Fia
F ia made her way through winding stone passageways down from the wall above Djira. The last of the light had disappeared, so she used her hands to guide her through the narrow passages, fingers brushing against cool, coarse rock. She thought of using her flames to light the way but didn’t want to draw any attention to herself should a guard be around the next corner.
They’d either attack out of fear, or they’d welcome her, but the latter didn’t seem likely. Either way, she didn’t think she wanted to find out. All she knew was that she’d fight to protect herself. She’d killed those soldiers back in Deganis—if they could be called that. You look like a Makya. Lorn’s words rattled through her thoughts. Not all Makya were like Lorn. There were those that were helping, or at least, Fia hoped they still were. That had been the plan before Erebus took her from Ohinyan.
And it wasn’t even about how Alexander saw her, either. It was about how she saw herself. This new version of her. There were parts she liked and parts that terrified her; parts she didn’t know if she could control. If she harmed Alexander… If she lost control with him… She’d never forgive herself. Everyone you love dies. The thought was enough to snatch her breath away.
The sounds of the city began to echo off the stone; she was almost there, and she couldn’t help but glance back over her shoulder to see if Erebus had followed. The scent of wet moss and stone permeated everything, and something tiny scurried across one of her feet. It occurred to her then that she should be cold, that the chill should have set her teeth to chattering, but it hadn’t.
Fia tentatively stepped down a few more stone steps and turned a corner, lamplight casting shadows into the passage, and the sea breeze struck her at once. She pulled her dagger from her boot and held it tucked along her wrist. Blue flame would call attention to her, but her dagger wouldn’t, should anyone try to take advantage of a young woman walking alone at night. She peered out into the narrow streets of Djira.
Her plan wouldn’t work without her wingsuit, and she hoped Okwata had recovered it for her. Something about fighting with Lorn had struck a chord, and Fia knew there was only one way to find out the answers she needed. The answers Ohinyan needed. She had her suspicions, but anything that made her like Lorn… was not an idea she wanted to explore lightly.
Erebus didn’t know how to rekindle the sun, and Fia’s thoughts drifted back to that bronze statue she’d seen on Earth as a child, of a horse pulling the sun on a chariot and the other creatures that helped it to get there. But only the fire mother could rekindle the sun, she alone. What if—Fia didn’t have time to finish the thought, three Asharians walked towards the passageway as she peered out from the shadows, and she pressed herself back against the stone out of sight.
“I’m sick of this,” the one closest to Fia said as they passed, his tail running through his fingers as if it were an old habit. His face was streaked with grey, silver whiskers glistening in the lamplight. His ears twitched for a moment and Fia was certain she’d been caught, but he carried on without pause. “How long must we put up with them accompanying our daily duties as if we were infants?” He swung his tail behind him as if to emphasise his words.
“And how do you propose we fish without the Makya’s assistance? The mirrors are all we have, and I think they’re doing a damn fine job if I must say.” A second one said, wiping at his creased apron. He waved a hand to gesture to the city behind them. “I rather enjoy how Djira looks in the light of the mirrors.”
The first one made a quiet sound, somewhere between a hiss and growl.
“What do you think, Netti?” the second asked the third. They had stopped just opposite the opening of the passageway, and Fia held her breath.
Liquid sloshed in a container, and one of them cleared their throat. “I think we need to stop whining and make do. Get out of these stinking clothes and make our way to the tavern.” It was the third one, Netti. He said it with such vigour, he broke into laughter as he looked to his friends, thrusting the container into the chest of the first Asharian as he turned to walk away. The other two followed suit, and Fia released her breath, silently.
Mirrors. So the Makya truly were helping. That must have been part of the method they’d come up with to help maintain temperatures as the sun died. How many cities were there in Ohinyan? What about those that lived outside of them?
