A few Unfaih stopped and glanced her way as she passed, but no one interrupted her, and they went straight back to their conversations once she was gone. She was almost to the building she was aiming for when she caught sight of Vilya, Emha’s mother, storming towards her. The Unfaih woman’s eyes were flaming, and Sloane had a bad feeling she was about to be attacked in front of the entire village.
When Vilya neared, Sloane drew her shoulders back, rising to her full height, and stood tall. A part of her wished she’d tried to hide as soon as she’d seen the woman coming her way, but even now she couldn’t back down from a fight.
‘What are you doing back in the village?’ Vilya spat. The square went silent, and Sloane could feel every eye narrowed on the two of them. So much for making it through unseen.
‘How could I leave when I knew how much you’d miss me?’ Sloane replied.
The burning fire in Vilya’s eyes became a raging inferno at Sloane’s words. Sloane almost grimaced herself at what she had said. She really needed to invest in some kind of tongue clamp because her sarcastic thoughts almost always seemed to make situations worse when spoken out loud.
‘You are not welcome here,’ Vilya responded, her voice growing louder with each word. ‘You will doom us all if you do not leave.’
‘Well, lucky you’ve warned me. I’d hate to doom you, so I’ll just be on my way…’
‘Sloane…’ a voice warned. She turned and saw Kai coming towards her, and she didn’t know whether to grin or swear. He might be able to save her from Vilya’s threats, but he could also stop her getting into the meeting with the elders.
‘Hello Vilya,’ Kai said, as he came to a stop beside them.
Vilya nodded her head in greeting, though it wasn’t difficult to see the annoyance in her eyes. She’d clearly been enjoying her verbal attack on Sloane and didn’t want to be interrupted.
‘What is the problem here?’ Kai asked.
‘The problem is that you keep letting this witch into our home. She’s dangerous and needs to leave,’ Vilya responded, without missing a beat.
Kai let out a breath. ‘You know I have vouched for Sloane, and so has my mother and Rhyn. Sloane is not a witch, and she will not be going anywhere.’
Vilya’s eyes narrowed on Sloane. ‘She’s going to get us killed, and I’m not the only one who thinks it…’
Sloane looked away from the woman to find the villagers in the square were still watching their confrontation. Her stomach tightened as she felt the eyes of the Unfaih judging her. She didn’t want to believe that everyone agreed with Vilya, but she couldn’t help feeling like there was some truth to her words.
‘Stop, Vilya,’ Kai scolded. ‘That is untrue. Sloane has done nothing but help us.’
‘She cannot be trusted,’ the woman replied. ‘None of them can.’ Without another word, Vilya turned on her heel and stalked back across the square.
‘You shouldn’t antagonise her,’ Kai said, as the two of them watched her leave.
‘Yeah, I know,’ Sloane said. ‘I just can’t seem to help it, and she came at me first.’
‘So, she started it is the defence you’re going with?’
‘Sure, sounds like a pretty good defence to me,’ she said, with a small laugh. She turned from Kai and watched the Unfaih woman storm across the square. A frown fell across Sloane’s features. She knew Vilya didn’t like her, but Sloane couldn’t deny that the woman’s distrust of humans was well placed. A thousand years ago they had betrayed the Unfaih, and Sloane’s own brother had deceived her the previous night.
‘What are you doing here?’ Kai asked, tearing Sloane from her thoughts.
She turned back to Kai to find him smiling suspiciously at her. She refocused her mind on the task she had set herself and tried to avoid looking at the building Rhyn had gone into.
‘I just woke up alone in a strange hut,’ she replied. ‘With everything that’s going on, do you really think I would sit there and twiddle my thumbs all day?’
Kai frowned and tilted his head as he looked at her. ‘You should probably return to Rhyn’s hut. I know you do not wish to twiddle your thumbs, but he will be back soon. After what happened in the World of the Woods this morning, it is best if you try to keep inconspicuous. The people in the village are nervous.’
