining company grew somber. “I am sorry you were confronted with such horrors,” Terra murmured.
Caleb’s lips lifted in a sad smile. “I found refuge in this nation and have never desired to leave. I am fortunate to have the position I have now.”
“We are too, I believe,” Cam said cheerily, but she wondered at the truth of his story internally.
Nothing else was said, for Caleb raised a finger and pointed ahead. Terra, Fiera, and Cam looked to see a piece of land dotted with darkening trees. It dropped off at a sudden spot into a perilous valley. As they neared, Cam dismounted from her steed and stepped close to the edge.
“Cam be careful!” Terra exclaimed from behind her.
Caleb dismounted as well and immediately set to work on constructing a fire. The sun had almost set when Cam and Terra spread the cloaks and blankets upon the ground.
“The valley sets me at unease,” Terra remarked.
Cam, also, could feel a sense of evil presence lurking from the shadows of the valley. Something was hiding in the dark, ready to pounce on its prey. Cam never minded the quiet much, but this quiet was different. It was the kind of quiet that made you feel like someone was listening and watching your every move. Cam shuddered as a chill ran up her spine. Although she attempted to shake such thoughts away, she could not help being convinced that they were true.
When the sun had drifted beyond the valley, the company positioned themselves in a circle around the dancing fire. Both Terra and Cam had fallen to sleep. Fiera lay and stared at the flames. Caleb shifted on the ground several feet away. Tonight he is quiet and thoughtful. He absentmindedly stared into the fire, his hands folded, dangling over his bent knees. Fiera cocked her head and without realizing she was do
ing so, she gazed intently at him. As of recent, he had spoken in soft tones and said little.
“He is thinking of his family,” she thought. Fiera decided to leave him alone despite how curious she was to know why his village had been burned and how he had escaped. She rolled over and tucked her head into her cloak. She was just dozing off when a hand brushed over her arm. She jerked on instinct.
“I-I’m sorry. I was j-just covering you up,” Caleb said, dropping a blanket in his hands. Instead of shaking it off, she nodded a thank you and closed her eyes. The next moment, she heard his rustling as he, too, went to sleep.
Fiera woke to a gray sky and a fog drifting through the pine trees
surrounding them. Both Cam and Terra were still fast asleep, but Caleb was nowhere to be seen. She naturally assumed that he had gone hunting.
“About an hour. Got breakfast,” Caleb said after Fi era had ambled into the forest, found him, and asked him how long he’s been up. He held the rabbit up by its feet. His usual smile was replaced by a grim expression.
Fiera nodded. “I am the only one up.” “Where is your bow?” Hehad come to stand directly in front of her.
“I thought you would already have found something. I was right.”
He gazed at her in silence. Her eyes dropped to the ground. “Come with me. I want to show you something,” he murmured at last. Fiera hesitated for a brief moment before following deeper into the forest. His strides were strong and swift. She had to prance to catch up to him.
Finally, they broke through the trees and were standing on the edge of a steep valley. It was bathed in fog and was home to a sparkling river. Fiera noticed the life found here that she could not detect when peering into the valley. Crows drifted through the trees, alighting on the ground in search of food. Caleb nodded towards the incline and together they descended on careful feet.
“This is much like the place I would go to with my brother and sister. We learned to hunt in a valley similar to this.”
“Until they burned that too?”
Caleb nodded. “They burned the village first.”
“Where did you go when you came to Mirabelle? How old were you?”
"Fifteen." He did not answer the first question but leapt onto a rock jutting from the river's bottom. He held out a hand to Fiera and smiled. After a moment of reluctance, she took his hand and he pulled her onto the rock beside him. He dropped to a sitting position, but she remained standing.
“What do you look forward to most about Cinis Lumen?”
Fiera smiled. “The magic, training, the people. All of it. It feels like home even when I’ve never seen it with my own eyes.”
Caleb nodded. “That is how I felt as well. I was transported to Cinis Lumen when I was sixteen and never wished to make my home anywhere else.”
Fiera did not reply for a lengthy amount of time. Finally, she ventured to ask, "Will you ever return to the Seventh Kingdom? I would very much like to see it."
Caleb remained grim. He tossed a pebble into the river. “Perhaps someday.”
“And your parents?” He shook his head.
Fiera thought that if she had family in the place she had grown up that she had not seen for over eight years, she would return to learn of their fate. “Why does he hesitate?” she wondered. The normally open Caleb was disclosing a part of his past to his companions.
When the sun broke through the fog, Caleb and Fiera returned to camp with his rabbit in hand. As Caleb skinned and cooked it, Fiera glanced around, realizing both her sisters were out of sight.
“Terra!” she shouted, knowing she wouldn’t have wandered far. “Cam!”
“Fiera!” The anxious shout drifted from the forest. Fiera turned to see Cam rushing from the tree lineout ofbreath. I’vebeen lookingall over for you!” Her tangledhair flewloosely in thebreeze. Her blue eyes are wide. “T-TerrTerra fell into the valley!” she exclaimed. Caleb's knife dropped at the exclamation. Fiera whirled towards the valley to find it still as a black opening in the ground.
“How did it happen?” Caleb demanded.
“I don’t know really,” Cam replied, almost choking on her words. “I took a walk in the forest, and when I can back shesaid she had to go to the bathroom, and then I heard a scream and saw her disappearing over the edge.”
