Chapter 2
It’s the Journey
Damien
“So what’s the plan?” Eloise asks. We lead the rabble beasts from the camouflaged underground tunnels of Mount Damocles toward the network of caves near the base of the mountain.
Although we knew this day would come, we’ve never broached specifics.
How could we? There were too many variables.
No matter how well you prepare for an exodus like ours, you are never truly ready.
“I wish I had an answer to that question,” I grumble. “I have a goal, not a plan. My goal is to raise an army powerful enough to take back my kingdom from Brahm and Nevina. But with Banias and his men hunting us, I’m afraid any plans we might have will have to adjust to our day-to-day realities.”
“Fair.” She mounts Romulus, who is now completely healed from his former injuries.
The rabble beast prances in place, elated to be out from under the mountain.
A cool breeze filters to us from the north, rustling Eloise’s red curls.
“By the goddess, do you feel that? I think I just breathed my first full breath in a month.” She smiles at the moon.
Similarly, Borus chuffs and stomps with obvious excitement as I mount him. Both beasts have spent far too long in a stable of stone. They’re restless to run. “Although I’m thankful to the mountain dwellers for their hospitality, I have to agree. One never acclimates to that heat.”
“Of course, I’m excited for Banias to give it a try. Have fun searching the mountain, bootlicker.” She flips a middle finger in Banias’s direction.
I snort. “So…”
“So…” Our eyes meet, and the trust I see in hers spurs my courage and sparks the decision I’ve hesitated to make. There’s no right answer. Any choice could lead us in a direction that gets us killed. But together with this woman at my side, I’m ready to face what comes.
“Aendor,” I say confidently. “Tempest has been organizing a rebellion in the region for years. It’s the most logical place for us.”
“I know that was always the end goal, but do you think it’s safe? Brahm has to suspect Tempest after what happened at the Harvest Festival. We haven’t received a raven from her in weeks. For all we know, Aendor is no safer than Mount Damocles.”
“Banias said he interrogated the captains of the shipping fleet in Aendor. No doubt he searched the territory at the same time. They might still have soldiers stationed in the region, but we know they aren’t their best men, because those men are here.
By the time we reach Aendor, they’ll have exhausted their search, know for sure we’re not there, and will assume we wouldn’t dare risk reaching out to Tempest again.
With your magic disguising us, we’ll infiltrate the palace and find the lord and lady of Aendor. They’ll know how to hide us.”
I kick Borus into a walk, steering him toward the trail that leads into the dark forest on the edge of the Borderlands. Eloise sidles up next to me, leaning back in Romulus’s saddle.
“Aendor is completely on the opposite side of Tenebris, though. Do you think it’s safe to stay on the road that long? Even disguised?”
Turning my face toward the moon, I suppress a dry chuckle. It’s a fair question, but she already knows the answer, even if she hasn’t admitted it to herself yet. “As safe as anywhere else.”
“Right.” She rubs the back of her neck. “Unless…” She sits up straighter.
“Unless?”
“You know, we could leave the planet, Damien. I am the key. We could return to Earth temporarily.”
I consider the possibility. The way is open to her now, and we presumably have the blessing of the goddess to pass through the Darklands. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that all magic has consequences. “No.”
“No?”
“You’re capable, and I’m relieved the option is available should we have no other choice, but ultimately, Stygarde is my destiny.
” I press a hand into my chest and turn to her.
“Our destiny. Our people don’t have the privilege of hiding on another planet.
Our time with the mountain dwellers has made one thing abundantly clear to me.
To win this war, we need allies, and that means getting to know the people of Stygarde again.
The common people. People I never had the chance to truly know when I was their prince.
I must earn their trust if I am to win their fealty, and we can’t do that from Earth. ”
“True.”
“Besides, last time we traveled through the underworld, it drained both of us. We need our strength and your magic to face what is to come.”
She narrows her eyes. “Blah, blah, blah. I think you just enjoy riding long distances.”
I grin at the way she teases me to lighten the mood. “We’ve done it before, when we left Dimhollow.”
“Yes, and we almost got ourselves killed.”
“This time, we have your magic.” I cast a wink in her direction.
“Besides, I am completely serious about using our travels strategically to understand the state of our kingdom and try to recruit others to our cause. Learn where Brahm has stationed troops. Start to form a battle plan for when the time comes.”
“Our kingdom,” she says through a grin. “I like the sound of that.”
“Me too,” I say.
“Then let’s go. I’ll disguise us using magic, but we should probably come up with a story for who we are before we run into someone with questions for two weary travelers.”
I scratch the side of my jaw, considering. “We could pose as Rivertoads. They’re wanderers and often travel these back roads.”
“Why do I sense hesitation in your voice?”
I raise a brow. “The fact that they often travel the path we’re on means we are most likely to come across one of them, and, presumably, they know their own.”
“Okay, well, who wouldn’t they know?”
“A brother and sister from one of the west villages? People starved out of their homes and seeking a better life.”
“I thought Ariadne said they weren’t allowed to leave?”
“The citizens of Bolvet Village can’t legally leave. But the Zephrine region is bigger than Bolvet. The region is sprawling, and certain rural families would not be beholden to the law.”
“One disguise, coming right up.” She raises a hand and circles it above her head. Her curly red hair straightens and takes on a pitch-black hue, while her clothing transforms into a mess of rags. Her eyes, usually green, twinkle copper in the moonlight. “Does this work?”
“Less wretched. We may have to buy goods. We don’t want to appear completely destitute.”
