‘Are you in a lot of pain?’ he asked.
She merely grunted in response. She didn’t feel like talking about it, and Kai seemed to be enjoying her discomfort way too much. ‘I thought you were the nice brother,’ she finally said, as she closed her saddlebag and forced a handful of rashi into her mouth.
‘Oh, I am,’ he replied. ‘Rhyn would have had you riding at double the pace today. The horses can ride a lot fast than that, believe me.’
Sloane huffed out a breath and crossed her arms over her chest. ‘You’re not making me like you any better right now,’ she said.
He merely shrugged at her and turned back to his horse like he didn’t take what she was saying very seriously.
She sighed and slowly began to stretch her muscles out, frequently wincing as she tried to ignore how tight her legs were feeling. She felt herself craving a long hot bath. Unfortunately, she was about as close to a hot bath as she was to Earth—they weren’t even in the same galaxy.
They’d been riding all day across the rippled surface of the frozen sea. It had been a long time since the tall cliffs of Kai’s village disappeared into the distance, and the endless rise and fall of the frozen ocean had surrounded them for the remainder of the day.
It was incredible the way the sea spread out in rolling peaks and troughs. Sloane had expected it to be flat, similar to the way a lake iced over in the winter. But instead, it was like the sea had been frozen mid-motion, as though the waves were captured in an icy pocket of time.
The uneven surface made it difficult for the horses to run at full speed, and a part of her was grateful for that. She could only imagine what state she’d be in if they had ridden as fast as they could go. The journey was already becoming an unpleasant one for Sloane, and she knew it would only get worse the longer they travelled.
She stared at the darkening horizon and tried to guess how much daylight they had left. It had been quite a pleasant morning, but the clouds had rolled in several hours ago, and they’d been journeying through light flurries of snow since the middle of the day. Kai didn’t seem too bothered by the snowflakes, but they rested all over Sloane’s clothing and hair making her damp. Now that it was growing dark, she was becoming increasingly cold. Despite the lack of sunshine, she could tell it wouldn’t be long until nightfall.
At least when she’d been travelling with Rhyn to the Brakys’ lair, she’d been moving enough to keep herself warm. She certainly couldn’t say the same thing now.
Sloane finished with her stretches and started nibbling on another strip of rashi. Kai was staring into the distance in the direction they’d been headed all day. She had no idea how he knew which way to go. Everything looked the same out there to her.
She knew she would be completely screwed if she lost Kai. It didn’t take much foresight to know she’d be moving around in endless circles with no clue where she was if they got separated.
‘So, what now?’ she asked, walking over to where Kai stood as he gently rubbed his horse’s muzzle.
‘We rest for an hour or so, before starting out again,’ he said. ‘It’s too cold out here to stop for long. The horses are used to it, but I don’t think you should sleep. It will lower your body temperature too much. Besides, we have a lot of time to make up for. We didn’t get nearly far enough today.’
Sloane nodded. She didn’t want to mount her horse and keep going through the night, but Kai made a good point. She had been getting colder and colder since they started out. There was no protection from the elements out on the sea, and she agreed with Kai; the sooner they reached their destination, the better. She knew she’d slowed him down a lot that day, so she couldn’t bring herself to complain about making up time when she knew she was the reason they’d fallen behind schedule.
‘Understood,’ she replied, wrapping her arms tightly around her body to ward off the chill that had set into her bones.
Kai frowned as he looked at her.
‘What?’ she asked, feeling like he was studying her a little too closely.
He shook his head and moved to his saddlebag. He opened it and pulled out three vials that each held a different coloured powder. One was a deep green, like the colour of algae growing on rocks by the sea. The next was filled with a powder that shimmered like silver glitter. The final vial contained a powder as black as night.
‘What are you doing?’ Sloane asked, stepping closer so she could get a better view of the vials. The powders within them looked like they had been taken from some of the many jars she had seen stacked on shelves in the building where the elders had held their meeting.
