Chapter 4
4
SAOIRSE
T ezrus led them to his sanctum, taking them to a glittering waterfall in the deepest part of the Soundless Oasis. The crystal waters poured over the edge of a rock face and collected in a small reservoir hidden behind clusters of palm trees and tangles of blooming orchids. The falling blue water was so clear that reflections of flying birds and tendrils of clouds flitted across its surface, spilling down as though the sky had turned liquid under the Shujaa sun.
They followed the scholar as he led them up a craggy path flush against the waterfall’s side. Saoirse had expected Tezrus to be decrepit after hiding in the desert for twenty years. But though he had to be at least seventy years old, he was surprisingly agile, weaving his way over uneven stones with the strength and ease of a much younger man. His robes ended at his ankles, stopping short to reveal strapped sandals of worn leather. Several times, a stray vine snaked across the path at their feet, or a branch magically appeared right at eye level, but Tezrus merely swatted the foliage away like the oasis was a harmless pest. His life here was just as mysterious as the secrets he kept.
Tezrus stopped at an alcove beneath the waterfall and beckoned for the three of them to follow. There was a gap between the rock wall and the flowing water, just wide enough for them to pass under single file. Tezrus crept forward slowly, careful not to lose his step on the slick stones. Fine mist wafted off the water and formed clinging droplets on Saoirse’s skin. She stopped for a beat, letting the mist kiss her face. It had been so long since she’d felt the touch of water against her skin. She reluctantly broke away from the tempting caress of the waterfall and followed Tezrus as he slipped into a jagged opening in the rock. He ducked his head to avoid the low overhang and gestured for them to do the same.
Beyond the opening, a long hallway plunged into darkness, a crude staircase built into the passageway itself. The roar of the waterfall harried them down the damp passageway, a heartening symphony against the absence of sound they’d grown accustomed to outside. Blue lights flickered on the walls, casting a familiar glow against the tunnel.
Undying flame , Saoirse recognized. It had been so long since she’d seen the fires burning in Kellam Keep, glinting in the waves like pieces of treasure fallen from a shipwreck. Her chest constricted at the sight of the undying flames that lit their way, memories pricking her heart like needles. Her home was likely destroyed now. It had been overrun by the sea beasts Selussa released from the Fretum, the ancient prison Saoirse’s ancestors had banished the Sea Witch to for a century. The eternal lights that had warmed the city of Kellam Keep were probably extinguished now. Emotion thickened in Saoirse’s throat as she thought of her home cast in total darkness, waves bearing down on the once-magnificent metropolis at a depth that evaded sunlight.
“You should consider yourselves fortunate the oasis took a liking to you,” Tezrus interrupted, his reedy voice scattering Saoirse’s thoughts of home.
“Took a liking to us?” Aurelia retorted, her eyebrows raised in astonishment. “We nearly died.”
Tezrus looked over his shoulder at her, the soft skin at the corners of his eyes crinkling. “I’ve seen the oasis act much harsher to strangers. What you experienced was mere triviality.”
Aurelia inhaled, about to unleash a scathing reply, but Saoirse nudged her with an elbow before she could loose her fury. Tezrus didn’t seem the type to speak without wholeheartedly believing his words, and Aurelia’s cutting tongue had gotten them in trouble on more than one occasion.
They turned another corner and came face to face with a dead end. For a moment, Saoirse wondered if the oasis was feeding them another illusion, knitting stones together to form a blockade for its amusement. But Tezrus pushed back the long sleeves of his robe and placed an unworried palm on the stone, muttering a few words on his breath. Obediently, the rock became pliable and rearranged itself to form a doorway, folding into place as easily as soft molded clay.
“You have command over the oasis?” Saoirse asked as they ducked through the stone archway.
“No, just the stone,” Tezrus answered. “No one has dominion over the oasis. You probably know I hail from Terradrin.” He gestured to his white hair and colorless eyes, evidence of his aptitude for living in darkness.
“My father was a stone-singer. Stone-singers are extremely useful underground. They’re always needed to re-form tunnels and repair collapsed chambers. Before I gave my life to the Order as a young lad, my father prepared to take me on as an apprentice when my gift of stone-singing was apparent. They always need more stone-singers, especially down in the mines.”
