Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

B reakfast in the refectory was a special kind of carnage. Fae became more animal when they were hungry and regardless of the fact that there was plenty of food for everyone, brawls often broke out between elementals as they attempted to assert dominance.

This morning, I'd climbed up to perch on one of the large beams that spanned beneath the vaulted ceiling. I silently leapt from one to another, springing as easily as if I was in my Leopard form, certain my reflexes had sharpened further since my Order had Emerged.

I'd left my boots with Galomp then slipped away, climbing up in a darkened corner of the hall, practising the use of concealment magic as I made the shadows hug my figure.

Blue had run off the moment I'd opened my door this morning, and I wondered if he would return again or if that might be the last I saw of him. He was a fickle little thing, but I enjoyed his company. It would be a shame to be alone again at night.

My target was at the far end of the hall where the Sky Witch sat with her friends, their return to the Keep having happened over three weeks ago now, rumours of a royal wedding rife. The refectory was still full of discussions about Stormfell's Prince Dragor now looking even likelier to claim the throne with heirs no doubt soon to follow, but it didn't matter much to me which rulers we fought against, so long as Cascada won.

I'd been trying to find a way to talk to the Sky Witch since her return, but there were always too many Fae around in the common areas, no one willing to walk alone in a space where your enemies all gathered. So I'd finally gotten sick of waiting for an opportunity to present itself and decided to create my own.

I continued on my way towards the Skyforgers, but as I landed on a beam above the heads of the Flamebringers, I paused. Kaiser and North were directly below me and from the excited looks and general overly touchy behaviour of the Fae packed in around them, I was pretty sure North's entire Werewolf pack were surrounding them.

North had grown the biggest pack in Never Keep and it hadn't gone without notice. He swept a hand through his messy brown hair that stuck out in all directions, revelling in the attention of his Wolves while Kaiser sat stoically beside him, unmoved by the keen yips and howls around him. They weren't even in their Wolf forms, yet they still acted like mutts.

Their tactile, too-friendly nature between one another was about as far from my own as you could get. But it looked like Kaiser was even further along that spectrum. The asshole was back to his usual impassive expression even as North started telling a loud, bragging story that drew all eyes to him.

"I got lost in Avanis once, had to go twelve days without food and I lived on nothing but the blood of the enemies I skewered with my blade." He pretended to draw a sword from his hip as he rose onto the wooden bench, fake stabbing at his friends' heads. "Tell them, Kai." He nudged Kaiser with his knee and the hollow man turned his black eyes upon his friend.

"It was four days and you spent most of it in that Stonebreaker's larder stuffing your face until I came and got you out," Kaiser said dryly and North cursed, his knee driving into Kaiser's shoulder again but with more force this time.

"Fuck off," North laughed. "You know it wasn't like that." He carved a hand down the back of his neck as his Wolves chuckled, looking to Kaiser instead of him. "Anyway, I didn't finish telling the story. On that particular little mission, I killed three Stonebreaker warriors, all Awakened - unlike me at the time."

"And how many did you kill, Kaiser?" a pretty female Wolf piped up, leaning toward him across the table.

"Nine," Kaiser answered flatly.

"Yeah, but I helped you with at least five of those," North insisted. "Oh, remember that time we were in Cascada and I set fire to those wheat fields? Bet those Raincarvers went hungry for weeks after that."

I noticed some mouse droppings on the wooden beam in front of me and as North sat down, picking up a cup of coffee, I flicked a few of the droppings over the edge, smiling as one landed in North's hair, another went down his collar and the third plopped into his drink.

Oops. There I go, accidently knocking tiny shits onto you.

Kaiser's head tipped back, his dark eyes aimed my way, and I tucked myself in tight against the beam, gathering the shadows around me more thickly. I stayed still a little longer before chancing a look back down, finding Kaiser gazing at his bowl of plain oatmeal and North still chattering mindlessly about his bloodthirsty achievements.

