Chapter Twenty-Three Rohak
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rohak
The book was heavy beneath my arm, pressed tightly to my side as if I expected someone to lunge from the shadowy corridors at any point and rip it from my clutches.
The thought was nearly laughable. Mages, Vessels, and unAwakened cadets flitted from one task to the next, eyes glassy and framed by dark circles as they worked to heal what was broken.
No one was concerned about their General holding a book.
If they knew what it was—what it contained—then perhaps it would be a different situation.
My boots clicked against the obsidian stone that comprised the entire Academy. From my advisor’s accounts, I’d assumed the Academy would be in complete disarray still, the courtyard sporting marred stones and bloated corpses.
The reality was completely different than my imagination, however.
Perhaps Sol had overexaggerated the extent of the devastation, or perhaps the cleanup efforts were finally making significant progress.
Either way, I was grateful that Faylinn had, hopefully, seen the extent of the damage throughout the rest of Vespera.
The Bond pulsed angrily in my chest, sending shockwaves through my body that nearly brought me to my knees, as I thought about my Rune Master.
She’d been given strict instructions to return to the manor before dark, after she had explored the remainder of the city. By all estimations, her trip should have taken three hours, four at most if the destruction was worse than anticipated.
Yet it was nearly seven hours later, and night had fallen completely.
Swathes of the deepest purple blanketed the Academy, plunging Vespera into darkness.
Unbidden and nearly without thought, my feet had carried me out of the study in the manor and through the secret tunnel beneath the city to the Academy in search of Faylinn.
My heart thumped painfully in my chest at the memories that resurfaced from the last night that I remembered, the last night I saw my best friend alive. I shook my head, carding my free hand through my hair as I ascended the final staircase onto the main floor of the Academy.
Where I expected empty halls and quiet, I found bright lights spilling onto dark floors from the open mess hall doors. Laughter and loud conversation echoed through the cavernous entryway as I stuttered to a stop, shocked but not displeased by the sight that greeted me.
Men, women, and children from all of Vespera’s districts graced the Academy’s halls; women that I knew worked in some of the roughest brothels having lively conversations with seamstresses from the upper districts.
Tavern owners and barflies telling stories to some of my more hardened Mages, smiles spreading across sallow faces.
Despite the jubilance, there was still the undercurrent of despair, knowledge of Elyria’s new reality hanging heavy in the air.
“General,” a low voice grunted, surprising me. I shook my head and shot a glance to my right, where Talamh stood close to my elbow.
“Talamh,” I greeted in return, eyes flying back to the flickering lights flooding from the mess hall. “What is—”
“Your Bonded opened it for everyone,” he said with a chin tilt toward a cracked classroom door, the rune for “healing” hastily inscribed for all to see. “Saw what happened to the lower districts and their people and decided that what we had needed to be shared.”
My eyebrows rose on my forehead, though I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Isn’t that who Faylinn has always been at her core? Everything she has ever shown has been kindness and compassion.
I grunted in response, too overwhelmed by sudden emotion to properly articulate the gratitude I felt for my Bonded.
“She’s rather special,” Talamh intoned again, arms crossed and face stony despite his tender words.
I detected no desire in his voice, but there was a definitive undercurrent of fierce protectiveness.
“How many came?” I asked quietly, smiling and nodding to a pair of passing Vessels as they made their way into the mess hall.
“Hundreds. Some are with her and Asha in the healing quarters, others went straight to the food and drink that Faylinn helped set up.”
“We have enough?” I asked, scratching the stubble on my jaw.
“For the next few days, yes. A few of the tavern owners in the lower districts offered to bring whatever provisions they have left, but Faylinn told them to keep it. Tonight was made as a way to come together, but I suspect she has a plan for each of the districts going forward. You’d be wise to listen to her,” he said with a terse nod before striding away, blending into the shadows once more.
There was a heaviness to him that wasn’t there before, though we all changed in unexpected ways.
I sighed as I adjusted the tome beneath my arm and crossed the hall toward the open classroom, intent on finding Faylinn, hoping she had time for me.
There was much we had to discuss.