by Devan Skyles
“So, all I need to do is get it wet?”
“Yes, dear, but it won’t do you any good if it’s a weak concentration.”
“I don’t know what that means,” she said, frustrated.
“It doesn’t matter. You were meant for this world. It is not safe for you there.”
“Why not?”
Suddenly Rose again grew agitated. “I shouldn’t be telling you any of this. They only leave me alone because I don’t reveal Ilimíra’s secrets. If they found out…”
Ellie put a comforting hand on Rose’s arm. “Rose, I don’t think there’s anyone watching you.”
“Oh, yes there is,” she affirmed. “They’ve always been there, ever since I left. If they knew I was talking about this, they’d bring me back.”
“Why don’t you want to go back?”
Rose shrugged her shoulders and sighed. “This is my home now. I’ve lived here most of my life, and I’m too old and frail for my wings to carry me through the sky. This is where I belong, as do you.”
“I want to finish what my mom started,” she said. “I am going to find a way to get there, with or without you.”
“So much of your mother in you,” Rose said. “You’re as stubborn as she is.”
“As she was, you mean.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“As stubborn as she was.”
She looked at Ellie long and hard, as if she were trying to remember something from years gone. “I— I’m terribly sorry Meredith. I’m afraid I’ve forgotten why you were here. Can I make you some tea?”
Ellie sighed. “No, Ms. Rose. I was just leaving.”
She stepped outside and looked up at the sky, her hands interlocked behind her head. Now what? Walking back down the stone path to her bike, she noticed a birdbath with a meager amount of grimy water in it. Curious, she took off her necklace and dipped the stone in the water. If anything happened, she couldn’t tell. Discouraged, she fastened the chain back around her neck and mounted the motorcycle.
Feeling a bit foolish, she went back home and ran inside, trying not to look at the bodies lying in the yard. She read through all her mother’s papers in search of any useful information, but she’d read it all before, and it didn’t make any more sense now than it had then.
Trying to clear her mind, she stepped outside for some fresh air. Again, the sight of the bodies made her stomach turn. She’d have to do something about them, but she wasn’t sure what. Not wanting to think about it, she got up to go for a walk, but she stopped at the edge of the porch, hesitating. She smiled, kicked off her shoes, and walked out around the field barefoot.
She wasn’t sure what drew her there, but she made her way to the stream in the woods, where she had first met Rhydian. Without thinking, she stepped into the water and sat down in the gentle current, fully dressed.
Perhaps she’d been too hard on Rhydian. Maybe, like her mother, he had kept things a secret from her to keep her safe. After all, what would she have said if he’d told her? She wouldn’t have believed him. She wasn’t completely sure she did now. She dismissed all these thoughts with a splash of her hand. She didn’t want to understand. Right now she wanted— needed— something to be angry about. She closed her eyes and sunk down to her neck in the cool water.
Opening her eyes, she noticed that the water around her had turned a dark shade of red. Startled, she frantically looked herself over to see if she was bleeding, but as she stood up, the water became clear again. She stared down at the water, puzzled. Stooping back down into the water, the red color returned, seeming to be spreading from her chest.
Then it struck her. The necklace! She pulled it out and removed it from her neck. As she lifted the pendant out of the water, the red again vanished, and she noticed that the stone was giving off the faintest green glow. This was it! She must be close to the threshold! And with that, she jumped from the water and started walking through the woods, watching the gem intently. She wasn’t sure what she expected it to do, but she assumed it would work as some kind of a compass. She tried dangling it from the chain to see if it would swing in the right direction, but nothing happened. As the piece began to dry, the green glow diminished, and she found she had to continually keep it wet by wringing water over it from her wet shirt.
