Chapter 18
NOW THAT WAS SOME VANISHING ACT
The settlement looked small from the clifftop. Lush plains surrounded it like gentle hands cradling a prize, golden crops waving at us. The midday sun glanced off the dome covering the village. The structure was specially designed by human architects.
Araz had helped to build one of these for another of the settlements working with a woman called Aradha. I’d been so jealous of her. Of that fact that Araz had once had a thing with her.
Gods, I missed him so much.
C’ael slipped his hand into mine and squeezed. “We will get him back,” he said softly.
“How did you know I was thinking of him?”
“I felt the ache of it. We’re bound, the three of us, remember?”
Being with C’ael made me feel closer to Araz. There was a comfort about his presence that I craved.
I leaned into him, resting my head momentarily on his shoulder as we continued walking parallel to the cliff’s edge. Ravi and Pashim scouted ahead, searching for a way down.
“I didn’t get a chance to say it last night, but thank you for saving my life with the nagrata.”
C’ael dropped his cheek to my crown. “It was my pleasure.”
I grinned up at him. “Even though it knocked you out of action for days?”
“Even then.”
“Where did you go?”
“Nowhere. I was here, but I didn’t have the energy to manifest fully.” He looked down at me, meeting my eyes with a knowing look.
My cheeks warmed. “So you saw what happened with Pashim?”
“You have nothing to be ashamed of, Leela. Araz will understand. His love for you is singular and all-consuming, but he would never presume to own your heart.”
“But he does. He does own it. I can’t be with anyone else…not like that.”
“Then you don’t have to.”
Pashim and Ravi slowed on the path ahead.
“Your moona may have to fly from here,” Ravi called. “The track down is barely wide enough for a person.”
Yudh and Dhoona mounted up while I approached the edge of the cliff where a perilous twisty track led down to a ledge linking to another track that went all the way to the bottom.
We’d have to hug the rock face on the way down, but I’d had enough training with rock faces to feel confident making the descent.
“Let’s do this.”
A low, ominous rumble shook the skies. Strange, there was no sign of an incoming storm. The sky was cloudless.
The rumbling came again, this time accompanied by an earth tremor. C’ael pulled me away from the edge of the cliff.
“The settlement!” Kalani pointed at the village. The air around it shimmered, blue streaks dancing above the dome.
Another rumble rose, and the hair on my arms stood to attention. The whoosh of blood filled my ears, the feeling like being underwater. I gasped and clung to C’ael.
“What…what’s happening?”
The blue streaks multiplied, merging into an azure aura that spilled across the whole settlement.
Whoomph!
The weight lifted.
The air cleared.
Silence pressed in on us for a beat, then the soft whistle of wind rose once again. The crops swayed below, but they were no longer bordering a settlement, because the whole village was gone.
The campfire crackled and spat with the effort of roasting the small game that Ravi had brought us. Silence reigned, heavy and pregnant with tumultuous thoughts. A settlement had vanished, and there was no doubt it was the primordial evil’s doing. But how? And why?
“We have to warn the other settlements that have portways. We must get the people away before the same thing happens,” Kalani said softly.
“It may already have happened,” Yudh said. “It could have happened simultaneously, for all we know.”
“Which means the portways are gone and so are the troops.”
“We don't know that for sure,” Yudh said.
“So what do we do?” Kalani asked no one particular.
“We have to go check. We have to warn them,” Dhoona said.
“It's a risk,” Pashim said. “We could get to the next settlement and find nothing. Or we could reach our destination only to be swallowed by whatever the primordial evil is doing. We need allies. We need an army. But this risk is too high.” He chewed on his cheeks, deep in thought.
Ravi handed me some roasted meat. I reached for it, my gaze falling to his bracelet. The twin to mine. Tokens given to us by Vasuki.
My gaze whipped up to his to find him staring at me, my revelation echoed in his eyes.
“We can try,” he said. “It’s a trek, but it’s hope.”
I nodded. “You’re right. He might know of another way to get into Aakash Sansaar?”
“What are you two talking about?” Kalani asked.
“Vasuki. He might be able to help us. Give us information and maybe a path into Patala.”
“You want to recruit the naga?” she said, her tone rising slightly in pitch.
“And the rakshasa who live there,” Ravi said.
Her lip curled. “Why the fuck would they care about what happens to us above land?”
“We won’t know until we try,” Ravi said.
“They have very little love for the Asura, and why would they listen to you, a lowly rakshasa?”
But Ravi wasn’t lowly. “Ravi is a royal.”
She blinked sharply, and then her mouth twisted wryly. “And they gave you up? Typical.”
“You sound like you know a lot about the rakshasa,” Ravi said.
“I've heard things,” Kalani said softly, looking into the flames.
“So we have a plan,” C’ael said. “How far is Vasuki’s lair from here?”
