33. Raithe
Raithe
“We are breaking so many laws,” Felaf called to me, her Pegasus Echo parallel from Cobalt as we soared through the cloudless night sky.
To most ears, her voice would have been lost to the air whizzing by us as we flew.
“I know the circumstances surrounding her Choosing are unique,” she continued.
“But what we’re doing is against protocol. As is leaving Novah unguarded.”
“She’ll be fine.”
“What if Maryn finds out we’re leaving the queendom?”
“We can’t ask King Zephyr for permission into his territory without supervision.
Doing so would have ramifications for Rahzlyn’s true identity.
Sometimes being a guardian isn’t merely standing watch, obeying commands, and winning tournaments.
It’s about doing what’s best for your queendom, no matter the risk. ”
Ahead, a single stationary cloud floated. The arch to Gemini loomed within it. Felaf slowed Echo to fall behind Cobalt and me into a single line. Their wings flapped, and all at once, we were transported into the familiar windy skies of Gemini.
“Shit,” I cursed, catching sight of a patrol on a Hippogriff not far into the distant morning skies. “We need to get closer to the Barrier.”
Two unapproved guardians in another’s territory was treason. We needed to get Rahzlyn’s grandparents as quickly as possible.
Cobalt and Echo dipped at our commanding reins.
I relished in the free fall as Rahzlyn’s exhilarated smile sprung from memory.
My stomach flipped with adrenaline. The wind howled at our ears as we raced through heaps of clouds toward the Barrier.
We used a storm cloud for cover, bracing against the rain.
“I don’t think they saw us,” Felaf called as the rain pelted us. Echo’s yellow mane flattened against his neck in the same manner as Felaf’s braids. Baring her face to the water, she sighed. “I’ve missed this.”
The storm thankfully didn’t produce ice pellets.
At certain altitudes they could be dangerous—and painful, especially for skybeasts.
“It’ll be another few hours before we make it to Dioscuri.
It’s not only us we have to worry about.
We don’t know what the apostai have planned since Rahzlyn’s disappearance. ”
“Why would they be after her or her family?”
“Because they need the Black Rose for their twisted purpose of stealing a talisman. That, and they probably fear she’ll spill some of their secrets.”
“Speaking of secrets, why did you not trust me with the truth from the beginning?”
“Gregorios saw me in his dream, Felaf,” I said. “We had to act quickly and with discretion. I don’t know what else to tell you.”
I pointed in the distance to a skyland shrouded in clouds. A river wound through it and turned into a waterfall streaming over the edge. “There’s a small, uninhabited floating isle not far off. We’ll land there and rest until nightfall.”
We arrived outside Rahzlyn’s apothecary garden when darkness finally descended.
After tying Cobalt and Echo to the trunk of an oak tree, we walked on foot to inspect the town’s perimeter and noted every window and door that had a vantage point where someone could be watching.
The skyland was rather large for such a small town, leaving quite a bit of land between many of the residences, shops, and hills.
A storm had recently blown through, cooling the air. Our boots squashed along the path we walked, the greenery around us pungently damp. With our hoods up, we tapped into our senses to ensure no footsteps, voices, or strange smells followed us.
As we approached the familiar two-story shop, two separate heartbeats sounded from within. That was a good sign.
Through the windows, the first story of the shop was large and blooming, with potted and hanging plants everywhere. Given the size of this property and surrounding gardens, the taxes must have been monstrous.
While every territory had Academies dedicated to the art of healing and botany, it was rather uncommon for someone to succeed in the trade outside of the three earth queendoms. Capricorn, Taurus, and Virgo were known for their lush skylands, prosperous soils, and skilled healers.
The skin on the back of my neck pebbled.
Someone watches.
I scanned the starlit garden, the rest of the town behind, and the hills ahead. Most townsfolk were fast asleep, tucked inside their homes.
“Do you hear anything?” I whispered. “Anyone else?”
“It’s just us.” Felaf paused. “And a bunch of crickets. Everyone’s sleeping.”
Someone watches.
The unsettling words hummed in my mind again. An uneasy feeling lingered, one I couldn’t shake. “We’re not alone. Someone is—”
A blasting force punctured the suspended silence. Scorching heat followed by a wall of green flames erupted from the apothecary. Screams echoed as smoke billowed from the explosion.
I gaped at the fiery bursts of green that soared into the sky. Fumes poured from every window. It was an all-too-similar painting of the nightmare that had stalked me from my childhood. A memory of an unbearable calamity I never wanted to see again.
Felaf yanked at my arm. “Come on, Raithe! We have to get them!”
The flames burned past the mental shields I’d erected after all these years.
“Raithe!” Felaf yelled from up ahead.
Inhaling a smoke-filled breath, I reminded myself I wasn’t trapped in the past. The roaring flames were real and present. Pulled from my stupor, I charged after Felaf and inside the blazing home.
