by E A Hooper
Chapter 10
Valx knocked on the door and waited. After a few seconds, Joceline answered and bowed. She stepped out of the room and into the quiet hallway. All the other guests had been removed from that hall, leaving only Valx, the Northerners, and the Highguardsmen posted at both exits.
Valx could feel the tall woman’s gaze as he entered the dark chamber. This is my third session with Lilan, but that woman still feels like she must wait in the hall and listen in on us. Does she think I’m dangerous or something?
He stepped into the guest chamber to find Lilan reading a book under a dim lantern’s light. She placed the book on the counter beside her and made room on the bed.
“Come, lay down,” she told him.
Valx approached the bed, took off his shirt, and laid on his back.
“Did you feel any pains today?” she asked.
Lilan held her hands over his scarred stomach, and Valx tensed as he felt her power stir and twist in his gut.
“It didn’t hurt today,” he said. “I tried to summon an aether blade in my room, though, and still felt tension in my stomach. If this session goes well, I might be back to full strength. Then you can teach me to use metamorphosis.”
Lilan smiled at him. “I hope so. A guard told me to be ready to leave in the morning. Sounds like everything is set for us to go north.”
“Thod had everything ready days ago, but he was waiting for his son.”
“The one I stabbed?”
“Yeah, Mulcir. Word came around that my friend Roz and their team disappeared after retaking Alkin’s Tower. A few people saw their dragons flying north.”
The blonde woman flashed a curious expression. “Roz? You’ve mentioned her before. The one you left behind, right?”
“Yeah, but I wonder why they’re going north. Thod said we can’t wait any longer, but he hopes his son will hear about the peace summit and regroup. They might be scouting things out. At the time, they didn’t know why General Carren had abandoned the tower. He must’ve gotten news about the plans for the peace summit.”
“Are you worried about Roz?”
“Of course. She’s my oldest friend. I’ve been keeping track of news about her over the last year.”
Lilan made a worried face. “But I thought you loved that medical guildswoman?”
“I do. That doesn’t mean I can’t keep track of my friend.” Valx glared at her. “Can we not talk about them? I don’t like when you pry on my relationships.”
“Fine,” Lilan huffed. “What about Shift? Can you talk about her? I can’t help but notice she disappeared again. I thought she’d stay with you.”
“She’s probably hanging around here somewhere. Maybe a servant. Or a guard. Or a little bird fluttering by the window.”
Lilan moved one hand away and coughed into her sleeve. Valx had noticed her frequent coughing growing harsher, but she always dodged questions about it.
“Didn’t your king want to speak with Shift more?” Lilan asked, trying to keep the conversation on track.
“He does. He keeps asking me about her, but I don’t know much. From what Thod told me, Roz managed to get more information out of her. Since we returned to Direlight, she’s spent most of her time in the form of a cat.”
“She can’t stay a cat forever, can she?”
“I guess so. There used to be a cat that stood on my mother’s shop. For several years, I thought it was just a pest. Turns out it was Shift all along.”
“So, she was there when Tunra was attacked? And she didn’t help you or your mother?”
“I asked her about that when I realized she was the same cat from Tunra. She says she saw the smoke and went to find me. She knew I wasn’t at home. So, she tried the orphanage where Roz worked and my friend Xulthen’s pack hall. She found my mom’s body after I had already left. However, some Northern soldiers found her unarmed and killed her. She says she died several times trying to make it out of Tunra. So, she didn’t catch up with me until I arrived at Direlight. But I gave the sword to someone for safekeeping, so she didn’t know where I was staying. By chance, she guessed I’d fight in the battle.”
A sad look crossed the girl’s face. “You’ve gone through so much. Fought so many battles. Lost so many people. I’m sorry the North did this to you.”
Valx looked away from her. “It’s not your fault. It’s my brother’s. Your father’s too.” He looked at her, and she looked away in shame. “Although, his sins aren’t yours. Just like my father’s sins aren’t mine.”
“Our fathers did terrible things, but they did those things for a good purpose.”
“To save Ter’al,” Valx muttered. “Yes, I know. You keep saying that, but good intentions don’t make up for evil deeds. It doesn’t undo the pain caused or the lives lost.”
“Like killing your own brother?”
Valx’s eyes grew harsh.
“He was a good man. You should know that, Valx. He wanted to protect his people. He genuinely felt bad for the pain he caused you.”
The white-haired man tightened his fists, and the woman paused with nervousness. Valx stared at her worried face, and then he sighed and relaxed his muscles. “He caused so much pain, Lilan. He needed to pay for it. He had his own mother killed.”
“Because my father convinced him to. My father put it in his head that your mother was a threat. That you two were planning to kill him. That the war between the North and the West was inevitable. The other lords were going to start the war whether or not Wyvern wanted it. So, he tried to end it quickly with his attack on Tunra and Direlight. If he had succeeded, far fewer people would’ve died. The suffering would’ve been minimized.”
“Are you angry at me for killing him?”
“Not at all,” she said, smiling. “I thought I loved him, but only because I thought he was the strongest. Having seen your power, I’m glad you won. Once you have metamorphosis, you’ll be unstoppable. Your descendants will inherit your power, and one of them will save Ter’al.”
