Chapter 25
It was not as peaceful as Ezer had guessed.
It was not a beautiful, tear-inducing moment: the day when an orphaned raphon pup, raised in the darkness, finally got to break free and see the sky.
Rather, it was like herding a wet cat.
An angry cat, for it turned out Six was terrified of the snow.
They’d gone through a back door in the catacombs, a similar tunnel protected by a portcullis with a door to the outside, guarded by two enormous Sacred.
They’d winced as Ezer walked her out, even though Six was perfectly pliable in her halter and lead.
She was surprised to find the snow had stopped.
A rare day in the north, when the clouds didn’t unleash a barrage of it upon their heads.
And if she didn’t know any better, she thought they might see some sunshine.
Kinlear had ordered a few Scribes to set up a magical pen of sorts: a circle of small boulders with runes inscribed on their sides.
It was far enough from the domed Eagle’s Nest, far enough from the edge over the Expanse, that Six didn’t risk going overboard or panicking about the shadowstorm.
The others spread out, leaving Ezer and Six alone in the center of the circle.
Arawn arrived to watch, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed as he beheld her with the raphon.
She couldn’t help but notice he’d brought his sword.
She reached for the stone in her pocket.
Gods help you if you come after Six with that blade.
She could hear his chuckle as her own stone warmed. I think you have it all under control, Minder. I’m just here to enjoy the show.
She huffed out a breath. That makes one of us, at least.
It wasn’t as jarring to be outside in the cool light of morning. And certainly, without the flashes of Sacred magic going on during battle. There was no other beast in the sky.
Only the one before her, twitching her tail twice. No.
‘Come on,’ Ezer said, tugging gently at the lead rope. Everyone was watching, and she felt her cheeks redden. ‘It’s not going to kill you. This is your weather, Six. The weather of your ancestors, all the flocks before you. Snow!’
She picked up a handful, holding it out towards the raphon, who stood with her back arched, her paws on tippy toe, as if she were a housecat about to be struck by a snake.
Her tail twitched twice.
No.
‘Don’t be a baby,’ Ezer said.
Six nudged against Ezer’s cheek, filling her mind with a sudden vision.
A raphon pup, so small it was still closed-eyed and yowling as it nearly drowned in swiftly gathering snow.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Ezer said, and broke the vision as she pulled away. ‘You’re not a baby anymore. It’s time to grow up, Six, and it starts with being a real raphon. In the snow.’
She held out the handful.
Six huffed hard enough to send the snow skyward in a cloud of white.
‘It’s fluffy!’ Ezer said.
Two tail twitches.
No.
‘It’s pretty. When the sun hits it, it glitters.’
Two more tail twitches.
No.
‘It comes from the sky, Six. Where you belong.’
No.
‘We aren’t going back inside.’
Six promptly used her tail to send a wave of snow soaring towards Ezer’s face. It was cold and wet and utterly humiliating.
‘Stop it!’ Ezer hissed.
Behind her, the others were laughing. Even Arawn, who never dared smile. Ezer felt the stone in her pocket warm.
Is this really the time? She sighed into Arawn’s mind.
Just making an observation, he thought back, a smile on his words. She reminds me of someone else during her own training …
Why don’t you come over here right now, Ezer thought back, and let me borrow that very sharp, shiny sword of yours, Prince?
His answering chuckle was all she got before the stone went cold.
‘Six,’ Ezer hissed, her attention back on the raphon. ‘Pull yourself together.’
The beast turned away, ready to go back to the darkness. To the bars of her cell. Fury roiled in Ezer’s belly. All the work she’d done, all the time they’d spent bonding so Six could understand what it was like to be free …
‘You aren’t meant for a cage,’ she growled. ‘And neither am I.’
Because if she failed in this mission, she feared Six would never taste freedom again. The king wouldn’t free her. He would have her killed.
‘It’s time for me to ride, like you requested,’ Ezer spat. ‘Now lower yourself to that pretty little kneeling position, just like you did yesterday, so I can climb aboard.’
Six only flicked more snow at her.
So Ezer cursed at her, the runed cloak suddenly too hot on her skin. Her blood roared in her ears, and then she did something she never thought she’d do.
She bent over, picked up a handful of snow, packed it tight …
‘Two can play at this game,’ Ezer growled.
And launched a snowball at the raphon.
It hit Six right between her tucked wings. White exploded against her fur, enough that Ezer winced.
Even Kinlear gasped.
Arawn’s jaw fell open.
