It was excessive, considering water back home was so rare it brought on war. But here, it was so different. As if this was truly how they were meant to live. Surrounded by birdsong and green trees with heavy leaves that offered shade and shelter and of course,water.
Despite the monsters and the freezing nightly temperatures, the world here seemed so far from Vargah. So different from the dry and the dust and the storms.
Stone pulled out his map, sweat beading on his dark brows. He pushed his hair back out of his face, glasses sitting snugly on his nose. “This says we’re here.”
“What?” Birdie peered at the map over his shoulder. “This is Ravki?” She gestured to the large, open field they were currently standing in, where blades of green rose from the earth in an endless blanket. “Shouldn’t there be…” She looked around. “Something here?”
Stone rolled the map and tucked it in his back pocket. He’d checked the map every day since they departed the ship. Hecalculated the exact time they’d need to spend sleeping and the amount of miles they’d need to walk.
It should be right here, he thought.
It should be here and it isn’t.
“Let’s keep walking,” he said, determination and a stubborn sense of hope fueling his steps. “We’ve got a few hours left of daylight, we may as well make good use of them.”
Even Birdie couldn’t argue with that.
The grass, as Stone recalled from one of his books–swayed in the breeze as they trudged through the open field.
As far as they could see, it was nothing but flat, green earth. No ruins like they’d read in Desmond's journal. No semblance of a city whatsoever.
As they walked, Stone realized that the field was not flat like he originally thought. In fact, they were on what seemed to be on the top of a very steep hill. Aesira joined his side and peered down, the wind rustling her dark curls free from her braid, and there at the bottom he could see–
“Ruins,” Stone said. “Those are ruins.” He looked at Aesira, a grin split across her face that matched his own. “Just like in the king’s journal.”
“Holy shit.” Birdie and Bee joined their side. “They’re large enough to swallow the Aquila,” Bee said.
Even from where they stood at the top of the hill, Bee was right, the structures were massive. Tall, wide columns surrounded by vines. Domed roofs with broken glass ceilings. Arched windows, overrun with nature.
“Let’s go down.” Birdie tightened the straps on her backpack. “The sun's getting low.” The four of them slid carefully down thehill, the grass acting as a soft landing. The closer they got to the ruins, the thicker Stone’s fear felt in his throat, making it more difficult to breathe.
How could the king have known the ruins were here?
And it wasn’t just the ruins. It was the moths and the detailed descriptions of the landscape. Everything Stone had read from Desmond’s journals matched and that parasite in his mind burrowed further with each unanswered question that presented itself.
When they reached the bottom of the hill, a few stars speckled the sky but Stone hardly noticed them, too distracted with what lay in front of him. It wasn’t just one ruin, but dozens, all laid out in a grid-like pattern.
“It looks like a base we have at the Order,” Aesira said at his side. “Militant. Looks like every building has a purpose.”
Ornate spires, crafted of stone shot from the ground, into the sky. Arches paved the way for what once used to be openings. The crumbling evidence of a city that once was.
Ravki.
Twenty-Six
Kamari
Naming Day was approaching swiftly and without any more word from Aesira since she and the crew departed the Outpost, Kamari had begun to prepare to face the ceremony alone.
Well, almost alone.
Unfortunately her parents were still there and Raffe and after two attempts to kidnap her, the rotation of knights outside her door was endless. She thought her lack of privacy was a problem before, but now it was nonexistent, giving her hardly any time to read the journals at all.
Hanna handed Kamari her tea then resumed braiding her hair. “I hate to say it, Your Majesty,” she said through a sigh, “but your mother has asked me to inform you that Lord Raffe will be joining us this morning.”
The tea lingering in Kamari’s mouth turned sour.
Of course he would be joining her for breakfast.