Kai was entirely focused on the vials however and didn’t respond. She wasn’t even sure if he’d heard her question as he turned and knelt on the ground. He started gathering some of the fresh snow that covered the ice and compacted it into a snowball in his hands.
He began to pour small amounts of the strange powders from the vials onto the snowball. Sloane only frowned as she watched him, completely uncertain what he was doing but totally captivated. She was about to press him again for answers, but instead, her eyes widened and shock overwhelmed her curiosity as the ball of snow began to shimmer in his hands. The snow shone brighter and brighter, almost reminding her of the way the orb had glowed during Kai’s choosing ceremony.
Once he’d finished sprinkling some of the black powder over the ball, the glowing began to dull slightly, and the look of intense concentration on Kai’s face lessened. He stood up, with the snowball in his hands and offered it out to Sloane. She took a curious step closer, to get a better look, but she wasn’t confident enough to actually touch the thing.
It no longer looked like snow. Instead, it looked more like a rock, or a piece of coal that had been pulled from a fire. It had rough edges, and Sloane could see fingerprints imprinted on it where Kai had been holding it. It still glowed slightly, but the colour was far more muted.
She looked up from the ball to Kai, and she could almost see a hint of pride in his eyes. He held the object out further and nodded at it.
‘Take it,’ he said.
Sloane frowned. She had seen Kai create the strange glowing rock from snow, but it looked like it was burning with heat. Kai was touching it without problems though, so Sloane refused to be nervous. She was almost more uncomfortable around Kai than the actual snowball. She had no idea how he’d made it glow in such a way, and she suddenly felt apprehensive about being in the middle of nowhere with a man she knew so little about.
She held her hand out though, allowing him to place the object firmly in her grasp. She gasped as it touched her skin and brought her other hand around it, pulling it in close to her chest. The firm snowball was deliciously warm, and her body craved the heat more than she thought possible. She hadn’t realised quite how cold she was until she had gripped Kai’s creation, but her hands were now simmering in warmth as she hugged it close to her body.
She must have stood there relishing in the warmth for a good few minutes before she remembered that Kai had just magically created it out of snow.
She shook herself from her daze and lifted her eyes to look at Kai. He was watching her, almost nervously, and he seemed so vulnerable as she stared at him. She knew she should probably attempt to remain calm about what he’d done, but she was struggling to keep her composure.
‘What the hell did you just do?’ she asked. Yeah, cool and calm was really not her strong suit.
‘You looked cold,’ he said as if that was all the explanation she needed.
She lifted an eyebrow at him. ‘Yes, I’m well aware of that,’ she said. ‘But I was kind of hoping you could explain what this crazy-magical-ball-of-warmth you just whipped up from the snow is, and how the actual hell did you do it.’ Her words came out in a rush, and she was speaking so fast that some of them sounded more like one word than two.
He shuffled uncomfortably, struggling to meet her gaze. ‘You knew I was a magus,’ he replied.
‘You said you were in charge of
things like choosing ceremonies. I thought you were some kind of priest!’ There was an accusatory tone to her voice, but also a hint of hurt. She couldn’t understand why he hadn’t explained what he could do in more detail. Did he not trust her?
He slowly shook his head. ‘No, I’m not a priest. As a magus, I’ve spent many years studying every known element in our world and how they all interact with one another. That was not magic, rather the result of many years of knowledge passed down from one magus to another.’
‘So, you’re like a scientist?’ Sloane asked. She felt like that didn’t quite cover it, because no scientist she knew could make snow give off heat. But at least it was something her mind could grasp.
‘Not quite,’ he replied with a frown. ‘Though that description will suffice, I suppose.’
‘So, what else can a magus do,’ Sloane wondered out loud.
‘Many things,’ Kai replied. ‘But it depends on the magus. One with an extensive understanding of our world can do incredible things.’
‘Like Joran?’ Sloane continued. ‘He must be a very powerful magus if he was able to create the Oblivion Stone.’
