Chapter 5 #2
Before it had even reached noon, they were leaving the seaside town in their discreet carriage.
Kaz and Emmeric rode above, steering the horses, while Iyana, Zane, and Talon sat in the rickety, covered back portion with their supplies.
It was dark and dusty, and the entire thing bounced underneath her every time they hit a hole—which was often.
Iyana had to force sneezes down so that they wouldn’t be heard.
While they hadn’t seen any stars in Curth, it didn’t mean they weren’t there.
Their group very well could have already been spotted and word was getting back to whoever led them, but they still needed to practice caution.
She vaguely recalled Altair explaining how the stars’ hierarchy worked.
There were four higher-ranked constellations, and, if she remembered correctly, Centaurus was the highest and therefore would be in charge.
Iyana thought one of the others was Draco, but she couldn’t think of the remaining two.
And, she realized, Altair had never said who was in charge of Centaurus.
“Talon,” she said, quietly, “do you remember when Em showed us that book he found at the library? And then Altair told us a little about the constellations?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Who were the four ruling families? I can remember Centaurus and Draco, but not the other two.”
Talon thought on it for a moment. “Scorpius and…Ursa?”
“That sounds right.” Iyana hummed while thinking. “What do either of you know about the stars?”
“Obviously not as much as we should,” Zane said.
She waved his comment away. Right now, she wasn’t interested in the stars as they were currently, but rather as they were back in the sky.
“Do you know which stars make up those constellations? I was able to glean some things by sneaking around, but my grandmother was always watchful, so there are large gaps in my knowledge.”
“I know Talitha in Ursa,” Zane mused. “And Antares in Scorpius.”
“But he said Centaurus was the highest-ranking of the four. Which stars are in that one?”
Zane looked like he was about to say something, but Talon beat him to it. “I’m sorry, Smalls, but what does it matter which stars are in the specific constellations?”
Iyana sighed, then winced as the carriage rolled over a particularly rough patch of road.
She threw an accusing glare toward where Emmeric was sitting—even if he couldn’t see her—but he must have felt her annoyance, because then a soothing hand was stroking down the bond. She’d take the apology. For now.
“If we know who is running things, then we know who to avoid and listen out for. Otherwise, any of the stars could be in charge, and we’d never realize it.”
The emperor finally spoke up. “I only know of Rigil Kentaurus and Hadar.”
“Wait.” Something had struck her as odd. “Is Rigil Kentaurus the only one with two names?”
“As far as I’m aware,” Zane replied.
“That’s got to be who it is, right?”
Talon and Zane exchanged a glance, and then both shrugged simultaneously.
“Phaedros take me,” she said. “I’ll just ask Kaz when we stop next.
” The shifter always seemed to have some sort of insight into things like this.
She was the one who had known that Yrza wasn’t sleeping with the other gods, and she was the only person in their group who had ever heard of Elena—the Goddess of Knowledge.
Even Altair, who was alive while the gods were still awake, hadn’t known she existed.
The two men had nothing else to say to her, so Iyana made herself as comfortable as possible on a lumpy sack of clothing and closed her eyes. She thought for sure she wouldn’t be able to sleep with the squeaking and creaking of the wheels and the jolts of the entire carriage.
But then she was shaken awake gently, the smell of lemons and sandalwood surrounding her.
Iyana breathed in deeply, allowing Emmeric’s scent to calm her nerves.
The nightmares were a constant companion whenever she slept.
Fatigue hounded her—she hadn’t had a good night of sleep since they’d been on the ship going to the Dead Lands.
Iyana grumbled about being woken up, refusing to open her eyes. Her Kanaliza chuckled.
“Come on, Mouse. We’ve got dinner ready, and you can go back to sleep once you’ve eaten something.”
She was rarely hungry anymore, and had been surviving mainly off of fruit for the past five days.
Iyana knew she needed to eat to maintain her energy.
Her magic was never as strong and seemed to be more fickle when her body was tired.
And, since she wasn’t sleeping well, food would have to be enough to keep her going.
The delicious smell of roasted rabbit wafted towards her, and her stomach grumbled loudly at the aroma.
Iyana could feel Emmeric’s amusement down their bond.
She glared at him, earning a smirk in return.
Emmeric offered his hand to help her out of the carriage.
Dry, cold air caused her to start shivering immediately, and she wrapped her cloak tighter.
Her magic was still a little temperamental, and fire Alessia had yet to return.
Attempting to warm herself from within made her nervous, so for now, Iyana would deal with the frigid temperatures.
They had decided to retrace their steps, going north before they would turn to the west towards Nyr.
Hopefully, the colder weather and lack of human settlements would keep the stars away.
Zane had told them how the magic of Elena’s library had locked Uther out, so they decided they would stay there. With any luck, only those with positive intent would be admitted.
Iyana also wanted to study the artifacts housed within more closely.
The astmina had been in Talon’s pocket when everything had happened.
Once they were on the ship, they had wrapped it in a piece of soiled clothing and buried it at the bottom of Emmeric’s bag.
None of them had yet found the courage to unwrap it and see if it would work for them.
And especially after seeing how thoroughly the astmina had ensnared Uther, none of them actually wanted to use it.
Although it could be a strong weapon in defending themselves against the stars—Iyana shuddered at the memory of the shadows piercing her chest—she was wary of what it would cost them.
But the others kept underneath those glass boxes? Those could prove to be useful.