by Ben Wolf
The combination of his helplessness to separate Condor from Lilly and the Wolves’ erratic behavior would drive him to madness before long.
To compound Axel’s frustrations, the three surviving Wolves were the same trio who’d stolen his last piece of dried venison just before they’d reached the Arcanum. Mangy thieves.
He didn’t trust them. Axel’s only consolation about their presence was that he didn’t have anything left for them to steal. But even that wouldn’t keep them from annoying him.
At the head of their group, Calum and Magnus led the way, as usual, and Riley followed with Kanton by his side. The two pairs murmured to each other as they walked, and so did Condor and Lilly.
Axel scowled. As usual, no one wanted to talk to him.
Only a few days in, and already everyone had begun to grate against him. This was going to be a long journey if he had to make it alone.
He couldn’t talk to the Wolves because they’d annoy him, he couldn’t talk to Lilly because Condor was always around, and he didn’t want to talk to Calum and Magnus because they were both smug and obnoxious now that they’d been proven right about Lumen.
That left only one option.
Axel grunted and quickened his pace to catch up with Riley and Kanton. “Hey, guys.”
They both stared at him for a moment, and then nodded to him, but where Kanton gave Axel his attention, Riley refocused on the road ahead of them.
“What can I do for you, Axel? Are you injured?” Kanton asked.
Axel shook his head. “I’m fine. How ’bout you? How’s your hand?”
Kanton held it up and wiggled his fingers. “Still hurts, and I can’t really use it yet, but it’s been healing a little bit every day since the Wolf chomped on it. Faster than usual, thanks to Magnus’s veromine.”
“We almost lost you a few times in that battle with the Dactyls and the Sobeks,” Axel said.
Kanton chuckled. “Don’t forget about when we faced the Jyrak, too. I was all but useless. See, I never learned how to fight left-handed, and I never had much formal training in fighting anyway. I guess it all just comes down to the fact that I…”
As Kanton rambled on, Axel studied Riley’s Werewolf form. He’d transformed from a scrawny Wolf into this menacing muscular creature, complete with elongated claws, an extended snout, and jagged teeth that jutted out beyond his lips.
Thanks to his transformation, Riley stood taller than everyone else in their group except Magnus. He commanded both his small pack of Wolves and the respect of everyone in the party.
But who respected Axel? He shook his head and sighed. No one.
“You still listening, Axel?” Kanton nudged his shoulder.
“Huh?” Axel stared into Kanton’s blue eyes then blinked himself back into the moment. “Sorry. I let my mind wander.”
Kanton grinned. “Happens to the best of us, friend.”
Riley stared down at Axel, then he faced forward again.
“You got a problem?” Axel asked.
Riley didn’t look at him. “No.”
“I think I’ll go check Magnus’s hand. See how it’s regenerating.” With that, Kanton left his feet and zipped up to the front of the group near Magnus and Calum.
Axel frowned at Riley. “You remember I apologized to you, right?”
Riley just kept walking, his eyes forward.
“It was in the woods before the Werewolf attacked. Don’t you remember how I—”
“I remember.” Riley still didn’t look at Axel.
“So what are you upset about?”
“I’m not upset.”
Axel grunted. “We’re part of the same team, Riley. I need to know that you’ve got my back in battles, and you need to know that I’ve got—”
“I don’t need you to watch my back,” Riley interrupted. “No one sneaks up behind me—I sneak up behind them.”
Riley had been quick and stealthy before his transformation into a Werewolf, but now he could move in almost complete silence and with incredible speed. Thus far, Axel had only seen Condor move faster.
“My point is that we need to trust each other,” Axel said. “For the good of the group as a whole. You never told me if you accepted my apology or not.”
Riley said nothing.
“Look, Riley—”
“I’m not having this conversation.” With that, Riley darted forward and walked next to Condor and Lilly. He cleared several yards in the same amount of time Axel would’ve needed for a single step.
