Chapter 31
Thirty-One
Imust be insane. It’s the only plausible explanation for why I’m following Stryx under the cover of darkness over the sky bridge to Eidravelle.
The dawn light is starting to peek out through the Veil by the time we approach the forbidden sky bridge on the other side.
The doors to Lunoreth have been shut for a century, no one coming in, no one coming out.
Until Stryx.
Yet, as we walk up to the crumbling archway that looms over the dilapidated bridge leading to the prohibited quarter, I can’t help but wonder how she managed it.
A century’s worth of dust clings to every surface of the archway and beyond, the only disturbance caused by the occasional bird or rat.
The plaque on the arch that has been inscribed with Lunoreth’s name is crumbling to the point where it’s almost illegible, and the wooden slats that make up the bridge look like they would disintegrate the second someone steps on them.
Far off in the darkness, the faint outline of the huge door to Lunoreth is visible through the mist, looking firmly, aggressively locked.
We pause as we approach the arch and I give Stryx a slightly terrified, pointed look. “You can absolutely forget it. I would rather be sentenced to the Voyd for an eternity than risk stepping foot on that.”
She chuckles. “It’s a bit of luck there’s another way in then, isn’t it?”
I glance back and forth between my friend and the undoubtedly impenetrable walls of Lunoreth, ultimately coming to the conclusion that at some point today, I must have hit my head and entered another dimension.
I should be working this case, trying to find Vesper’s killer, not chasing some fanatical prophecy I’ve never heard of before.
Stryx looks at me like she can tell what I’m thinking and she smiles softly, holding out her hand. “It’s okay. We’re not abandoning the case. We will get the answers we need and come straight back, I promise. This is important, and if I’m right, it could even be connected to the murders.”
I pause, then huff a resigned sigh, taking her offered hand. “Please don’t make me regret this.”
To my utter relief, Stryx doesn’t lead me through the archway, instead walking past it and leading me to the wall surrounding the edge of Eidravelle. My relief is short-lived, though, when she releases my hand and starts to climb over the damn wall.
“Stryx, what in the Voyd are you doing?” I hiss, frantically looking around to ensure we are alone whilst trying to pull her back. “It’s a two hundred foot fall on the other side!”
She breaks free from my grip easily, swinging her leg over the wall and straddling it, her bare feet swinging back and forth merrily like she’s not one slip away from falling to her death.
“And there was me thinking I was the reckless one,” I mutter to myself.
“Have you never wondered what’s below the city?” she asks, trying to mask the amusement spreading across her face as she watches me panic.
“Too many crimes to deal with up here for me to worry about what’s down there,” I say, though I’d be lying if I said the thought hadn’t crossed my mind once or twice.
“There’s a matrix of tunnels and caves below us, some of them leading to the catacombs that lie under the Memosyne,” she whispers, her eyes darting about the shadows around us.
My breath catches. “You can’t be serious. There’s no way something like that could be kept secret.”
She shrugs with a lopsided smile. “Come see for yourself.”
She holds a hand out for me again and my heart races.
Even if my joints weren’t as weak as they are, this would still be the stupidest idea I’ve ever had.
But the mischievous spark in Stryx’s eyes makes curiosity burn so brightly within me that I simply can’t ignore it.
So, with one last prayer to the Gods, I take her hand and haul myself up onto the wall beside her.
The second I look over the top I instantly regret it.
Jump.
Of course my Shadow thinks this is an appropriate time to harass me.
I take deep breaths and mentally count to ten repeatedly, trying to calm my heart rate so I can push him out of my head.
Thankfully, he doesn’t persist this time, and I take it as a rare win.
He still lingers in my periphery, but for now, he stays silent. Thank the Gods.
The wind howls around us, snatching at my cloak and tearing strands of my hair loose from under my hood.
From behind me, the city of Eidravelle is a glittering crescent of light and smoke, but ahead, nothing but the yawning abyss of Lake Voyd looks up at me, black and bottomless, its surface faintly rippling with reflected, murky moonlight.
My head swims dangerously as my vision doubles and my stomach lurches as I look down at the perilous drop. “This is insane,” I hiss through gritted teeth. “Utterly, completely insane.”
Stryx, already halfway over the lip of the wall, gives me a crooked grin. “This is the only way. That door has been shut for a hundred years, and it’s not opening for anyone. Besides, you were the one that asked for a way of getting in without being seen.”
