by Kova, Elise
“That’s not an excuse.” The words could’ve been sharp and angry, but they weren’t. She wasn’t about to risk their restored peace. “You could’ve told me at any time. But you didn’t want to because you didn’t want to hurt me.”
“Am I that transparent?” Taavin blinked into the morning’s early light and Vi appreciated his profile. There might never be an hour of her life where the sight of all his sharp angles didn’t fill her with a mixture of sorrow, joy, and longing.
“I know every corner of you, inside and out.”
“I suppose if anyone would, it’s you.”
“Tell me about everyone else. Who does the goddess demand? Who can live? I won’t fight Yargen’s fate,” she added hastily. “But if I can save someone, I will.”
Taavin searched her face and sighed. “Regardless of the path we walk, Tiberus, Twintle Junior, Schnurr—”
“Schnurr?” Vi interjected.
“You met him, briefly.” The words brought back a fleeting memory of a young boy in a war zone.
“He was with Fiera the night Mhashan fell—the young man with the moustache, who she directed to keep fighting at the break in the wall.”
“And he becomes a leading member of the Knights of Jadar. He’ll be one to watch as the years go on.”
Vi groaned. “I should’ve killed all the Knights when I had the chance.”
“They’re a necessary counterweight. Without their presence, people wouldn’t be driven to actions we need them to take.”
“In any case…” Vi didn’t want to speak about the Knights a moment longer. They made her blood boil. “Tiberus, Luke, Schnurr. Who else dies regardless?”
“Of the people you may be familiar with, Craig and Baldair.”
She kept her face passive. Vi had never met her Uncle Baldair in her own world. He’d died years before her birth, before the war in the North had even ended. It was a wound on her father’s soul deeper than she could comprehend. Though Vi had tried to, conjuring thoughts of Romulin passing until her heart couldn’t bear it a moment longer and then multiplying that feeling by several hundred.
Baldair. His death was one she found herself longing to postpone.
“Very well.” They were nearing the outlet of roaring water now littered with pieces of ancient Solaris gold. “The rest of them I still want to save, if I’m able.”
She looked to Taavin and he held her attention. Don’t deny me this, she wanted to beg. Saving the world was a large, unimaginable task. Saving the people her heart still loved was a more reasonable goal.
“You know our purpose, right?”
“I do.” She knew his. She knew hers. And Vi knew a moment would come when only one of their desires persisted.
“Then yes, I’ll help you save them if you’re able… and if it doesn’t alter fate too dramatically,” Taavin said. It almost sounded like agreement.
* * *
It had been six months since they arrived in the West.
The desert heat felt like the embrace of an old friend. The people, the smells, the food, all carried a surprising nostalgia for her. But she hadn’t come here looking for an opportunity to reminisce. She’d come because the Crossroads was the one place they could turn pilfered, ancient, Solaris coins into usable Imperial gold on the black market.
They took every opportunity to exchange their coins. Even still, they sat on two plump bags of un-traded pirate gold and knew where more was, should they ever need it.
It was enough money to buy a wedge of property nestled within the busy market of the Crossroads—one with an iron gate for a door that Vi fashioned Fiera’s roses onto, exactly like the property Vi had stolen the key to from the spice seller in Shaldan a world ago.
They had enough money to enjoy themselves from time to time. Much like tonight, when they had decided to visit the sparring pits at Taavin’s suggestion. Vi found out why he’d made the out-of-character proposal the moment they arrived.
“He’s grown up a lot,” Taavin observed from her side, taking a sip from his flagon as his eyes remained on Baldair.
“Has he?” Vi wondered. She still saw very much the young man that had been in Oparium the year prior. Seeing him here with Jax and Erion had been a surprise. “He still looks like a foolish child.”
“You speak like an old woman.” Taavin grinned at her.
“I can’t be old if I’m ageless.” She grinned back at him then returned her attention to the men on the far side of the sparring ring. They carried on, jesting, betting on the fighters, drinking their brew, and remaining willfully ignorant to the battle that had begun to rage in the North—a battle Vi couldn’t yet bring herself to see. “We should leave here, soon.”
