Eira’s fingers closed gently but firmly around Noelle’s wrist as she tried to reassure her. “There was nothing we could do for him.”
“That’s not true, and you know it. We could’ve stopped them.”
“And risked everything.”
“What good is what we’re doing?” Noelle turned back to her, fire in her eyes. “What good are we if we stand by and watch as innocent men are slaughtered?”
“This is a land we don’t know, that we don’t have a place in, or control over,” Eira said slowly, emphasizing each word. “Varren knows this land and he says this is how it’s always done.”
“We couldchange it.”
“Noelle, we are nothing more than a small group of strangers. We don’t know how best to help or if these people evenwantour help.”
“Of course they do.” Noelle covered Eira’s hand with her other one, leaning in. “You saw what they are forced to endure. How could they not?”
“We are not their saviors. We cannot be,” Eira said softly. With her free hand she tucked a strand of Noelle’s hair behind her ear. She’d never had a sister, and Noelle was the same age as her, but something about that moment made Noelle feel like a younger sibling. Someone to look after, take care of, and protect. Perhaps it was that unbridled idealism that Noelle pursued with unyielding passion. “You can’t change something from the outside; the people have to want it enough to change it from within.”
“You’re trying to change Meru from the outside by killing Ulvarth,” she countered. “Why couldn’t we do that here?”
There were a number of ways Eira could’ve replied. She could’ve been defensive and pointed out how Ulvarth was a tumor feeding on Meru—that he wasn’t the core of what Meru was. But he had gained traction. Followers. Momentum.
“Maybe Ulvarth represents the future of Meru,” Eira admitted with the taste of bile in the back of her throat. “But I’m not killing him to change Meru. I’m killing him because it’spersonal. Because I must put a stop to this game of his that I’m snared in or I will never know peace.” She leveled her eyes with Noelle. “If Meru changes after him, or not…is up to them. It’s not my place. I hope they reject his ways, when all is done. I hope they chart a course far from what the Pillars have wrought. But it’s not up to me. It’s their land…and if they want to place another like him on their throne, that is their decision. Once Ulvarth is dead, I don’t know if I’ll ever go back.”
“Of course you’ll go back,” Noelle said softly. There was a time that Eira might have readily agreed.
Eira took it as a victory that she wasn’t focused on the man in the village anymore. “We’ll see. But, for now, you should go to sleep.”
Noelle nodded. “I’ll try.”
Perhaps it was how her shoulders curved in on themselves. Perhaps it was the dimming of her eyes. But something prompted Eira to reach out and grab her upper arm. To try to offer something that could be even mildly reassuring.
“We will help them, you know. Killing this man in the mines will certainly be of help. Think of how many might be able to escape in the chaos. How many we’ll be able to free in the process. Moreover, we’ll stop the Pillars from getting access to flash beads, which will help Meru, too.”
Noelle nodded again with a slight smile. “You’re right.” She reached up to squeeze Eira’s fingers. “Thanks.”
“Of course. Now, sleep well.”
Noelle tucked herself against Ducot. The man mumbled in his sleep, an arm slinging over her without him even waking. “You too,” she murmured, eyes closing.
The words replayed in Eira’s mind as she stared out into the empty forest. What good could they do? Was it even their place? There might have been a time where she would’ve been as idealistic. But now? All Eira wanted was to make it out alive.
35
They arrived at the mines without issue. In trekking through the fields and forests of Carsovia, Eira was caught with a sense of the scale of the nation. For an empire that was touted as being large and rich with manpower, there were such vast expanses of nothing. Of course, there were some regions of Solaris with very little—such as the Western Waste. But even that had main roads cutting through it. Wells made and maintained by Waterrunners for the travelers traversing the dunes.
This wasnothing. No more towns. Or roads. Or—thank Yargen—patrols. Which meant there was a lot more she wasn’t seeing.
Carsovia was a scale unlike any she’d ever known, and it made the continent of Solaris feel so small.
Finally, in the timeframe that Adela had afforded, they arrived at the mines. They progressed slowly through the fields to a few boulders perched on a hillside. The cover would allow them to inspect the mine without risk of being seen from the patrols and watchtowers below.
Lavette stayed close to Varren, her arm around his shoulders. Without needing to be told, they all waited for him to be readyto peer over the boulders and get their first glimpse of the mines below.
The mines were a massive hole in the ground. It looked as though a star had fallen from the heavens and cratered the earth, down to its very core. The walls were stepped, descending far beyond their field of vision. It was difficult to make out details from their vantage, but Eira could see various towers positioned at different levels throughout. Plumes of smoke and dust rose from the work within.
“Well, that’s it,” Varren finally said. “The flash bead mines.”
“If you don’t mind sharing,” Yonlin started, “how is a flash bead made? Does it come out of the ground as we know them?”
