The Cypher Wheel

by Alison Pensy

  The still night air did little to quell Faedra's anxiety as they traveled further along the dusty path towards Arawn's castle. If anything, she became more aware of them the closer they got, which only cemented the fact that she knew something was wrong. They hadn't bumped into their friends along the way as Faen thought they may have, and she could feel his energy shift the further they traveled with no sign of anyone else on the path.

  It wasn't until they arrived at the edge of the forest and stood looking across the moonlit meadow to the other side, that Faen admitted his feelings.

  “I agree with you, Faedra. We should have met with them before now. I fear that something has gone awry,” Faen said, looking down at the Custodian with worried eyes.

  “What's that?” Allora asked, pointing across the field.

  Faen and Faedra turned their gazes to follow where Allora was pointing.

  Three shadowy shapes emerged from the trees across from them and came to a stop at the meadow's edge. The shape in the middle was a huge black beast, its fiery red eyes lighting up the shadows. It looked like something was slung across its back. To one side of the beast stood a slender figure, to the other side someone small and stout.

  Faedra squinted, craning her neck forward in an attempt to make out the figures in the silvery light. A second later her eyes widened. “Aesti?” Faedra whispered.

  “Todmus!” Allora cried at the same time. Her voice echoing into the night.

  Lady Allora took off across the field without a thought.

  “Allora, stop! It could be a trap.” Faedra called out after her.

  Allora didn't listen. She was running across the field. Vivianna's body was exhibiting none of its usual panther-like grace as Allora did her best to control a frame that was much taller than she was used to maneuvering, especially at speed. Even through the stumbling gait, she got to such a speed it didn't look like her feet were touching the ground. Then Faedra realized Allora's feet weren't touching the ground. She did, after all, have Vivianna's wings, but to Faedra's knowledge, she didn't know how to use them, until now, that was.

  “Todmus! It's me, Allora!” Allora called across the field.

  Faedra noticed the two figures standing either side of the black beast, turn and look at each other before looking back to the woman running full pelt towards them.

  “Well, I guess we found out where Todmus and Aesti disappeared to,” Faedra said, giving her Guardian a wry smile.

  “We better go after her before she attracts attention. She will wake the dead shouting like that,” Faen remarked.

  An unholy shriek ripped through the sky.

  Faen and Faedra exchanged glances.

  “Too late,” they said together as they watched one of the ugly creatures they'd done battle with upon their arrival swoop in from over the trees.

  “Allora, watch out!” Faedra yelled, as she and Faen took off after her.

  Allora stopped and looked up, her hands coming up to cover her mouth. She froze, unmoving as one of the beasts swooped down towards her.

  The two figures on the other side broke ranks and headed into the field, but it was too late. Neither side was close enough to the Lady, who was standing in the middle of the opening all by herself. The erchyll had no barriers to overcome and plucked Allora from the meadow as easily as plucking a cherry from a tree.

  Allora's terrified scream filled Faedra's ears as the erchyll took off with her clutched in its talons.

  The four friends joined up in the middle of the meadow and looked to the skies.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  The creature holding Allora rose in the sky above them. It hovered for a few beats of its wings taunting them, dangling its prey just out of reach. Allora struggled against its talons, her legs see-sawing back and forth in mid-air. It turned its long thick neck and body, its beating wings stirring up the air around them.

  “I have an idea,” Faen said to Faedra. His tone was urgent, drawing the attention of Todmus and Alyssa, too. “Can you stop it?”

  “What?” Faedra asked.

  “Like you did with the stones, and in the corridor with your father and me.”

  Alyssa looked at Faedra expectantly. Todmus pleaded with his eyes before turning his gaze up to the sky once more.

  “I can try,” Faedra said, uncertain of her ability to do what her Guardian asked. The last two times she had suspended something, it was a knee-jerk reaction to an emotion. She'd never actually done it under any kind of control.

  He put his hand to her cheek. “That is all I ask.” He pulled his sword from its sheath and turned.

