20. Alar #2
It was quaint compared to Vedona's sprawling architecture, but Podana's modesty was deceptive. This city had been rebuilt from nothing after the Sitorians ground the original civilization to dust, and its builders had prioritized function and resilience over aesthetics.
Ravel guided Onyx toward a field on the outskirts, a flat stretch of cleared ground that probably served as a landing pad for dragons and a staging area for military operations.
As we descended, I spotted a group of soldiers in the dark green uniforms of the Elucian special forces standing beside two military hover-vehicles.
Onyx touched down with a precision that barely jostled me.
The squadron settled around us in their protective formation, and the ground forces commander walked toward us.
She was a compact woman with close-cropped gray hair and a face that looked like it had been carved from the same stone as the mountains.
"Commander Ravel," she said. "Cadet Tekum."
I was surprised no one was addressing me by my proper title. Perhaps that was what Saphir had meant by keeping my identity a secret while providing me with a princely escort.
I dismounted first, and Ravel followed.
"Lieutenant Mandina Solgev, Elucian Special Forces." She extended her hand to me with a grip that could crush walnuts. "I'm responsible for your security from here to the transfer point."
I shook her hand and tried not to wince. "Thank you for the escort, Lieutenant."
After giving me a quick once-over as if to determine what all the fuss was about, she turned to Ravel.
"We've cleared the cable car schedule and reserved a whole car for Cadet Tekum's exclusive use.
Estimated descent time, forty minutes. The Elurian unit is already in position at the lower terminal. "
Ravel nodded. "Any irregularities?"
"None. It's been quiet."
Ravel unfastened my pack from Onyx's underbelly and handed it to me.
It seemed that I wasn't getting any princely treatment and would have to carry my rucksack myself. Surprising, but welcome. The longer I had before I had to slide back into a role I detested, the better. I shouldered it, the weight settling comfortably across my back.
"Thank you for the lift, Commander," I said.
"It was my honor." He extended his hand, and when I took it, his grip was firm and brief. "I'm confident we will be seeing each other again soon."
"I hope you're right."
"So do I." The corner of his mouth twitched. "Be well, and take care of yourself, Cadet Alar Tekum."
"Thank you. I'll do my best." I released his hand and stepped back.
There was more I wanted to say, things about Kailin and the prophecy and the future that none of us could see clearly, but the special forces unit was waiting, and the lieutenant looked impatient.
With one last look at Ravel, I climbed into the lead hover-vehicle and sat between two soldiers. The vehicle lifted smoothly off the ground, its magnetic drive humming as it glided toward the central hub in Podana.
I remembered well both the lower and upper terminals of Elucia's cable car system, the engineering marvel that served as the nation's lifeline to the outside world.
When Codric and I had arrived at the lower terminal months ago, we'd gawked at the scale of it like the tourists we had been pretending to be.
Eager to get to Skywatcher's Point, we hadn't spent much time in the upper terminal, leaving quickly to catch a ride to our final destination.
Now that I was seeing it again, it seemed even more impressive than its lower counterpart.
The terminal had been carved directly into the mountainside, a vast complex of platforms, loading bays, and passenger areas connected by tunnels and walkways hewn from the rock.
The main cables, thick as a man's thigh, emerged from enormous drum housings and stretched out over the void, disappearing into the cloud cover that perpetually clung to the lower slopes.
Separate cable lines handled cargo, the containers moving in a steady procession along their own track, hauling everything from weapons and ammunition to medical supplies and foodstuffs.
This was how Elucia survived, how an entire nation perched on inaccessible mountains sustained itself, through this single engineered artery connecting it to the world below.
The special forces unit drew a lot of attention as it moved through the terminal, bypassing the civilian queues and the security checkpoints. Passengers waiting in line stared as the military procession passed, their expressions ranging from respect to curiosity, and some to alarm.
The cable car reserved for us was a standard passenger model, designed to hold roughly thirty people. Today it held me, Lieutenant Solgev, and ten soldiers, who distributed themselves throughout the car.