The hallway opened into a large chamber that lit by bioluminescent lichen on the walls. The room was furnished simply, filled only with necessities and a large stone shelf crammed with books.
“Please sit,” Tezrus said, gesturing to the stone table at the center of the room. He took a seat in one of the chairs and beckoned to them. “I’m sure you’re hungry as well,” he noted, watching as their eyes landed hungrily on the bowl of ripe mangoes at the center of the table. “You’re free to eat as many as you like.”
Saoirse settled in the chair across from Tezrus, adjusting the various weapons hanging from her so she could sit more easily. It would’ve been better to take off the bulky blades, but she still didn’t trust the oasis and its tricks even if Tezrus assured them they were safe in his dwelling. She eyed the tempting fruit that shone like jewels in the dark chamber, but her stomach was so twisted with nerves she didn’t think she could force a bite down. Aurelia, on the other hand, took the chair next to hers and casually plucked a mango from the bowl, biting into it and gazing expectantly at Tezrus.
Noora was hesitant at first, her eyes flicking back to the entrance of the chamber, a muscle in her jaw flexing. After a beat, she took a reluctant seat next to Saoirse.
“So,” Tezrus began, “you sought me out because the Order of Elders finally fulfilled their task of releasing the Titans’ long-lost sister from imprisonment.” It was more of a statement than a question. The faint light from the undying flames limned his pallid complexion, making his near-translucent skin appear blue. “Why do you need my help?” His milky white eyes glowed as he posed the question, as if he was searching for a very specific answer. Saoirse sensed that if she said the wrong thing, he would shutter any truth away.
“The Sea Witch?Selussa?has two out of four Relics in her possession,” Saoirse began carefully. “She seeks to awaken the Titans with all four Relics and release them from their ancient prison. We’ve been told you’re the only one who knows how to defeat her.”
Even seeing Selussa’s dark magic firsthand, it was still hard for Saoirse to believe the words herself. She’d learned of the ancient Myths of Old growing up. The stories had deteriorated over time and truth had faded into myth, the once-revered legends unraveling into the dreams of fanatics and bedtime stories told to children. Until recently, Saoirse hadn’t believed in the Titans, mighty but terrible god-like beings said to have created each unique kingdom of Revelore and the people who inhabited them. When Selussa revealed that the legends of the Titans and their defeat were all true, Saoirse’s entire understanding of the world was shaken and her duty to protect her people became even more imperative. The world as they knew it could be at Hel’s gate.
Tezrus was quiet for a moment, his inscrutable gaze leveled intently on Saoirse. He didn’t seem surprised by anything she’d just revealed. Saoirse had expected the old man to balk at the news after hiding away from the world for twenty years, but he merely leaned forward and folded his hands on the table, as though he’d been waiting for this moment a long time.
“No,” he breathed. “Why do you need my help? You don’t think others have come before you, hunting my secrets by blade or by word? Perhaps the stakes were not as dire nor were the threats so cosmic in nature. But their hunger for knowledge was rooted in selfish gain, steeped in indiscriminate greed. I turned them all away.
“Why should my wisdom be used to save the world when Revelore has already been sentenced to death by its own corruption? You may think Selussa has suddenly tainted Revelore with her darkness, but I assure you, our world has been slowly poisoned by the greed of kings for far longer. What happens after you stop Selussa and the Titans, Daughter of the Sea? Will your kingdoms return to bitter rivalry and meaningless bloodshed over a piece of metal? Will the Tournament continue decade after countless decade, until nothing but blood and ash remains? Perhaps the Titans should return and remake the world anew. So I ask you again: Why do you need my help?”
Saoirse stared at him, taken aback by the bold question. She flexed her fingers under the table and bit the inside of her cheek. That familiar stitch of guilt in her heart tugged tighter. He was probing for a deeper answer. But Saoirse didn’t want to voice it out loud. Somehow, breathing life into her fears to anyone, let alone this stranger, was a far more terrifying prospect than speaking of ancient gods and monsters.
She tried to open her mouth to answer, but the words were caught in her throat, that stitch of guilt holding her back from expressing the thoughts brimming in her head. All the reasons Saoirse needed Tezrus’s help crashed into her all at once. She needed his help because if she couldn’t stop Selussa from destroying the world, no one would. She needed his help because almost everything she loved had vanished like dust in the wind. She needed his help because of everyone she’d lost leading up to this point, and for all those who would come after her.
