In the distance, cliffs rose high into the air, the gray-blue stone of the plain granite cliff frightening and alien with its jagged peaks. The drip of water from damp caverns was loud to my sensitive hearing, the beach eerily silent everywhere else.
I sucked in a breath, and asked, “Where do we go?”
“Straight forward. Until we see the Gate.”
“All right.” I grabbed his hand, holding tight. I lifted my chin up and marched straight forward with him. “Bel?”
“Yes?”
“I’m proud of you. For never giving up.”
Air rushed out of him in a shuddering breath.
“You should be proud of yourself, too,” I added.
Bel squeezed my hand tight. “Thank you, little one.”
“You’re welcome.”
The mist floated off the water and followed us, occasionally wrapping around us to give us…a hug.
I shuddered. “My apologies if this offends, but the mist is a little creepy.”
Bel’s laughter filled the silence. “It’s just saying it cares. Don’t be afraid of it.”
“I won’t…until it decides it doesn’t like me and grabs my ankle and drags me back to the ocean to drown me. Then I’ll be afraid of it.”
My lover snorted. “It’ll be okay, Gwen.”
I sniffed. “We’ll see.”
The mist did its hugging again. Ugh.
Eventually, I squinted and pointed. “I think I see it.”
“I do, too,” Bel stated darkly.
“It’s closed. Is it supposed to be closed?”
“No, it’s not. I imagine that’s why I’ve never been able to find this place in all my time searching. When the brat stole the Original amulets, he fucked everything up. Including life here, it seems.”
Sand kicked up under my boots as we walked faster. I questioned, “Will you be able to open the Gate?”
“I hope so. With the help of both Original amulets.” He cleared his throat roughly. “I don’t know what we’re going to find on the other side.”
I hummed. “Glad you brought the head then?”
“Fuck yes, I am.” He sighed heavily, staring at the Gate with hardened determination.
“We’re getting closer.” I squeezed his hand. “It’s almost time.”
THE FLAMES SMOLDEREDTHROUGHOUT THE CITY,releasing great billowing clouds of smoke into the sky. The sun was darker here, and I could smell death on everything. It had taken us just a half a day to get to the city by train, and only Bebbenel stayed behind at the temple. Roran was displeased with that. He assigned two lieutenants to help the guard and spoke to the captain of the ships in the harbor.
While Roran had been speaking to the lieutenants, Lunella leaned between Aiko and I and whispered, “Bebbenel is a coward and not interested in military protection at all. None of us trusts him. And it’s Roran’s right to have his temple defended properly.”
Now, seeing what remained of the city, I could see he had every right to be worried. A coward would not be able to defend the temple. Bebbenel would hide and let our world crumble around him.
“They came from the south?” Aiko pointed to the worst of the destruction.