I moved into a crouch, ready to spring to the next beam ahead of me, and as I did so I sent another spray of mouse droppings down onto the Flamebringers. I didn't slow, smirking as North thanked one of his Wolves for adding raisins to his oats. With bursts of energy, I jumped from one beam to another, leaving the Flamebringers behind and finally arriving above the Skyforgers.

I crept along the length of the beam until I was right above the Sky Witch, two women flanking her and a man sitting opposite them whose eyes were pinned on my pink-haired target.

"Werewolves make so much fucking noise," the woman on the left with braided silver hair groaned, glaring over at the Flamebringers where North's pack were getting worked up into howls of laughter at whatever he was saying now. "I hardly got an ass crack of sleep last night."

The Sky Witch and the other woman with short, black hair sniggered.

"An ass crack of sleep? That's not a phrase," the man chipped in, but his lips were lifted in a grin.

"It's the perfect measurement actually, Cayde," the silver-haired woman tossed at him. "Take Dalia, for example, she has a wisp of an ass crack, basically not there at all. It starts far further down than you'd ever expect it to."

"What about your ass crack, Moraine?" Dalia threw back. "It's double the equator of mine with how much ass you have. If you're making a measurement out of ass cracks, they're not all as short as mine."

A laugh rose in my throat, but I quickly swallowed it, scowling instead as I remembered who I was listening to right now. Skyforgers were ferocious and they had left scars on my land that could never be healed.

The three women laughed and Cayde watched them, shaking his head as they all leaned into each other. My heart twisted in a pathetic sort of way as I realised I'd never known the kinship of female friends. I immediately hardened myself to the thought. I didn't need anyone anyway. Except maybe Harlon.

"She's got a point," the Sky Witch said. "Ass cracks aren't one and the same. You should have said you hardly got a Dalia's ass crack of sleep last night."

"What about you, V?" Moraine questioned. "Where would you fall in the ass crack equation?"

I arched a brow. V? Was that the Sky Witch's real name? Maybe it was, or more likely that was a nickname for something beginning with V. Verity? Valentina? Vagina? So many options…

"Don't tell me you're asking to see my ass, Moraine," the Sky Witch drawled. "You're the only one here who I thought I could rely on not to make a pass at me."

Moraine cackled while Dalia started yelling. "That isn't fair! You turned that shit on out of nowhere and caught me in the crosswinds!"

"You're not as irresistible as you like to think, sweetheart," Cayde replied.

My gaze was yanked to the Sky Witch and my lips parted a little as I found myself staring at her, admiring the curve of her lips, the roiling storm in her grey eyes, the way she-

"Cut it out, asshole!" Dalia punched the Sky Witch who may or may not have been called Vagina and the lure of her shattered as she snorted a laugh.

Cayde was gritting his jaw, leaning half way across the table towards her and as I glanced at the Fae on the surrounding tables, I noticed many of them either on their feet, moving towards her with outstretched hands or at least outright staring. One guy had drool dripping from his chin and another shrieked something about needing her to see his dick which was followed by many more similar demands.

Dalia slapped her hand down on the table and a gust of air magic tore from her, knocking them all back several steps. I guessed my efforts in making myself immune to the Sky Witch were paying off because I hadn't been tempted to hurl myself from the rafters or yell my desires at her, and I was glad to find she wasn't entirely impossible to resist.

I focused on what I'd come here to do, my gaze shifting to the Sky Witch's cup of tea as I willed my magic to connect with the liquid inside it. Gently, with such careful precision that I feared I would make a mistake at any moment, I froze her tea and wrote a message in the surface of the ice.

Meet me at midnight by the tapestry of Ursa Major.

It's five ass cracks away from the Night Gate.

-E

I waited as the Sky Witch went to take a sip then stilled, taking in the words. Her head twisted left and right as she sought me out. But I was gone, already slinking away across the beam before springing to another one, quietly journeying back across the refectory and hoping she might just take the bait.

The wait was long as midnight approached and I wondered if the Sky Witch would come. Blue had been sleeping in my quarters after classes and he was now perched on my shoulder, seemingly determined not to leave my side any time soon. Which I was quietly glad of. His steady presence made me feel less alone in this place.

