Vardaesia

by Lynette Noni

  “In a hypothetical world where your suggestion was considered as anything other than madness,” Zain said, his body lined with tension, “it wouldn’t just be you who could use the Valispath again—Aven would regain access as well. We don’t need to be giving him another weapon in his arsenal.”

  “Would he know straight away, though?” Alex argued. “How would he realise Roka had died and his disinheritance had lifted unless he saw his brother’s death for himself or someone else told him it had happened?” She glanced over to the curtain and back. “Would Aven somehow feel it?”

  Kyia’s face was white and she looked dangerously close to running over and jumping on top of Roka to protect him with her own body, but still she answered, “He shouldn’t feel anything. But in this not-happening-scenario,”—her meaning was impossible to miss—“the moment he figured out how you had managed to sneak into the city, he would realise the truth. Then he’d be able to go anywhere, including up here to Draekora, with his own means of escape—which is the only thing that’s kept him and his army away for so long.”

  “Then we’ll just have to make sure everyone here is either ready to fight, or preferably, willing to evacuate and join the rest of the mortals,” Alex said, having already considered the possibility. “Have any of you left here since I’ve been gone?”

  “We’ve been helping your people with their battles whenever Aven has been in attendance, since the risk of him striking us here at the same time was minimal,” Zain answered, his hands fisted around his weapons and his eyes watching Alex’s every move, like she was a snake about to strike. “It’s been complicated, though, with the mortals having trouble recognising friend from foe, especially with their weaponised Sarnaph blood—a good idea, I must admit.”

  Friend from foe. That was a conundrum they would have to solve—but later. Right now, she needed to get to Meya, to her friends and her parents. But there were still two very upset Meyarins standing in her way.

  “Alex,” Kyia said quietly, “whatever you’re thinking, you must know, there’s no way we’ll let you hurt Roka.” Her expression was stricken but her tone unwavering. “There’s no way we’ll let you kill him.”

  “That, I presume, is where I’m supposed to come in.”

  Fletcher’s timing couldn’t have been more perfect as he and Mayra strode into the tent.

  “It might have been nice for a little warning, though,” the doctor told Alex pointedly as he came to a stop beside her.

  “You were busy,” she replied. Then, quieter, “How’s Soraya?”

  “Stable. Varin is watching over her while I’m gone, but I’m confident she’ll make a full recovery.”

  At the confirmation, Alex exhaled a deep, relieved breath. “Thank you, Fletcher.”

  “You can thank me by filling me in on your plan,” he returned. “Maggie—erm, Mayra, I mean—has brought me up here a few times to check Roka’s vitals, so I’m familiar with his current condition, but I’m at a loss as to what you’re suggesting be done to him.”

  Wiping her clammy hands on her leathery armour, Alex looked over to the curtained area again and said, “Is there a way that you can make it so Roka dies but still stays alive?”

  Zain and Kyia both sucked in breaths.

  “What you’re asking,” Fletcher said slowly, “is not something I would advise.”

  It also wasn’t something Alex would ever consider under normal circumstances. But their circumstances were anything but normal.

  “Desperate times, Fletcher,” she whispered. “He only needs to be dead for a second in order for Aven’s blood to become validated again.” She looked at Zain and Kyia for confirmation, receiving terse nods of agreement, before she turned back to the doctor and asked, “Can it be done?”

  It took him a moment to respond, and when he did, it was with clear hesitation. “I can stop his heart in a way that would normally allow for resuscitation, but given his catatonic state, I’m not confident any of my usual methods of revival would work.” He rubbed his jaw, his gaze inward as he considered. “From what I gather, Grimm Helkin doesn’t need to do anything for his sleeping gift to stay active. It’s essentially comparable to a blast of a Stabiliser—one hit was all it took, and only a deliberate decision on Grimm’s part will wake Roka; like a second blast with the reverse effect. Until then, not even death will free him from his coma.” He paused, then finished, “Since his body and mind are in a limbo state right now, I fear that if I do stop his heart, there’s nothing in him cognisant enough to respond to my attempts at resuscitation. Not while Grimm’s gift remains in effect.”

