24. Rahzlyn
Rahzlyn
I was dead. I had to be.
I thought death meant peace, not fiery pain that ravaged my entire body. Air-ruled kingdoms believed our souls turned into stars after death, placed in the sky for eternity. That would certainly explain the burning.
Willing my eyes to open, I tugged at my fading memory. A coppery taste lingered in my mouth. As my vision cleared, bright gold stars sparkled across an indigo sky above.
I reached up to trace the familiar constellation of Andromeda, only my hand didn’t oblige, weighted by restraints. My neck craned at an awkward angle as my body came into view. An unfamiliar black dress blanketed me. A leather band wrapped around my ankles and hands, binding them together.
I was definitely not a star. Fire-ruled kingdoms believed if one lived a valiant life in the good graces of the Astrals, they would join them in the afterlife.
Only dark, twisted souls were said to live on in the painful pits of the underworld.
I was far from perfect and hadn’t given credence to Gemini in a long time.
Surely the deeds I’d done in my short, simple life hadn’t warranted such agony.
Maybe the earth-ruled queendoms were right, and I’d returned as a plant. Or maybe, as the water-ruled queendoms believed, I was in the process of reincarnating into another life. Another body.
Panic seized me into motion. I shot upright, realizing I wasn’t outside under a night sky but in a vast room with a domed ceiling painted to mirror it. I shoved my feet and wrists out of the bindings relatively easily. My pain was momentarily forgotten as I searched the grand space in desperation.
A door groaned open. A woman with cropped purple hair entered the room dressed in a simple black dress, carrying a tray. “Hi,” I croaked, surprised by the weakness of my voice.
The woman stopped abruptly. Her eyes widened. She said nothing.
I cleared my throat, then waved the leather wraps at her. “Are you able to explain these?”
She only stared.
Well, then. “Given the color black is everywhere, I assume I’m in Scorpio. I’m apparently needed by your seer.” I hopped to my feet. “I need… to… oh.” The blood rushed from my head too quickly. My vision darkened as I fell backwards onto plush cushioning.
Metal crashed against the floor, and moments later the purple-haired woman hovered above me with a displeased frown. Her lips moved, but a faint ringing filled my ears. Everything spun.
Purple Hair was suddenly joined by a fierce woman with tightly braided blonde hair cascading down both shoulders.
She bore a black, sleeveless leather top fitted to her bodice with capped shoulders.
Gold scorpion pins decorated a draping black cloak attached to the collar.
It was an elegant yet intimidating uniform unlike anything I’d ever seen.
A uniform fit for a guardian, I determined, given the sun symbol in the center of her forehead. Her eyes were the same shade of gold as the man who brought me here, though her face was considerably softer than his. She exuded strength in a way that made me feel at ease.
As the ringing subsided, I realized both women were speaking. I could only discern the words “safe” and “hurt.”
“You’re in Scorpio,” the guardian said clearly. I wasn’t losing my mind. She looked at Purple Hair and held up a single finger at me, encouraging me to wait. She returned shortly with a smile on her face. In her hands, she held a familiar quartz crystal necklace.
“Here, sit up and put this on.” She reached for me, gesturing to sit up. “It might help with future conversations to come.”
I leaned onto my side. A bark of pain shot up my arms as I pushed upright. “That’s a communica, right? I was wearing one earlier.”
“With it you’ll be able to understand anything we say, as we will understand you,” the guardian explained once the necklace was placed.
“Communicas are more accurate the larger the quartz is cut, hence why they are mostly worn as necklaces. All stones, lesser or talismanic, are activated by metal, so that’s why stones are often worn as jewelry, rather than simply held in your hand—”
“How about,” Purple Hair interrupted the guardian’s rambling, “introducing yourself first before spewing the entire history of common and lesser stones?”
She grinned fondly at Purple Hair before looking back at me. “My name is Felaf, and this chipper woman is Letti. She’s been taking care of you.”
“I’m Rahzlyn.” I glanced at Letti, a lithe woman with fair skin and narrow eyes. Upon further observation, her hair appeared as vibrant as a lilac. A beautiful color, and one I’d never seen on hair before. “I suppose these bindings were courtesy of you?”
She scowled in response.
Felaf knelt beside the cushioned chair. “Don’t mind her. She’s all bark with little bite.”
“Comforting. Can either of you tell me what’s happened? The last thing I remember is flying on the back of a Pegasus with an insufferable guardian.”