‘Very powerful,’ Kai said, smiling at her as he shrugged off her question. ‘You should get some rest. We have a lot of riding to do.’
Sloane looked down at the ball of warmth she clasped tightly in her hands. She still wasn’t sure how Kai had created it, but she was glad he had. She wanted to know more about Joran and the powers of the magi, but she knew Kai was right about her needing to get some rest.
‘Well, whatever you did, thanks. You can make me glowing hot snowballs any day.’ She lifted the ball to her face and smiled as she felt the pleasant warmth against her cheek.
He smiled in return. ‘I’m glad I could help.’ He stared up at the rapidly darkening sky before he looked back at her. ‘Get some rest.’
She nodded and went back to her horse to retrieve a blanket. The two of them rested for an hour, but Sloane failed to get any sleep. Her mind couldn’t stop thinking about Kai’s abilities as a magus, and she was more intrigued than ever by the Oblivion Stone.
When they finally set off again, Sloane’s muscles were still just as sore as they had been when they had stopped. If anything they were worse, but she didn’t utter a word of complaint as she swung herself back onto the saddle. She tucked the warm snowball inside her jacket before they set out and was surprised to find that it had not cooled down at all. She felt so grateful to Kai for the added warmth.
Neither of them spoke as they rode. Sloane was deep in thought, and she suspected that Kai was much the same. She wasn’t certain if their trip to visit Kai’s mentor would be successful, and she was really hoping they wouldn’t return empty handed. She barely knew anything about the stone they were after, but knowing it could stop the Unfaih and the humans from starting a war had her pretty motivated to find it.
Sloane pulled her horse up beside Kai who seemed so at ease as he rode. She wished she could replicate how effortless he looked, but apparently, that skill was beyond her.
‘Kai, what exactly is the Oblivion Stone?’ Sloane asked, playing with the reins in her hand.
He glanced over at her and his mouth creased as he considered how to respond. ‘Joran created it over a millennium ago to close the rift,’ he replied. ‘But as you heard at the meeting, it was lost in the process. Joran has not spoken of that day since it happened, and never shared with me the details of how he created it, or where it came from.’
‘Did he tell anyone?’ Sloane asked.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Kai. ‘All I know is that the Oblivion Stone had the power to absorb and contain the energy around it. Rifts are very powerful entities, but when Joran placed the stone in the rift between our world and Earth, he was able to sap its energy and destroy it completely.’
‘Will he be able to make another stone like it?’ Sloane asked.
‘I don’t know if he can,’ Kai replied. ‘And I’s not sure if he would, even if he could, after what happened to our world the last time he did.’
‘So if the original stone is missing, he probably can’t make another one, and it would be too dangerous even if he could; why are we going to see him?’
‘Because he knows more about rifts than anyone.’ Kai answered. ‘He’s studied them in great depth, and he is our best chance of finding another way to close them.’
Sloane looked down at her horse, considering their conversation through. ‘If Joran does know of a way to close the rifts, do you think we should do it?’ she asked, looking back at him.
Kai sighed and looked out over the frozen sea that surrounded them and the icy waves that stretched on and on to the dark horizon. He seemed troubled by her question, and he wasn’t the only one who felt worried.
‘That is another reason we must meet with Joran,’ he eventually replied. ‘He may not have spoken about it since, but I know he has never forgiven himself for what happened to our world after he closed the rift. He must have spent centuries trying to work out what went wrong. We will see what he has learned.’
Sloane frowned and fell silent. She didn’t feel very encouraged by Kai’s answer. If anything she was disheartened. It felt like they were travelling a long way based on nothing more than hope. But they had no other choice. Her father was bringing a war to the world of the Unfaih, and the only way to stop the violence was to separate the two worlds forever. Closing the rift was their best chance; she just hoped that Joran held the answers they were after.