“Puranee Ghaatee would take several days to reach on foot,” Yudh said.
We could all go in the hope of making contact with Patala.
But I doubted that we’d all be given admittance.
Plus, only Ravi and I had tokens from Vasuki that would keep us safe through the mountain.
There was no guarantee that the others wouldn't be attacked.
And we still had the settlements to think of.
Maybe the primordial evil needed time between his attacks.
Surely it must take energy to make a whole settlement vanish.
We might still have time to warn the other settlements.
There was only one thing to do. “We’ll have to split up.
Yudh and Dhoona, you have the moona, so you can fly to the nearest settlement and warn them of what's happening.
See what you can do about saving as many people as you can.
The rest of us will head to the Red Mountain.
We can't all go in, but hopefully Ravi and I will be able to get us all into Patala.”
“We vowed to protect you,” Yudh said. “We cannot do that if we are not by your side.”
“I have Pashim, Ravi, C’ael, and Kalani by my side. I’ll be fine. But none of us will be okay without an army to help us fight our way to the obelisk. Vasuki may turn out to be a bust, so we need to hedge our bets.”
“Then we should arrange a place to regroup,” Dhoona said. “Somewhere we can meet once we’ve gathered our troops.”
“We meet back at the devouring force camp,” C’ael said. “There is a hidden entrance to the south where the rock face is steepest. It was closed off by the wards before. I doubt the primordial evil has watch on the place now, but if he does, his spies won’t see us enter via that route.”
It was the best plan we had. “All right, we finish up our tasks and meet there.”
“I can’t come with you,” Pashim said softly.
For a moment I thought I’d misheard him. “What?”
“I can’t come with you,” he said, and this time there was no doubt.
My heart sank. “Why not?”
“I have somewhere else I need to be. You need allies. An army, and I believe I can secure you one. I came to the portway with you because it was en route to where I needed to go. I hoped to see you safe, surrounded by warriors before I left, but time is running out.”
My throat pinched at the thought of him leaving again. “Where do you have to go?”
“To Mrytu Valley.”
“What? That place is lethal. We barely got out alive.”
“I know. But I understand what they are now. Who they were. Trust me. I’ll be fine.”
“You…you plan to reason with the wrathful dead?” Kalani asked, staring at him as if he was insane.
“An army of fallen warriors,” Pashim said. “Yes, I would recruit them to our cause.”
“Fuck…” Ravi said softly.
I’d lost him once. I couldn’t bear to lose him again. “Then we go there first. Together and—”
“No, Leela. This is something that I must do alone. Besides, the Red Mountain is on the other side of the Isle from Mrytu Valley.”
“He’s right,” Kalani said. “You need to focus on Vasuki. Yudh and Dhoona on the settlements, and Pashim will gather an army of dead.”
She was right. This was the smartest plan, whether I liked it or not. A weight settled on my chest, a hollow feeling opening inside me.
Pashim slipped his hand into mine and squeezed. “We’ll be together again soon enough,” he said. “I promise.”
He’d come back from the dead for me. A couple of weeks apart was nothing in the grand scheme of things. I exhaled and nodded.
“We will all have long journeys tomorrow,” C’ael said. “We should get some rest.”
Kalani let out a gruff laugh. “I doubt I’ll sleep much tonight.”
Dhoona drew a pack of cards from his pocket. “Maybe a couple of rounds of Hunter will help us unwind.”
Ravi grinned. “I love that game.”
“I’ve never played it,” Kalani said.
“Oh, I know this one,” C’ael said with a smirk.
“You’ve played?” Yudh asked.
“Once, at camp. The troops there played it.”
“It’s a popular game among ground forces,” Ravi said.
I looked to Pashim, who smiled. “I’ve played it too.”
“Well, you guys better teach me and Kalani, so we can kick your asses.”
The next hour was spent in laughter, good-natured banter, and exclamations as C’ael won game after game.
I shot him a mock glare as Yudh shuffled the cards for one final round. “Like hell you only played once.”
“I wouldn’t lie to you,” C’ael said.
“Seriously?” I shook my head. “Every game…”
C’ael winked. “What can I say? I’m a natural.”
C’ael won the last round too, and Yudh packed up the cards, mumbling under his breath about strange entities and mind reading.
We arranged our packs close together for warmth, and I made sure to place mine next to Pashim’s. C’ael lay down on the other side of me, his body just as warm as Ravi's, who positioned himself by my feet once again. The others found spots nearby, creating a cocoon of heat for us to settle in.
We’d lost the nagrata, and now a whole settlement had been swallowed into nothing, and tomorrow…Tomorrow we’d part ways on our separate missions. It felt like the beginnings of a fantasy quest, and in all the books I’d read, not all the characters made it till the end.
But this wasn’t a book. This was my life. These were my friends, and I’d do whatever was in my power to keep them with me.