He swallowed a lump in his throat. “Anya.”
She looked at him again, surprised. “I am so sorry, Jaeger. I know my words are meaningless right now.”
He shook his head. “I haven’t stopped hoping that I would find them. All the faces I’ve searched over the years are now a blur. What if I forget what they look like, Sesti?”
“You won’t, Jaeger,” she said after a long moment. “You are a good man.”
His fingers dug into the snow. He relished the cool crunch of slushy wetness as it deformed with the movement. It was something he could feel, at least.
“I am not a good man. I am an immortal. I am broken, lost,” he muttered. “I have done nothing to become ‘good’. I have hurt the people I love.”
“You’ve done your best to live with those you love in a world full of darkness.” Sesti shifted until her shoulder pressed against his. “You had no say in what you would become. No say in what had happened to your wife and daughter. No say in your fate.”
His fingers fisted around the snow and squeezed until nothing remained but water.
Sesti looked at him again. “You have lived this life, and survived, and not used your power to rail against it. That makes you a good man, in my eyes.”
She stood then and pressed a kiss to his jaw before walking away without looking back.
Stunned, he listened to her footsteps crunch in the ankle deep snow, each one creating a stabbing pain at the center of his chest. He ignored it. He let it hurt. It was something to feel, after all. He reached for the area she had touched with her soft lips.
***
Dehil felt it more than heard it. The restless nature of the Tevu warriors stationed below the great gate gave way to a more nervous rumble, alerting him to the fact that something had changed in their world. They guarded the citadel from any approach from the south, yet he couldn’t quite shake the feeling of wrongness.
“We are at a calm before the storm. Yet we do not know where the rain will fall,” Dehil said. He stood alone at the top of the Cold Gate, invisible, watching. Waiting. Behind him thousands of Tevu warriors readied shields, arrows, and spears in impressive silence.
A strident war horn tore through the stillness. He stiffened and spun to face the darkened ravines below. For a long moment, nothing happened. As expected, pinpoints of light flickered and flared in the distance perfectly lighting the narrow, twisting path to the Citadel’s front door. The distant, muffled march of boots on stone echoed through the narrow gorge.
“They approach,” he muttered. “So where is Rodon?”
Chapter Twenty
“I don’t like this.” Ivo paced along the top of the boulder. “We need to get to the others.”
“I agree, Ivo, but we must bide our time,” Gabaran said.
Emaranthe listened as she stood facing the sunrise from the mountaintop, her arms lifted to the first golden rays. Swift and golden, the suns climbed fast from the north, chasing the shadows across the rocky, snowy landscape.
The energy enveloped Emaranthe, bathing her in a familiar warmth that spread like flames throughout her flesh. She inhaled with the surge of strength the warmth gave her. She didn’t know why the suns did this, gave her energy. No other Immortals she’d ever met seemed to need its strength. Mayhap because she was the Youngest, or just cursed.
Her arms fell to her sides and she sighed. Gabaran and Ivo were both right. Time was short. Rodon would be near. She turned her back to the sunrise and caught both males staring at her.
Worry dimmed Ivo’s gaze, but Gabaran smiled and nodded. She nodded back and moved to join them. Her fingers twitched at the hollow of her throat, but gripped empty air. She frowned for a moment, puzzled.
“What is it?” Ivo asked.
“Nothing. I must have lost it.”
“Lost what?” Gabaran asked.
Ivo pulled a small disc dangling from a leather cord from under his tunic. It was the emblem of their status as one of The Unknown Sun. They all bore one, though were oft hidden under layers of clothing. They were used as identifying talismans.
Gabaran frowned at it. “What is that? I’ve seen that before, but I recall not where.”
“It is the symbol of our downfall,” Ivo grunted. “It marks us as part of The Unknown Sun.”
“It does nothing,” Emaranthe added. “But is supposed to remind us of the tenet of our calling. It depicts a sun on a horizon and it means that the cycle of creation is unending, that the sun never ceases to set or rise at any given point in time and space.”
Gabaran stared at the talisman for a long moment in silence and Ivo wondered where he would have seen it. It was not something readily displayed to outsiders.