Her mother. Her father. Rook.
Their faces passed through her mind like phantoms, reminding her why she was here. Falling in love with her greatest enemy had opened Saoirse’s eyes to the corruption of the Tournament and the legacy of hatred she had been led to believe was the only way forward. Whether or not Rook ever forgave her, he had given her something greater than love and even more irrevocable: He gave her the truth.
“I need your help because my people are in danger,” Saoirse said, her voice hitching with emotion. “Nearly everyone I love has been taken from me. This goes beyond the Tournament, beyond our petty rivalries and political games. I know you may hesitate to trust my word, given that my kingdom has fought bitterly against her fellow nations for decades.”
Saoirse hesitated for a moment, deciding how much to share with Tezrus. She felt a sudden swell of shame in her heart, cutting her from within like a dagger. Everything , she decided. If she wanted the truth from Tezrus, she needed to share everything with him.
She exhaled slowly and began to confess. “All my life, I’ve hated the rest of Revelore. My hatred ran so deep I made a desperate deal with the Sea Witch for a chance to win the Tournament. I didn’t think twice about agreeing to kill a stranger. He was an Auran prince, and that was all the reason I needed to end his life. I was so blinded by the desire to win, I couldn’t even see the deception in Selussa’s bargain. I didn’t know I’d been played until it was too late. You see, I am the reason Selussa was set free and why she is now one step closer to resurrecting the Titans.”
Under the table, Aurelia’s hand found hers. She twined their fingers together and squeezed Saoirse’s hand once. Anchored by Aurelia’s steady reassurance, Saoirse continued, “You may think that I want glory, that I want to be the one to defeat the Titans so I can solidify my right to the Crown of Revelore. I’ll admit that may have been true at one point. If I was still the same person who made that bargain, I might’ve come to you today with ulterior motives.”
She thought of how easily she had given up the dark pearl to Selussa, one of the four Relics used to defeat the Titans. The hunger to defeat her enemies had been so potent Saoirse had surrendered her power over the sea and practically handed over the keys to free the greatest threat to their world. It was painful to think of how foolish she’d been, a keen burn in her stomach like salt in a wound.
“But I am that person no longer. I don’t want to merely stop Selussa from resurrecting the Titans. I want to see the institution of the Tournament crumble to the ground entirely. I want Revelore to be united once more, just as we were centuries ago. When our ancestors came together to defeat their gods, they ushered in an era of peace that lasted for centuries. I believe we can come together once more.” Rook had given her a glimpse of that world. Hasana had made her believe obtaining it was possible..
“No,” Saoirse said, blood racing hot through her veins, “I don’t think the Titans should return and remake the world. I believe we can remake it on our own.”
Saoirse’s voice echoed through the chamber, her impassioned words igniting the arid room like lightning crackling on the horizon. It was cathartic to confess her mistakes and bring her shame to light. She was shocked to find her cheeks damp with tears. Saoirse hadn’t realized how badly she needed to release her guilt. Just because she’d made mistakes didn’t mean she was enslaved to them, she realized. And she meant every word. She did want to see the world reborn.
Tezrus said nothing, his white brows knitting together as her words sank in. His countenance softened toward her. “Very well, Daughter of the Sea. I will tell you what I know. But you must understand that defeating the Titans will cost you greatly. To take their lives once and for all, something must be taken from you in return.”
She looked at Aurelia, who hadn’t let go of her hand the whole time. Her face was alight with pride. Saoirse had already lost everything dear to her. But she would lose it all again if it meant saving Revelore and those who remained.
“I understand,” she told Tezrus with a solemn nod. Even if it cost Saoirse her life, she’d gladly pay the price.
The old man settled back in his chair, preparing to unspool threads of truth. Saoirse held her breath.
“Let me first tell you the story of how I came to join the Order of Elders. You recall that I was originally raised as my father’s apprentice as a stone-singer?” His eyes grew distant, shining with memories of his youth. “My father worked the mines when I was a lad. He made a living singing to the stone, searching for precious gems deep in the earth. He could find veins of diamond running through rock quicker than anyone else in the Under Kingdom. My mother didn’t have the gift of stone-singing, but she worked alongside him, cracking open stones with her pickaxe while my father followed the call of the crystals.
