Sigrid’s head spun toward her. Eva stood rooted to the spot. The girl certainly didn’t look like she felt bad for what happened, and with a real sword in her hand Eva didn’t want to be anywhere near Sigrid. She turned to leave.
“Wait!”
Eva turned, body tense. Sigrid sat the sword down on the bed beside her. She cleared her throat and seemed to find an intense interest in the floor at her feet. “Why don’t you… come in.”
Eva glanced up and down the hallway but saw no one in either direction. Preparing for the worst, she sat on her bed, across from Sigrid. Fury hopped from her arms and down on the floor to his basket-nest at the foot of Eva’s bed.
Sigrid glanced at Eva and winced. The cuts on her face were scabbed over, and her black eye had turned now a nasty brownish green, although most of the swelling was gone. Sigrid cleared her throat.
“I…didn't mean —”
“You seemed to be enjoying yourself in the moment,” Eva said. She didn’t know what she wanted from Sigrid, but it sure wasn’t a half-baked apology. Her hands clenched her blankets, and she stared at Sigrid, ready for whatever might come next.
A pained look crossed Sigrid’s face before she sank into her regular scowl. “Uthred commanded me to fight you. I won’t lie; I wanted to beat you in front of everyone, but —”
“But what?”
“Uthred’s the lord commander’s left wing, the third-highest officer in the Windsworn,” Sigrid hissed. “If I’d refused, he’d probably have thrown me out of the Gyr.”
“Oh right,” Eva said, her voice rising. “Almost killing me was a much better choice. What did I ever do to you, anyway?”
Sigrid leaped off her bed and stood in front of Eva, both of her hands tightened into fists. Eva flinched but didn’t move or look away.
“You don’t know anything!” Sigrid yelled. “You’re just a spoiled blacksmith’s daughter who doesn’t want to be here in the first place.”
“Go on,” Eva said. She felt the anger die in her, frozen by cold hate. “Hit me again if it’ll make you feel better.”
Sigrid balled her hands into fists, and Eva braced herself for the blow. Fury leaped on the bed beside Eva and crouched down, hissing. Sigrid’s face spasmed, and she stormed out of their quarters, banging the door shut behind her. Eva did nothing for several moments. Her hammering heart seemed to fill the room. After several deep breaths, she started to calm down and felt drained — more exhausted than she’d ever been working the forge with Soot.
Without bothering to slip out of her uniform, Eva rolled over and pulled the blankets around her. She tossed and turned for almost an hour until, frustrated, she leaned under bed and yanked out her chest of belongings. At the bottom, she found her cloak and unwrapped the Wonder from its fold.
Light illuminated the room, and Eva felt the familiar warm glow fill her. Fury leaped out of his basket onto the foot of Eva’s bed, staring at the stone.
“It’s okay, Fury,” Eva said, beckoning him closer. The juvenile gryphon crept forward and stretched out to touch the stone with the tip of his beak.
Eva smiled, watching the gryphon’s reaction. After a couple of long moments, he seemed to decide the light posed no threat and lay down next to Eva. She stared into the stone’s depths for a long time, watching the swirls of blue, pink, gold, and white until her eyes began to droop. Lying down once more, she clutched the stone tight to her. Just before sleep overtook her, she felt Fury curl up against her as well, his warm little body as reassuring as the stone in the colossal, empty mountain.
“Enough!”
Eva blew a bead of sweat away from a loose strand of hair and stepped back. Although she was soaked with sweat and her muscles burned, she smiled. Over the past several weeks she’d fought with bow, sword, knife, and spear under Celina’s meticulous instruction. Most nights, Eva wolfed down her dinner and crawled into bed, savoring a few hours’ sleep before starting all over again with regular class the next morning. Like an iron ingot hammered against the anvil, Celina shaped her into a warrior with each practice bout.
Now when they fought, a regular blunted sword felt light as a feather in Eva’s hand, slicing the air almost with a mind of its own. She’d yet to come close to beating Celina, but in the past couple of weeks she’d landed a couple of blows. The small victories filled her with pride when she thought back to the helpless girl who’d been humiliated.