As I waited for the murderous Sky Witch to appear, my mind ripened with thoughts of the day the Skyforgers had come to Castelorain, ripping half the town away and taking plenty of the streets of my childhood with them. Alleys I'd known as well as my own skin, hills and hidden coves that were now lost forever. My grief over that had taken longer to surface, rising beneath the unimaginable weight of my mama's death. But it had left its wound on me all the same.

The Flamebringers had secured first place as my most hated nation, but the Skyforgers had easily fallen into second since that day. After that catastrophe, my father had led a battalion of Cascada's finest warriors to the land of Stormfell and made them pay in blood for their desecration of our town. But there was no retrieving what had been lost. The Endless War never gave, it only took. Land came at the price of graves. Gold came at the price of blood. There was always, always a price, and I had long ago learned it was never one worth paying. But pay it we did, every element, time and again, hurling our efforts into destroying one another so that one nation might finally come out victorious and achieve some semblance of peace.

Cascada had been prophesied to claim the final crown and so we strived ever on towards the day the stars placed it upon our heads. I hoped to be a part of that victory, painted in the glory of it all, my name earning its place in the mouths of Cascada's rulers. One day. One fucking divine day, I would know the taste of prestige and adoration, and no one would ever take it from me.

Blue scurried beneath the collar of my tunic and nestled himself under the back of my hair, his tickly feet making me fidget.

"Really?" I huffed, trying to get him out of there, but he didn't budge. As he stopped moving, I got used to the steady warmth of his body against my skin and decided to let him be. The little lizard got away with way too much when it came to me, his cuteness having a lot to do with it.

I got lost in the pretty daydream of my legendary status being secured, so much so that I didn't move fast enough to react to the shadow closing in on my left. I whirled, but the Sky Witch held no weapon as she stepped out of the gloom into the moonlight spilling through the window above.

"Edgy tonight, kitty cat," she purred.

"You don't frighten me," I said, taking in the black leathers she wore and the dagger concealed at her hip. "But death is an inconvenience that would get in the way of my life plans."

She breathed a laugh then flattened her lips, regarding me coolly. "What plans would those be exactly? Humiliating yourself in front of your father… again?"

I scowled, a growl rising in my throat at those cutting words.

"Word travels fast in Never Keep," she said, stepping closer, her taunt biting a little too deep as she lowered her voice to a whisper. "I know you're a one-handed caster. Pity, I thought you might pose more of a challenge than your every-day Raincarver, but it seems you're even more deficient than the rest of your kind."

In seconds, I had my dagger in my left hand, whipping it towards her throat while my right hand froze her boots to the flagstones so she couldn't run. She didn't move, did nothing but let me drive my dagger closer to her neck. It didn't strike her though, instead scraping against an air shield that was so tight against her body, it was like a second skin.

"One day, I will be strong enough to destroy you. So go ahead and underestimate me, Witch, because I will only delight more in proving you wrong on the battlefield," I hissed.

Her eyebrows lifted just a little and she took me in with keener eyes, something telling me she might just believe the words leaving my lips.

"Did you invite me here to make idle threats?" she asked, moving to place more distance between us but finding her feet frozen to the ground. She frowned, looking down, seeming mildly impressed that I'd managed the cast without her noticing.

"They're not idle. And no, that's not why I asked you here." I lowered my blade and melted the ice at her feet, figuring I would have to let my guard down if I was going to get her to go along with this. "I found a passage in a sea cave north of the Keep. I heard drums and chanting and I think it might lead somewhere important, but I can't reach it without…" I choked on the word, despising having to ask this from her. It was an admission of my weakness, my inability to be able to harness water well enough to rise that high yet.

"What?" she clipped.

"Air," I forced out. "It's too high."

She smiled wickedly. "Well why don't you just tell me exactly where this place is and I'll let you know if I find anything of interest."

"No," I snarled and she frowned.

"Why does this intrigue you so? What are you gaining from these investigations into the Reapers?"