And once again, Axel was alone. His frown turned into a mask of anger that mirrored the fury rising in his chest.
The Wolves behind him yipped and barked. It sounded like laughter.
Laughter directed at him.
Axel whirled around and snapped at them, “Would you shut up already?”
The three of them went silent and stared at him for a few seconds. Then they continued yipping and barking and chattering as they walked, as if he’d never even yelled at them in the first place.
Axel wanted to draw his sword right then and there. Not to hurt them, necessarily, but to frighten them into being quiet. The only reason he didn’t do it was because he knew it wouldn’t work. More likely than not, they actually would start laughing at him, and that would only make everything worse.
Axel turned around to find Calum there. He’d walked back to Axel.
“You alright back here?” he asked.
“Fine.” Axel couldn’t tell him what he was really feeling—alone, abandoned, worthless. What was the point of him even being there in the first place? He should’ve stayed with Lumen and gotten some real power for himself instead of going on this fool’s errand to recruit an army.
“Try not to let them bother you.” Calum smiled and patted Axel’s shoulder. “They’re just excitable.”
“Apparently.”
“Why don’t you come up and walk with us?” Calum offered. “It’s easier to pass the time with a little conversation.”
Easy for you to say. Everyone loves you. Axel stifled a frown. He wanted to do it, to go up there and be a part of the group again, but what was the point? He’d be pretending as much as everyone else. No one actually wanted him here, so why perpetuate the lie?
“I’m fine back here,” he replied.
“Suit yourself.” Calum shrugged. “It won’t be long now before we reach Aeropolis.”
The instant Calum turned away, Axel’s frown manifested again.
Just when things couldn’t get any worse…
Of all the places in Kanarah, the Sky Realm was the one place he did not want to go back to.
Magnus stretched the fingers on his right hand—his new right hand. As he’d assured Calum, he’d regrown what Vandorian had taken from him within a matter of days. Now five scaled fingers tipped with small talons opened and closed into a fist.
He’d never lost anything as significant as a hand before. As a child, he’d lost a finger when training to properly wield a sword with Garondus, one of his many older brothers. It hurt terribly, but it had grown back within a matter of days.
Like that finger, his new hand bore a lighter coloring than the rest of his arm. Where dark-green scales covered the majority of his hide, his hand looked more grass-green, and his talons were a dark-gray color instead of matching the black talons on his left hand.
“Your hand is back.” Calum sat down next to him. “I’m jealous. If someone cut off my hand, I just wouldn’t have one anymore.”
“Yes, but you are human. You are not expected to regrow lost appendages.”
“That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t come in handy.” Calum grinned. “Pun intended.”
Magnus scowled at him. “Normally, I have such great respect for you.”
Calum chuckled, still staring at Magnus’s new hand. “How does it feel?”
“Tight. Uncomfortable. I suspect I will need a few more days before I can properly wield a sword with it. Probably a few days after that to retrain myself t
o fight as efficiently as I used to.” Magnus flexed his fingers again, and pain thrummed from his fingers into his forearm. “But I will be ready for him when next we meet. That is for certain.”
Calum nodded. “I have no doubt.”
Dusk settled across the gray landscape as the group approached the end of Trader’s Pass, and Riley’s nose wrinkled. The air had a foul stink to it.
He let out a guttural woof, and Janessa strode up beside him.
“Smell that?” Riley asked. “Something’s burning.”
Janessa nodded and stared at him with glistening yellow eyes. “Not just something. A lot of things. Things that shouldn’t be burning.”
“I smell it too,” Dallahan said from behind.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Riley said.
“Doesn’t mean I didn’t hear you.” Dallahan’s inflection brought a grin to Riley’s face. He’d finally found a fellow Wolf as sarcastic as he was, if not more so.
“Do we tell them?” Embry muttered.
“Do you know what’s burning?” Riley met Embry’s green eyes.
“I can’t tell from this distance.”
“I can.” Janessa tipped her snout upward and sniffed the air, then stared at Riley. “It’s coming from the southwest. You know what that means.”
