Sunkissed Feathers & Severed Ties

by Kellie Doherty

  Her brother stood in the middle of the group, but their parents were nowhere to be found. The wails around her grew louder, and the ground shook from the sheer weight of the creatures thundering to her. The beasts were friendly. They have to be, right? If they’re coming to my aid. She could only hope. Misti leapt up, standing over her sister’s body, and screamed at them wordlessly, animalistically, a scream that rose from the depths of her rage and forced itself out of her, clawing at her throat on the way up. She rushed at the wooden bars, knowing full well that they’d hold.

  From the edges of the forest, dozens of massive creatures broke through the branches. There were creatures she knew, like the unceg and the pyrewolves, and creatures she had never seen before, a three-headed neades-like beast, a massive muol that looked to have eneeraa attached to its head in place of a mane. They headed straight for her, straight for the shocked and terrified worshippers. Straight for her brother.

  The worshippers screamed and her brother backed away, but they didn’t react fast enough. The creatures hit them like a breaker, crushing some underfoot and shoving others aside like playthings. The three-headed neades-beast slammed into Misti’s cage, one massive black hoof pounding against the wood and shattering it. Then it spun, launching itself at her brother as he darted away.

  Misti dashed to the other cages, calling the eneeraa-haired muol with her and sending it to Dylori and Dis’ aid. Misti watched long enough to see the white muol galloping into Dylori’s cage, cracking part of it, before doing the same to Dis’. She skidded to a stop by Zora’s cage and lifted it off her, ripping the spikes from the ground in her fury. Zora shook herself a little, then fluttered up by Misti’s head. She looked whole, healthy. She headbutted Misti’s cheek and, in that brief connection, sent a wave of comfort and strength over their bond.

  “Thank you,” Misti whispered, and Zora yipped.

  She turned her attention to Dylori’s cage, expecting her to break free, use her mighty crafting ability to shatter it, but Dylori was still on the ground. Dis crashed out of his cage, breaking through now-cracked wooden bars. He hurled himself at Dylori’s cage, then drew back his head and roared. Misti yelped and covered her ears as the sound filled the clearing, filled her head, filled everything. The ground cracked beneath Dis, cracked deep, then splintered under Dylori’s cage.

  It worked. The crack tore the cage apart, half on one side and half on the other, with Dylori so close to the crevasse Misti’s breath caught. But Dis knew what he was doing, and Dylori didn’t fall in. Misti ran into the broken cage and lifted Dylori. The pendant throbbed again. Once, just once, but it was enough to send a trickle of fear down Misti’s spine. For an instant she considered dropping Dylori, worried that the pendant would go off, but she had to get Dylori away from here.

  She carried Dylori to Dis’ side, pushing her onto his back. “You have to get her out of here.” Dis huffed and stomped a little, but Misti shook her head. “Please, Dis, please. I don’t know if this pendant is going to go off again, and she won’t be able to survive it in this state. You have to save her. Please.”

  If ever a neades could give a dagger-filled stare, Dis did so, but sadness clouded his dark eyes. He wanted to stay, but for Dylori’s sake, he couldn’t. He nudged Misti in the side with his head, horns digging into her shoulder, and in an instant, linked with her.

  Dis’ deep voice rumbled in her mind. “While you slept in the dead woods, Dylori again gave me permission to give strength to you. And worry not, Zora gave me permission, too. May I?”

  Misti hadn’t wanted to accept his offer back in the Vagari village because she felt like it intruded upon Dylori and Dis’ bond. One that Dylori didn’t really want her to accept. Yet both Dylori and Zora had given permission, and Misti’s gratefulness flew over their connection. She needed any and all strength she could get this day.

  “Yes,” Misti murmured.

  Dis shoved life-energy over their connection, and Misti’s strength returned tenfold. Images of the desert from where Dis had come from rose to her mind. The cold nights and searing days, the way the sands swirled beneath his hooves, the gulping of water whenever it was found, the herd Dis was born into, the slithering suncreatures that attacked when the day was brightest. How the suncreatures ripped through the herd. The night when the Vagari caretakers had found him, young, crying, and wandering alone. The moonlit night, silvery and cool, when he and Dylori chose each other. The images slowly faded.