“You are a quick learner when your heart is in it,” Celina said in between breaths. “I’ll wager none of Cross’s students would volunteer to put themselves in the training circle against you now!”
Not that any of them knew it, though. Celina conducted all of Eva’s weapons training, and Eva liked it that way. She relished the idea of being the girl everyone underestimated, even as her skill continued to grow.
“Thank you, Commander,” Eva said, placing her weapon on the rack and reaching for a nearby towel to wipe off her face. Celina did the same and handed her a water flask. Eva drank deep, feeling a warm satisfaction similar to the triumph of shaping a piece just right under Soot’s watchful eye in the forge. She hadn’t experienced it much since coming to the Gyr. Even though the Gyr’s smaller birds of prey — hawks and falcons — brought her regular letters from Soot, she still missed home.
After their fight, Sigrid started keeping regular hours in their shared quarters, although she and Eva only spoke to each other when it was absolutely necessary, meaning hardly at all. They’d worked out a sort of silent schedule, so the only time they came across each other was to sleep at night. It didn’t make for the most pleasant conditions, even with Fury around and Wynn’s company throughout the day
Of Tahl, Eva saw very little. Whenever she happened to sight him, a group of admirers had him hemmed in or he was so far down a bustling passageway that Eva had no hope of reaching him. Their exchange in the infirmary bothered Eva, especially because she couldn’t find a chance to apologize. The thought that Tahl cared enough to look in on her after the fight led to more than a few hours tossing and turning. Eva tortured herself wishing she could go back and do something different.
Celina waved to the door when Eva lingered. “Off to class, then.”
“I’ve got time for one more bout,” Eva said, a small, mischievous smile on her face.
Celina laughed. “As much as I hate to admit it, you can recover a lot faster than I, Eva,” she said. “If I’m going to give you a run tomorrow, I’d better save my strength.”
Eva thought there was more behind the statement than Celina wanted to let on. Although she didn’t dare mention anything, the commander’s complexion had taken on a pale hue, and her face looked hollow and stretched against her prominent facial bones. The dark circles beneath Celina’s eyes finished the effect. Even so, she’d yet to lose her usual vigor when Eva trained with her.
Celina unbuckled her padded training leathers, drawing Eva’s eyes to the slate-colored bracer on Celina’s wrist. In all their time training she’d never seen the older woman take it off. Although it didn’t seem to pinch her skin, it fit snug and never moved no matter how intense Celina sparred.
“Commander,” Eva said, “why do you always wear that arm guard?”
Celina held it up into the sunlight streaming through a small window slit. The bracer soaked in the light, giving no reflection. Eva noticed a series of strange runes carved in spiraling lines around it.
“This bracer is very dear to me,” she said. “A trophy won on a journey I took long ago. It is a Wonder, a relic of the Ancients who once dwelled across Altaris.”
Eva’s eyes remained on the bracer while Celina spoke. When she finished, Eva opened her mouth to tell her about the white stone but stopped. Unlike the commander, she kept her stone secret and safe in the chest in her quarters. Even Wynn didn’t know about it and, although Eva trusted Celina, it felt wrong to tell even her. “You found it?” she asked instead.
Celina nodded. “In the far east on a very long and dangerous exploration.”
Eva’s mind filled with scenes of faraway lands and forgotten ruins. No one talked much about the lands east of Rhylance. The Endless Plains met the eastern slopes of the Windridge Mountains, but beyond them she’d learned very little in her lectures with Portridge and visits to the library.
“Why did you go east?” Eva asked. As far as she knew, there weren’t any cities or civilizations in eastern Altaris. The Juarag inhabited the Endless Plains, but the only interaction they made with Rhylance was through raiding parties.
Celina looked surprised. “Surely you know about the Great Eastern Exploration?”
The way the commander said it made Eva feel embarrassed she didn’t, but she shook her head anyway. “Should I?”
“I don’t believe,” Celina said shaking her head. “Soot was one of the members of our party! That’s where Seppo came from. He never told you?”
