Vardaesia

by Lynette Noni

  A sob of relief left Alex, even if she knew it was still premature. “You hear that, girl?” she said, tenderly stroking Soraya’s face. “You’re going to be okay.”

  With the pain reliever having entered her system, Soraya wasn’t making the horrible whimpering sounds anymore, but she had started shaking—a response mostly from shock and also because she was surrounded by people she didn’t know while lying helpless on the ground. In reaction to that, Alex quietly asked those around them to back up and give them some space, something they all did at her request. Only two moved closer— Caspar Lennox and Varin.

  “I need you to let her go now, Alex,” Fletcher said gently. “Let us take it from here.”

  “I’m coming with you,” she said, but Fletcher just shook his head.

  “There’s nothing you can do except be in the way. I’ll be able to help her much faster without you there.”

  “But—”

  Soraya made a soft snuffling noise, drawing Alex’s attention enough for her to see the look in the wolf’s eyes saying it was okay to leave her.

  More tears flowed as Alex turned back to Fletcher and said, “You promise to look after her?”

  “Exactly as I would if it were you the blade had hit,” he said, wincing slightly at the memory of that already having happened. “I swear, Alex. She’s in good hands.”

  And after holding his reassuring gaze for a long moment, Alex nodded.

  “Here,” he said, passing her the healing salve and gesturing towards her still-bleeding cheek. “It’s only shallow—you should be fine to—”

  “I’m all right,” Alex interrupted, taking the salve from him. “Just focus on her.”

  It was his turn to nod then, and he cast a quick glance around at the assembled onlookers before telling Alex, “Hand that around when you’re done—it looks like there are a few people who could use it.”

  In that moment, Alex was beyond thankful that Fletcher understood just how much Soraya meant to her that he was willing to prioritise an animal over the humans who had just been fighting for their lives. It was all she could do not to throw her arms around him, instead quietly thanking him while agreeing to make sure everyone who needed minor medical attention received it.

  With one final pat and a promise that they’d be together again soon, Alex rose and stepped backwards, allowing Caspar Lennox and Varin to kneel beside Fletcher. It took the collective strength of all three to carefully lift Soraya’s bulky body into the air, before they swiftly disappeared in a cloud of shadows.

  Only then did Alex turn and face the masses, noting the blood dripping from a wound on Kaiden’s face and a gory slice along Declan’s upper arm. In fact, most of the people surrounding her had injuries of some kind or another, so after smothering her cheek with the healing salve, she passed the container to Kaiden and Declan and then onwards for it to be shared amongst the group.

  All of this was done in silence, with no one knowing what to say. But then Karter stepped forward, covered in splatters of both red and silver blood, his icy blue eyes blazing with a combination of fury and relief as he barked out, “Where the hell have you lot been?”

  Alex winced, but didn’t cower from his rage, especially when Kaiden and Declan moved to her side, offering a united front. She looked around for Jordan, Bear and D.C., struggling to see them amongst the masses, and wondered if they were hiding up the back to avoid Karter’s wrath. She wouldn’t blame them, even if she could use Bear’s gift of charm to calm the irate Combat teacher.

  “It’s a long story,” Alex explained, knowing better than to share the tale of their journey with everyone. “But we’re back now. And just in time, it seems. Why were those Meyarins here, and only so few of them?”

  It was Hunter who answered, his shadowy cloak covered in silver blood as he stepped forward to say, “They’ve been attacking like this for weeks, small skirmishes to test our defences. They keep trying to bring more here, but the Library’s wards are holding, for the most part. Only a few can make it through at once, enough to weaken us but not destroy us.”

  Kaiden and Declan had stilled at Alex’s side, just as she had frozen as well, all of them having heard the same thing.

  “Did you say… they’ve been attacking… for weeks?” she repeated, certain she must have heard wrong. But when Hunter nodded, she stammered, “That’s not—You can’t—We’ve only been gone seven days.”

