I couldn’t see his face, since he was turned away from me still. It was odd carrying on a conversation without looking someone in the eye. His tone was so neutral and soothing, at odds with the skillset I knew he possessed. “It was. I’m glad I found out. Even if it has been one wild ride ever since.” I paused a moment, and remembering my manners I said, “What about you? How did you become a Hunter and a bodyguard? If that’s what you’re called,” I added in a rush.
“I’m not a Hunter,” he said. “My kind are called Syon.”
His response, which answered exactly none of my questions, sent a ripple of surprise through me. “How did you move through realms, then?”
“One of the other Hunters pulled me through.”
“So did you train to be a Syon, or were you born a Syon?”
“I trained for many years,” Xavyr said, and left it at that.
We lapsed into silence then, and I finished grooming Brynwyn. It was clear that Xavyr wasn’t ready to tell me his life story, and that was fine. I’d just met the dude. It was weird, though, (understatement: a hundred flavors of weird) to have someone constantly in my presence, assigned to watch my every move. An infinity of possibilities for awkwardness.
A while later, I gave Brynwyn a final pat on the neck and wandered back out of the stables, Xavyr on my heels. Alongside the tree/tower was a glass sphere which moved quite quickly up and down a shaft constructed of three titanium beams. It arced up and around the tree in a spiral to the various entrances along the circumference of the trunk. Basically, the coolest elevator I’d ever seen. We stepped into the sphere, but I realized I had no idea to which floor we were headed. Xavyr punched in a code on the keypad inside and the lift began to move.
Everything sped by quicker than I would have liked, but I could see as we passed that the lower levels seemed to be common areas, each with an arched entrance like the one for the stables. Above that were what seemed to be living quarters; these had smaller entrances. About halfway up the length of the tree and two and a half rotations around, we stopped. One of the panels of the elevator unfolded opposite the door we’d entered, connecting with a small balcony that protruded from the tree. It clicked as it locked into place. We strode across it, a bit unnerving since it was clear glass, and stepped onto the balcony. Once inside the balcony railing, the panel moved back into place and the sphere zipped down the tree.
The view from this height did not disappoint. I could see for miles. The city glittered spectacularly, and beyond it stretched a vast red desert veined with rivers and streams. In the moonlight I could see rock bluffs rising here and there, or canyons yawning open across the land. It was not at all what I would have expected outside a city of golden trees, but then, nothing had been expected ever since I learned there were realms beyond Earth.
When I turned back around, Xavyr was standing patiently a few feet away, and a short woman with shocking purple hair seemed to be waiting for me.
“Greetings, Evryn,” she said. “I am Cala. Lord Grayfeather asked that I show you around your floor of the tower.”
“My floor?” I asked incredulously.
Cala smiled and waved an arm at the expanse of rooms beyond. “Yes, the whole floor. Each member of the family gets their own floor.” She cast a glance over to Xavyr. “Although, Lord Grayfeather did instruct that your servant was to have one of the rooms.”
Heat rushed through me. “Xavyr is not my servant. He’s my… bodyguard. And of course he can have a room. More than one if he wishes!” I realized I was babbling and bit my lip.
Xavyr watched me impassively throughout the exchange, and Cala just smiled even more brightly the longer I talked.
“Very well. After we’re through, I’ll get refreshments for you, and in an hour you’ll be heading to the Council Tower.”
“Great. Yes.” I nervously fiddled with my curls as she started the tour. I really wasn’t comfortable with this sort of treatment. Titus sure hadn’t tried to lay on the royal family charm.
Cala led me through no less than a dozen rooms. A kitchen, a dining room, a breakfast room, a library, a weapons room, a sitting room, and a whole maze of bedrooms, dressing rooms, and bathrooms. The walls were mostly a pale cream color, and in certain places throughout they were cut to allow for part of the tree to show through. Tasteful art dotted the walls, and a few sculptures of Artemis and other Hunters sat about. One of the bathrooms was made to look like a creek in a forest, with several pools cascading into each other and lined with dark gray stones.
