Chapter 4
GET OUT OF MY WAY STORM
The weather shifted the closer we got to the vayujaaris’ city. A persistent lash of icy wind rose, accompanied by needles of moisture gleefully pricking my skin.
Kalani curled her body closer to Raja, her chaysavaar, and I clung to her, head down, cheek pressed to her back to shield myself the best I could from the elements.
Yudh and Dhoona were either somewhere behind us or flanking us. I didn’t have the fortitude to look. Chill had my bones in a killer grip, and I was pretty sure I was frozen in place now.
“City up ahead!” Kalani yelled over the lament of the wind. I forced myself to lift my head enough to peer over her shoulder. My stomach contracted at the sight of a wall of raging dark storm clouds bursting with electric blue lightning. Each flash illuminated the mass like a deadly warning.
“We have to fly through that?”
“Yes! Hold tight.”
I held fast as we dove toward it. The wind tunnel tore at my clothes and battered my eardrums. My stomach dropped then shot up into my throat as we dipped and rose, riding the air waves.
A rumble of thunder vibrated through me, and lightning split the sky mere feet in front of us.
Raja veered to avoid it. But another bolt ripped the sky to our left, forcing us to dip and swerve again.
Kalani cursed. The world darkened. The temperature plummeted, and my lungs filled with ice, each breath a dull burn. The sky growled, lunging at us with electric fingers. Raja wove between the bolts, but they came faster. Denser. Creating an impossible net to navigate.
How much farther before we broke free of this barrier?
Crack.
Kalani yelled something, but her words were garbled and muted beneath the ringing in my ears.
Light seared my vision. We tipped suddenly into a rotation, and I didn’t adjust my grip quickly enough.
I fell.
Away from Raja and Kalani and into the claws of the storm.
“Leela!” Kalani’s cry was snatched away by the wind.
Arms wrapped around me, halting my downward trajectory. Mercury eyes looked down at me.
Zarael smiled wryly. “We must stop meeting like this.”
A sob broke from my lips, half a laugh now. She hugged me tighter, and I clung to her as the storm around us calmed.
“The others!” I searched the sky around us.
“They’re safe. Guards are escorting them to land now. Look.”
The storm parted, revealing a red mountain below.
A mountain with a huge hole at the top. A fucking volcano?
But the city itself was built up against the volcano, on ledges and platforms, so that it looked like the volcano was wearing a coat made of houses. I spotted the others ahead of us and slightly above, surrounded by vayujaari with whirlwinds for legs and huge spears crackling with blue energy.
“They are the storm,” Zarael explained. “But they know not to harm your kin now.”
Kalani looked down at me, her face a pale smudge. The whoosh of wings flanked us a moment later as Yudh and Dhoona appeared on either side of us.
We dipped toward a platform jutting out of the mountain. Kalani landed first with the brothers close behind.
Zarael took us down last, landing lightly and setting me on my feet. I held on to her for a little longer until my legs remembered how to take my weight.
The guards shot back up into the air, leaving us on the wide platform that ended in an impressive stone building. It reminded me of a Greek temple with all its white pillars. A dark doorway was visible beyond them.
“I had a feeling you’d come visit,” Zarael said, pulling me out of my thoughts. The others dismounted and joined us, their mounts huffing, chests heaving from the exertion of navigating the storm.
I stepped back, standing on my own steam.
“You know what’s happened?” Yudh said. “How did you know Leela wasn’t trapped in the royal domain?”
“We have our eyes and ears,” Zarael said.
“Like the ankh,” Kalani said, her mouth turning down. “I fucking hate the little spies.”
“Yes, well, those ankhs belong to us, commandeered by the Authority a long time ago. We had hoped to free them, but now…I’m afraid it’s too late.”
But she was wrong. It wasn’t too late. Not yet. “If we work together, then we can stop the primordial evil. If we can get to the obelisk in the Shahee Kshetra, then we can—”
“No,” Zarael said. “Our elders have made their decision. My people are leaving this world. Tonight.”
“Leaving? How? And where will you go?” If there was a way out, then maybe I could get the djinn in the camp to safety. This could be the refuge that they needed.
“We’re going home,” she said. “This world was never ours. We were stranded here for a while, forced to work with the gods in exchange for refuge. To give them ankh and to serve them when they called.
