Chapter Twenty-Five
Fallyn
The morning saw us off to a grueling day of hiking north.
I must have slept at some point, though I felt as if guilt and grief had staved sleep away for several hours, working in tandem as punishment for my actions.
Ash hadn’t so much as glanced at me while we packed up and rather than walking beside me, he marched a few paces ahead until the tiny cave we’d shared was miles behind us. I sighed. I deserved as much.
“Ash,” I called out to him, “wait.” My teeth strained to catch the words that guilt forced me to say. To his credit, Ash’s feet halted. He turned from his place ahead of me, his face carefully neutral. I almost choked on my words. “I’m sorry. About last night. I don’t know what came over me.”
“Apology accepted.” Two simple words, but they were enough to ease a bit of the tremendous pressure caging my ribs. I let out a shuddering breath, one i'd been holding for the days this whole ordeal began. “But you shouldn’t apologize for pulling a weapon on your enemy.”
“You aren’t my enemy,” I said, surprising us both. We had a common goal, and as much as I didn’t like it, we were stuck together for the time being. After this was over, would we go our separate ways? I hated the way he leaned over me, dominating the space between us.
“Aren’t I?’
I hated him. That much was certain. But something about the way he was looking at me didn’t feel hostile. Without warning, images from last night flooded my body with a tingly sort of heat.
You cannot overcome me, little shadow, but you can come all over me if you want.
Maybe I could hate him and internally admit that my body responded to him. There was a syndrome for that, I was pretty sure. So, I probably wasn’t crazy.
“Where are we going? Do you have a plan?” Oh, please let him have a plan. I stared at the curse touch on our hands with disdain, especially because I had no idea where to begin.
“We are going to visit the goddess of magic herself,” Ash answered. “Hecate.”
My breath halted in my chest, making way for dread to take up residence instead.
I had asked for a plan, not a potential suicide mission.
Hecate, known by mortals to be particularly capricious, suffered no fools.
She was no mere goddess, she was a chthonic being who hailed from the Underworld itself, and yet even Hades had no reign over her.
If Moonfall was a warning, Hecate was consequence, and the cost of not heeding it.
“We’re headed for Moonfall?” My squeaky voice betrayed my disquiet as I ran through what little I knew about the magic-drenched city.
Some swore the place was abandoned; others swore something cursed ran through the streets, searching for those who dared to intrude on the volatile, mercurial goddess it paid homage to.
Many said that Moonfall itself had a higher count of corpses than bricks that make up the castle the city enshrouds.
I’d heard stories of people going in and never being heard of again.
Stories could be ignored, but the wailing of a mother that her daughter, desperate to invoke the goddess’s help, had been taken by the city—that was hard to ignore.
And that was our destination? It couldn’t be somewhere warm, sunny, and not at all threatening?
Straightening the wobble in my voice, I continued, “What do we do when we get there?”
“We have to reach the center of Hecate’s temple. It’s the only way to access the realm of the gods as mortals. Even demigods can’t enter without permission.”
“How do you know all of this? In all my life, I’ve never met someone who knows this much about the gods.”
“I’ve made it my business to know.” He didn’t look at me when he said it. But his answer itself nagged at me. Not just the words, but his tone. No hesitation, no uncertainty, just automatic—like a line he’d worn perfectly smooth with use.
“That’s all I get?” I prompted him for more with narrowed eyes. His silence proved yes. “Do you really think Hecate will help us?” I tried again.
“She’s the goddess of magic. Curses as a specific type of magic.
If anyone can lead us in the right direction, it would be her.
The issue is whether we’re ready to pay for the price of a goddess’s help.
” At my surprise, he continued, “You didn’t think that it would be as easy as popping in and saying hi?
Everything, especially information, is invaluable.
So, whilst we travel I guess you’d better think about everything you’re willing to lose. ”
We would make for Greylark’s Rest, restock our supplies, maybe sleep in a real bed, and move on to Moonfall. That was the plan, and Ash set a grueling pace. From my spot behind him, I pondered what or who he was.
I couldn’t get a read on him. He appeared mortal enough, lacking the elegantly elongated ears of the fae, which were exceedingly uncommon and didn't originate in Inithilia. His mere presence encased any space, like his magic thundered through the atmosphere. Most mortals couldn’t claim the like.
