Chapter 16
Eldric
T he skies outside were darkening, heralding a strong summer storm to drench those celebrating the Summer Solstice. A promise that cold weather would arrive early this year and the winter ahead would be long.
“This is the reason your bond with the high cleric is the blessing we have been looking for. Only they can open the vault, and better yet, she has been chosen as the Sun Bearer, so there will be a reason for her to open it. We just have to wait until the time is right. It’s as if Sylvene herself is giving us the circlet on a silver platter.” Daeson’s eyes gleamed as the pieces of his plan fell into place.
“So this convergence—”
“Conveyance,” Daeson corrected.
“Right. Conveyance. During that, Lorali—the Sun Bearer as you call it—is supposed to just… give magic to the land? How does that even work?”
“Yes.” Daeson nodded, arms crossed as he leaned back. “Whoever offers their power will receive it back tenfold. It is a direct connection to the divine that binds you to the land. I imagine this is why the archcleric is having Lorali be the Sun Bearer and make the offering since they are vying to have her take the mantle next. It is a right reserved for the ruler of the land.”
“But you’re planning to usurp her position.”
“Precisely. After she opens the vault, you’ll restrain her while I complete the conveyance instead. By taking back the circlet given to us by the goddess, and imbuing it with my power, it will be the first step in taking back Athera from the clutches of the Order. After that, it’s a bit more difficult.”
Eldric gave a slow nod, trying to wrap his head around it all. There were secrets of the Order and the land that he didn’t know. Like the fact that Lorali was this Sun Bearer, as Daeson called it. He hadn’t known, but had never questioned why she was always at the temple or what exactly was driving her to the brink of collapse. He found, though, that he didn’t like the thought of her giving her power to anyone or anything. He had seen firsthand how she would give of herself until she had nothing left. Their trip to Juelton and week of forced respite had eased some of the burden, brought color back into her face and that spark he cherished back to her eyes. He dreaded the thought of her returning to the Order that would ask her to give more. In a way, this plan was saving her from herself.
A bright crack of lightning crossed the sky, pulling their attention as they counted the seconds until the loud rumble of thunder rolled in.
“I should go, storm’s close,” Eldric murmured as he stood from his seat on the back porch and stretched his legs. Gooseflesh lined his arms, each hair standing on edge at nature’s power hanging in the air.
Daeson stood with him, resting a hand on his back to guide him inside with a bright smile. “Stay, you shouldn’t be out in this weather. We can put aside our planning for now and drink until sunrise. Watch the storm pass in good company.”
Eldric shook his head, clapping his friend’s shoulder. “Sorry, Daeson, I promised Lorali I’d walk her back from the Summer Solstice celebrations. Maybe next time.”
Daeson’s grin faltered as Eldric gave him an apologetic smile.
“Something’s changed between you two, hasn’t it?” his friend whispered.
Heat rushed to Eldric’s ears, the night he tried to kiss Lorali flashing through his mind. He gave a slight chuckle, scratching the back of his head. He never could hide anything from Daeson .
“I see her so often, I guess we’ve become friends. There’s nothing more than that. She’s different from others we’ve known within the Order. You’d like her if you gave her a chance.”
Daeson nodded absently, worry evident behind his eyes. He squeezed Eldric’s shoulder. “Just don’t let it get in the way of our mission.”
Swallowing thickly, Eldric could only nod in response.
“I won’t.”
***
“I thought we could make it,” Eldric groaned, clothes drenched in the warm summer downpour. Rain fell in thick sheets that made the rogue and the high cleric seek shelter beneath an old tree on their journey home.
“It’s just water, it’ll dry.” Lorali shrugged as she pulled the thin, pale fabric from her chest and tried to squeeze the excess water out of it. They were drenched, fat droplets still falling between green leaves to land in her pale hair. “Besides, rain during the summer solstice is good luck.”
Eldric’s nose scrunched, brow raised as he turned to her.
“What?” he asked with an incredulous laugh. “How is cold weather and a hard winter good luck? ”
“What are you talking about? Rain on the summer solstice means there will be favorable winds and good fortune,” she countered.
“Maybe wherever you’re from, but not in Athera.” Eldric chuckled with a shake of his head as he leaned back against the tree’s trunk. Lorali blinked.
“Y’know, in all these years, I’d never thought that it might be different.”
White fabric clung to her skin, translucent in its rain-drenched state as she sat next to him, her blue overdress blessedly concealing her torso from his wandering eyes. He averted his gaze, banishing thoughts of what her skin might look like beneath. They were just friends—nothing more. That much had been made clear. She hadn’t brought up their near kiss since, so he wouldn’t either. He’d respect her boundaries and her wishes, no matter how much it pained or tempted him.
