Chapter 5 #2
I looked to Mirelle in understanding. “I’m sorry for choking you. I won’t do it again. I feel regret.”
Mirelle’s features softened. “I forgive you, love. Do you forgive me yet for the Reapers’ spell?”
I glanced at North, the sensation of barbed wire rolling around my chest rendering me silent.
“How would forgiveness feel?” I asked him through gritted teeth, my hands knotting into fists at my sides.
“Soft,” he said. “Like a release.”
“I do not feel that,” I growled, narrowing my eyes at Mirelle as the sensation grew thicker. My teeth ground together and the desire to choke her again almost pushed me to the brink of violence. North leapt toward me, placing a hand on my chest and looking me in the eye.
“Calm,” he said firmly. “Take a breath, Kai.”
I did so, my shoulders rising and falling as I worked to hold back the immediate desire to hurt Mirelle.
North turned to face our mother. “See how good he’s doing? He can control himself now.”
Mirelle’s lips twitched but she said nothing more on the subject, flexing her wings in preparation of flight. “The council will begin shortly. Head to the northern haven.”
She took off, leaving us there alone and North released a slow breath.
“That was close,” he jabbed me in the ribs.
“Keep it together, Kai.” He looked around.
“I think there’s a walkway beyond that boulder.
” He set off across the mossy ground, picking his way higher toward the mountain’s peak and passing the large boulder.
We found the wooden boardwalk beyond it, winding along the mountainside with concealment spells making it barely visible to any Skyforgers or enemy flying Orders who might pass by overhead.
I felt them shrouding us the moment we were out in the open, keeping us blended in with the background. There were runes marked into the boulders too, the power that hid Ravensview almost as ancient as this mountain itself.
There were wooden buildings set along the path at various intervals, hidden beneath rockfaces or within caverns and I met the gaze of the Talons inside who were keeping watch undercover.
We finally reached a cave that sat in the shadow of the jagged peak of Ravensview mountain, stepping inside to reveal the truth beyond the concealment spells that shrouded this place.
An oval table made entirely of white quartz awaited us inside and Mirelle sat at its head in a seat of the same material that was fashioned into the shape of a raven’s skull. A few magpies were perched on the arms and Mirelle stroked one of them, the bird crooning softly at her touch.
Many of her most esteemed Talons sat around her including several of my adopted siblings and all of them looked our way at our arrival.
Kayla caught my gaze, her short blonde hair swept away from her face and rings under her eyes telling of a bad night’s sleep.
A small crease between her eyes telling of an emotion I couldn’t name.
She looked ready to rise from her seat but North moved ahead of me and hushed the questions rising on my siblings’ lips.
Two seats sat empty, awaiting us I supposed and Mirelle gestured for us to take them, her eyes stitched to my face.
“Well? Who would like to start today?” Mirelle asked, her voice harsh.
“I will speak, ma’am.” Gavrin Simmer said, raising a hand to gain her attention.
He was a stocky man, well-seasoned in battle and his wide moustache had been in place for as long as I could remember.
He ruled a portion of the eastern territory of Pyros, his gang known for the insignia of a salamander, one he wore proudly in ink across his neck.
“I believe the last few councils have been unproductive chatter about our predicament but few solutions have been offered. I believe I am about to suggest what a few of us have been thinking.”
“Which is?” Mirelle demanded.
Gavrin cleared his throat. “We offer an alliance to Stormfell and Avanis.”
A clamour of loud voices broke out and North slammed his hand down on the table, offering his own thoughts on the idea. “Ally with the earth fuckers who took Cinder Vale? Or those piece of shit Skyforgers? Are you out of your mind?”
“I’ll never stand beside them,” Kayla growled beside me and the voices grew even louder, a few chiming in to back up Gavrin while the others hurled abuse at them.
Mirelle said nothing, closing her eyes and taking a long breath before she opened them again.
“Enough,” she snapped and the room fell silent under her dominion. “I will not hear another word of allying with Stormfell or Avanis. I will not subject our people to standing at the sides of Fae who have slaughtered their own.”
“But Cascada is going to destroy us all if we do nothing.” Gavrin leapt to his feet, his face growing red and sweat rising on his temple. “Ma’am you must see reason.”
“Reason?” Mirelle hissed. “Your definition of reason is my definition of madness. I will not shake the hand of a Stormfell king. I will not pander to the folly of an Avanis Earl. I may have called a retreat but I have not called a surrender.”
“Then what will we do?” Gavrin begged, clutching at the collar of his shirt. “Cascada could be tracking a path through Pyros already. The Void could be at our door by sundown. Are we just supposed to sit here and wait for death to come to us?”
“We wait for no such fate,” Mirelle growled. “Ravensview lays on no map. They will not find us here.”
“Then what do we do?” Lydia Ashworth spoke up, one of my mother’s dearest friends and a ruler in her own right.
She headed the gang that resided in Wentos called the Brass Hope and she had always been a loyal, unwavering ally to Mirelle.
Her black hair was coiled into a tight braid and her body was clad in armour as if she were ready for war at any hour.
“I cannot stand the waiting. We must take action.”
“Yes, but not in the form of war, Lydia,” Mirelle said with no room for negotiation.
“What then?” Gavrin demanded. “Because I fear we will all be guttered of magic in the night when the Cascadians come to take us. I’ve heard of the vile things they do to their prisoners of war. They’ll eat the flesh from my bones, they’ll plunder me through the night.”
