by Krista Rose
He made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat. “Kryssa-”
“Please?”
“Fine. You win. But when you get back, I expect answers.”
Maybe I’ll actually have some by then. I sighed, and my eyes closed as he leaned down for another kiss, softer this time, lingering. His hands were gentle on my shoulders. My heart tripped lightly in my chest, my body going lax against his-
“Kryssa!” Alyxen pounded on the door. “Kryssa, dinner’s ready!”
I resisted the urge to swear at him. Barely. “Alright.” I glanced at Vitric, and found him smiling at me. “What?”
“Nothing.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I’ll tell you when you come back.”
I sighed, and pulled myself away from him. He opened the door, and we rejoined the others in the great room.
LANYA
“Is that him?”
I glanced up in surprise at Eloise, then followed her gaze. Kryssa and the man Brannyn had told me was Vitric were emerging from the back hallway. Her mind was tightly shielded, but chaotic emotions spilled out of her, and her braid had somehow come undone. “Yes,” I murmured. “That’s him.”
Elias appeared behind us. “Are we gossiping? I want to play.”
“We were deciding who was going to set the table.” I smiled at him sweetly. “Thank you for volunteering.”
“Girls are mean,” he complained, then stole a kiss from Eloise before rummaging on a shelf for plates.
Eloise blushed and ducked her head before turning back to the fireplace.
I glanced again at my sister. Despite the careful distance she kept from Vitric, I could nearly see the lines of tension connecting her to him.
I shook my head, and turned my attention toward serving dinner.
Tanner and Elias had managed to find enough tables for us all to sit, so we were not forced to eat on the floor. Grandfather sat at the head of them, and the rest of us crowded in around the sides. He said the blessing, and we dug in.
“So, Desper.” Elias glanced across the table to where Vitric sat beside Kryssa. “How did you become a Second?”
Vitric’s expression turned sheepish. “I may have tried to save my Lady from a bear.”
“That sounds so noble!” Eloise’s eyes were wide.
“It does, doesn’t it? Until you realize my lady is an Earthmage, and can talk to animals. The bear was apparently giving her directions. I nearly got my head bitten off, and there’s no telling what the bear might have done.”
We laughed.
Tanner buttered a slice of bread. “So you rescued her from a direction-giving bear, and then what? She just asked you to be her Second?”
“Pretty much.” Vitric shrugged at the other man’s incredulous look. “Lady Vysarine had told her that she would find someone worthy of being her Second during her journey. For some reason, Lady Hetarielle thinks that means me.”
“Is Enevai as lovely as the books say?” Eloise asked wistfully.
“More.”
Elias raised a brow. “Who is Enevai?”
Eloise shook her head. “Where. The Isle of Enevai is where the Great Mages live. It’s supposed to be a paradise.”
Vitric nodded. “It is. Enevai is probably the most beautiful place on earth.” But he stole a glance at Kryssa, and I could almost hear his unspoken thought. One of them, anyway.
Alyxen rolled his eyes and grabbed for more chicken.
“How long have you been a Second, Desper?” Grandfather asked.
“Eight months, since mid-Zyten.”
“That’s not very long. This Lady Hetachery-”
“Hetarielle.”
“Why do all mages have names like that? Why can’t they stick to something simple?” He shook his head. “It seems like you should have been with her longer before she sent you out alone. Vampyres are serious business.”
Vitric raised a brow. “Sir?”
“Oh, don’t look at me like that, lad. I’m not saying you can’t handle it. I’m saying that Great Mages put a lot of trust and effort into their Seconds. The training is supposed to take years, not months.”
“Maybe he’s a fast learner?” Tanner supplied hopefully, with a glance at Brannyn.
Vitric shook his head. “Goodman Moon is right. I’m not fully trained yet. But something’s happening on Enevai, and they’ve sent all the Seconds out on missions like mine. Something to do with a ‘great darkness’.”
I flinched, and looked at Kryssa. It couldn’t be.