  Dis’ voice came again. “Use my strength well. You need it more than I this day.”

  Misti pushed her thanks over their connection before Dis severed their link, gave Zora a huff, and loped into the Ravenlock Woods with Dylori on his back. Dis’ energy slammed through Misti, heating her up from the inside in a way that was almost too much for her to handle, and the need to move, to release some of the heat, to do anything came over her. The urge to fight and to win.

  When Misti turned to Zora, she knew it was useless to tell her vulnix to leave. Her eyes glinted with something Misti had never seen before: fury. Zora swung around Misti in a narrow arc and pointed into the fray, and it was clear who she was furious at. Misti’s brother stood at the center of the storm, holding Char’s body like she weighed nothing. An unceg lashed out at him but was buffeted away by a small suncreature, the unceg’s razor teeth never making contact, and a small suncreature burst to ash in Danill’s place.

  Danill was no longer scared, no longer running. He just stared straight at them. Misti met his steady gaze with her own, her crafting focusing her vision just as his did. She expected to feel sad when their eyes met, but she didn’t. His gaze held only contempt, and disgust flared within her as well. This worshipper wasn’t the brother she knew. His lips turned up in a sly smirk, as if daring her to come closer. I’ll wipe that smirk right off his face. Dis’ desert-heat propelled Misti forward, faster than Zora even, and the fury curling in her stomach came out in a growl.

  A worshipper darted in front of them, holding a dagger aloft, but a pyrewolf leapt in, grabbing him by the throat and dragging them both to the ground. The dagger slipped from the man’s hand and landed a few paces away. Skirting around them, Misti didn’t wait to see what happened. The only thing she cared about was the dagger resting in the dirt and her brother waiting for her. It seemed as if the entire world melted down into this one moment—all sounds of the fray, the screaming, the growls, the roars, all faded away.

  She grabbed the dagger, and then pelted at Danill. She didn’t stop as she leapt clear over an unceg slithering in front of her, or as a worshipper’s sword slashed down near her head. She didn’t stop when her legs burned from the speed or her skin prickled uncomfortably from the desert-heat inside her. She didn’t stop until she was face-to-face with her brother, dagger held tight as she skidded to a halt in front of him.

  Flashes of light momentarily blinded her as several worshippers ran, teleporting away. There was only one left now. Only a single sun goddess worshipper stood in front of her, holding their dead sister.

  “Are you going to run away, too?” she sneered, her anger propelling her forward a step.

  “Yes.” Danill grinned. Even unarmed against her, he seemed calm. It made Misti furious.

  “And you think I’m just going to let you run? Let you take my sister away?” Misti stabbed her dagger at his face, trying to slice that twisted smirk right off.

  Danill leaned back from the blade, his smirk widening as the dagger hit nothing but air. “You, my dear sister, have no say in it. You and Char completed my final test, so there’s no use in you wearing the pendant any longer.”

  She twirled the dagger in her grip, point now down, then lunged forward and slashed in a downward arc, this time aiming for his thigh. Danill sidestepped that attack as well, so Misti pulled back into a low, loose stance, trying to figure out what else to do. Quick. He’s too quick. Even carrying Char, she couldn’t hit him. But he doesn’t have anyone to help him, and I do. Misti lunged once more with the dagger,
faking an attack. Danill tried to step away, but Zora bulleted down and slammed him in the back, shoving him forward. Misti used the momentum of her lunge to try for a slash at his jaw. Again he slithered away. He was fast, almost eneeraa-fast, like Stee. Misti had never been able to hit Stee in close combat either. But maybe she didn’t need to be close to hit him.

  Danill chuckled. “Wondering how I got so good?”

  Use the vulnix way. She didn’t honor his question with a response. She darted back, raised her arm, and threw the dagger. End over end, it hurtled through the air between them. Eyes wide, Danill jerked his head to the side, but not fast enough. The dagger drew a dark orange line across his neck and nicked part of his earlobe. Zora darted after the dagger, flying up and over Danill before zipping back to Misti’s side and plopping the blade into her open hand.

