I nodded,statingthat I would warn him if there was a nexttime, beforewe lapped into a comfortable silence.
“We need more,” I said softly, Nolvym slipping off my tongue.
“More of what, Avi?”
“More soldiers. More wielders. Moretrokavs. More willing to fight. Morenumbers,” I said, the anxiety slowly trickling back in. “Wedon’thave enough right now. Not after the latest battle. Not enough to fightanddefend thenumberof captives I saw in there.”
Byn sighed, running a hand through his unruly hair, but he didn’t answer immediately like he usually did.
I shifted my energy inwards, towards the place I had come to find hispresence atinside ofme, andfelt. Thenrealizationwashed over me.
“You have an idea already,” I stated, looking up to lock eyes with him.
Slowly, he nodded. But the next sentence out of his mouth did little to ease my anxiety; if anything, it made my anxiety spike.
“I do… but I fear the asking price might be more than we can afford.”
***
The sun had just slid below the distant horizon when the four of us barreled into the lush cave that served as our rendezvous point.
Rayven’s head snapped toward us as we materialized from our shadow forms. He was in front of us a few heartbeats later, with Chess and theOcreinroyal siblings fast on his heels.
As Matea and Laurence appeared first, Icouldn’tignore the way Rayven’s eyes slid over my sister’s form, checking to make sure she was in one piece.
His attention shifted quickly, though, as Byn and I appeared next to them. Rayven wasimmediatelybefore us, his loyalty to his king and queenapparent.
“Are you twoalright? We were concerned when you fourweren’tback before us. I was just saying we should start looking for you all.” Rayven subtlylookedus over, checking for wounds and the likes as he spoke.
“We’re fine, brother. Don’t worry,” Byn said, resting his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“Wedidn’tfind a single thing inJackton. It was a waste of time and resources,” Callum informed us as he stepped closer toward Byn and me.
I took a deep breath before my next statement. “That’s because we found them.”
I watched as the royal siblings shared a concerned look, and Chess’s face blanched. Rayven met my gaze, his expression stony.
“What did you find?” Rayven asked, his voice cold.
Byn, Laurence, Matea, and I all took turns speaking as we filled in the other half of our posse on what we had discovered. And aswe spoke, even Caelia, who rarely displayed her true emotions, had a look of horror on her face.
It was how we all felt, by the end of the discussion.
“So… we don’t know what caused this lack ofzirilium?” Callum asked, obviously still processing everythingwe’djust divulged.
“I… think I do,” I spoke up.
All eyes in the cave shot over to me, and I could even feel Byn’s surprise. But I lockedeyeswith Matea from acrossthe space, and she nodded slightly.
Her encouragement was all I needed.
Slowly, I reached into my internal cloak pocket—where the map and sketches from Valenia had been, which were now on the floor before us. When I pulled my hand back out, I held a tiny metal spike in my palm—no bigger than the length of my finger.
The spike I had taken from the wall.
I had it placed on a small strip of cloth so it wouldn’t touch my skin.I held it out before me for everybody tosee.
“Whatever this is made of did it,I’mpretty sure. When I first ripped itoff the wall, before Matea and I went back to find Byn and Laurence, I held it in my hand, and it touched the skin of my fingers. And when it touched my skin, it was like… nothingI’dever felt before.It’slike it zapped theziriliumfrom me, like it completely cut me off from them.” I shuttered as I remembered what that felt like.