Sloane glanced around the square and could see what he meant. The villagers kept looking in her direction, and it was pretty obvious that the stares she was receiving weren’t friendly. There was no way she was returning to Rhyn’s hut, but Kai didn’t need to know that.
‘You’re right. I didn’t realise the tensions here would be so high. I’ll head back and wait for Rhyn,’ she replied.
Kai’s eyes widened a fraction, and she could see he was surprised that she had conceded so quickly. He was clearly too trusting because he didn’t appear to suspect her one bit. There was no way Rhyn would have fallen for such a line. Even so, she knew she had better get out of there before Kai did start to doubt her.
Sloane raised one hand in a small wave of farewell. ‘I’ll see you around,’ she said, taking several steps backwards before quickly turning to retrace her steps. She hurried away from Kai until a group of Unfaih women covered her from view.
The group shot Sloane odd looks as she paused behind them and checked to see if Kai was still watching. He had already started walking towards the large building Rhyn had disappeared into earlier.
She waited for Kai to enter before she started towards the building once again. The structure was much larger than the others that lined the square, and its frozen walls were decorated with swirling designs carved into the ice. The many facets made the designs glisten in the light, but Sloane was too focused on getting into the meeting unseen to appreciate their beauty.
She paused when she reached the large wooden entrance that Kai and Rhyn had walked through. The swirling designs that covered the icy walls of the building spread onto the heavy and ornate wooden doors. It was clear that it was the main entrance to the building, and Sloane knew it would be risky to simply waltz in through the front door. It didn’t look like there were any windows she could try instead, but even if there were, she certainly couldn’t attempt to break in with the whole village square watching on.
There was a small alley down the side of the building, and Sloane quickly started down it to see if she could find another way inside. The lane was narrow, and both of her shoulders brushed the walls that bordered the path as she walked through it.
She scanned the alley, hoping to find some kind of opening she might be able to use to get inside. The crystalline structures quite obviously didn’t need windows to let the light in as the buildings practically magnified the suns overhead, so there was no shortage of light. However, their walls were so thick enough that it was nearly impossible to make out anything beyond them.
Sloane continued through the alley and rounded the corner. At the back of the building, she came across a staircase that led downwards along the back wall of the structure. The stairs were carved out of snow, and at the bottom of them, a wooden door marked the entrance to a lower level of the building. The door wasn’t nearly as ornate as the towering double doors at the front. It was bare of any carvings, and its only embellishment was a simple handle. Sloane could tell it was rarely used, as a mound of snow had collected at the foot of the stairs and was beginning to climb up the face of the wooden door.
She bolted down the stairs and rested her hand on the handle. She slowly started to twist it, but the handle jammed. The door was locked. Sloane scowled and cursed under her breath. She had no way to pick the lock, so she was only left with one option—brute force. Taking a breath, she stepped back before kicking her leg towards the door, driving her heel into the wood right near the lock.
The wood splintered, and she grunted before slamming another kick into the weakened spot. With one final kick, Sloane completely shattered the wood around the lock. The handle fell to the ground as the lock broke and the door dri
fted open slightly.
‘Here goes nothing,’ she murmured, as she pushed the door inwards to make her way inside.
Chapter Six
As Sloane opened the door, light spilt into the dim room before her, along with a heap of the snow that had gathered at the foot of the stairs. She brushed away the ice and snow that had fallen around her feet and looked up to assess her surroundings. The room was dim, but not dark, as a small amount of light filtered through the icy ceiling. Looking up, Sloane could see blurry shapes in the room above, but the ice was too thick to be able to distinguish what they were.
Long benches stretched down the length of the room, and icy shelves lined each wall that bordered the space. Each shelf was heaving under the various vials and jars stacked on top of it, and Sloane couldn’t take her eyes off them as she took her first steps into the room.
