Madhavi made a vexed noise and hauled Roth up to his feet. She was quite strong for a woman, but Roth did not appreciate being manhandled, hissing at her and lashing her forearm with his claws, leaving a deep gouge. She hissed in return, going on the defensive until Phier landed on Roth’s shoulder. She would not cross the Corrupted phoenix; no one would. He was rather large and heavy, very intimidating but that was why Roth loved him so. He was also one of the single most Powerful beings in existence and had very little patience for anything that was not Roth. The New One, Roth noted, watched in placid silence with the ash turning to perfectly frozen crystals where it fell near him.
“How are you doing that?” Roth said, moving close to the New One to inspect him. The thing shrieked at him. Roth sneered at it. It was ugly, with too many confusing parts. It was both bird and cat. How ridiculous - pick one! “Your creature is confused about its identity.”
“We’re leaving,” Madhavi growled, nursing her injured arm. Roth grinned.
“Are we, now? And where might we be going?”
“To finish the job you were sent to do. Daemodan wants a Vessel. Track Jaysen. He didn’t just vanish, idiot. Find him.”
Roth stepped forward, feeling her breath against his face and sneered. “If I find him, you’ll not touch him again, understand? He’s fragile and you are wretched.”
“How dare you even sug-” she began but he cut her off with his hand seizing her throat until she croaked, and her toes scraped the ash-covered ground. The
New One’s confused thing growled but did not move otherwise.
“You’ll. Not. Touch. Him. Are we clear?” he growled. Madhavi tried to answer but had no voice, nodding desperately instead. Roth released her, the dragon-born woman dropping heavily to the ground. She gasped and choked, glaring at Roth and the New One. Perhaps he was supposed to help her. He smirked instead, enjoying her torment. Maybe the New One was not all bad.
“Shall we play a game?” Roth purred, circling the New One. The other man watched, mismatched eyes curious but deadly.
“What game?” the New One finally replied in a voice that was barely above a hoarse rasp. He had the voice of a ghost. That would be his new name. Ghost.
“Hide-and-Find, Ghost,” Roth said. “Interested?”
Much to Roth’s delight, Ghost nodded.
“Phier!” Roth clapped, turning around with a little hop. “We’re Moppet hunting! Start sniffing! If we win, we get the first infant we find; if Ghost and his confused beast win, we have to eat sizzling lizards that scorch our tongues!”
The phoenix took flight as Roth began to sniff at the air like a dog. The game was on.
***
Rain in Mahala never lingered for long. The heat returned with the vengeance of a thousand suns, sapping the life from every living thing in Azucena.
“It’s hot here,” Reven complained turning back into the manse. He leaned on a cane, unable to stand upright without aid. Demon wounds did not heal properly no matter what was done to them. It was a horrible reality barreling down on the young tirsai heir to the Phoenix Throne. Despite Serai’s assistance, the boy continued to fail, growing weaker by the hour. His sisters and the Kormandi princess sat vigil over him in hopes that he might recover. Reven did not have the heart to tell them the brutal truth. Reven’s ailments were not quite as potent, the creature that delivered his wound not truly a ‘full’ demon like the one that wounded Aeron. Reven was still puzzling out what that meant. The basis of a Corruption was easily understood: a blending of science and fell magic that forced the Corruption of a demon’s natural wound on the victim. The why of it was something else entirely. Nothing good for sure.
“S’always hot,” Liam grumbled, feet propped on the newly delivered dining room table. Reven shot him a glare, knocking the thief-taker’s feet off the table with his cane by way of reply. The man loitered because Ajana loitered. He was allowed to stay for her sake, otherwise Reven would have sent the thief-taker halfway to the moons above by now. “Rev…”
“What?” Reven grumbled. He was not particularly interested in hearing another tirade from the duende man. He instigated two since Reven’s recovery back to consciousness. Anything to save his skin.
“Sorry,” Liam mumbled. Reven frowned, turning to look over his shoulder to make sure he heard right. The thief-taker stared at the floor or his hands or anything but the bard. Reven felt the guilt, the regret that rolled off of Liam. He heard every thought, every excuse that flooded the man’s mind for why he’d done what he’d done, why he lied or kept so many secrets. Reven sighed, limping back to where Liam sat. To his credit, the man flinched, looking up in surprise when Reven set a hand on his shoulder instead.