After an hour or so of this, she began to get frustrated, until she at last wandered into a part of the woods she hadn’t explored in a long time and the green glow intensified. She looked around and realized where she was. There was a cave nearby where she used to play as a child. Once, when she was young, she’d hidden there to avoid having to go to school because some boys had been teasing her about her name. Curious, she walked closer to the mouth of the cave and the glow became brighter and brighter the closer she got. When she came to the opening, she saw that the grass and brush had been pushed aside and trampled repeatedly. Heart racing, she ducked into the cave and walked slowly through. She was so nervous and excited that her hands shook. The gem now glowed so bright that it illuminated the cave brilliantly. She continued to walk until she came to the end of the tunnel, which was nothing more than a stone wall.
She stood there with her hand against the rocky surface, not knowing what to do. Was there perhaps a secret door hidden there? She felt around, but found nothing. Frustrated, she ran back to the house and gathered up her mother’s papers and some camping supplies. She was going back to the cave, and she wasn’t going back until she figured out how to get through to Ilimíra.
History
Rhydian had never felt worse in his life. Not only did Ellie want nothing to do with him (which was the worst fate he could imagine on its own), but being back in his true form, the injuries from Redwing’s torment had returned with a vengeance. His body ached all over.
“I just hope we have enough of a head start on him,” Auram said.
“At least he didn’t get your timekeeper,” Taya pointed out. “We’ve still got that advantage.”
Rhydian had concealed it in its usual hiding place in the cave, but he had a nagging feeling it wouldn’t be safe there. He felt much more comfortable with it on his person.
“What made you come look for me?” Rhydian asked.
Auram looked at him seriously and replied, “Skyward, Rhydian! My men told me you wouldn’t let them escort you all the way to the cave, so I came to make sure you’d gotten there in one piece. Thank goodness I did.”
“Well, thanks for coming. I owe you one.”
“I’ll hold you to that, you know,” he joked.
They soared within view of the great stone city as the sun was dipping low towards the horizon. The clouds in the sky slowly turned a deep violet color in the dwindling sunlight.
“How are we sneaking back into town?” asked Rhydian.
“No time for stealth,” Taya said.
Auram nodded his agreement. “We’ll have to charge in and hope we’re not caught.”
They flew hard and fast toward the city council chambers. Auram, Taya, and the other soldier (Liam) flew right for the opening of the massive hall, but Rhydian had a better idea.
“Guys, wait! Redwing’s bound to have a whole platoon of soldiers in there. We’ll be apprehended for sure.”
“The back tunnel?” Auram questioned.
Rhydian nodded. “The back tunnel.”
A moment later, they were running down the dark hallway behind the council chambers, looking for the door that led into Redwing’s office. When they found it, they drew their weapons and Rhydian got ready to kick it in.
“Wait!” Auram hissed.
Rhydian halted, looking at his companion. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s just, you got to do this last time. I want to bust in the door this time.”
“Fine,” he replied, impatiently stepping aside.
Auram, smiling, backed up and rammed his shoulder hard into the wooden door, which produced a loud thud but held firm.
Rubbing his bruised shoulder, he rolled his eyes an
d conceded, “Fine. You do it then.”
Rhydian kicked the door hard and it crashed open. Without a second’s hesitation, the four of them piled into the room to see Redwing, sitting at his desk, the timekeeper before him. Opposite him stood Desmond with two guards behind him. The two guards instantly drew their swords.
“How did you get here so fast?” Desmond demanded. “I slashed the tires! There’s no way you followed me so quickly.”
“We took a little shortcut,” Rhydian replied.
“Impossible!” he replied.
“Well,” Redwing interjected, “Clearly you made a critical error, Desmond. Perhaps what you should have done was taken his timepiece and killed them all.”
“Yes, Desmond,” Auram taunted, “perhaps you should have done that, instead of running away like a scared little fledgling.”
Desmond gritted his teeth in anger.
“Well, this is pointless,” said Redwing calmly. “Guards, go call for reinforcements.”
Taya rushed in behind Redwing and brought the blade of her sword up under his chin. “No, guards, don’t do that. Here’s a better idea. Drop your weapons or your boss here gets his body parts rearranged.”