“I feel much better,” Emaranthe said when neither spoke again. “We need to find Jaeger and the others. They will have heard that sound and gone to seek it out.”
“How do we find them?” Ivo grimaced.
“Jadeth said the clearing was below the summit still. We are too far up the mountain. It should be somewhere below us,” Emaranthe said. She paced the perimeter of the rock outcropping, careful to not get too close to the edge of the drop-off. “We are facing west. We need to move over to that ridge opposite. We may see better from there.” She pointed at the spine of the mountainside that ran north to south well to the west of them. It was tall, nearly as tall as they were, but might afford them a better view beyond.
“Hold on to me.” Emaranthe waited for Gabaran to grip her shoulder before Ivo reluctantly encircled her in his arms. He said nothing, but the turn of his mouth was enough to show he worried about her. She smiled and looked him in the eye. After a brief internal struggle, the lines at the corners of his eyes relaxed and he returned her smile.
She pulled them into the fiery flicker and they vanished in a swirl of heat waves.
They reappeared on the spine of the mountain in a burst of heat and wind and stumbled for a moment to gain their feet.
Gabaran relaxed his grip on her shoulder and turned to study their situation. Ivo’s arms tightened, then relaxed and Emaranthe stepped out of his embrace.
“Well, that was much better.” She shook her hair free from the tangled knot it was in beneath the hood and combed her gloved fingers through it. Ghostly fire followed the motions and she dropped the strands of hair, satisfied, only to find Ivo watching, worry clear in his gaze. “I’m fine Ivo, see?” She sighed.
“I know. I know you are fine.” He closed his eyes and the skin wrinkled between his eyebrows as if he were in pain.
“But?”
“But I cannot help but worry.” He rubbed his hand over the hauberk, over where his heart and immortal soul merged into one.
“I know, but I am not so fragile as I appear.”
He opened his eyes and nodded. “You are strong, stronger than any realize. It is your heart that is so big that I know you would do anything for me, us. And I love you the more for it.”
“But I am an Immortal and must do what I was made to do, Ivo,” she whispered. “The Four gave me fire. Gave me the ability to travel like an ember on the wind. Gave me the ability to create portals. I have these gifts for reasons and though those reasons are lost from my memories, I must do what I need to do.”
She rose on her toes and gripped his leather hauberk in both hands to tow him lower. Her lips grazed his, soft and sweet. “I love you, Ivo. Only you. Whatever lies in either of our memories will never cloud that.”
Ivo pulled her close, his lips firm and demanding. Steely muscles flexed beneath her hands and she fought back a gasp of desire that threatened to rob her of breath. Heat that had little to do with her fiery gift simmered beneath the suddenly sensitive curves pressed against him.
A gruff sigh shattered the hot moment. Emaranthe’s gaze locked with Ivo’s as he let her slip to the ground. His sharp breathing did little to hide the fact that he enjoyed her body sliding along his.
Without breaking eye contact with Ivo, she slugged Gabaran in the arm as he paced past.
/> “Hey!” he grunted.
He returned the glare she cast over her shoulder as she released Ivo and turned to study the valleys below the ridge. Something moved on the next ridge opposite them, a small figure that appeared to be waving wildly to catch their attention.
“Look, there!” Gabaran saw the second she did. “It looks like Jaeger.”
“We need to get over there, he’s waving for us to join him.” Ivo reached for Emaranthe and her heart skipped a beat. She knew how hard it was for him to let her be this, the one who has to lead the way, into danger, when he could not protect her.
“Hurry,” Gabaran grunted as he gripped her shoulder again.
With the early morning sun bathing them in energizing warmth, they flickered on a gust of wind and heat waves once more.
***
Sesti climbed the narrow path behind Jaeger, her gaze on placing her feet in his footsteps where she could see the ground. The ice and moss was slippery beneath the snow and more than once she’s nearly slipped and tumbled off the path. Each time she’d gained her feet again, her cheeks stinging in embarrassment. She could feel Jaeger’s eyes scan her in questioning silence. So far, she’d not bothered to reassure him, but then again he’d not asked if she was okay. She was, and they both knew it. So why was it suddenly so awkward?
