Sunkissed Feathers & Severed Ties

by Kellie Doherty

  “Anytime. Thank Dylori, too.” Arias nudged her over to Dylori, who scuffed her boot in the dirt.

  Misti didn’t need to be told twice. She threw her arms around Dylori and hugged her tight. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” she whispered.

  Dylori shook her off and moved away to sit on the far side of Dis. Misti gave her the space she needed, knowing her friend—her girlfriend—was still angry at her. No, I can’t call Dylori my girlfriend. Not yet. Misti watched as Dylori looked to the dirt, idly scratching a circle in it with her sword and staring at it for a long time. Misti snuck a peek at the circle, realizing it had a double line going through it. Dylori’s hometown had a crest like it, set on a backdrop of rolling sand hills. The crest reminded Misti of her siblings and the peace she felt when facing death. I thought my death would help Char and Danill. I thought that would be how I saved them. But I can help them even more while living.

  With that thought firmly entrenched in her mind, Misti grabbed some spare parchment from her bag and started to write, dipping her pen into the inkbottle and scribbling madly. In her letter she confessed everything, pouring her heart out to her siblings. Apologizing again for running away. Apologizing again for not returning. Telling them about the pendant around her neck and its effects. How scared she was for her friends. For Zora. For Dylori. Spilling everything about the yellow jaho she had successfully found, and how she had used it. Telling her siblings that she wouldn’t be sending the jaho to help heal their parents, but as soon as she got this pendant off her she’d be coming to get them. She’d come get them, and they’d start over. It didn’t matter if Danill had more schooling to get through.

  Once the world knew of their parents’ worship the break would be honorable in the eyes of the Vagari. With each line she penned, some of the weight she had been carrying lifted. The sense of peace washed over her, again. After all this time, after the seasons of beating herself up for being a bad sister, Misti felt that crack in her heart fill in a little, and she began the long, slow process of forgiving herself.

  She ended the letter with an affirmation of love and rolled the letter up, tying it with a thin piece of string. In her haste and excitement, she almost called over Zora. Almost asked her vulnix to make the trip to her parents once again. Almost broke her promise. Stopping herself, she looked to the others.

  “How am I supposed to send this to Char and Danill?”

  “Send a different vulnix,” Arias replied.

  Another vulnix? Misti gave her a shocked look. “What would stop my parents from hurting that one?”

  Arias held up her hand, counting down the points on her fingers. “One, Char is old enough to receive messages herself, so the vulnix will go directly to her. Two, Zora is your vulnix so if your parents are intercepting Char’s letters, they would know her right away, but if you send a different vulnix they might not suspect. Three, if your parents, or whoever hurt Zora, are only interested in you, it wouldn’t make sense for them to hurt a vulnix who has no ties to you. They couldn’t be sacrificing all of the messenger vulnixes that come their way or someone outside of your family would suspect.”

  Misti thought this over. “Okay,” she said slowly. She dipped into her crafting and sent her senses outward. One lone vulnix traveled in the cloudless sky southeast of them. Curiously, it was heading right for them. She called it over, anyway, and soon the beautiful female vulnix with green-and-blue mottled fur landed next to her pack. The vulnix stared at her—one eye new-leaf-green, the other bark-brown—then turned to Dylori expectantly.

  Dylori rushed over and opened the oval case strapped to the messenger’s back, searching for her letter. She found it, gave the vulnix a couple of silver poxi coins for its trouble, and went over to Dis to read her message. It was probably from her parents, and Misti hoped it held only good news.

  The vulnix presented her back to Misti, flaring her green-tipped wings, and waited. Staying true to her messenger calling, she ignored Zora as she pawed at the messenger’s blue ear. Misti slipped the letter into the case strapped to her back, and then gave the vulnix Char’s name and their home in Northtown. The vulnix spun round, yipped once, and trotted away, spreading her wings and taking to the air. Curiously, she headed south.

  “Where is she going?” Misti wondered aloud.

  “Probably to deliver another message first. It had a few more letters aside from Dylori’s,” Arias replied, tilting her head to Dylori, who waved at them and shushed.