  Faedra held up her hands. The erchyll had turned and was starting to fly away from them, its quarry still held tightly in its grip. “You can do this, Fae,” Faedra mumbled to herself.

  Faen took to the air after the creature, sword extended in front of him.

  “Now would be a good time!” Faen called down to his charge as he gained on the creature.

  “It's not working!” Faedra cried. “Why is it not working?” She brought down her hands and gave them a shake.

  “Come on. You can do this,” she compelled herself, bringing her hands up again. Emotion, I need emotion, she thought. She knew she couldn't get the right emotion looking at Vivianna's body being dangled by the erchyll. No amount of trying to persuade herself it was Allora was helping her at all.

  She relived the moment in the castle when she had stopped her father and Faen. The thought of one day ruling over Azran still terrified her now as much as it had a few hours ago.

  “Stop!” she yelled.

  The erchyll's wings stopped mid-beat. Its tail froze mid-swish. It was suspended above the field about a hundred feet. A strangled shriek escaped the creature. It was fighting her with every fiber of its being and it was strong. Much stronger than restraining a person or a few chunks of stone.

  “I can't hold it much longer, Faen!” Faedra called across the meadow.

  “Just a few more seconds is all I need,” Faen said. “I'm nearly there.” He flew higher and higher, gaining on the creature with every beat of his wings.

  Alyssa and Todmus stood side-by-side, hands to their mouths, watching the Guardian with wide eyes.

  Faen reached the creature. He stood on its back and with a smooth, calculated move, ran it through with his sword. The second he did, its claws went limp and Allora slipped from their grasp. She screamed as she started falling but was able to grab a talon with her hand on the way down and hang on, dangling by one arm.

  “Help me, please!” she cried, looking down at the ground.

  Faedra's heart jumped to her mouth and she heard Todmus and Alyssa's sharp intakes of breath. She couldn't freeze Allora. If she took her concentration off the erchyll for one second they would all come crashing down to the ground.

  Faen couldn't see what was happening from his vantage point but heard the scream. He nose-dived off the creature's back. Allora's hand lost its grip on the shiny claw and she started falling again. Her scream ended abruptly as Faen reached her, landing in his outstretched arms.

  The three standing in the field let out a collective sigh.

  “Thank the Goddess,” Alyssa whispered.

  “You can say that again,” Faedra responded, dropping her hands and taking great pleasure in watching the erchyll drop from the sky like a stone. It landed with a thud. “Well, I guess that means we've lost the element of surprise. I guess we better move on to plan B.”

  “What's your plan B?” Alyssa asked.

  “Don't know yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something.”

  “Does anyone actually have a plan B?” Alyssa said, palms open in question.

  Faedra creased her eyebrows at the unusual question.

  “Never mind,” Alyssa said sounding a tad exasperated, as Faen landed gracefully in front of them and lowered Allora to the ground with care.

  “Todmus.” A smile lit up Allora's face as she held out her arms to her husband. He cast her a wary look and too
k a subconscious step backwards.

  “Todmus? It's me, Allora,” Allora said, finding it hard to hide the dismay in her voice.

  Faedra knew why Todmus reacted the way he did; she could feel it just as if they were her own emotions she was experiencing. Todmus's energy was throwing off uncertainty and lack of trust. His feelings were similar to Faedra's, but not on such a grand scale. He was being told it was his long lost wife standing before him, but his brain was responding to the vision of a woman who had, very recently, tried to destroy Azran and everyone in it, which included Faen and Faedra, whom he now considered his close friends.

  Allora dropped her hands. She didn't need Faedra's power to sense what her husband was feeling. His face explained it to her plain as day.

  A tear welled up and trickled down her cheek. She turned to Faedra. “I want my body back.”

  Faedra reached out to touch Allora on the arm, a gesture that took all her will to hold back the fire she wanted to shoot through her fingers. She gave Allora a rueful smile and made her a promise she wasn't entirely sure she could keep. “We'll get your body back.”

  “We have to get out of this field first, though,” Faen said, looking to the sky. “Incoming!”