Eva’s jaw dropped. “Soot?” She had a hard time believing the home-loving blacksmith had ever taken part in any grant adventures. “He never said anything about it. Please, tell me more!”
Celina hesitated, and Eva knew she’d said something wrong. “Another time, my dear,” the commander said “I promise. The tale is too long to tell at the moment. Now, get to your next class!”
Eva protested, but Celina shooed her out the chamber, shutting the door behind her. Walking down the hall at a slow pace, Eva’s mind wandered as much as her feet. On her way to class, Eva resolved to send Soot a letter, or ask him in person if he didn’t respond. For such a large place, the Gyr sure didn’t hold very many answers.
Chapter Ninteen
Eva awoke with a start, chest heaving, sweat running down her face. She'd been having a nightmare — something about a golem made of shadows chasing her through the halls of the Gyr. She took several deep breaths and looked over to see Sigrid asleep in her bed. All was calm and quiet.
As she tried to return to sleep, Eva’s mind drifted to the Celina’s revelation about Soot. Contrary to her promise, Celina refused to speak of the expedition the next time they met. Eva’s incessant asking had made her so mad, the commander sent Eva running stairs in an abandoned hallway for almost an hour after their sparring.
After that, Eva didn’t want to risk irritating Celina further. She pored over books in the library and worked up the courage to ask Portridge after class one day, but neither paper nor instructor offered much more.
“It was an exploratory journey to the eastern coast of Altaris almost twenty years ago,” Portridge had told her. “The group encountered hostile Juarag and various other savage tribes in the eastern woodlands. Other than a few trinkets and ruins, nothing of note was discovered.”
Eva forced thoughts of the Eastern Expedition out of her thoughts in an effort to quiet her mind and go back to sleep. Rolling over, she found Fury’s spot at the foot of her bed empty. In recent days, he’d taken to sleeping there more than in his basket. Eva didn’t think of it and stretched out her legs, trying to get comfortable. But a nagging feeling refused to let her rest.
Annoyed and exhausted, she sat up again and leaned forward to look at the basket nest at the foot of her bed. Terror struck her. Fury wasn’t there. A quick inspection of the small room confirmed Eva’s worst fears: somehow, the red gryphon had disappeared.
Eva looked around, unsure what to do. For a moment, she thought about waking Sigrid, but they still weren't speaking to one another. The last thing she wanted was Sigrid to know she’d somehow lost her gryphon in the middle of the night. Instead, Eva dressed quietly and cracked the door of their quarters open. Behind her, Sigrid snorted, sprawled out on her bed. Eva waited until her snores began again then slipped out the door.
In the hallway, Eva ventured several whispered calls. When Fury didn’t answer, she walked several paces in both directions, finding no trace of the gryphon. With no idea what to do, Eva returned to her door, fighting the panic rising inside her.
After several deep breaths, she tried to calm her racing mind. How could Fury have escaped the room, let alone shut the door behind him? A second thought struck her: What if the person who’d killed Devana had returned for her chick?
Eva slipped back into her room — Sigrid continued snoring away — and belted on her small recruit’s knife, the only weapon she had. She turned to leave then paused and returned to her chest. Covering the stone’s light with her cloak, Eva withdrew her Wonder. If there was ever a time she need calm and courage, this was it.
Back outside, Eva hurried to the end of the hallway and then paused when it split. She had no clue where to go next.
“Think, girl,” she told herself. Somehow, someone had managed to steal Fury practically out from underneath Eva — all without the gryphon making a noise. But where had they gone? Eva had no idea.
Minutes ticked away, and Eva grew anxious, standing at the split in the hallway. Time was running out. She had to make a decision, but how?
And then it hit her. “Ivan,” Eva muttered, turning down the tunnel that led to the lower levels. She didn’t place much faith in the Scrawl’s visions, but right now anything was better than standing in the hall.
She'd never been out of her quarters this late before. The lamps cast long, flickering shadows across the walls, making the stone dance. Silence reigned. Each time Eva took a step, the scuff of her boots echoed down the passage, further highlighting her aloneness.
