Sunkissed Feathers & Severed Ties

by Kellie Doherty

  The Elu gave a curt nod. “You were in Gilmoer’s office.”

  “Yes.” Misti ran a finger over the Moon cage. “They helped me. I saw you gave a gemstone to him. Quite a pretty one.”

  “It’s called a kyanite. Got it from Ratnaa Grove at his request.” She gave Misti a shrewd look, one that Misti figured never left her features for long. “I could get you one, too, for the right price.”

  Misti shook her head. “Thank you, but I’m looking for something different. Information you could provide.”

  The Elu put one hand on her hip. “What kind of information? And what could you pay for it? I’m not cheap.”

  “Well, for starters, your name. And I’d like to know if you’ve seen any banished Divus nearby.” The Elu opened her mouth to reply, but Misti held up her hand. “As for payment, I’d be more than willing to pay in coin, but I believe I’m friends with someone who you’d be interested in seeing.”

  The Elu tilted her head, a question clearly written on the wrinkles around her mouth. She shifted, arms crossing over her chest. “My name is Orenda Silverstone. I do know of a Blood crafter you could speak to. He’s no longer a banished one, but he might be able to help. And who do you know?”

  I knew it! Excitement wove through Misti, making her grin. “Nice to meet you, Orenda, formally at least. I’ve been traveling with another Elu, another Silverstone, in fact. Arias Silverstone, actually, and I know she’d be so happy to see you.”

  At Arias’ name, Orenda’s rough exterior dropped, her frown transforming into a wide smile. She took a step closer to Misti. “Arias is here? Where?”

  “I take it we have a deal, then?” Misti stuck out her hand.

  “Certainly,” Orenda replied, shaking Misti’s hand in a firm grip. “You take me to my sister and I’ll take you to my contact. No payment necessary.”

  The two set off to the Howling Rain Inn, Misti leading the way. She’d been distracted on the way to Praxis, yet she had noticed enough landmarks to find their way back, a feat she was quite proud of. The streets of Rok bustled with people, all dressed in long flowing robes not suited for travel. As they passed a particularly beautiful Elu in a sheer yellow robe, its tiny strips of white fabric barely covering her, Misti’s ears burned, and she kept her eyes straight ahead. It grew hot here, and Misti knew that southern culture was different than her northern homeland.

  On the way, Misti threw caution to the winds once more and told Orenda a quick version of her story— the pendant and its power, where she met Arias, why she was in Rok, and how Arias had decided to come with them on this long journey. She was surprised when Orenda didn’t seem scared of the pendant like so many others. Instead Orenda glanced at the ground and nodded, then continued their conversation asking mostly about Arias and their time together.

  Before they walked into the inn, Misti confessed, “The pendant hit them all—Zora, Dylori, Arias—and we had to take them here to get healed.” Color drained from Orenda’s features. “They’re fine now. The crafter who took care of them did a wonderful job of it.”

  Orenda pointed at Dis, who slept in the middle of the road. “I take it the pendant hit Dylori’s neades, as well?”

  “No, he just expended too much of his energy trying to get us here. He probably saved Arias’ life, the way he ran last night.” Misti gave Dis’ nose a soft pat.

  “Good job, then, neades,” Orenda muttered, but she moved to avoid him as they passed. She swiveled her gaze to Misti. “Who healed Arias?”

  “I’ll show you.” Misti opened the door to the inn and gestured inside. Now that she wasn’t panicked, she could finally appreciate it.

  Warm firesmoke hit them, drifting lazily up from the quietly burning firepit in the corner of the room. Tables had been sprinkled about the open space in a pleasing manner, each with a daygem on it that cast a warm glow throughout the room. Most of the chairs were empty and would probably stay empty until dawn, though a few stragglers munched on eggs and fruit or drank from tankards. A long bar sat on one end of the inn, and the innkeeper stood behind it.

  “Back again, I see,” the stocky Vagari man said, black eyes glinting and black hair tied back in a bun. His companion animal—a small griffin with purple feathers and fur, large front claws, fluffy back paws, and a wide swishing tail—sat on the counter next to him. “Your friends upstairs are awake. Shadowhunt’s up there, probably talking their ear off.”