“But only if they have Reaper’s blood, right?”
Lilan’s smile grew larger. “That’s right.”
“So, I don’t have to marry you. If Mil and I have children, one of them might marry one of Reaper’s descendants.”
“Why overcomplicate things? It’d be easier if you married me.”
Valx felt the woman’s power squirming around in his gut as she tried to heal the internal scarring. Her power seemed to grow more energetic as she mentioned marriage.
“I don’t care much for arranged marriages,” Valx told her. “I’d rather marry someone I love. Not some stranger that’s obsessed with my power.”
“Like who? The girl that refuses to talk to you? Or the one you abandoned that’s already found a new lover?”
“Mil will talk to me soon enough. She doesn’t deal with emotions well. It’s easier for her to ignore me than to talk about things.”
“How would she feel if she saw you here with me right now?”
“I’d just have to explain you’re fixing the pain caused by my injury. She’d understand. She just needs time to work out things in her head.”
“It doesn’t sound like she understands. You’re important, Valx. You might be the most powerful greatborn ever born. She has no right to be mad at you because of me. She should be honored you chose her. Sounds to me like she doesn’t really appreciate you. I just don’t understand what you like about her. She’s not even greatborn.”
“She’s—” Valx said, pausing. “She’s been there for me. She waited for me to come back. Even though she knew I loved Roz at the time. She was happy when I came back.”
“So, she’s your second choice? Because Roz didn’t take you back?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”
“Is it because there’s nothing special about her? She’d take you back no matter what because she doesn’t deserve you to begin with.”
“She is special. She’s a brilliant physician.”
Valx felt anger rising inside him. “Gods be damned, this is why I don’t want you prying on my relationships. You can’t help but pester me. You don’t know anything about me, so quit acting like you care. You just see me for my power. I wouldn’t give a damn if fate itself wanted us together. I don’t want you. I don’t even like you.”
“That knot!” Lilan said, pressing both her hands on Valx’s scar. “I feel it. It’s like your power is getting into a knot where you’re scarred. The angrier you get, the better I feel where it’s knotted. I might be able to undo it. Just stay mad for a minute.”
“Stay mad?” Valx shouted. “I’ve spent the last year trying not to be mad. Trying to keep everything inside. I thought killing my brother would make me feel better. I thought everything would be behind me when I left the war. But I’m still angry. I’m angry at myself for making so many poor choices. I’m angry at Roz for finding someone else. I’m angry at Mil because—because she’s not Roz. I’m angry at you because you’re so damn annoying, but you’re the only one I can talk to right now. And I’m furious at your father. That bastard is the reason for all this. He’s manipulated everyone into doing what he wants. You, my brother, and the other lords. You’re all his puppets, and for some stupid reason, you idolize him for it. And most of all, I’m angry that this peace summit might really work. That he might walk away from this war without losing anything. That Reaper won’t pay for causing all of this in the first place.”
Valx felt his stomach twist, and his entire body froze. For a second, he thought Lilan might be trying to harm him for what he said about her father, but then he noticed the sweat on her forehead.
“Sorry,” she said. “I got it. I think I got the spot. Just hold very still.”
I couldn’t move if I wanted to, Valx thought, frozen with pain.
Lilan moved her hands apart, and all the tension and pain disappeared from Valx’s stomach in an instant. He gasped, and a surge of power went through his entire body. A blue glow rippled off him, and the Northern girl backed away in surprise.
“What’s happening?” she gasped.
“My power,” Valx said in awe. He sat up in the bed. When he flexed his hands, waves of blue aether poured off them. “It’s back. It’s all back and more.” He felt it surging from his gut, through his limbs, and even tingling across his skin. “It’s like a tidal wave of power. More than I ever had before—not counting my pseudo-ascension.”
“So, I did it? I healed you?” Lilan asked, her smile returning bigger than ever.
Valx smiled back at her. “Yeah, you did it.”
Joceline appeared in the room with the sound of a whisper. “What’s happening? I saw light.” She gaped at Valx and the power rippling off him. “Lilan, are you in danger?”
“No,” Lilan told her. “I fixed the wound that was holding back his power.” The girl reached toward Valx and hugged him.
Joceline twitched nervously when she saw Lilan move near Valx. “Miss Lilan, for your own safety, I beg you to stay away while he’s alight like that.”
“It’s fine,” Lilan replied, hugging Valx tighter. “He won’t hurt me.”
Valx pried Lilan’s arms off him. “I’m grateful you healed me, but let’s not get carried away. You still have to teach me metamorphosis.”
“That will be much, much harder,” Lilan replied. “First, you need absolute control over your power. Then you need to push your abilities as far as they can go, not including ascensions or pseudo-ascensions. Then finally, you have to give yourself over to your power.”
“Give myself over to my power?” Valx questioned.
“That’s right,” Lilan replied. “Those of us descended from the Delgard Clan have erratic auras. My brother says our auras constantly move, oftentimes independent of our bodies. It’s like our power is alive. To achieve ascension, you must have a powerful aura. You must have tremendous control of your power to bring out its full potential. Then once that potential is reached, you hand over control of your body to your aura.”
