Chapter 28 Cheyanne #2
Breaking the plane of the decking, Lark set eyes on the elf woman who she’d seen in her memories.
Just as she was in her vision, the elf woman appeared youthful.
Her smooth face, high cheekbones, and button nose contrasted with the scars she bore on her eyebrow, cheek and neck.
Her long ears were ringed with earrings, her narrow frame outfitted in light robes.
She held a white staff with glyphs carved into it, a large Sapphire resting in the lattice cage at the top of the staff.
Her green eyes were glued on Lark, even as Ezra approached her to speak.
She remembers me, but is she a friend?
“Cheyanne, thank you for diverting to meet with us here,” Ezra said.
Diverting? From where? Isn’t this her home?
“After the sighting during the last firestorm, I wasted no time in making my choice. I have others relying on me to keep them hidden. I don’t need a Nordraven rider sticking around,” Cheyanne said, her slitted green eyes watching Lark.
“You remember Tel Roan’s Squire—”
“Venrick, yes,” Cheyanne nodded to him.
“You know me?” Venrick asked.
“Yes, but we never met as you didn’t attend the Academy.”
“You worked at the Astral City Paragon Academy as well?”
“How else do you think an exiled wood elf from Gambria and a mountain dwarf of Lamar became friends?”
“I can’t remember ever seeing you around the Vermillion Keep,” Venrick replied.
“I didn’t spend much time within the grounds of the Keep.
I did keep a close eye on all future prospects who squired for the Knights and Paragons.
I was sorry to hear the news of Tel Roan’s death.
Curious how you were able to stay alive, especially being half elf.
Usually when a Paragon dies, regardless of the outcome, the Keep ensures the Squire meets the great equalizer. ”
“I laid my life down for Tel and Ingamar.”
“I’m sure you did. If you hadn’t, Ingamar would never have followed you,” Cheyanne said, shifting her weight as she looked on in judgement.
Hardin approached, clearing his throat to fill the silence. “We haven’t met before either, but Sasja steered me toward the Pour House back in Stormwatch. My name is Hardin Morningstar,” he said, extending his hand in greeting.
Cheyanne greeted him, her eyes growing wide and mouth turning slack-jawed when she gripped his hand.
Hardin’s face contorted in panic. Cheyanne was crushing his hand as she squeezed with an absent-minded expression.
Almost as soon as it started, Cheyanne let go, saying, “Forgive me. You should’ve prepared me, Ezra. A Ward Walker?”
“Yikes,” Hardin said, shaking out his hand. “You’ve got one heck of a grip, lady.”
“Ezra, are you aware of the company you’re traveling with?” Cheyanne asked, momentarily diverting her attention to Lark.
“Ingamar broke the pact and attacked a civilian residence in Astral City,” she motioned to the golden dragon.
“Tel Roan is dead,” she gestured to Venrick.
“And a Hyalite has escaped Nordraven and Lamar’s clutches.
” Cheyanne pointed her chin at Lark. “Now, you show up here with those responsible for all of this and with a Ward Walker as well. The King of Lamar would execute every one of you if you were caught,” Cheyanne leveled her glare at the Lark again, while addressing Ezra.
Lines formed between Ezra’s brows as he looked from Lark to Cheyanne. “Do you two know each other?”
“How can you not recognize her? The Northern Kings are searching everywhere for her. She stole the Hyalite and fell off the face of the earth, until now,” Cheyanne said, moving toward an entrance to one of the large chambers of the lofted home.
“Cheyanne, wait,” Lark said, stepping forward.
The wood elf halted, her back to them with one hand resting on the doorknob.
“I’ve lost my memory. I only learned that I was a rider recently, but my bond with Ingamar is all but non-existent.
I don’t know how I got it, how I came to be in the village, or what it meant to have it.
I made a promise that urged me to bring it to the Vermillion Keep, but when Sasja stole it from me in Astral City—”
“You lost the Hyalite!” Cheyanne snapped, spinning on Lark with a look full of hate in her eye.
