Chapter 26

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

I t was close to dawn before they finally set out for the inn. The streets were quiet, only a few others about at that time of day: the ones starting their day and others—like Terena and her friends—just finishing.

They were a few streets away from the inn when Terena turned her head to laugh at something Croak had said and almost fell over. The others laughed at her, thinking her clumsiness a result of her drinking. When Terena fell against a cart and slumped over, Rydon lunged for her, grabbing her around the waist to steady her.

“Easy,” he said as he held her. “We’ve all been there.”

“No,” Terena whispered, her head pounding. She looked around and saw the street, but differently. It was much darker out in this new perspective, and the streets were alive with crowds looking for merriment. Terena opened her mouth, clutching at Rydon’s hand, her eyes darting around to take in this new reality, when her gaze settled on a small, one story building ahead of them on the left.

She was having a vision. The vertigo was so strong she held on to Rydon as the vision superimposed over the street where they were stopped. Terena narrowed her eyes at that building and took a few steps forward .

“Whoa, easy, Ren,” Rydon said, but she took another few steps, her eyes fixed on the building where people only she could see stood outside.

“We need to go there,” she said, her voice strong despite still feeling dizzy.

“What, another tavern?” Croak said over a belch. “I mean, I’m good for one last round if you are, Ren.”

“I’m so tired,” Sonah whined. “Let’s save it for tomorrow.”

“I don’t think it’s open, regardless,” Gabriol said, his eyes on the building Terena had indicated. He turned back to her, his arms akimbo. “Do you know it?”

Terena stared at it another moment before glancing at Gabriol. “Aye. I’ve seen it before.”

“Another vision?” Rydon asked, his gaze narrowed as he watched her carefully.

“We need to go now,” Terena said softly. She looked over at Sonah. “You can go back to the inn, I’m fine alone.”

“The fuck you are,” Croak said, sauntering over. “I’ll go with you.”

“I’ve got her,” Rydon said with a quick glance at Croak. “You go on, get to bed. We’ll see you anon.”

The others hesitated but Terena started walking, feeling stronger now as she neared the building. Rydon kept a hand at her back as he continued at her side. He turned to the others to see they were walking back slowly toward the inn, Croak looking back every few steps, a concerned look on his face.

The place looked closed, as did every other building around them. No one was about.

“Looks closed, whatever this place is,” Rydon said in a low voice. Terena scanned around, walking to the side of the building. She frowned and turned back when she heard a door opening. She jogged back to Rydon, who looked at her in question.

As Terena took a step, dizziness assailed her again and she stumbled toward him. He reached out and grabbed her arms before she fell .

“I have something that will help with that,” a voice said behind her. Rydon cursed, scowling at someone over Terena’s shoulder.

“Bring her inside,” the female voice said. The vertigo overwhelmed Terena as she tried to turn her head, making her lose her balance and pitch to the right. Rydon grunted and wrapped an arm around her waist. Terena closed her eyes as he guided her inside the now opened door.

As quickly as it had come over her, the vertigo subsided as they went deeper inside. It smelled of incense, and Terena recalled the oracle and the temple sanctuary in Messene.

But this smell was different. It was just as strong, but not as cloying. Terena relaxed, straightening and looking around at her surroundings. A woman stood before them, a shawl wrapped around her thin shoulders. She was old, an octogenarian with a full head of grey hair. Wrinkles around bright black eyes mapped her face. Terena had the uncanny feeling she knew this woman. She smiled at Terena as if she knew exactly what was going through her mind.

“Thank you,” Rydon said.

“Bring her through, Eudaemon,” the woman said, motioning to Rydon to follow.

Terena looked up at Rydon, her nose wrinkled. He stiffened and she noted the red creeping up his neck to his cheeks.

The room beyond was empty, with old, faded furniture the only decoration. Even the walls were bare and stained with age. The only light in the room came through the threadbare curtains over the windows. Terena was about to say something when the woman’s smile changed, her eyes narrowing as her lips turned down. Rydon swore and unsheathed his sword a moment before five men came out of the corners of the room, their faces hidden beneath black hoods.

“You’ve grown strong since we last met,” the woman said, no longer the frail looking woman from earlier but closer to Terena’s age, her hair now dark like Terena’s and her hateful eyes a strange burnt orange. “But you’ll die, all the same.”

