“Her magic has weakened since the darkness spread. It has also caused her to deteriorate. Her illness is spreadingthroughout her body. But, if anyone can open a door to where you need to go, it’s her,” Stava said with a shrug.
“Then can you take us to her?” I asked before Aster could.
Stava gave me a long look, then grinned.
“You remind me of him sometimes. Stubborn, reckless, far too sure of yourself.”
“Who, Aster?” I asked, almost smiling.
She shook her head, still smiling.
“No… Atlas.”
I jerked back a bit in surprise. I also wanted to ask how she knew Atlas so well, but she gestured for us to follow her after first rising from the bench. Suddenly, my exhaustion fled me, replaced with something else…hope.
We walked through the slumbering herd, and I thought it best to keep my unnecessary questions to myself so as not to wake anyone up. Stava led us toward the far end of the cavern, where the light from the dimming fires didn’t reach.
When we stepped into a smaller chamber, I saw her, the mage, resting under the glow from a flickering torch on the wall, and the glimmering of flame danced as it illuminated the veins in the walls.
She was smaller than I expected, much smaller. Her beige skin, visible through her white, balding fur, had a faint grey tinge, a sign of age, illness, and death. Faded runes swirled up her arms, similar to my scars. But hers looked like new runes, like they had been etched into her skin with a knife, and overlapped the old ones below. When she opened her eyes and looked over to us from her bed, the pale silver of her irises seemed to look right through me.
“Little bull,” she said. Her voice was frail yet held a strength that proved to me how powerful she was, or once was. “You finally came home to us.” The frailty in her voice was easy tohear, but it was also tinged with the hint of delight at seeing Aster again.
“Yes, and to also call in on that favor,” he replied with a respectful nod of his head.
“Tell me, young bull, what is it you need from me?” she asked, with eagerness to help.
“We need to reach the capital.”
Her gaze slid to me.
“And the mortal girl is the reason, I assume?”
“She’s the reason the King still has a chance to be saved, yes,” Aster replied.
“I see.” The Way Weaver studied me for a long moment, and I swore I could feel her in my head, searching through my memories like my brain was a filing cabinet I hadn’t given her permission to look in.
“You love our King unconditionally,” she said finally. “That’s dangerous. Love can make you do foolish things.”
I tensed at this, stopping myself from saying, ‘if only you knew’.
“But there is also great strength in it, too, and that is what we have here. Despite the price you will no doubt have to pay,” she said cryptically.
“What do you mean by the price I will have to pay?” I asked because I didn’t think she meant a dowry.
“That is for you to discover.” Her reply wasn’t exactly comforting.
“Does that mean you will help us?”
She nodded once, and I knew from the twinkle in those silver eyes that she had seen the vision in my mind. She turned her attention to a ring of small stones beside her bed. They glowed weakly, and I had a gut feeling that the glow indicated how much life she had left. Selfishly, it made me worry that perhaps she wouldn’t be strong enough to open the portal we so desperatelyneeded. But I kept those thoughts to myself and hoped she wasn’t still making her way through my mind.
“You still have time. I will open your path,” she said at last, “But I am afraid that I cannot do it yet.”
Aster lowered to one knee in front of her, as his brows furrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“Icanopen it,” she said, her eyes flicking to Aster. “But I don’t have the strength to do it alone.”