“Forget it,” the bard said and moved on. At some point, a serious discussion was in order. The paths Reven and Liam walked were splitting. Knowing that put a heavy weight on the bard’s heart. He hobbled through the grand foyer to the opposite end of the manse where there would eventually be a sitting room. It opened up to a rear garden that boasted a rather impressive array of weeds and overgrown shrubbery but also offered a bit of shade and respite from the heat. Navid sat out in the garden with Kaleo and the Kormandi king and queen. They would leave in the morning for Itahl, the queen’s home nation. Both looked at him as he walked out to join them, the quiet conversation between the four coming to an end with Kaleo going so far as to shrink up behind the centaur. Reven threw a glare at the incorrigible child but ignored him otherwise.
“Things are in order for you to leave tomorrow, Majesty,” the bard began, addressing the young king. Reven had made all of the arrangements earlier that day on his trip into town. He needed time to think, to sort things out away from the coterie of people invading his home; needed food. Plus, Reven had collected his new caretaker, returning with a wagon full of supplies that the elderly human set himself to organizing. “Sergio will escort you to the Port Circle and make sure you have what you need.”
The young man offered a gentle grin, nodding but looked at Kaleo as the winged brat began to translate what was said into the Imperial tongue. Only then did the king truly nod and regard the bard with appreciation. Interesting.
“Sangkyu, Reven-san,” the king said. The language switch surprised Reven, especially given that Kaleo translated. More surprising was his own capacity to understand the language of the kitsune.
“Of course,” Reven said, using what the king seemed to know best. It made the young man smile. He, like many others in his home, looked at him with reserved recognition. They knew him, knew who he was, and now adapted to an unexpected change. “It is my understanding that Nadya will remain with the Phoenix prince.”
Again, the young king nodded allowing Kaleo to translate for the queen now rather than the king. She, like most Itahli, only spoke the Trade Cant out of a belief that they were exempt from stooping to the lesser nations. History tomes told the bard that the tirsai of the Phoenix Empire once had the same arrogance. Once.
“Will you be staying with us, Navid?” Reven continued. The centaur looked at him then at Kaleo, mentally mulling over his response. Whatever was discussed prior to Reven’s intrusion played a part in the centaur’s answer.
“For now,” he replied. “Until Aeron is well enough to return to Tierra Vida.”
Reven was not familiar with Tierra Vida outside of its position on a map. From what he understood, the island nation was where the Phoenix Empire refugees fled, where the twins and their brother belonged. Navid too and, as much as it pained Reven to even consider it, perhaps even Kaleo. On the other hand, given the prince’s failing health, the temporary addition of extended Phoenix royals was almost certain to become permanent. Reven bit his tongue. When the inevitable came to pass, they could discuss arrangements. So, Reven nodded, offered one last glance to those resting in his garden, and turned to leave.
“Reven,” Kaleo said, trotting over to the bard.
Reven offered the same flat glare he offered before making Kaleo’s wings
sag. The bard had half a mind to beat the boy bloody for the nonsense he pulled. “I’m sorry.”
The second apology of the day. Surely the end days were nigh.
Kaleo remained silent, eyes cast down. He split his time between Aeron and the boy with the clawed hands since their return. Jaysen’s story was both sad and curious all at once. A Speaker like Kaleo and Reven, but one Claimed so young as to be nearly unheard of. He remembered very little of life prior to being a Speaker and then very little of life without being Corrupted. The wounds he received were as serious as Aeron’s and equally difficult to heal because of the Corruption. He and Kaleo met in Yira’s Realm as children, both seeking a friend and finding it in their imagination rather than reality. The irony of that made Reven sigh.
“I know,” the bard finally said, pulling Kaleo into a tight hug. He felt the hesitation in Kaleo, unsure of how to respond to the new act of affection. “Try to listen more. I don’t want to lose my urchin.”
