Frostbite swayed as the bolt flew by his head feathers.
They broke into a barrage of bolts like the draft of ice rain.
Frostbite hastily snatched Edmund’s body in his talons, and Quinn and Abbott both climbed on his back, pulling a feather in the process. He launched out of the tower and back into the sky, leaving the tower behind.
There was a sea of the troops gathered below in war cries. They’d been tricked into thinking they were alone with Lilith. She would never do something so carelessly unguarded. Quinn was disappointed with herself. There was a sense of responsibility for the events that ensued. A pang of overwhelming guilt that death might stain her hands. And all for what? Was it revenge that mindlessly took over any sensible thought? Why had she even wanted to help Abbott in the first place? By chance, he would have been better off alone. All she’d succeeded thus far was get them into worse trouble, but then she thought about the times she’d pulled him out of it. In the crossing and back in the Forest of Mornia. Regardless of what she felt, there was a sense she was doing the right thing regardless of the outcome.
They crossed over the Spine Mountains the same way they’d done before The snowstorms remained at bay. Far away, the Sea of the Serpent dazzled under the second sun. It was another place entirely once they crossed over the mountains. The clouds cleared. The riders could see the mountainous castle of Embir built upon the Arran Mountains.
There was still joy and hope in these lands. Abbott felt it in his stomach, but they had brought about a curse. With all joy, there was evil to accompany it. No matter the perfection of creation, evil eternally sneaked close behind.
Frostbite’s soar was riddled with jerking motions as he dropped through the clouds towards the coastline where the Archway was. His bird head hung lower than before, one of his wings was failing to obey. His orb-like eyes fixed on the land below.
Quinn noticed a tear break from beneath them.
“You’ve been hurt.” The head of an arrow was wedged deep into his left wing bone. Quinn watched as the tail feathers wavered in the passing winds. A bluish liquid, the shade of a summer sky, leaked from his wound. Frostbite was weakened. It became more obvious the longer he flew. “We have to land now!”
He landed aggressively in the fields of the crossing not far from the ruins. He laid Edmund’s body down delicately on the grassland before he reached back with his beak to pull the invader out. But it was not long enough to reach. The bolt twisted and turned inside his wing, and a sharp cry of pain echoed the hills.
“I can pull it out,” Quinn said as she placed a hand on Frostbite’s wing. “You’ll need to if you want to fly again.”
He dipped his head in hesitation. There was no doubt in his mind the arrow needed to be removed. He reluctantly gave Quinn the nod of approval.
She scaled his back gently and carefully walked over his wing. The bolt’s cruel head was deep into the bone. When she went to pull it out, Frostbite reared in agony, launching Quinn to the ground. She leaned up with the bolt in hand and brought the head to her nose. “At least it's not poisoned. I have something to put over that.”
“No need,” Frostbite said as he bent his head backward to breathe on the wound. A jet of icy mist exited from his mouth like a winter's flurry. A cocoon of ice encased the bone and most of the wing. “This should do the trick for now.”
“Whoa… that’s brilliant! You can heal yourself.”
“Griffins have very unusual abilities. This is precisely why we are sought out and also why we hide in deep caverns. There’s no telling what sorts of characters will hunt you down to harvest you for their wickedness.”
“Harvest you?” Quinn asked. “What do you mean?”
“The drinker of a griffin’s blood is granted with the same abilities of the creature. It’s a cruel act, nonetheless. Many of my brothers and sisters have been hunted down for the very purpose. We griffins took an oath to hide among the shadows until those who hunted us were gone, but they don’t simply disappear, they just lie and wait. I suspect the woman who occupies that tower is one of the hunters. A dark feeling fell upon me when I entered to retrieve you both. Her powers aren’t natural.”
“You’re saying there’s a possibility that she can heal herself?”
“There is,” Frostbite said, looking straight through Abbott’s coiled up brow. “Among many other things as well.”