The hooded figures attacked a heartbeat later. Terena jumped back, unsheathing her sword clumsily as Rydon blocked the two in front of her, the clash of their swords ringing loud in her ears. She turned and quickly parried the man at her side.

He was strong.

Terena grunted at the force of his attack. His sword moved to a new angle, a different thrust as he forced her to step back until she hit the wall. Rydon yelled at her from across the room, engaged now with three of the attackers as another came forward from her left. This one had a short sword and another blade slightly larger than a dagger, both of them wielded expertly until she was down on one knee from the force of both her assailants.

Slowed down by drink, Terena’s parries were weak. She thrust her sword at the man on her left, catching him on the inside of his thigh instead of his gut. He grunted but otherwise showed no sign of pain or slowing down. Terena’s breath came in quick bursts and she panicked. She knew she’d be dead in minutes if Rydon didn’t help her soon, because she was outmatched and drunk. A low buzzing beneath her skin started as the man on her right caught her with an overhead swing, the tip of his sword slicing into her shoulder, and she almost dropped her blade. She cried out, stumbling back, and then it happened.

Time slowed, the buzzing in her body turning to heat and her eyes hurt. She swallowed and looked up, her attackers frozen in place, the one on her left in a move sure to be fatal. Terena stepped to the side and glanced to her right, searching for Rydon, when she caught sight of the woman. Her face was screwed up in concentration, her hands out and her fingers halted with the tips of her middle fingers and thumbs touching. She was chanting something and Terena sprang at her. Coming up behind her, Terena put her sword to the woman’s throat as her other arm wound around the woman’s waist.

Terena blinked and time resumed, her attackers stumbling forward, confused as they looked down to where she had been, then up to see her holding the woman.

“Stop!” she screamed, pulling the woman back with her. Terena looked to Rydon and saw he’d defeated one man, the other two wounded, now still as they all watched her .

“Whatever you’re doing, stop it,” she hissed at the woman.

One man took a step toward her and she dug the sword into the woman’s neck and cut her. When he saw the blood trail down her neck, the man lifted his hands and stopped.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Terena said to the woman as she sucked in a breath. “Why’d you attack us?”

“Kill her!”

Three of the men jerked into motion. Rydon caught one of them with a sword thrust to his belly. He yanked his blade free and the man fell to the floor, writhing for a few seconds before he was still.

“Call off your dogs,” Terena warned, “or I’ll have my friend cut them down.”

“I’ll do it anyway,” Rydon growled, his sword at the ready.

The woman reached down, making a grab for Terena’s dagger. Terena shoved her forward. Falling to a knee, the woman looked up, brandishing Terena’s dagger.

The woman panted, her lips peeled back in a victorious sneer as she looked at Terena.

“Aye, much stronger than last time,” she said.

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t remember you,” Terena said, swinging her sword arm out to the men on her left. Rydon circled closer to her, standing at her side as the three attackers moved to stand at the woman’s side.

“Oh, you remember,” the woman said. “Why else would you come in here?”

“Remind me again why you want to kill me?” Terena asked.

“Oh, I’m not here to kill you,” she said, as if they were having a cup of tea. “I’m here for your sister. You keep getting in the way.”

Rydon’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Terena’s blood went cold. She moved, her steps so fast the two men on her left had no chance. Before they could react, she swung, slicing the man on the far left across the throat, the gash opening and bleeding out before he dropped. Terena spun, thrusting her sword back into the other man’s stomach .

She pulled her sword out and he fell to his knees. The woman’s eyes flew open wide as Terena turned and narrowed her gaze on her.

The woman touched the pendant hanging between her breasts and began chanting; the man at her side instantly snapped out his short blade. Terena watched in horror as he struck Rydon in the chest.

She roared, heat flashing through her body and she reached out, a pulse of power bursting through her hand, throwing the man hard against the wall at his back. His skull caved and he dropped to the floor like a rag doll. Terena turned to the woman, this time lifting her up with invisible hands, like she’d done to Isher, only this time she was more controlled, stronger. She snapped the woman’s neck before she could scream.

Terena gasped and ran to Rydon. She slid to the ground at his side, her hands shaking as she moved him to his back. Tears stung behind her eyes and she impatiently blinked them away, her mouth dropping open when she saw the blade still in his breast.

“Rydon, oh please no,” she whispered. He groaned, and she gasped, her hands an inch from the blade.

