Rachael did have questions. The truth was, Rachael had so many she’d felt close to bursting before, but now Desma was offering her answers, none of those questions came easily.
She’d start with something simple. Maybe the rest would follow once they were talking. “How did you know her?”
“That’s a long story.”
“We have time.”
Desma smiled. “Very well. Arnost Lis bought me. He’d beaten my lady’s last servant to death, and I’d got unlucky. So, he bought me. I wanted to cut his throat and run, or at least run if I didn’t get a chance to hurt him, but then he handed me to Erimentha, and I saw myself.”
“What do you mean?”
“She was Krymistian, like me. And even though he’d done his best to intimidate her into submission, there was a spark in her eyes. Lis didn’t beat her often; most days, he found other ways to punish her. She was trying to hide a bruise on her arm that day. I decided to stay for her sake and help her if I could.”
Rachael raised an eyebrow. “You saw yourself because you’re both from Krymistis?”
Desma shrugged. “Loyalty is a strong concept for my people. We don’t abandon each other. If I had to guess, I’d say you’ve felt some of it too.”
Rachael started to nod but stopped herself. Desma was right, but it never used to be like this. She’d always had herself and no one else. Loyalty had been as far from her mind as Paranossa’s summer fashion. Cale had changed that.
Cephy had changed that.
They’d all made her into who she was today, kind words and small actions at a time, until she barely recognised herself. Rachael didn’t mind. She was a better person because of their trust, even if she hadn’t understood it at first.
“Rachael?”
She sighed. “It’s a long story.”
Desma smiled. “We have time.”
Lon drew his dagger and rushed to the edge of their camp. They both looked up. Rachael gripped her sword. She was glad to have it back where it belonged.
“What’s wrong?” Rachael asked.
Lon held up his hand and pointed to a spot ahead of them hidden in the dark of the forest. The shadows were rustling. Something big approached them.
Desma and Kiana jumped to her side, weapons drawn, glares directed at the trees.
“Careful, now, or you’ll hurt someone.”
Lon laughed. “Reeve?”
Reeve and Ludo walked out of the dark, Ludo with a big grin on his face.
“Rachael!” Ludo said. “I’m glad you’re safe.”
Reeve scowled. Rachael was happy to see it. “How did you manage to escape that dark fortress?” he asked.
Rachael’s eyes flicked to Kiana. “We climbed.”
Kiana waved at Reeve and laughed when his frown deepened.
“You risked her safety?” Reeve asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Hello to you too. How have you been while demons tortured me in a dark prison on a secluded island? I’m fine, by the way. No need to worry.” Reeve didn’t bite, and Kiana shrugged. “It was either that or die. Not much of a choice, right? So, yes, we climbed.”
“What if you’d fallen? You could have broken your back.”
Rachael wasn’t sure who Reeve was angrier with, her or Kiana.
Kiana put her hands on her hips. “Did you find an emergency exit while scouting the village? No? Didn’t think so.”
Lon stepped between them. “That’s enough. You can argue later if there’s time and no demons around us. Right now, I want to hear what you found, Reeve.”
Ludo elbowed his side, and Reeve grumbled. “Good to see you’re alive.”
Kiana beamed. “I knew you missed me.”
Reeve turned away from her to address Lon. “Is Cale back?”
Rachael’s relief at seeing Reeve and Ludo unharmed died. “No,” she said. “There’s been no sign of him.”
“He’ll be back.” Reeve said. He didn’t sound too sure. “He always is.”
“So, what did you find?” Rachael asked. “Lon said you went to the village?”
Ludo nodded. “It’s eerie how quiet it was. There were people, but they were husks more than living people.”
“Apart from the two we overheard in one of the houses,” Reeve said.
“They didn’t see you?” Lon asked.
“No. They surprised us, but we hid before they knew we were there.” Reeve’s face grew grim.
Ludo’s smile disappeared. “Not all villagers are loyal. We overheard them talking about it. They seemed to think they could escape.”
