52. Onora
Chapter 52
Onora
S he slipped out of the tent late that night, meeting Jackson by where the gryphons were tied up. Only, it wasn’t just Jackson, but Avery, Jin, and Andrea, all suited and ready, their gryphons with tack already on them.
“We’re going with you,” Jin said.
“It’s too dangerous,” she replied, furrowing her brow.
“Sounds like my kind of mission.” Avery grinned.
“You’re not going alone.” Andrea placed a firm hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “We’re going to help you.”
“To the end—whatever it may be,” Jackson added.
A lump caught in her throat again at their words, at the calm that it gave her to know they were coming along. This was becoming an annoying recurrence for her.
“Very well then,” she said. “Let’s go.”
“Not so fast,” a voice said from behind, and she stiffened, recognizing it as Kalen’s.
She turned, crossing her arms, not sure what to do. Would she have to tie him up to go? Would he yell and wake the others, who would then stop her?
“You’re planning on going to the temple alone, aren’t you?” he asked.
She tilted her chin up, defiant. “Yes. It’s what’s best. Going the other way will take too long. If we wait for the whole army to make it there, she will be unleashed.”
Kalen stared at her for a long, scrutinizing moment, then he sighed. “Okay, but you’re not going without me.”
She blanched, shocked. “Kalen?—”
He waved his hand. “I’ll be damned if I let my Lady of Shadows go into battle alone. I’ll be damned if I don’t protect my best friend’s mate. And I’ll be damned if, as your commander, I don’t go into battle with you.”
Well damnit, there was that stupid lump again. But she only smiled and nodded.
They mounted their gryphons and flew off into the night, the cool air whipping against her cheeks, the moon high, stars blinking as they came to the mountains flying between the rocks and crags. The gryphons seemed to understand the gravity of the situation, focused, fast, and sure as they dipped between passes and over trees.
She kept an eye out on the ground for any signs of the temple. They flew for miles over the forests outside Venatu, coming close to the fields surrounding the city by morning, and she gripped her fists in fear. So many. So many soldiers encamped outside the city. This had to have been what Enid and Kaemon saw. Fires lit all throughout, tents and scouts and noises.
Their army was paltry in comparison. They had never stood a chance. Yet Enid hadn’t told them that. She’d wanted to progress with the plan anyway, to get Onora to the temple.
This had been a suicide mission all along, and she felt even more sure that she was right in leaving when she did. If she could stop this before it started, if she could get it taken care of and send her people back, then no one would be harmed. She needed Kalen to make it out alive and get word back to Dryston to stand down.
They circled around the forest for an hour, looking at the spot on the map that Avenay had said was the most likely location, looking for a steeple, or stones glinting in the light, a clearing—anything at all that would show them a sign, to no avail. It had to be hidden—she was certain of it.
Then she saw it. A glinting light in the forest, a mirror at the helm of a building in a clearing, vines and ivy growing up around it. She signaled her crew, and they circled, flying down to land a bit away in case anyone was there.
They moved swiftly and stealthily through the forest, Onora leading as she looked for tracks or signs of anything sinister. Nothing save for that eerie quiet she’d experienced at the sacrifice sites. But this was even more profound. As if the earth itself had stopped, as if everything had halted its breath and motion to hide better from whatever evil lurked. So quiet that a snap of a twig could send a shockwave.
They came to the temple and hid in the trees, observing, watching. It was old, the gray stones worn with a weathered black, cracks here and there, ivy hanging brown and dead as it wrapped around it. As far as temples went, it was smaller, but she could see mirrors at different points, most likely to catch light and reflect it back, making it harder to tell exactly what it was. There were dark tracery windows, worn and smokey from age.
Evoleen’s temple. She had this erected as the main pool for her. Where she drew power from the moon and stars. Digging into the void and pulling out their power like they were naught more than radishes. Shattering worlds.
Onora shuddered at the voice’s words. Evoleen could shatter worlds? How would she have the power to stop her?
She slowly began to move forward when she saw movement, then others coming from the other side of the forest. She threw up her hand, halting those behind her, Jackson standing next to her. They exchanged a horrified look as elves in chains were led by soldiers. Following them was a woman in a regal robe, her hair spindly and gray, hanging beneath her heavy hood that hid her face. Carried on a plush bed was a being—terrible and beautiful, her skin gray, lips blue, eyes shuttered with purple veins pulsing and hair tangling with antlers over skin like bark.