I might have enjoyed it, but it wasn’t fair that I was here in the lap of luxury when Kellan was trapped with the Timekeeper.
“Which room are you going to sleep in?” Xavyr asked me as I wandered around in a daze.
I stopped and looked at him. “I don’t know, why? Do you want a particular one?”
“Just one that adjoins yours,” he said. “So I can keep an ear out.”
“Oh.” He really was awfully serious about his job. Not that I wanted him to take my life lightly, but really, was someone going to break into the tower? “Um, I’ll take this one, I guess.” I pointed to the bedroom adjacent the crazy indoor stream.
Xavyr nodded and walked into the next room over. And that left me to sit in my massive bedroom and wonder how my life had gotten even weirder than it already was.
Cala called us into the sitting room a few minutes later, which bled into the balcony and overlooked the city. It was full dark now, though it had to be only noon back in Alyris, the Grayfeather realm. I drank the blue juice that Cala brought, which tasted like cherries, and I nibbled on a few too many little tea sandwiches. We were just finishing when Veron stepped out of the elevator.
“The Hunter’s Council will see us now,” he said. “Are you ready?”
Kellan had told me right before I left the Timekeeper’s realm that he’d been working for the Council secretly, and that he had sworn to destroy the Artifex on their orders. I now was the Artifex, meaning I was the very thing they wished to put an end to. But if we had any chance of saving Kellan and the others and averting another war, I had to seek the Council’s help. And hope my secret remained a secret.
Was I ready? Hardly. But I didn’t have a choice.
“Let’s go,” I said.
Chapter Five
As we headed for the tree elevator, Veron said, “Sorry I had to leave earlier.” He flashed a smile. “But my business has been attended to, so I wanted to escort you downstairs.”
“Thank you,” I said. A tentative swell of emotion rolled around in my stomach like a ship at sea. I still wasn’t used to having a father that was actually nice to me. It was surreal, as if it was happening to another Evryn in another version of reality.
The tree elevator arrived and zipped us down to street level. As we stepped out, Veron took my arm and pulled me aside from Xavyr. “Have you told anyone else about the truth of the Artifex?” he asked in a rough whisper.
“No.” I shook my head.
“Good,” he said, his green eyes meeting mine. “We should keep it that way. The Council, I’m afraid, wouldn’t react to such news in a civil manner. I haven’t even told Myrinne.”
I nodded. The first part I was abundantly aware of. The second part, about his wife, was a bit of a surprise.
We headed for the stable. The servants had our horses saddled and waiting. Two others from the Grayfeather Clan were already mounted up. We followed suit and were soon headed toward the Council Tower.
Veron kept up a lively conversation on the way, pointing out attributes of the city, where all the towers of the hunt clans stood, history, and more. I was the only one who’d never been to the capital. The other Hunters chimed in with their own anecdotes from time to time. It was as if we weren’t headed to a meeting to discuss abducted companions, a sadistic ancient being, and impending war. I tried to enjoy the conversation, but my stomach was a pit of acid.
Before long the Council Tower, a huge pillar of glass and platinum, spiked in
to the sky directly above us. It was dizzyingly tall, as if trying to slice the sky. It had to be well over a thousand feet, dwarfing the trees in comparison, and lit from within like a flame against the dark sky. In many ways it looked like a skyscraper from back on Earth, but there was something more natural about it, a hint of magic. Something in the way it hugged the sky and reflected the trees around it.
We dismounted at the base and several servants took the horses from us. Massive double doors of silver, framed in an ornate design reminiscent of layered flower petals, served as the entrance to the tower. They slowly opened of their own accord as we approached, which was fairly eerie, and we passed through them into the main hall. Golden wood flooring stretched across the massive room, presumably from the same trees that surrounded the tower. There was no ceiling—the inside of the tower was hollow. Whatever rooms lay above us were situated at the perimeter. I could see all the way to the tip-top of the tower, which shone with a particularly bright light like the top of a Christmas tree.