“I thought you wanted to change a bit more coin first.”
“I don’t want to saturate the market with old Solaris gold, especially not now that the prince is here. If he sees some, he may get suspicious. We have enough to get passage to Meru, and we already bought the shop.” Vi rubbed the familiar key in her trouser pocket. She’d carried its otherworldly twin a long time ago.
“You should stay on this continent a little longer.”
“Why?” Vi glanced at Taavin, suspecting what he’d say next would have something to do with why he was so insistent on coming out tonight.
“They’re going to need you. Specifically, the prince and… her.” Taavin motioned to the ring where two fighters entered.
The room went quiet for Vi. She could see the men and women still cheering on the fighters. The announcer called out the names of those about to spar. Swords rang out against scabbards as they were drawn.
But it was all a distant hum as her eyes fell on the adult Raylynn Westwind.
“I can’t,” Vi whispered, more to herself than anyone else.
“In the last world… she and the prince died in the coming weeks.” Taavin’s words were a dagger to her gut.
“I got her mother killed. I can’t have anything to do with her.” The words were like ash coating her mouth. I got her mother killed and I left her body in a puddle of its own blood like the foolish child I was.
“She doesn’t know that and she could use your help.”
Vi swallowed her fear and guilt. He was right. Raylynn didn’t know what she had done—that her mother was just another in a long list of casualties in the fight for a new world.
“I thought you didn’t want me to meddle too much?”
“I told you Raylynn’s life was variable, didn’t I? And you told me you wanted to save the people you could,” Taavin said gently. After their tense moments in Oparium, the gesture was not lost on her, and Vi’s heart warmed at his words. Taavin kept his eyes forward. Raylynn had begun to move. She was just like her mother—the sword was an extension of her body. “I have heard of these people through you, across so many lives. Seeing them now…”
“They’re real,” Vi finished for him. The crowd erupted at Raylynn’s victory.
“Let’s save them.”
“When and where?”
“She’ll take on Luke.” Vi jerked her head to Taavin and he grinned at her. “She blames him for her mother’s death and wants vengeance. She’ll take the prince with her to get it. In your world, he died on the way to Twintle’s manor. It’s possible that Raylynn will also die rushing in to take on Twintle.”
Vi brought up a map of the West in her mind, placing a pin where Twintle’s manor was. “We have to head to Norin anyway. Helping keep them alive can be on the way.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Taavin laced his fingers with hers and brought her hand to his lips.
Vi gave him a determined nod.
They left at the same time as Baldair and his golden companions. The three men went after Raylynn, but Vi and Taavin headed toward their home. They filled Deneya in on their plans—she had just returned from trading a few more of their coins. The three packed their things and started off into the desert, toward the town of Yon.
It took Baldair and Raylynn nearly two weeks to arrive. En
ough time that Vi and her company had bought temporary residence in a cramped apartment out back of a local metal worker’s home. Enough time that Vi could begin to listen to the people in town, and figure out who was a Knight of Jadar, who was in their pockets, and who supported the Knights. By the time Raylynn arrived, Vi was wondering how the clever girl who had gifted her with the idea of making her own crystal weapons had grown into a foolhardy woman. She was walking into the lion’s den willingly, challenging local combatants, winning handily, then strutting back to the inn where she and the prince were staying like she owned the town.
Vi was positioned by the window of their temporary abode. From there, she could see the inn. There was no glass, so she leaned against the wall to keep out of sight. Heavy footsteps approached—a familiar gait.
“Midsummer is almost finished being saddled. Prism is ready,” Deneya said, walking over to sit with her. “Any changes?”
“No, all is quiet.” Vi kept her eyes on the inn. Taavin had told them this was the town where Baldair died during Vi’s original time. But not tonight.
They continued to stare out the window and, for a moment, Vi’s eyes drifted to the dark-haired woman. Deneya was poised, quiet, and ready. There wasn’t a trace of doubt or the edge of restlessness about her.