It was hard to tell where the explosion had originated from. Searing heat pelted our skin.
“Move carefully!” I ordered Felaf. The roaring around us drowned out my voice. Hasty movements could crumble whatever stability remained of the structure.
“Help!” a woman called in Geminian. Upstairs, where the heartbeats emanated from.
My legs carried me swiftly as I held my breath to keep the smoke from entering into my lungs. I squinted against the burn. Her grandparents were trapped in one of the rooms.
“Iris! Elias!” I called as I kicked down the door that had gotten jammed shut. My stomach sank at the sight that followed. A beam meant to support the ceiling above had collapsed on an elderly woman—Iris, Rahzlyn’s grandmother. The floor of the second story groaned beneath our feet.
“Oh no,” Felaf whispered.
Blood oozed from Iris’s mouth. The wooden structure pierced right through her middle, pinning her in place. It was miraculous that she was still alive.
“My husband…” She pointed as I neared her. He lay crumpled at her side, a nasty gash in his head. His heart was still beating.
“We need to get you both out of here,” Felaf said in the Geminian tongue.
Iris coughed up a significant amount of blood. The walls around us trembled. Our window for escape narrowed drastically with each second that passed.
“Felaf, get the grandfather out of here now. We’ll be right behind you.”
If I moved the beam impaling Iris, she was sure to bleed out.
Her glazed eyes tracked Felaf before they disappeared. Then they slid to mine. “Who are you?”
“That doesn’t matter right now.”
“Where are my grandchildren? Are they safe?”
“Yes.” The lie was only partial, but it seemed wrong to break her with the truth in her final moments. She was not going to leave this place alive.
“Good,” she said weakly. Her heart slowed, failing to pump the little blood left in her body. Rahzlyn was never going to see her grandmother again. “Make sure you tell them… that no one can know who we are.”
“Who? The apostai?” I gripped her wrinkled hands. “Is that who you are?”
Her eyes shuttered. “Leave me here. They shouldn’t see me like this.”
Cinders fell from the ceiling overhead, narrowly missing us. We didn’t have much time, and as much as I wanted answers from her, I knew there was only one thing left to be said. “Your granddaughter wanted me to tell you she’s sorry.”
She wheezed, a tear sliding down her cheek. She lifted a finger, pointing behind me. Regret flashed in her hazel eyes before dulling. “The watch… They must keep it safe.”
Heed the watch, my intuition reiterated.
And then she whispered, “Cosmo, my twin flame. I’ll see you… soon.”
With a shuddering breath, her eyelids gently shut.
Iris was gone.
“May the Astrals guide you in your next life,” I murmured, staring at her lifeless body a few seconds longer. It felt wrong to leave her, but that had been her wish.
I ventured across the hall before the whole building was gone too.
In another room, a gaping, smoky hole where a wall once was now gave way to the night sky.
On the remaining wall, a hand-drawn map of Gaianos was now aflame.
I coughed into my arm, searching the room for a watch.
A nightstand collapsed. Shattered perfume bottles, mismatched jewelry, and charred scarves scattered to the broken floor beams.
It wasn’t cinders and smoke that flooded my senses. Something saccharine lingered—warm and familiar. Almond. I envisioned Rahzlyn growing up here, once a girl and now a woman. This space was sacred to her, and like the rest of her life, was now blown apart.
There.
Mixed with the fragments of her broken artifacts rested a golden watch. I snatched it from the rubble and skimmed the rest of the room. This house’s exterior was stone, but almost everything inside was flammable.
I searched beneath what I guessed to be Basil’s bed. I broke the lock on a trunk filled with all sorts of books and oddities. He had at least five different stacks of tarot cards and small, lesser gemstones used for luck and good fortune.
“Raithe.” Felaf uttered the words from outside. “We need to leave!”
“Coming.”
The spine of one book stuck out to me. My finger ran over a set of lines embedded in gold. XIII.
Thirteen, my mind hummed, as if it recognized the symbol.
I flipped through the pages to find them blank. Despite its empty contents, the book was important enough for me to take. There was more to the Aritis than perhaps even Rahzlyn knew. The grandmother was gone, but if the grandfather lived, I was willing to bet he could reveal a thing or two.
“Raithe, come on!”
When I cleared the fiery building, my breaths were deep and exalting. I surveyed the outskirts of the panicked grounds for Felaf. Locals had rushed to the fiery scene.
A distinct scent tickled my senses, one I’d undoubtedly encountered before. I tracked it around to the side of the apothecary. The smell was buried beneath a layer of rubble, growing stronger as I dug. Until finally a familiar face appeared, dusted with soot and blood.
In disbelief, I crouched down to stare at the unconscious figure. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”