  Darrius moved through the crowd then, coming to a halt in front of Alex. His face was bruised with exhaustion but his eyes were clear as he looked at her, Kaiden and Declan, taking in their shock, before he quietly said, “You haven’t been gone for seven days, Alex. You’ve been missing for nearly two months.”

  All the air rushed out of her lungs.

  “What?” Declan demanded, his alarm clear in his voice.

  Rendered speechless, Alex listened intently as Darrius repeated that seven weeks had passed, not seven days. Standing rigidly beside her, Kaiden and Declan were struggling just as much to believe what they were hearing. Jordan, Bear and D.C. were also likely finding it impossible to comprehend, but sweeping her gaze over the assembled students and teachers again, Alex still couldn’t see any trace of them in the crowd.

  Interrupting Declan’s quiet—if creative—cursing, Alex called out Jordan’s name, wondering if he was transcended with the others, having used his gift to protect them all during the skirmish. But he didn’t appear, and he didn’t answer—none of them did, not even when she called D.C.’s and Bear’s names as well.

  Anxiety started beating in Alex’s chest as she shared a glance with Kaiden and Declan, then called out, “Has anyone seen Jordan, D.C. or Bear?”

  Murmurs descended upon the group until finally Sean staggered forward, a hand pressed against the bloodied gash on his head while he winced from the brightness of the moonlight reaching his concussed eyes. But it was the three words that came out of his mouth that stole Alex’s focus, three words that stopped her heart in an instant.

  “They were taken.”

  Twenty-Nine

  Having been semi-unconscious on the ground, Sean had been helpless to do anything but watch in a haze as Jordan, D.C. and Bear had been carried away during the swift departure of the Meyarins.

  He claimed that a male and female matching Gaiel and Vaera’s descriptions had targeted them specifically, and that while Jordan, Bear and D.C. had put up a fight, even with Jordan’s transcendence gift, they’d been unarmed and therefore unable to overcome the strength of the immortals. Kicking and screaming, they’d been forced onto the Valispath and had disappeared with all the rest.

  After hearing Sean’s shaky recount, Darrius all but dragged the panic-stricken Alex, Kaiden and Declan up to his office, forcing them to sit down and going so far as to raise his voice at Alex when she said they didn’t have time to waste—they needed to go after their friends, and they needed to do so now.

  But more had happened in the time they’d been gone than just a few small skirmishes at Akarnae. And Darrius insisted that they needed to know everything before they rushed in without care, risking further casualties.

  Struggling to contain her full-body trembles at the thought of what might be happening to her three best friends while she learned what had transpired in their absence, Alex sat and listened as Darrius, along with Hunter, Karter and Mayra, brought them up to speed on the current climate of Medora. With each word out of their mouths, her trembles deepened, to the point where she was clenching Kaiden’s hand, with both him and Declan seated beside her in equally alarmed silence.

  In the seven weeks they had been gone, the Tryllin palace had fallen. As the human capital of Medora, Aven had sought to destroy it first, sending in his whole army to bring the city to its knees, just like in the future vision Alex had seen.

  Unlike in the vision, however, D.C.’s parents had made it out alive and were now ruling from within the walls of Soori Outpost, overseeing what remained of the human armies. Nisha and Jeera had also
survived the attack, to Kaiden’s— and Alex’s—nearly crippling relief, as had General Drock. But tragically, General Tyson had sacrificed his life to give the others time to get away—and so too had Advisor Jaxon.

  Upon hearing the news of his grandfather’s passing, Declan looked to the floor, all colour draining from his face. Kaiden released Alex’s hand and slid his arm behind her to clasp his friend’s shoulder, while she entwined her fingers with Declan’s, wincing at his tight-knuckled, desperate hold. Despite the royal advisor being a crotchety old man, he had taken care of Declan since his parents’ deaths. Regardless of how difficult he may have been to get along with, Jaxon had been Declan’s sole remaining blood relative—all he’d had left.

  But other than his stricken features and tight grip, Declan didn’t give in to his grief, because Darrius still had more horrors to share.

