Chapter 27 #5
The spirits rushed at them, snatching at wisps of magic touched with the benevolence of Aureum’s monarchs.
On and on they came, as if their numbers were never-ending, their rage as bottomless as the sea.
Before, he’d been powerless to appease them all, left spent and frustrated, thinking if he just drew more from Aureum, if he just became stronger, he could be all they needed, refusing to think himself so weak as to need another’s aid.
Now, with Aurora at his side, sharing the burden, he could see there was an end to their numbers, a limit to their fury. Refusing to allow anyone to stand at his side hadn’t been strength, it had been pride.
But he wasn’t that man any longer. And he wasn’t alone.
Faster than he might have thought, the onslaught ended, the spirits pacified. Aurora fell to her knees, breath ragged and eyes wide with shock.
“Is it over?” she asked.
Theron couldn’t help his grin.
“There may be a few lingering spirits in the ruins, but the worst is over.”
The source of the blight had been quelled.
Theron took a deep breath. The oppressive anger that had thickened the air and made breathing a chore was gone.
The cold of the mountain was no longer tinged with threat.
It was peaceful here now amongst the tallest peaks in Aureum.
His heart leapt with joy. It was over. The blight was truly, finally over.
Theron helped Aurora to her feet, then called over the rest of their people. It was time to search the wreckage of the spire. Leukos and several others joined Aurora in sifting through the debris while Theron called Hyllus over to him.
Time to make things right with the young avatar.
“I apologise for how I behaved earlier. You have been nothing but honourable, Hyllus,” he said, letting his senses spill over the site. There, beneath the rubble, a spirit lingered. He sent out his magic, beckoning it to rest.
“I appreciate that, Your Majesty.”
As they continued to survey the dark, churned up earth, Theron couldn’t help but think back to Aurora’s words in the mountain. Her fear that the future could not be changed.
“In Aurora’s histories, I am the first monarch to die this cycle.”
“Your Majesty?”
“If that happens, I hope you will continue being a man my wife can trust.”
“She will always be a dear friend, Your Majesty.”
“And Hyllus?” he paused, looking back at the avatar.
“Yes?” he asked, his brow creasing.
“If it comes down to saving her, or saving me, promise me you’ll choose her. Get her out of here. Make sure she gets back to her own time.”
Hyllus blinked in shock.
“How could you—”
“Promise me, Hyllus.”
Hyllus pressed his lips together, his expression pained.
“I promise, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you.”
Hyllus stopped, bending down to brush new snow off something at his feet. He picked up a chunk of rock as big as his hand, squinting at it.
“Find something?” Theron asked conversationally.
Batea had picked the site clean, as far as he knew, and Lord Vettias had managed a single trip up the mountains to clear the worst of the rubble.
What remained was the very foundation of the tower and bits of the walls that had proved too difficult for those with wild magic to shift.
Perhaps it could all be cleared now that the spirits were at ease.
But when he turned back to the avatar, Hyllus’ eyes flashed like jewels for a heartbeat before returning.
“Your Majesty, it’s onyx,” he whispered.
Onyx. Beneath the spire. Was this why Orithyia had built it here? To mine her goddess’ gemstone? Was this why the spirits refused to rest even after he’d had the tower levelled? How deep had her mine shafts penetrated the sacred mountain?
“Cover it, lest Her eyes see you through it. And hold on to it. We may need it.”
Hyllus pulled off his himation and dutifully wrapped the offending rock.
“Here!” Aurora called.
Theron bounded over to her and knelt by her side, expecting to sense a spirit.
And yet it was not a spirit, but a large, red scale.
Drakon. He put his gloved hand to his mouth.
With a scale this large, Drakon had grown.
Batea had been here recently. Had she been the one to churn up the rock? Had she already found the onyx?
“He’s gotten bigger.”
Aurora pounded her fists on the scale in frustration.
“He was here, Theron. If only we’d come sooner, we might have caught him.”
“I’m so sorry, my queen. If I had just—”
If he had just believed her when she’d told him her story. If he had killed Drakon that day at the Colonnades. If he had done it in the days that had followed before his cousin had run off on that beast’s back…
She put her hand on his, her expression bitter and yet softened by love.
“What’s done is done. We need to keep searching.”
He stood and offered her his hand. She took it with a weary smile.
“Your Majesties! Look!” Hyllus shouted, pointing.
Theron turned first, instantly paling.
“Merciful Triad, no…”
Aurora turned and gasped.
There in the distance, peeking out between fluffy white clouds, was an unmistakable black cloud, the telltale flash of red in the sunlight—and it was headed straight for Altanus.
Theron looked over at the bundle in Hyllus’ hand.
Batea had found her proof alright, and she was charging back to the capital.
If he knew his cousin, she wasn’t going to wait before she unleashed Drakon on Orithyia, collateral damage be damned.
“We’re leaving, now!” Theron shouted.