Chapter 21
twenty-one
The terraced pyramids of Dorsey sat tall against a blue sky, and palm trees decorated the wide streets.
Orelia marveled at the limestone making up the truncated pyramids, perfectly level and perfectly symmetrical.
Dirt had given way to bedrock as they strolled through the city, and even though they were miles from the sea, salt air filled her nostrils.
“This place is perfect for you, Bute.” Orelia glanced at the jar tucked under her arm to see the frog was finally outside his moss home. Since he hadn’t dragged his leg behind him for the past two days, she was determined to find a safe place to let him go once they got the spell reversed.
Surprisingly clean and bright, there was an inviting openness to Dorsey. Not crowded like Ricaboro, despite the bustle of the open-air market as people dressed in flowing silks went about their business in the early afternoon.
Vade purchased a few spices from a merchant’s stall, telling Orelia that Dorsey had the best flavors he’d ever encountered.
He’d stuck to her side all day, never letting her out of sight.
She wasn’t sure if it was because of what happened in Fink, but she enjoyed this version of him.
The version that wasn’t making fun of her, but talking to her like an actual person, even buying a few spices for her to take back home to Minro.
She’d awoken with him draped across her in a deep sleep. Even though his body heat had her sweating through the sheets, she laid there studying him. Watching the way his lips would sometimes twitch on a deep exhale, or how his brows would pinch together occasionally.
Orelia found herself thinking who he would have turned out to be had his parents not been the cold-hearted villains they were. Would he have stayed in the Points? Would he have ventured out of the mountains just to see what else was out there? Would he laugh more? Would he be happier?
Her fingers had made their way into his hair, and his eyes had flown open at the first touch.
As expected, he shot out of bed and glared at her.
Orelia didn’t miss that he was blushing though, even as he chided that they needed to stop wasting time and get ready to leave.
He hadn’t thanked her for healing his ribs in the night, but that was to be expected.
She decided then that pride was a man’s greatest weakness.
As they walked through the streets, Vade told her the history of Dorsey’s architecture and how the tropical city became known as the place for knowledge.
“The largest library in Nivinia is here,” Vade said. “Scholars from all over of every race come to Dorsey to study various intellectual paths. Most go back to their homes and bring their newfound knowledge to their towns, but many stay here and study at various magical schools for years at a time.”
They stopped and waited for a horse and cart to pass, then continued down the main street.
“How do you know all this?” she asked.
His eyes flicked to her belt. “That dagger I gave you was given to me by someone who studied wizardry here. He owns a clothing shop in Ravere now, but he spent most of his youth in Dorsey.”
“A wizard who runs a clothing shop. Interesting . . .” she said. “So, he’s a friend? Like Elshar?”
“Not so much a friend, more like a strategic partner.”
She arched a brow. “Partner for what?”
Vade gave her one of his trademark smirks. “Business.”
Killing, he meant. Somehow, learning more about his murderous lifestyle no longer made her uncomfortable. She wasn’t sure if that made her more understanding, or a fool.
“Where is the aviary?” she asked.
He pointed north. “You can see the tip of it right over there.”
Continent-wide correspondence came from the single tower she had to squint to see. The messages were sent from Dorsey via swifts, so she checked the skies for any of the incredibly fast brown birds, finding a few on their way east.
They came to a large, temple-like structure covered in vines where Vade said the druids studied. It was here they would find the man they were looking for. Beautiful, but there was a hollowness in her as she took it all in.
They were minutes away from their resolution, but that meant her adventure was about to come to an end.
Then it would be back to Minro where she’d try to figure out her next course of action.
The thought of begging Beron for her job back soured her spirits, but there were more important things to focus on as they climbed the steep stairs, then approached the guards at the entrance.
“We’re here to see the druid Devlin,” Vade said to one of the female batalins gripping a slender glaive taller than she was, which had to have been almost eight feet.
The gray horns on her head added almost another foot.
Orelia had to crane her neck to meet the muscular woman’s eyes that were two shades lighter than the uniform straining against her hulking muscles.
“The Head Druid is not accepting visitors at this time,” she said, giving a curious glance at Bute’s jar.
“Why not?” Vade asked.