“No one wants to plunder you, Gavrin,” North sniggered. Kayla joined in and I noticed I was grinning too, drawing some eyes my way.
“What’s the situation with him?” Lydia murmured under her breath to Mirelle, but I caught it all the same.
I felt more gazes turn on me and Mirelle straightened in her chair. “Kaiser is going through a transformation thanks to the Void. He is learning the ways of new emotions, so your patience with him is greatly appreciated.”
“The Vooooiiiid,” Donna Kandaflame warbled, speaking for the first time, looking like she had aged several years since our defeat at Cinder Vale – and she had been plenty grey before then.
She was one of the longest standing gang leaders in Pyros, her domain over the Red Skulls spreading from Blackthorn Peak right out to the western border. “Beware the Vooooooiiiid.”
“What do you mean a transformation?” Lydia whispered to Mirelle as Donna started picking at her nailbeds which already looked raw. I’d never seen her act this way, something in her eyes speaking of a darkness I couldn’t read well enough to understand.
“We have more important matters to discuss,” my mother clipped.
“Yes we do,” Gavrin piped up again. “And I know you do not wish to hear it ma’am, but allying with our enemies may be our only hope. It must be considered if you do not wish for our people to be annihilated.”
“Nonsense,” Zayad Raith spoke out, pushing a hand through his golden hair.
The gang leader of Leergaith and its neighbouring lands was known for his fondness for the pleasure houses of his region.
Mirelle had voiced on more than one occasion that she would prefer his focus turned more to war strategy than his favourite sins.
He was a man to show up when it counted though, which was perhaps why Mirelle had never taken the matter into her own hands.
“I will not stand at the side of a damned Raincarver. Let alone a Skyforger or stars forbid a Stonebreaker. I wouldn’t even pump my cock over the most alluring of their kind. I’d sooner cut it off!”
“Ha!” Mirelle barked a dry laugh. “That is a shameful lie. Your gang is not so loyal if you thought your secret of allowing the Sky Witch to fool you would not reach my ears. You had her in your whore house and she tricked you into thinking you had bedded her. You wanted her."
Many laughed and Zayad’s cheeks turned pink. I had to say I’d never seen him look so humiliated.
“I didn’t know what she was. I would never have desired her if I’d known she was a Skyforger,” he said fiercely.
“You’re a fool, Zayad,” Mirelle drawled.
“What other choice do we have but to ally with our enemies now?” Gavrin steered the conversation back on track and a few more called out to back him up.
A heated debate broke out again, a clamour of noise colliding in my skull and making my pulse thunder. Mirelle said nothing more, scowling at the ruckus and seeming no more inclined to agree to an alliance than she had been before.
When the noise had grown to a crescendo and I felt close to breaking something again, Mirelle stood abruptly from her seat. “Kaiser, you knew the Void. She was your Fearsire. You must know something about her we can use to our advantage, some weakness she has that can be used to subdue her.”
Quiet reigned and everyone looked to me for an answer.
I closed my eyes, reaching out to connect my mind to Calcifiend, my secret view of Everest. He was nestled up in the rigging of a ship, peering down upon her where she stood at the prow, watching the river swirl beneath her father’s vessel.
I couldn’t see her face, her curls fluttering out behind her in the wind, but I would know her anywhere.
I could sense her in my bones and in the heavy thudding of my heart.
She was in my flesh now, like a sin woven there with silk.
But for all the want I had for her, there was darkness in it too.
Coiling, writhing emotions that were as volatile as vipers.
I didn’t know if I would destroy or claim her when I found her.
But I did know I would find her either way.
And that day was drawing close, a plot shifting into place in my mind and solidifying itself into an unshakeable decision.
Calcifiend looked beyond the river to the warm land of Cascada. I couldn’t tell which direction she was heading, the land too unfamiliar to my eyes, but I knew at least for the coming days, she was too far away to be a threat to my family.
I opened my eyes, the muscle of my heart working furiously in my chest as I met my mother’s gaze.
I felt like a traitor when I kept my lips sealed.
But that information was mine and mine alone for now.
No one would force it from my lips. I would alert my family if the Cascadian army ever drew close, but in the meantime, I would keep Calcifiend’s link to the Void secret.
“So? How can we destroy her?” Gavrin asked keenly.
I got to my feet with a snarl on my lips, turning my gaze on Gavrin and prowling up to him.
“Kai,” North called after me but I was locked in, my anger sharp, my desire singular.
I caught Gavrin by the back of his neck, dragging him from his seat then throwing him against the stone wall and pinning the asshole there by his chest. “Seek to destroy her and I will destroy you first. I will peel the flesh from your bones and feed it to the Matriarch’s birds.
Speak one more word against her and you will witness my wrath upon your worthless soul.
If her death is written then I shall wield the quill, none other. ”
“Kaiser! Release him this instant,” Mirelle commanded and I glanced over my shoulder at her while Gavrin wriggled and cursed.
“That goes for you too, Mirelle. You want forgiveness? Then you’ll cast no stones against Everest Arcadia.
” I threw Gavrin to the floor and stalked out of the cave, leaving them to their pointless debate.
They would have plenty to talk about in the face of my declaration, no doubt.
But I had no care for their opinion on it.
The truth was, Pyros was done for. We were rats stuck in a drain waiting for the rain to fall. There was only one chance for us now and Mirelle knew it as well as I did. So stars help us when our people learned of the choice I knew my mother had already made.