8. Tezya
EIGHT
TEZYA
I couldn’t tell if I was more relieved or pissed off. I desperately needed to talk with Scottie. I needed to fix things before Sie showed up. Some selfish part of me didn’t want to rescue him. I was scared as hell for what would happen after she saw him.
But I was worried about my friends more, and I was so fucking grateful to see they were all alive. I knew they were more than capable. We’d pulled off enough undercover missions together in the past for me to know they could handle this, but it was the first time I had to sit back and wait.
Dovelyn could have managed to make me invisible—she was the strongest air user, even stronger than Arcane—but she didn’t trust Scottie. I couldn’t argue with her lack of training, even if I thought she was capable. It was a rule I made for the Luxian soldiers—they had to have five years of intensive training before they even saw a battle, and that was after thirteen years of training during school. But when Scottie used her enhancement to attach to Kal’s portal, I was going to disagree with Dovelyn and let both of us stay.
But then Dove had a vision, and I felt it. I couldn’t argue it, couldn’t risk it, risk her . Me staying behind was more about making sure Rumor didn’t try to follow us or do something stupid while she waited.
“You did it,” Scottie breathed, her voice was soft, barely a whisper. Sie’s eyes flicked open at the sound, his focus narrowing in on her. He murmured something inaudible as Peter shifted to support his weight. Then his dark eyes rolled in the back of his head right before he lost consciousness again. I reached out to him with my senses. He was burning up. Pain radiated from him in crippling waves. I focused on it as I inspected his body. A flash of bone was jutting out of his arm just like Peter had said, and without seeing a healer, he was a ticking bomb.
I let my senses roam over the rest of my friends. My power instantly went to Dovelyn. Her pain was coming to me the strongest. I scanned my sister—she was still cradling herself on the ground, but she was mostly unharmed, exhausted and drained, but otherwise okay. It took me another second to register her pain as emotional and not physical.
I scanned Kallon next. Her body was weak from treading water too long and every inch of her was frozen over. I was about to ask Rumor to use her water ability, but I didn’t have to. Without missing a beat, Scottie pulled the water off them, and in one loud splash, sent it falling down the drain in the shower. I sent small fire balls throughout the room to help warm them, adding extra around Kallon.
I scanned Peter next. He had minor cuts over his body, but his main injury was to his left side. It was completely bruised over with small bits of coral lodged into his skin.
My sister and him were both completely tapped out. They used everything they had to rescue Sie, but they were all alive. Peter and Dovelyn just needed time to restore their reserves, and Kallon had to warm up and rest .
Peter gently set Sie down on the mattress and started tending to him, careful to avoid his broken arm.
“Is he going to be okay?” Scottie asked as she slowly, hesitantly, walked over to them.
“He needs a healer soon to fix his arm and break his fever, but he’ll live,” I said. Scotlind was in worse shape from the time she spent in the dungeons and some twisted part of me was glad to see him suffering. He deserved to know what he put her through when he sentenced her to Lux, when he abandoned her to the hands of the Lux King. I was glad he could no longer call her his wife. He didn’t deserve her concern or worry.
A deeper part of me thought I didn’t deserve her either.
“We need to move out, now ,” Kallon said, her eyes flaring. I rarely saw her worried. She mastered the art of a blank expression long ago. We all had to, from years of being under Athler’s watch.
“What happened?” I asked.
“We tripped the alarms on our way out. We realized too late that they placed trackers on all the prisoners, and when we tried to exit through the opening, the whole prison shut down.” I looked Sie over again as Peter was talking and noticed a chunk of his skin and muscle was missing from his upper arm. They must have found the tracker and cut it out of him, but it was still too late. Even if Peter managed to destroy the grate, they’d know Sie was alive now. This place was going to be crawling with Luxians soon.
“We were being chased out of the prison and had to move fast,” he continued, still focusing on his friend. “When we broke the surface, we didn’t account for Kallon being visible and right over the trench opening.”
“They saw you.” I turned to Kallon, but my sister cut me off.
“It was stupid, so stupid. I swore I left a shield over you, Kal. I really thought I did, but my mind… I was…”
Dove didn’t need to finish. I knew her well enough, and it was written all over her face before she left. She tried to act like nothing bothered her, but she had been worried about Brock. She was almost in tears before they portaled to the trench.
“It’s okay, Dove. It’s not your fault. You did,” Kallon said gently. “You had a shield over me, but about halfway through, the shield went out. I was so worried. I thought something happened to you…” Kallon had tears pooling, but she didn’t let them fall. I looked up at her, her yellow eyes briefly drifted to mine.
It made sense now why Kallon wasn’t doing well. She stayed behind, swimming in the ocean, without protection for hours, waiting to find out if something happened to them.
“When it got close to the twenty-four hour mark and you guys weren’t back, I let my fear get the best of me, so I started to swim toward the trench. I’m so sorry, I—”
“I need to go back to Lux now,” Dove broke, interrupting Kallon. “I have to get him.”
