by Elise Kova
“Soon,” she murmured to the goddess.
Soon. The word resonated within her, as though in reply.
Vi began to make rounds as the square filled. More and more people lined up, ready to seek an audience with Lord Ophain. Vi scanned each of them, looking for a pair of brown eyes she’d recognize anywhere.
When the Lord of the West arrived, the crowd erupted in cheers and fanfare. Vi kept her eyes off the man atop his warstrider and his military detail. She looked among the people, her eyes landing on a lone woman sitting atop a pedestal bearing a lamppost.
The woman wasn’t cheering with the rest of them. She observed the world around her with brown eyes that had serious intent. Vhalla was smart enough to wear a scarf to hide her hair, but it didn’t throw off Vi.
She made a wide loop, moving unseen through the crowd. Vi made it a point not to stare for too long, lest Vhalla sense her presence. Finally, she perched herself on a stoop high up enough that she had an unobstructed view of Vhalla’s back.
The sun drifted lazily though the sky and Vhalla moved herself into a shaded nook. Vi remained as still as a statue. The woman didn’t even so much as glance her way.
When the afternoon heat had scared away most of the people, a man emerged from the hotel, tapping his cane. He spoke in a booming voice that echoed across the square.
“Lord Ophain has taken to rest out the midday heat. Audiences will resume in the evening. Do not hold the line, we will form a new system upon your return.”
Vi scanned for Taavin in the dispersing remnants of the crowd, but she couldn’t distinguish him from any other Westerner. His illusion was too perfect and she hadn’t bothered to study it carefully.
Vhalla moved, and thoughts of Taavin vanished. She went for the hotel and entered after a brief discussion with the man holding the cane. Vi shifted her weight from foot to foot to alleviate some of her energy. She hoped Taavin was in that hotel.
All she could do from where she stood was be patient, and wait.
The doors of the hotel opened shortly after Vhalla had gone in and Vi straightened from the wall she’d been leaning on. But it wasn’t Vhalla who departed. It was a man with a thick mustache wearing a band of red crimson around his bicep. There was a symbol on the band drawn in black. From Vi’s distance, she couldn’t make out the details of the symbol, but she knew what it was.
A phoenix holding a sword in its talons—the symbol of the Knights of Jadar.
She scowled at the man from afar as he moved through the square. He consumed her attention with a familiarity she couldn’t place. How did she know him? Did she know him? Or was this eerie sense of recognition merely the ghost of a memory from a past life?
Vi tore her eyes away, bringing them back to the hotel. The Knights of Jadar weren’t her quarry right now. Vhalla was, and she couldn’t miss the moment the young woman departed.
After another hour, a woman emerged from the hotel wearing the same headscarf as Vhalla. She kept her head down, and Vi couldn’t see her face, but she followed anyway. Either this was Vhalla… or Vhalla had switched the scarf with a decoy and, in that case, Vi hoped Taavin had been inside to keep eyes on the real Vhalla Yarl.
Keeping her illusion wrapped tightly around her fingers, Vi followed a few dozen paces behind the woman. Tucked into a side street was a narrow bookstore. Vhalla went inside and Vi took her time strolling by. She saw Vhalla—for now she was sure it was her—retreat upstairs through the window.
Vi stepped into an alley where she could still see the building. At the very top, near the roof, was another tiny window. Vi held her breath, waiting.
A soft blue light subtly illuminated the ceiling of the top-floor room.
“Found you,” Vi whispered.
She began to run.
Vi sprinted through the Crossroads and made record time back to their shop. If she hadn’t known better, she would’ve guessed she’d flown rather than ran. Taking the stairs two at a time, Vi raced upward to their apartment, grabbing the satchel their fake axe was stored in.
She didn’t bother to wait for Taavin or Deneya—she sprinted back to Vhalla’s apartment. Her heart beat in her throat, making it hard to breathe. Otherwise, despite all the running, she was hardly winded.
The shop was dark. The woman she’d seen behind the desk was gone.