  They all looked up to see two more of the hideous creatures appear over the trees and descend upon them.

  “Run!” Faen shouted as he grabbed hold of Faedra and Allora's hands and started running towards the trees where Aesti still stood at the edge of the forest. Todmus grabbed hold of Alyssa's hand and followed suit.

  “Where's Etyran?” Faedra asked Alyssa as they ran towards the trees.

  “On top of Aesti,” Alyssa replied.

  “Is he okay?” Faen asked, a spike of concern hitting him in the gut.

  “He took quite a knock to the head...” Alyssa said, but before she could add anything further, one of the erchyll was swooping down on them. They tried to duck as they ran, which caused Todmus to stumble and roll taking Alyssa with him. Faedra saw what happened and reached a hand out to the two on the ground as Faen kept running.

  Faedra was able to grab Todmus's outstretched hand and, literally, launched him off the ground with the force of Faen's forward momentum. Alyssa's hand slipped from the dwarf's grip. Todmus tried to release himself from Faedra to go back for Alyssa, but she wouldn't let him go. A second later, the erchyll was on top of them and scooped Alyssa up just before she had the forethought to turn invisible. A bodiless scream ripped through the air.

  Faedra yanked her hand out of Faen's causing her Guardian to stop running. She turned to aim her hands at the creature that had the young Lightbender in its grip. But she didn't get to it before one of the other erchyll let out a hellish shriek, sending the sensation of pure fury coursing through Faedra's body. Bemused, she glanced down at herself. She knew it wasn't her emotion. Could she sense the otherworldly creature's energy now, too? When she returned her eyes to the sky, she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. The other erchyll dive-bombed its counterpart that was holding Alyssa, slamming into it with such a force it sent them both tumbling head over tail in the air. The two creatures were a mass of sinuous muscle and leather wings. The sounds they omitted were painful to the ear. Their wings were beating ferociously to keep them in the air during their dog-fight.

  Faedra, Faen, Todmus and Allora all stopped in their tracks and watched the surprising event unfold.

  Alyssa was still invisible so it was impossible for Faedra to tell which one had hold of her, not that she could have gotten a clear shot at either of them, anyway. Right now, they looked like a single cruelly deformed creature.

  Faedra tried freezing them both, but collectively, they were too strong for a power that was so new to her. She had struggled a few moments ago to contain just one of the creatures. Two were proving too much for her to handle.

  “I'm not strong enough,” she said to Faen. “We have to do something. They'll kill Alyssa if they carry on like that. They could've done so already.”

  The jumble of bodies zigzagged across the sky and four pairs of eyes followed, as both creatures tried to get the upper hand over each other. It didn't take long to realize which one was winning. After a few more moments, the injuries on one of the erchyll far outnumbered those on the other. With one last fatal blow, the winning erchyll raised a taloned claw and swiped it across the neck of the other. Blood spurted from the lacerated artery and its wings flailed helplessly. The winning creature snatched something from the other before pushing it away with a disdainful shove. The injured creature fell backwards and plummeted to the ground where it hit with a crunch of bones, landing awkwardly on one wing. The other wing beat a couple of times before resting on the grass.

  The winning erchyll flew towards the group still standing in the meadow. Faedra raised her hands.

  “No, wait!” Alyssa shouted.

  Faedra hesitated and lowered her hands a fraction just as Alyssa unwrapped herself and was seen to be sitting comfortably in the palm of the erchyll's claw. The winged creature landed a few feet in front of the group and lowered Alyssa to the ground with care.

  Faedra's jaw dropped when it then proceeded to nudge the young Lightbender, quite obviously asking to be petted. Alyssa giggled and ran her hand down its bony head.

  “You may want to shut that or you might catch a fly,” Etyran said to Faedra.

  All heads turned to see Etyran hobbling towards them with a lopsided grin.

  Faedra did as he suggested and shut her mouth, although she wondered how many more times she could be shocked in one day.

  “Etyran!” Alyssa cried and ran over to him, almost knocking him over as she threw her arms around him. “You're alright.”