I don’t know, she responded, but her eyes were dark with shock.
It could be something else, Alyxen pointed out as he shoved another slice of bread in his mouth. It doesn’t always have to be about us, does it?
Because we all know dozens of great darknesses wander the earth at all times. Kylee scowled across the table. How many ‘great darknesses’ do you think there are? Seven? Thirty-two? How has the world not ended yet, with all this darkness everywhere?
This is all based on the belief that we really are the Gods’ chosen, Brannyn pointed out mildly. Did we decide we were while I wasn’t paying attention?
None of us had an answer.
The others at the table were looking at us curiously, trying to follow our silent conversation, and I sympathized for their discomfort. Aloud, I said, “Hamar has agreed to keep Terral on at the shop while I’m gone.”
The conversation eased after that, returning to simpler, safer topics, and I quietly drained the remaining tension from the room.
When I looked up, Kryssa was watching me, her eyes intense upon my face. Well done.
I blushed at the praise, flustered, and was grateful when Eloise leaned over to ask me a question, saving me from having to respond.
TANNER
A sliver of moonlight shone through the window of the room I shared with Alyxen, its bright white light almost blinding against the dark sky. I stared at it from where I lay on my pallet on the floor, grateful that its light would keep Felice and her Vampyres in hiding, unable to bear the agony of even reflected sunlight upon their skin. It meant that Brannyn and Desper would be safe on patrol tonight without me, and eased my guilty conscience for abandoning my friends.
“Soon, Felice,” I murmured, my heart aching for her. “Soon I’ll be able to free you.”
The moon did not answer, but I didn’t expect it to. I sighed and closed my eyes, and at last fell into exhausted sleep.
KRYSSA
10 Davael 578A.F.
The morning dawned bright and warm, and we gathered outside my grandfather’s house, making the last minute checks of the horses Tanner and I had purchased the day before. Our friends and family clustered around us, wishing us luck as we prepared to leave.
Vitric stood beside me, holding my horse’s reins so it didn’t bolt. We had barely spoken since my crying fit the night before, but words didn’t seem necessary. There would be time enough for them, after.
Elias grabbed me up in a tight hug, surprising me, then boosted me into the saddle. He gave me a watery grin as I settled. “Remember to keep your guard up.”
“I will.”
Grandfather approached me as he walked away, an uncomfortable look on his face. “I know we didn’t always get along, but you’re a fine woman, Kryssa Rose. I’m proud to call you family.”
I smiled at him. “Thank you.”
“Yes, well.” He patted my knee awkwardly, then moved away to speak with Lanya.
Don’t forget to let me know when you find Reyce, Brannyn reminded me as the others slowly mounted. The usual brilliant red of his thoughts was muted by worry and fatigue. And be careful.
Yes, Mother, I teased, and was rewarded with a brief smile.
“Be careful,” Vitric murmured, echoing my brother as he handed me the reins. His eyes were the color of storm clouds as he looked up at me. “Come back.”
I leaned down in the saddle and kissed him. His lips were soft and honey-sweet, and the taste of him lingered as I sat
back up. I ignored the curious stares and grins aimed in our direction as I checked to make certain my sword was in reach, tied to my saddle.
The others were mounted, waiting on me. I took a deep breath, and urged my horse forward, heading out of Fallor into the morning sunshine.
BRANNYN
We watched until the others were out of sight, the echo of hoofbeats finally fading. Worry threatened to strangle me, and I pulled my mind away from it.
Vitric looked lost as he stared after my sister, and my heart ached in sympathy, remembering Marla as she had died in my arms. What would it be like to find her alive, only to watch her leave again?
I put a hand on his shoulder. “Come on. I’ll buy you breakfast.”
He sighed, his shoulders slumping, and followed me toward the market.
TANNER
We made good time the first day, traveling twenty miles before the sun started to sink toward the west. We only slowed to rest our horses, even eating our meals in the saddle, but realized our mistake as soon as we stopped to make camp.
Our legs didn’t work.