“One day, my father made a dire mistake. There are wild parts of the Under Kingdom, you see. Down in the untamed cave systems, where everything is dark and one must crawl blindly through gaps in the stone no bigger than your ribcage, it is easy to get lost and turned around, even for experienced stone-singers. Sometimes the earth opens its great maw and consumes anything in its belly, sealing up passages and blocking off chambers like a living tomb.”
Saoirse shuddered to imagine being trapped in total darkness with no sense of up or down, unable to tell what time of day or night it was. She imagined it would be numbingly silent down in those subterranean cave systems, so far below the surface no one could hear your cries for help.
Tezrus continued, “On that fateful day, my father caught the song of a particularly strong vein of diamonds echoing through rock. He and my mother chased its call down miles of tight passageways, many of which had never been explored before. They found themselves at the end of a cramped crawl space, but my father was convinced that a vast chamber of wealth was just on the other side. My mother began to chip away at the wall with her pickaxe and my father used his stone-singing ability to shift the rocks with his touch. It soon became evident that the wall was made of memordium stone, a type of living rock not even stone-singers can tame.”
“Memordium rock can only be opened with water,” Noora murmured. Saoirse had almost forgotten the quiet archer was there. Noora stared at Tezrus intently, her chin balanced on her hand as she leaned forward. “That was one of the obstacles in a former Tournament, wasn’t it?” she mused. “In one of Queen Raven’s trials, the tributes were tasked with escaping a sealed chamber made of memordium stone. If they couldn’t escape, they’d be burned alive. The Terradrin tributes were the first team to escape,” she recalled. “Maybe one of them was a stone-singer, and they recognized the rock.”
“Yes. It was the very same stone that my parents were faced with down in the cave. They had no water with them, so only my mother’s pickaxe was of use. She managed to break through the wall after a few hours. However, they hadn’t realized they were teetering on the edge of a huge drop-off. My mother fell through, tumbling down into the darkness headfirst.” At this detail, Tezrus’s stoic voice finally broke with emotion. “My father couldn’t tell how far she’d fallen. The vertical drop extended for miles, so far even my father’s keen eyesight couldn’t reach the end. She didn’t answer when he called for her.
“My father needed to get help. Even an experienced caver like himself knew it was too risky to descend into the darkness without a second person to anchor him above. If he ended up getting himself stuck, they’d both be entombed down there forever. And worse, Wyrms are known to lie in wait at the bottom of such trenches.”
Saoirse shuddered at the thought of the huge worm-like beasts native to Terradrin. The sightless parasitic creatures tunneled through the dark cave systems of the Under Kingdom and attacked those living on the outskirts of the city. A single person was no match for their snapping jaws and countless rows of spiked teeth.
“When I learned what happened to my mother, I was beside myself. I made a vow that I’d give my life to whatever higher beings existed if she survived. Just like many in Revelore, I didn’t believe in the Myths of Old nor the Titans who supposedly made our world. I respected the Order of Elders and their archaic rituals, but I didn’t give much merit to their fanatic servitude to the old ways. But I was so desperate to save my mother, I promised to give myself to the Order if she lived, for if she survived, only a divine miracle could be attributed to her rescue. I cast my prayers up to faceless, extinct gods, hoping that by some miracle they’d be heard, and my mother would return safely to me.”
“She was saved,” Aurelia guessed. “And you gave yourself to the Order just as you’d promised?”
Tezrus nodded, a self-deprecating smile curving his mouth. “I later learned that the Order of Elders didn’t answer my prayers or descend into the tunnels to help. The Order doesn’t care for life outside of their guild. They don’t give a wit about people dying. They only care about those who can advance their goals. They certainly didn’t bat an eye about a poor miner falling into a shaft of rock. A group of brave men and women went in and found my mother all on their own. But as a young lad, I believed that by some other-worldly phenomenon, my mother had been saved by whatever magic remained from the Titans, so I became a devotee.