“You can’t. If they saw Kal at the prison, the King will be the first person to know,” I said and hated that it was the truth. “If you go back to Lux now to get Rainer and Brock, you’ll be captured, Dove.”
“I don’t care. I’m going. Kallon, portal me now.” She pulled herself off the floor.
“Dove, we need to think strategically about this,” Kallon said slowly. I could sense guilt and unease radiating off her. “Tezya is right. We shouldn’t go back. We need to head north. The King probably already knows, but Rainer is smart. Once he hears what happened, he’ll get Brock out and meet us at the camp.”
“No, he won’t,” Dovelyn screamed. “Rainer can’t even find him! The only person who saw Brock was Tezya and that was the day she blinded him. No one has seen him since. No one knows where he is. He’s going to hurt him if we leave him there, Tez.” The tears she’d been holding back broke free and poured down her pale cheeks as she turned to me. “You know what he does. You know what he will put him through simply because he knows…” her voice broke off in a loud sob. “Because he knows I care for him, and now my father will realize we’re all gone. He’ll connect the dots that we were the ones who broke Sie out of the prison… He’s going to take all of his anger out on him. He’s going to kill him.”
“He won’t kill him,” I said, but Dovelyn was right. The King was a sadistic asshole, and once he realized we disobeyed him, that we committed an act of treason—because leaving the Luxian city, not only with Scottie and Peter, but now rescuing Sie from the prison would be seen as an act of war—I didn’t know what the King would do…
“Let me go,” she said, looking straight at me, and it broke me to see her in so much pain. Dovelyn never cried, and she never begged, so to see her breaking now… “I’ll warn Rainer and find Brock.”
“They’re going to have a trap for you. He knows you’ll come for him—”
“I’ll have my shield up the entire time,” she cut me off. “No one will see me.”
“The King will have Athler watching Brock. If you go, his second will sense your emotions unless you’re shielded, and you’re too drained to maintain both with your invisibility. They’ll capture you, Dove.”
“Then I’ll be captured. I don’t care. I just need Kallon to portal me to our spot. Give me a day. Just one day. That’s all I’m asking. If I can’t find him, I’ll come back. But I have to try, Tez. I have to. You would if you were me.”
And I would. I would break mountains to get to Scottie. I would rather be caught and captured with her than have her in the hands of the Lux King alone. “Alright,” I conceded. “But your reserves won’t last an entire day.”
Kallon cut in. “I’ll give you three hours, Dove. Then I’m coming back for you and Rainer. ”
“Fine,” she said as she swiped at her cheeks.
Kallon started opening the portal, twisting and bending the already built one from the prison so it could take them back to Lux. “I’ll be right back. Get yourselves ready,” she said as she eyed my appearance. “I’m portaling you all as soon as I’m back. This territory is about to be crawling with Luxians.”
Dovelyn lifted her hands and casted invisibility over the two of them right before they jumped into the purple and black hole.
I stared after them, praying she would be able to find Brock and Rainer without getting caught. I couldn’t stomach the thought of her father having her too. He would never kill Dovelyn, but there were worse things he’d do to destroy her.
“I know it’s hot as balls in this place,” Peter remarked, breaking the silence, “but you might want to put some clothes on. I doubt mortals walk around looking like that.”
I completely forgot I only had my towel on. I looked over at Peter. He was hovering over Sie who was now starting to stir. Scottie lingered behind them both.
I turned around without responding and walked into the bathroom, letting the door slam behind me.
It didn’t take long for Kallon to return. She portaled us two at a time to the outside entrance of the camp. I knew she was exhausted, but her reserves were nowhere near depleted by the time we finally made it.
Commander Dravenburg was already waiting for us with his arms crossed over his chest. I knew my vague message would have pissed him off, but it wasn’t worth the risk to give him a heads up on exactly who we’d be bringing to the camp. I didn’t want to tip anyone off that we were attempting to rescue Sie until after it was done.
His hazel eyes scanned our group ruthlessly. Kallon with beads of sweat clinging to her despite the frigid temperatures, making her saffron and black bangs stick to her forehead; Peter holding up the semi-conscious prince; and Scotlind, who was turning her head from side to side taking everything in.
We were standing in snow half a foot deep, our previous clothes nowhere near functional for the weather. I always forgot how cold it was in this territory. It was nearing the end of winter, maybe only a month left, but this year was worse than previous ones.
It didn’t look like a camp, but we hadn’t fully entered yet. The shields the air users created here were the strongest I’d ever seen, thanks to Wells’ creations. No Advenian could portal or teleport in. The only way into the camp was by foot.
“Tezya, I would say I’m happy to see you, but I’m afraid under these circumstances, I’m not,” Dravenburg spoke, his eyes flicking over to Sie before meeting mine again.
“We always knew this day would come,” was all I said, because it was all I could say. I hated that I was shattering his well-constructed bubble.
