Chapter 23 Ravel
RAVEL
"The greatest danger to a nation is not the enemy at its gates, but the complacency and cowardice within its walls."
—General Harven Blackrock
Ididn't believe in prophecies.
I believed in training, strategy, weapons, and the indomitable will of Elucian forces. I believed in what I could see, measure, and verify.
But sitting in that sealed chamber, listening to Saphir recite ancient words about seven people destined to save the world, I couldn't deny the small cold knot forming in my gut.
Not belief, just uncertainty.
The quintet fit the description of the saviors too well to be coincidental. Kailin's ability to connect with dragons was unprecedented. Morek's speed was extraordinary. The others had their talents too, even if they hadn't fully manifested yet.
But me? The tracker?
I was good at my job. Excellent, even. Thirty years of service had taught me how to read terrain, predict enemy movements, and understand human behavior patterns. I could find a missing patrol or track the Shedun forces through mountain passes better than most.
But that was skill and experience, not supernatural ability. And if the prophecy required me to track lost shamans and dragon eggs across the universe, as Saphir seemed to believe, then the whole thing fell apart.
I wasn't the sixth. Which meant that either the prophecy was wrong, or Saphir had made an error in interpretation and had chosen the wrong man.
"Who's the seventh?" I asked, breaking the silence that had fallen after Saphir's comment about the Elurians wanting their own dragon force.
The shaman turned to me. "The seventh is shrouded. They are still to arrive. I assume it will be a new cadet from a future pilgrimage."
"How convenient," I said before I could stop myself. "A missing seventh member whose identity is unknown is a built-in excuse for when the prophecy doesn't work."
Alar shifted uncomfortably, and Kailin glared at me, but Saphir just smiled.
"Skepticism is healthy, Commander. I'd worry if you accepted all of this without question."
That wasn't an answer, but I left it at that.
I didn't imagine he could give me a better one.
Even those who believed in prophecies admitted that they were vague and hard to interpret and that their true meaning was discovered only in retrospect, which was why I wasn't one of them.
I could come up with something as vague as the prophecy of the seven saviors, and eventually, some people would fit the descriptions, especially if they were obscure enough.
"Why tell us now?" Codric asked. "We're still cadets. We haven't even bonded with our dragons yet."
"Because I told Kailin," Saphir said. "It was difficult for her to keep this from all of you, so she asked me to tell you. That way, you could start preparing for the responsibility you will one day carry and honing your abilities."
I glanced at Kailin. She met my eyes briefly before looking away. How long had she been carrying this burden? Days? Weeks?
"You said that a few of the high-ranking generals know about the portals," Shovia said. "Did you tell them about the prophecy as well?"
"That number is even smaller than those who know about the portals." Saphir shifted his gaze to me. "Nyxath, General Lesten Zorian, and now you."
General Zorian, the Chief of Staff of the Dragon Force, knew, but not General Bardaky, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Elucian Forces. I filed that information away.
What did General Zorian think about Saphir's prophecy? Did he take it seriously, or was he humoring an ancient shaman who might be losing his grip on reality?
Portals to other worlds, dragons hunting across the galaxy, shamans trapped for a thousand years—it all sounded insane. The ravings of someone who'd lived too long and seen too much. But the prophecy about the seven topped even that.
Still, I couldn't dismiss the fact that Kailin had saved Podana with abilities no one understood. She'd broadcast a prophetic dream to every dragon in the Citadel simultaneously, which shouldn't have been possible. That was real. Documented. Undeniable.
So maybe insane wasn't the right word.
"I hope that once you bond with dragons," Saphir continued, "your abilities will manifest more strongly. The bond amplifies what's already there." He stood, the unexpected movement sudden enough to startle us. "For now, this stays between us. No one else can know."
His words draped over me like thick fog. It wasn't painful, just present and slightly oily. It was a pressure in my mind that said keep this secret with an intensity that felt wrong.
I pushed back against it instinctively, and the uncomfortable sensation faded, but the effect remained. I was sure I couldn't tell anyone about the prophecy even if I tried.
What the hell was that?
I'd heard rumors about Saphir's shamanic abilities, including the power of compulsion, but I'd never experienced it with him, so I'd dismissed them as malicious gossip.
It would seem that I'd been wrong.
The others were nodding in agreement, seemingly unaffected, but I suspected they just hadn't realized what had happened.
I kept my expression neutral and said nothing as we filed out of the chamber.
The spiral staircase that led back up to the surface was narrow, barely wide enough for two slim people side by side, and I wasn't that slim.
As I took the lead, my glow stick illuminating the way, the others filed behind me, with Morek bringing up the rear.
"Onyx," I sent out a mental call. "We are done. Tell the others and come pick us up."
"On our way," came his reply. "Anything interesting?"
"There always is with our esteemed shaman."
I couldn't tell Onyx about the prophecy because I had agreed not to tell anyone about it, but even if I hadn't, Saphir's compulsion ensured that I would keep it a secret.
The cadets were talking, the sounds of their voices reverberating from the stone walls even though they were trying to be quiet.
We were perhaps twenty steps from the top when I heard it.
A soft mechanical click.
My body reacted before my mind fully processed the sound. Years of training and combat compressed into a single instant of recognition.
"DOWN!" I roared, launching myself back.
I crashed into Alar and Kailin, my arms sweeping them both backward. The momentum carried us into Codric and Shovia, and we all tumbled down the narrow staircase in a tangle of limbs. Morek, with his inhuman reflexes, managed to grab Saphir and haul the shaman down with him.
