‘I need to get up and get moving,’ Sloane replied. ‘I can’t believe three days have passed and I’ve been stuck in this bed. I need to do anything other than sleep.’
Rhyn moved around the bed quickly to help Sloane to her feet.
‘I’m fine,’ Sloane said, as he took her arm to help her up.
‘No, you’re weak and tired. You haven’t left this room for a while.’
Sloane let out a long breath but didn’t argue with him as he helped her up. She may have been bedbound for days, but her legs didn’t feel weak beneath her. Now that she was on her feet, she actually couldn’t remember the last time she felt so strong.
‘I think I’m okay to stand alone,’ she said, looking up at Rhyn with a smile on her lips.
He nodded and allowed his grasp on her arm to drop. Everything felt different to Sloane as she began to walk forwards. Her legs felt light beneath her, and she could almost feel the surrounding air brushing against her skin. She was in a simple top and pants, but she didn’t feel cold like she normally would in the world of the Unfaih and their icy castle.
Her senses were so sharp that she didn’t need to turn to know exactly where Rhyn stood behind her. She was conscious of precisely where he was, and she instinctively knew that he had folded his arms across his chest and there was a frown gracing his forehead.
‘I feel strange,’ Sloane said, turning to face him. Every movement was so effortless, and she turned so quickly her vision almost blurred. She’d barely even thought about the motion, and yet she’d spun around with such speed that even she was taken by surprise.
‘This is normal,’ Rhyn said, pulling her attention. ‘All young Unfaih go through the same adjustment period upon drinking the Liftsal. Your mind is processing information much faster than it was before, it can feel strange for a while.’
‘I don’t have time to adjust,’ Sloane replied. ‘My father has potentially gone to the Brakys and who knows how long it will be before the humans attack again. I need to be ready.’
‘You will be,’ Rhyn replied. ‘I’ll make sure of it.’
Sloane nodded but didn’t feel reassured. She still had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had changed for the worse. She worried that it was only a matter of time before her skin turned as black as night and her eyes became a bloody shade of red. The thought caused a shiver to run down her spine.
She couldn’t alter what had happened, but she could control what she did next. She had to adjust quickly to the changes she felt because she knew she might only have a few weeks left to help protect the people she loved. She wouldn’t be turning into a Braky; she would die before she let that happen. But she was going to spend whatever time she had left making sure that her father was dealt with and doing everything in her power to ensure that the humans would never attack again.
Chapter Three
Sloane was restless as Orelle checked her vitals. Her fingers tapped against her leg and she kept glancing towards the door as she waited for the all clear. She was facing an unknown fate, and it left her feeling impatient. A sense of urgency swirled in her gut, and she desperately needed to be doing something. Anything. She was anxious to get out of the room she had been stuck in for three days so she could start making the most of her every breath.
She barely noticed as Orelle touched two fingers to her pulse or when she placed some weird looking crystals against her chest. Sloane’s mind was busy sifting through all of her memories as she tried to come to terms with everything she had been through.
‘What’s happening with the humans?’ Sloane asked, looking past Orelle to where Rhyn was standing by the door.
‘You don’t need to worry about them right now,’ he responded.
‘Rhyn…’ Her one word held more warning than if she’d been holding a knife to his throat.
He sighed, clearly aware there was no way to escape her questioning. ‘We do not expect them to cause problems again anytime soon,’ he said. ‘They are keeping quiet.’
For now, she thought. The Unfaih may have won the battle against the humans, but Sloane wasn’t about to underestimate them. They had killed so many of Rhyn’s warriors and led so many soldiers to their deaths. She needed to be ready in case they were foolish enough to strike again. And she did not doubt that they would be if given a chance.
Even though the Captain had abandoned them, the humans were still a danger to themselves and the Unfaih. Whoever was now in charge of the settlement would not be in a hurry to leave Aeris. They had been through too much already. Some more than others, Sloane thought, as the memory of her brother passed out in an Unfaih dungeon resurfaced.
