Chapter 27
The original Gods banded together and created the first five Godlings: Death, Sun, Moon, Mind and Elements.
— The book of Tevye
Airess
A Fae guard slung Taryn over his shoulder and tossed him on the ground next to Airess. She immediately scrambled over to him, despite her bound limbs and the rocking of the ship. Her shoulders slumped as she shook him. Taryn was still unconscious.
The world began to spin and her thoughts became scrambled. Frantic. Airess’ stomach folded in on itself, dread stealing her breath away. She was heaving, her bound wrists going to her chest as she fought for breath. What was wrong with him? Why wouldn’t he wake up?
Would he live?
Airess squeezed her eyes shut. No, he couldn’t die.
She wouldn’t let him. Airess needed to calm herself, to fight this anxiety attack.
He needed her now more than ever. She closed her mouth and began to breathe in for four seconds, then out for four seconds.
Airess inhaled the salty air and focused on the seagulls cawing in the distance.
When her breaths finally evened, she took in her surroundings. They had been moved to the military ship that had stopped them, and now both sat bound in rope. The ship groaned as the Fae conversed quietly across from her.
The crowd parted as a woman, who seemed to be in her sixties, came forward.
The woman’s brown skin contrasted against the bright orange headwrap that her graying hair was pulled up in. She wore flowing pants and tunic to match. The woman leaned on a cane with a slight wobble and surveyed Airess with one brow lifted.
“State your names,” the woman demanded in the Mrkynian tongue with an accent she didn’t recognize.
“My name is Airess.” She motioned down to Taryn sheepishly. “And this is Taryn.”
The woman’s eyes widened slightly before she schooled her features into neutrality, pointing to Taryn. “What’s wrong with him?”
“I don’t know. He fell unconscious as we arrived. Please, help him. He needs a healer as soon as possible.”
Airess couldn’t read the woman’s facial expression. She blinked her Sight forward to read the woman’s intentions, but nothing came. She realized she must have still been drugged from the donstenyte arrow.
“You and your friend will be allowed in Rune temporarily due to such… odd circumstances. I will take him to be healed, but immediately after you will be presented to the king.” the woman stated as she glanced down at Taryn, lips pursed.
“Thank you so much,” Airess began. “You have no idea–”
The woman held a hand up to stop her. “Don’t thank me yet. You have yet to meet with the king.”
Airess blinked, taken aback. She realized the weight of the woman’s words, that she was to be presented to the King of Rune. Oh, how she was so ill prepared.
“What is your name?” Airess asked, grasping onto any bit of information she could.
“Ismene,” the woman said. “High Priestess of Eileamaid, the elemental God, and loyal member of The Obadiah.”
“The Obadiah?” Airess asked, perking up. She was so distracted with worry that she had almost lost sight of the fact that she had actually escaped. “Ma’am, I have traveled all this way to meet you. Priestess Esper Crawn helped me escape the Luciens so that I could train with you–with The Obadiah.”
Ismene’s eyes trailed down Airess’ face and landed on the locket sitting at her heart. “If that is true, you’d best explain that to the king,” Ismene said, eyes narrowing. “He will decide if you can stay here.”
Ismene turned away and left her alone with Taryn. Airess’ head whirled, grasping onto everything that had just occurred. She felt some relief, knowing that Ismene agreed to heal Taryn, whatever was wrong with him. She only hoped the king would accept them.
If he didn’t, where else could they go? There were only two continents left on this earth, and one of them wanted both of their heads.
Airess swallowed. If they were cast out of Rune, it would be a death sentence.
A means to their end. She looked up to the sun and prayed they would be accepted, prayed they would make it through.
Airess sat in silence the rest of the boat ride to shore. She propped up Taryn’s body as best as she could so he was leaning on her. It was as if he was asleep, his body normal, but his mind gone.
She grabbed his hand and whispered, “Please, wake up Taryn. We finally made it to your home.”
When they docked, Ismene barked orders in Runean to the soldiers on deck. They grabbed Airess by the arm and one Fae male flung Taryn over his shoulders with force. Airess tried her best to find the specific words to convey her worry. “Careful. Please.”
The Fae soldiers snickered at her broken Runean as she was escorted off the ship and to the dock–the same dock she had dreamwalked to when she saw Taryn’s past memory the night before the engagement ball.