“Yes, well I just hoped my children could have gotten a bit older first.”
“You know I will do everything I can to keep Wells and Savannah out of this.”
He chuckled darkly. “Good luck with my daughter. That girl was born into this world ready for a fight.”
“Speaking of Sav, where is she?” I missed her, I always did when I was stuck in Lux for too long.
“Anxiously awaiting your arrival. Come, we will be starting dinner shortly.” He hesitated for a moment, eyeing Sie again. “I’ll bring your friends to the healers.”
“Thank you,” I replied.
Dravenburg gave a curt nod, then turned around and stalked off what appeared to be a cliff with a large drop into the ocean. To everyone else, it would have seemed like he plummeted into the rocks. The fake waves roared below as they slammed against them. Scottie yelped, thinking the mortal commander had just jumped to his death as he immediately vanished from view.
“What are you doing?” Scottie yelled as I took a step to follow Dravenburg. “Are you crazy?”
I turned to look at her. She was shivering, her chattering was so loud, her words were almost inaudible. It would be warmer as soon as we crossed. The temperatures inside the shield were tepid, similar to the ones surrounding Lux and Tennebris.
Her sapphire eyes were wild as she looked from me to the cliff. The color was such a deep blue, it matched the illusion of the ocean below. I couldn’t help but smile. “It’s the way into the camp,” I replied, then followed Dravenburg through the shield.
It beeped as I passed through, revealing a grassy field that stretched for miles. Tents were haphazardly erected throughout the plane, with electricity and fire users heating the space.
Behind me, I could see Kallon and Scottie talking, one of the perks to the shield—it only created the illusion on one side. If any mortal approached the area, our scouts would know. But mortals didn’t often travel this far north in Maine. It was one of the reasons we picked the location. And if they did come here, not many dared to step too close to the cliffs. Air users on watch generated strong gusts of winds whenever a human was spotted nearby, and most stayed far away from fear of falling to their death.
Kallon was practically dragging Scottie through the shield, and Peter hesitantly followed, carrying Sie with him. As soon as Scottie passed through, she visibly relaxed. The shield sounded with four beeps, annotating the number of Advenians that passed through. Wells found a way to incorporate and meld mortal technology with our abilities back when Arcane used to visit. The two of them used to spend hours messing around, combining Advenian powers with mortal sciences. That was before they had a falling out. Before things changed for Arcane, and his relationship with the King grew more complicated.
I never envied him, being the heir to the throne was something I’d run far and fast from. And despite my brother actually wanting it, the Lux King wouldn’t let him near the crown until he was well and dead.
Kallon stepped up beside me. “I’m going to my tent. I need a lot of ale and sleep,” she said, then leaned forward to whisper in my ear. “If I were you, I would explain this to her before she finds out from someone else.” Kallon nodded toward Scottie who was staring at the massiveness of the camp with equal bits of awe and confusion. Dravenburg had already ushered Peter and Sie away to the healer’s tent, leaving just the two of us.
“Come on, Rumor. I’ll take you to your tent.”
She nodded, but didn’t say anything. We walked past the training rings first. Advenians of all ages were going about their day.
A varying amount of clothes and mortal shirts—all thanks to Savannah, who claimed every Advenian needed to be introduced to mortal fashion—lined the grass as most of the men opted to train barebacked.
Scottie halted as she noticed them. Golden markings sprang to life on Tennebrisians who were using their abilities, and Luxians’ black markings were on display as their skin became coated with sweat. Some women and children were scattered throughout the grounds, fighting right alongside the former soldiers.
I waited for Scottie to say something, to ask me what she was seeing, but she didn’t. She collected herself and began following me again. Loud cheers and shouts followed long after we passed, but the silence from Scottie felt deafening. I wanted to know what she was thinking.
I guided her centrally. Everything of importance was located inward and spanned out from the dining tent, with the exception of the training rings—but that was only because there were too many noise complaints. The rings never closed, and most Advenians kept training well into the night.
“You can sleep here,” I said, stopping in front of Arcane’s tent. I couldn’t stand the idea of her sleeping in the communal ones, and my brother’s was next to mine and had been left vacant for years.
She walked past me as I pulled open the tent flaps. The ground was lined in furs with only a makeshift bed and a basin inside. The closest communal bath house was located half a mile from here.
“I don’t understand,” she said, whirling on me. “What is this place?” I went to answer, but she cut me off, “And be honest with me, Tezya. No more lies.”
“This place is called Brighta. It’s a camp for Advenians that have nowhere to go.”
“Advenians?” Her brows furrowed. “I saw both kingdoms’ markings back there.”
I nodded, taking a step closer to her. “It’s a refuge for both Tennebris and Lux. Although far more Luxians live here, both are welcome.”
“Refuge? They were training outside.”
“Yes, there is training too. A lot of things happen here.”
“Like what? What is this place? I still don’t understand—”
“Rumor, welcome to the rebellion.”