  Aven hadn’t only attacked Tryllin in the time they’d been gone. The note he’d left the mortal rulers of Medora after the battle at Graevale had made his threats abundantly clear; threats he’d begun carrying out the very next day.

  ‘From here on out, I will show no mercy. And when I am done, none shall survive my wrath…’

  After the razing of Tryllin, Aven had been possessed by his desire to make all mortals pay, but more, to make Alex pay. Each time he and his army swept in to ransack a new village or chip away at the defences of city strongholds, like a cat toying with a mouse, his single demand had remained the same: ‘Bring me Alexandra Jennings, and I will offer you mercy.’

  He had put a price on her head: hand her over in exchange for clemency. But Alex knew it was a promise he wouldn’t keep. Fortunately, those he attacked also knew better than to trust him, from the Shadow Walkers and Dayriders in Graevale, to the Flips in Nialas and the rest of the Undersea Islands, to the Jarnocks inhabiting their treetop home in Maroo. Each of those mortal municipalities had again been hit by Aven’s forces, only managing to avoid total destruction because of the swift aid offered by the alliance now held between them and the humans. The combined force of numbers, race-specific abilities, giftings and weaponry was enough to keep the Meyarins from overthrowing them completely, even if many lives were lost during the attacks.

  Despite the alarming list of casualties, more would have died had it not been for the aerated Hyroa blood that Fitzy, Luranda and Fletcher had managed to turn into functional weapons, all thanks to Bear’s design—something he’d neglected to share with Alex, but she wasn’t at all surprised to hear he was the genius behind its creation. The air-dusting sprays had worked exactly as theorised, the Hyroa blood weakening the Meyarins enough for them to retreat, while the slow-release antidote kept them from dying. The problem was, once Aven realised what was being used against his armies, he sent out warriors to hunt down and exterminate all the remaining Hyroas. And while Hunter had managed to get his hands on a good supply of blood before Aven’s drastic measures, due to the frequency of attacks, the weaponised stock was now all but depleted.

  Slowly but surely, Aven was taking ground, killing as many mortals as he could along the way—sometimes by his own hand, sometimes by the hands of his Claimed followers. He wasn’t always a witness to the attacks, often mentally monitoring the proceedings through those he had bonded with, just like during the skirmish that night.

  ‘He didn’t know you’d be here, so he never ordered us to deliver you to him. You need to leave, now. Before he gives that command.’

  Somehow Vaera had managed to break through the power of Aven’s Claim to warn Alex. But Aven hadn’t sent the order for her capture. As soon as he learned that she had returned from her seven-week disappearance, instead of having his followers abduct her, he’d chosen to hit her where it would hurt most—by going after those she loved.

  Nausea roiled through Alex as she sat there fearing for her friends. She was desperate to embark on a rescue mission, but before she could do that, she had to finish hearing out Darrius and her other teachers who were finally coming to the end of their nightmarish recount.

  “—and somehow, he’s gifted now, too,” Darrius was saying in a grave voice, confirming Alex’s dread after what she’d learned from Zaylin, “though, how that can be, none of us know. But I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I’ve watched him command the elements, I’ve watched him move people and objects with his mind, I’ve watched him suffocate his victims at just a glance. He’s not limited to one gift; there doesn’t seem to be anything he can’t do.”

  Alex flicked her eyes to Mayra, the only person in the room other than Kaiden and Declan who might know the truth about Aven’s cannibalistic tendencies. But the Meyarin seemed as grimly bewildered as the other teachers.

  Alex chose not to fill them in, and instead only said, “I know.”

  Her answer didn’t satisfy them, and given all they’d been through in recent weeks, she forced herself to swallow back the anxiety clogging her throat and her impatience to get moving, taking a moment to quickly summarise what Niyx had revealed to her about Aven, along with the gaps Zaylin had filled in. All of her teachers looked justifiably repulsed by her news and immediately began peppering her with questions:

  How long can he access the gifts of those he’s consumed?

  Can he use more than one gift at a time?

  Does he have to Claim his victims for the transfer to work, or can he just eat anyone’s heart and take on their ability?