"The descent is smooth," the lieutenant said. "But the transition through the cloud layer can cause some turbulence. Nothing dangerous."
"I know." I smiled at her. "I still remember the ride up here. That's not something a flatlander like me can ever forget."
I expected her to respond with questions, to show some curiosity about me, but it seemed that she had been instructed not to interact with me beyond what was absolutely necessary. Either that or she wasn't the talkative sort.
I took a seat by the window and admired the view, which was spectacular and terrifying in equal measure.
The cable stretched out over a void that made the drops I'd flown over on Veynathei seem modest by comparison.
Below, the mountainside fell away in sheer cliffs and jagged outcroppings, thousands of feet of vertical rock before the slopes gentled enough to support vegetation.
The car lurched into motion with a mechanical clunk and began its descent, swaying gently as the cable took the weight.
The sound was familiar from my ascent months ago but unsettling in a new way.
Back then, I'd worried about maintenance and cable integrity while Codric teased me about my paranoia.
Now I just felt numb.
The mountains slid past the window, their scale diminishing as we descended. The eternal cloud layer approached, a gray wall that marked the boundary between Elucia's rarified world and the lowlands below.
We passed through the clouds, and for several minutes the windows showed nothing but gray mist. The car swayed more in this layer, buffeted by winds that the cables handled well, or so I hoped.
Several of the soldiers gripped their armrests. I stared at the gray and thought of nothing.
When we emerged below the cloud line, the lowlands spread out beneath us, and the sight of them had an unexpected effect on me.
Green. After months of gray stone and white snow and the muted colors of high-altitude vegetation, there was so much green. The foothills below were covered in forests and farmland. Roads threaded between settlements, and I could see hover-vehicles moving along them.
This was the world I'd grown up in. The world of mild weather and gentle slopes and cities built for comfort rather than survival. The world where dragons were admired on television screens during rescue operations, not partners bonded for life.
It looked foreign to me now.
The lower terminal came into view. I'd been awed by it when I arrived, the industrial-scale engineering, the cables stretching upward into the mist, the sheer ambition of a small, poor nation that had built something to rival any Elurian achievement.
Now it looked like a gate ready to slam shut behind me.
The car docked with a series of mechanical clanks and hydraulic hisses.
The platform outside was cordoned off, military personnel keeping civilian traffic at a distance.
Through the window, I could see the Elurian unit waiting, a platoon of Federation soldiers in their distinctive gray and blue uniforms.
Lieutenant Solgev stood. "End of the line, Mr. Alar Tekum."
So, I was no longer Cadet Alar Tekum, and not yet Prince Alaranthus Tekumuton the Fifth.
I stood, shouldered my pack, and followed Solgev to the car's exit.
The transfer was brisk and professional. Solgev exchanged documents with the Elurian platoon commander.
"Prince Alaranthus." The colonel saluted with a precision that bordered on aggressive. "Colonel Davin Krest, Royal Guard of Catonia. Your father sends his regards and his relief that you are safely returned."
His relief. As if I'd been rescued from captivity rather than torn from the life I'd chosen.
"Thank you, Colonel." I returned the salute out of habit.
"We are looking at approximately two weeks by road, Your Highness. We'll travel through Tarina province and then north through the central corridor. Accommodations have been arranged at stations along the route."
Two weeks in an armored hover-vehicle, crawling across the Federation's road network while the bond with Veynathei stretched thinner with every mile.
I could already feel it, the subtle weakening at the edges of her presence in my mind. She was still there, warm and steady, but the signal was faint. Distance was already doing its work.
I turned back toward the mountains one last time. The cable car terminal rose above me, the cables stretching upward into the clouds, and somewhere beyond those clouds, beyond the peaks and the snow and the auroras, a dragon with shifting scales was waiting for me.
"Your Highness, we should head to the vehicles." The colonel reached for my pack and handed it over to one of the soldiers. "The sooner you are protected, the better."
I turned my back on the mountains and walked out of the terminal to the waiting vehicles.
I didn't look back.