Chapter 28
Seda
Seda woke to the softness of arms holding her and cracked her eyes open to the blinding sunlight, feeling the heat on her cheeks.
She let out a gasp as memories of the Camp flooded back, causing her eyes to widen as she saw Cahir holding onto her.
He tightened his grip, and she coughed as a result, looking up at him in confusion.
Her stiff ankle throbbed, and she could feel sand wedged between her toes.
“Cahir? Is it really you?” she rasped, gazing up into his gentle, emerald eyes.
“I’m here, Seda,” he whispered and kissed her forehead. She held back tears, overwhelmed with relief at being finally reunited with him. She had missed him deeply, and now she was in his arms, his embrace comforting her. Her sob tore loose as she cried into his shoulder.
She wondered if this was just a wicked dream.
“What happened? How are you here?” she choked out, glancing around for the first time at the other people watching her and noticing Benny in the group.
She had to inform him about their father.
“Benny!” She tore herself out of Cahir’s arms and tried to run to him, but collapsed into the sand and winced in pain from her throbbing ankle.
Everyone seemed to rush toward her at once, and she shrieked in response, shielding her head, accidentally throwing sand into her face.
“Stop! Everyone give her some space!” Cahir yelled.
Benny slowly approached and knelt beside her, gently touching her shoulder. She pulled away at the gesture, recalling Alexi’s touch, but then took a deep breath and looked up at her brother. “How are you here? Who are all of these people?”
Benny helped her to her feet and hugged her tightly; the sand’s heat seared her bare soles. “We came for you and Dad, Seda. We escaped the dome. What happened there? Did you see Dad at all?”
Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she wiped them away, the rough sand scratching against her skin.
She shook her head and looked away from him.
“I didn’t see him when I was there, and they had collected all of the men when the Jotnar arrived.
” She let out a whimper, missing her father and worrying he’d suffered a painful death like so many others. “I don’t know where he is.”
Benny looked at her with glassy eyes and slumped shoulders. “I was worried about that.”
They stared at each other for a long moment before Benny reached out and hugged her tightly, “I love you, sis.”
She hugged him back, as swirling images of her escape, being in the hands of the Jotnar, and how Elco had rescued her flashed through her mind. She released herself and frantically looked around for him.
She saw Elco lying down and limped across the hot sand to him, running her hands through his mane. “Oh, Elco. You saved me. You saved me, Elco.” She hugged him, and he nuzzled into her embrace, emitting a rumbling purr.
“No, Seda. You saved me. I had lost hope that I would ever escape that place.”
Cahir stepped forward, and Elco growled at him. Cahir stopped and asked from a safe distance, “You called that thing Elco?”
“Yes, this is Elco. He is my friend. He saved me. The Jotnar had me, and he saved me.” She let out a gasp through her tears, her final words stuck in her throat, and wrapped him in another hug.
“That escape was absolutely magnificent, Seda.” Seda looked over at a handsome man with a black moth tattoo on his neck.
He walked over and stood next to Cahir, his smooth, deep voice tickling her memory.
“I’m Kalon. It’s great to finally meet you.
I’ve heard a lot about you from Benny here.
” He pointed his thumb over to Benny, and Seda looked at her brother in confusion.
“Seda, there is a lot we need to catch up on,” Benny started, wiping his eyes and taking a deep breath. “Please meet everyone. You just met Kalon; he is a Traverser, and so is Seren over there.” He pointed to a tall, thin man in the distance, and the man waved at her.
He gestured toward a large, muscular man with a thick brown beard and curly hair. “This is Ojore, a butcher and longtime friend of Dad’s.” Ojore stepped forward and nodded his head.
“This is Askold, he is an undercover Rozzer.” Benny patted Askold on the shoulder, and Askold winked at her, smiling brightly and showing off perfect, straight teeth.
Cahir growled at him, and Askold raised his hands in surrender, chuckling.
Benny let out a strained laugh and then pointed to a tall man in his mid-thirties. “This is Ruel. He is another Traverser. These men were under Dad as part of The Rising. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, and we will answer them.”
Seda’s eyes widened, covering her mouth with her hand. Her father was the leader of that rebellious group?
She got up slowly, her mind hazy from dizziness, and made sure to be polite.
“Um… It’s nice to meet you. I heard of The Rising but didn’t know who was behind it.
It’s fascinating to find out my dad and brother were involved in that, especially since they’re such good rule followers.
” She looked at him again and raised her eyebrows.
Benny shook his head. “Lots to catch up on, Seda. I’m just so glad to see you safe from that place.
Mom is safe, too. She is home and focusing on work.
The neighbors have been checking up on her.
When you and Dad left, she broke down even more.
But she was doing okay when we left. She is keeping focused on the orchard. ”
Seda let out a sigh of relief for her mother. Her sorrow must be eating her alive, but she was a strong woman, and she was safe. She had the registration stating that she had a child, and she also had a good job. She would be okay with them all being away from Joro for a while.