There must have been hundreds of the jars, and they all contained strange coloured liquids that glistened from within. Some were fluorescent in colour, while others were softly glowing or glittering. Looking more closely, Sloane realised there were also some jars filled with strange coloured powders, but she had no idea what the substances were. A part of her was curious, but she didn’t have time to consider what they could be, or why they were seemingly abandoned in the dark basement.
She crept further into the room, easing the door shut behind her. There was stuff everywhere, and the place felt like some sort of workroom or a forgotten storage area. A layer of dust coated the tables like the place hadn’t been used for some time.
There was a lone staircase against the far wall that led to the floor above, and as Sloane walked further into the room, she could hear the sound of voices drifting down the steps. She couldn’t tell who was speaking, and their words were quiet, so it was hard to understand what they were saying. She moved towards the stairs to try and hear more clearly.
Shuffling noises echoed from above her and people could be heard moving around the upstairs room. The muted murmurs were almost impossible to distinguish, but it sounded to Sloane like people were either arriving or leaving. Had she got to the meeting in time?
‘You’re late,’ a man said, causing Sloane to freeze. She was almost to the top of the steps, and he sounded like he was only a few feet away from her.
‘My apologies,’ came Kai’s response. ‘I was delayed.’
She listened to Kai’s footsteps as he moved further into the room, and then more footsteps sounded as whoever was close to the staircase began to walk away. After a few moments of silence, Sloane decided to risk taking a look at the room from the top of the stairs.
She slowly crept her way upwards and crouched just below the floor level. She paused for a moment to make sure no one was nearby before she took a quick look at the room above. It wasn’t simply a room she was looking into though, rather an immense circular hall that took up the length and width of the building.
The icy structure reminded her of the castellum, but it was much brighter within. The ceiling extended up impossibly high and the blue sky could be seen through the ice above. But what made the place truly magical was the way the light from the two suns sparkled and glittered as it hit the pinnacle of the ceiling and spread throughout the building.
The rest of the hall was just as impressive. Hundreds of sculpted chairs of ice covered the floor of the building. The high back of each one had an intricate design was carved into it, and the ice looked so thin and delicate it seemed to Sloane like the seats could easily break. The chairs were laid out in rings around the hall and surrounded a slightly raised platform in the centre of the room.
The light that filtered through the ceiling high above seemed to gather on a large table that stood upon the platform. Ten chairs bordered the table, and there were five Unfaih elders already seated. Rhyn paced the area behind his chair, and Kai moved to take the seat at his side.
Sloane studied the elders for signs of recognition. She knew Lorian, but she hadn’t once set eyes on the other four sat at the table. Like Lorian, they all appeared slightly older than the other Unfaih in the village. But they still didn’t look old enough to Sloane, and she struggled to wrap her mind around the fact that the Unfaih elders had been alive for centuries.
It was only once Kai sat that Rhyn also joined the rest of them. Sloane could tell he was anxious from the way he kept tapping his hands on his leg.
‘I think you all know why I’ve called this meeting,’ Rhyn began.
‘Lorian tells us you still have the human girl with you,’ a female elder responded abruptly. She was the only woman at the table, and like all the other Unfaih she was strikingly beautiful. She had just a touch of grey in her hair, and her skin had only the tiniest of laugh lines at the corners of her eyes. ‘He also said that the humans have not left the World of the Woods.’
Rhyn nodded. ‘That is correct, Amarla. Somehow, the humans are aware that we guard the Liftsal. Their leader wants to obtain it, and we believe this is why they did not heed our warnings about the Brakys.’
While Lorian continued to watch Rhyn, the other elders looked visibly shocked and started to murmur amongst themselves. Rhyn glanced between them but continued quickly.
‘A small group of them confronted us today, and I sent them away. However, it is only a matter of time before they return and come after the Liftsal.’
‘That cannot happen!’ one elder responded, his voice quivering with anger. He seemed a little jumpier than the other members of the council. There was no grey in his hair and not a wrinkle on his face. He seemed younger than the others, and Sloane wondered if that was why he had responded so passionately.