“Right up until the demons arrived,” Reeve said. “They killed the two villagers. Even before that they went into every house, killing villagers at random.” He looked at Rachael. “We think they were looking for you.”
Dark smears marked Ludo’s forehead and stained Reeve’s clothes.
“You didn’t help them?” Rachael asked.
“What could we have done? The Mothers didn’t talk to them. They floated into the house, ran them through, and left. They didn’t read the villagers’ sentences first. There was no trial or justification, just random murder.”
Rachael gulped. She knew it was true from what she’d seen. Monsters didn’t pause, they acted without remorse.
“Reeve is right,” Ludo said. “We couldn’t have done anything to help them, and we had information we needed to get back to you.”
“How do you know they killed at random?” Lon asked. “Do you think they left any villagers alive?”
Reeve shrugged. “It seemed random. We watched them for a while. Sometimes they entered houses and screams followed, other times we heard nothing. They still need sacrifices, right? We didn’t do a headcount before we left, but it makes sense that they wouldn’t kill everyone.”
Ludo nodded. “Those orbs Kaida gave us lit up right after. We got out of there as soon as we were sure the Mothers were gone.”
“You made the right decision,” Lon said. Rachael could tell by the dark look in his eyes that right didn’t mean easy. “You said something about them hoping to escape? Where to? Did they say?”
“They did, but I’m not sure it’s an option,” Reeve said. “I want to wait until Cale is here. He should hear what the villagers had to say.”
An explosion tore through the forest. A sudden gust of wind rushed through the trees and temporarily bent them back.
“What the—”
Shockwaves shook the ground. Leaves rustled from the force.
Rachael froze. “What happened?”
“It came from the temple,” Lon said.
The trees stood too close together to see details, but Rachael spotted smoke rising over the branches in the distance.
“Lon, what happened? Did Cale have orders to destroy the temple?”
Lon paled. “No.”
“Then what—” Rachael saw him first. “Cale.”
He stumbled out of the forest, followed by Kaida. Rachael had never seen her exhausted before. The Mist Woman’s hair was dishevelled, and she didn’t stand as straight as Rachael knew her to.
Rachael threw herself into Cale’s arms. “What happened?”
He held on for a second longer than necessary before moving away to embrace the others.
“I’d be dead if it hadn’t been for Kaida,” Cale said. “Cephy knew we were there. She cornered us. Oh, before I forget—” He handed Rachael a white bundle. “I believe this is yours?”
“My armour! Where did you—” She was too stunned to finish the question. She hadn’t thought she’d ever see it again.
“In the same room where they ambushed us. I thought you might like it back.”
She grinned. “Thank you.”
“What caused the explosion?” Kiana asked.
“My spell.” Kaida sat by the fire. “It demanded all of my energy, but I opened a small portal and collapsed the roof behind us.”
“And she kept up a shield while she built that,” Cale said. “Mothers crawled all over it. I couldn�
��t see the ceiling at one point.”
Rachael shuddered, relieved she hadn’t been there for it.
“Thank you,” she said to Kaida. “I’m glad you both made it out. When I saw that explosion… Will you be all right?”
Kaida nodded. “I need to recover, but I should be able to fly us back to the White City soon. I simply need to rest for a day, maybe two.”
“I’m surprised that’s all,” Lon said. “We didn’t see the explosion, but we felt it. The whole forest was shaking.”
They crowded around Cale and Kaida, and Lon offered them dried beef and fruits. Rachael hung back, too worried to eat. Kaida’s magic was their strongest asset. If Cephy tracked them down and attacked, they’d be defenceless.
Until Kaida recovered, they were trapped.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
While Cale and Kaida ate and rested, answering every question her Sparrows threw at them, Rachael hung back. She sat with them but remained silent. It was good to have them back, but oddly enough, she wasn’t sure what to say. She wanted to thank Kaida, but she also wanted to question her. She wanted to hug Cale, and she wanted to know what he’d wanted to discuss in the library, moments before she stormed off and the Mothers had taken her.