Riley nodded. He’d come to the same conclusion, and he couldn’t keep it to himself. He darted over to Lilly and Condor. “Lilly.”
She blinked at his sudden appearance in front of her. “Hi, Riley.”
“I have bad news.”
Concern filled her blue eyes. “What is it?”
Riley exhaled a deep sigh and glanced at Condor. “Aeropolis is burning.”
Chapter Five
Had Condor not restrained Lilly, she would’ve taken to the sky and flown clear through the night and most of the next day toward Aeropolis. Yet even if she had gotten a chance to fly, Condor would have caught her within seconds anyway.
If only she were a Wisp, too, she might be able to evade him. More importantly, she could get back to Aeropolis sooner to ascertain whether Riley’s claim was accurate or not.
“If the city is burning, then there’s a reason.” Condor still restrained her. His warm breath hit her ear, his voice quiet. “Even if you made it there on your own, what would you do? If something is happening, you’d rush in and get yourself killed.”
“Then come with me.” Lilly tried to twist free from his grip. She couldn’t. “You’re sworn to protect me, so do it.”
“Let her go, Condor.” Axel’s voice had taken on that hard, dangerous tone he employed when he meant to enforce his words with violence. He stepped toward Lilly and Condor.
Condor’s grip didn’t loosen, and aside from a casual glance at Axel, Condor ignored him. “I’m protecting you right now.”
How could he keep his voice so calm? Especially in a situation like this?
Didn’t he realize that everything she knew and loved could be burning to ash, and she wasn’t there to help?
“You don’t care anymore,” she spat. “It’s no longer your home. Why should you care if it burns? Why should you try to stop it?”
In one quick motion, Condor spun Lilly around, gripped her shoulders, and stared at her with those piercing blue eyes of his. “Insult me as often as you wish, Princess, but you know my allegiance lies both with you and with our people. Do not mistake my caution for apathy. If Aeropolis burns, then my heart burns with it, but I will not allow you to fly to your doom.”
“I said let her go.” Axel’s warning sounded behind her, followed by the shing of his sword leaving its sheath.
“This doesn’t concern you, Farm Boy.” Condor extended his index finger at Axel. “This is Windgale business.”
“I’m an honorary citizen. The Premier made me one, but he banished you from the Sky Realm indefinitely. So it’s actually more my business than it is yours.”
Condor sighed, and his hand migrated to the hilt of his own blade.
Lilly’s fingers curled around his wrist. “Don’t, Condor.”
He stayed his hand and met her eyes once again.
Though unsure why, Lilly leaned into Condor rather than trying to pull away this time. In Falcroné’s absence, Condor was the closest thing she had to home—a living reminder. Perhaps that was the reason.
But perhaps it was something else. Something about Condor himself.
Condor wrapped his arms around her. He still hadn’t donned any armor since they’d freed him from Oren’s fortress, so she felt every bit of his warmth as she pressed her face against his chest. Lilly heard his heartbeat through his shirt.
A long sigh escaped her lungs, and though it felt wonderful to be close to him, she still sobbed.
“It’s alright,” Condor whispered. She felt his fingers running through her hair and brushing against her left cheek. “We’ll learn the truth soon enough.”
Another shing, this time followed by an abrupt click, sounded behind her. She imagined the furious expression on Axel’s face, and it brought her some measure of relief.
But then Calum’s face sprang to her mind.
Lost in Condor’s arms, she hadn’t even considered how her actions might’ve affected Calum. After what she’d told Falcroné aboard the ship before he died, perhaps she shouldn’t cling so close to Condor.
But it felt so right, being held by someone so powerful, so intriguing, so unique. A rebel. A handsome one at that, with his raven-black hair, that scar that ran from the outer edge of his left eyebrow down to the top of his cheek, and those piercing blue eyes…
She released her grip on Condor and looked up at him, wiping the tears from her cheeks. Just behind him, Calum stared at her with soft blue eyes, tinged with a hint of distress but also with a measure of reassurance.
