Chapter 46 #2
Not when he did.
Yomira screeched as he climbed onto the baluster and stood. The wyvern’s shifting weight threw the ship left to right. Rod! Rod! Stop! Yomira snagged the back of his shirt and yanked him down.
“I won’t leave her!”
I’m coming with you! she rumbled.
“No!” he shouted, freeing his shirt from her teeth. “The watchmen will see you. We don’t know what kind of magic they can use. Stay here, and when the ship gets close enough to Valeria, fly as many stones as you can back to Balcott. Millicent needs you.”
Yomira gave him a pleading look, bringing her head beside him. He patted her nares and smiled sadly, then shared a thought only for her.
You saved me from falling. You heard me when no one else could, even when I tried to hide it. Every second I’ve lived after that, I have you to thank you for.
Tears bubbled in Yomira’s ruby eye as she stared at him, grumbling with sorrow. Millicent may be my sister, but you are my brother.
He gave her nares one last pat. I can think of no greater honor.
“Sir.” Octavio had a stalwart expression, but his glassy eyes betrayed him. He held up a leather pack and Roderick’s rapier. “You’re going to need these.”
Roderick grasped Octavio’s hand and pulled him in for a hug. “Thank you for being there for me.” Octavio patted his back the way all knights did when they embraced. Roderick appraised him as they separated, then shouldered the pack and sheathed his rapier. “Take care of Lady Rowan.”
Roderick cast a glance at Lady Rowan, who was still poring over Anya’s letter with tears streaming down her cheeks.
Bernard put a firm hand on his shoulder. “You’re coming back.”
“And your pack will be waiting,” Ornella added. “There will always be a place for you here. Both of you.”
Words failed him as he took the whole crew in one last time.
Then he swallowed hard, nodded, and climbed back onto the baluster, watching the cliff side get closer and closer.
Water gushed between the rocks and the belly of the ship below.
The land jutted out on either side of the ship, with no room for error.
If he misstepped, he would be dragged between the ship and the rocky wall.
But if he timed it right, he could roll onto the land and disappear into the forest before the watchmen noticed.
With a tight grip on the ropes, he steadied his footing and jumped.
His stomach flipped as the chasm passed beneath him, then tensed the moment his shoulder slammed the dirt.
“Wait, where are you going!?” Lady Rowan shouted, leaning over the baluster.
“I’m staying with Anya!”
“Then I’m coming with you!”
Lady Rowan shakily climbed onto the baluster, skirts billowing in the wind.
“I’ll catch you. I’m coming too!” Octavio jumped, then turned back to catch Lady Rowan. They tumbled to the ground together.
As the ship met the Gates of Hav, the kelpie released the seaweed ropes, braying and gnashing until the bronze gates slammed shut behind the Lupus Star and echoed through the fjord.
They walked in stoic silence for several minutes before Roderick said, “I hope no one’s having second thoughts.”
“Never,” Octavio said resolutely. “I’m with you, sir.” He gave Roderick a solid pat on the shoulder.
“Me too!” Lady Rowan nodded. “I’m not letting Anya marry some pompous prince.”
There was nothing but determination in their eyes. How could he have ever doubted their friendship? He wanted to hug them, thank them, but now wasn’t the time.
“We aren’t that far from Solenergi. The bed was cold when I woke up, so Anya must be there by now. And since Isen wasn’t back yet, we might be able to catch him.”
“How will he see us? He’ll be flying above all this fog.” Lady Rowan swatted the mist.
“No one will bat an eye at a little magic, will they?” Octavio twiddled his fingers, sending a silver ball of magic into the air. A mighty roar replied in the distance.
“Keep it up!” Roderick cheered. “He’s close!”
Roderick whistled the same call he had at the base of the mountain yesterday, eliciting another roar.
“Isen!” he called, waving his hands.
Octavio grunted with effort, and the ball of magic flared brighter.
“We’re down here!” Lady Rowan shouted, jumping up and down as if it would magnify her dainty voice.
The mist whipped around them, clearing momentarily before Isen touched down with a thump. His icy blue eyes immediately locked on Roderick.
“Roderick! Thank the skies, the Princess, she—”
Roderick set a hand on his snout. “I know. We’re going to get her back.”
Isen flattened himself on the ground, and they all climbed onto his back. “We have to hurry. She’s being married to the Prince before sunrise!”
Lady Rowan gasped. “So soon? How do you know?”