  But Danill’s eyes glinted, and his smirk never wavered. “Clever,” he said, nodding. “But not clever enough.”

  A bright-white light burst behind him, silhouetting him in its glow. A voice called out, “We don’t have time for this, Danill, she needs us back now. Is the girl with you?” Misti recognized it: Met’zil Zarious. He was glaring at her, dressed in his Moon Knight armor with his companion dragon on his shoulder. He sneered at her. “How’s your vulnix, Eildelmann? Like the little hex I put on her?”

  Zora? Anger boiled up at seeing Zarious after his betrayal, but the pendant pulsed again, so suddenly and so hot that Misti doubled over. Her chest felt like it was on fire, her neck dipped in molten steel. Zarious’ laughter rang in her ears. She managed to keep hold of the dagger even though she didn’t have time to use it before Danill yanked her up by her tunic, hands now empty of Char. Eyes watering from the pain and the bright light behind him, she could just make out the sick grin on his face, the twisted joy in his eyes. Where’s Char’s body now? Did Zarious take her?

  “My goddess will be needing this back,” he said, fingers wrapping around the pendant. Pain shot from the orb, spiking down her chest and her arms, spiraling in her stomach, throbbing in her head. Even her toes were on fire. He yanked the pendant off her skin, and she fell to the ashy dirt. All of Dis’ energy left her, his gift pulled out with the orb, the desert-heat leaving her in a rush, and Misti felt drained, cold, and weak. Danill bowed to her, low and mocking, swatted Zora away as she tried to claw him, and turned to go into the light where Zarious waited. Where Char stood next to him.

  Stood, as if alive, but Misti knew she couldn’t be. Misti had held her while she died, had watched the life fade from her eyes, had pressed fingers against her wrists and neck and known she had died. Panic spread through her like a sickness, nauseating her. How is this possible? The veins in Char’s face glowed red and her eyes glowed to match. She stood as if alive, as if reborn, bathed in the white-hot light.

  Misti felt Zora press into her chest and a small amount of strength and clarity returned to her, a soothing warmth and calmness. It was enough so that she could lift her hand and throw the dagger once more. It sank deep into Danill’s thigh just before the white light vanished and took him away. I hit him. A tendril of joy whipped through her, fierce and fast. I actually hit him. Agony still sparking like lightning under her skin, she felt rather than saw Zora snuggle closer to her. Felt rather than saw the other animals settle around her. The creatures she had called were dipping into themselves and giving part of themselves to her—sending their life-energy to her. Gratefulness rushed through her, so thankful she was to the beasts of this world. So thankful to be a Vagari and have this kind of connection. She sent her thanks over the link to the myriad creatures surrounding her.

  Zora pushed herself into Misti’s view and tucked her nose against Misti’s cheek. “Sleep now, Misti. We will heal and protect you until you awake,” Zora said over their link, blinking at her with wide, calm dual-colored eyes that held only compassion and love, so unlike Danill’s.

  “I hit him, Zora. Thank you for making that possible,” Misti whispered, throat raw from yelling. She wanted to pet Zora, but her hand felt like a stone. Zora understood, shifting her tails under Misti’s hand. Comforted, Misti nestled her fingers into the soft fur. But when she closed her eyes, an image of Char lingered in the waiting darkness—a sunbright outline of her little sister, now transformed into something else.

  Chapter Nineteen

  WHEN MISTI AWOKE, THE sun had set and darkness had wrapped itself like a cool blanket around her. Her fingers flew to her neck where the pendant had once rested. She froze before touching her skin, both to protect herself from the inevitable pain of the wound and so she wouldn’t need to actually feel the broken skin. Danill took the orb away. She lowered her hand to her side.

  A strange green glow gleamed in the corner of her eye as she assessed herself. The intense pain from before had all but vanished, but the deep-seated ache from losing her sister remained. What happened to Char? The image of her sister standing in white-hot light seemed burned into her mind, dead but somehow alive. The red glow of her eyes, so like the suncreatures’, stuck with Misti. How is that even possible? Turning a person into a suncreature?

  She sensed that her beast friends had left her, disappearing into the Ravenlock Woods again, but Zora had remained by her side, her nose touching Misti’s cheek and her tails under Misti’s hand. Her body pressed close to Misti. Her fur and feathers keeping Misti warm.