  Alex wasn’t able to give them any answers, not knowing herself.

  Instead of focusing on their requests for information she didn’t have, her attention moved to Mayra, whose face had turned ashen at Alex’s mention of her brother. Her expression was enough for Alex to know word must have reached her about Niyx’s death—not surprising, with so much time having passed in Medora since then.

  Over the questions still being thrown her way, Alex released Declan’s hand and leaned forward to grasp Mayra’s stiff fingers.

  Ignoring everyone else, she whispered in the lyrical Meyarin language that only Mayra could understand, sharing Niyx’s final words from the summit of Mount Paedris. “He wanted me to tell you that he loved you. And that he was sorry.”

  Mayra’s lips wobbled and her eyes filled with tears, only one of which dribbled over and down her cheek as she whispered back, also in Meyarin, “I only just got him back.”

  Alex closed her eyes slowly, her heart aching for Mayra who, just like Niyx, had sacrificed her life for Alex, if in a different way. There was nothing Alex could offer the immortal to soothe her grief—a grief that had already lasted thousands of years up until her recent reunion with her brother. It wasn’t fair that they had been torn apart again, and with such finality this time.

  But Mayra had learned long ago to forge her pain into strength, so while her stormy gaze remained dark with sorrow, she squeezed Alex’s hands before letting her go, all traces of tears vanishing as she steeled her spine in preparation for what was to come next.

  Taking that as her cue, Alex turned back to the others and, in a hoarse voice that didn’t hide her worry for her friends or her impatience to go after them, asked, “Is there anything else we need to know?”

  They looked warily between each other, before Darrius cleared his throat and said, “There is one last thing.”

  “Then tell us,” she said. “And please, do it quickly. Because every minute we spend talking is another where Aven could be doing anything to Jordan, D.C. and Bear. We need to get to them before—before—” She couldn’t finish her sentence.

  Quietly, Darrius said, “You can’t go to Meya, Alex. Surely you must realise that.”

  Controlling her urge to lash out, she said, “If you think I’m going to leave them—”

  “Why do you think they were abducted?” he interrupted, wearily rubbing his eyes. “They’re bait. Aven couldn’t reach you personally, so he’s trying to draw you out. He wants you to attempt a rescue. It’s a trap.”

  Alex threw her hands up in the air. “You think I don’t know that?” />
  “I think—”

  “It doesn’t make any difference,” she cut in. “There’s nothing you can say that will stop me from going.”

  “And just how do you plan on getting there?” Hunter asked, his tone curious rather than critical, like he genuinely wanted to hear her plan. “The moment you arrive in Raelia you’ll be ambushed, so you can’t go through the Library.” His gaze turned inward as he continued dismissing her options. “The wards surrounding Meya have been reinforced since you were last there to keep both Shadow Walkers and Dayriders from shadowing or flashing their way in, which means you can’t ask for help from one of them. Even if Soraya wasn’t injured, the same limitations would apply for her.”

  Alex felt a pang at the thought of her wounded wolf lying in the Med Ward and prayed Fletcher was right about human medicines being able to heal her. She wished she could be by Soraya’s side right now, all her friends safely with her and doting on her loyal canine companion.

  Soon, she promised herself. Soon her friends would be back and doing just that. They had to be. She wouldn’t accept any other outcome.

  “And Bubbledoors won’t deliver you through the wards, either,” Hunter went on. “So the way I see it, your only option is to use the Eternal Path. But you’d need a willing Meyarin.”

  “She has one,” Mayra said without hesitation, her secret— among others—apparently having been revealed during the past few weeks. But while Alex appreciated the offer, she shook her head, already knowing it wouldn’t work.

  “If anyone other than me gets close to the city, Aven’s mind readers will know,” she said, mentally adding that perhaps even Aven himself, if he’d consumed the heart of someone with that particular mental gift recently. “If there’s to be any chance of a rescue, I’m the only one whose mind won’t be heard, the only one who can get in and out without detection.”