‘Did the human girl tell them about the Liftsal?’ Amarla asked.
‘Of course not,’ Rhyn replied. ‘She would never betray us. It seems they had known about it before they arrived in the World of the Woods. Is that possible?’
Lorian wrapped his arms around his body and nodded at Rhyn. ‘It’s surprising, but it is possible,’ he replied. ‘When the Brakys were first created, they had an insatiable desire to expand their numbers, and they weren’t just a problem for our world.’
All the elders at the table grimly nodded as Lorian spoke.
‘In the early days, some of the humans who settled here had not been turned but continued to help the Brakys. They would travel through the rift to Earth in search of more humans to convert and bring back to Ellysia, selling it to innocent people as a chance at everlasting life. We called them followers. They viewed the Brakys as gods, and agreed to recruit more humans in exchange for the reward of one day becoming a Braky themselves.’
Sloane couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could anyone want to become a Braky? Not only that, but they were willing to trick other humans into a never-ending life as a monster just to get it for themselves.
‘We closed the rift to Earth to stop the Brakys from becoming too powerful,’ Lorian went on. ‘But there were still some followers on Earth. It has been a millennium since then, but it is possible that the stories were passed down through the generations.’
‘They weren’t the only ones stranded on Earth,’ Amarla said, her voice softening a little as she looked at Lorian.
Lorian blanched at her words. Sloane had barely ever seen the elder look anything other than calm and collected, but he suddenly looked like he was about to faint.
‘What is she talking about?’ Rhyn asked.
Lorian quickly gathered himself, but his eyes seemed sterner as he turned to Rhyn. ‘When the rift to Earth closed there was an Unfaih girl was on the other side. But she was young and had not drunk the Liftsal. She would not have survived long on Earth, and even if she did, there is no way she would have spoken of the Liftsal or us.’ His voice was completely lacking any emotion, and Sloane found herself wondering what the girl had meant to Lorian.
Rhyn frowned, looking between Amarla and Lorian. He looked like he wanted to question Lorian further about the girl, but there was pain in Lorian’s eyes that hadn�
�t been there before. Speaking of the girl had upset the elder.
‘So, you’re saying that if the human leader, Sloane’s father, was aware of the Liftsal then he could be a Braky follower?’ Rhyn asked.
‘It seems so, yes,’ Lorian replied.
Sloane’s blood ran cold at his response, and she tried to ignore the way her stomach suddenly felt hollow. She didn’t want to believe it could be true, but she couldn’t deny the possibility. Her father had found out about the Liftsal somehow, and she couldn’t think of any other way he would have discovered it.
‘It’s been such a long time since the rift closed,’ Rhyn said. ‘Many generations would have passed over that time. Couldn’t the truth about the Liftsal have been lost over those years?’
‘It’s possible,’ Lorian said, finding his voice again. ‘And quite probable. We cannot know for sure what the humans know about the Liftsal, or why they want it. All we know is that they must never get their hands on it again. It could lead to the destruction of our people, and theirs.’
Rhyn sighed, his shoulders slouching at Lorian’s response. Sloane felt the same weight of the elder’s words on her own shoulders. She didn’t know how to process what she’d heard, and their conversation left her feeling numb. Even if the truth about the Liftsal had warped over time and her father didn’t know the full extent of the risk to humans, Ash had seen the liquid’s miraculous healing powers, which would only urge the two of them on.
‘It doesn’t matter why they want the Liftsal,’ Rhyn agreed. ‘It will all lead to the same problem if they get to it.’
‘We can’t allow them near it,’ the younger male elder spoke up. ‘We need extra guards posted at the castellum immediately!’
‘That is not our first concern,’ Amarla responded. ‘We must stop them getting through the rift. We cannot let the Brakys get to the humans.’
The Oblivion Stone (The Liftsal Guardians Book 3) Page 6