Vi rounded the building, looking for a back door. There was none.
“Durroe sallvas tempre,” Vi whispered, approaching the door. She glanced in through the windows, looking for signs of life. When confirmed all was quiet, Vi tried the handle.
Locked.
Vi let out a cry of frustration. She wanted to bang the door down. She wanted to storm in and grab the axe by force if that’s what it took.
But she took a breath and stepped away, releasing her magic.
Vhalla had made a temporary home here. She felt safe. Vi knew where she was, knew she had the axe. All she had to wait for now was an opportunity to take it. The last thing she wanted to do was risk raising Vhalla’s suspicions, sending her on the move again.
Still, Vi stood frozen, staring up at the window. She imagined the feeling of the axe in her hands. Her eyes fluttered closed as the phantom swell of power overtook her.
“Soon,” Vi whispered again.
Soon, that same voice replied in agreement. Louder, this time, than the first.
Chapter Thirty-One
They watched Vhalla in shifts over the next few days. One of them always had eyes on the modest bookstore. Sometimes, Vhalla worked behind the shop counter. Sometimes she wandered. But the other woman—the one Vi had presumed to be the actual shop owner—never left the building.
Someone was always there. And Vi didn’t dare risk entering while they were.
When she wasn’t watching the store, she tried to sleep. But that was an ever-elusive thing. Whenever she tried to still her mind, her thoughts went instantly to the axe. As if she could search for it even in dreams.
“You’re still awake,” Taavin said with surprise as he appeared at the top of the stairs.
“I am.”
“I thought you were trying to nap.”
“I was.”
“Going well?” He made a soft hmm noise.
“Clearly.” Vi tore her eyes away from the ceiling to look at him. Just the sight of the man nearly moved her to tears. “Hold me, please?” she whispered softly.
Taavin didn’t hesitate. He set down the food he’d gone to procure, not even bothering to put it away on their shelves, and laid down next to her. He scooped her into his arms. Vi twisted so her cheek was on his chest. Her eyes fluttered closed and she gave a soft sigh.
This was the reason she could keep breathing. Her sanity was held together by his arms.
“I’m so frustrated and exhausted,” she admitted with a sigh. “I’m exhausted of hunting—of this gnawing, needy feeling I can’t shake.” He was silent and let her speak, his arms tightening slightly. “All I want to do is move. And yet all I want to do is stop. Stop it all. Stop this relentless march of time toward an end that I both want and don’t want.
“I can’t explain it. But I’m being torn apart from the inside out.” Vi pressed her eyes shut and pushed her face further into his chest, as if she could fall into him and away from the world.
“I know,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head. “I know.”
“You can’t.”
“I do.”
“How?”
“I see you, Vi.” His arms tightened around her as though he was trying to meld them like clay into one being. “Sometimes, what I see frightens me, or I don’t understand it, or both. But I still see you. No matter how much time passes or what duties are piled on you. I see you.”
“At least someone does.” She smiled weakly.
“I always will.”
“It’s always been you.”
“Vi,” he spoke tenderly, his voice deep with emotion. Vi listened to it resonating through his chest. “When this is o
ver—”
“Don’t,” she whispered.
“When this is over,” he continued. “I hope I’m with you, in some form.”
“I…” Her voice cracked, and Vi couldn’t find words. Luckily, Deneya saved her.
The ring around her middle finger grew hot and Vi bolted upright. Taavin’s arms fell from her and the mantle of duty replaced them. The moment of weakness had passed; Vi almost felt foolish for having it at all.
“Narro hath. Deneya, what is it?”
“They left, both of them. Bring the false axe.” Deneya’s voice echoed in her mind. “I’m going to follow to see where they go.”
Vi stood. “We have to leave.”
“What is it?” Taavin asked as she released the glyph.
“The shop is unattended.”
Taavin was on his feet as well. Vi grabbed the satchel with the shifted axe and they were off. Taavin, luckily, could keep up with her as she sprinted through the Crossroads.