She huffed and gained a small rise where a boulder blocked the path. She scaled it, and nearly collided with Jaeger. He reached down to tug her over the last bit of rock to join him on the path atop the spine of the mountain.
“I’ve found them,” he muttered. “Watch out.”
“Wait, what?” Sesti glanced at him, startled, just as a blast of heated air roiled to her left. Startled, she tripped over her own feet and plowed into Jaeger right as Ivo, Emaranthe, and Gabaran emerged from the heat waves beside them.
Hot faced, she righted herself, freezing in Jaeger’s supportive grip with a mental grimace. She felt his blue eyes burning into her back as she tugged away and turned to face them. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination that his rough, calloused fingers lingered on her arm.
She babbled, “We found it, uncle, but something odd happened.”
They stood, still huddled together and as one their gazes travelled between her and Jaeger. They peeled apart finally.
“That sound? We heard it too, but it sounded distant,” Gabaran replied. The awkward silence evaporated as they turned to follow a still silent Jaeger down to the small clearing.
“What happened?” Emaranthe asked quietly from the rear of the procession. She knew that Sesti heard.
Sesti let Gabaran and Ivo continue on, but her gaze turned to the rapidly disappearing man in the lead.
“It almost killed me, Emaranthe,” Sesti said. She shook her head in disbelief. Her pinkened cheeks turned ashen at the memory. “It was like being stabbed in the mind, heart, and soul with sound. The others were knocked aside by it, but it was as if it attacked me.”
Emaranthe’s gloved hand flashed out and captured Sesti’s. The warmth of the tiny mage’s hand radiated into Sesti like a comforting hug.
“That is horrible, Sesti, I’m so sorry,” she whispered. They clutched each other’s arms and continued down the path together, arm in arm.
“Mother thinks it is because I am mortal. But uncle was fine.”
Emaranthe halted, dragging the larger elf to a halt. “Sesti, she may be right. We’ve never had a mortal with us and you know as well as I that Gabaran is more than we think. It may be too dangerous for you to be here.”
Sesti stiffened, her lips pinched into a line. “No, I am right where I am needed. I have a place in this.” Her gaze drifted to the blond male with the broad shoulders again.
“Yes, you do Sesti,” Emaranthe said. “And we are ever grateful for you.”
Sesti tugged Emaranthe down the last yards of the path and into the field. Still covered in snow, it was too deep for tiny Emaranthe to cross unassisted.
“Back up,” Emaranthe called to everyone standing around the dying fire. “I need to clear this snow.”
Without waiting to see if they paid attention, she swept a hand out and a sea of ghostly flames rolled away from her along the ground. The snow evaporated with a hiss, baring rock, fallen branches, and mud.
She squelched across the cleared field and joined the others.
“Now what?” Sesti asked. She moved closer to the stones but halted.
“We need to open it, find the Crown of Gods,” Jaeger spoke up from beside her. She jumped, startled by his sudden closeness. He angled his body so that he stood between her and the portal stones. Her frown grew puzzled but a quick glance from Emaranthe erased it.
“It isn’t that simple, Jaeger,” Ishelene appeared on Sesti’s other side, an eyebrow raised. Heat flooded her cheeks as Gabaran, Ivo, and Emaranthe filled out the circle. No one commented and instead studied the stones.
“How can it get any more complicated?” Gabaran rumbled. He ran a hand over his haggard face.
“It’s different than the ones we use to enter The Unknown City,” Emaranthe said. “I see no Starstone.”
Ivo grunted. “It must be deep inside the rock. It isn’t carved into a pair of statues either.”
The sounds of war horns rode the wind, silencing everyone. Their attention turned to the distant ravines and pinnacles beyond their perch where the gleaming stone and ice citadel sparkled in the sunlight.
The horn blasted again, sending chills up the back of everyone’s necks.
It was followed by the quieter, deeper, rumble of drums and the rhythmic march of boots.
“The enemy has found us,” Jaeger said. “We are out of time. We can’t leave them to fight the legion on their own. We must go back!”