The guards seemed about to comply, but then Redwing did something so unexpected that it caught everyone off guard. He grabbed the blade of Taya’s weapon with his bare hands and wrenched it downward. In the same moment, he threw his head back, colliding with Taya’s face and sending her sprawling back, unconscious. Gripping the sword by the hilt with his bloody hands, he swung it faster than light and slashed through Liam’s throat. Liam fell instantly to the floor before he knew what hit him.
Rhydian and Auram sprang into action, but by now, both the guards had rushed in and they were outnumbered. Rhydian crossed blades with the governor while Auram took on the guards. Desmond, who was completely unarmed, backed into a sheltered corner of the room.
Rhydian had always thought of himself as a good swordsman, but Redwing’s attacks were so wild and unpredictable that he found himself defending more than attacking. Redwing clearly wasn’t a skilled combatant, swinging recklessly in a wild attempt to overpower his opponent with a barrage of cuts and slashes. The crazy thing was, though, that it was working. Rhydian had no idea how to fight against such a berserk fencer who fought with little regard for his own wellbeing. He retreated, parrying up, left, right, right, up, down. One of Redwing’s slashes nicked his finger and the hilt of his sword became wet and sticky with blood. His grip began to falter.
Auram wasn’t faring any better, attempting to fend off two fighters at once. His face was dripping with sweat as he cast his sword this way and that, the clash of steel ringing loudly. But in a sublime moment of clarity, he found his opportunity. One of the guards was getting ready to swing again, while the other had just parried a blow from Auram’s blade. Seizing his chance, he cast the man’s sword aside and stabbed upward into his gut, while simultaneously blocking an upward cut from his other opponent. This man seemed so startled that he almost dropped his sword, and in his moment of hesitation, Auram swung his weapon in an arc and cleaved open his chest.
Rhydian, meanwhile, was taking cut after cut from Redwing, none of them life-threatening, but severe enough that cold panic was beginning to set in. Auram quickly came to his friend’s aid and slashed through Redwing’s sword arm. Redwing dropped the blade and grasped his bleeding forearm, backing away cautiously.
Rhydian and Auram both pointed their swords at Redwing as he stared back at them, cold terror in his eyes.
“What do you think we should do with him?” Auram asked, snatching up the timekeeper from the desk and pocketing it.
“We could take him prisoner,” Rhydian suggested. “Hold him until we can bring him to Corvus.”
Redwing nodded emphatically, knowing this option meant he would get to keep his life a little longer.
“No,” Auram replied. “We’re still fugitives. We’d never get out of the city with a government official held hostage. Maybe we’d better just kill him.”
Desmond, who’d been all but forgotten at this point, realized that his sister’s freedom was about to die with the governor and charged out from the corner, hollering. He tackled Auram to the ground and started punching him hard in the face.
Rhydian came to his friend’s defense and stabbed Desmond right in the chest. Desmond, stunned and dismayed, stumbled back on his knees, gasping for breath. He finally fell to the floor and lay still.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Redwing snatched up his fallen sword with his uninjured arm and lunged wildly for Auram’s exposed back, blade held high. Rhydian, seeing this, was filled with fury as his heart pumped adrenalin through his veins. He darted over faster than he’d ever moved in his life and swung his sword down across Redwings hand, sending the sword clamoring to the floor, along with two of his fingers. In another motion he kicked the governor hard against the wall and drove his sword all the way through his chest, the point digging into the wall behind him. Redwing’s eyes went wide with alarm. He glared at Rhydian in disbelief, coughing blood, wings twitching.
Rhydian, still gripping the hilt of the sword, leaned in close, his teeth clenched, and said, “Nothing personal.” He then wrenched the sword from Redwing’s body, letting him topple to the floor in a lifeless heap.
The two stood in the now quiet room, breathing hard and looking at each other with a combination of triumph and revulsion for what had just transpired.
Rhydian collected himself and asked, “Auram, do you still have that page from Redwing’s book?”
