“Great.” Kai hops off the armrest he was perched on and dusts himself off. “I’ll grab my shovel.”
Without timeto second guess or decide that this is a very bad, veryhorribleidea, we’re on Furi’s back, flying toward Aeix. The journey takes two days. I’m insanely grateful when the frigid cold of Hyrax gives way to the southern heat—that is, before breathing becomes difficult.
Aeix has all the heat of Vod, except with air dry as ash.
The desert is bare beneath us, nothing in sight as far as the eye can see. Not a plant, not an animal, not even an insect. It’s like we have entered a space void of all life, only sky and flat dirt like the deserts out west back home.
I slide down Furi’s warm scales, my feet touching down on the dusty ground.
Hey, are you okay?I ask.
I can feel her fatigue echoed in my bones. She’s wary of this place. It’s making her…sad.
I have not been here in two thousand years. Since that day.
I can’t believe I didn’t realize that this might be difficult for her. We are standing in the place her first rider fell to Ienar. The place where she watched as her mothers and sisters were slaughtered by an angry god.
Furi, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have brought you here. I wasn’t thinking at all.
No need for apologies, Blackblood. It was a long time ago.
But her mind’s voice is laden with sadness, grief. I place a gentle hand on her leg.
Why don’t you take off? Maybe find some water or a place to rest for a little while. We’ve got this.
Her peridot eyes blink at me, looking a bit glassier than usual.
I will not go far.
I watch until she becomes a blip in the sky, then disappears altogether. The sun is so bright I have to use my hand as a visor. But even against the blinding daylight, it would be impossible to miss the glowing white mass in the distance.
As we grow closer, that mass becomes the largest tree I’ve ever seen. Thick, corded roots wind up the sturdy trunk in spirals. Its circumference is at least the size of four regular trees put together. The branches are solid, fanning out over the land, with exotic ivory flowers lining each crooked limb. But it’s the snow-white flames engulfing the entire treetop like a blazing halo that have me enchanted.
We pause at the base, staring up at this strange, beautiful tree that, against all odds, exists—defying the laws of nature.
I step closer, my eyes closing.
The land around us is supercharged. This is where the witches fell. I can feel them around me. My mothers and my sisters. Thousands of souls released with their dying breaths, returned to the land with the magic that birthed them.
I can hear them whispering in my ear, speaking words I don’t understand. Their presence is overwhelming, coaxing my own magic to the surface, urging it to come out and play.
Mar stops beside me, her face reverent, and I know she feels it too.
“So should we just spread out and start calling Silva’s name? See if she pops up?” Kai prods from behind us. Dover elbows him in the ribs.
“Have some respect, Kai. You don’t want to piss them off,” I warn.
Kai tickles his fingers along the back of my neck, like a spider. I swat him away.
“Afraid of a few bones, savior?”
The air itself seems to narrow at his joke.
“The witches don’t find you funny. You might want to quit while you’re ahead.”
Something is pulling me toward the tree, to the dark, hollowed arch within. I follow the call as if entranced.
“Can you guys give me a minute, please?”