Six snapped out her wings, as if to shake the snow away. But suddenly the wind picked up, furious as it came from beyond the cliff. It was so fast it whistled, a wild gust that had Six’s eyes turning wide. Her feathers ruffled as snow danced between her and Ezer, a wall of white.
‘Ezer,’ it whispered, not a warning but a hello as it arrived.
And Ezer swore …
Six cocked her head towards it.
As if she heard the whisper on the wind, too.
It tugged at Ezer’s cloak and hair, cold and biting and trusting, and Six’s eyes widened, two dark orbs. She cocked her head the way all birds so often did, testing the feel of it. She lifted her beak, breathing in the smell of winter and woodsmoke.
‘That’s it,’ Ezer said, hands before her. ‘That is the wind, Six. A friend.’
The beast closed her eyes, leaning into it. It was like watching her breathe for the first time. Like watching her live. She lifted her wings higher, so that it ruffled through her feathers, tugging at the enormous blades of black that someday soon would carry her into the sky. They had grown.
She had grown, taller than she was just weeks ago. All her downy feathers were gone, and her paws seemed more suited to her body. She was the size of a war horse now, instead of a small pony.
‘You’re meant for this,’ Ezer said, stepping closer. ‘The sky, the snow, the cold. And there in the distance, Six. That is your home. You can go there, if you learn to fly.’
Six’s tail twitched back and forth, not in conversation, but on instinct. She stared out across the cliff as the wind danced away.
Towards the Sawteeth, and that roiling shadowstorm.
Towards her true home.
‘We’ll do it together,’ Ezer whispered. ‘Every step of the way.’
She realized, suddenly, that Six wasn’t just a raphon.
She was a friend.
A confidante.
A safe space for Ezer to rest her weary heart.
She was hers.
Ezer picked up the lead rope.
And this time, when she held out her arm as Kinlear had showed her, asking Six to break into a lunge …
The raphon obeyed.
‘Good,’ Kinlear said gently from the edge of the circle.
She’d forgotten he was here, and the sound of his voice snapped her back to the present.
‘Lead her through several minutes, so she knows the patterns. Then we’ll try with you on her back.
’ He smiled at Ezer. ‘You’re doing it. Just like I always knew you would. ’
She smiled back through her scars.
Six set her paws in full against the snow, lowered her wings against her sleek, catlike body, and began to move. It was beautiful, watching her jog. Ezer stood in the center of the ring, and Six practically pranced past her, keeping in a perfect circle.
The wind whistled past, ruffling Six’s neck feathers as she broke into a run.
‘Yes,’ Ezer said. ‘Good girl, Six!’
‘She’s magnificent!’ Kinlear laughed beside her. He placed his hand on Ezer’s arm. ‘She is everything we’ve been waiting for, Raphonminder!’
Together, they marveled at Six.
Her paws were soundless on the snow, and it was the first time she’d ever looked graceful.
The first time she looked truly lithe and – Ezer’s heart did a sad little tremor – she looked full grown.
Her dark body shimmered, feathers and fur like liquid ink as the clouds broke, and a spear of sudden sunlight trickled through them.
Ezer gasped and glanced skyward at the same time Six did.
Through the wards, the light was pure, blazing gold.
Gods, it had been ages since she’d seen the sun.
And Six …
Six had never.
The raphon paused, as if she weren’t certain what was happening above her.
‘It’s all right,’ Ezer said. ‘It’s the sun. Cats like the sun.’
Six huffed out a breath, and padded softly over to stand by Ezer’s side, her beak still tipped towards the sky. And then she began to purr.
Ezer laughed, a joyful sound.
‘It’s lovely, isn’t it?’
She’d forgotten what it felt like to have the sun on her face.
Kinlear sighed beside her, his eyes closed as he, too, reveled in the sudden golden warmth.
‘It’s a beautiful day,’ Kinlear said. The sun lit up the freckles scattered across his nose and cheeks.
His hair shimmered bronze beneath the light, and for a moment it struck her how handsome he was.
The other side of a coin she’d forgotten to flip over until now.
Today … Kinlear Laroux glimmered with life.
‘Just … beautiful,’ he said.
He wasn’t looking at the sky or at Six.
No … he was looking right at her.
A tendril of electricity sparked through her as he said, ‘If I didn’t know any better … I’d say you were born for this.’
‘For what?’ she asked.
He smiled knowingly and nudged his chin towards Six. ‘For her.’ He swallowed, and said, ‘For me.’
Her eyes widened.
She flicked her gaze to Arawn … but found the space empty where he’d just been. And the stone in her pocket utterly cold.