He nodded. “Yes, I do. But I guess we don’t need it anymore.”
“We need it now more than ever.”
“But, with Redwing gone, it’s all over, isn’t it?”
“We still need to deal with Nicodemus,” he pointed out. “Besides, we just killed a government official. We need to clear our names.”
Taya, who was weakly climbing to her feet, looked at the carnage around the room. She had a dark bruise on her forehead.
“Looks like you boys had all the fun without me,” she said
“We’d better go now,” Auram spoke. “It’ll be easier to get by unnoticed while it’s dark. And I think Corvus should be back in town by now.”
“Let’s not waste time,” Rhydian replied.
Auram turned to Taya. “If you want out, I understand. No need to get involved any more than you are. Right now, no one knows you were here tonight. Better get lost if you want to keep it that way.”
“No way!” Taya replied indignantly. “We’re all in this together!”
Auram nodded. “Thank you.”
The three of them flew at a discreet distance from one another to the top of the city, where they cautiously snuck to the officers’ barracks. At the highest point of the complex was an extravagant suite made of white marble. A gentle waterfall showered down the front of the building, splitting in two over a grand entryway. There was a large wooden door with ornate, wrought iron metalwork across the front. On either side of the door was a fully armored soldier, standing guard at attention with long spears by their sides.
“I guess that means he’s home,” Rhydian said as they peered down at the General’s house from a nearby rooftop.
“Should we take out the guards?” Taya asked.
“No,” said Rhydian. “If we draw too much attention they’ll call for backup. We don’t want a fight. If it’s just Auram and me, they’ll likely just take us in to Corvus, which is what we want. Maybe just stay here in case things go bad.”
Taya nodded and got comfortable while Rhydian and Auram flew down to the house. The guards, seeing them coming, pointed their spears towards them.
“Who goes there?” the senior guard called out, squinting in the dark.
“We’re here to see the General,” Rhydian declared.
“The General isn’t seeing anyone at the— Hey! You’re the fugitives! The ones the governor’s been hunting!”
“We
don’t mean any harm,” Auram assured, putting his hands in the air. “We just have some information the General needs to hear.”
“Oh, you’re going to see the General!” the man said. “Remove your swords and place them on the ground.”
They did as they were told, and they were quickly brought to the door of the General’s quarters. One of the guards knocked deftly on the door and waited. After a minute, it opened wide and Corvus stood before them.
“Gentlemen, at this hour, this had better important,” he said.
“It is, sir,” one of the guards declared. “We captured these fugitives. They say they have something important to tell you.”
Corvus looked at Rhydian in surprise. “These are not fugitives, gentlemen, no matter what Redwing wants you to believe. Come in, boys! Make yourselves comfortable!”
As they entered the house, the guards again posted sentry outside. Rhydian and Auram followed Corvus a short distance into a large, open study within view of the entrance. One entire wall was covered with shelves stacked ceiling to floor with books. The opposite wall displayed various swords, daggers, bows, and spears. Corvus indicated for them to be seated, and they sat opposite him on a cushioned bench.
“So,” began Corvus, “what brings you to my home, gentlemen?”
“We have some information for you,” Rhydian said as Auram pulled out the page from Redwing’s book.
“Sir, I know this sounds crazy,” said Auram, handing the general the paper, “but Redwing’s been plotting to conquer the other side. We found this in his office.”
Corvus took the paper and glanced at the chapter heading. “The Rift. Yes I’m familiar with the theory. Though, this is hardly evidence that he is planning to execute it. How do you know?”
“We’ve been spying on him,” said Rhydian. “He’s been after my father’s timekeeper. Apparently it’s one of these— these master timekeepers that are needed to execute the rift.”
“Does he have it?” the general asked.
“No, sir,” he replied. “He did steal one from a human girl on the other side, but we managed to get it back. And the other one belongs to Nicodemus. He’s the one Redwing was going to have perform the rift.”