  Swiftly processing that, a new plan started to form in Alex’s head. “If you can’t revive him completely, can you keep him alive long enough for us to wake him?”

  Fletcher cocked his head in question.

  “Like…” Alex floundered, then an idea came to her. “Do you know what CPR is?”

  The look on Fletcher’s face would have been comical in any other instance. “I’m a doctor. Of course I do.”

  Alex didn’t waste time explaining that Medoran medicine was so advanced that she hadn’t been sure if cardiopulmonary resuscitation existed outside of Freya.

  “Then can you keep his heart pumping while we’re gone?”

  Warily, he nodded.

  “For how long?” Alex asked.

  “The risk of irreversible damage grows the longer CPR is administered,” Fletcher warned. “But… given his swifter immortal healing, presuming we can manually keep up a steady continuation of his heart and lungs oxygenating his blood, you’ll have the time you need to get in and out of Meya. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, of course. But without Grimm—”

  In a hard voice, Alex said, “Grimm will be coming back with us.”

  Silence met her statement. Until Hunter spoke.

  “Add him to the ever-growing list,” the teacher said under his breath, clearly not a fan of the increasingly complicated plan, but also understanding why the gifted man had to be among their returning number.

  “How many people can fit on the Valispath at once?” Kaiden asked the Meyarins in the room, which was something Alex hadn’t thought to consider.

  “The Valispath isn’t built to size, it’s dependent on the summoner’s concentration,” Kyia said. Her eyes flittered to Alex, to Fletcher, to the curtain, then back to Kaiden as she finished, “As long as whoever is commanding it is able to remain focused on those travelling for the journey, there’s no limit. However, I’ve never known anyone who can transport more than a dozen people at once. Even that’s a stretch.”

  Quietly, Hunter ticked them off. “The three of us, Jordan, Bear, Delucia, Grimm and your parents. That’s nine, Alex. Think you can handle it?”

  “Ten,” she responded, unwilling to admit that she’d only ever summoned the path to carry up to two other people at a time. “There’s someone else who has to come with us as well.”

  Alex hadn’t forgotten Astophe’s leverage idea. And while the rescue took priority, this might be the only chance she would have to get her hands on Niida. However, when she shared her explanation with the others, they were almost as disbelieving as when she’d announced that they needed to kill Roka.

  “You’re abducting the queen?” Kyia said, and Alex realised belatedly that Niida was Kyia’s impending mother-in-law. “I think your time in Tia Auras has damaged you in the head.”

  Kyia couldn’t have been more right. But that didn’t mean Alex was changing her mind.

  “She won’t come willingly,” Alex said, “but until I decide if I’m going to do what Astophe told me to, I need a way to retrieve her without a struggle.” She looked around the tent, focusing on the small area set up with various medicinal items. “The night Gaiel abducted me and took me to Taevarg, he blew some black powder into my face and it knocked me out instantly. Any chance you know what that was?”

  Zain’s brows rose, but he walked over to the table and searched through the mess there before returni
ng and handing her a small glass container with an inch of powder left in it.

  “It’s called seros,” he said. “It’s rarer than myraes, which is all but gone now.” He gestured to the powder and added, “That’s the last of our stock, and since I personally pilfered it from Meya upon our escape, I can confirm that’s the last of anyone’s stock.”

  Alex squinted into the glass. “How much is in here?”

  “Enough for two doses.” He then instructed, “Sift half of what’s there onto your hand and then blow it into your victim’s face, just as Gaiel did to you.”

  “Perfect,” Alex said, pocketing the glass and making a mental note not to accidentally inhale the powder. That would be embarrassing.

  With two doses at hand, they could take out Grimm as well as Niida—hopefully knocking the Claimed man out before Aven caught on to their actions through his bond. The easier solution was for Alex to Release Grimm while still in the city and have him leave freely with them, but it was smarter for them to retreat as swiftly as possible. After safely arriving back in Draekora, then Alex could force her way into Grimm’s mind, battle Aven’s will, and break their bond, thus enabling the gifted man to then willingly reawaken Roka.

