CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
I’ve never trained harder. My powers have grown, and I’m ashamed to admit, it scares me.
—Journal of Isla Jasira.
The southern range of Lumerians squatted in gray clusters against the dim horizon, the foothills bare by comparison to those near Aedrialis. Rocks and shrubs provided little shelter for the various packs of coyotes and thin deer trudging through the hills.
Our flight took a few hours before we neared the split in the cliffs that cut through the Lumerian mountain range. Skyscape Pass was wide enough for a caravan to traverse, but rocky in parts and known to flood. The Rising forces needed this route to march to Aedrialis if they were to avoid Saros’s forces camped at the Rellenor Fields. Whatever threat hid in these rocks needed to be dealt with.
Vienah’s clouds dissolved into wisps as we flew farther from her magic, but the sun had set, night gracing us with its cover. Tiberius landed on a wide strip of a bordering peak. He clomped to the edge of the cliff overlooking Skyscape Pass. Small caveopenings and holes dotted the walls of the rocky cliff on either side, stretching sixty miles from one end to the other.
We flew most of the night, making two rounds on the entire stretch of the pass before returning to the small landing we came across, spying nothing out of order.
Maybe we need to go down there,Ti said after chomping through an apple I brought along for him. White foam lined his black lips as he chewed sloppily, letting bits of it drop to the ground. I stared at him for a moment, allowing my amusement to pass through our bond.
I’m still a horse,he quipped. I don’t have human lips.
Thank the gods for that.I laughed, rolling my eyes. I tripped forward as his giant head nudged me from behind.
There seems to be no threat from above, but something feelsoffout here...
We flew to the center of the pass, and as Tiberius thundered down the rocky road, an arrow whizzed past us. He slammed on his hooves, reeling backward as I did my best not to fly from his back, a second arrow whipping past my face.
I threw my palms to the side, an orb of transparent darkness materializing around us. I squinted in the night, the darkness of the shield making it difficult to see through. I stretched it, widening its diameter, as small shadows dropped from holes in the walls of the rocky pass.
Get ready, agrippa, I murmured, as the dark shadows circled us, hundreds of them now closing in. I rallied my powers, ready to strike as a small voice called out from behind the line of creatures.
“Lyvia?”
My heart stopped. Mumbling gurgled from the strange creatures as they parted for the girl as she approached.
What the fuck is Evony doing here?
I dropped the shield, my powers siphoning back into the chasm as I stared at the creatures whose beady black eyes reflected Renova’s blue light seeping in from miles above.
Those creatures… I’d seen one before.
I tensed, waiting for the intrusive grinding voice of the Stone Witch as I prepared to get Evony the hell out of there, taking out as many of these wretched creatures as I could. The black, membranous wings of the pig-nosed beasts hung limp at their sides, but they were dexterous little things, many of them swinging down from the sides of the cliff on makeshift ropes of aged vines.
The short, humanoid creatures bared sharp, yellowed canines at me as they approached, carrying small weapons of their own. Jagged rocks, broken shears, makeshift spears… Anything, it seemed, they could get their hands on.
I flexed my hands, ready to release the Obscura as soon as I got a clear view of Evony.
We need something precise, so we don’t hit her, Tiberius’s voice commanded.
I dismounted, letting the darkness pool in my palms in a small black cloud. I nodded, facing the direction of Evony’s voice, waiting to get a clear view. Ti’s tail swished as he turned to face the creatures circling us.
Arrows, I murmured back.
Evony escaped the tribute ship just to end up in the hands of the Stone Witch. A fierce, protective force of energy seemed to fuel the power pushing against my palms.
“Lyvia!” she called again.
I followed the voice as movement caught my eye. I urged the Transcindiel to join hands with the Obscura, transforming the swirling cloud of darkness into four lethal arrows. I flipped my palms, floating them into the air, poised at the creatures shuffling about.
Evony’s hand shot up in the distance, and I slowed my breathing, ready to release, when the creatures parted for her.
“Oh, gods! Lyvia, is that you?”