“But how do you do that?” Valx questioned.
“It’s different for everyone,” Lilan replied. “I can’t give you an exact answer. What I can do is help push you to have full control over your power. To achieve your full potential. And I can help you understand your power and what could trigger your metamorphosis. For Dragon and Wyvern, it was as easy as giving into their emotions once they achieved their full power. For my father, it was much harder. He’s obsessed with control, so giving that up wasn’t easy. For me, it was simpler. The hard part was training until I reached my full power. Learning everything my power could do. Pushing myself to my limitations. The trigger to metamorphosis came soon after.”
“Trigger?” Valx asked.
“Yes. Just like our powers often show themselves through a trigger, metamorphosis requires a trigger the first time. I learned how to use my power because my father threw me in a cell with a dangerous prisoner he had tortured. The man tried to attack me, and I killed him with my power.”
“That’s awful,” Valx said.
Lilan smiled. “The first time, yes. After a few times, it became almost like a game. And my father was so proud of me, so I didn’t complain. Once I could use my power at will, he trained me for two more years. When he felt I was ready, he showed me his metamorphosis. He told me I should have the same power. That I needed to show him that power to prove my worth to him. That he wouldn’t love me if I couldn’t. I wanted to prove myself so badly. I cried and screamed and pushed myself. I practically ripped myself apart trying to force out my metamorphosis.”
“How does metamorphosis even work with your blood power?” Valx questioned.
Lilan chuckled. “You wouldn’t want to see it. It’s a horrifying sight.”
“It’s a terrible thing,” Joceline said, lowering her head. “And it pains me to see Lilan use metamorphosis. I can tell it hurts her.”
“It hurts you?” Valx asked.
“Only when I activate it,” Lilan replied. “Then my body becomes numb. The numbness lasts after I end it too, but it leaves me weak and vulnerable for the rest of the day. Hopefully, yours won’t be so draining since you have so much power in you. I can only imagine the destructive capability of your metamorphosis.”
“I don’t want to use it to destroy,” Valx said. “I want that power as a countermeasure.”
“It’s easy to say that now,” Lilan said, smirking. “But once you give yourself over to your power, there’s no telling what you’ll do. However, I want to see it anyways. I want to see the real you that’s hiding inside. So, let’s see what your power can do. Then I’ll think of how to push you to your limits like my father did when training me. Once we know your limits, then we just need to find your trigger.”
Valx clenched his fist, feeling all the power at his disposal. Surely, I’m close to my limit. This is a hell lot more power than I thought I’d ever have. But what about that trigger? I first used my power because I wanted to kill someone. My anger is what’s always drove me. If that’s what’ll trigger my metamorphosis, then is that something I really want to learn? But if I don’t learn it, and Reaper tries something, I won’t be able to stop him. I got lucky in the fight against my brother. I can’t rely on luck again. I need to learn metamorphosis. No matter the risk involved.
“Thod said we could use the guest ballroom at the end of the hall if we needed a place to practice with our abilities,” he told Lilan. “Just have to let the Highguardsmen know what we’re doing. So, let’s go see my limits.”
Chapter 11
Roz gazed down from the cliffs at the dense city of Snowchapel. Every house, tower, and bridge l
ooked built from the same clay bricks, giving the town a homely appearance. Spring had finally reached the Northern town, and its numerous smokestacks, which Roz heard worked nonstop for six months out of the year, were at rest.
Her eyes followed the shoreline to the harbor. Ever since the Northern Republic’s formation, the city had become a popular place of trade and tourism for the Island Nation. Snowchapel was located at one of the closest points to the Island of Shar’del, and it was rumored that when you stood on the cliffs on a clear, cloudless day, you could even see the island as a speck in the distance.
Roz couldn’t see the island, no matter how hard she squinted, but she imagined Vinefire could reach it if they wanted to try. She looked back at the higher point of the cliff and saw the green dragon looking down at her. Roz took the dragon-whistle in hand, blew a tune that only the dragons could hear, and Vinefire ducked her head behind the rocks.
“Which note was that?” Mulcir asked.
“A warning note,” Roz said. “The dragons will use this spot as a temporary nest until we get back. However, if other humans approach, they might fly away for a short time. They’ll know to check this spot for us, though.”
“There’s nothing on these cliffs but a bunch of rocks,” Odestrog noted. “I doubt anyone will come up here before we make our leave. Especially since the festival is today. We might as well fly the dragons over the water and look for that ship.”
“That’d be too dangerous,” Myamere replied. “We don’t know what’s on that ship. Or who. Or how big the ship is. It might not fit us and the dragons. Besides, it’d be cruel to put the dragons in danger.”
“The dragons are staying here,” Roz said. “Either we go in on foot, or we don’t go.”
“Let’s get going then,” Mulcir said, sliding down a dirt incline.
“Is this place defended?” Odestrog asked, following the prince.
“Guess we’ll find out,” Myamere replied as he and Roz descended. “No one draw your weapons unless you absolutely have to. We’ve done a great job of not drawing attention to ourselves on the way here. Other than some farmers seeing the dragons fly overhead. If we can complete our task without trouble, it’d be for the best.”