“What other things do you think might be different?” he asked, crossing his legs and staring up at the foliage.
She hummed, thinking, and if Lorali noticed his wandering eye, the look of desire he was sure had flashed across his face, she didn’t breathe a word.
“I grew up in a port city nestled along a thin strip of land connecting Korinth to Euphedos. There are probably more differences than I’m able to remember.” Lorali chuckled.
Eldric glanced her way, watching her from the corner of his eye as she slicked her wet hair back from her face, brushing water droplets from her eyes.
“What was it like growing up there? Any traditions you haven’t seen in Athera?” His curiosity was piqued; the last time they had brought up her past she had firmly avoided talking about it, as if it hurt to think about. But now, nestled beneath a tree with a storm that drowned out all other noise, she breathed in before leaning back and looked up towards the leaves with him.
“I had a few close friends when I was little. We were always getting into mischief,” she said with a wry smile, her head tilting towards him. “Running across the beach chasing gulls, screaming into the winds at a cliff’s edge just because we could. Daring each other to climb an old statue just so we could watch the boats pass by like we were birds ourselves. I got new cuts and scrapes faster than my mother could heal them.”
Even with her soft laugh as she shook her head at the memory, he couldn’t imagine a young and wild Lorali when he looked at her now. She was the responsible one, the voice of reason. A steady rock that did not waver or give mischief a chance .
“Summer Solstice was always fun. No one remembers when it began, but the tradition was still alive and well when I was last there. People would make bracelets from bits of rope or colorful threads and give them to those they wished to keep in their lives—like family or close friends—or someone they wanted to know better. It’s how children learned to tie their first knots before ever stepping foot on the docks, and to have your arms full of bracelets was a sign of how loved you were.”
“But when my powers manifested, it—everything changed so fast.” Her voice wobbled as she shook her head, smile turning wistful as a hint of sadness filled her eyes. “It’s different there. Magic is detested. At first, my parents dismissed the strange gusts of winds with my tantrums as coincidence. Or how the tide seemed to be called to me when we walked the beach together. But by the time I was seven, they couldn’t explain to others how my broken arm healed overnight or the street lamps shone brighter when I asked them to. I was a kid; I didn’t know better. By the time I understood and tried to conceal my magic, word had spread. My father lost his job at the docks, shopkeepers denied my mother service, my friends, they…they stopped talking to me too.”
The sentence ended in a whisper, the wet fabric of her dress twisted between her hands. He watched as her gaze lingered in the distance, as if she were reliving those memories just speaking of them. Eldric’s throat ached as he watched her, all thoughts of drenched linens and failed advances disappearing at her vulnerable honesty that made his throat tighten.
He had thought her pride, her stubbornness, had been the reason for hiding the troubles that their bond was causing for her. Never suspected it was to save him from a familiar feeling she’d experienced far too young.
“When a cleric of Ostara offered my family a haven with the Order in Athera, we left. Then they died, and I was alone. Not knowing what else to do, I joined the Order that promised me sanctuary.”
A heavy silence hung in the air, filling the space between them. He didn’t offer a condolence or apology; despite their short time together, he knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t want it. Instead, he reached into his own heart and offered a connection.
“After my mom died,” he started, voice catching. His grief over her death renewed, still that raw wound which was finally beginning to properly heal. “I had nowhere else to turn. Everywhere in Juelton reminded me of her and being there hurt too much. So I came back to Athera, and I…took a position as a guardsman.”
She turned to him, bewildered .
“You? A guardsman of Athera?”
“More likely than you’d think,” he chuckled.
“What happened?” Her genuine curiosity tempted him to open up and pour the truth into her waiting hands. But he hesitated, thinking of all she had just told him. The clear reverence she held for the Order that took her in, and he knew that, while one day he would tell her, now was not the time.
“Twelve years ago, I was ordered to drop an investigation because the people it incriminated were of a higher station. It didn’t sit right with me. I swore to protect Athera, but how could I do that if my hands were tied by those who created the laws?”
His tensed fists relaxed beneath her touch as he looked over to meet her understanding gaze. Eldric placed his own hand atop hers and gave it a tight squeeze.
“That’s when I met Daeson and joined his cause. Fighting for what’s right within the city. Taking food for the hungry or wealth for the sick and poor. It’s my way of continuing to serve Athera.”
As they sat there beneath the downpour and offered little bits of their hearts to each other, he hoped that even after the rain ceased and the sun shone once more, they both would feel a little less alone.