  “True,” Misti murmured. She scratched Zora’s back and got to her feet, motioning for the others to do the same. “When you’re done reading your letter, we should probably head out. I don’t know how long this pendant will stay inactive.”

  A few moments later, Dylori rolled the letter closed and tucked it into the front pocket of her pouch, now grinning. It seemed her earlier fury had washed away at whatever news was in her letter, and Misti was glad for it. Arias rose as well, brushing off the dirt from her pants and pack. Dis shook, spraying clumps of soil everywhere. Misti shielded her face but a bit of it flew onto her leg, staining the cloth red, and she wished they were back at Laidly Grove again with its salttrees and sand. All this red dirt and hot sun was getting old, fast.

  “The letter was from your family, right?” Arias asked as they walked along.

  “Yup,” Dylori replied.

  “And I take it they’re well?” Arias prodded.

  “Carlia, my sister, got into this expensive hairstyling academy she was aiming for.” Dylori pushed her dark hair up around her shoulders and flipped it out a bit, winking while she did so. “She’ll be able to make anyone beautiful after she gets out.”

  “Even you?” Arias replied, giving Dylori a sly smile.

  Shoving Arias, Dylori said, “Mean.” Arias stuck out her tongue.

  “How are your parents?” Misti asked, happy to see her friends joking around and Dylori in a significantly better mood.

  “Good,” Dylori replied, but she looked at Arias when she said so. “They’ve been waiting on the herd’s birthing cycles to begin, and it finally did. Lost a couple of the newborns, though.”

  Arias gasped and put her hand to her mouth.

  “No need to fret.” Dylori waved her hand. “It just means there’ll be more meat to sell this season, and the ones who survived will be hardier.”

  Arias seemed a bit queasy, but Misti understood that logic. Death was a way of life, and it wasn’t like a Vagari would waste the meat of a creature. It wasn’t their way.

  Dylori winked at Arias. “You know, I just answered quite a few personal questions about my family. Maybe now you could tell me why you live in a such a tiny remote village when you’re supposed to be ridding the world of evil.”

  Arias chuckled. “Ridding the world of evil? Is that what you think I’m doing?”

  “’Course! I figure you’re part of a hyper-religious association, filled with pious undercover agents gathering information about Ponuriah, always working in the background but ready to bring the knowledge into the moonlight.” Dylori raised her hands to the sky as she said this, her voice getting louder and louder with each word, clearly exaggerating for effect.

  Arias tugged her bushy hair out of its bun and ruffled it with her hand. “And what would this super-secret hyper-religious association filled with undercover agents be called?”

  “Aluriah’s Agents!” Dylori shouted.

  Arias winced. “That’s not a very impressive name for such a grand idea.”

  Dylori gave Arias a look. “Well, I’m not that good with names. What is its name?”

  Rolling her eyes, Arias nudged Dylori. “You never stop, do you?”

  “Not until you tell me,” Dylori replied. She glanced at Misti. “That was kind of impressive, by the way, how the pendant killed that suncreature.”

  “Yes, I’m surprised it could take down something as big as that wyvern,” Arias said. “Surprised…and a bit scared, to tell the truth.”

  “I’m scared, t
oo,” Misti admitted, putting her other hand over the pendant. It was calm on her skin, cool, a welcome change from how it had been acting earlier.

  “All the better to get it off you at Rok,” Dylori said, holding Misti’s gaze for a moment before looking away again. “I’m sure the crafters there will be able to help. They’re the best in the world, you know.”

  “Have either of you ever been there before?” Arias asked them.

  Misti shook her head, but Dylori nodded. “You’ve been to Rok?” Misti asked, surprise pitching her voice higher.

  “My parents took me there when I was a youngster, before I became a Moon Knight. They thought I had the chops to be enrolled in Praxis, but I didn’t make the cut,” Dylori replied with a shake of her head.

  “Your parents wanted you to enroll in Praxis? It must’ve been hard to find out you weren’t…good enough,” she said, ending in a low voice once she realized how condescending that might sound.

  “Not at all. It made me want to be a Moon Knight even more. Which was surprising to my parents, being the shy kid that I was. Moon Knights need the more outgoing types.” Dylori grinned. “I figured they would fall over in shock.”