Kaleo’s arms wrapped around Reven’s middle then, squeezing tightly with a nod that was given into the bard’s chest.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The manse felt a great deal emptier without the Kormandi. Sure, Nadya remained and her mute shadow-born friend, but things felt quieter, less cluttered. A letter was sent with Sergio bound for Tierra Vida, informing the refugees of where the king intended to go. It was because of two Kormandi survivors that Navid knew where to find Aeron or the girls to find Kaleo. Paths all at a crossroads of each other.
Reven sat with Serai in the garden, the early morning sun rising up into the sky with a scalding heat that threatened to melt everyone into a puddle. They enjoyed the peace all the same. True peace appeared to be a distant dream, however, with too many things tearing apart the bard’s carefully laid out path and mucking it up with debris or ridiculous mountains. He held tight to the little moments of sanity he could grasp.
“You are thinking loud again,” Serai said, leaning her head on his shoulder. She entwined her fingers with his, tracing some of the tiny scars on the tops of his hands. He smirked, leaning his head against hers.
“Things are changing,” he said. “The things I know, things that have happened… It’s hard to make sense of it.”
She squeezed his hand, a silent reminder that he would not have to make sense of things alone. Malek hovered in the verdure that grew over the retaining wall of the garden with Azure perched on the drake’s head. The phoenix liked perching atop heads. He and Serai spoke to Kaleo about Fionn, the three of them making a promise to not keep secrets from each other. The boy sat with Jaysen, explaining things to the Corrupted tywyll now that he was awake. Serai did not like what was done to him or the one called Xandrix. Knowing that such things existed made her bristle like an angry alley cat defending her litter. Reven understood why - what was done was horrific, unnatural, cruel.
“What do you think of Sergio?” Reven asked, needing to focus on something normal.
“I like him. His eyes shrink when he smiles,” Serai answered. Reven snorted softly. Their peace did not last long.
“UNCLE!”
Reven and Serai both stood, frowning as the twins ran out into the garden with tears streaming down their faces. They both collided with Reven’s middle, making him fall back onto the retaining wall as they sobbed into his belly, sorrow striking the bard with full force. Their brother was gone. He looked to Serai, unable to find words to console them, to make things right. She shared the same grief, the same helplessness that Reven felt. Nothing assuaged loss.
“I’m sorry,” Reven said softly, stroking the girls’s hair. Navid hovered in the doorway to the garden on the verge of tears.
“Help him,” Eila begged.
“Please!” Rielle sobbed. Reven’s heart broke for them.
“Master bard!”
Lara. Reven’s stomach sank into his bowels.
Now what? The girl ran into the manse and out into the garden where everyone was gathering, chest heaving. He saw Kaleo hovering in the sitting room, trying to glean what was happening.
“You need to leave,” Lara panted, trotting to Reven while looking for Kaleo. He scooted past Navid, moving to Lara’s side with concern on his face for his sobbing cousins.
“Your mother is crazy,” Lara continued. “There are soldiers in town. They are coming for you. They will be here soon.”
“Are you bloody joking?” Kaleo screeched. The girls sniffled, looking up at Reven then at Lara.
“I wish. The woman in charge, she does not look happy,” Lara added.
“I’d imagine not,” Navid growled. “Leave it to your mother to send the one woman in all of creation that actually terrifies me. Do I even want to know what you’ve done to earn her ire?”
“Probably not,” Kaleo admitted. “We need to leave. Right now. Tondra is not going to pull her punches this time. It isn’t safe here anymore.”
The last was directed at Reven, making the bard shake his head in annoyance. Of course it wasn’t safe; why would his own house be safe? Nothing was ever easy.
“I can’t get everyone away. There’s too many,” Reven sighed.
“I can,” Serai said looking at Kaleo. “You will tell me where to go. I will take us there.”
Kaleo nodded, looking up at Navid then at Reven again with an apology in his big eyes. He certainly stuck his foot in the muck this time.
“Aeron,” Eila said, looking up at Reven. “Please, we can’t leave him.”
“We can’t,” Rielle reiterated, still sobbing. Kaleo only just noticed, his jaw dropping as he realized what was happening. It was too much for Reven to bear, making the tirsai bard growl as he limped back inside toward the stairs.
“Liam!” he barked.
“Weren’t me, mate,” the thief-taker said, hands up to prove his innocence. Ajana glared at him.