“I said subtle, not suicidal.”
“Semantics,” Stryx argues with a smirk, then begins her descent.
The wall is sheer, its smooth stone slick with condensation from the ever-present mist. I swallow hard, following Styx’s lead and lowering myself over the edge, my boots scraping against ancient, narrow handholds.
Every gust of wind feels like a shove, every flicker of light above like a reminder of how far we could fall.
My pulse roars in my ears mercilessly. “Remind me again why we live on a floating deathtrap?”
“Because mortals like drama?” Stryx calls up from below, her voice echoing faintly. “Now stop complaining and move your hands, or you’ll find out what the lake looks like up close.”
I mutter a curse under my breath and keep going, my fingers aching already, my breath quick and shallow. The drop stretches endlessly beneath me, dizzying and dark, threatening to swallow me if I stare too long.
Halfway down, Stryx shifts slightly to the side and points with her chin. “There—see that shadow in the wall? That’s the opening.”
I squint, spotting a narrow cleft in the rock face, barely visible through the drifting mist. It looks far too small to fit through, let alone crawl into, but I’ve come too far to argue now.
We reach the ledge beside it, but as I take the last step, my knee gives way and my boot slips. A cry tears from my throat as my grip loosens, and for a heart-stopping moment, there is only the rush of air and the gaping black below.
“Stryx!”
In a blink, blue light flares around us. Ribbons of silver-blue magic shoot from Stryx’s hands, wrapping around my body like living threads, halting my fall as I lose all contact with the wall. Pain lances up my leg as I dangle, gasping.
“Got you,” Stryx says tightly, straining with the effort of pulling me up. “Try not to flail so much next time.”
“I’ll try not to die next time,” I snap, breathless, clawing for purchase as Stryx hauls me over the ledge. We collapse side by side, chests heaving, the echo of my scream still thrumming between us.
Stryx smirks faintly, brushing dust off her sleeve. “You know, for someone who’s half Echofae, you’re not very graceful.”
I shoot her a glare. “Or maybe next time, we could use magic to get down, seeing as that was clearly an option.”
She chuckles. “I was trying to be subtle. But seeing as we are hidden now, there’s no point in me hiding anymore.”
A breath later she shifts into her Irithys form, her size adapting to the tight space we currently occupy. I slowly clamber to my feet and peer round her into the darkness of the tunnel ahead. “Does this really lead to catacombs?”
Her ethereal voice appears in my mind. “Yes, but we won’t be venturing that way today. Or ever. It’s a labyrinth down there, and if you got lost, no one would be able to find you again.”
“Well, that’s comforting,” I mutter to myself, turning back round to gaze out of the tunnel mouth at the inky blackness beyond. “Where do we go from here then?”
She floats past me and hovers over the ledge, her ears twitching back and forth as she grows a little in size. “This way.”
I narrow my eyes. She’s officially lost her mind. “Stryx, I thought we already went over the whole ‘two hundred foot drop’ issue?”
Her laughter echoes through my head as I limp over to the edge, once again regretting my actions the second I peer over at the view below.
A breath of cold air sweeps upward from the abyss, pulling at me as I stare out into the gaping void.
The city wall we climbed down is now a jagged line high above us, swallowed by the endless dark.
My stomach turns as I edge closer, and I instinctively leap back again, anxiety getting the better of me as my Shadow looms too close.
Stryx, however, looks entirely at ease, though I imagine one tends to lose a fear of heights when they have the ability to fly and save themselves from such a perilous death. A trait I’m certainly not envious of. At all.
Blue light ripples over her body like water catching moonlight as she floats gracefully at my side, watching me expectantly.
“You can’t be serious,” I breathe, staring down at the endless drop beneath us. “You expect me to–”
“Trust me,” Stryx interrupts gently, her great head lowering until her blue eyes meet mine. “There’s no other way across. And…this is not something I offer lightly.”
I blink, the weight of her statement sinking in as I realise what she means.
To ride an Irithys is not only forbidden in their culture, it’s unthinkable, but the sincerity in Stryx’s gaze silences any protest begging to be wrought from my lips.
She floats closer to me, dipping her head, and after a shaky breath, I climb gingerly onto her back, gripping the smooth, cold scales that seem to pulse faintly beneath my hands.