"I'm looking for someone," I admitted, knowing lies wouldn't secure me any of her allegiance. I had a feeling she was used to seeing through false words. "A friend. He was Awakened with two elements and the Reapers took him away to become an acolyte."

"A friend," she mused.

"He's the only person I have in the world," I said, passion rising in me and spilling out. "He's been there for me through everything and after what I saw the Reapers doing, and after the lies they spewed in the Heliacal Courtyard before they murdered that Flamebringer, I'm afraid of what's happened to him. What he's being made to be a part of. We have always protected each other and I'm not going to abandon him, no matter what this costs me. I will find him. You think asking for your help is easy? You think I want to turn to my enemies for this? None of this is what I want, but for him, I would climb into the stars if that's where they've taken him."

Instead of chiding me like I half-expected her to do, she softened the slightest amount, almost imperceptibly. "Lead the way then, kitten."

I turned my back on her, knowing it was the most dangerous move I could make but I was placing my faith in her for one night only. I led her down the passages to a window that would lead out to the rocky land between the Vault of Frost and the Vault of Embers. Silently, I pushed it open and climbed outside, adjusting the pack on my shoulders as Blue let out a little grunt in his sleep.

The Sky Witch kept pace with me as we traversed across the frozen land, snow hiding pitfalls between the rocks, she even sent a blast of air out behind us to conceal our tracks.

Finally, we made it to the cliff, taking the winding animal track down to the beach where I slid my pack from my shoulders and took out the two bathing suits. One was newly made, black with pink embroidery across the chest, the letters SW written into the fabric with a twisting vortex of air curling around it and a gleaming silver sword I'd stitched within it all. The arms and legs were long like mine and it shimmered like a rainbow from the blaze oil I'd glazed it with. I'd added plenty of the oil and had soaked mine in it again too, making sure it would truly keep us warm out there this time.

"For you." I thrust it at her and she eyed the lettering in surprise.

Okay, maybe I'd gotten one percent carried away with making the item, but my creations were never half assed. I rarely made things for others, but the moment I'd set my attention to it, I had found my fingers stitching the patterns, my mind caught up on the essence of the Sky Witch and all she represented.

"I'll go without." She tossed it back at me.

I caught it and threw it back. "You'll freeze before we make it to the cave. The blaze oil in the suit will keep you warm."

The Sky Witch glanced at the choppy black waves then started stripping without another word.

I pulled off my clothes too, stuffing them in my pack and Blue finally crawled out from under my hair with a yawn.

"What the fuck is that?" The Sky Witch pointed.

"That's Blue. He's a…thing. I don't know what he is actually, but he stays."

"That better not be some asshole hiding in shifted form," she hissed, down to her undergarments now but she still looked just as fearsome.

"He's not," I insisted.

The Sky Witch slowly nodded, accepting that and we returned to changing into our swimwear. She fastened her belt back around it, a small pouch and three daggers clinging to it. I strapped my own dagger onto my hip too, a ripple of tension passing between us as we assessed each other for a second. But somehow, it passed.

We hid our clothes and my pack behind a large black rock that was capped in snow then took off towards the sea, the moonlight bright and painting the coal-coloured waves with tips of silver.

We waded out into the water while Blue hovered above me on his wings and my suit warmed with the heat of the blaze oil, fighting off the cold and working a thousand times better than it had before, the fact filling me with pride. I parted the sea as I walked while the Sky Witch got slapped in the face with a few waves then growled and dove under, swimming into calmer waters beyond. I sniggered, following her with more ease than she was having, wielding the water to push me to her side, then I led the way towards the gaping chasm of the sea cave.

Our journey was silent until we were deep within the cave system, swimming along the river beneath the red glow of Blue's tail, finally slowing as we reached the low cave roof that barred our way on. As before, Blue flew up and slipped away between a crack in the wall, but the only way forward for Vesper and I was under.

I cast a Faelight, readying to send it beneath the surface to guide the way along the submerged passage.

"Now what?" she demanded, treading water and gazing up at the cave wall barring our way forward.

"We have to swim under this. It's about ten feet."