“Not everyone who dedicates themselves to the Order is chosen to be an Elder, but I was determined to be selected, humble though I was. I had my work cut out for me. Scholars, former soldiers, and members hailing from elite Terradrin families all competed to be chosen for the coveted position, while I was the mere son of a miner. I studied ancient stone-singing folklore that spoke of secrets within the earth, left behind by the gods. I learned of magic and long-forgotten oaths. I learned every hallowed text and memorized every obscure legend of the Titans. I sacrificed my identity for their cause, silencing my stone-singing abilities and becoming nothing but a vessel for the Order to shape. My devotion paid off after about ten years of study.”
Tezrus paused for a moment, his eyes dim with haunted memories. There was likely more to his story, but those secrets were his own to harbor. He continued with a heavy voice, “When I was chosen to be one of Terradrin’s Elders, I finally learned the truth of the Tournament: that it was used to spill the blood of tributes as a sacrifice for the Titans.”
“ Hel’s teeth ,” Noora murmured under her breath. Only a handful of days ago, Noora herself had been a pawn in the Tournament. Her blood could’ve been spilled on the sands of that arena, sacrificed to the Titans.
“But I learned even more. A hundred years ago, a faction of Elders from the neighboring kingdom of Aurandel discovered a secret: the Titans had a surviving sibling. Her name was Selussa, and she had pulled herself out from the Underworld, strengthened by the faith of the Order.”
Saoirse went cold at the mere mention of the Sea Witch’s name. She could still feel those black eyes on her skin, fathomless and void as a starless night sky. She could still hear Selussa’s low voice in her ear, dripping with poison. The last words she’d spoken to Saoirse the morning of the final trial were seared into her memory, branded against her heart like a curse; who would ever believe anything from the mouth of a siren ?
“When Selussa rose from the Underworld and came to the Order of Elders a century ago, the final, long-sought piece of the puzzle fell into place. For years, the Order had searched for answers, attempting a plethora of heinous rituals to bring the Titans back. Not until Selussa appeared with her dark magic did they finally have true hope their gods could be restored to power. Together with the Sea Witch, they devised a plan to resurrect the Titans.”
“Selussa told them how to find the Relics,” Saoirse breathed. Tezrus nodded in confirmation, a grave shadow flickering in his eyes.
“Thousands of years ago, four brave leaders of Revelore came together to defeat their makers. There was the legendary warrior-Queen Basilia of Elorshin. From Aurandel came a young king by the name of Aris. Hailing from Tellusun, a huntress named Vasia joined their cause, wielding her bow and arrows. And finally, emerging from the underground kingdom of Terradrin, Raj the Stone King entered their alliance. They became known as the Four Kinsmen. Together, alongside their mortal armies, they waged war against the Titans. Using four enchanted objects, the Four Kinsmen created a powerful spell that bound the spirits of the Titans within the Stone Circle. It is said their colossal bodies were then sealed under Mt. Thalia itself, rendered as empty shells that became fossilized with the rock.
“Selussa told the Order of Elders how they could collect the Relics and use them to reverse the spell in just the same way it had been cast. They were easy enough to identify: a dagger from Aurandel, a dark pearl from Elorshin, a ruby arrow from Tellusun, and a shard of moonstone from Terradrin. The challenge would be obtaining these elusive objects, which were housed in the halls of kings or completely lost for centuries. Selussa decided to go after the Relic of Elorshin first, a dark pearl said to have been the petrified heart of Charybdis, the Titan of the Sea. Many believe the Mer Queen Basilia’s daughter, Cira, ripped the Titan’s heart out herself, and the Sea Titan was the first to fall in their great war. Selussa knew the Relic was in the possession of the royal family. The perfect opportunity for infiltration arose in the form of star-crossed lovers: Princess Yrsa of Aurandel and King Lorsan of Elorshin.”
Saoirse closed her eyes, knowing what came next. They were now perilously close to their present timeline, Saoirse herself only a few generations away from Lorsan.
“Selussa knew Princess Yrsa was preparing to marry the Mer King in the marriage of the century. It was to be a historic union, one which solidified the great peace between the nations of Revelore. Yrsa was so devoted to Lorsan that she was willing to trade her wings for the ability to live under the sea with him.”