“Because he is ill,” the other batalin replied. She gripped her glaive tighter.
Vade’s fingers twitched at his sides, and Orelia’s heart began to race. He’d be a fool to pick a fight with batalins. The hooks at the base of the women’s glaives would tear out their organs in seconds if he did.
The city folk were faint figures on the streets below, but it was only the four of them high up on the temple steps, and she knew what was about to happen.
“Could we just see him for a minute? We’ll be quick, I promise,” Orelia said, trying to control the situation before Vade unleashed himself.
“No,” the women said in unison.
Vade worked his jaw. “Look, we’ve traveled all the way from Minro to meet with the druid. This is a timely issue, so you will let us pass.”
The blue-skinned woman stepped up to Vade, looking down her broad nose at him. “Do not threaten me. No means no. The bells will ring any day now for the Head Druid, so turn around, and take your friend with you.”
Vade widened his stance, a sliver of shadow emerging around his elbow.
“Please,” Orelia blurted out. “I promise we’ll be in and out. We won’t cause any problems.”
The other woman looked Vade over with calculating, lavender eyes. “I doubt that.”
Orelia could feel the air getting heavier. The guards seemed to notice too and quickly pointed their weapons at Vade.
“Then you give me no choice,” he said calmly.
Before she could stop him, he wrapped shadows around their faces. The women thrashed, dropping their glaives that clanged against the stones.
“Stop!” Orelia pleaded, tugging on his arm.
Vade let the black tendrils spill out from his fingers until eventually, the women slumped to the ground. He stepped over them and entered the main doors. “Come on.”
Orelia rushed over to one of the women and pressed two fingers to her neck just under her jaw.
“Don’t worry, they’re not dead. Just passed out,” Vade said over his shoulder with a voice all too at ease.
Orelia checked the other woman just in case, then hurried to catch up to him. The temple ceilings must have been a hundred feet tall, decorated in carvings of a multitude of animals, but she didn’t have time to appreciate the architecture as another pair of guards appeared up ahead.
“Someone’s going to notice two incapacitated guards,” she whispered.
“Hey! What are you doing in here? This temple is off limits,” one of the men said.
Vade choked out the two batalins and left them lying in an unconscious pile outside an arched wooden door.
He tried the handle to the door, but it was locked.
He combed through their pockets looking for a key while Orelia frantically looked around, expecting more guards to rush around the corner at any moment.
Vade unlocked the door, and they climbed a wide flight of marble stairs.
“We’re going to get caught!” Orelia said. “You can’t just leave a pile of bodies wherever you go!”
“Then we better hurry,” he said lightheartedly.
Orelia huffed. “You are so damn frustrating sometimes.”
Vade’s chuckle echoed in the staircase as they wound up the spiral steps, passing open-air windows until a single door appeared covered in ivy. Head Druid’s Quarters was carved into the wooden plate on the wall.
Surprisingly, it was unlocked, so Vade pushed the creaky oak door open, and the two of them stepped inside.
The earthy scent of incense immediately transported her back to Beron’s, but this room was nothing like the brothel.
The ceilings were just as high as the ones in the foyer, and there were plants of every kind everywhere she looked.
Ivy covered the stone walls, and a redwood tree grew out from a hole in the floor.
It must have been hundreds of years old, and it looked like the room had been built around the red-toned giant, allowing holes in the roof where thick branches had breached their confinements and reached the outside world.
A small waterfall feature sat on the backside of the tree, trickling down the dark stones and into a large pool, the water babbling in a soothing tone.
Orelia was too busy watching all the colorful birds chirping in the tree that she didn’t notice Vade incapacitating a young druid woman in cream-colored robes. When she passed out, he laid her on the ground, then made for the bed in the corner.
The druid was fast asleep. His lips were too pale against his moon white skin.
Frizzy salt and pepper hair went past his shoulders, brown feathers were woven into the thin braids, and his white beard bobbed with each croak of a breath.
Orelia couldn’t believe the size of his antlers—at least four feet tall, with many points, and bone white, signaling that he was very, very old.
Vade nudged his shoulder.
Orelia smacked him on the arm. “Don’t do that!” she whispered. “You’ll scare the poor man half to death.”