Cassiel
The cage was dark and cold. Uncontrollable trembling settled over Cassiel, and he wasn’t sure if it came from the icy metal base or fear. It was a large cage, wide enough to stretch his arms on all four sides and stand without hunching. Almost as if it was made for him. As soon as Dyna left, Draven ordered the dwarves to cover it with a large brown tarp. It failed to muffle their voices as they made their plans.
“Move out,” Draven ordered, and the bustle on the ship grew louder.
“Brother, I think it’s best we set sail for another harbor,” Galen said. “We shouldn’t sell him here. There are too many guards around.”
“This is Azure. The Celestial hunts began in this kingdom. Everyone knows the damn value of divine blood. We will make a fortune here.”
“But the girl—”
“Has a bounty on her head. If she’s smart, she will have already left the city. Enough blathering. Let’s go earn some coin.”
The cage lurched, and the wheels squealed as they pushed it across the deck. Cassiel slid on the metal base from one end to the other as they rolled it down the gangplank. They hit a snag, and Galen spat curses at the dwarves to be careful. The cage leveled once they had it safely on the ground.
The wheels rattled loudly as they rolled him through the cobblestone streets. With the breeze coming off the sea, the ends of the tarp fluttered at the bottom of the cage, letting in soft light. The dwarves called to passersby to come see what Draven had under the tarp. The sound of people and footsteps following them grew as more joined the procession. They pushed his cage for miles around the city. The deeper they went, the louder the sounds of the city became. Excited voices whispered as they passed the moving cage.
“Sacred one.”
“Celestial.”
“Divine blood.”
Cassiel’s shaking hands gripped the bars. The cage shrunk in on him. He dragged in a breath and forced himself to calm down. A memory of his uncle’s voice came to him, as it always did when he needed guidance.It is not the cage you fear. You fear what it means, but you are not trapped, and you are not helpless. This cage has a door. Find it.
He reached for his right boot and searched the back of the heel blindly for the metal embellishments until he loosened a section. The gold pin came free and fell in his palm. He had forgotten that he had the pins made and embedded on all his shoes for this exact purpose. His old phobia of cages hadn’t fully left him. Perhaps it was fate preparing him for this.
Grasping the pin in his sweaty fingers, he grabbed the padlock swinging from the chains on the door. He pushed all else from his mind, focusing on the gears in the lock. His shackled hands made it difficult to maneuver the pin, but he had practiced this enough that he should be able to—
The cage hit a pothole, and the pin slipped from his fingers, falling onto the street as they wheeled past.
Cassiel stared blankly at the padlock. This was how his story would end, as a pivotal moment when the world once again changed. He had exposed his people, and now the hunts would begin. But not before the poachers drained him of his blood and sold his parts. His uncle wouldn’t know what happened to him. He hadn’t arrived in Hermon Ridge as he should have. No one knew where he was. By the time his father learned of his death, the word that Celestials still roamed the earth would have spread throughout the kingdom.
Cassiel brought his knees to his chest, wrapped his arms around them, and enveloped himself with his large wings. It didn’t ward off the fear bubbling inside of him like a foul disease. He must be nothing. Feel nothing. He wouldn’t die with terror as his last thought.
Cassiel shut his eyes and let his mind go. It brought him to the forest of Hilos. Birds chirped and sang among the indigo branches, thin rays of sun filtering through the massive canopy. TheHyalustree stood like a silent giant among the trees. It’s transparent glass leaves fluttered in the breeze, shimmering with an iridescent sheen.
It reminded him of the day Dyna stumbled into his life. Since then, things had changed. Bit by bit, day by day. He knew what would happen if he didn’t stop it, if he didn’t form a clear line between them.
But he couldn’t.
She’d taken root inside of him. He knew it was a mistake, but he found himself wanting what he shouldn’t. It wasn’t simply about the journey anymore. He couldn’t help but wish—
His eyes opened to his reality when the cage came to an abrupt stop. He stiffened at the roar of so many voices swelling together. The cage moved again, and he held onto the bars as it lifted at a slant. The dwarves grunted while they pushed it up from what he guessed was another ramp.
“Secure the wheels,” Galen barked once the cage leveled.
There was a shuffle of small feet, then a screech of metal, followed by a heavy thud that jerked the cage firmly in place.
“Did you get it?” Draven asked.
“Yes, Master,” a dwarf replied. “A crate of a hundred, one-ounce glass vials. We loaded them onto the wagon.”
A shudder crept down Cassiel’s back.
Vials. For his blood.
“Good. Haul it here,” Draven ordered.
