Synchronicity #3
I shake my head. “Arlon left it for me. He didn’t say what it did, but I think it’s... connected to the Crux, somehow.”
Garrett frowns, but at my curious look he says, “He never told me anything about it. He has so godsdamned many, it’s no wonder he hates wearing them.”
I carefully wrap my hand around the hot focus, yet even as I hold it, it starts to cool to my temperature. The light inside of it fades as well, but for some reason, the even pulse of energy reminds me of the sirens scattered throughout Kiali. A warning to reach higher ground before a storm hits.
IN BARROWIN, I SAY goodbye to Valar. It’s a lucky thing, too. I don’t run into Jessic or Vanya again, but there’s a royal courier from Frostcliff on his way to Straetham with a small retinue who’s willing to pony her back down the mountain.
I’m pretty sure the uptight man thought I’d stolen her until he glimpsed the spells peeking out from under my shirt.
Once he spotted those, he was all too happy to return her to the Crux for me.
Tried to do it for free, even, though I made him accept my coin and the understanding that this was a job bought and paid for.
The last thing I want is for Arlon to have to entertain some favor in exchange for Valar’s safe return.
It’s bittersweet watching her head off with the small group. It’s made even worse by Mo’s sad little whinny as she’s led away. No small part of me wishes I was heading that direction too.
But I don’t dare stay on the main road for long, and instead of staying at the inn in Barrowin, I head back into the hills. By nightfall, I regret that decision.
The weather’s getting worse. The drizzling has subsided, leaving behind gray clouds and a heaviness in the air, but when the sun goes down, the cold hits like a rock.
I stubbornly reserve my conjurations. It’s only going to get colder, so I don’t want to use them unless I absolutely have to. Besides, I’m only a few days out from Airedale, and there, I’ll replace my tent to make my nights a little less miserable.
Mo seems just as over it as I am. His steps plod along steadily, his head low, but just like me, his heart doesn’t seem to be in it. Or maybe he’s tired, just like I am. The desire to pack it up and go home is stronger than it’s ever been.
But I don’t. Airedale is only a few days away, and there, I can truly start my search.
I stay off the main road as we head out. Nik is likely talking to folks on the road, and that courier saw my spells. It feels like every moment I’m not moving, Nik’s getting that much closer to me, so I keep my pace up, starting early and stopping late into the night.
Mo is anxious without his herd mate around, but he gradually settles into our new routine. He moves a little slower having to carry me and what’s left of our supplies, but the past weeks on the road have strengthened him to it. Strengthened both of us, really.
I can’t help but remember my first ride up the mountain, barely a month after I arrived at the Crux. It had been a shorter road to the Black Burrows, but a much quicker one. After Olbric got nabbed by Diran, it was a mad dash to try and track him down.
Yet the thought of Olbric makes that familiar ache settle in my chest. It’s been over a week since he introduced me to Samira, and I haven’t heard another peep from him since. Not knowing what’s happening with him in Cairish makes a knot of unease twist around my heart.
I have to keep reassuring myself that Olbric will be fine. Arlon was forced to bring him, but there’s no way he’d leave Olbric in Cairish.
Right?
But I’ve seen how his position fetters him. How the role of Grandmaster overshadows everything else. Even casting partners, lovers.
Fuck, but he might not have a choice.
The thought keeps me up at night, watching the air over my fire in the hope that Olbric’s face will appear. Sparks rise into the darkening sky, but there’s just enough sunlight left to send a scatter of rainbow iridescence through the wispy clouds overhead.
It looks like magiline, yet as I focus on the splotch of color, the world around me shifts. It’s almost a familiar sensation by now. Like I’ve suddenly fallen asleep, fallen into a dream.
Yet this dream flashes bright, the rainbow of color exploding in a burst of light. I swear, blinking the spots from my eyes to find Lucien standing in front of the crossed pillars.
They’re glowing like a beacon, brilliant and white, yet even as I watch, the light starts to fade back to its usual shine, pulsing like a heartbeat.
And Lucien is laughing.
“Luc, what did you do?” The words emerge from my mouth, but it’s not my voice, not my body. It’s one I almost recognize though, the same man who Lucien called out to in the snow. Tevares.
Lucien doesn’t turn around, too focused on the crossed pillars. “Finding us a way forward.”
“A way forward?! You just killed that man!” Tevares snaps.
“Are you so certain? I’m not,” Lucien says, and there’s something familiar yet out of place in his voice. A cruelty I don’t remember being there in the scant times I crossed paths with him. “Call it a necessary sacrifice.”
Lucien lifts his hand to the pillar, and I can see that frostbite has taken the tips of two of his fingers. Light skitters across the stone at his touch, and he looks up at the pillars in something like awe.
“A necessary sacrifice?” Tevares scoffs. “Gods, Luc, you’re even starting to sound like him.”
Only then does Lucien turn, head rolling on his shoulders as he grins at Tevares. It’s a cold, mirthless thing that makes Tevares’ dark brow pinch with worry. “I am what the Crux made me.”
“No, you are worse,” Tevares snaps back. “You will not attempt that again.”
Lucien’s anger shifts abruptly. His smile turns light, teasing. “What do you care? You’re leaving.”
“I’m leaving you with orders,” Tevares says, authority ringing in his voice.
“I don’t care if they’re traitors. I don’t care what my father said.
I won’t have you senselessly throwing their lives away, Grandmaster.
You will wait for further orders before you lay a finger on them, do you understand me? ”
A focused kind of rage boils behind Lucien’s eyes, and for some reason, I’m reminded of what it had been like when Virico found me in the silver.
Then, a smile snaps onto his face before he gives a careless shrug. “Your father will give them. He’ll give the orders the moment you show your face.”
Tevares whirls before storming off. He calls for someone, but he starts to fade.
No matter how hard I try to cling to the sight of him, how hard I try to glean just one more second out of the vision, it breaks apart.
The sky comes into focus overhead, and that rainbow cloud is gone, replaced by budding stars.
For a moment, all I can do is stare. Slowly, I ground myself back in my own body, feel my sleeping pad under me, hear the sound of Mo munching on dry grass a few feet away. It’s warmer tonight than it has been, but I’m freezing. I can’t stop myself from shuddering with cold.
I pull my cloak tighter around me, toss another log on the fire. My teeth chatter as I sit up, pull my journal into my lap, and write down every detail I can remember.