“Selussa killed Yrsa,” Saoirse finished for him, remembering the tragedy. “She shape-shifted and took Yrsa’s place, marrying Lorsan in disguise as the Auran princess. She nearly obtained the dark pearl, but Lorsan discovered her deception and confronted Selussa. Selussa then killed the Mer King and the War of the Age began. When my great-grandfather Isandros discovered Princess Yrsa had killed his brother, he banished her to the Fretum, sealed away by an enchantment of his own blood. He never knew Selussa’s true identity.”
“Yes, that certainly posed a major setback to the Order’s plans. They couldn’t do anything but bide their time while their champion was imprisoned in the most secure cage in Revelore, waiting for the day when she would finally be released, and their scheming could proceed. I learned of Selussa when I became an Elder. At first, I couldn’t believe it. When I learned this creature was behind the great divide between Aurandel and Elorshin, behind the brutal war that took the lives of so many, my faith began to waver. There was something profoundly wrong about the Order knowing the truth yet letting the conflict proceed anyway, allowing people to believe that mortal deception was the reason for Revelore’s descent into war. Little by little, I saw the corruption of the guild I’d served for two decades.
“My faith in the Order collapsed when I discovered that both of my parents had passed away during the war. They’d died several years prior, but all attempts to notify me had been blocked by the Order. I couldn’t serve such a group anymore. But I’d be silenced if I tried to speak up. It was me against the words of four separate, yet unified, factions across the continent. I held too much knowledge and wielded truths too dangerous for them to let go of me without a fight.”
“So you fled to the Soundless Oasis,” Saoirse stated. “And you’ve lived here ever since.”
“You knew that tributes were being slaughtered this whole time,” Aurelia cut in. Her voice was heated. “Why didn’t you try and stop it? Why didn’t you speak up? You are the only one who’s managed to escape the Order alive. You could’ve stopped the Tournament from continuing.”
Tension hung heavy in the air for a moment. Shame flickered across Tezrus’s face, and Saoirse noticed he now looked as old as his age, the fine lines of his face appearing deeper in the light.
“Because I am a coward,” Tezrus admitted. “I have been hiding in the desert for twenty years because I didn’t think anyone could ever come between the Order and their malignant goal. What you’re doing now is braver than anything I’ve ever claimed to do.” He looked at each of them, his eyes swimming with pain and shame. “I believe you’re going to stop Selussa once and for all. I wasn’t strong enough to challenge the institution of the Tournament or expose the Order’s deception…but you are.”
Saoirse felt the gravity of their situation. She rested on the edge of a precipice, about to cross a point of no return. If they failed, Revelore would be doomed. “So tell us how to win. Tell us what can be done to defeat Selussa before it is too late.”
“First, protect the remaining Relics. Do not let the Sea Witch possess them all. You know what will happen if she does. You will need the last two Relics to forge your own binding enchantment if you want to succeed in countering Selussa.”
“We only need two?”
“If you play your cards right, you’ll only need two,” Tezrus confirmed with a nod, his eyes flashing in the darkness. “Of course, the Relics are most powerful when all four are used in conjunction, but I have long theorized that each one holds great power on their own. Even with just two, I believe you can create a similar binding spell which will not only banish Selussa back to the Underworld once and for all, but also wipe the Titans from this earth for good.”
“How do we use them to create a binding spell?” Saoirse asked.
Tezrus paused, running a hand through his bone-white hair. “I believe the Relics’ magic must be activated in the same manner they were created in the first place. No one knows for certain, but it is said the Four Kinsman brought their objects to the Northern Wastes in a final, desperate attempt to destroy the Titans,” he finally said. “The Wastes are said to be wild with magic, though its frozen lands are uninhabitable. The Wastes were the first lands of Revelore created by the Titans, but when life failed to thrive there, they abandoned it, leaving the land rife with dangerous magic. The Kinsmen enchanted their objects, turning them into a magic key that could lock away their enemies forever.”
“So we must go to the Northern Wastes just as our ancestors once did,” Saoirse mused. “You believe when the magic is reawakened, the Relics in our possession will destroy the Titans once and for all?” At Tezrus’s nod of confirmation, she continued, “It sounds simple enough, but how are we supposed to rouse the Relics’ enchantment? None of us are experienced in sorcery.”
“Find the Forge in the Northern Wastes,” Tezrus replied. “Much like a blacksmith manipulates metal and molds weapons with fire, so too will the Forge allow you to unlock the Relics’ power and infuse new magic into them—magic great enough to destroy Selussa. But you won’t be alone. I’m coming with you.”