I groaned at the pain in my thighs and back, my knees crackling ominously as I lowered myself to the ground. Kryssa was grimacing as she massaged the muscles in her calves, and Alyxen waddled across the grass, trying to work out the stiffness. Lanya collapsed with a surprised cry, her legs buckling beneath her as they hit the ground.
Only Kylee seemed unaffected, swinging off her horse with a smirk before tying her reins to a low tree.
We all glared at her in resentment as we hobbled to set up camp.
Dinner was leftover chicken and bread that Lanya had wrapped in oilcloth. Alyxen ate his portion and half of everyone else’s, since the rest of us were too tired to eat much.
Kryssa stared up at the stars as we rolled into our blankets at last, and I watched the outline of her face, wondering what she was thinking. Brannyn’s older sister had always scared me a little. Her eyes seemed to see too much when she looked at me, as if she could read every imperfections in my soul. But tonight she simply looked sad.
My mother had sung me lullabies when I was little, long before I had learned she wasn’t really my mother, but my owner. I hummed for a moment, remembering.
“The sky is summer blue, edged in palest pink,
The trees are ever green, lined with blackest ink.
The mockingbirds sing their goodnight calls,
The crickets hum while darkness falls.
A point of light, a little star-
The night is close; the day, so far.
Close your eyes, my dearest one,
As fades away the light;
The ship of dreams is coming
To carry you through the night.”
I heard Lanya sigh, watched as Kryssa’s lips tilted into a smile. She glanced over at me. “That was lovely.”
I shrugged, then winced when the movement made my back throb.
Alyxen rolled over to look at me, his eyes bright by the banked light of our fire. “I heard a new story a few nights ago at the tavern. It’s kind of scary, though.”
“The tavern?” Kryssa frowned at him. “What were you doing in the tavern at night?”
His face turned guilty. “Um…”
“He goes there to hear the old men talk sometimes.” Kylee’s voice sounded bored. “Doesn’t anyone else ever pay attention?”
Kryssa’s glare was murderous, and I was very, very glad it wasn’t aimed at me.
“Why don’t you tell us the story, Alyxen?” Lanya’s voice was soothing, and my eyes drooped of their own accord. “Although, if it is that scary, you might have to tell us another one to make up for it.”
“Alright.” He cleared his throat. “Once, a long time ago, there was a barmaid who worked in a tavern. Every night, she would have to fetch the wine from the cellar, but she feared going down there because it was dark. Even though she took a candle, she swore she could hear things moving in the shadows, saw them flickering in the corners of her eyes.”
He paused, waiting, and I realized he was waiting for Reyce to ask questions- except Reyce was in Cedralysone.
“Anyway,” he continued, his voice a little strained after the awkward silence, “one day a man entered the tavern. His clothes were shabby and worn, and his eyes cold when the barmaid came to take his order. In a rusty voice, he said, ‘A bottle of your best wine.’”
Alyxen’s voice scraped against the dark, and I shivered, goose flesh rising on my arms.
“The barmaid lit her candle and hurried down into the cellar, but though she searched and searched, she couldn’t find the bottle. At last her candle went out, and she ran back out of the darkened cellar, back into the tavern above.”
“Was the man angry?” Kylee asked, sounding intrigued.
“The man was gone.” He paused, watching with satisfaction as the rest of us shivered. “No one else in the tavern remembered seeing him enter, or leave. But on the table where he had been sitting was a single empty bottle, the same one she had been looking for. And carved into the table was a message: We are what waits in the dark.”
I shuddered, remembering glowing white eyes. I could almost feel Felice’s breath on my neck, her voice dripping with malice as she whispered in my ear.
Kiss me.
“Is anyone else chilly?” I sat up and looked around, hoping my voice didn’t sound as squeaky as it did to my own ears. “I think it’s a little chilly. I’m going to build up the fire some more, alright? But it has absolutely nothing to do with Alyxen’s creepy story. I’m just chilly.”
Alyxen chuckled, and lay back in his blanket as I poked at the glowing embers, praying for dawn.