“She didn’t lose it. It was stolen from her,” Venrick defended.
“That’s what Sasja does. She’s a thief, she steals things. You shouldn’t have trusted her with it,” Cheyanne said.
“I never gave it to Sasja,” Lark said.
“I was there, I saw the whole thing. Sasja stole it and escaped with a Morsythian. If it hadn’t been for the Morsythian who created a portal with power from a cursed amulet, we would’ve gotten it back,” Venrick said.
“Say that again,” Cheyanne said.
“We would’ve gotten it back,”
“No, not that. What did you say about the Morsythian creating a portal and having a cursed amulet?”
Lark produced the drained, now yellow, amulet from her pocket as Ezra interjected.
“Cheyanne, this is why I asked you to meet us here. Morsythians are using magic, powerful spells. We thought they were working with Nordraven because Sasja was with Nordraven orcs too, but none of the Northern Kings have claimed the Hyalite. One of the Morsythians was strong enough to trap Ingamar in a web of energy while his companions attacked Lark and Venrick. They’re using dark magic to create portals; it’s not like them. ”
Cheyanne took the amulet Lark offered and examined it. “You’re sure there wasn’t a magus near them, controlling them to make it appear that the spells were coming from the Morsythians?”
“This was not magic drawn from the power of Yogos or Hyalites. We’ve seen them use a wicked combination of dark fae power and rune magic,” Ezra said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“You said it was a cursed amulet,” Cheyanne now looked at Venrick.
Venrick shrugged, scratching at the chest plate where his hidden, cursed necklace rubbed against his skin. “It seems possible. Hardin’s seen them before.”
“I have,” Hardin chimed in. “My hometown has been cursed by a rogue magus, and our town Chancellor wears a similar-looking stone cast in an amulet.”
“The Magi Order forbids curses,” she said offhandedly. “How many of these magic-wielding Morsythians have you encountered?”
“There was the one from Astral City, one from the firestorm,” Venrick started.
“Sasja portaled away from Stormwatch. That means there was most likely one there, too, ” Hardin said.
“And there was the one in Fletcher’s Passage,” Lark added.
“I thought those didn’t have the amulets?” Ezra asked.
“Lark said the one she took out did,” Venrick replied.
“Lark?” Cheyanne repeated.
“She can’t remember her name,” Ezra said.
“And you call her Lark?”
“The necklace,” Ezra gestured.
“You can’t remember your own name?” Cheyanne asked, approaching Lark.
“No.”
“And you were taking the Hyalite to Astral City, to turn it over to the Vermillion Keep?” she asked.
Lark nodded.
“I’m embarrassed to say that she had it right under our noses the whole way from Stormwatch. Ingamar and Venrick picked up on it before I did,” Ezra admitted.
“Nix was the first to,” Lark said.
“Right, the fire fae,” Ezra said.
“Where is your fae now?” Cheyanne asked.
“She’s gone,” Lark said.
“How do you know about Nix?” Ezra asked. “You guys have a history, don’t you?”
“She can tell you about it, if she remembers,” Cheyanne replied. “But you’ve come to me about these amulets, and I presume, Sasja?”
“We need to find Sasja and get the Hyalite back. We think Sasja will try to sell it to clear her debt with whatever mess she’s gotten into,” Hardin said.
“Whatever Sasja’s is doing with the Morsythians can be explained by her,” Cheyanne gestured to Lark.
“She and Sasja were partners. They tried bringing me, bringing all of those I represent in on it, but they betrayed me and it fell apart before we could go through with the plan. I got burned and walked away clean from the mess those two created.”
“I told you, I can’t remember!” Lark insisted. “Whatever it was, please help us get the Hyalite back.”
“Answer this truthfully. If you get the Hyalite back, what will you use it for?”
“I’ll let it guide me to the dragon it’s destined for, allowing the dragon to choose its next rider,” Lark said.
“And if that rider is evil, then what?”
“Dragons are not inherently evil,” Lark said truthfully.