Another wave of her hand and she’s in humble riding attire, something similar to what the mountain dwellers wear. “Perfect,” I say.
She trails her fingers in my direction, and my hands transform to slender versions of my own.
I look down at my narrower self. Eloise couldn’t always perform magic this easily, but when she resurrected Phantom, she gained access to all the powers of all her ancestors.
No longer does she need to carry a grimoire—she has direct access to the experience of the authors of every spell in her parents’ book. Phantom changed everything.
“What do I look like?”
“Blond. Blue eyes. Thin and lanky,” Eloise says. “Very handsome. What should we call each other?”
“Velis and Marquis?” I suggest.
“Okay. Which one of us is Velis?”
I laugh. “Velis is quite obviously a woman’s name.”
“Is it, though?” She quirks a brow.
With a snort, I clarify, “It is on this planet.”
“Fine. Velis, it is. But my rabble beast’s name is Scout.”
“Scout? Why Scout?”
“I always wanted a horse named Scout, since I was nine and read To Kill a Mockingbird. Sadly, my parents never delivered a pony for Christmas.”
“To Kill a Mockingbird? Were you a violent child?”
“It’s not about actually killing birds,” she explains. “It’s just something one of the characters in the story says. It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird because they are one of nature’s gentlest creatures.”
“Scout, it is,” I mumble.
“What should we call Borus?” she asks me, giggling to herself. “How do you feel about Atticus?”
The word falls between us as we turn the corner and moonlight sweeps across an odd, branchless tree that appears to be sprouting…arms. Eloise gasps when we draw closer, her hand cupping her mouth.
“Is that? Oh my God, Damien, it’s a man, strung up by his feet!” She hops off Borus and runs to the body, placing her fingers on his neck. I already know he’s dead.
“This is an execution,” I tell her, dismounting and drawing closer to the blood-covered face.
“I’ve seen this before. Sadly, this is what passes for justice among dark elves.
They use light to keep their victims from shifting, then hang them from a tree by their feet before slitting their throats.
It’s a painful and slow way for a shade to die. ”
“Help me cut him down.”
I draw Dawnbreaker and sever the thick rope stringing up the dead man, then grunt as the body hits the ground. Although he can’t feel it, it’s hard to watch.
“What’s this?” A small object tumbled from the man’s pocket when he hit the ground, and she holds it up to the light. It’s a small wooden carving of a stag. “A toy? Do you think he had children?”
I stare at the tiny stag, then look back at the man.
“What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Eloise places a hand on my shoulder, a hand I don’t recognize as we are both still disguised.
I swallow hard before answering. “The stag is familiar. Not this stag, particularly, but the type of carving.” I shake my head. “I think I know this man.” I kneel beside the body, but the face is so swollen and caked in blood that I can’t be sure.
“Eloise, could you?” I gesture toward the man.
A snap of her fingers and the blood is gone, the face slightly less swollen. That’s when I know for sure. I grunt in miserable recognition.
“Who is it?”
“The owner of the general store in Bolvet.”
“No,” Eloise says with a low, melancholy release of breath. “Wasn’t he the only one successfully smuggling food and other goods into the village?”
I nod. “And he has children. Children I believe he was raising alone.” I stand and turn back toward the tree, running my hands over the bark.
“What if the children are waiting? What if they’re alone?” she says more to herself than to me.
I find a lump under the bark and dig my fingers in.
“What are you doing?”
“When the elves execute someone, they usually list the charges and post them on the tree. Ah, here it is.” My fingers catch on the corner of a folded piece of parchment, and I slowly work it out from behind the bark.
The thick paper unrolls in my hands, and my stomach turns when I see the decorative crest at the top.
“This was issued by New Stygarde, not Willowgulch.”
Scowling, Eloise comes to my side for a better look.
“It says he was convicted of hunting the queen’s stags without permission and therefore was sentenced to death. The order is signed by King Brahm.”
“So, they starve their own people and then execute them when they try to hunt food for their children?” Eloise is spitting mad. Streaks of red cut through the illusion of her dark hair.
“Careful, little bird,” I whisper, “Your anger is showing in more ways than one.” Taking a strand between my fingers, I hold it up for her to see. She glances down at the red curl, and her eyes widen. I drop the strand of hair, and it turns dark and straight again before it hits her shoulder.
“We need to take his body home, Damien, check on his children. Maybe Ariadne will know someone in the village who can take them in.”
“I agree.” I bend down to lift the man into my arms and then drape his lifeless body across Borus’s back. “I’ll walk. You ride Romulus.”
Thankfully, she doesn’t argue with me about riding, but then she knows the world we live in by now. Knows we can’t draw unwanted attention.
“Do you know his name?” Eloise asks softly.
“No.”
We fall into silence, the weight of loss heavy between us.
We did not know this man well, but he was ours, a citizen of Stygarde, murdered by his own king.
I can see in her eyes that she feels it too, the pain of having failed him somehow.
We are already on borrowed time. Tolerating Brahm and Nevina on the throne has cost us the lives of just citizens.
At last, the forest opens, and I gaze upon the city of Bolvet, a place I haven’t seen in months, since we came here to buy Eloise her wardrobe. I have to stop to make sure what I’m seeing is real.
“Goddess, help us,” she murmurs.
The village is flattened and scorched. Not a single building remains standing in its entirety. Partial roofless rooms, littered with fallen beams, are all that’s left of a once quaint and welcoming skyline. I shake my head in devastated disbelief.
“What the hell happened here?” Eloise whispers.
“I don’t know. But it’s our duty to find out.”