Two wrong turns later, Eva found the hall leading to Ivan's chamber. A couple of turns away, she paused. She had no idea if a guard was posted outside the door around the clock or not. If there was, Eva didn’t have a clue what she would tell him to let her in. She considered turning around when voices drifted down a nearby side passage.
“I’ve got things under control.”
A bolt of fear raced through Eva — it sounded like Uthred. She strained her ears to hear whom he was talking to.
“Hardly think so…keeping an eye on things.” Eva couldn’t be sure, but she thought it was a woman’s voice, possibly Celina. What the two commanders would be doing in the halls at this hour, Eva couldn’t imagine. She held her breath as Uthred started speaking again
“Strange things…Catacombs.”
Eva hesitated then took a couple of steps down the side passage.
“Wonder why you’re skulking around at night,” Eva heard Celina say. “From the boy.”
The boy. They had to be talking about Ivan. Eva ventured another couple of steps forward, heart thudding in her chest.
“Ridiculous,” Uthred said. “You’d best watch yourself, Celina.”
The voices ceased, and a set of footsteps faded in the opposite direction while the other pair — Uthred’s, Eva guessed by the heavy footfalls — grew louder, and closer.
Panicking, Eva ducked down another side hall and ran. The thought of what Uthred might do to her if he caught Eva out of her quarters in the middle of the night spurred her onward. After switching directions several times, she slowed to catch her breath. As soon as she did, Eva heard footsteps again, much closer than before.
Eva shrank against the wall, hugging the shadows. A moment later Uthred appeared at the fork in the tunnel a few dozen paces away. The commander paused for a long moment and stared toward her. Remembering her scouting training, Eva remained motionless even after Uthred looked away and glanced back. After another long pause, Uthred hurried off in the other direction. Eva let out a long sight and then realized the direction Uthred was headed: to Ivan’s cell.
Creeping forward as fast as she could without making a sound, Eva followed after the Windsworn commander. When she peeked around the corner of the hall leading to Ivan’s cell, however, she found it empty. Eva waited several long moments, and when no one appeared, she hurried forward as fast as she could in silence.
A faint muttering sound, guttural and unintelligible, grew louder as Eva approached. The sound grew louder as she approached the door. No guard stood on duty, and it hung ajar. The deep chanting sound came from within.
&nbs
p; Torn between running away and checking on her friend, Eva gritted her teeth and inched forward. A blanket of dread engulfed her, and it took every last bit of willpower she had to bring her shaking hand to the door and push it open.
Ivan sat on his knees in the middle of the chamber, facing the opposite wall. Horrified, Eva realized the chanting came from the Scrawl. Every instinct in Eva’s body screamed at her to run. Mouth dry, she forced herself to take a step forward
“Ivan?” she whispered, so quiet she barely heard herself over the boy’s chant.
He didn’t answer. Eva took another step.
“Ivan?” This time she spoke louder, but still no response.
Clenching her hands into fists to stop the shaking, Eva walked around the Scrawl’s side. Ivan stared ahead like he couldn’t see or hear her. While his lips moved, forming the awful, strange language, the rest of his body remained completely still.
“Ivan?”
A scream tore from Eva’s lips when she looked into the Scrawl’s face. Ivan stared at the far wall, chanting in a deep voice that wasn’t his own, oblivious to her presence. But worst of all were his eyes. They glowed a deep amber like twin coals smoldering. Terror seized Eva, and she stumbled backward, crashing to the ground.
Eva scrambled to regain her footing, and her Wonder stone fell swung free from beneath her shirt. Golden light blazed forth, lighting the room like midday. Ivan groaned and slumped on his side, silent. Although her heart pounded in her chest, Eva paused. When the boy rolled over and looked at her, his eyes were normal once again.
“Fury,” he said in a hoarse voice. “Trouble…the Roost. Hurry!”
Leaping to her feet, Eva stuffed the Wonder stone back out of sight, sprinting out of the room. Not bothering what noise she made or whom she came across, Eva ran like she’d never run before, hurtling down the Gyr’s corridors.
Windsworn: Gryphon Riders Book One (Gryphon Riders Trilogy 1) Page 13