  “Shadowhunt,” Orenda said, as they thanked the innkeeper and made their way upstairs. “As in Roorik Shadowhunt?”

  “Yeah, he healed your sister,” Misti said, turning to see a flicker of surprise crossing Orenda’s dark features. “Do you know him?”

  Orenda chuckled and rubbed her neck. “He’s the one I was going to take you to, the Blood crafter who used to be banished.”

  “Really?” Disbelief fluttered through Misti. She hardly knew him, yet she couldn’t picture Roorik as one of the banished. A traitor. Deceiver. Murderer, even. Someone who slipped free of their cell and past the guards. “What did he do to deserve that?”

  “Perhaps you should ask the ex-banished one himself,” a voice called from the room ahead of them.

  Misti and Orenda stepped into the doorway to see Roorik grinning at them, his eyes shimmering in the daygem’s glow. He sat in the chair Zora had once occupied next to the bed. Dylori and Arias sat upright, apparently in mid-conversation and looking perfectly healthy. Zora sat between them, long tails swishing back and forth.

  “It’s only polite, you know. And pyrosa, Ren, it’s good to see you again.”

  But Misti didn’t have time to form a question, to think of anything in fact, because Arias’ excited scream pierced the small bedroom. Orenda raced forward and crashed into Arias’ outstretched arms, both of them jumping and shouting with joy. They wrapped each other in a bone-crushing hug, each talking over the other and laughing, their voices reaching a painfully high pitch.

  Misti scooted around the pair and sat next to Dylori, who to Misti’s surprise pulled Misti’s hand into her lap. It was the first contact Dylori had initiated since their fight, and the familiar warmth comforted Misti. She glanced at Dylori, who stared pointedly ahead. Zora flitted to Misti’s shoulders and settled down, headbutting the side of Misti’s face. She scratched her vulnix’s neck in return.

  “I think this is how birds communicate,” Dylori muttered, gesturing at the sisters, then she smiled.

  “You’re not much different when you meet up with your family,” Misti teased, remembering the last time Dylori had seen her parents. “How are you feeling?”

  “Great, thanks to Roorik here.” Dylori nodded to Roorik, who had clapped both hands over his ears and winced at the sisters.

  “Girls. Girls!” he shouted. “Please, this is a tiny room and your voices carry.”

  Arias and Orenda dissolved into laughter and sank to the floor, each one shoving the other as they did so. Misti grew happy at the sight. She and Char used to be the same exact way. And perhaps because of the letter she had sent, they could be that way once again.

  “Sorry, Roorik, I hadn’t expected to see Arias for another season or so,” Orenda muttered, wiping tears of joy from the corner of her eyes. She turned to Dylori. “I’m Orenda, by the way.”

  “Dylori,” she said, thrusting her hand out and giving Orenda’s a shake. “Arias told us about you.”

  “Good things, I hope?” Orenda glanced at Arias.

  “Worry not, sister, I told only the best,” Arias replied, nudging Orenda with her knee. She turned to Misti. “You got another cage over the pendant. That’s good. Were the crafters at Praxis able to help?”

  Misti dipped her head. “No. They couldn’t help me, aside from putting another cage over the pendant, that is.”

  Dylori let go of her hand and gently tilted Misti’s chin up. “Then we’ll deal with it another way. There has to be another way to get this off you. Or we’ll just turn into roving suncreature hunters, and you’ll ash them all.” She g
ave Misti a sharp smile. “We won’t give up.”

  “Of course we won’t,” Arias said. “And that cage has to be the strongest one yet.”

  “They said it would last a long while,” Misti admitted, warmth rushing through her at her friends’ declarations. Zora headbutted her again and gave a joyful yip that caused Misti’s unhappiness to fade even more. She scratched Zora’s ear. “They said the pendant’s crafting was strange for them and advised me to find the banished Divus.”

  “Which is where I come in,” Roorik said, waving his hand about in a lazy fashion and giving them nod from his seat. “Ex-banished Blood crafter, at your service once more.”

  “You used to be banished?” Dylori bristled, giving him a hard stare up and down. Her fingers drifted to the curved sword on the bed next to her. The bedroom filled with an intense energy, charging the air between the two of them.