Witches, even with their tremendous magical abilities, weren’t like that.
They appeared mortal and their magic wasn’t palpable like Ash’s was.
He had to be god-blessed. But by who? I've never heard of a god-blessed who could wield shadows, which wasn't comforting.
It made me think of the Underworld, of cold darkness and depravity.
It suited him far too well for my liking.
His snicker broke my reverie. “You’re staring, little shadow. Like what you see?”
“It’s just not every day you meet a monster that looks mortal.”
His widening grin turned manic, a chuckle falling from his lips. I couldn’t help but think he knew something I didn’t, but he didn’t respond.
The further we hiked away from Este Valnor and its surrounding terrain, the more I realized I’d never been so far away from home.
I’d been to the Capitol only once and only short weeks ago, to Ipsilon to help my father with a delivery of weapons ordered by the king.
I remember hating him all the more seeing him in person, his dark, beady eyes watching every movement we made with rapt interest.
I balked at how my life had changed in a single moment.
My father and Thaddeus were dead, and Odessa and Rowena were missing and most likely had joined them in the afterlife.
It was my only hope they were all with Hades, and not the Morningstar.
Departed souls belonged to whichever god they prayed to, and I know none of them claimed the new god as their own, but the Morningstar seemed to be the type of god who took regardless of the rules.
“Who taught you how to use a sword?” Ash asked. I blinked up at him.
“Pardon?”
He huffed a humorless chuckle. “Someone taught you. You hold your sword correctly, and its well-balanced for you.” He watched my reaction keenly, “Though you have no real blood thirst, and your technique is rusty, so you’re no warrior.”
“Nor have I ever claimed to be!” I protested.
“Taking a life is not something that should be easy. I’ve seen more death in the last few days than I have in my entire lifetime.
Good people. Good people that loved either the old gods or the new one, not that it helped them, did it?
Good people that begged for clemency from whichever deity they chose and what did it get them?
A painful death surrounded by violence. A fate nobody deserves. ”
“Hades will make sure they rest well in the Underworld.” His voice was softer than expected, making me swing my head to look at him, his eyes bright and earnest.
“That’s assuming Hades can do anything.” I didn’t know why I was being so adversarial.
It was so unlike me I questioned my own sanity.
“The Morningstar seems to enjoy sole ownership.” Ash growled at the mention, as if the new god had personally fouled him.
“I take it you’re not on the side of the new god either? ”
“I don’t much care for imposters.” His voice was harsh, cutting off the conversation. “You never answered me. Who taught you?”
“My father was the best swordsmith in the kingdom, by a lot. You don’t get to be his daughter and not know how to at least hold one.” His eyes narrowed on me as my voice softened, “But it was Thaddeus that taught me.”
He taught me to defend myself after he saved me from a moment of powerlessness. When he’d stopped a male from following me home. From pulling me into a dark alley. I shuddered at the memory.
Not that Thaddeus was any great warrior, but he knew a few tricks. Tricks I’d thankfully not had to use until recently. How to disarm. How to block in a pinch. Where to stab to cause the most damage. Though it was all far from a finessed skill.
“He taught you for a reason, didn’t he?” Ash never missed anything, seeing even what I didn’t offer. I wrapped my arms around myself, the onslaught of memories infiltrating my mind and shrinking me until I felt as small as I had that day.
“That business is my own,” I snapped the conversation closed, killing it entirely.
“You’re better than some people, but you’re still not great.
You need practice,” he said, putting his hand on my shoulder, and his other on my wrist to wrench my arm.
His breath tickled my ear. “You want to survive out here? Without the walls of the city to protect you? You’re going to have to learn how to fight. ”
“I do know. I said it once before, the pointy end goes in you.” Venom laced my words, more so than I’d anticipated.
I struggled against his grip on my arm, but to no avail.
“Or I suppose this always works in a pinch.” I slammed my heel upwards into a male’s favored area, forcing him to take the blow or release me.
Predictably, he chose the latter, unhanding me, giving me a moment to spin away with a snarl falling from my lips.
“Crude, but effective, I suppose.” His laugh still held no humor.