“We’ll head into the valley,” Caleb resolved with drawn brows. He began to gather the baggage. Cam’s heart raced. Anything could have happened to Terra.
“We have to go in there,” she kept murmuring to herself. “It’s going to be alright. Terra is alive.” Cam breathed deep breaths and glanced into the darkness. All she could see for a yard or two were steep, sharp rocks jutting from the sides of the incline.
“But how?” Cam asked, handing bags to Caleb and Fiera. Caleb stood for a moment staring at the ground.
“We jump,” Caleb replied.
“The birds are born of ash with stars in their wings
Their flight is how they sing
They are our allies through every season
They remain beyond all reason
To protect and serve at any cost
Without them we are lost.”
-Poem written of the Lumenbirds and their alliance with
Realm Cinis Lumen by Adelina Ardor, wife of Lord and Leader Tyron Ardor.
Twenty-Two
“Jump?” Cam clarified. “Jumpoffa wall ofjagged rock into apit
whose deepness we do not know?” Caleb only nodded. Cam surveyed the rock descending into the shadows. Caleb plopped himself on the edge of the valley with his legs dangling over the side. Instead of jumping immediately, he fished in his pocket and withdrew a small, glass bottle. Inside was a mixture of ash and a glinting, gold substance. “Cinis Lumen,” Cam mused. Caleb pressed the bottle's opening to his tongue and swiped a minuscule amount of the substance onto his tongue. He swallowed.
Cam knew that the magic enhanced the senses so that all five were more alert and perceived more than they normally would. They also allowed the one who consumed the magical substance to walk for miles without tiring. With this magic, Caleb could see further into the valley and determine how far its floor was from where he perched.
“Thirteen feet approximately,” he declared. And then he dropped over the edge and vanished into the darkness. After a long moment of tense silence, a vague shout reached their ears. Fiera glanced at Cam. The younger thrust her bags into Fiera’s arms. She gritted her teeth and stepped from the ledge.
Almost instantly, she was enveloped in darkness. Wind hissed in her ears as she dropped like a stone in water. As she plummeted, the air became steadily thicker and threaded with suffocating heat. Cam covered her eyes, not sure what was to come of her. All of a sudden she landed on soggy ground. She almost laughed with relief. The ground beneath her was damp with a swamp-like mixture of sand and water.
She scurried to her feet in the darkness and yelled up as loud as shecould, “Fiera comedown!” Cam fell to theground when abag came hurtling towards her. She grunted as she pulled it off of her. In a minute, Fiera had dropped to the valley floor, mud streaking her face. Cam noticed that the valley was unusually warm and smelled strongly of sulfur. With a cough, she covered her mouth.
"Terra!" she shouted, while whirling around. Her eyes were growing used to the darkness by now, and she could see the vague outline of dead trees sticking up from the soggy, swamp-like ground. She detected a low moan and saw a person's figure huddled on the ground. She rushed forward to find Terra who looked to be in significant pain. She groaned as she bent beside her. Terra winced when Cam touched a goose egg on her head. "Terra," she gasped. Her sister's eyes lifted to find hers. "Try to stand up, please." Cam held her arm and helped her to her feet. Though she was somewhat steady, Terra admitted that she felt light-headed and dizzy. Cam swung her arm around Terra's neck and helped her over to Fiera.
“Where is Caleb?” Fiera asked. A light flickeredfrom just ahead. “There.” Thethreetrudged until the light grew larger and th
ey found him holding a torch over his head.
“This way,” he said with a nod of his head.
“Why is it so warm in here?” Fiera asked, coughing. “There’s poison in this valley. It’s sulfur andif we’reexposed
to it long enough it could become deadly. We need to cross as hastily as we can.” Cam knew that would be difficult since Terra was becoming worse with every passing moment. Cam herself was weakening under her sister’s weight. It was now that she wished they had horses, but horses could not jump into a valley and not break their legs. “Cover Terra’s face,” Caleb told Cam and Fiera. Fiera withdrew a piece of cloth and tied it loosely about Terra’s mouth so she could still breathe.
Caleb attempted to walk on and ceased his steps when he noticed that both Cam and Fiera were staring at him. “What?” he asked in an irritated tone. Cam’s eyes traveled from his face to his arm where he had just torn his sleeve to construct the torch. Ink covered a small portion of his upper arm in the shape of a dove.
“When you came to Mirabelle,” Cam said quietly. “You took refuge in the Black Mountains, didn’t you?” Caleb glared at her in surprise for a long moment. His glance flickered to Fiera. He nodded as if apologizing. “You are a Spirit Follower…and you lied to me,” Cam uttered. “I am not angry with you. It is a dangerous secret as you have taughtme.” Shepaused, noticingFiera’s flustered expression. “But perhaps before we arrive in your realm you should find something to cover your arm.”
Caleb looked as though he was going to smile, but before he did he turned and stalked through a tunnel of brambles. He took the lead, holding the torch high over his head. Fiera went to Cam’s aid to support Terra while they picked their way slowly through the muddy earth. The air was thick and appeared at times as yellow fumes. Cam tried not to think of what could be in the shadows. She focused instead on helping Terra and thought of Caleb.
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