I glanced to where Lord Astraeus sat with what remained of his crew inland. His dark beard had been cropped short, and his hair cleaned, braided back, and adorned with a new set of beads. Bones, I realized, as I examined the white bits in his hair from a distance. He caught my gaze and grinned. I snapped my attention back to Xenelpha, whose eyes found mine in the crowd.
“Merry Maadon,” she began, holding her arms wide, the talons strapped to her hands splayed out in a fearsome image. “A day when light finally gives way to darkness. It is a day of change. A day ofbalance. A day to remind us that light is nothing without the dark.”
My mind drifted as Xenelpha continued her story, earning gasps of awe as the various mages in her counsel began displaying shows of light and wind and water as she told her story. I ran through the plans in my head.
Six amatohks sat saddled and ready to be mounted near the western edge of the village. Nerissa, Ronan, and Astraeus would take three while sending the others south. Vulcan would come with me to the tomb…
“Ice calls to water as magma calls to stone. To change, totruly transform, takes sacrifice. Takes courage. Water becomes trapped. Stone weakens. We must remember who we are to begin with, that our essence may be nudged, one sacrificial bit at a time, before evolution takes place. What will you let go of this Maadon to become who you were meant to be?” Xenelpha’s eyes landed on my face.
“For death,” she continued, letting the word dangle in the chamber, “is but a passage. A gate to the Beyond. Yet the dead suffer, trapped, in the world built by theEhp’uch, who claimgodas their title, holding them captive, waiting to suck the lifeblood of the dead, their essence. Protected only by the Lord of Death.”
Xenelpha’s eyes remained pinned on me.
“Our people descended from the line of Faron. And it is he whom we protect. It is his story that’s written in the crypt below the lake. Faron the Cunning, wisest of the Bellators. He’s been preparing us for their return. For he knew he’d only be able to show us in his death…”
I scanned the various skulls peering at Xenelpha when my eyes snagged on a flash of silver. My heart stuttered as I studied the swirl of silver in the distance, peering at me beneath an ivory skull of a small amatohk. The dune runner’s wide eye sockets cast a dark shadow over the skin beneath, the glowing silver shining in their depths.
The eyes locked on me, and I realized I had stood, Honor unsheathed and in my palm. The Obscura slithered down my forearms, ready for an attack. Silence filled the chamber as hundreds of eyes landed on me.
“Impostor.” Xenelpha’s voice echoed like the boom of an air cannon.
Four Bone Warriors rushed through the crowd, leaping over rows of bewildered families as the man with silver eyes was tackled to the icy floor, warriors pinning his arms beneath them. Vulcan was at my side in an instant, tense as he watched the scene unfold.
“He was at the Eye of the Wood,” he said quietly.
I shook my head. “Not him.It,” I clarified. “It’s been watching me since you sprang me from Mount Telum last year.”
Ronan stepped next to him, eyes wide, and opened his mouth when the blaring of horns ripped through the domed ice chamber. The people of Rhashtai stilled as the horn sounded once more. The last note echoed through the silent chamber like the bay of an ancient beast.
My pulse pounded against my palms as the Obscura rushed to my veins, mimicking its beat. Xenelpha’s face whipped to the back of the chamber, where a warrior rushed down the slick stairs, sliding to a stop at the bottom.
“Asginasand Nivis warriors,” he warned.
Xenelpha’s face paled beneath her massive mask, and she shouted commands. Chaos erupted in the vast chamber as the massive sections of the ceiling began lifting from the sides, closing the roof of the amphitheater.
Lord Astraeus moved to my side, his lips near my ear as he whispered, “We should go now.”
I caught Nerissa’s gaze and the slight dip of her chin before I eyed Ronan and Vulcan. They were with me. My call.
My mind spun between our options. Get out now and take the Advetis Bone or stay and help Rhashtai. And suddenly, I was back at the Lake of Light, Bayne’s brilliant green eyes boring into me as I weighed a similar decision.
One that cost me my brother’s life. My father’s life. And one that spared many others, as I thought of the families escaping the tribute’s ship. Of Evony leaping off the side.
“Nerissa,” I said, sheathing Honor and turning toward our small group. “Take Carina and head to the front lines. You take the Nivis soldiers.”
A fierce nod was the only response I got before she sprinted up the steps.
“Kresida, stay with Vienah and guard her while she puts out any flames that rise in the village.”
“Astraeus, you and your men are under Ronan’s orders to the west. Our plans before dawn don’t change, but we’ll do what we can while we’re still here.”
Nods all around except for Astraeus, whose eyes narrowed on me. “We should leave now while they’re?—"
I lifted a hand. “We won’t leave them undefended.”
I tugged back on that invisible strand of air connecting us, and Astraeus pursed his lips before turning and barking orders at his men.
“Vulcan, with me.”
We set off at a trot, following the group of warriors that continued to shout “Asginas!”
Ashen.