  Simple, right? she couldn’t help thinking sarcastically.

  Allowing her thoughts to drift over everything they were about to face, with the barest snippets of the torture vision flooding through her mind before she swiftly blocked it out again, she gestured to the supply table and asked, “Do you guys have any laendra left?”

  Kyia retrieved some of the silvery flowers, handing small bunches to Hunter, Kaiden and Alex.

  Mayra plucked a stem from Alex’s collection and quietly said, “I’ll make sure this gets back to Soraya while you’re gone. I have a feeling you’re going to want her functioning at full health as quickly as possible.”

  Alex didn’t care that her wolf couldn’t pass through Meya’s wards and come to their aid, she just wanted Soraya healed fast, so she nodded to Mayra with gratitude and whispered, “Thank you.”

  Turning back to Kyia and Zain who were still visibly on edge, Alex forced herself to meet their gazes, silently pleading with them not to stand in her way.

  In response, Zain crossed his arms and said, “You’re really doing this, then?”

  “Zain—it’s my parents. It’s my friends,” Alex responded softly. “I wouldn’t suggest this unless it was the only way, unless I didn’t think it would work. You know I would never risk Roka otherwise, just as you know he’d be the first to nominate himself for this if he could.” She looked at Kyia then back to Zain again, talking to them both when she begged, “Please don’t try to stop me.”

  With a sigh that could have blown the floating islands off course, Zain turned to Fletcher and said, “You’re certain you can keep Roka alive?”

  Alex knew that the male Meyarin would trust Fletcher at his word, given that the doctor had once saved his own life. So she waited with bated breath to hear Fletcher’s answer, her tension only growing when he flicked his gaze to her, his face unreadable, before he turned back to Zain.

  Finally, he nodded.

  “If all goes to plan, then yes.” He looked at Kyia. “I’ll need your help, though.” Strangely, his lips twitched as he turned back to Zain and said, “Unless, of course, you’d rather be my assistant.”

  The reason for the lip twitch became known when the doctor explained the mouth-to-mouth part of CPR to the Meyarins and shared that someone would need to breathe air into Roka’s lungs while Fletcher focused on pumping his heart. If not for the anxiety twisting Alex’s insides, she would have burst out laughing at the look on Zain’s face as he hastily surrendered the task to Kyia.

  “Remember, Alex,” Fletcher told her as they all moved closer to the bed, pushing the curtain aside to reveal Roka’s comatose form. “The faster you return, the better.”

  Alex resisted the urge to tell him that she didn’t plan on staying for dinner and a show. Instead, she made a sound of agreement, then turned to Kyia and Zain, both of whom were staring down at Roka with pinched, worried expressions.

  Reaching out until she was holding one of each of their hands, she caught their eyes and asked, “Do you trust me?”

  Slowly—painfully slowly—they nodded.

  “Then believe me when I say I trust Fletcher with my life, and in this case, with Roka’s life. Neither he nor I will let anything bad happen,” she told them, infusing as much certainty into her voice as she could. “And if—when—all this is over, we’ll have Grimm here and we’ll be able to wake Roka. He’ll be back with us again for real.”

  She could tell her friends were struggling, but their faces also flashed with hope. It was enough for her to know they weren’t going to keep Fletcher from what he was about to do.

  Squeezing both their hands, she said to Zain, “While Kyia is in here helping Fletcher, you need to be out there waking the others and warning them. If we don’t manage a clean getaway from Meya, we might have company on our heels.”

  “We’ll be ready,” Zain promised. “If needed, we’ll hold them off until you can free Grimm and revive Roka, then we’ll all retreat back to Akarnae with you. The wards of the Library will keep us safer than anywhere else.”

  Alex nearly swayed with relief at seeing Zain’s determination and knowing that he, the leader of Meya’s Zeltora, was willing to follow her plan; was willing to rally his people at her request. She was asking so much of him, of both of them. To endanger Zain’s best friend and Kyia’s beloved—to kill Roka—was no small ask. And yet, here they were, putting their faith in Alex, just as they always had.

  With one final squeeze of their hands before releasing them, she whispered, “Then let’s do this.”