Despite the hour, a number of other people occupied the hall. Veron marched for the center of the room, where a large disc of metal was embedded in the floor. I followed him onto it, as did the others, and then he said, “113”, and in the next moment we were standing in a different room, on a different metal disc.
Seeing my shock he said, “My apologies, Evryn. I keep forgetting you’ve never been here.”
The room in which we now stood arced around a portion of the tower in the shape of a fingernail moon. The solid glass outer wall looked out over the city. Along the inside wall a mural depicted the Hunter’s War. My eyes flickered over the intricate detail of it, which was more than a bit morbid. A long mahogany table stretched before us, curved slightly to fit the room. It was empty.
“Let’s take a seat,” Veron instructed. “The Council should be here soon.”
He picked a seat near the middle of the table and touched the chair next to him to indicate that I sit there. Xavyr sat on my right side, and the others went to Veron’s left. We had just taken our seats when a door opened on the other end of the room. Five people entered and moved toward us.
Four of them were strangers, and the fifth of course was Waylan. From the Dragon Clan came a woman with long black hair, wearing loose blue silk pants and a tunic, katana at her side. The Raven Clan Councilman wore black chainmail over breeches, and the Rosewater woman wore a long red cloak. I didn’t recognize the Grayfeather, which meant he must have already been in Solara. Perhaps because my new clan had substantially more Hunters than the Stags, they could afford to have someone live here in Solara, away from the others. Whatever the case, it wasn’t one of the Hunters that had come through the Ferryman’s realm with us. One of them smelled overly sweet, like flowers past their prime, just on the edge of rot.
They sat across from us, getting settled silently in their chairs before uttering any sort of greeting. No one looked at me, and I had the strangest feeling that I’d suddenly become invisible. I tried not to stare at the Dragon and Raven Council members, who had to know that Soo Kai had forcibly taken Skye and was holding other Hunters hostage. Suddenly I realized how ridiculous this whole thing was. How were we going to get help from such a divisive group? This wasn’t a council, it was a hive of enemies.
After a nail-bitingly long stretch of moments, the Grayfeather Councilman spoke. “We understand you bring grave news, Veron.”
“I do, or I would not have summoned the Council on such short notice.”
The man inclined his head toward my father. He had a regal bearing, though he looked every bit a weathered sea dog: skin permanently pink and wind-chapped, pewter hair, and eyes the color of waves. “Please proceed.”
Veron looked over at me. “First, I must introduce someone. And with that comes a confession: twenty-two years ago I had an affair with a married woman, Rhione, wife of Titus. The happy result of that is my daughter, Evryn, with whom I have just been reunited.”
The Council took this in with placid expressions. They either had great poker faces or someone had already spilled the news.
“Is Titus aware of this?” asked the Rosewater Councilwoman. She had black hair like the Dragon, but hers was chopped short around her ears. Something in her eyes and the way she held herself made me think she’d seen a few scraps in her life.
“He is,” I said.
Veron looked at me in mild surprise before continuing. “As some of you know, my daughter has been living in the Earth realm her whole life, until the last couple of weeks. She was long sought by the Stag Clan for Titus to use her enhanced ability to follow the Call, as she and her mother are the last direct descendants of Artemis herself. After they found her, Titus used her to find the city of Skye, aboard which was located the Artifex.”
The Dragon Councilwoman raised her hand to halt Veron’s story. “Some might say it is odd timing that you now claim this girl to be your daughter. Is it not convenient, now that she’s been found and proven to have extraordinary skills in the Hunt?”
“Indeed, what proof can you provide that this is in fact your flesh and blood?” asked the Rosewater.
I stiffened, as did Veron. This was not a turn I had expected the conversation to take.
Veron turned to me, pasting a forced smile on his face. “Tell them how you found me, Evryn.”
“I—I was falling through the sky, after Soo Kai of the Dragon Clan tried to kill me, I might add—” at this I received a glare from the Dragon member— “and I thought of home. I needed to jump realms in order to save myself. And I ended up at Grayfeather Castle.”