  Misti knew Dylori had been a shy child, though she never showed any hint of shyness now. The Moon Knights and her own drive to be the best had knocked that trait right out of her.

  “Of course, they actually did fall over once they heard of my…other exploits. My fathers accepted it right away, but I wasn’t as outgoing in my sexuality as I am now.” Dylori gave Arias another wink. “The place I grew up in wasn’t as…accepting as I, or my parents, would’ve hoped. The kids were unkind to me.”

  “Kids can be terrible.” A frowned marred Arias’ face.

  Dylori waved her hand. “It made me want to grow up tougher, faster, stronger. Made me want to prove myself. Their teasing pushed me to follow my dream of becoming a Moon Knight, so really I should go back and thank them.”

  And yet she decided to go against that dream for me. Misti’s curiosity piqued. “But you decided to disobey an order from the Moon Knights.” Misti lowered her gaze to the red dirt she disliked so much. Look up. She did, wanting to see Dylori’s reaction. “You decided to come with me to Rok.”

  Dylori glanced at her. “It seems like Arias told you quite a bit.” She rubbed her left horn. “I did disobey them, but I’m certain they’ll be fine with it. I am one of the higher ranks, you know.” She puffed up her chest, drew her sword, and pointed it to the sky. “I have some pull. Since I’m so talented and all.”

  Misti knew the knights wouldn’t be ‘fine with it’ as Dylori said. Surely Dylori knows that. But when Dylori wiggled her eyebrows Misti had to laugh.

  “You are certainly a skilled fighter, Dylori,” Arias said, nodding to her outstretched sword.

  “I thank you,” Dylori replied with swinging her sword in a wide arcing flourish before sheathing her weapon.

  They walked in silence. Misti felt lighter than before. Even though hurt glimmered behind Dylori’s eyes, and even though Misti had the pendant around her neck, things seemed to be looking up.

  Chapter Fourteen

  MISTI HAD HOPED THE pendant would be dormant for a while after the wyvern fight, but that wasn’t the case. They were a few nights out from Rok when it happened. They had just awakened after sleeping the daylight hours away, wanting to travel this last leg by night at Misti’s own request. They hadn’t seen any more suncreatures, but she hoped another would appear under the cover of darkness like the last two had done. The stars winked overhead, glowing bugs flitted this way and that close to the ground, and the dirt and grass seemed to stretch endlessly around them. Misti had just passed out some bread and dried fruit for them to eat on their walk.

  It happened so quickly that Misti couldn’t react fast enough to stop it. The pendant flashed to life, white light bursting from it and bubbling away from her. The light washed over Arias, Dylori, and Zora, and they collapsed to the ground. Panic crawled its way up Misti’s throat, ripping out of her in a scream.

  “No!” Misti fell to the ground next to her friends and checked their pulses, pressed her fingers against their necks, their wrists, their chests. Slow life-energy beat beneath her shaking fingers, and relief crashed through her. Dis didn’t seem to be affected and shuffled over as well, nudging Dylori’s boot with his head, eyes wide and white.

  “They’re alive,” Misti whispered, swinging her gaze to meet Dis. “We need to get to Rok. We need to get to Rok right now, Dis!”

  Dis huffed and dropped to his knees. For one horrifying moment Misti thought the pendant had finally taken hold of him, that he was weakened. He shook his body, clearly wanting Misti to put their friends up onto him. She heaved Arias’ limp form up onto Dis’ back and tied ropes around her with shaking, clumsy fingers. It took all her strength to lift Dylori’s weight—armor and all—but she managed, securing her as well. Then she scooped Zora into her arms and hauled herself up, stroking down Zora’s back and tails, willing her to live. For them all to live.

  “Go, Dis, go!” she cried.

  Dis ran faster than Misti had ever seen, pushing his muscles to the limit and heaving as he did so. Gripping onto the ropes secured to her friends and leaning into the wind howling by her ears, Misti dipped into her crafting, pushing life-energy into Zora, giving her so much that Misti herself grew tired. She slipped dangerously to the side, Zora nearly tumbling out of her arms. I can’t fall off. She stopped the flow of energy and hugged Zora, but Zora didn’t wake up, and neither did Dylori or Arias. Something different had happened to them, something strange, and Misti didn’t know what else to do but ask Dis to go faster, to push harder. And somehow he did.