  Their nods of agreement, tentative though they were, were enough for Fletcher to quietly instruct Mayra to pass over his medical bag. He rifled around until he pulled out his MedTek device, hooking it up to Roka to function as a heart rate monitor that prompted a steady beep, beep, beep sound to echo around them. He then reached back into the bag and withdrew a syringe and a vial of neon yellow liquid.

  “I’ve never seen you with a needle before,” Alex observed, feeling somewhat woozy at the sight.

  “That’s because you’re terrible when it comes to anything medical,” he murmured distractedly as he drew the liquid into the syringe. “The only time I can get a needle anywhere near you is when you’re unconscious. When you’re awake, I have to baby you with ingestible alternatives.”

  Alex would have been embarrassed by his declaration if it hadn’t had the effect of lightening up the tense atmosphere, with everyone other than her offering flashes of smiles—albeit, small ones—at his comment. At least until he spoke again and their expressions turned solemn once more.

  “This will be nearly instant,” Fletcher said, lining the needle up against Roka’s inner elbow. “Be ready.”

  Everyone nodded, and Alex moved towards the entry of the tent, ready to duck outside and activate the Valispath as soon as she was given the go-ahead. Hunter and Kaiden followed, sticking close, while Zain, Kyia, Mayra and Fletcher hovered above Roka.

  “Be safe, little human,” Zain whispered. “And return to us swiftly.”

  With her quiet promise that she would, Fletcher plunged the needle into Roka’s arm, the yellow liquid instantly flooding his veins.

  As the doctor had warned, it took barely seconds before the monitor noises slowed, the beep, beeeep, beeeeeeep eventually dragging out in one long, telling sound.

  “It’s done,” Fletcher said tightly, starting his compressions on Roka’s chest as Kyia took her position near her betrothed’s head. “Go, Alex. Go.”

  Thirty-One

  Alex was out the tent before the second ‘go’ had left Fletcher’s mouth, Hunter and Kaiden right on her heels. She instantly summoned the Valispath, and with a feeling similar to welcoming an old friend, the Eternal Path activated at her command, sweeping the three of them away from Drae
kora and down towards the dangers of the city below.

  They streamed through the dawn-lit clouds beneath the floating islands, with neither Kaiden nor Hunter appearing fazed by what, to them, would seem like an invisible rollercoaster.

  “I’m taking us straight to the palace,” Alex said as she concentrated on directing them there, grateful that she was just as competent with the Valispath as she’d been while using it in the past. “I don’t know if they’ll be there or in Taevarg, but it’s been barely an hour since Jordan, Bear and D.C. were taken, so I’m counting on them having been delivered to Aven first, before…”

  … Before he locked them up or did something much, much worse—the possibilities of which she wouldn’t allow herself to consider.

  “I agree,” Hunter said.

  “And remember—” Alex cut herself off when the Valispath dropped into clear sky, affording an unobscured view of Meya touched by the brilliant light of sunrise.

  “What the hell is that?” she screeched.

  Surrounding the city was a thick, dark cloud. Or so Alex thought, until she was close enough to see that it was moving; that it was a mass of wings and fangs and claws. The cloud—it was thousands upon thousands of flying creatures, all of which were circling the Myrox spires in what looked to be a protective formation.

  Hunter cursed. “I forgot to tell you about the veeyons.” Then he cursed again, louder.

  Alex whipped towards him for an explanation, but Kaiden didn’t wait, and reached for both her and Hunter’s hands. An instant later, her vision blurred as a familiar trickling sensation washed over her.

  Knowing what he’d just done, Alex looked at him in concern and asked, “How long can you keep us transcended?”

  “As long as it takes,” he answered, with steely determination.

  Despite his bold declaration, Alex’s concern only grew. Jordan’s ability exhausted even him over lengthy periods of use, and she knew it was exponentially more tiring for Kaiden to control the gifts he’d adopted from others. And yet, as they blurred into the mass of flying creatures and soared through their dark cloud without notice, Alex tightened her grip on him, realising that his quick thinking had saved them from a horrific encounter with the swarming beasts.