The pair didn’t talk much after that and Sloane felt like they were both considering the importance of the task that lay ahead of them as they rode through the night. They stopped briefly again before sunrise. Sloane had always felt like she was strong, for a human, but she was close to reaching her limit. She was exhausted. She’d been pushing her body too hard for too long and was in desperate need of a warm bed and several days rest. Even her short sleep in Rhyn’s hut hadn’t fully restored her.
When they started out again, Kai pressed them to ride harder. It was like the two suns in the sky were chasing him, and he was racing to outpace them. Sloane also felt the same pressure to move fast. A fight could erupt between the humans and the Unfaih at any time, and whether they had the ability to close the rift or not, Sloane needed to be there when the war arrived.
When the suns began to set again, Sloane rubbed her eyes as she stared into the distance. At the far edge of the horizon, she could see something rising out of the flat ground. She rubbed her eyes again to make sure she wasn’t imagining things, but it was definitely there.
The ground up ahead sloped slightly upwards and at the top of the small mound was a series of round buildings gathered in a cluster. The suns’ rays reflected off the icy surfaces of the buildings, and Sloane’s heart skipped a beat as she began to see the silhouettes of people moving between them.
‘Is that it?’ Sloane asked, her voice bubbling with excitement.
‘Yes, we’re nearly there,’ Kai responded, relief evident in his tone.
Sloane was practically jumping in her saddle as they kept moving towards their destination. It felt like they’d been riding forever and she was desperate to get off her horse. Despite her discomfort, she shot a smile at Kai and thumped her legs into her horse to urge it forwards.
‘Race you there,’ she shouted, grinning as she galloped towards Joran’s village.
Chapter Twelve
Sloane slowed her horse as she neared the village. The suns had disappeared from view, and it was nearly dark, but she could still see the place clearly in the twilight, and it wasn’t anything like she’d expected.
The village was slightly elevated from the frozen sea they’d been travelling across, and it almost looked like a snowy island in the middle of the icy wasteland. Frozen waves curled around in large arches as they met the snow-covered land, and huge dome-shaped structures stood gathered at the top of the small hill. Each one of them was made from large blocks of ice, and they reminded her
a little of igloos. Soft lights emanated from the entrance to each igloo, and Sloane imagined that once it was darker, their glow would be brighter still.
The place didn’t look particularly inviting, but Sloane suspected she felt that way because it was truly in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by endless ice and snow no matter which way she looked. Despite the light coming from within them, the icy dwellings looked cold and extremely inhospitable.
Fires were being lit throughout the village as Sloane drew near and their light was like a beacon, luring her in. Kai pulled up his horse beside hers and dismounted, gesturing for Sloane to do the same. The two of them then led their horses the rest of the way to the village on foot.
As they approached the closest igloo, Sloane felt a strange fluttering of nerves in her stomach. Most of Rhyn’s people weren’t exactly welcoming to her, but they had grown used to having a human in their midst. What were these people going to think of her? Would they allow her in their village, or would she be cast outside to wait until Kai finished there?
They both tied their horses to a post, and Sloane let Kai take the lead as they entered the village. She’d never been one to cower behind anyone before, but she was exhausted, and she didn’t know what kind of reception she’d receive. She was seriously not in the mood to deal with any hostility right now.
Sloane would have just stayed with the horses if she weren’t so damn curious about Joran and the Oblivion Stone. She’d ridden the horse for what felt like an eternity, and there was no way she was missing out on hearing everything there was to know about closing rifts.
She felt stares on her from the moment she entered the village. Unfaih men and women stopped in their tracks as she walked by them, and their scrutiny made her feel exposed. They were looking at her like she was completely abnormal like she was an alien. Now that she thought about it, an alien was exactly what she was to these people. Her white blonde hair, in particular, made her stand out dramatically compared to the inhabitants of Ellysia. And from the way each person’s eyes boggled when they saw her, she almost felt like she’d be less noticeable if she had a second head.
The Oblivion Stone (The Liftsal Guardians Book 3) Page 12