“That is not proof in and of itself,” the Raven member said stonily. He was a full head shorter at least than everyone else at the table. Straw-colored, thinning hair barely covered his scalp. His lips moved as if he had something sticky inside his gums when he spoke. “Where is the girl’s mother? Will she back your story?”
I was really starting to take issue with everyone calling me a girl. I was twenty-two for crying out loud. “My mother is on Skye. Which Soo Kai has taken over,” I growled. “Which is one of the reasons that we’re here. Isn’t that a little more important than who my daddy is?”
“You, Evryn, have singlehandedly stirred the threat of war between the clans,” said the Raven. “Everyone wants you on their side. I think that makes such details as your parentage quite vital.”
“I owe my allegiance to no particular clan,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “Though I have blood in both Stag and Grayfeather.”
“I think we should let Evryn finish detailing the current crisis,” Waylan said. “We can do nothing about proving her bloodline in this particular meeting.”
The other Council members begrudgingly nodded, though jaws were tight and fingers clenched the edges of the table.
“In summary,” I began, “Soo Kai has taken over a city of two thousand people, the Raven Clan has abducted two of the Stag Clan Hunters, and Kellan of the Stag Clan is trapped in the Timekeeper’s realm.”
My words were met with minimal surprise. Of course, the Raven and Dragon members already knew what their clans had done. Further, I doubted they cared.
“And what of the Artifex?” asked the Rosewater.
I opened my mouth to respond, but Veron beat me to it. “The Artifex is still on Skye, but we believe it to be disabled.”
Next to me, Xavyr, who had been still as marble this whole time, turned his head slightly toward Veron. His eyes flickered down to mine for half an instant. Did my mysterious bodyguard know the truth?
“We cannot let Soo Kai’s rampage continue,” the Grayfeather Councilman said. “It is not acceptable for hunt clans to take over sovereign cities against their will.”
“How do we know for certain that is what she did?” said the Dragon. “All we have is the word of one girl who didn’t even know she was a Hunter a month ago.”
“Excuse me?!” I exclaimed.
“You are letting your loyalty to your clan override your pos
ition on this Council,” Veron said, his voice the deep roll of coming thunder.
“I must agree with Veron,” Waylan said.
“As do I,” the Grayfeather Councilman added.
“Of course you do!” snapped the Raven.
“Soo Kai is out of control and must be stopped,” said the Rosewater.
“Majority vote, then,” Veron said.
Voices rose and fell like a discordant symphony for several moments, but then Waylan banged on the table with his fist and silence fell.
Waylan’s voice rang out. “The Council’s decision has been made, even if it is not unanimous. We will send a war party to Skye to stop Soo Kai. She will be brought back to Solara and be tried for her crimes.”
Chapter Six
I hadn’t expected a different decision, but as Waylan spoke the words all I could think of was Kellan. But I couldn’t put Kellan before the fate of a whole city. Before my own mother. I knew these things, and yet it made it hard to breathe for just a moment.
“After we secure Skye, we should be able to bargain for the return of the two abducted Stag Clan Hunters,” Waylan continued. “The Dragon Clan will be in no position to bargain, and the Ravens should acquiesce once they see that their partners in this coup are defeated.”
“And Kellan?” I asked.
Silence settled thick and heavy as fog across the table.
“If he is trapped in the Timekeeper’s realm, he will not be returning,” said the Rosewater Council member. “Consider him dead.”
“No!” I snapped. “Is that what Hunters do? Abandon their comrades?”
Veron reached over and laid his hand on mine. “We will attempt to find Kellan. After the others have been recovered.”
“The Council will not intervene in that matter,” said the Grayfeather.
“But what happens after all of this?” I asked. “Excuse my bluntness, but what sort of punishment will the Dragons and Ravens undergo considering they hijacked a city, killed a member of the Stag Clan, and tried to kill me?”
Huntress Lost Page 3