Saoirse gaped at the aged man with cautious optimism. His back was hunched from years of stooping over ancient texts, his pale eyes sunken in his skull. She had to admit the scholar had an admirable amount of energy in his old age, but he hadn’t left the confines of the Soundless Oasis for twenty years. She wasn’t confident in his ability to travel halfway across the world.
“Are you sure?” Noora asked.
“Yes,” Tezrus answered without a moment of hesitation. “I’m done hiding. I want to see Revelore restored to its former glory. I want to see the Order of Elders fall. I will no longer cower in my cave and curse the outside world. What’s the use of all the knowledge I’ve protected if I don’t use it?”
Saoirse chewed on the inside of her mouth. They had a monumental task set before them, one which required faith in the word of an old man who had never seen the Northern Wastes for himself. It was evident Tezrus fully believed in the power of the remaining Relics, but there was no certainty his theory was correct. But Saoirse supposed they were desperate enough to take a chance on even the slimmest probability of success at this point. If Selussa had two Relics in her possession already, what was to stop her from also using magic to revive them? Selussa wouldn’t be defeated by swords and mortal strength alone. They needed to combat her dark magic with magic of their own.
“All right then,” Saoirse conceded. “You know the risks involved. So long as you’re at peace with the possibility of death, we’d be honored to have you with us.”
Tezrus nodded adamantly. He rose from his seat and turned to one of the many shelves embedded into the cave walls. He pushed up his sleeves and began rifling through old texts, his gnarled fingers thumbing through yellowed pages. He opened an ancient tome that looked close to disintegrating in his hands. Its tattered leather binding cracked as he flipped through moth-eaten pages.
“Ah,” the scholar grunted, stopping on a page. He tore it right from the volume with a loud rip. Saoirse winced at the sound. Surely that archaic book was one of the last remaining of its kind.
He brought the torn page over to the table and spread it out before them, fingers tracing over the ink reverently. The hand-painted map was faded and riddled with holes like a decayed leaf. It depicted Revelore, though a vastly outdated version of it. Saoirse skimmed over the map, finding the mysterious scrap of land that hovered on the edge of the world: The Northern Wastes. Most current maps omitted the frozen lands separated from the main continent by an unruly, glacial ocean known as the Nix Sea. A lone star was marked against the frozen tundra.
“I believe this is the location of the Forge,” Tezrus said, pointing to the faded ink with a knobby finger. “This is where we must take the two Relics.”
“There’s only one problem,” Aurelia interrupted sheepishly. Tezrus cocked his head at her. “We don’t have the second Relic in our possession yet,” she admitted. “We only have the ruby arrow of Tellusun. We’ve yet to obtain the Relic from Terradrin. As soon as we return to Bezhad, we’re setting off to the Under Kingdom to steal the Relic from King Grivur before Selussa does.”
Tezrus’s eyes widened in surprise. Saoirse didn’t think it was possible for him to be any paler, but he somehow grew even more sallow. “You’re going to the Under Kingdom?” Saoirse could see the shadows of his past creeping over the old man like a fine mist. She recognized the fear in his eyes, the terror of facing mistakes and regrets head-on.
Tezrus closed his eyes for a long moment. After a labored exhale, he opened them again and nodded with resignation. “All right. We’ll go to Terradrin, then. As I said, I’m finished with running away. Besides, you’ll need my help to find the Relic. You’re going to need a stone-singer in the Under Kingdom. The moonstone shard of Terradrin has been lost for centuries. You won’t be able to locate the Relic in the vast tunnel networks of the Under Kingdom without my magic.”
Saoirse placed her hand over the map of Revelore as though she could feel the lives of everyone she had to protect through the thin paper. “Thank you, Tezrus. Your help is invaluable.”
“Keep it,” the old man ordered, gesturing to the map. “Perhaps we’ll discover more secrets left by the Four Kinsmen for their descendants to discover at the Forge.”
Saoirse folded up the piece of paper and tucked it into her tunic, right above her heart. Her pulse beat in her throat. Finally, it felt like they had a way forward. The air in the chamber had thickened, laden with fresh hope she could feel in her bones.
Saoirse only hoped she was strong enough to withstand the storm coming for them all.