Her eyes darted to the Waterborne Fae upon the docks, using their hands to guide water from the ocean and into the buckets nearby.
It was moments like these where she started to wonder just how sentient the Dreamworld was, to show her Rune for the first time right before her escape from Luciena.
Airess knew it had to be deeper than that. She didn’t believe in coincidences.
They held onto the rope tied to her wrists as they escorted her by foot through the streets of Rune.
Everything was different here.
Shops and restaurants lined the streets, the scent of spices she hadn’t ever smelled before filled the air, burning her nostrils.
The town was clean, the buildings a light cream.
The windows were just a circular opening in the buildings, not a single glass pane in sight.
Layers of different colored curtains hung at the entrances of each building acting as a wall or a divider, as if these people did not need doors.
The architecture was very open–and so was the fashion.
Men and women wore significantly less clothing than they did in Luciena. The females primarily wore wrapped tops with matching slitted skirts and flowing pants. Everyone wore sandals here, an odd shoe Airess had never seen before but heard of in her schooling years.
The men had similar flowing pants and hardly wore any shirts at all.
Some wore loose tunics or sleeveless shirts that showed off their chest and arms muscles.
The men wore armbands, the copper metal reflecting the sun.
They also wore different colored threads in their hair, and all of them wore similar earrings to the one Taryn wore.
The people here had darker skin of varying shades, and there was a certain lightness in the air here she hadn’t felt before in a community.
It certainly was hot and humid, and Airess quickly gathered the reasoning for the lack of clothing.
She felt their stares as they passed by. Some looked at her with curiosity, others disdain. One Fae male stared at her greedily, his eyes traveling up and down her body, as if he was trying to assert some sort of possessiveness over her.
“Almost there,” said Ismene, breaking Airess from her thoughts.
They approached a dome-shaped building, much larger than the other buildings. It was the temple, Airess realized.
The temple was white on the outside, but as they walked through the front doors, she realized just how sacred this building truly was.
Airess could feel an energy radiating from down the hallway that they currently were walking down.
The hallways were painted with Runean text and elemental symbols, going down the corridor as far as Airess could see.
“What happened to him?” Ismene asked as they rushed down a hall of the temple.
“An Oathmark,” Airess started. “Taryn has an Oathmark on his right arm. The man he was Marked to used it before he was killed. Taryn’s fatigue slowly increased in the hours we escaped to get here.”
They rounded a corner, and two individuals opened twin doors for them as they barrelled forward.
The energy Airess felt upon entering the temple hit her body in waves, and she was immediately drawn to the largest hearth she had ever seen in the middle of the room.
In the center of the hearth were roseate-colored flames, so pink she thought she was looking at the sunset.
If Airess wasn’t so focused on making sure Taryn was okay, she would have stopped to admire such an oddity.
Rows of benches surrounded the hearth, and a cluttered desk sat in the corner. Airess realized this must be the sanctuary.
The soldiers rested Taryn on the table and left the room. Ismene walked around Taryn and rested her hands on his chest with her eyes closed. “Hm.” She stood there for some time, analyzing him, resting her palm on his forehead, his temples, his heart.
“Which tattoo is the Oathmark?”
Airess pointed to the dragon tattoo that started on his bicep. Ismene gripped his arm and hissed, yanking her hand back. She muttered something in Runean before taking a step back. “This is forbidden Magick.”
Airess' heart pounded. “Will he live?”
Ismene looked from Taryn to the fyre with a contemplative look.
Finally, she said. “His spirit isn’t too far gone, but we are running out of time.
The Black Magick has seized his spirit and cast him into the void of his own mind.
But, if my theory is correct, he will live if we sever him from the Oathmark. ”
“Sever him from the Oathmark? The person he was Marked to is dead.”
Ismene shook her head, “It’s not that easy to dispel witchcraft. It lives on, as their soul does. Even in death, a spirit can control the Oathmark.”
Horror thrummed through her as Ismene walked to the hearth and swept her hands through the pink flames. When she returned to Taryn’s side, she held the flames in the palm of her hand with ease. “Can you conjure?” Ismene asked.
“Conjure what? My Light Magick?”