‘Ash,’ she blurted out, looking up at Rhyn again. ‘Is my brother still here?’
Rhyn slowly nodded, giving a hesitant glance in Rowe’s direction. Sloane followed his gaze to her sister, who looked somewhat guilty from where she sat on the edge of the bed next to Sloane.
‘He’s no longer in the cells, but they have him locked in one of the rooms,’ Rowe said.
‘Yes, but only because you insisted.’ Rhyn looked like he would have been quite happy to let Ash freeze to death in the dungeon. After everything their brother had done, Sloane didn’t blame him.
She faced her sister again, feeling a little surprised that Rowe had convinced Rhyn to move Ash from his cell. She looked so sweet and innocent sitting carefully on Sloane’s bed, but there had been more fire in Rowe’s eyes recently. Maybe Sloane was underestimating her sister.
‘I want to see him,’ Sloane said, pushing herself to her feet from where she sat on the bed.
Orelle placed a firm hand on her shoulder, pressing her back down. ‘Not until I’ve finished checking on you,’ she said. ‘It won’t be much longer now.’
‘Fine,’ Sloane sighed, before slumping back down on the bed. ‘As soon as I’m done here, I want to see him,’ she repeated, focusing on Rhyn once again. ‘I need answers.’
‘He hasn’t spoken much,’ Rhyn said. ‘He has been questioned, but Rowe stopped us from doing so as firmly as I would have liked.’
He glared slightly at Rowe as he spoke, and Sloane got the impression that her sister had saved their brother from some brutal form of Unfaih interrogation.
Sloane briefly wondered if she would have allowed Rhyn to get the truth from Ash by any means necessary but then shrugged. Their father was up to something, and Ash was the only one who could know what he intended to do now that he had a vial of Liftsal. The Captain had said in the caves that Ash had been involved in his long search for the healing water. She also needed to find out the truth behind what her father had told her about their heritage. She wasn’t sure how much Ash knew, but he was currently her best chance at finding out what fate awaited her.
‘Are you sure now’s the best time?’ Rowe asked, looking at Rhyn. ‘She’s only just woken up. She needs to rest.’
‘She feels fine and has had more than enough rest,’ Sloane said, interrupting before Rhyn could get a chance to tell her she couldn’t go. ‘If you two are really that worried, you can escort me there and back if need be.’
Rhyn nodded, but from the way he was looking at Sloane, she knew he had intended to go along with her the whole time.
‘Well, you are recovering,’ Orelle said, grabbing Sloane’s attention. ‘Your vitals all appear to be back to normal, and your injury has now healed. The Liftsal has cured you completely, but try not to overdo it.’
‘No problem, Doc,’ Sloane replied, launching to her feet. ‘It’s pretty miraculous stuff, the Liftsal. If you’re willing to risk turning into an evil monster for it, that is. Can I go?’ She was already halfway across the room.
‘Yes, you can go,’ Orelle responded.
Sloane grinned and continued towards the door. Rhyn already had it open and was waiting for her by the doorway. Sloane paused though when she realised that Rowe hadn’t moved to join them. She turned and stared at her sister, but Rowe was refusing to meet her gaze.
‘
Are you coming?’ Sloane asked.
Rowe shook her head though. ‘No, you go ahead.’
Sloane frowned at her sister’s behaviour but continued to follow Rhyn without questioning her further.
‘What’s up with Rowe?’ Sloane asked, as he closed the door behind her and the two of them started down the corridor. She was still adjusting to her heightened senses, and the smallest details that she would never have noticed before kept capturing her gaze. It was the tiny bubbles of air imprisoned in the icy walls that she found most intriguing.
‘She hasn’t been to see Ash since the day you were injured,’ Rhyn responded.
‘Why not?’ Sloane asked, pulling her focus from the walls to look at him.
‘She hasn’t said why,’ he replied. ‘But it seems she is struggling to accept what your brother has done. It’s clear that she still loves him, but I think that makes it harder for her to face him.’