Maybe it wasn’t that she didn’t know what to say, but that she didn’t know how to say it. There was too much, and she worried the words would rush forth like a river downhill.
More importantly, she wanted to be alone with Cale. Kaida was more difficult now Rachael knew her secret, but she still felt she could talk to Cale. Right now, it was all she wanted, and she wanted it away from the others.
Rachael waited until he finished eating and walked over to him.
“Someone should look at that wound.” She pointed at a small bleeding scratch on his shoulder. “We’ve got bandages. Come with me.”
There was a log a little closer to the forest. It wasn’t perfect privacy, but given their situation, she was happy to have that much.
Cale followed her as she grabbed a few bandages and sat on the log. She pretended not to notice Kiana’s raised eyebrows or Ludo’s curious expression.
Cale sat next to her. Rachael rolled up his sleeve.
“You’re lucky you’re not hurt worse,” Rachael said as she tightened a bandage around Cale’s shoulder. “The blast we felt was huge. I can’t believe you got away with just a scratch.”
“I don’t even know when it happened,” Cale said. “You’re fussing too much, it’s nothing.” Cale was right, but she wouldn’t admit it. Not right now. She refused to leave his side now he was back with her. “You should have seen her. What Kaida did in there… It’s her the Dark One should be afraid of.” He met her eyes. “No offence to you, of course.”
Rachael smiled. “None taken. I didn’t think I was as fierce as a dragon.”
“I don’t know, I’ve seen you fight. Considering your fear of the Mothers, you didn’t hesitate to cut them down. They’re lucky you have no offensive magic.”
Rachael’s heart dropped, a heavy weight in her stomach. She bit her lip. “Something happened in the temple, when I was a prisoner.” She didn’t sound anywhere near as strong as she wanted to be. “I did something, Cale.”
He sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”
“The Dark One suppressed my gift. I felt it, like a wall in my mind I couldn’t get past. My gift was trapped behind it. It called to me. I heard it.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?” Cale asked. “The gifted are connected to their magic, like a personal bond. If you’ve established your connection, maybe you can control it.”
That wasn’t what worried her. “Maybe. I think I did control it briefly, but…” There was so much she wanted to tell him, like about the lady in her vision—a vision she’d called forth. How she had felt afterwards. It wasn’t something Cale could help with, but Rachael wanted him to know everything. “It’s something Kaida said. She mentioned that the old seers often lost their lives to their gift, sometimes even their minds.”
Cale cocked an eyebrow. “You say that like your mind is more important to you.”
“I came to terms with dying when I was in Blackrock. It’s inevitable. But my mind…” She sighed. “I feel like I’ve only just scratched the surface of what I can do. I don’t want to lose all this potential.”
For all she knew, this was it, but she wanted to find out. She wanted to be sane enough to experiment and test her own limits.
Cale took her hands into his, and their eyes locked.
“I won’t let that happen. You have my word.”
She doubted there was anything Cale could do, but she appreciated it, nonetheless. It was good to have him by her side.
“I should talk to Kaida,” she said. “If anyone knows something, it’s her. Maybe she can help.”
“Honestly, Rachael, after the magic she wielded in that temple, I don’t believe there’s anything she can’t do. She used three spells at once, which would have been beyond most people individually, and she’s an ancient oversized lizard that breathes fire. Don’t believe her if she tells you she doesn’t know.”
Rachael smiled. How she had missed him. “Is that a hint of reverence I’m hearing?”
He scoffed. “Hardly.”
Lon walked over. Cale dropped her hand. She hadn’t even realised he’d still been holding it, but now she missed its warmth.
“We should discuss what to do next,” Lon said. “Reeve found something in the village he wouldn’t discuss without you here.”
Cale smiled at her, then turned to Lon. “Then I’d better get over there.”
Small moments of peace—that was all she could have until this was over. It was so much more than she’d ever hoped to have in Blackrock, but it wasn’t as much as she craved. Nowhere near.