His eyes blinked open slowly.

“How are you still alive?” Terena squeaked. She didn’t want to remove the blade because he’d surely die. But honestly, how was he still alive?

As she sat there trying to figure out what to do, Rydon reached up, his face screwing up in a grimace. Jaw tight as he gripped the hilt of the dagger, he yanked it out. Terena sat back on her heels, mouth wide as she exhaled raggedly.

Rydon sighed and closed his eyes, dropping the blade with a loud clatter at his side.

She sat in stunned silence, her eyes searching his face.

“What the fuck, Rydon?” She shuddered, feeling lightheaded.

Rydon swallowed, the column of his neck dripping sweat as the tendons worked and he tried to speak. He opened his eyes and looked at her, resigned.

“It’s as she said,” he replied, his voice rough, barely above a whisper. “I am a Eudaemon. A Guardian. I am sworn to protect you. ”

Terena opened her mouth, then scoffed, her hands splayed. “So… so… so you can take a fucking blade to the heart and live?”

He had closed his eyes after he’d spoken and it took him a few seconds more before he opened them again to stare up at her.

“I can’t die unless you do.”

Rydon winced at the pain from the wound in his chest. Terena seemed dazed, her eyes unfocused. They sat in thick silence while their assassins lay dead nearby. Rydon moved to stand and Terena reached out reflexively, helping him as he made his way slowly to his feet, her arm strong around his waist, her feet sure and stable when a bit of lightheadedness had him swaying.

“You’re unusually quiet,” Rydon said gruffly. He took a few slow, deep breaths and covered the wound with his hand.

Terena watched him warily. “Lots to think on just now,” she said at last.

He nodded. “I expect you have questions.”

She snorted.

Terena took her arm from his waist, slowly, as if expecting him to fall down dead. He worried she was right to fear, but when she took a step back, he was fine on his own.

“We should leave,” he said, glancing around at the bodies.

Terena said nothing, so he took the lead, walking carefully out of the room and into the entryway. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure she followed.

When they were outside, he slowed, waiting for her to catch up.

“How did that woman change her appearance so drastically? So quickly?”

Rydon’s eyes widened as he eyed her. He walked a few steps before answering. “Do you remember when I first asked if you’re a god? I told you some people in this world were also given powers, those favored by the gods. They are not divine, they are still mortal, but they have some… special abilities often confused with divinity. I confess, I ha ve never seen one. I assumed they’d all been killed off, mistaken for gods.”

Terena nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Those men of hers; she must have been using some sort of enchantment to strengthen them. Or they drew strength from her somehow. Either way, we will never know for certain. What’s more important—and something else we can’t know now she’s dead—is who sent her? And why did your vision lead us to that place if you were to be killed?”

Rydon saw her drop her head, her steps slowing.

“When I spoke with the oracle, I realized the visions are memories,” she said. Terena lifted her gaze as she frowned. “Apparently, this isn’t the first time I’ve done… all of this.”

Rydon’s lips twisted. “Aye. I had that feeling as well.”

“Truly?”

“Aye,” he said, catching her look of surprise. “When Her—when the king made me Eudaemon, it was,” Rydon shook his head, recalling. “I can’t explain it. An uncanny sense of having been there before. In that exact moment. I wasn’t frightened.”

“I wish you would have said something sooner.” Terena frowned up at him.

“And I wish you would have said something about having a sister.”

Terena stopped and turned to face him, arms folding and she hunched her shoulders. “I only found out myself, Rydon. I’m not trying to keep secrets from any of you. I wanted to tell Sonah before?—”

“Sonah!” Rydon laughed. “Sonah’s your sister? Now things are making sense.”

Terena ducked her head. “Aye, Sonah’s my sister. According to the oracle. But I haven’t told her yet.”

“We all need to sit down and speak openly about all this… shit,” Rydon said.

Terena nodded and began walking.

They walked in silence until they reached the inn. Terena put a hand on his arm to stop him, the gloomy predawn light enough for him to see her pensive expression.

“I trust you with my life,” she whispered. “I know that that’s your mandate, or whatever, but I want you to trust me as well. I’ve been unfair to you, Rydon. For that, I can only apologize and promise you that ends now.”

Rydon held her gaze a few seconds more before giving her a curt nod. She smiled tightly, patted him awkwardly on his arm, and preceded him inside.