Something stirred in the darkness of the passageway behind her and she held her breath for a moment, expecting to see Erebus stepping into the light. When what felt like an eternity had passed, and no one and nothing emerged from the shadows, Fia took one look left and right and stepped out into the streets of Djira. She’d only been to Okwata’s lab a handful of times, but it was always from the docks. Never from higher ground. She was still high up in the city, high enough that the streets were already a narrow maze.
Most doors in the stone walls were closed, as always, but a few people remained on the streets. None paid her any attention. Asharians were not the most welcoming, but Fia assumed if there were Makya here, there might be Mizunese or even witches. Perhaps by now, the Asharians were used to the sight of strangers. Or they simply didn’t care.
She crossed under one of the many stone bridges, water rushing somewhere nearby but she couldn’t see it. Hanging moss cast flickering shadows in the lamplight onto the stone walls surrounding her. The streets of Djira were remarkably clean, something that always surprised her after living in London. But living in homes made of stone and prone to damp, Fia supposed cleanliness was probably a high priority. The scent of wet stone and moss muddled with fish and the azarna spice Erebus had mentioned carried on the breeze that ran through the passageways, and the number of Asharians began to thin further until it was only her left.
She passed a red door she thought she recognised, paint peeling and flaking away, the colour almost completely faded. She was getting closer, and every strange noise had her on edge. A muted thump from somewhere close by had her leaping behind a nearby stack of barrels, and she drew her dagger as she peered out from the shadows, wondering how much damage she’d cause to the city if she used her blue flames in such a confined space.
A finely dressed Asharian walked in her direction, smoothing down the lapels of his coat. A coat trimmed in gold and satin.
“Ahrek!” Fia said quietly, stepping out from her hiding place, her heartbeat returning to normal. Okwata’s… come to think of it, Fia didn’t know what the relationship between them was. At first, she’d thought Ahrek served Okwata, but now she considered it, the Asharian doted on the scientist like a loving partner.
Ahrek didn’t look surprised to see her. “You were doing rather well up until two streets ago, and then you took a wrong turn,” he said, without a hint of humour. One ear twitched as if he’d heard something, but he didn’t comment on it.
Fia laughed half-heartedly. “Good to see you too, Ahrek. Have you come to escort me the rest of the way?”
“Only so I can get the stench of the city out of my clothes faster.” He took her in as she stepped closer. “You look…”
“Like I need a hot bath? Yeah. I feel like it.” Her stomach growled as Ahrek led the way. She was starving, not that she needed to bother telling him that now.
They walked for a moment in silence, lamplight casting shadows across Ahrek’s fur. If he noticed her looking at him, at every movement in the shadows, he didn’t seem bothered by it. They passed a wide set of steps to a building Fia hadn’t seen before, and Ahrek followed her gaze as she looked up at it.
“The palace,” he said, brushing absentmindedly at his whiskers with the back of a hand. “We had nobles once, but now it’s used for city affairs. Tunnels run beneath it throughout the city, up to the wall and down to the harbour.”
“Is that public knowledge?” Fia asked, looking at the cobblestones beneath her feet, turning around to look for any hint of what lay beneath. When she glanced back up again, she could have sworn she caught a cloud of shadows disappearing amongst
the pillars on the palace steps, but Ahrek hadn’t seemed to notice.
“No. My mother worked in the palace when I was a boy. I spent many years exploring the tunnels.”
“Sounds like a fun childhood,” Fia said, and Ahrek offered a smile in reply.
They turned down several streets until they finally arrived at Okwata’s door. Ahrek raised a hand to the wood and paused, finally turning to look at her.
“Erebus, he did not harm you?” His oval eyes narrowed and for the first time, Fia was close enough to see the green flecks among the brown.
She shook her head, a warm smile breaking across her face. She tried to hide her surprise at his concern. Asharians weren’t the type to show their feelings from what she’d seen. “I’m okay, thank you, Ahrek. Really.”
The Asharian raised an eyebrow at that and pushed open the door to Okwata’s home. Or was it their home? He led the way through the stone house to the window that led to Okwata’s lab—the lab that was in Ornax, not Ohinyan—and Fia wondered, not for the first time, how this window remained secure when those to Earth had closed with the dying sun. Okwata was a man of many secrets.