Evoleen. She will be performing the rite when the sun is highest.
Noon. Onora had thought they had another day—the full moon was that night.
The moon temple was in evolis—the dark side. She is the light side, this is her temple and she will absorb from the sun.
Shit. That left them less time.
They waited until they all entered, then slowly left, searching the outside of the temple, taking their time gauging how to best go in. There were far too many to just rush in.
“Onora,” a man said, and she swallowed.
Amherst.
She turned slowly, seeing him standing behind her with a few other Hunters, all with crossbows pointed at them.
This whole time she’d clung to the smallest hope she could—that Amherst hadn’t been in on all of this. That his letter had been forged and other forces were at work. But seeing him here now, she knew that had been foolhardy.
“Why?” was all she asked.
Something like regret shifted in his eyes before they hardened. “I did love you like a daughter, Onora. You’ve been my pride. But you were getting in my way. I knew I had to sacrifice the few for the many.”
“What in the darkest pit does that even mean?” Jackson spat, followed by a rumbling growl from Kalen.
Amherst sighed. “I’ll explain. Perhaps you can forgive me in the next life. Perhaps you will see that what I’m doing is honorable.
“When Lord Dryston’s family visited Venatu, when they were slaughtered, the shockwave of it woke Evoleen from slumbering in the pit. I heard her. She spoke to me and beckoned me to find her. I learned, years later, that King Leeth also heard her call, and we’ve been working for years to revive her.
“I always hoped you would help me, you would be the leader of her armies. As you grew in strength and power, you also grew in reputation. The Hunters loved and trusted you. So many of them would fall at your feet, obey your every command. Which I had hoped for.
“Then you became enamored with Lord Dryston. And I needed him as a cover. He was another sacrifice—all for the greater good. If we could pin the attacks on him, then we would not be stopped before we could finish. It would have worked so smoothly—if not for you.
“Your doubt, your unwillingness to condemn him outright sent ripples of dissent through my ranks. All I could do was paint you as an enthralled fool, a traitor who should be killed.”
“A lot of good that did,” Andrea said. “Half your Hunters abandoned you anyway.”
Onora hadn’t realized it had been that many. She was shocked, but also very, very proud of them.
Amherst sighed. “All because of Onora and Jackson. You both wield your influence so carelessly. You give no thought to the broader ramifications. Yet others would follow you to their deaths.”
“I have thought of the ramifications,” Onora said. “It’s you who hasn’t. Evoleen is a murderer. She can shatter worlds, devouring them. She will do that here.”
“No!” Amherst’s rebuke was sharp, and she jumped, hating that she still wanted his approval, still wanted this to be a bad dream she would wake from. “She will bring eternal life, everlasting peace. People will no longer be sick and hungry and die. People will live forever.”
“Only the people that aren’t sacrificed to keep her magic potent,” Onora said. They’d learned that too well in Evolis. The long life, the well that healed any illness, had come from the sacrificial death of others. “Humans will go first, that’s what she did in Evolis. We are nothing but animals to her, meant to feed her own murderous appetite.”
The goddess inside her brushed against her senses—a comfort.
“You don’t understand—” Amherst started but was interrupted when shadows twined around his neck, tugging, pulling, cutting off his words. The others did too, dropping their bows and grasping at their necks as if they could pull them off.
“I do, Amherst. I understand you would sacrifice not only the innocent, but those you love, and worst of all—your own integrity for the sham promise of a charlatan goddess.”
He fired his arrow, the release quick and sure. It would have hit Onora, but Jackson tackled her, taking the hit in his leg. He grunted, and she reacted without a thought, twisting the shadows to snap their necks. They fell to the ground in a heap, and she shifted, laying Jackson on the ground and looking at his wound.
“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “We have to stop them from raising the goddess.”
She shook her head, taking the arrow and yanking it out. He stifled his cry, and she placed her hands over his leg. She was using too much power, she knew this, but she had to heal him. She needed him to have the best chance of running if things went down. So she chanted in elvish, and he slowly healed.
Suddenly, the ground rumbled, rippling out through the forest, sending birds up and flying in the air. On instinct, as the voice helped her, she weaved a net of magic around her friends, reaching out into the forest for the gryphons as well, refusing to let their power be drained or hurt.
A blue light emitted from the tower, up to the heavens, blazing and glowing and horrible.
Fear prickled along her skin. They had opened the portal. Evoleen would be revived. Perhaps she already was.
Onora jumped to her feet and rushed into the temple.