“How are you not bored of this yet?” Vi asked.
Deneya shrugged. “What else would I be doing? Living comfortably in Risen? Getting fat off the Queen’s pension and taking my secrets of the Dark Isle with me to a faraway grave?”
“Maybe you’d be her personal guard?”
“That’s what I was in your time, right? I wasn’t an agent of the Order of Shadows?” Vi nodded. “I just don’t see it.” Deneya shrugged. “Me? A queen’s personal guard? No.”
“In a way, you’re the crown princess of Solaris’s royal guard.” She grinned at Deneya and the woman rolled her eyes.
“I thought you weren’t the crown princess?”
“You’re right.” Admitting as much had long since become easy. “I’m not. I’m just Yargen’s Champion, much less prestigious,” Vi said sarcastically and looked back to the inn and the quiet, dark night. “If you weren’t doing this—if you could do anything—what would you want to do?”
“I could do anything?” she asked and Vi nodded. Deneya hummed thoughtfully. Her gaze was distant as she looked out the window. “Maybe head north to Dolarian, the land of the Draconi. I’ve heard that some of them can breathe fire and some can even fly. Though there is no greater lore than—”
Deneya was silenced as they both looked at the dark shadows crossing the ground below.
“It’s time.” Vi stood, hastily leaving their hut. Taavin straightened away from Midsummer and they shared a look that said it all. She swung up on Prism. “I’ll meet you both after.”
Prism sprang into action with the slightest touch. He was a good steed, just beginning to get on the other half of his prime. He’d have good years ahead of him yet—Vi was counting on it. She rode into the dark night as the inn glowed red from within, like the waking eyes of some primordial evil.
Glass shattered and two dark figures leapt from a high window. Vi gave the place a wide berth, swinging around the town’s perimeter and flying over the dunes. She slowed Prism as she neared a side alley by the inn and jumped from the saddle.
With a thought, the fire that was now consuming the building was under her command. She could feel the inkling of magic fighting against her at the edge of her consciousness, but the Firebearer the Knights had employed was weak.
Stepping through a wall of fire and into the lower floor of the inn, Vi heard creaking from above, voices shouting. If they were shouting, they were alive. Acting on instinct, Vi sprinted upstairs and skidded to a halt. The fire parted, arcing around her, giving her a view of the man and woman.
“Baldair, Raylynn, come with me.”
“Who—” Baldair began dumbly.
Raylynn grabbed his hand and yanked him forward. Vi trusted her to keep the man in tow as she descended the stairs, pushing away the fire. She led them out the way she came. Prism was there waiting, not bothered in the slightest by the rising flames.
“Take the horse.” After years of riding him, she trusted the mount to keep them safe. “Take it and go. Do not seek out what has been lost,” Vi cautioned. It was the best she could do. She couldn’t outright say, the crystal sword is long gone. “Protect, instead, the weapon that has yet to be found. Do not seek the tomb. Do not let anyone seek the tomb.”
“Do I know you?” Baldair took a step toward her. “Wait, aren’t you… Nox?”
“This isn’t the time,” Vi scolded. Though she didn’t step back or give up her ground. “My control will waver soon,” she said with urgency, though she could’ve held the flames in position for a decade if she’d wanted to. “Go, go now!”
Baldair cursed and mounted Prism, but Raylynn continued to stare.
“Princess Fiera—”
“Go,” Vi urged.
“Damn it, Raylynn, we have an opportunity and we need to take it. Let’s get out of here!” Baldair shouted. But Raylynn was rooted to the spot, her eyes on Vi. “Raylynn.”
The woman stepped to the prince, who helped her into the saddle. Vi watched the motion, already familiar and tender. She couldn’t help but remember the slip of a girl who came to have her future told by a princess, and who yearned to serve the crown.
Raylynn had Vi’s help then, just as she had Vi’s help now, and didn’t realize it in either instance. Vi smiled faintly and, while they were distracted, stepped into the burning building once more, allowing the fire to close behind her.