The glasshouse looked almost exactly as it had when she’d last seen it: plants hanging from the ceiling, sunlight pouring in through the glass walls, half-finished projects littered across every surface, and across one of them, a pair of copper wings.
Fia rushed over to them, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. The copper seemed polished, and there were slight variations in the suit from what Fia remembered. A new switch here, a strap there, but one wing was not yet connected to the chest piece. She could go to Terah, she could get answers, she could—
“So, Fire Mother. You’ve returned to us.” It was Okwata, and he wheeled his way over to join her beside the workbench.
Something in Fia twisted at that title. Something that had been chipping away at her thoughts for a while now, and another reason to try and speak with Terah. “Actually, I have a theory. I’ll need my wings. Can you fix them?”
Okwata smiled. “Such an incredible creation. I couldn’t resist studying them when I saw they were in need of repair. I have a part arriving in the morning, and then they’ll be ready.” He ran a hand along the copper metal. “Alexander brought them here for you.”
Fia tried to keep her expression neutral at the sound of his name. If he was stuck in Evina’s world, if something happened to him… she shook away the thought.
“Come,” Okwata said. “Take a seat. We have much to tell each other.” He dragged a stool out for her and wheeled himself to the opposite side of the table, pulling off a leather apron and casting it aside. Ahrek had already disappeared, and Fia felt a wave of tiredness wash over her. Where to begin?
She filled him in on all that had happened since Erebus took her from the wall in Djira, and soon Ahrek returned with a tray bursting with food: fresh fruit and cheeses, cold meats, and rolls of soft bread. Erebus’s wounds might slow him down, but she didn’t doubt he could show up at any moment. If he did, she wouldn’t hesitate to use her flames on him this time.
“I need to go back to the sky spirits,” she said between mouthfuls of food. “I have to find Terah.” She didn’t care how ridiculous she looked; it was the most she’d eaten in weeks.
Okwata rubbed his chin for a moment, at the beard he’d grown in the time she’d been gone. “You think she will come to you?”
Fia nodded energetically as she finished off her meal. The first fire mother would come. She had to. “Tell me what’s been happening here. The devices… I can send more messages if that helps? And I heard some Asharians talking about mirrors.”
“The mirrors are part of how we’re trying to maintain some normality across Ohinyan. The sun has almost died completely, and many things have been affected because of it. But the alliance is going well and many have come together to help. Makya and Mizunese, witches and angels, all working together to ensure Ohinyan’s survival.” Okwata brushed some crumbs onto an empty plate as he spoke and poured Fia some water from a jug Ahrek had brought, but the Asharian had disappeared again.
Fia gulped down the water and poured herself some more. For a moment she thought of Arion. It was because she’d found him, because he’d returned with her to the Mizunese that they’d offered their help. And now he was gone. She was glad to hide her face behind her cup as she blinked back the sting of tears. “And the devices? The messages? Did they work?”
“They did. But there’s more you could do, if you’d be willing.”
“Whatever it takes,” Fia said, reaching for the broken copper sphere she kept in her pocket. “I’m sorry, it got damaged when Erebus took me from Djira.”
Okwata took it, examining the sphere, turning it this way and that. “It can be repaired.”
Fia pushed herself away from the table, piecing everything together, trying to make sense of her suspicions, to fight with her ever-increasing sense of dread. “Okwata, how long do you think we have left. Until the sun dies?”
He put the sphere down and looked at her, his soft brown eyes shimmering with a hint of amber. “I think we have a matter of days.”
Erebus didn’t know how to rekindle the sun. But Terah might. She might know how to put a stop to Erebus and Lorn. Fia let that be a comfort as Okwata’s words sank in. She leaned back against his desk, casting her gaze over the metal objects scattered across it.