Abbott unbuckled his waist strap and handed Inedal to Quinn. “I don’t want this… I don’t want any of this. I came here to save my father’s life, to find something that could cure his sickness. There was supposed to be an answer here. But all I see is death and destruction. Destiny or defeat. If what he says is true, we have no chance to beat her. How foolish of me! If only I wouldn’t have left my father’s bedside the night of the celebration, none of this would have happened. He’d be alive. We’d be together again. If I hadn’t just met, you. I wouldn’t have gotten tangled up in this mess!”
“You’re blaming this on me? Are you forgetting what I’ve lost in all of this? The death that I’ve yet to grieve? You selfish little… If we’d have never met, you’d both be dead now!” Quinn deepened her tone and balled up her fists. “I don’t know if you’ve failed to remember but they were sent to kill you, not him! Say what you want about this being my fault, but don’t forget how many times I’ve already saved your life, stuck my neck out for you, and listened to you whine about how incapable you are of defending yourself. Maybe you were never meant for anything other than a sacrifice. It sure as hell feels like that’s what you wanted!”
“Perhaps I did. At least it would have brought less suffering onto you. You’d still have your father, and you’d both live blissfully as a thief and a performer from the rest of your dismal days.”
Quinn landed a fist square on Abbott’s jaw, knocking him over to the ground. It was the first time he’d been punched, and the action caught him off guard. There was a desire to fight back running throughout his entire body. He could feel his blood pumping faster and faster. Then his vision started to fog up. But instead, he took a deep breath and wiped the fresh blood dripping down the corner of his lips.
“You’re insane, you know that?”
The look in Abbott’s eyes was enough to speak. The damage had been done. Quinn lowered her fist in disgust. What had she done? How primitive had she become?
“Where are you going?” Quinn called as Abbott began to walk away, his father’s body in his arms. He did not answer, but she knew the answer. He was going back to Woolbury to escape the madness. Part of her couldn’t blame him for wanting to do so. It might be easier to cope with the loss by hiding amongst the secrets parts of our homelands.
For a moment, there was a want to go with him and hide in the shadows as well. But the very world she was a part of would be destroyed and his would soon follow.
As the broadsword lay upon the lands of the crossing, she dug down deep, “but you can’t leave now! She’ll come for you there.”
Abbott paused for a moment to process Quinn’s words. The tall grass of the hillside fanned back and forth as the ocean winds blew over them. He could hear the direness in her voice, the sympathy threaded through it. But it wasn’t his fight anymore. “And I’ll wait.” He took a deep breath and departed. It may have not been the right decision, but he couldn’t bear to be in Evinar any longer.
He left Quinn and Frostbite alone, hopelessly, in the chilly ocean winds.
34
Lilith cursed as she entered her collapsed turret. “Where have they gone?” she said piercingly. “Why aren’t they dead at my feet?”
None of the men were willing to speak. Their heads hung low to the floor.
“Are you all deaf? Where have they gone!”
The tower walls shook.
“A griffin,” one of the collared men confessed. “A griffin came and they rode off.” The soldier shifted his eyes and pointed towards the window.
“A griffin?” she repeated. “How is that possible?
We’ve exterminated the species.”
“We… we missed one.” It was the final words that would exit from his lips as his body slammed dead to the floor.
“Anyone else cared to speak out of turn?”
They remained silent.
“Remus?”
The hairs on the back of his neck stood in attention as his name was called. He had failed her once more. He wondered how many more times he could do so without losing his life. “Yes, my Queen?” He stepped forward apprehensively.
“Where’s the sword?”
Remus gulped. “They have it,” he said, his voice diminished with each word.
“A little louder?”
He cleared his throat, “they took it with them.”
Lilith’s face cracked down her cheekbones. “And how is it that they’ve stolen it from me? You were meant to prevent that from happening, but you’ve failed my command yet again. Tell me. Why is it you deserve life after countless times of disappointment?” Lilith tightened the gap between the two of them. “Don’t keep me waiting too long for an answer. I feel like my bloodshed may be necessary to set an example of failure.”