  Misti hoped against all hope they’d make it in time to heal whatever had happened. To Arias, her newest friend. To Dylori, her oldest friend and possible new love. To Zora, her companion animal and friend for life. They had to make it in time. They just had to. Misti didn’t know what she would do without them.

  ***

  They reached Rok in record time. Dis shaved two whole nights off their travel and all but collapsed when they reached the front gates. Misti rushed inside, crying for a Blood crafter, not caring that she looked a mess, not caring that she stumbled over the cobblestones. All she cared about was that her friends were healed. Even though they hadn’t seen any Divus on their trek south, there would be some living here. There had to be at least one in a city such as this. There had to.

  A Divus hurried from a nearby merchant caravan—a tall man impeccably dressed in elegant flowing orange robes tied at the waist with a golden sash, with slicked-back golden hair and golden eyes to match—and pulled her into a back alley, away from the questioning crowds drawn by Misti’s shouts. Misti sank to the ground, unable to move any longer. The Divus barked a couple of questions at her, but Misti didn’t reply. Couldn’t.

  Blood pumped through her ears, blocking out all other sound. Fear gripped her throat, and her lungs burned. She held Zora, powerless to help her friends. The stranger dipped into his crafting and touched Arias on the forehead, his eyes glowing with white light as he assessed the damage. The stranger muttered a few words and the light in his eyes grew brighter, the veins in his hands and arms shining the same color as he poured his life-energy into Arias. The white light settled in Arias’ face and chest, and the man pulled her from the brink. He did the same for Dylori.

  He can take care of them. Look after Zora. Look after Dis. She dipped into her own crafting and gave Zora nearly all of her life-energy again, pulling from reserves she didn’t even know she had, and finally Zora’s eyes cracked open. Misti hugged her vulnix close, pressing a kiss on her forehead. Zora was only unconscious. Filled with relief, she went over to Dis, shoving her hands into his thick fur to reach his side and healing him. Her crafting pooled on Dis’ legs and knees and hooves. Dis must’ve pulled a muscle running that hard. He gave her a grateful nudge and looked at his companion, Misti’s gaze swung with his.


  Dylori and Arias’ eyes fluttered open and everything in Misti’s body seemed to relax. She let out a grateful breath. The man didn’t even ask what happened until they were stabilized and resting in the Howling Rain Inn. Dis insisted on staying just outside the inn’s doors instead of going to the inn’s stable, wanting to be close to Dylori. He took up too much of the street by doing so but the foot traffic flowed around him as if he wasn’t even there. Few people would have tried to move a neades who didn’t want to be budged.

  Misti learned that the Divus’ name was Roorik Shadowhunt, and he was a traveling tailor and dyer by trade.

  She shook his hand. “Thank you. Thank you so much for healing my friends. How can I repay you?”

  “You’re quite welcome, and no payment necessary. I’m always happy to help someone in need. Fret not, they will be safe here,” Roorik replied in a booming voice, straightening his orange robes. The color stood out against his pale, near-translucent skin. He spoke so fast, as everyone tended to do in the south, that Misti had to lean in a little to understand.

  “The sleep-state they were in was relatively easy to bring them out of, but you’d certainly need a Blood crafter to do it. I’ve never seen such a deep sleep-state. What happened to them on the road?”

  Misti was going to tell him about the pendant and the danger it held, but then she remembered Dylori’s warning about trusting too many people. “Where’s Praxis?” she asked. “I need to speak to the crafters there.”

  “I can take you there myself! I was about to visit a friend of mine anyway.” Roorik gestured to the door, his eyes a little weary.

  Misti stared at her friends asleep in the bed nearby. Zora slept, and had a chair all to herself. Misti made sure to scoot it closer to the bed, so Zora could see the others when she awoke. She bit her lip and tucked the sheets a little bit tighter around Arias, not wanting to leave them here alone but knowing she had to fix this pendant before it pulsed again. Here, in the middle of a town with who knew how many people around her, it could be exponentially more dangerous.