Chapter 26 #3
“Yes, but what if I’m correct and its main goal has always been to consume your power? Even if you are willing to risk your life, then there’s the possibility that it may use your power to fuel its strength and become unstoppable.”
There was always the risk, too, that using the wind to defeat such a creature might finally sever the bond between Shazeera and me.
I wondered, then, if I could reconnect with Mistral.
Would he even tell me what I needed to know?
I thought of how fast communicating with him drained my energy last night.
“If I try and contact the wind spirit again,” I said to Talon, “will you hold on to me? Last time I spoke to it, I could barely stand afterward.”
His eyes widened at that. “You can communicate with a wind spirit?”
“Not very well—and only one other time. But I thought he could at least tell us if the Devourer can be defeated.”
He nodded solemnly. “I will keep you safe.”
With his strong arms around me, I closed my eyes and focused on the steady current as Neo flew.
Mistral? I thought, and the noise faded, like I had entered a bubble of quiet. I could feel the wind listening.
After a moment, I heard a voice directly in my ear, but it was little more than a whisper. You have summoned me, wind caller, but you still lack the strength to maintain a connection.
His words brought awareness to my body, where even after only a moment’s conversation, my breaths came harder.
There is something I need to know, I said.
Ask.
Can the Devourer be defeated?
Yes, it replied, the words a struggle to hear. My muscles burned, and I felt Talon’s strong arms hold me up.
If I use the wind’s full power against it…will it sever my bond with Shazeera?
In the Devourer’s final form, the force you call upon will be too great for your earthly bond to survive. One more question, he warned. Your body is weakening.
I hesitated, chest heaving. What if I strike before the creature reaches full strength?
Then you may yet keep her, he whispered. The ache in my chest loosened, just a little.
Mistral pulled away then, and all at once, the wind came rushing back in my ears. I leaned back against Talon, struggling to catch my breath.
“I’ve got you,” he said in my ear.
When I finally could catch my breath, I turned to look at him. “Thanks for keeping me from falling.”
“Neo and I would never let you fall,” he said, his gaze holding mine.
“The wind spirit said the Devourer can be defeated, but the risks will be too great when it’s at full power. We need to act now.”
Mistral had confirmed that using my power against the Devourer now wouldn’t sever my bond with Shazeera, which was all I cared about.
Talon’s expression hardened. “I still don’t like this. It goes against everything in me to let you risk yourself. It would be cataclysmic, too, should your power fall into the creature’s hands.”
“But the alternative is this creature will be released on other nations, and who’s to say it won’t turn on Altair once it grows in power?”
He looked down at Neo like he was listening to the eagle.
“What does Neo think?” I asked, and Talon let out his breath in a frustrated sigh.
“He says it’s far easier to hunt weak prey than strong.”
“Very wise.” When Talon still didn’t agree, I said, “If I have a power that can defeat this thing, then I must at least try. I can’t sit around and hope it goes away. It seems like it’ll eventually find a way to kill me if I don’t destroy it first.”
He closed his eyes like he hated hearing every one of my arguments because he knew they were true. Finally, he said, “This may not even work.”
“I still have to try.”
He was silent for a moment, and I turned to find him looking resolute. “We don’t have to try this alone. There are a few riders who are loyal to me. I’ll be asking them to go against their emperor, but the stakes are too high to do nothing.”
“I’m sure they’ll see stopping a demonic sorcerer is more important than obeying the emperor. We’d be protecting Altair and all Zephyrians by destroying Ozul.”
If what Altair said about Ozul being able to take over entire lands on his own was true, we would be protecting the world from its evil.
“Then we should act while it’s still weak. During the day, when there are fewer shadows.”
I tried to ignore the hair-raising dread that held me in its grip. “Tomorrow, then?”
The beating of another eagle’s wings prevented him from answering. Neo slowed his pace, and a dusty gold eagle pulled up next to us in midair, carrying Baz.
“Commander,” Baz said, saluting Talon.
“Lieutenant,” Talon said, with a slight incline of his head. “What is it?”
“The emperor is asking for you.”
“Now?”
“Yes, Commander. A letter has arrived from the country of Mistral.”
I froze. Mistral? I knew the wind spirit’s name sounded familiar.
If I were more skilled at geography, then I would have recognized it instantly.
Mistral was a small country far to the east, across the Modavian Sea, that I knew little about.
It was located on the continent of Darkhan, where the Zephyrians originated from.
Talon sighed, but only I could hear it. The wind and the eagles’ wingbeats were too loud.
“I’ll be there directly,” he said.
Baz saluted again, and then his eagle banked and flew back toward the palace.
“I’m sorry to end the flight early,” he said. “Should I bring you back to the pasture?”
“No, I’m going with you.”
To his credit, he didn’t even hesitate in his agreement.
As Neo flew back over the pasture, I could see Shazeera, far below.
“Can you fly a bit lower—just for a moment?” I asked Talon and Neo. “I want to tell Shazeera where we’re going.”
Neo heard me and did as I asked, changing altitude in a gentle descent.
I’m going back to the palace with Talon, I told Shazeera. Altair summoned him because of a letter, and I want to find out what’s in it.
I’ll be here. Just let me know if we need to make a run for it.
Only if that grass gives you magical wings. I sent her an image of us plunging over the mountainside like the Zephyrian goats, and she rolled her eyes.
I’m more sure-footed than some goat.
I felt for the bond between us, relieved that the wind spirit had said it could survive an attack on the Devourer when it was in its weakened state.
The stakes were higher than ever to defeat it now, while we could.
I never asked the wind spirit if it could even be defeated when it reached its final form.
We would just have to destroy it before it got to that point.