“I have been loyal to you from the beginning.”
“Loyalty fades, as with your effectiveness.”
“But my Queen, I’ve—“
The sharp point of her dagger entered Remus’s thigh muscle, and he howled with a whimper of pain. “But what?” she spat, teeth barred like a death blow was within sight.
“I am—“
She twisted the handle, and the blade turned inside his flesh. A river of blood poured from his wound and mixed with the already stained crimson tiles. Remus could see the flames beneath his master’s eyes like never before. And for the first time in his life, he truly feared them.
“I will not fail you another time.”
Lilith sneered, “You’ve said that before.”
“Loyalty until death. I will serve you and only you. I will see to it that you reign over the Divine Kingdoms.” Remus clutched the spot where blood continued to pour out. “Loyalty until death.”
A flash rippled in Lilith’s iris, and she withdrew the cold iron. “Good.” Her face normalized. “Until death,” she said as Remus's skin blackened from his thigh to his face. “You have my loyalty.”
The man in the turret flinched as his body flung to the floor. With burning eyes, she turned to another in her presence.”You. I want you to lead my men to the Archway. Send a horde to find this griffin and have the traitor slain. Order the dungeons to ready my beast.”
“As you command my Queen.”
35
The closer they rode to the storm on the horizon, the more apparent it became to Billy this was something much more consequential than anything he'd encountered. Those images from the basin still haunted him. Death. Destruction. At his unknowing hands.
Somewhere deep inside him, he felt a conflict surround his heart like he knew he was going to be tested in the foreseeable future. And from what he’d gathered this far, finding the sword was the only hope of preventing the water's images from becoming reality. This, he knew.
Elise stumped inside the cage of Billy’s arms as she succumbed to the wolf’s bite. The tissue was tight with a clustered scab stretching over it. The neighboring skin was purple and bubbled with a red disk of liquid. The danger of infection had prolonged when Billy cauterized it, but she'd still need to see a healer to repair the damage.
Moonlight remained strong, leading the way when Elise was too weak to do so. Billy surveyed the helplessness as they came to the edge of a precipice. Moonlight shuffled down unmarked pathways and changed course randomly. Shortcuts, Billy thought to himself. There was nothing more for him to do than hold on and allow the white stallion to lead the way.
When they came to a small village, Billy found a place for Moonlight to graze and replenish her water supply before setting back out again. The cold snow of the mountainside had bled away as they rode in the grasslands alongside the mountains. Elise remained in slumber as her body confronted the wound and attempted to heal some of the damage done. It was not until two nights had passed of endless riding that she awoke to conscious thought.
“Where are we?” she asked with sleep still in the ducts of her eyes.
“We just passed through another village, Gilramore, I believe. That's what the man called it. We’re in the crossing now.”
Elise looked around her and was reminded by the familiarity of her surroundings. “Still no sign of him?”
“No. A few people saw his party travel through here, but their tracks have been covered. They burnt a barn down in Gilramore on their way out. Kill some of the cattle in the process. There's a price on his head, pooled together by the farmers, but it's hardly a worthy bounty to collect.”
Elise shook her head in anger. For the birds.
“But no. Still no sight of them yet.”
“We’re running out of time to find him. And even with Moonlight’s speed, a Vailïc stallion is far more superior. He could be anywhere by now.”
“We have to keep looking. Whether we find them or not, the sword cannot fall into the hands it's intended for. I don’t reckon there is a lot of people who know of its existence. We’re the only ones who should be hunting them.” Billy shuttered as Moonlight sidestepped down a muddy riverbank.
Billy was dead on. There was only one person her mind crossed, and she knew exactly where she’d be headed if it was in her possession.