Sloane pursed her lips as she considered Rhyn’s response. It wasn’t like Rowe to ignore any of their family no matter what had passed between them. But the things Ash had done were terrible. She didn’t blame Rowe for keeping her distance.
Rhyn paused before they reached a door at the end of the corridor. A large warrior guarded the entrance, though he didn’t appear to have noticed their approach and he kept his eyes narrowed on the opposite wall.
‘You don’t have to see Ash if you don’t want,’ Rhyn said, carefully.
‘No, I need to see him. I need answers.’
Rhyn nodded, and the guard stood aside as Rhyn reached a hand out to the door. He opened it and pushed the door inwards, stepping back so Sloane could enter the room first.
The room was spacious, though there was only a simple bed tucked into the corner. Ash was sitting on the ground with his back up against the wall, staring listlessly into the empty space before him. He didn’t look up as Sloane entered. He had been so authoritative and calculating when she’d defeated him on the battlefield, but right now he seemed nothing like the man who had come at her relentlessly with his sword.
She glanced over her shoulder at Rhyn who gave her a reassuring nod. ‘Call out to me when you’re ready to leave,’ he said, before closing the door and allowing her to be alone with her brother.
She took a couple of silent steps forwards, watching Ash closely. His hair was greasy, and his skin was dirty, but he was wearing clean clothes, and he didn’t appear to have been mistreated. She wondered what the Unfaih intended to do with him. They clearly couldn’t keep him locked in the room forever, but returning him to the humans would also be a mistake.
‘I was wondering when you’d come,’ Ash said, slowly looking up at Sloane for the first time since she’d entered the room. There was no hatred in his stare, and he didn’t seem at all alarmed by his current predicament. The fact he had been wondering when she would visit him made Sloane think that he didn’t know what had happened to her. There was no surprise in his eyes that she was standing and walking about uninjured.
‘I see the Unfaih are taking care of you,’ Sloane said, waving a hand around the room.
He shrugged and turned his attention to the ground. Sloane tilted her head as she watched him, curious about what was going through his mind.
‘You’re lucky,’ she continued. ‘I can’t imagine a captured Unfaih would receive such treatment in the human camp.’ It was an understatement. An Unfaih would have been lucky to still be breathing if they had ended up with the humans.
Ash didn’t respond though. He seemed disinterested in her. It was almost like he had resigned himself to being a captive, and the fact it didn’t bother him was concerning.
She continued to slowly approach Ash before taking a seat on the ground in front of him. ‘You may feel comfortable now, but I imagine things will change if you don’t start cooperating with the Unfaih. Rhyn told me you’ve been refusing to answer their questions.’
Ash let out a breathy laugh. ‘As if telling them anything will help my situation.’ He slowly looked up at Sloane, and she caught the flicker of malice in his gaze.
‘Well, it certainly won’t hurt your situation. I can’t imagine you’d last long in the dungeons here, and that’s where you’ll end up if you don’t start talking about where Father went…’
He laughed again. ‘I’m not telling them, or you, anything.’
There was so much venom in his voice that Sloane was slightly taken aback. From what Rhyn had said, the Unfaih already knew that the Captain had escaped the castellum and headed to the ravine. There was only one place he could be going: the Brakys’ lair. Sloane didn’t need Ash to confirm it, but she still needed some answers.
‘Let’s not waste time, Ash. We both know he has gone to the Brakys’ lair. He said you and him have been searching for the Liftsal for a long time. What I need to know is why? Why would he go to that place? What is he planning?’
Ash remained silent but lightly shook his head as he looked at his sister, almost as if he was surprised she was still trying to get him to talk.
‘You suffered first hand at the cruelty of those creatures, surely you don’t want Father to experience the same,’ Sloane continued.
Ash's eyes were emotionless as he responded. ‘Father knows what he’s doing.’
Sloane swallowed, and her stomach dipped uncomfortably at his comment. ‘What are you talking about?’
