Sky Lands: The Gift Stones

by TL Rese

A line of red light broke long in the distance, cutting through the dark like a streak of blood. The sudden crimson tore the night in half. Dawn was rising. The scarlet line of a new day curved across the black horizon, bending around the earth’s waist and slitting the night’s throat as the dark died into day. The bloody light spilled across the hine’s wings stretching over the early sky.

  I knew that enemies still pursued us – but they were far behind, separated from us by miles of cloud and sky. I yawned, a calmness swelling inside of me, my eyelids drooping with growing weight.

  We descended gradually, lowering into a humid air that was like steam from a hot bath. Spices flavored the wind, carrying hints of curry and pepper. The last of the mist lifted, blowing from the hine’s wings back into the dawn. All the clouds swept into the sky above, and Moreina’s golden lands opened below, its tanned earth patterned with rivers that flowed brilliantly in the light of a new day.

  At the edges of the landscape, a golden city rose from the sands, its angular bricks illuminated in the sun. Crowning the city on a rise of land was a palace, long and terraced in the morning.

  Audrey looked past me, her eyes pale with silver, her skin lit like snow in the light of winter. This was the first time I had truly seen her in her Alhallren appearance, plain and real in front of me.

  “There they are,” Audrey said.

  I followed her gaze. Descending from the clouds, the guards were catching up at a great speed, their hines diving with their wings pinned to their sides.

  “Hold tight, Kevin.” Our creature’s wings folded against its body and we fell in an open dive towards the land.

  City guards were riding below us, skimming the sands. They faded into a blur as we passed over them in a rush.

  The guards gave chase, their hines’ wings raising dust as the creatures reared, spewing a black volley of flames. With a sudden turn, we dodged the fire that smashed into the sand. Embers rained around us, burning the skin as we flew through them. Smoke rose from the ashes and wove in wisps through the dawnlight.

  A guard hurled a spike; it split in mid-air into a multitude of thorns. Audrey drew her sword and the projectiles fell before her blade. Sliced to pieces, they scattered into the winds, raining in flecks of black with the last of the ashes.

  We flew into the city. Silks waved from tanned walls. The pedestrians too were swathed in vivid drapes. Our hine’s wings opened among them in a terrific rush of air.

  Guards were still flying in fast, closing the gap. A hine launched its black fire and the flames struck a hanging of silk, consuming the fabric in a burst. We veered as another blast of fire flew past us. Deftly, Audrey avoided the onslaught as though she could see behind her.

  We angled upwards, our hine’s wings brushing the even roofs of the dwellings. Before us, the palace stretched, golden-bricked on a rise of sand and rock. The dawn threw shadows long across the land, so the city and its palace were hued with lines of black and gold.

  A guard flew close, his beast’s eyes rolling in a dark stare, so close I could see my own horrified face in the fluid surface of the animal’s eyes.

  The guard was swathed in black. All I saw were his eyes, as dark as his hine’s. He shot a spike at us that burst into a shower of thorns. Audrey caught the thorns on her shield and volleyed them back at him.

  He crouched behind his cloak. The thorns fastened to it, protruding like needles from cloth. He shook back his mantle and the thorns fell off, fluttering to the city below.

  Audrey held her shield at the size of a basketball around her fist. She reached over me, catching another attack of spikes on her shield. She swung her shield and sprayed the spikes into the face of the guard’s hine.

  The animal roared, spitting a plume of fire that disintegrated the spikes to ash, the whites of the creature’s eyes blackening into a solid darkness. The fire crashed against Audrey’s shield before she expanded it and sent the fire washing back over the guard and his hine. They fell in a sweep of wings and screams, their cries sounding in my ears.

  On the streets, the pedestrians looked up at us, their shawls fallen back from their foreheads. The guards whistled to their hines, and the creatures lashed out a barrage of fire. The flames smashed against the kyrion shield and descended in a shower of embers, setting afire the bright colors of street banners. The pedestrians scattered over the roads as the burnt fabric fell among them. Scorched bricks crumbled to the ground, shattered by the fire that missed us.

  We were nearly at the palace. Behind, the guards had fallen back to a distance, while before us, the palace rose majestically. And hope lifted into my throat.

  A trumpet sounded, a pure note piercing the dawn. Another horn echoed it, followed by another. The air rang with the call of trumpets. And then there was a sudden silence.

  We flew into a quiet air, gliding on the wind. There was a stillness as we sailed above the golden bricks of a sunburnt city. It was a moment that seemed to hold its breath. And a premonition crept into the hope in my throat.

  From seemingly every corner of the palace, from behind every terraced wall, the leather wings of hines emerged, stretching like enormous batwings before the golden bricks of the palace. And on each hine was the black-robed figure of a Moreinen guard.

