Chapter Thirty-Seven
THE GENERAL
Liora fell asleep against me. I secured her cloak around her, draping her in my shadows. The sight of the compass’s strengthening glow had shifted something in her just as it had me. Hope alighted like the growing dawn around us.
Her body tensed with a swift inhale like she hadn’t truly been breathing.
It roused her from her slumber. She blinked up at me, eyes softening, and I watched as whatever plagued her dreams melted away.
She was at once new and familiar. I knew her deeply, even as I wanted to know everything about her new life.
If the compass was to be my lifeline, we would have time to catch up, to discover, because my cure awaited.
Evander poked at the fire sending sparks spiraling upward. “We should continue on foot. Let the horses go in case they have protections like Surveille parasites or other wards to track them.”
Liora shivered against me at the mention of the Surveilles.
With the storm behind us, and Xuri and Finn likely making their way toward us, we wouldn’t have long to travel on foot. And Evander was right; the risk of keeping the horses was too great.
The temperature had warmed to a less tortuous sting, the winds having died down significantly. We grabbed our belongings and released the horses, turning again to the south, toward Aphellion.
Evander and Bowen walked together, eating bread and cheese, and speaking in low tones about elixirs and the art of dissolving sound affinity into different base liquids.
I kept pace with Liora, my shadows on alert for any threats. Liora removed the book I’d brought her at the inn from her satchel and began thumbing through its pages.
She filled me in on the information she had gleaned from it. I was surprised it made any mention of Nokts, considering I just learned the term a few days ago. Had Queen Thaleia not introduced the idea, I would have chalked this book up to mythical stories. But my interest was piqued.
Liora shared about the couerdiae. I repeated the word as she nodded. “Do you know what it means?”
I glanced toward the horizon. The word was Sarulien, and I had come across it before. Hearing it spoken from Liora’s lips stirred something within me. My metal rings flared.
“It means heartbond.”
“How do you think you form one?” She returned the book to her satchel and began rebraiding her hair. Two on the left, three on the right, like always.
“Did the book not say anything about it?”
Liora paused her braiding, thinking. “No. Only that it was required to access higher magic.”
I didn’t know much about heartbonds. I had never heard of anyone forming one in the last few centuries. It had become part of the legends of betrothed women and pining maidens.
Evander interjected, “I’m familiar with higher magic.”
We both turned toward him.
“I was just explaining to Bowen how my tonics are made. The magic used is incredibly draining. I’ve bottled the sound of screams, of song, and various weapons.
Well, those are my favorite ones anyway.
” He chuckled at himself. “I’m only able to make a few vials at a time, and then I have to rest for several days before attempting again.
The nymph who taught me indicated the magic I required was a superior type of magic. ”
Liora adjusted the hood of her cloak to further conceal her hair, the silvery white now mostly faded to reveal a lilac-pink that I wanted to paint. “And this draining magic is different from the use of normal affinities?”
Evander studied her, nodding in affirmation.
Liora rushed on, “Do you know of Astrals and Nokts?”
Evander quirked a brow. “Yes,” he ventured.
“Knowledge is power in all places. Knowledge can also be dangerous if the wrong people find out it is spreading. Suppression is a very effective tool for people in power. They will do violent things to keep hidden what they deem threatening. Information related to Astrals and Nokts has been lost, and many people want to keep it that way. I’d use discretion when discussing it. ”
My ears gently popped as he threw up a sound barrier, shielding our conversation from spying ears. “Do you truly wish to learn more?”
There was no way in the hells he could stop now. We all nodded, angling ourselves further toward the sound wielder.
“What I know comes from information passed along by the nymphs.
Astrals and Nokts both have higher magics.
Astral magic descends from the ethereal firmament.
It is light magic—moonlight, sunlight, lightning, starlight—which used to abound in our world.
It disappeared at some point along with most Astrals and their sentinels.
“Higher magic requires stronger sources to be maintained. The ability to access higher magic has mostly disappeared. It can be harnessed in small quantities in the right conditions, but even then, it taxes the wielder. Legend says that a sign of Astral magic is strange coloring, not unlike your hair.” He paused, assessing Liora. She blanched.
Her mother seemed aware of what the color symbolized. I wondered at who she must have been to have known about such things.
He continued, “Nokt magic is a distorted version of higher magic. It is light magic that has been stripped and deformed, turned inward on itself. Each type of magic leaves a signature. Light magic often leaves a glaze behind. A kind of shimmer, if you will. Dark magic leaves—”
“Char,” Liora whispered.
He nodded in confirmation. “Some believe light magic hasn’t necessarily disappeared, but rather lies dormant. Meanwhile, dark magic spreads.” He shifted his gaze northward, undoubtedly in the direction of the glacial caves and the dying hinterlands.
“What are sentinels?” I asked.
“The original guardians of this world.”
I retreated into myself at his words. I knew of the guardians, and had dreams of their return.
They were massive beasts with scales and wings.
Though, unlike Nokts, these were natural creatures, not a disturbing mimicry of one.
Hearing someone speak of them left me strangely unsettled, as if the situation we found ourselves in held a history and a depth far greater than we realized.
We neared a small village, chimneys releasing opaque smoke into the chilly morning. Our conversation ceased when Evander dropped the sound shield.
A Lavender Starling circled overhead, stealing my attention.
I leaned down to point it out to Liora. “This is the second time I’ve seen the elusive Lavender Starling.
Do you remember what I told you about them?
They are portents of hope, and as we venture into another unknown, I can’t help but think you’re the reason they’re appearing.
Their presence makes me think, if nothing else, we’ll always have the dawn, m’est kisertes. ”
She preened under the nickname. “What does that mean, General?” she asked.
“One day perhaps I’ll tell you, Spy.”
She eyed me dubiously.
“Dom, ahead.” Bowen pointed at a group of horses further down the trail, heading straight for us.