The Sky Witch looked to the dark water then back up at the wall. "I think I'll find another way around."

"There's literally no other way. This is a dead end unless we go under."

"Uhuh." She eyed the tiny crack Blue had taken and I gave her a hollow look.

"You can't fit through there."

"Don't tell me what I'm not capable of," she growled.

"Are you scared?" I narrowed my eyes and she glared at me like I'd just given her the biggest insult of her life.

"I do not fear anything."

"Follow me then, Valery." I sent the Faelight under the water.

"That's not my name," she hissed, her grey eyes narrowing.

"Okay. Follow me then, Vorgash." I took a breath before swimming after my Faelight, sensing the Sky Witch on my heels.

I drove water behind us, forcing us through the passage at a wild pace so we were propelled out of it in a surging wave, breaching the surface once more.

The Sky Witch spluttered, cursing my element as I smirked, but her gaze spoke of vengeance as we swam on. "I'm not called fucking Vorgash."

"Well your name starts with a V, I heard your friends calling you that. So tell me what it is."

She remained silent, her lips pressed hard together and I shrugged, swimming on. "Vorgash it is then."

She said nothing, swimming on behind me and we finally rounded into the place the water met with the vast black wall that held a tunnel at its very peak.

"There," I pointed to it as Blue went whizzing up to the passage and disappeared into the dark. There was no pounding of drums tonight, no chanting or sound of anyone at all. I hoped that meant we would go undisturbed during our hunt.

"Oh that itty bitty climb?" the Sky Witch goaded, casting air to draw her up and out of the water, flying higher and higher before stepping into the tunnel.

"Hey – wait!" I called, swimming closer to the sheer wall.

The Sky Witch looked down at me in consideration like she was tempted to walk away.

"Help me up," I commanded.

"You look like a turd in a latrine down there," she called.

"You look like a turd hanging halfway out of an ass up there," I called back. "Now carry me up."

"Sure thing, kitten." She smiled viciously then cast air at the water, making it spin in a whirlpool before yanking me out of it by the leg. I was wheeled upside down, dragged at a terrifying speed skyward before coming to a violent halt dangling in front of her, hanging above the fifty-foot fall back to the water.

My Faelight faded as my connection to it was lost and the gloom pressed in a little thicker.

My pulse elevated as I cast a tether of water between us, lashing her waist to mine. "Drop me and you're coming with me, Witch."

"Touché." She tossed me haphazardly onto the rocky floor of the passage and I cursed, shoving myself upright. I cast ice beneath her feet and she went skidding violently forward, crashing into a wall.

She whipped around to glare at me and I glared back in kind, then a ripple of amusement passed through me and we both started smiling. In a flash, we both flattened the looks and I stalked on ahead, seeking out Blue as I walked into the dark.

The passage was tight and winding, the sconces on the walls void of fire and all quiet around us. I cast a silencing shield as a precaution in case we were closing in on any Reapers, but as we entered a vast chamber, I forgot about the possibility of danger as my gaze fell on a towering slab of stone on a raised dais in the centre of the circular space.

The stone slab was marked with silver writing, etched into its surface, the words of the Elysium Prophecy painted out before us. Only they weren't the words I knew. The ones that were hailed from every corner of Cascada, declaring our triumph in the Endless War was destined by the stars. These words were different, similar in ways, but wholly new in others.

War of the four, divided and torn asunder.

Flame, sky, rock and sea collide,

While the stars bless the valiant souls of heart and light.

Seek the Void, for it shall guide the chosen ones to their glorious path,

A weapon of purity, and the gift of null.

In a web of lies and cruelty, fate will favour the peacemakers of destiny,

And a bountiful empire shall be reborn under one united rule,

Garnering the fortune and favour of the almighty sky.

"The Elysium Prophecy spoke of Cascada's impending victory," I breathed, stepping closer to the stone epitaph in confusion.

"No, it spoke of Stormfell's victory." The Sky Witch shot me a confounded look then gazed back at the words written into the stone. "So what the fuck is this?"