“What’s that overhead?” Billy pointed to the sky as a black speck darted through the clouds. It resembled a bird of some sort, but it was greater than any bird he'd seen in the flesh. As the black speck floated higher and higher into the skies, he discovered it was unlike any animal he’d ever witnessed. A wingspan doubling its body and a neck the length of a tree trunk, the bird cut through like a knife.
Elise gazed up in horror, unfolding the unknown before them. A shiver rolled down the length of her spine as a spiked tail smashed aimlessly at a flock of red eagles. “That’s no bird,” she called, acting as a mind reader.
The dote released an enormous cry, and the winds fled in terror. It headed straight for them with speed faster than any vessels. The clouds wheeled in like dense screens of black, covering sunlight.
“Faster Moonlight, faster,” Elise yelled. It was no use. If it was what she thought, there was no outrunning the beast. They were in open territory. Vulnerable and exposed. Moonlight bucked as her glossy eyes caught a glimpse of the impending doom. She plummeted down a hillside to put some distance between them, her heart was hammering harder than it could withstand.
“Faster!” Billy ordered, his auburn hair fanned back, revealing small beads of sweat rolling down his temple. They were swept up in the winds.
“She’s moving as fast as she can!” Elise said breathlessly. “Quick, grab me my sword.”
“Which one?”
Splitting the skies in two, the beast crashed onto the soil landing pad, sending a layer of dust around it. The mountains shook in disturbance. And when the dust settled, a snake with large wings stood hulking before Moonlight. Its tongue slithered out of its mouth like a worm. Purplish armor plated the entirety of its form. With eyes filled with black oil and teeth the shape of a thousand men’s swords, the beast spewed a ball of flames through the air overhead.
“That’s a dragon,” Elise said softly under her breath.
Moonlight grounded her neck, looking for a way to fly, but one did not exist.
The dragon set flames to their left and their right, walling them in. The terrain vibrated with each step the dragon took towards them, smashing its spiked tail against rocks in its path.
“Where do you think you’re running off to?” The dragon’s head curled around. Mounted upon a saddle of mail, a woman sat with obsidian armor. “Vonik un der risen!” The dragon faltered under her commanding words. Shrieking in immense agony as her hand rested upon a blade dug into the beast's neck.
“Lilit
h.” The word came cold off Elise’s tongue. It had been many moons she’d said it.
“You remember me?” she sneered pleased. Her upper lip curled. “After all this time?”
“How could I forget after what you’ve done to my family? Torn us all apart.”
“As I recall, I did you a favor. They held you back from meeting your true potential.” Lilith laughed sinisterly. "She held you back."
“How dare you! People have suffered at your hands after you murdered the only light in their lives. Their crops cannot grow, they cannot raise families, and they can do nothing about it because of you!”
“But you look at where you’re at now. You’ve ended up indirectly working for me. You found Inedal and brought it to me. I think I owe you a bit of my gratitude. Many moons, I've wasted searching. Lost hundreds of men in the process.”
“You can keep it.”
Her lip curled once more. “You’ve kept a piece for yourself, haven’t you? Thought I would not notice? Now, my men are fools, but I have a keen eye when it comes to such relics. A missing hilt stone. I request you return what does not belong to you, and your life will be spared.”
Billy narrowed on the menacing eyes of her dragon. Like windows to a tormented soul, Lilith used the blade in the beast’s neck to control it. A trickle of blue blood dripped from its scales onto the grass below.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Gorwin stole the sword from me.”
“And he paid with his life for the disappointment. No less, but you are lying, dear girl.” Her dragon roared in anguish. “Hand it over, and I’ll reveal what the key you cherish over every night unlocks.”
Elise’s lips parted slightly. “How do you know about the key?”
Lilith grinned. “It once belonged to me before slipping into your mother’s possession. Now give me the hilt stone, and I will reveal what has been hidden. You will finally have the answer to the question that’s burned against your heart.”
The Shadow of Our Stars: The Tales of Evinar Page 28