She caught sight of three people with unique coloring in shades of blue standing near Cahir.
A woman with azure black hair and slanted eyes stepped forward and introduced herself, “I’m Roya, and this is my murder.
” She pointed to a mirror image of herself, except for the baby blue ends in her hair.
“This is Ferona.” And then to the man who matched the woman, except that he was taller and broader.
“And this is Feich. We have been watching over you for a long time, Seda, but you did not know we were here.”
The three of them shifted into ravens and then back into humans before her eyes.
Seda gasped and fell into the sand.
She was utterly exhausted, and she didn’t know how much more she could take in.
She looked down at her fading fingertips.
“There has been a lot I’ve seen in the last few days.
” She shook her head in confusion and bit her lip.
Then she said, “I fear I’m having a hard time taking it all in.
Were you the ones following me around? I take it that you know about this, too?
” She held her hands up for them to see.
Roya stepped forward and lightly took her hands into hers. “Yes. We didn’t know when this would show. But, we knew you would someday show signs of magic, and we’re here to help guide and protect you along your path.”
“The purple explosion came from you?” Askold asked from where he was standing.
“It exploded?” Seda asked back, looking up at him in confusion.
Kalon added, “Yeah, we saw it as we were nearing the Camp. A huge eruption, and then all of a sudden, your friend, Elco, came flying out of there, holding you. You were pulsating in the sky. It was truly amazing.”
She looked at Kalon and then back down at her injured friend. “He needs more time to heal. They shot at us, at him, when we were escaping.”
A loud alarm sounded from the Camp, and everyone looked over toward it in the far distance.
“We need to move,” Cahir said as he stepped forward and held onto Seda’s shoulder with a single hand. “I can help you walk if you want? The sand is hot.”
“I will not go until Elco can travel,” she said adamantly as she pulled away from him, concerned that her friend would not be able to walk or fly.
Elco’s voice rumbled across the sand, “I will be okay. I will lie here a bit longer and catch up to you guys. Can you ask them where they’re headed? They cannot hear me… only you. If you go back to Joro, I won’t be able to come. Please ask them for me.”
She looked up at the group, and she finally realized that only she could hear this magnificent creature before her. “Elco wants to know where we’re going,” she said to the others.
The group looked at each other, confused. “He talks to you?” Cahir asked.
“Yes. And he’s still injured. He cannot go to Joro.
He wants to know where we’re going so he can catch up to us.
Please don’t say we’re going back there.
Everything we have known has been a lie, Cahir,” she looked over to him, and tears pooled in her eyes.
“Terrible things happen there. Women are hurt to produce children, people are being eaten alive, and Lord Mordred is aware of it! We cannot return to Joro.”
“We’re going to the Wisps,” Ferona said. “They wish to talk to you.”
“She has a choice, remember? I want her to go to Umbrea,” Cahir urged firmly.
“I don’t care where we go, I just want to go far away from here.”
“We need to visit the Wisps, Seda. Everything depends on their information,” Roya said, glancing at Cahir.
Benny walked over to Roya, and she quickly glared at him, taking a small step back.
Elco huffed from her side, “If the Wisps want to talk to you, you must go. They are the divine servants of the gods. I will catch up. They cannot see me hidden behind this dune.”
Seda looked across the distance toward the Camp. She wasn’t sure if leaving Elco here was a good idea. If the Jotnar left that place and ventured this direction, they would see him. Who were the Wisps? How did Cahir know about a place called Umbrea?
She was so tired. She felt like she could sleep for days. She never heard about any of these things, but she would risk a new place to avoid returning to Joro.
But what if these new places are worse? What if Elco gets caught?
“I cannot leave him,” she said, choking back a sob. “He’s my friend.”
The sand shifted beneath their feet, indicating that the Jotnar were moving.
“Please, go. I promise I’ll find you. I can’t leave now. You need time to get as far away from here as you can.”
“But what if they find you, Elco!?”
“I have enough in me to fight back if they do. I have not fought back in a thousand years. You gave that to me, Seda. You gave me a reason to fight back. I will find you.”
Seda crashed down onto the ground next to him again and cried into his inky mane. “Do you promise?”
“I promise.”
“We’re going to the Wisps,” she stated as she stood on her injured ankle and wiped away her tears. She took a limping step toward the unknown and away from the Camp.
Cahir ran up to her.
“May I?” he asked as he held out his arms.
Seda gazed into his beautiful, kind eyes, feeling the calm after a storm. As she looked into them, a wave of happy, safe memories from years past washed over her. She finally felt like she had come home.
She nodded her head, and he pulled her up into his arms, cradling her against his strong, warm chest, and took another step forward. The group followed them from behind.
“What happened to your eye?” Seda asked him as he walked through the hot sand.
“That guy, Ojore, has it out for me,” he chuckled. “I kind of deserved it.”
She laughed, nuzzling her nose into his shirt and breathing in his familiar cedar scent. As he walked away, she glanced over his arm toward a fading Elco in the distance on the sand, hoping she’d made the right decision.