  “Well, half left, and a bit down the middle, but I'll live,” Etyran said.

  Alyssa's brow creased.

  Faedra raised her eyes heavenward and smiled. At least she knew her friend was going to be okay if he was already making stupid remarks like that. In the next heartbeat Faedra's smile fell from her face and she stiffened.

  “Faedra?” Faen asked. “What is it?”

  “We need to get out of here,” she said. “I can sense...”

  “Arawn,” Todmus continued. “He is closing in on us...” A noise from the trees cut him off.

  Everyone's attentions turned to the forest.

  “...and fast,” Todmus finished his sentence.

  “We've got no chance of getting out of here unless we fly, but that means two of us will have to go on foot,” Faedra said looking at their options. Aesti could carry two; Faen could also fly and carry one other person. “Alyssa, you can turn invisible and I can probably find something useful in my mishmash of powers to delay him. We should go on foot.”

  Alyssa nodded. Faedra didn't know that the young Lightbender could be seen by Arawn. Alyssa also knew the options they had were not good, and she wanted to see Etyran out of there safely, and Allora, too, so she decided to keep that piece of information to herself.

  “Absolutely not!” Faen exclaimed. “I will not leave you behind. How could you even think of such a thing?”

  Faedra could sense his horror at the thought and placed her palm on his cheek. “Think about it, Faen. Etyran is injured; he probably can't even wrap the light at the moment.”

  Etyran proved her statement by showing Faen his 'flickering TV' routine.

  “There is no way he would have any chance of outrunning Arawn. Neither would Todmus, and Allora doesn't yet know how to use Vivianna's wings. Alyssa and I would have the best chance of escaping on foot. You know we would.”

  Faen looked at the others in question, took a deep breath and dropped his head.

  “It's agreed then,” Faedra continued, noting his acquiescence. She turned to her small statured friend. “Todmus, you take Etyran on Aesti.”

  Todmus nodded and took hold of Etyran’s shirt sleeve, leading the injured Lightbender towards the huge black horse still standing at attention on the edge of the field. Etyran hobbled along behind him
like a lost puppy.

  Faedra turned back to her Guardian. “You take Allora.”

  Faen inclined his head but did nothing to hide the fact that he was doing this under duress. He scooped Allora up into his arms. Aesti, who was now carrying his precious cargo, maneuvered himself next to the Faen.

  Faedra let her hand trail over his velvety fur. “Hey, boy,” she whispered. The gesture scored her a snort of appreciation. “Yeah, I missed you, too.”

  Noise from the forest was getting louder as their pursuers gained on them.

  “Go!” Faedra insisted in a loud whisper. “We'll meet up at the cave.”

  Todmus spurred Aesti on. The magnificent beast took off down the field in a thunder of hooves, kicking up clods of dirt before stretching out his wings and taking off over the trees.

  Faen gave Faedra an expression that spoke a thousand words, before he, too rose above the grass.

  “I'll be careful, I promise,” Faedra said.

  Faen turned and flew off in the same direction as Aesti.

  “We better start running,” Faedra said to Alyssa.

  Just as they were about to take off at a full run, the erchyll nudged Alyssa in the back pushing her forwards.

  “What's his problem?” Faedra asked.

  “I don't know,” Alyssa replied, turning to look at the ferocious looking creature. Although, Faedra thought, it didn't look so ferocious anymore.

  It nudged Alyssa again, then turned its neck to look at its back.

  Alyssa held her arms open, palms up, asking a silent 'what do you want?'

  The erchyll nudged at Faedra this time, and again turned to look at its back.

  “I think it wants us to get on its back,” Faedra said.

  Alyssa's eyes widened. “I think it wants to fly us out of here.”

  Faedra glanced up at its bony back and hesitated. The idea of sitting astride that was not appealing.

  “There they are!” An angry shout came from the trees.

  Faedra decided she'd take her chances on the erchyll's back and grabbed Alyssa by the arm. “Come on! I guess we're going to find out if you're right, aren't we?”