He slowly shook his head, a small smile beginning to curve at the corner of his lips as he saw that he was getting to her.
‘What are you talking about?’ she repeated, her voice rising.
When her brother didn’t respond, Sloane leapt forwards and grabbed him roughly by his shirt as she shoved him against the wall. The force was far more powerful than she had expected, and she moved in the blink of an eye, before she’d even had a chance to consider what she was doing.
Ash let out a grunt as he slammed into the hard surface. She froze as she looked at him, trying to understand what had just happened. Thought and action had seemed to blur into one, and it scared her. She’d always wanted to be strong and powerful, but not like this.
Her anger felt like acid in her veins, like something dark and vile was rising within her. She dropped Ash and stood back, taking rapid steps away from him. Her hands were shaking, and she clenched them into fists as she tried to control the hatred pulsing through her.
She took several deep breaths in and out to calm herself. But anger started turning to fear as she considered her actions. They had been impulsive and violent, but were they something she would have done before the Liftsal? Was that kind of emotion normal for her or was it a sign of something dark beginning to develop within her?
Ash slowly lifted his head to meet her gaze. There was shock in his eyes as he looked up at her, and she wondered if he had noticed her strength and speed. She didn’t want to stick around and find out if he had guessed at the change she was going through.
‘You may not wish to talk, but you will answer our questions one way or another,’ she growled.
She didn’t wait for his reply as she turned and made her way across the room to the door. She knocked on it loudly, and as it opened Rhyn peaked his head into the room, a frown across his features. His eyes narrowed on Ash, and Sloane wondered how much he had heard.
Rhyn pushed the door wide, and Sloane stalked past him. She had secretly liked the idea of developing strength and speed like the Unfaih. But right now she wasn’t sure if she liked the changes that were happening to her. She didn’t want to put people around her in danger
‘What happened in there?’ Rhyn asked, following her down the corridor.
She continued walking until they turned a corner and were out of the guard’s earshot.
‘Nothing,’ Sloane replied, stiffly. ‘You were right; he won’t talk.’
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, as though he sensed the turmoil that was stirring inside her.
Sloane’s mouth went dry at the question, and she felt suddenly vulnerable. One mom
ent she had been sitting in front of her brother, the next she had Ash shoved up against the wall. She hadn’t even thought of attacking him, but before she knew it, she was upon him.
She’d always been somewhat impulsive, but she usually took a moment to think through her decisions before she acted. She hadn’t even considered whether to use her words to probe Ash further or to resort to violence.
Rhyn had told her one of the first clues that the humans were changing into Brakys was the violence and aggression they exhibited. Was she already showing similar signs?
She had only been awake for an hour and had already found a reason to believe she was turning into the monster she feared. She couldn’t bring herself to recount her actions to Rhyn though. She didn’t want him to think she was turning, even if it was the truth.
‘I’m just tired,’ she replied. ‘I think I should return to the room.’ The last thing Sloane wanted was more rest. But she was confused, and she felt a sudden need to be alone so she could try and understand what was happening to her.
‘Don’t be disheartened,’ Rhyn said, placing his arms on her shoulders. ‘You’re still transitioning, which is exhausting even for a regular Unfaih. Your body is only just beginning to recover. We’re lucky you’re alive.’
He stepped back and looked deeply into her eyes. ‘I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t survived.’
Sloane could see so much pain in Rhyn's eyes, and she knew she would have felt exactly the same if their positions were reversed. But she still didn’t know how she felt about him giving her the Liftsal. She understood why he had done it, but a part of her worried that he’d made a terrible mistake.
Chapter Four
In the following days, Sloane felt a strange combination of strength and exhaustion coursing through her body. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before, but the closest thing she could compare it to was the rapid growth spurt she went through in her early teens at the Academy. The major difference between then and now though was the fact Sloane had eaten everything in sight back when she was learning how to fight in the desert. Food no longer held the same appeal to her, and she still hadn’t eaten anything since her awakening.
The Rift War (The Liftsal Guardians Book 4) Page 4