‘For … you?’ Ezer asked, eyes back on Kinlear.
Her mouth had gone dry.
She wasn’t supposed to feel that way.
Not for him.
‘Oh, Gods, I mean …’ Kinlear clear his throat and chuckled.
‘I mean for me and this mission. I feel as if you have been godsent, Ezer. The answer to the prayers so many of us have sent skyward, hoping the gods would take pity on this realm. I’ve never met a soul like you.
You’re … unburdened.’ He smiled, and she realized he had a dimple on one cheek.
She’d never looked at him this closely before, always too afraid of her dreams to dare search his face.
It was endearing, the softness in him. ‘There is no greater joy than to share this moment with you,’ he added.
Her walls dropped a bit more.
‘I’m not godsent,’ Ezer said. ‘If anything … Six is.’
The raphon’s wings ruffled as she shook off a few flakes of snow. And for a while they stood there, just the three of them, staring up at the rare sun.
It was comfortable, this moment, and that surprised her.
‘Arawn has journeyed across the Expanse countless times,’ Kinlear said.
Strange to hear him speak his brother’s name after she’d learned the pain that was between them.
A twinge of something that felt like guilt unfurled in her chest. Though she hadn’t the faintest idea why.
‘He has battled and taken out darksouls more than anyone could keep track of. The King Lordach needs, with my father’s inevitable end.
But me?’ He sighed. ‘I’ve spent my life inside the Citadel, staring through the glass at a world that isn’t mine to know or explore.
I can look … but I cannot touch. I thought I would die as forgotten as the ones who’ve abandoned us.
I thought … my eternity would be nothing compared to Arawn’s. ’
She glanced sidelong at him.
She never would have guessed the darkness that threatened to steal him away. The sickness that would not quit. The pain of his loss, when it came to Soraya.
How utterly unfair that a Sacred like him would die young. The same fate as one who could wield … and yet he’d never been granted even that small gift.
She felt like he was paying penance without ever having done anything wrong.
He cleared his throat. ‘When the War Table approved the Black Wing Battalion, I was overjoyed. It gave me a sense of purpose. A chance to do something in this war, other than be the broken prince. The one people look at, and think, what a shame, he cannot be what his father wishes him to be. He’ll never be like Arawn. ’
‘That’s not what they think,’ Ezer said gently.
He raised a brow.
‘They adore you, Kinlear,’ she said. ‘Because you are different. Because you are a sort of mystery no one can quite unravel. And I think people are drawn to that. We’re fascinated, by things we cannot understand. It’s why you and I share a love for Six.’
He laughed, his breath soaring away in a puff of white.
‘Mystery or not, now there is hope for the first time. Something tangible. A chance to win this war. A chance … for me to finally mean something to my people. And I am honored, Ezer. So honored by your yes. It was the greatest gift you ever could have given your kingdom. And by proxy … the greatest gift I have ever received.’
His words washed over her, sweet as honey.
She felt light as air.
‘You are the first Raphonminder known to Lordach. The first in history!’
‘Even if Lordach doesn’t know?’ Ezer asked, with a held-back smile. ‘I suppose I am a mystery, too.’
He shrugged. ‘We can be mysteries together, you and I.’
She smiled at him. ‘I think I’d like that.’
Six was purring beside her, eyes still closed, beak tipped up to the sun.
‘Do you want to try and ride her?’ Kinlear asked. ‘Before the storm returns. It always does.’ His smile fell … and suddenly he was coughing again.
She didn’t ask him if he was all right.
She knew he wasn’t.
She just stood by, a silent companion as he uncorked the vial around his throat and pressed it to his lips. His coughing subsided, and when he looked at her … she felt the urge to reach out. To take his hand and let him know he was not alone.
They had a shared destiny now.
‘Ready?’ Kinlear asked. ‘We’ll walk at first, so you can learn the way she moves. Are you certain you won’t use a saddle?’
‘Absolutely not,’ Ezer said, at the same time Six’s tail twitched twice. ‘The darksouls don’t. Better to blend in, anyhow, and besides … I don’t think she’s meant for one.’
Ezer remembered the words of the librarian.
Gods help the person who dares tell a cat what to do.
So, she wouldn’t tell her at all.
She’d let Six choose, the way no one ever had for her.
‘She’s your raphon,’ Kinlear said. ‘You have every bit of power now, to do as you please.’
Power.
Something she also had never had.
She turned to Six.
‘Are you ready to ride? Is that what you want?’
The raphon looked to her.
And with her dark, trusting eyes, she stared at Ezer, and twitched her tail, yes.