11-12 Davael, 578A.F.
The Southern Road
The second day was much as the first, though slower, since we dismounted every few hours to walk our horses and stretch our legs. Still, we covered about twelve miles that day, and I estimated we were just north of the Salt Flats when we stopped to make camp. I do not know if Alyxen told another story that night; I was too exhausted to even eat, and fell asleep without unpacking my bedroll.
We woke at dawn the next day to cloudy skies and a chill wind. Kryssa stared up at it with a disapproving frown, and I wondered if she was going to scold the weather.
“It’s going to rain this afternoon,” she murmured.
“We could always try to find an inn in Joksten,” I said reluctantly. “We’re going to pass it either way.”
“I hate to lose the time.” She sighed, and glanced at me with tired eyes. “But you’re right. We need shelter for the night.”
I nodded, ignoring the ball of dread that formed in my stomach. We saddled our horses and mounted, heading south toward the town where I had lived as a slave.
Joksten was as I remembered it: a squat, ugly town hovering on the edge of the bright white expanse of the Salt Flats. The hunched, windowless buildings appeared menacing in the grey noon light, like shabbily-built bullies crowding the narrow streets. The air was foul, forcing us to take shallow breaths, and it seemed I could almost feel the weight of the town’s despair descending on me, infinitely heavier than the fat raindrops that had begun to fall.
“What’s wrong with this place?” Lanya whispered, her eyes wide. “It’s- it’s like-”
“It’s a slave depot,” I said bluntly, unpleasant memories bubbling to the surface. “A few streets over is the slave pens, and the auction house. The people who live here are slavers.”
She stared at me. “Have you been here before?”
I shoved the memories away. “It was a long time ago.” I pointed at a wildly-swinging sign. “There. An inn.”
We made our way behind the building as the rain began to fall in earnest. An unhappy stable boy emerged to take my horse as we dismounted in a small courtyard.
Kryssa untied her saddlebags, slinging them over her shoulder before heading inside. Unsure what else to do, I followed her into the great room as the others led the horses into th
e stables to care for them.
The heavily-bearded man behind the bar stared at us with flat, unfriendly eyes, but his voice was quiet as he named a reasonable price for two rooms. Kryssa paid him, and we trudged upstairs to find them.
The rooms were cleaner than I had expected. Each held two beds and a wooden half-tub with a hand-pump on one side, though the water that emerged was icy. We would have to warm it ourselves in the rusted kettles that hung over the fireplaces.
The others joined us after only a few minutes, carrying the rest of our belongings. Alyxen was sharing the room with me. He muttered words like “inefficient” and “poor craftsmanship” as he eyed the tub. I finally left him alone and headed back downstairs to the great room, uncomfortable with the idea of him grumbling over me as I bathed.
The great room was like every other one I had ever been in: dim and filthy, filled with the odor of stale smoke and sweat. Hanging over it was the smell of the day’s stew, which was more appetizing than I would have expected. A group of soldiers caroused noisily in one corner, easily identifiable by their unkempt uniforms. A few older patrons lingered at the tables, sullenly nursing their ale, and frizzy-haired prostitute napped in a corner, a bottle of wine clutched to her bony chest.
I sat at an empty table, careful to keep my back to a wall. The barman walked over, taking down my request for a bowl of the stew and a bottle of Valorian red before disappearing into a back room. He emerged a moment later to place a steaming bowl in front of me, then headed behind the bar for the wine and a glass.
Lanya appeared at my side. “May I join you?”
I gestured to the seat across from me, and she sat. The barman returned, and she smiled up at him. “A bowl of the stew, please. And another glass.”
He nodded. Within moments, Lanya had a steaming bowl before her, and was pouring us each a glass of the wine.
One of the soldiers wandered over as the barman returned to the bar. He was young, two or three years younger than me, with a cocky grin and the soft features of someone used to easy living. His hands were uncalloused, obviously unused to handling the sword he kept belted at his side.