“Durroe sallvas tempre,” Vi said as she skidded to a halt. A glyph surrounded her hand.
“Durroe watt radia.” Taavin grabbed her fingers, making them both invisible.
“Juth calt.” Vi wasted no time exploding the inner mechanisms of the door lock. The storekeeper would never figure out how exactly all the pins broke at once.
Inside, Vi dashed up the stairs. In the upstairs apartment, her eyes landed on a ladder that led up to an attic moments before her hands landed on it and she scrambled upward.
The axe wasn’t there.
She knew it before she began searching. But Vi searched anyway. She tore through the contents of the room and turned over the bed. Taavin helped, but they were done quickly.
“It’s not here.” He gave sound to her thoughts.
Vi cursed. “Narro hath.” A swirl of magic appeared around the ring she wore. “Deneya, it’s not here. She must have it.”
“I know.”
“What?”
“I was just about to contact you. There’s trouble on this end. We’re in an alley behind a restaurant due west of the shop. She has the axe and is threatening some unfriendly looking men with it.”
“Don’t move, we’re on our way.” Vi released the glyph and jumped down the ladder. Taavin followed without question, even though he hadn’t heard the other half of the conversation. What was Vhalla thinking, showing the axe like that?
Foolish woman.
Foolish mortal!
Vi headed west and found the restaurant. Just as she was rounding the side, she saw a man bolt out from a nearby alley. A sense of familiarity overtook her. Who was he? She’d seen him before.
A shout cut through her thoughts. “The Windwalker—the Empire’s monster—has returned to wage war upon the West!”
Men and women emerged from restaurants, parlors and homes. They paused in the street, listening to what the shouting man had to say. “Look down there and find your brethren lying in pools of their own blood. Faces ripped open as only she can do.”
Vi moved toward where the man was pointing, but Taavin pulled her back.
“Don’t. She’s going to be on the run. Chasing won’t help now.”
“We can get the axe,” she seethed at him.
“It’s true!” a new voice called. “Th-there’s three! They’re dead!”
Whispers and glances multiplied around them.
“Go find her! Give her to the Knights. We’re the only ones who have ever been able to tame her kind. Clearly Solaris cannot be trusted.”
“The Knights of Jadar.” The mere words were poison to everything good in her life. “I should’ve known this all comes back to them.”
“They’re framing her for murder,” Taavin grumbled.
“Not framing,” Deneya said. She’d joined them. “Vhalla really did murder those people. But they didn’t look like they gave her much choice.”
Vi stared at the alleyway quickly flooding with people. Taavin was right. A manhunt was on and Vhalla would slip between all of their fingers once more.
As much as she wanted to rage and punch the wall at her side, she fought to keep a level head and refused to let her spark get the better of her. The Knights wanted Vhalla. The Knights knew she had a crystal weapon. They would no doubt try to unlock the Caverns to rebuild old Mhashan. That was all they ever wanted.
“By Yargen’s light,” Vi whispered. “That’s it.”
“What is?” Deneya took a step back as Vi spun to face her and Taavin. Vi’s arms wrapped around their shoulders, pulling them close; she kept her voice low.
“I know where they’re going. I know what’s going to happen.”
“How?” Taavin asked skeptically.
“I had a vision, when I touched the scythe.”
“And you didn’t tell us?” he balked.
“It didn’t seem relevant at the time. Listen—listen—it was Vhalla. She was tied to a horse and was in Mosant. There were men with her, Knights of Jadar.”
“How do you know it was the Knights?” Deneya asked.
“Let’s talk as we walk.” Vi’s mind was moving too fast for her feet to be still. She began heading back to their shop. “I know it was the Knights, because I saw one of them here, when Ophain arrived. He had a mustache and an armband with the Knights’ sigil. I didn’t make the connection until just now.”
“If you’re talking about the fellow with the magnificently ridiculous mustache, he left the restaurant with Vhalla tonight,” Deneya said eagerly.