  “You are awake. Finally,” Zora said, a sharp burst of excited energy shooting over their connection. “The others will be happy.”

  “Others?” Misti asked, her voice hoarse.

  Four faces appeared into her view over her head—Dylori, Arias, Orenda, and of all people, Roorik Shadowhunt. Arias and Dylori grinned, Orenda frowned, and Roorik gave her a nod. Roorik lifted a daygem higher, diffusing the darkness, its glow green.

  Dylori knelt beside her, supporting her as she sat upright. “Zora said we shouldn’t touch you until you woke up. We’ve been here for hours. Your neck is okay, by the way.” Dylori pulled off her shoulder armor and cocked it at an angle so Misti could see her neck in the daygem’s reflected glow.

  Sure enough, her neck wasn’t the burned, blistering mess she assumed it would be. Her skin hadn’t been ripped off. Somehow the pendant’s painful removal hadn’t injured her, save for a little circular scar. A darker blemish on her brown skin. She pushed her hand into her tangled mess of hair, feeling woozy.

  “Considering what you’ve been through, that tiny scar isn’t bad,” Roorik said, handing her a thick piece of bread slathered with soft cheese. “Eat this. You’ll feel better.”

  Misti thanked him and took a bite. As she ate, the wooziness slowly disappeared, and she told her friends what had happened after she’d been whisked away. Dylori hugged her close when she told them about her sister, and Orenda and Arias gasped at hearing Misti had seen Char again. Roorik’s smile slipped. The ache deepened, but she continued with her story, telling them about the animals she had called and the dagger she threw at her brother.

  Dylori held Misti tight, her arms forming a protective shield around her, and kissed the top of Misti’s head. “We saw burn marks on the ground. Darker ash marks, at least. Maybe that’s where they used the light to vanish, though how I’ll never know.”

  “That you managed to hit him at all was impressive considering the state you were in.” Arias grabbed her on shoulder and squeezed. “I knew you’d find a better way to do battle.”

  “Yeah,” Orenda muttered, scratching her chin. “With aim like that, I’d bet you’d be a great archer.”

  “How did your sister…” Arias started, but she couldn’t find words to continue. Misti understood. Nothing like it had ever happened before.

  “I don’t know,” Misti said at last. “I don’t know if she’s alive.”

  “But you said—” Dylori protested.

  “I know what I said. She died. I know that.” Misti’s voice cracked. “But she was standing there, next to Zarious, standing there seemingly alive.”

 
“And seemingly with red glowing eyes. Red. Glowing. Eyes,” Roorik muttered. “We only know one kind of being with that type of eyes: suncreatures.”

  “But how is that even possible?” Dylori muttered. “Maybe someone at Praxis knows something about it?”

  “Maybe.” Arias bit her lip. “Yes, I’m certain they’ll know something. Or know someone who does.”

  Misti knew they were trying to comfort her in their own ways, and she was grateful for it, but their words did nothing to soothe the agony of her sister’s death. She tucked herself deeper into Dylori’s arms, staring at her. “How did you even get here? You were unconscious!”

  “They found me,” Dylori replied, looking at the other three with fondness in her dark eyes.

  “Yeah, a thundering neades is hard to miss,” Orenda snorted.

  “We were able to wake Dylori up.” Arias slapped Orenda on the knee and smiled. “And then we followed Dis back here.”

  “Against my wishes, I might add,” Roorik chimed in, gesturing all around them. “I only agreed to take these two to the edge of the forest and they dragged me inside.”

  Misti nodded. “How did you know we’d need help?”

  “We didn’t know, exactly,” Arias replied, rubbing the back of her neck.

  “Yeah, my little sister twisted my arm. ‘Just to the edge,’ she said, ‘just to see what they’re up against.’ Once we were beside it, she asked to go in, just a few paces.” Orenda shoved Arias, and pointed at Dis, who sat beside her and Dylori. “That’s when we saw this guy thundering toward us. And once we woke up Dylori there was no turning her around either. I didn’t think Aluriah would mind if I came inside in order to rescue someone else.”