You look like a Makya. She thought of Lorn’s words again. She knew it was more than that; she didn’t just look like one. She was a descendant of one. And that meant accepting who she was. Something told her Alexander already had; the way he’d looked at her back in Deganis when she’d used her flames, it wasn’t in fear. But still she didn’t know if she could trust herself. Everyone you love dies. She wouldn’t be the cause of any more deaths.
Ahrek burst into the lab, faster than Fia had ever seen him move. He was out of breath. “They’re back,” was all he said, and Fia was already on her feet, running out of the glasshouse, down the smooth path surrounded by trees. Butterflies shot up from the leaves like a flock of surprised birds.
She ran all the way to the wall that looked out over the plains, and there, sure enough, walking back to the lab in the shimmering heat amongst a group of others, was Alexander.
Chapter Twenty–Eight
Fia
A lexander must have caught sight of her, because within moments he was flying up towards her, faster than she’d ever seen him fly before. His magic. He landed in the courtyard before her on a gust of air as if he were weightless.
He wore a soldier’s uniform from Evina’s world, and Fia resisted the urge to reach out and run a hand across his chest to feel the muscles that rippled underneath. Alexander didn’t show the same restraint, he closed the space between them and brushed a hand along her cheek, never breaking her gaze.
“Did he…” Alexander’s throat bobbed. “Are you okay?”
Fia nodded and wrapped her fingers around his hand. She didn’t doubt for a second that Erebus could find her here too, that every second with Alexander was a stolen one. But for a moment time stood still, and the ache in her chest seemed to settle. A warm breeze blew, and Alexander tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She bit her lip, trying to pull together all the things she wanted to say, but someone cleared their throat before she could get the chance.
Ahrek and Okwata approached.
“You found your way back,” Okwata said.
“Why did you do it?” Alexander asked, gently releasing Fia’s hand to step towards the scientist. “Why did you let Randin through to Deganis?”
Fia looked from Alexander to Okwata. You’ve been lied to by more than one. But there was more than one side to every story, so she waited for his answer. Okwata moved his chair over to the wall, watching the rest of Alexander’s group make their way up the slope.
“My people have learnt how to manipulate others to their advantage. They travel from world to world stealing technology, mano
euvring leaders and planting seeds of doubt across worlds to get what they want,” he began.
“It was a woman called Ona who convinced me to help Randin. Her brother and I…” Okwata’s gaze flicked to Ahrek, and back to Alexander. “He died, and I thought of Ona like my own sister. She told me that Randin knew of a technology to cross worlds more easily, that it was accessible from Deganis. But when I let him through, they exiled me, and I haven’t heard from them since, until the dagger.”
“But the Tahjiik are legend here, a tale we tell our young,” Alexander said.
“Stories are powerful things, Alexander. So easy to spin, so easy to weave truth among the lies.” Okwata looked at Fia as he said the last part.
Still, she reserved judgement. Okwata had helped with the devices, that had counted for something.
“So you didn’t know Randin wished to be king? Of his intentions in Deganis?” Alexander asked.
“I only thought I was aiding my people.”
Alexander drew in a deep breath and held Okwata’s gaze. “Ona is dead. The Queen of Deganis has returned with us. Erebus and Randin worked together to steal her power and it aided in Erebus’s release. The queen has come to get her power back so that she can reclaim her throne.”
“Erebus and Randin were working together?” Something seemed to crumple in Okwata’s expression for a moment, but then he sat tall again. “Words will not atone for what I’ve done,” he said quietly. “But my actions will. I’ll do whatever I can to set things right.” He looked down at Evina among her angel escorts, and the queen seemed to catch his gaze.
Fia knew he meant it. He was a good man; she’d spent enough time with him to know that.
“I believe you were deceived by your own people. I also believe that is punishment enough. You’ve done much here in Ohinyan to help us,” Alexander said. The others were getting closer, snippets of conversation carrying to them up the slope. “Let’s keep this between us, for now.”
The First Dawn (Daughter of the Phoenix Book Three) Page 20