“I know, I saw him too. He’s going to capture Vhalla. I don’t know how, but he will, and he’s going to bring her to the windmill on the mountainside of Mosant, no doubt on the way to the Crystal Caverns.”
“A mustached man… Knight of Jadar… Schnurr!” Taavin’s murmurings evolved into a single excited name.
“Yes!” Vi could see it now. Schnurr had been under Fiera’s command years ago during the fall of Norin. The man she’d seen in the square had been a much older Schnurr.
“His death is inevitable, in all worlds,” Taavin said. It was an echo of a conversation they’d had on the beach in Oparium, something she should’ve paid much closer attention to. “I wasn’t even thinking of tracking his movements because he usually meets his end during one of the battles in the North.”
“So he’s never captured Vhalla before?” Deneya asked.
“No,” Taavin said gravely. “Perhaps I was wrong about Schnurr, and his life is variable.”
Vi had no desire to see Schnurr’s life left to the hands of fate. Not when she wanted to wring the neck of every Knight of Jadar personally. But her focus was the axe, not the Knights or the man who seemed to be their current general in the gap Twintle left.
“We’ll go to Mosant.” They arrived at the shop and Vi hustled inside. “Taavin and I will.”
“What am I doing?” Deneya asked as Vi rummaged through her bags.
She pulled out a small box and opened it. A hoop earring was inside—her communication token with Adela. “I’m going to call the Stormfrost to Norin. You’re going to Risen.”
“Vi, you can’t mean—” Taavin started.
“This is it,” she interrupted firmly. “This is the moment, Taavin. This is what we’ve been working toward, what every Vi and Taavin has worked toward for the past ninety-three turns of the vortex. We’re not following Yargen’s red lines of fate anymore. We’re drawing them ourselves.”
“And what if we get it wrong?” he challenged, though his protest wasn’t as strong as Vi had once remembered.
“Then this ends. One way or another, this ends.” Vi looked to Deneya. The woman had been a steadfast and loyal companion. “What do you think?”
“I get a say?” Deneya arched her eyebrows.
“You’ve been with us through all of this… I think it’s only fair.”
“I never much liked the idea of being the ninety-third version of myself. I like the idea of the world being trapped in a futile loop even less.” Deneya grabbed her traveling pack
from the corner of the room with determined movements. “I’d rather see the world end than be chained to the wheel of fate.”
Vi looked to Taavin.
His eyes were fraught with frantic hopelessness. Vi crossed to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. She held him in an effort to bring comfort to him, as he had brought it to her.
“It’s all right,” she whispered, placing her forehead on his and looking him in the eye. Deneya packed, giving them some privacy with her back to them. “We can do this.”
“If she goes to Risen, if she extinguishes the flame… that’s it.”
“I know.”
“There’s no more lingering essence of Yargen to restart the world. The last of her autonomous consciousness will be lost.”
“I know.” Vi sighed softly. “Everything ends eventually.”
He pressed his eyes closed and held his breath. Vi braced herself with him. They would take these final steps together, holding and helping each other along the way.
“All right.” Taavin opened his eyes and stepped away. “Deneya, when you go to Risen, you’ll need to get to the Voice…”
Their conversation faded away as Vi sprinted downstairs and began to saddle the horse Vhalla had given them. Deneya would extinguish the flame and bring its ashes to her. Vi would extract the magic from within them just as she would extract the magic from the axe, and the remaining power in the Crystal Caverns.
After that, the only piece of Yargen’s essence that was left was—
Her hands hovered midmotion, forgetting what she had just been doing. She let out a small whimper as if she’d been punched in the gut.
Taavin.
The only other remaining piece would be Taavin. Vi pressed her eyes closed and breathed for a moment, working to calm her swelling emotions.
Everything ends eventually.
Luckily, she wouldn’t be far behind him. She would rejoin with the goddess, too, in a way. Vi remembered her fading corporeal form from her other vision. After Taavin was gone, all that would remain was Yargen, and the dark god she was destined to battle.