“We have no choice!” Ishelene rounded on him, her cold blue eyes blazing. “We must find it first. They must hold the Citadel.”
Jaeger knew what The Unknown Sun could do to the Citadel, and Dehil was one warrior, a proven ally. The temperature plunged, turning their breaths visible. He looked at Ivo, noted his grimace.
He turned to Emaranthe, ready to ask for the impossible, but she was already studying the perilous ravines and ridges between them and the Citadel. She nodded, but whispered unexpected words.
“Jaeger and Jadeth, you must protect them.”
“You need me–” Jaeger growled.
She cut him off with a wordless glance to the pale elf woman standing beside him. He stiffened, resisted the urge to look at her. Instead, his gut roiling with anxious spurts of energy, he nodded at Emaranthe and turned to glare at the portal stones. A gloved hand tentatively brushed his sleeved arm in thanks before she turned to face her big brother.
“We will return with Dehil,” she said to Gabaran, her voice thin, her face ashen in the golden morning light. “We cannot save Anat, find the Crown of Gods, and stop Rodon at the same time Gabaran, I’m sorry. We have to choose. Are you with us?”
Rage and pain fought for control on Gabaran’s lined face. Grim resolve turned his lips into a snarl.
“Let’s do it,” he grunted. One hand reached for Emaranthe’s shoulder, the other for the black bow at his back as he addressed Jaeger. “We will retrieve Dehil, and hold off the army as long as we can to buy you time.”
“Jadeth, we will bring Dehil back to you as soon as possible. Stay alert,” Emaranthe whispered to the thin lipped redhead. “They will need you in case the enemy gets past us.”
Jadeth nodded, her gaze on the unseen battle far below in the shadowed depths of the mountains. Emaranthe knew she understood why she couldn’t join. Dehil was her liability. Her weakness that would get her killed. Entering a battle after it begun was suicide for a healer.
Even one with a war hammer.
“Destroy the globe.” Jadeth’s head snapped up, her face tight. “We can’t let it fall into Rodon’s hands. And don’t you dare die on my watch.”
“We will be careful. Be ready to move as soon as we return.” Emaranthe spared Jaeger
and Sesti a long look. “We need that portal open.”
Jaeger nodded, his cold gaze on the twin stones and not the petite mage’s pale face. He didn’t dare watch his brother slip his arms around his woman and hold on, his face set with despair. He didn’t dare remind himself of what this might cost them all. He closed his eyes.
“Go!” he yelled.
There was a familiar flash of heat and coil of fiery embers.
Then silence.
They were gone.
***
Sesti’s hand curled over Jaeger’s bicep. It flexed as he felt her gentle strength and warmth through the thick linen and wool. He glanced at her, startled, to find compassion in her own dark blue eyes.
“We have a job to do,” she whispered.
He nodded.
“Ishelene, I know you know more than you are telling us.” Jaeger swung to face her, his arm still captured by Sesti. He wasn’t sure if it was to lend him strength or hold him back.
Ishelene’s face grew weary, her shoulders hunched, but her gaze remained on the portal, vague and lost. She opened her mouth. Closed it.
The silence was oppressive. The tang of uncertainty in the cold breeze sharpened, bringing more sounds of a battle they could not see.
“Emaranthe. She’s the only one of us who can open the portal.”
The silence grew sharp with mute shock.
“What?” Jaeger snapped. “What do you mean?”
“Wait, you said Tanari’s family–” Jadeth whispered, her face draining of color. She dove for the empress and shook her by the shoulders, hard. “Emaranthe is of Tanari’s family. A blood relative, like Rodon? Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Ishelene said. “I suspected when I first saw her. She looks just like her mother did so long ago.”
“What? How is that possible? Why did you keep quiet?” Jadeth asked.
“It was a secret.”
“A secret? Tanari’s? Rodon’s? Emaranthe has no memories! She has nothing! No name to put to a face she can see in a reflection, no name for a people to call her own!” Jaeger’s roar shook the small clearing and turned Ishelene’s face into one of utter sadness.
Exiles & Empire Page 20