"We're not leaving without you!"
"The Night's Keep needs to be destroyed. Go, I'll be right behind you. Trust me. Please."
Fitch nodded and ran towards the Silent Star. "Empty the ballonets!" he said once he reached the cargo ramp. "Cut the mooring lines! Raise the sails!"
Kera laid the staff on the ground, kneeled, and dug her fingers into the dirt. Jorthen said the entire fortress worked like a staff and was operated by Rhea's sister Ehra. During the escape in the crypts, Kera had almost sent her staff's Aerostone flying from the pole by infusing too much power into it. Let's see if I could do the same, writ large.
She concentrated her energy into the stones holding the Night's Keep aloft. There was a slight tremor in the earth. Then another. The third was a violent shake as she sensed Ehra's gift powering the Aerostones as well.
Kera's stomach knotted. She breathed in, tensed her body, and drew in as much power as she could. In her mind's eye, she was suddenly standing before the Aeonlith whose red glow intensified. The eight storey stone turned black as night and she felt a cold chill inside her chest. Kera exhaled with a wail as if screaming all her energy into the Aerostones. A black glittering stone erupted from beneath the ground and into the sky. Then another and another.
The Night's Keep fired black stones in every direction and listed towards the earth. Kera staggered to her feet, knees shaking, and used the staff to keep herself upright. What little energy she had left she imbued into the stolen stave's Aerostone.
Members of Fitch's crew were still cutting the lines that anchored the Silent Star to the flying fortress. Just as the last cord was cut, the giant floating mass dropped away into the ground below and flattened what was left of Old Qattan. A giant wave of dirt and rock spread out in every direction, followed by a deep boom.
Kera floated to the Silent Star, clutching the staff, and landed next to Fitch, who caught her as she staggered. He held her as she slipped into unconsciousness.
***
Kera awoke in her cot on the Silent Star. Her desk was again piled with the books she had taken with her into the crawlspace before they had landed in Qattan. Beside that was Jorthen's staff. It feels like that was someone else's life, she thought.
She got out of the cot and made her way down the corridor and up to the mess deck. Rogo was sitting at a table drinking and laughing with a few crew members, sipping on their grog. He spotted her and brought her a mug of the vile drink.
"Here, you deserve this," he said.
"What terrible thing have I done now?" said Kera.
Rogo laughed and said, "Captain's waiting for you on the top deck."
Kera took the drink and climbed up the flight of stairs above decks. Evening had fallen and the sky took on a deep blue hue with the last of the pale gold light in the west. Captain Fitch stood with his arm in a sling, looking out towards the horizon.
"Rogo said you wanted to see me."
"I wanted to thank you," he said. "For saving me."
"You saved me too, you know."
"Well, I guess we make a good team."
She smiled and looked off towards the dying light. In the distance, tips of a few mountains were faintly visible and the ground had taken on a ghostly blue color. She took a sip of her grog, tasting the familiar bitter liquid.
"Do you know what happened back there?" Fitch asked.
"The entire fort was held afloat by Aerostones, the place acted like a Warden's staff. I used all my strength and overcharged them until they ripped out of the ground."
"No, I mean everything."
And so she told him: the High Council's breeding program and how Luindre shielded her from it. Corren and the refugees, the upcoming war, even how Jorthen was her father, everything. The more she told him the quicker she spoke and the more her body trembled. Tears welled up in her eyes as Fitch wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her close.
"I'm sorry," she said. "It's just, where do I belong? Everything I've known is a lie and all I want to do is go home -- I don't even know where that is anymore."
"Home isn't a static place that exists forever. It moves with you from one place to the next. You could stay with us, for a while." Fitch smiled. "We could always use a super-powered Warden on our side. Plus, I have a job for you."
"Oh?" Kera said as she wiped her tears with her sleeve.
"Vessa needs a teacher. So far she's been haphazardly learning to use her powers and has almost set fire to my ship five times."
"I can do that, but in exchange I need you to help me warn the Citadel."
Fitch recoiled and withdrew his arm from her shoulders.
"We can't let the world plunge into war," she continued. "We have no better options and the Wardens are the only ones who could stop the Elderlands."
"These are the people who might try to force you into their breeding program if they found out about your power, right? Why would you want to help them?"
"Because the alternative is the deaths of hundreds of thousands across two continents."
Fitch stroked his beard and looked off into the distance once more. "We need to make our way to the Gateway City of Arynhaar. We're running low on funny-air. The city is neutral territory, we'll try to send a message from there to the Citadel."
Kera nodded. She wished she could see Luindre once more and have him confirm whether everything Jorthen said was true. But Valtan City would be a dangerous place for her.
"There's one thing I don't understand," Fitch said. "When you attacked Jorthen in the crypts, did you know that the Keystone wouldn't be in the tomb?"
"I guessed that it wouldn't be there."
"So where is it?"
"At the Citadel. Luindre's notes guided me to Leonii's tomb. He knew Leonii had not left the city for the final battle in the War of the Heavens, he knew his corpse was in the necropolis, and even the date of his death. He knew all this because he had already been there. Luindre has the Keystone and that's how he suppressed my power for all those years."
Luindre was always a sly old fox, Kera thought. He almost certainly suppressed his own true power using the Keystone when he first showed up to the Citadel. And if the High Council ever went after him, they would pay for it in spades. Kera watched the last of the sunlight disappear over the horizon and thought of home as she sipped on her grog. You really do get used to it.
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Danny F. Santos is a writer, author, and content creator for traditional and new media. He is also a multidisciplinary artist known for visual arts, acting, directing and music. He currently lives in Toronto, Canada.
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The Keystone Staff (The Aeonlith Saga Book 1) Page 6