“When the Deva left it was with the understanding that we would support whoever held the throne. And we did. We fought alongside the djinn, the rightful heirs to the throne, but when Iblees was taken, we had no choice but to retreat. We had no choice but to support the false king Vijayroodra, but in time we realized he was good and kind, and so we were glad to be of service. The Authority, however, are not good or kind.” She pressed her lips together, distaste evident in her expression.
“You knew the truth? That the djinn were meant to rule?”
“Our kind are immune to the manipulations of time and memory. The net cast by the Authority to alter true history did not affect us.”
Whoa, wait a moment. “They changed history?”
She nodded, her lips pressed in a line once more.
Of course. That explained so much. “But you kept quiet. You knew the truth and said nothing.”
“We had no choice. We needed refuge, and if the gods of this world knew we were aware of their lies, then we would become an enemy, and we did not want war. But our world has healed enough for us to return now. Many have already left. I waited. I had a feeling you would come.” She smiled wryly.
“Nothing could ever keep you down for long.”
The way she said it…as if we had a long history. My scalp prickled. Maybe we did. “How old are you, Zarael?”
Her mercury eyes shimmered. “Ageless and forever.”
“You were there when Iblees fell, so…Did you know Vayelle?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I did. You remember now, don’t you?”
My chest tightened, and tears sprang to my eyes. What the heck was this feeling? This sense of…knowing. “Bits and pieces, but not you…Not in memory.”
She put her hand to her chest. “But here. You know me here.”
My throat pinched. “We were close?”
She nodded slowly. “Yes, Leela. I was your trainer, and then I was your friend. We fought side by side. You, me, Iblees as Ilyarien, and one other.” She searched my face. “You’ve met him. You know him…”
A name filled my mind with a rightness. “Chandra…”
She smiled. “Yes.”
I probably should have been surprised, but I wasn’t. The sense of familiarity I’d felt with him—the easy comradery, the desire to protect him, the way he made me feel safe—it all made sense now. It all fit. “Does he know that I was Vayelle?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. But I know he cares for you. He asked me to stay and protect you when I delivered the message about the fire trial to Shantivan.”
For a moment, I was back in the royal domain, wrapped in his arms as he carried me to safety, to Pakshiraj.
My eyes heated, and I blinked back tears. “He saved my life when the primordial evil took the throne. He made sure I got away.”
“Yes, it sounds like him.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “When did you know that I was Vayelle?”
“In the volcano,” she said. “When I saved you from falling, I felt the truth of you, and I knew there was hope for this world. But now, with the primordial evil free again, I’m not so sure.”
“Do you know what he is?”
She shook her head. “No. We came to this world once he’d already been locked away, and we felt the residual effects of a memory warp.
An alteration of the truth. Our elders ordered us never to allow the gods to discover that we were immune to their manipulations.
We have bided our time, waiting for our world to heal so we can return.
” She exhaled softly. “I do know that Iblees was thrown into the same prison as the evil. If the evil is free, then maybe the djinn god is too.”
I stared at her for several beats. Obviously, their ankh didn’t know everything.
“Iblees is free. He melded with Araz, but the primordial evil took control of their body. Araz is Iblees, but he’s trapped.
That thing…that monstrous evil, whatever it is, has my twin flame, and I need to get him back. ”
“That makes sense. Iblees always had an avatar to house a fragment of his soul.” Her eyes narrowed. “There is hope for you yet, then. Iblees will not stop fighting, and hopefully he will find a way to weaken the evil that has him in its grip.”
“I believe that too, but we need to call the Deva back so they can lock away the primordial evil for good. The only method that Chandra had would trap it inside Araz’s body, which was fine when I believed he was truly gone, but there is no way I’m condemning him to that fate now.
We need an army. Warriors to help us get to a portway and into Aakash Sansaar. ”
“I’m sorry,” Zarael said. “The order to leave has been given. We do not disobey our elders.”
I nodded slowly. “Then maybe I can convince your elders to change their minds.”
“They will not change their minds.”
“Please, let me try.”
Zarael sighed and nodded. “Very well, follow me.” She strode past us toward a white stone building at the end of the platform.
I made to follow, but Kalani grabbed my arm. “What are you doing? We came here for refuge from what’s left of the devouring force. Not to form an army.”
“I know. But maybe we can find a way to gain both. Trust me, okay?”
Her frown didn’t drop, but she nodded. “Fine.”
We hurried through the arch after Zarael. It was time to put my negotiation training to the test.