“The Prince came to greet her and enchant me to pass over the wall again. He said there was a lot to do before sunrise—before the binding ceremony.”
Roderick took a deep breath, focusing on the rush of air in his lungs.
Isen was right. The ceremony was imminent.
He swore he could feel Anya’s breath shaking with ragged sobs as if it were his own.
A heartache-driven delusion? Perhaps. But he was ready to follow his heart straight to the pits of hell for Anya.
As they lofted over the mist, his face paled. The sun was already peeking over the horizon.
Hold on, love.
I’ll be there soon.
A deluge of rain and lightning forced them to land outside of Solenergi, deep in the pine forest scarfing the mountains. The storm darkened the sky, the horizon, and made the fog so dense Roderick couldn’t tell where the sun was. Everything was conspiring against him.
“I can keep going if we wait it out,” Isen said, breathing hard like a fireplace bellows.
“No. I’ll go on foot. You all stay here.” He slid down the dragon’s shoulder, then took off to the north. Or at least, he thought.
He heard Lady Rowan and Octavio’s fading shouts behind him, but he kept running.
Rain pelted against his face, the rivulets slipping around his eyes into the corners to blur his vision.
Through the wind, through the rain, he ignored every thorn that ripped his skin.
Anya’s breaths had begun to even out, like she was putting on her diplomatic mask for the final show.
“I’m coming,” he pleaded. “Hold on, just hold on!”
Time became immeasurable. The forest only thickened the further he went, crashing and shoving his way through needled, sappy branches and thickets of thorns.
Overhead, the canopy became so dense he couldn’t see a sliver of sky.
But he could feel her. He could still feel her.
But was she getting closer? Farther? Or was he?
The burning in his lungs forced him to slow, gulping air as he took in his surroundings. Despair seized him. The tree in front of him was familiar, with its knotty hollow and birds’ nest practically dripping twigs and dried grass down its eave.
I’m going in circles.
Twigs snapped as he fell to his knees. The voices seized the moment, twisting up from the forest floor and seeping into the hairline cracks forming in his heart.
You’re too late, they hissed.
You’re useless.
Helpless.
You’re a failure as a knight,
and even worse as a mate.
“I’ll do anything for her,” he cried, “Anything. Anything…”
Anything? an elegant voice asked, drowning out the vitriol. You’ve already done everything.
He straightened, searching for the source. “Who’s there?”
You know me. But more importantly, I know you. I know Anya.
“Help me get to her,” he begged. “Please. She’s the blood in my veins, the breath in my lungs. I…I can’t live without her.”
I know, the voice said. Then two luminous red eyes popped open ahead of him.
A Centarian? A Vampire?
Roderick rose and took a bold step forward. “Are you one of my people?”
I belong to everyone; here and beyond the glacial wall.
The earthy scent of decaying underbrush vanished as a giant white wolf emerged from the fog, lush grass, flowers, and pink blossoms bursting from the forest floor with every light, elegant step it took.
You have come to know me by one name. Your mate, another.
“Mother Moon,” Roderick breathed.
The wolf nodded.
Indeed. I am the Mother Moon, the Divine, the Great Spirits, the Father Sea. I am the wind in your sails and the salt of the sea, the stars in the sky and the light of the moon.
By the end of the sentence, the spirit was nearly nose to nose with him. Its crimson eyes bored into him as it spoke.
Are you truly willing to leave your wealth, your land, your home, your pack…for her?
He nodded. “I am.”
The wolf canted its head. Even if she has already married another?
He didn’t hesitate, falling to his knees and digging his fingers into the thick, white fur of the wolf’s chest. “Yes. I’ll love her from afar.
I’ll be her knight. I’ll hold fast to you until you bless us with more lifetimes.
I’ll pray she finds me. I’ll have nothing but faith.
Faith is enough. Faith is everything. Faith led me to her, to trust her, to show her my raw, unmasked spirit.
And it was worth all the pain, no matter what happens in this life.
Because all life’s imperfections led me to her. ”
And so they shall again. A pleased rumble vibrated in the wolf’s chest. Ethereal love was made for selfless hearts such as yours.
The wolf inhaled deeply, then breathed out the scent of spring from deep within, so sweet, bright, and brimming with life.
The fog cleared and the wind whistled through the trees, parting the canopy to reveal a rapidly bluing sky and puffy white clouds—and the sun halfway over the hills to the east.
Taking a few bounding steps toward Solenergi, the wolf turned its head back.
What are you waiting for?