Always on her side, no matter what. She granted herself a half-smile.
Whether or not she enjoyed holding Condor, and regardless of Calum’s feelings, she needed to get back home. She could sort out her emotions later.
“Come on,” Lilly said to all of them. “We’ve got to get to the Sky Fortress.”
While Condor and Lilly led the way, Calum and the rest of the group followed close behind at a quickened pace.
They passed the dead tree near the western end of Trader’s Pass and the same field toward the forest where they had battled Condor and his Raven’s Brood months earlier. But this time they traveled at night, and the moonlight cast the jagged shadows of spidery tree limbs across the road.
Calum’s legs burned from the nonstop trek. They hadn’t stopped since the short break after Riley revealed what he’d smelled, and Lilly showed no signs of letting up. Calum had to hand it to her—when she set her mind to something, she didn’t relent.
An hour later, despite Lilly’s reluctance, they made camp for the night. Six hours after that, they were back on the road as the first hint of daylight crept over the horizon.
As they approached Aeropolis, the smell of smoke stung Calum’s nostrils. In the morning light, black plumes rose from the southwest, far away.
Tears streaked Lilly’s otherwise stoic face, but she moved forward nonetheless. Calum wanted to reach out and comfort her, but with Condor always so close, he never got an opportunity.
Within hours of their departure from the forest, they encountered their first refugee: a flightless Windgale man whose cape had burned half off. Lilly pleaded with him for information, but the man simply walked forward, his blue eyes vacant, mumbling the words “Filnia, Lucius, Harvold, Milarette” again and again.
No matter what Lilly or the others said or did, they couldn’t break through the man’s malaise, and they had to let him continue on his way.
The closer they got to Aeropolis, the more strays they encountered—some of them more lucid than the first refugee, some of them far, far worse. Most of them begged Calum’s group for help, but with limited supplies, they weren’t equipped to help even the smallest fraction of the hundreds of souls who now tru
dged toward them.
When Aeropolis itself finally crested the horizon, Calum’s attention shifted to a new batch of refugees who approached: a dozen soldiers clad in vibrant purple armor, streaked with blood, led by a Wisp in dark-violet battle gear.
“Stay behind me, Lilly. At least at first.” Condor positioned himself between Lilly and the approaching Windgale soldiers.
Calum, Magnus, Axel, Riley, and the Wolves surrounded her in a protective formation as well.
Condor extended his hand. “Captain, by the authority of the Princess of the Sky Realm, I order you to stand down.”
The Wisp captain drew his sword, his eyes fixed on Magnus, and the soldiers in his unit readied their weapons as well. “The princess is gone. She left months ago and hasn’t been seen since.”
“Captain, that’s Condor.” One of the soldiers pointed at him, and half the soldiers in the squad mumbled in the affirmative. “The disgraced Captain of the Royal Guard.”
Calum uncurled his fingers, ready to draw his sword. He stole a glance at Magnus, whose hands remained at his sides.
The Captain narrowed his eyes at Condor, who still wore plain clothes, now stained and dirty, a stark image against the soldiers and their fine armor. “Are you Condor?”
Condor’s jaw tightened. “Yes. What is your name, Captain?”
“I am Captain Perine, of the fourth battalion under General Bravenstorm,” the Captain replied, his sword still in hand. “How is it that you’ve come here? You were banished months ago. Avian himself pronounced your sentence.”
Maybe Captain Perine talking to them was a good sign, but Calum didn’t let his guard down.
Condor motioned toward Calum, Lilly, and the rest of the group. “Princess Lilly and her companions freed me from the fortress at the Blood Chasm, and we released dozens of slaves—humans and Windgales alike. A Saurian named Chorian led some of them back here.”
The same soldier who had recognized Condor nudged Captain Perine. “A Saurian and a group about that size showed up a mere three days before the attack. I think he’s telling the truth.”