  Misti knew what must be filtering through Dylori’s head, for she thought them herself after hearing of Roorik’s old status. Taking a chance and putting her hand on Dylori’s leg, she drew Dylori’s attention and diffused the intensity of her stare. “He’s okay now. He saved you, remember?”

  “It would be hard for a Moon Knight to tell the difference between a banished crafter and one who had reformed,” Roorik added easily. “I take no offense.”

  Dylori frowned at him but her fingers no longer reached for her sword, clenching some of the bedsheets with both hands. “You can help Misti?” she asked in a controlled voice.

  “Yes, I believe I can.” Roorik rustled around in a satchel draped over his shoulder that Misti hadn’t noticed before, pulling out a leather book and flipping through it. “I have notes on where they were last when I was one of them.”

  “You took notes?” Dylori asked, arching her eyebrow in disbelief.

  “Most certainly. I knew soon after I joined them that I wouldn’t be one of them for long. I didn’t belong with their group, and I disapprove of their actions.”

  “Why did you join them in the first place, then?” Dylori challenged.

  Roorik stopped on a page, looking up from the book. “It was a choice made out of desperation, but I knew I belonged here.”

  “As a tailor and dyer of clothes?” Dylori’s voice lowered disbelievingly.

  Roorik’s eyes glinted. “One can never force their true passions in life. Mine just happen to be of the more colorful sort.”

  Misti leaned close to Dylori and whispered, “Be nice.”

  Dylori looked like she wanted to say more but sighed, letting go of the bedsheets to hold Misti’s hand again. “If he can actually help you, I will be.”

  A thrill of excitement surged through Misti at Dylori’s comment and her touch. Underneath the hurt, Dylori cared. Arias gave Misti a thumbs-up at Dylori’s comment, giving her a sly smile, and Orenda quickly followed suit. They looked so much alike that Misti found herself smiling and shaking her head.

  “Aha!” Roorik said, waving his notebook in the air. “They move around a lot, as most banished folk do, but I did write down where they held their main Divus gatherings. Like a base of operations.”

  “Oh?” Dylori perked up at that, and Misti knew exactly what she was thinking. A base of operations would be the perfect place for the Moon Knights to attack. And maybe they’d be able to find a banished Blood crafter and force them to remove this pendant. “Where is this base?”

  “You won’t like it,” Roorik warned.

  “Well, we need to go there regardless of if we like it or not,” Misti replied. A spark of hope ignited in her. They would make these crafters take this pendant off her and then she could figure out what to do. She’d go anywhere to make that happen, no matter how far or how terrifying.

  Dylori narrowed her eyes at him. “Yes, out with it already.”

  Roorik cleared his throat and handed Misti his notebook. “Their base is in the center of the Ravenlock Woods.”

  The effect of his words was instantaneous: both Arias and Orenda gasped, Dylori heaved a sigh that could shake the heavens, and Misti’s stomach felt like it dropped out of her. The Ravenlock Woods? Misti’s grip tightened around Dylori’s hand, while the other went to Zora’s fur. She shook her head. Of course they’d be in the Ravenlock Woods.

  Chapter Fifteen

  MISTI PULLED HER LIP between her teeth and stared at the cracked floorboards. No one wanted to venture into the Ravenlock Woods, so it stood to reason it would be the perfect setting for a meeting of the banished folk. Ravenlock Woods was one of the two forests destroyed by the battle between Aluriah and Ponuriah, the other being Cinder Forest up north. Massive forests with immense trees and vegetation, they had once been a place where life flourished. Now they were petrified, graying and blackened, locked in some horrific place between growth and death.

  They were a dangerous place, rumored to be filled with terrible suncreatures, and her chest tightened painfully just at the thought of heading into those cursed woods. She looked to the others. Dylori shifted her curved Moon Knight sword so it sat in her lap, fingers locked tight around its hilt. Orenda took a long swig from a flask, shuddered, and then pushed it into Arias’ hand. Arias didn’t drink, handing it off to Roorik. He looked to be the calmest of them all, leaning back in his chair, one leg propped up on the edge, as he drank from the flask. But he would be comfortable: he’d been there. Arias tucked her knees up to her chin but kept her steady pale-green gaze on Misti, silently asking what she wanted to do.