“It’s been a few days since you arrived. Two, in fact,” Felaf said. “Letti says you’ve been in and out of consciousness, but it seems this is the first time you are awake. The bindings were to keep you from scratching your wounds as they start to heal, which you were doing quite often.”
“Arrived where? What is this place?”
“The royal Scorpion palace,” Felaf said proudly.
“Specifically, the royal observatory. Apologies for the inadequate sleeping arrangement. We needed to keep your arrival quiet and couldn’t risk moving you to the royal chambers just yet.
Maryn is going to lose her mind soon enough once she finds out about you. ”
So the language they’d been speaking was Scorpion. I suspected as much based on the slower and melodic pronunciation. Pahn had taught us the foundations of the other languages, but it had been a long time since I’d put any of them to practice.
“If I’m here, then where is he?” I demanded. “The guardian who brought me here.”
“Ah, Raithe. He’ll be back shortly. The sun is out, you see,” she said, pointing at the large glass window. “Solar guardians are required to stand watch during daylight. As soon as the sun sets, Raithe will join us. Though you’re safe in here due to the Astrals’ magic that wards this room.”
“Safe… from what?”
“Oh, all kinds of threats now that you’re a—”
Letti nudged Felaf sharply as if in disapproval of all she shared with me. I cast aside my confusion about wards and why Raithe would be in trouble when he so adamantly claimed he was tasked with bringing me here.
“I would like a word with your seer,” I said instead of asking any of the questions tickling my tongue.
“Of course, but I must insist you stay horizontal. You lost a bit of blood. A lot of blood. More blood than most. You almost died—”
Letti waved her hands, furiously shushing Felaf.
“Blood?” I frowned. “Is that why I feel so drained? And my skin…” I winced, glancing down at the dark nightgown. The sleeves were long and loose, with the hem of the skirt covering my toes.
Felaf cursed. “Gregorios warned me not to share too much too soon if you woke up without him nearby. It can be a lot to process. I’ll alert him that you’re awake. But I must insist you stay—”
“Horizontal,” I said. “Noted.”
Felaf nodded, dipping her head gracefully at me before crossing the expanse of the room.
I ignored the odd parting gesture. With her gone, I hissed and swung my legs to the ground and examined the room, even more overwhelmed by the burgundy furniture, lavish rugs, and potted plants dispersed across an immaculately black mosaic floor.
Candles of all shapes, sizes, and dark colors glowed atop stacks of books and piles of scattered papers and maps.
At the center of the room, an ornate golden contraption turned in a circular motion amidst other gadgets, reminding me of the planets and stars in orbit.
Despite my foreign surroundings, I found the room oddly comforting.
“She told you to stay down.” Letti’s first words to me were terse and befitting of her scowling features. “You don’t listen very well, do you?”
I raised my brows in response. “Can you tell me what’s happened?”
She gestured down to my clothed body. “Not very observant, either.”
Anticipation frayed my nerves. My temples pounded as I pushed the sleeve of my right arm back. All I could do was stare.
And stare.
And stare some more.
My arm was littered with lacerations freshly carved into my skin.
With trembling fingers, I lifted the skirt of the nightgown to find the same was true for my feet, legs, belly, and everywhere else pain radiated.
The harder I stared, the more the scars didn’t appear random.
They were celestial, mirroring constellations connected by lines and varying shapes.
I’d been too dazed to notice those same formations on my hands after waking up.
“The language of the stars,” I whispered. Glyphs.
The doors to the observatory opened.
My breath hitched as the guardian who uprooted me from my life sauntered in, taking up all the air in the room.
Our eyes collided. He’d changed since I last saw him.
He now wore a black uniform like Felaf’s, with a billowing cape trailing from his shoulders.
His muscled arms folded across an armored vest sculpted to his sharply defined chest, his glyphs unmistakable.
“You’re awake,” he observed.
“No thanks to you.”
“You believe I did this?”
“I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”
He sighed. “I thought we’d moved past this.”
Felaf regarded us with amusement. “Are you certain you’ve shared all that’s transpired during your travels, Raithe?”
“I’ve told you all there is to know,” he remarked indifferently. His eyes landed on Letti skeptically. “Nothing else of consequence.”
Felaf lowered her voice. “Speaking of consequences…”
“I will bear the punishment for us both.” Raithe cast his gaze back at me. “You might want to save your energy and stop thinking of ways to rip my head off.”