“Look, look there!” she heard a man shout outside, followed by a snap of the reins and the gallop of a horse.
“Zira, your daughter is safe for a little longer.” Vi took in the burning inn around her. The moment of tenderness immolated on the flames.
Chapter Seventeen
“Are you certain about just leaving it here?” Deneya asked as the waves off the coast of Meru crashed against her midsection.
“It’s a mostly sheltered cove, we’ve anchored it at low tide, and no one comes this way.” Vi listed off all the reasons she’d been repeating to herself for the past day while they decided what to do with the sailboat they’d bought in Norin. If Vi’s plan worked out, they wouldn’t need the small vessel again, anyway. “I don’t want to go all the way to Toris and risk someone seeing it docked there for too long.”
“But we risk coming back and not seeing it at all.”
“Then we buy another boat.”
“Oh, right, we’ll just buy another boat, because money can solve all our problems. Perfect princess logic, that,” Deneya muttered as she sloshed up the black sand beach to where Vi and Taavin were waiting. They carried two packs apiece and not much else. Deneya had the heaviest satchel of them all—the one completely filled with clanking gold coins.
While the gold of old Solaris had no meaning on Meru, gold was gold. If they needed to, they could smelt the coins into bars.
“I shudder to think of what your opinions of me would’ve been if we’d met earlier.” Vi held out a hand, helping Deneya free her feet from the cloying sand of the tides.
“Everything happens in its own time, just as it’s supposed to,” Taavin said thoughtfully. It sounded like an echo of his bygone days as the Voice.
They started up the beach toward the lowest point of the sheer cliffs. There was no man-made path, which was why Vi had picked this particular location to anchor. No one seemed to come this way. But she could see a path up the rocks if they were careful.
It was noon by the time they reached the top. Deneya massaged her aching hands and rolled her shoulders while Vi and Taavin stood unbothered. Vi wanted to tell herself it was because the woman carried the heaviest satchel of all of them. But she knew it was more than that.
Vi wasn’t tired now, just like she’d never grown weary on their crossing from the Dark Isle to Meru. It
was the same reason she could pilot their vessel through the night and have enough energy come the dawn to adjust the rigging on their single sail.
With every step she took in this world, she was further from her own, and further from the mortal casing she used to know. Whether she wanted to or not, she was truly embracing her new body and purpose.
“The Twilight Forest isn’t far.” Vi pointed when Deneya had caught her breath. “Let’s try to get there before nightfall.”
“Heading for the Twilight Forest, intentionally.” Deneya shook her head. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“Ulvarth hasn’t yet begun his campaign against the morphi, right?” Vi looked to Taavin, who nodded once.
“Ulvarth doesn’t begin making his moves for a few years yet, usually.”
She turned back to Deneya. “But you still hate them?”
“Hate is too strong a word. Personally, I feel little toward the morphi, good or bad. But I know it’s a tense subject for the Faithful, and Lumeria has made it clear that we don’t want to give a reason for those tensions to boil over.”
“Smart woman,” Vi said under her breath.
They discussed the delicate politics of the Morphi and Draconi as they walked. Vi remembered what Deneya had said in Yon regarding the Draconi and noted the excited fascination in the woman’s voice—rivaled only by the warm tones she used to speak about Queen Lumeria.
Perhaps, when all this was over, Vi could meet the Queen once more, but not as a tired girl. She’d meet the queen as… Vi’s imagination abandoned her when she tried to picture herself beyond the fall of Raspian.
Perhaps she and Deneya and Taavin could continue adventuring, buying skiffs and sailing to the world’s edges. They could go to the isle of Dolarian and see if there were truly fire-breathing, winged beasts or if it was all just lore. Vi tried to imagine herself sailing to the far reaches of the maps in her mind, which was somehow easier than picturing herself sitting comfortably on the Dark Isle.
No matter what, when it came to who she would become, her mind’s eye was blurry.