“Shut up, fool. I need you to catch,” Reven said.
“Catch? Why, what… oh ya’ve gotta be kiddin’, ya dammed idiot. Rev - the kid’s dead,” Liam argued, but followed. Kaleo made to follow too but Serai held on to him. She needed him for whatever she was going to do. Reven let her work. He had his own work to handle.
“Oi - horse, might wanna follow, yeah?” Liam continued.
Reven did not look to see if Navid followed. He was not accustomed to having the centaur around yet or having him stare with so much guilt permanently plastered on his aging features. It was… odd. Nadya and her shadow-born friend stood in the hall just outside where the prince lay, Jaysen hovering in the doorway of the room he’d been given. The peace of the morning was quickly devolving into a full maelstrom of chaos. The room Aeron occupied was small, filled with various trunks or crates and sacks of trinkets the bard collected over time but had no place for yet. He dug through them, opening crates haphazardly and tossing things around until finding what he sought: a piece of quartz the length of his hand and width of two fingers that was as clear as a perfect pane of glass.
“Yer crazy, ya know that,” Liam barked as he entered the room.
“You weren’t complaining when I did this for you,” Reven countered. Liam snorted. Many of Reven’s talents showed themselves in unexpected and surprising ways, usually in times of duress or panic. Liam liked to take contracts that regularly put their lives on the line, claiming the payout was greater than the risk. The risk became overwhelming during one instance and the thief- taker nearly lost his life in the process. If not for Reven, Liam’s bones would still be at the bottom of Krishin’s Rift in Rellen.
“Tha’ was diff’rent. I weren’t dead.”
“Yet,” Reven added. “Close enough to it though, as I recall. Now shut up or you’ll ruin my concentration.”
“Dare I even ask?” Navid added, finally catching up.
“No,” Reven and Liam said in unison. Reven ignored anything else, looking at the still, pale form of the tirsai prince. He felt the boy’s chest at his heart, sensing for anything to hold on to.
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You shut up, too, Reven barked back in a mental scolding that silenced the phoenix even as he flew in, landing on Reven’s shoulder. Either help or leave.
It took a little too long to find what Reven sought - the tiniest of pulses still clinging tightly to the mortal coils. It was enough. He focused all his energy on that tiny pulse, fueling it with his own, using the quartz to funnel his Power. He pushed harder, feeling himself grow weaker until he heard the distinct, steady - if weak - sound of a heartbeat. It was then he allowed himself to let go, falling back into a pit of total blackness.
Liam reacted quickly, catching the bard with little effort. He was pale and lifeless, the quartz rolling out of his scarred hand and onto the tiled floor. He made sure the bard was, in fact, still breathing before looking up at the centaur.
“Oi, check yer boy there,” Liam directed as he shifted Reven’s weight, hefting him onto his back with a groan. The idiot was dammed heavy!
He watched Navid move to the young tirsai, folding himself down to look the boy over. The stunned expression on his face made Liam nod knowingly. “Don’t get too excited. Kid’s still gotta fight fer it or this’ll be fer nothin’. Stupid blighter, prolly wasted all tha’ energy fer shit anyway. C’mon lt’s go before them blasted winged assholes show up.”
Liam led the way back down to the grand foyer. Navid followed along with the three that loitered in the hall. Once in the foyer, he glowered at the questioning looks and winced at the bright doorway in the middle of the open space that appeared to go to a jungle on the other side.
“An’ then we wonder why I prefer t’travel by ship. Ain’t nothin’ normal ‘round ‘ere is it?” Liam complained, hefting Reven up on his back once more before walking through the gate.
***
Serai closed the Gate once everyone was through, the two rather large audeas included. Azure rode atop Reven’s back, making Liam grumble as he carried the bard and the phoenix at the same time. Serai maintained her silence until the Gate vanished to a tiny pinpoint of light. The surrounding area was called Yira’s Grove. It was a place well known to Serai though it had been a very long time since she last set foot within the Grove. It looked different, smaller, but the feel of it was the same, the smell of the verdure and the earth. She closed her eyes, taking it in. The gentle pulse beneath her feet made her toes wiggle and her lips curl into a smile.
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