They rejoined the rest of the group and sat around the fire.
“What did you find?” Cale asked Reeve.
“Not all the villagers are loyal to Cephy,” Reeve said. “I’d say most of them want to escape but don’t know how. Ludo and I overheard two of them. They’re terrified of her.”
“They think it’s safer on one of the other two islands,” Ludo said. “But they also think a monster lives there. It wasn’t clear what they meant. Other villagers have escaped there and didn’t return.”
“Why would they?” Kiana asked while chewing on some dried beef. “Anywhere has got to be better than here.”
“That’s what I thought too,” Reeve said. “But then I thought, why would Cephy let them go if she needs them as sacrifices? Why not force them back?”
Rachael paled. “Unless she knew the other island was no safer and the villagers weren’t really escaping.”
“Exactly,” Ludo said. “They seemed to think this monster was like a huge snake, eating anyone who fled there.”
Kiana choked on her beef. “Uh oh.”
Rachael didn’t like the sound of that. “What’s wrong?”
“Remember when I said I had another story to tell you?” Rachael nodded. “Well, it just so happens to be about a gigantic demon snake that eats people and lives on one of these islands.”
“But that’s just a story, right?” Her gut feeling said otherwise.
“I thought so, but it’s a little odd that I’ve heard the same legend Ludo and Reeve overheard today, isn’t it? And the villagers don’t seem to think it’s a legend.”
“They were terrified,” Reeve said. “Only one of the two we overheard thought it was a way of escaping. The other tried to dissuade him because of this monster.”
“What’s the story?” Rachael asked Kiana. Real or not, she agreed that if the villagers believed it, there had to be some truth to it. All stories started somewhere. If Cephy had invented it to keep the villagers chained, Kiana wouldn’t have heard about it on the mainland. After all, no villager had ever escaped.
“Pretty much what Reeve and Ludo already told us.” Kiana hadn’t taken another bite out of her beef. “It’s said
that the trapped villagers here try to escape every now and again, only to find a faster death in their assumed haven. The story I heard tells of this gigantic demon snake which swallows the villagers who make their way there, denying them the freedom they sought.
“Can you imagine finally escaping, hoping for something better, only to realise you’ve walked into worse?”
“Maybe they didn’t hope to escape,” Reeve said. “Maybe they knew they’d die slowly here and went to the other island for a quick death.”
Ludo frowned. “That’s a little dark, isn’t it?”
Reeve shrugged. “There’s freedom in an end you choose yourself when your reality is as grim as theirs. Sometimes, death is the only kind option.”
Ludo sat closer to Reeve and looked into his eyes. “Not when there’s any chance for life.” Reeve tried to look away, but Ludo adjusted until Reeve frowned and looked at him after all. “There’s always something worth surviving for.”
“Be that as it may,” Kaida said, “we need to decide what to do. If we stay here, Cephy will find us sooner or later.”
Reeve huffed. “What makes you think she won’t find us on the other islands?”
“In all the stories we’ve heard,” Cale said, “the Dark One’s servants don’t concern themselves with escaped prisoners.”
Rachael nodded. “Cephy will find and kill us if we stay, but if we move to the other island, a demon snake might eat us.”
“What about the other island?” Ludo asked. “It’s not called The Dark Triplets because there are two.”
“It is too far away,” Kaida said. “We will likely have to build a raft to get to Malia, but we would make it across if a storm picked up. We would drown if we tried to get to Ilyeze in a storm. The weather can be unpredictable out here.”
“And we don’t know if Cephy might tamper with the weather to stop us,” Cale said.
“If the snake is real, it can’t be everywhere at once,” Rachael said. “And we’d only be hiding over there until Kaida has recovered enough to get us back to the White City, right?”
“That is correct. I should be well enough in two or three days, depending on whether I need to use my gift.”
Everyone looked at Rachael. She chose the lesser of two evils. “We’ll go to Malia. How fast can we get a raft together?”
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