  “I have to go into the Ravenlock Woods. It’s the only path I have to fix this pendant. You three don’t need to come with me,” Misti offered, knowing that on at least two sets of ears—vulnix and Vagari—that offer would fall flat. Zora extended her claws into Misti’s shoulders to show her she wasn’t going anywhere, and Misti bumped her head softly into Zora’s in thanks.

  Dylori tightened her hand on Misti’s grip. “I don’t want to get lost in the woods.”

  Misti nodded slowly. ‘Getting lost,’ that’s how the knights referred to the people who went into the Ravenlock Woods or Cinder Forest and never returned. Getting lost. Everyone knew what really happened to those poor souls, but no one talked about it. Dylori remained quiet for a long moment and worry trickled down Misti’s spine at the thought that she might actually back out.

  Dylori’s dark gaze lifted from her blade and met Misti’s. “But I can’t have you getting lost either. That means I’m coming with you.” She turned to the sisters. “What about you two?”

  Arias shrugged. “I’ve come this far, haven’t I?”

  Orenda put her hand on Arias’ knee. “I don’t want you to go. It’s too dangerous in there.”

  “Dangerous?” Arias tilted her head at her sister and arched an eyebrow. “We’ve faced many dangers on this journey.”

  “Not like the Ravenlock Woods. I’ve never set foot in those forests, even the one up north, because we’re not meant to set foot in them. Aluriah wouldn’t like our being in there.”

  Arias held her sister’s gaze for a moment and then looked away, a pained expression crossing her features. Crossing into the Ravenlock Woods would be going toward everything Aluriah warned about in the Azure, her teachings. To those who believed in Aluriah, crossing into the Ravenlock Woods would be taunting death and Ponuriah herself. It would be like inviting Ponuriah to them and shunning Aluriah’s protection. Disregarding her love, even, for Aluriah died protecting the races she created, the races she loved. Misti couldn’t ask anyone to disregard their worship for her. But Arias did seem quite keen on learning more about the pendant.

  “You don’t have to come with us,” Misti blurted out suddenly, words slipping off her tongue in her haste. Dylori opened her mouth, but Misti spoke over her, shifting her gaze between the sisters. “It’s okay. Dylori and I can handle this one. I don’t want you to get in trouble with your family or your religion. And I know you need to know more about the pendant for whatever organization you work for.” Orenda gave Arias a sharp look. “But I can alw
ays let you know what happens later. Or maybe if we find some banished Blood crafters, I can bring them back here to get the pendant off me. Thank you for your help, both of you, but you don’t need to come with us. It’s okay. I swear it.”

  Arias gave her a hard look, one that seemed to pierce through Misti’s soul. Her gaze drifted to the floor and she sat very still for a few moments, thinking hard about something, then she nodded to Orenda. “Orenda and I…need to catch up. We’ll let you prepare for the woods.”

  They both stood, and disappointment shook through Misti at the sight. “You don’t need to leave right now,” she said, not wanting to see her friend leave so soon.

  “We should,” Arias murmured. “We really do need to catch up, and you really do need to prepare for the woods. Unfortunately, that’s not really something I can help you with. Ravenlock is a mystery.”

  “Even to your super-secret, hyper-religious organization?” Dylori asked, grinning to take the edge off her accusation.

  “Yes,” Arias said, sighing. “Even to us. We don’t…I should say, we’ve never been in the Ravenlock. It’s forbidden.”

  “Arias,” Orenda barked. If stares could carry daggers, Orenda’s would’ve carried ten.

  Forbidden? Surprise washed her disappointment away. She understood the fear of the Ravenlock Woods, but to be actually forbidden to go into them. Who are these people? Even the Moon Knights went into the woods! Despite her confusion, she nodded. “Okay.”

  “Okay? Okay?” Dylori rose to her feet. “It’s not okay. You traveled with us across the continent, but you can’t come with us to the woods. How—”

  “Dylori,” Misti said, her sharp tone cutting Dylori off. She stood as well and looked to Arias. “Really, it’s okay. I don’t want you to get into trouble because of me.”

  “We appreciate your understanding. May Aluriah’s light shimmer down on you through the darkness,” Orenda said, shaking each of their hands in turn. She grabbed her flask from Roorik’s grip and walked over to the doorway, waiting for her sister.