Cheyanne looked them over for an uncomfortably long moment, then said, “I will help you find Sasja, but only with a tracking spell. I will not aid you in your goal. Sasja has wronged me too many times for me to try to save her again.”
Lark frowned.
“Ezra, I need to talk to you about who you’re traveling with,” Cheyanne said, leaving the deck as she stepped into the large living space of her home.
“Lark, the Yogos,” he said.
She undid them from her belt and handed them to the dwarf.
“I don’t know what it is you two have between one another, but whatever it is, it’s not good. Cheyanne is not one to forgive and forget when it comes to wrongs she’s suffered,” Ezra said under his breath.
“She’ll help us though, right?” Lark asked.
“Maybe when I’m alone with her, she’ll trust in me and divulge more of the background. For now, go back down and wait with Ingamar.”
They all nodded, venturing down to the opening below.
“Lark, how do you know Cheyanne?” Hardin asked.
“I said, I can’t remember. Remember?”
“There isn’t anything?” Venrick asked, his sharp green appealing to her.
“Well,” Lark said, hesitating. “I’ve had a few memories. She and Sasja are in them, but the memories don’t make sense.”
“Lark, you should be telling us this stuff. We can help you try to decipher it,” Venrick said.
Hesitantly, she described the visions of meeting with Morsythians in the North. Sasja was there. They were discussing the prediction of firestorms. Lark left out her most recent memory of watching a house just like this one burn. Cheyanne’s comment about being burned didn’t seem to be a euphemism.
What if I was the one who literally burned her?
“Well, whatever happened between you, Sasja and Cheyanne is probably why you can’t remember anything. It’s probably why Tel Roan got killed in the crossfire,” Venrick said. “We just need to keep on it. Keep digging and we’ll get some answers.”
“You should try talking to Cheyanne in private. See if she’ll tell you anything she wouldn’t say in front of us,” Hardin suggested.
Lark knew he was right.
When Ezra emerged from the treehouse, he was alone, carrying a new cane at his side. Cheyanne didn’t follow. He approached wearing a grim expression and avoiding looking Lark in the eye.
“What did she say?” Venrick asked.
“I have a way to find Sasja,” Ezra said, offering the small cane etched with runes and dotted with three of the Sapphires.
“That’s the tracking charm?” Hardin asked.
“The cane is a prop she used in a scam when she last encountered Sasja. The combination of Sasja’s signature left on the cane and the spells woven into the runes will lead to Sasja.
This is our charmed object because she was the last person to touch this cane.
Yogos keep a flow of power to the runes on charm.
It’s only good for twenty-four hours, so we need to move,” he said.
“Where’s Cheyanne?” Lark asked.
“She had to leave,” Ezra grumbled.
“She left, where?” Lark asked, her eyes darting around the base of the tree.
“She has other important issues to attend to. Ones that are more urgent than answering your questions about the amulet, unfortunately,” Ezra said.
“What did she say to you about me?” she asked.
“It wasn’t anything I didn’t already know,” Ezra said.
“Ezra, you shouldn’t keep us in suspense about this. It’s not fair to Lark,” Venrick said.
“Cheyanne warned us to be careful around you, Lark. She says you’re dangerous, which I already knew. She told me you were a rider, which I already knew. And she told me that you’re more powerful than most, which again, I already knew.”
“That’s it?” Lark asked.
Ezra’s gaze lingered on Lark long enough to let her know it wasn’t, but he nodded, saying, “We need to be going if we’re going to get to Red Lodge by tomorrow morning.”
“That’s on the northern side of the forest, in Nordraven. We won’t make it in time unless we all ride on Ingamar and that’s definitely not happening,” Venrick said.
“I know a passage we can take under the forest. It will be faster, trust me,” Ezra replied.
As they walked toward the wagon, Venrick sidled up to Lark. “There was something else about Cheyanne that you’re not telling us.”
She nodded slowly.
“You can tell me,” Venrick whispered.
“I saw her house on fire.”
“From a firestorm?”
She shook her head. “It was dragon fire. I think it was my dragon’s fire.”