The explosion ripped through the stairwell above us, the concussive force slamming into us even as we fell. Stone and debris rained down, chunks of masonry bouncing off the walls and steps. The sound was deafening in the enclosed space, a roar that assaulted my eardrums.
We landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, bodies piled on top of each other. Dust filled the air so thick I could barely breathe. My ears rang with a high-pitched whine that drowned out everything else.
"Is anyone hurt?" I managed to choke out, though I could barely hear my own voice.
Groans and coughs answered me.
I pushed myself up, my shoulder screaming in protest where it had hit the stone steps, and searched for a glow stick.
"Kailin?" I heard Alar croak.
I found the stick and as I lifted it to assess the damage, I saw the others beginning to move through the settling dust.
"I'm okay." She coughed. "I think. You're bleeding!"
"It's nothing." He was more concerned about her than himself, his hands running along her arms and legs looking for injuries.
I did a quick assessment. Morek had a gash on his forehead that was bleeding freely. Shovia was cradling her wrist. Codric seemed mostly unhurt, just shaken. Saphir was sitting up, looking dazed but unharmed.
I wasn't really worried about him. He was immortal. I was worried about Kailin.
She looked so fragile, her eyes wide with shock as she looked up the stairwell.
I turned, following her gaze.
Where there had been steps leading to the surface, there was now a wall of rubble. Massive stones had collapsed inward, blocking our only exit. The ancient masonry had held for over a thousand years, but whatever explosives the assassins had used had been perfectly placed to bring it all down.
"We're trapped," Shovia declared the obvious.
"We're not trapped." I forced confidence and authority into my voice. "We're just temporarily blocked."
I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, finding Onyx's familiar presence.
"Ravel?" His response was immediate, threaded with alarm. "What happened? You are angry…"
I hadn't realized that I was seething until he said it. The assassins had tried to kill Kailin again.
"Someone planted explosives in the temple staircase. We escaped injury, but we are blocked. I need a rescue team with excavation equipment."
"On it." Onyx's presence blazed with rage to match my own. "I'm on my way."
He sent me an image of him torching the assassins, and it was very satisfying. It brought a smile to my face even though it wasn't going to happen. "As much as I appreciate the sentiment, they are probably long gone."
"You are most likely right, but I'm not wasting any time. I can organize the rescue effort in flight."
I opened my eyes to find six pairs of eyes fixed on me.
"Help is on the way," I said. "Onyx is organizing a rescue. They'll have us out in no time."
"Someone tried to kill us." Kailin leaned her head against the wall. "Someone knew we were down here."
"They were after me," Saphir said. "No one outside the six of you, Nyxath, and General Lesten knows about the prophecy. Why would they want to kill you?"
"I'm the Hero of Elucia," Kailin said. "They tried to kill me during my leave."
"How did they even know we would be down here?" Alar asked. "Things like this take time to plan."
He was right. We'd been in that chamber for less than an hour, and someone had planted an explosive designed to trigger when we emerged.
Alar met my gaze over the heads of the others. "It must have been one of the cadets or the instructors who came with them."
Codric shook his head. "Maybe it was someone in the Citadel who saw the others returning and learned that Saphir stayed behind with a small group of cadets."
In both cases, the timing was improbable.
I spent the next two hours listening to the sounds of activity above while trying to figure out how anyone could have managed to plant the explosives while we were in the closed chamber.
We had been there for about an hour, and that was how long it would have taken for the cadets and instructor to return to the Citadel, and for someone from the Citadel to fly back to the temple.
There would have been no time to plant the explosives.
Someone must have been hiding in the Circle of Fate, waiting for the field trip participants to arrive, and for the right opportunity to present itself to take out Saphir or Kailin or both.
The other possibility was notifying someone in the Citadel about the change in plans through dragon telepathic communication, but I dismissed it. Dragons might have their own agendas, but they didn't work together with human traitors to undermine Elucia.
Finally, we heard a voice from above. "Shaman Saphir Fatewever and company, can you hear me?"
"We hear you!" I shouted back.
"We're digging out a passage. It'll take time because we have to be careful not to cause another collapse. Can you hold on?"
"We're not going anywhere," I called back.
The work proceeded slowly, agonizingly so. They had to remove each stone carefully and shore up the passage as they went. Finally, a hole appeared in the pile of rubble and fresh air began to filter through.
"Almost there!" the voice called. "The opening is small, but we think you can crawl through it."
I looked at my charges. "Morek, you go first."
He was the largest among us, so if he got through, the rest of us would have no trouble following.
Shovia went next, followed by Codric, and then it was Kailin's turn. She hesitated, staring up.
"I'll be right behind you," Alar told her. "You can do this."
After they had been pulled out, it was Saphir's turn, and I went last.
I emerged at the top of the collapsed staircase and shook the hand of the rescue coordinator. "Thank you."
Captain Derock nodded. "It will take a lot of work to restore this place to how it was before. Are you going to head the investigation?"
I wished I could, but I wasn't the best suited for the task.
"Probably not. It's not my area of expertise." I brushed dust from my uniform, wincing at all the cuts and bruises that I hadn't noticed before.
I was immortal. I would heal.
A medic was already tending to Morek's head wound. Another was examining Shovia's wrist. Kailin stood apart from the others, wrapped in a thermal blanket a medic had given her.
"Commander," Captain Odinah walked up to me. "What happened down there?"
"I'm sure you heard already. There was an explosive device. Triggered as we were ascending the stairs."
She glanced at Saphir, who was speaking with Derock. "Do you think they were targeting the shaman?"
"Perhaps."
For now, she was a suspect, and I didn't want to share my suspicions with her.