  Audrey flew on as though the palace walls hadn’t become infinitely more difficult to penetrate. The multitude of guards swarmed forward, aligning into a line that curved to encircle us. Panic filled my mouth as if to scream, but no sound came out.

  We flew straight at the guards. A cry sounded and the circle of hines bent back their heads. We jolted upwards just as the hines hurled their fire. The flames barely missed us, scorching the tip of our hine’s tail. The fire shot into the center of the guards’ circle, right where we had been only an instant before, exploding in their midst. The neat circle of guards scattered in an array of wings.

  For a moment, the way to the palace was clear. It was so close. I could see its pillars lit with dawn, trees rose before the windows, and a breeze played through colored fabrics. It looked like an invitation. But I knew better than to hope again.

  I swung around to see the guards’ formation coming together in an arc to hem us in. At a whistle, their hines blasted flames that crashed against Audrey’s shield. The force of the fire propelled us forward with a burst of terrific speed. We rode on the wave of flames like a surfer, cascading in a wild rush towards the walls of the palace.

  We smashed through trees, the leaves burning as we collided into pillars, tearing through fabrics, the colors ripping past us in dazzling arrays. We slid across the floor of the palace to a sudden stop, spilling from the hine.

  We landed in Audrey’s shield. The bubble burst and I collapsed onto solid stone.

  Beyond rows of pillars, guards flew in from the open air, landing between the columns, their hines’ wings spread wide in silhouettes against a sky of gold. Sheets of silk waved from the pillars, some burning from the flames we brought in. Embers kindled on the tanned stones, the flames wilting to smoke. The scent of fire wove through the morning light.

  Audrey stood as the guards dismounted, unsheathing their swords. I thought she would fight, but she made no motion.

  A man among them shouted a command to others who ran into the corridors beyond the hall. He turned to Audrey, his black sword pointed at her pale throat.

  “i arl reo pipreot orh hallain.” Although I was sure Audrey was speaking the same language as the man, there was a slight sound to her words that belied the breathy Alhallren tongue she had grown up with.

  At her words, the man seemed puzzled, his eyes squinting from beneath the black shroud across his face. He replied, and the guttural sounds rolled across his tongue like a river. But he made no move to lower his sword.

  Beside the guards, the hines looked massive, sitting within the hall, their shadows long across the tan floor. Though the day was just beginning, I could already feel the heat against my skin. The lingering smoke twisted among the silks, weaving through t
he colors of the wall tapestries. A few hines stretched their wings through the hanging silks. Along the floor, scattered among the feet of the guards, ashes still simmered black with sparks of red.

  When I looked up, I noticed that the entire line of guards was staring at me. The guard in front of us had his sword pointed directly at me. He stepped closer and moved the blade towards my eyes then up to my forehead, brushing aside the hair that lay across my brow so he could better see my face. My hair was heavy with sweat, a bead of perspiration sliding down my temple. It was difficult to draw in the thick humid air. The man peered at me, as if he were looking at something for the first time. He spoke quietly.

  “He says you look strange.” The corner of Audrey’s mouth curled amusedly.

  The man stepped back, gazing at me wonderingly. I relaxed when he drew his sword away and held the blade by his side.

  “Do I look – different?”

  “No, you look exactly the same,” Audrey said, still with that amused smile.

  The dawnlight fell at an angle across her features and lit her silver eyes into a strange beauty. Although the guards were mostly shrouded behind their cloaks, what I could see of their skin was auburn, baked with a tan like bread golden in the oven.

  “You look – fleshy, in contrast here,” Audrey commented, observing me with amusement in her strange eyes. “Like a youth whose Alhallren fairness has already faded with age.”

  It was then that I realized I was the only human of my kind in this entire world. And for some reason, the realization frightened me.

  The arches leading to the hallways were intricately etched and birds chirped, perched within the curves of the carven flora. The birds fluttered as footsteps sounded in the hall, and soon a figure appeared beneath the archway. Several of the birds took flight and sailed out past the hines, flying between the pillars into the morning.

  The figure was robed in white, his skin nearly the same tone, fair like the moon. The short strands of his hair were blond to such a pallor, they resembled flaxen grasses laced with frost. His eyes were a splendid blue, their color profound in features so fair. The bricks of the castle rose around him, shining with an amber in the sunlight. He looked like an angel in a palace of gold.

  Seeing him, I understood what Audrey meant by the Alhallren fairness. It was an unearthly softness, a pallid glow, white with a luminosity. Though his features had aged, he still had the full complexion of youth. And I knew that he was Hallain.

  Chapter 22