Chapter Twenty Seven
Flight to Phaenon
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Various Locations, Droria.
Gedeon.
In the expanse of grassland a few miles from the border of Zarynth, Gedeon warmed his hands by the fire Tanwen had lit on the scraps of wood scattered around the landscape.
His cloak was strewn over Sunsi’s unconscious body in an attempt to keep her warm as she lay in the tall swaying grass, for night would soon be upon them and the chill of a Vrethian evening was an unfamiliar experience for them both.
He had been to the earth continent just once before, though it was not a visit he recalled with particular fondness.
He and Sekun had been sent there, on behalf of their mother, to track down an advisor of hers who had betrayed the crown in some way or another, and sought refuge from her wrath in Vrethian.
Gedeon had obeyed without question, not even bothering to ask what the man’s crime had been.
They’d tracked down the nobleman in a couple of days. He’d begged for his life from his knees as snot ran from his nose, mingling with the tears staining his face. It hadn’t stopped Gedeon from driving his longsword straight through his heart.
It had been too quick for Sekun’s liking.
He had wanted to taunt the man for a while, to lure him into a false pretence that his life might be spared, but Gedeon did not care for those cruel games.
He’d ended it as swiftly as possible, keen to get back to the comfort of home.
They’d left the body there for the earthlings to deal with and disappeared into the night, job done. Never thought of again.
Gedeon hardly recognised the dutiful prince from that memory. Young and blissfully ignorant, content in his own privilege without a thought for the world outside of those castle walls.
He hated himself for thinking it, but he almost envied that Gedeon now. It had been far easier to live in that ignorance, than be the traitorous nobody he was now.
A failure of a Warden and a prince.
Lost in self-deprecating thoughts, he didn’t hear Sunsi stir from her coma, noticing only when she was stood next to him, glaring into the dying fire.
Gedeon eyed the horrible purplish hand-shaped bruise around her throat. She tried to speak, then winced.
‘Don’t talk,’ Gedeon said softly. ‘And don’t touch it. It will be sore for a few days.’ She took a shaking breath and looked around, brow furrowing. ‘We’re in Vrethian,’ he explained. ‘Tanwen has gone to find us food. Once we have eaten, we will take to the skies again. To Nythanor.’
Sunsi took another breath, then looked pointedly away from him, pulling the cloak tight around her body. In the light of the flames, her eyes glistened with devastated tears.
‘I…’ she rasped, wincing with pain again but forcing the words out anyway, ‘I told… my father… I would look after… them.’ A fat tear rolled down her cheek. ‘I left them… behind.’
‘There was nothing you could have done differently, Sunsi,’ Gedeon said quietly. ‘They’ll be alright. Your father’s magic will hold strong. Sekun will not find them.’
Sunsi was not really listening. ‘If we… if you and I hadn’t…’ she stammered, but could not finish the sentence as emotion stole her voice away. She knelt before the fire’s embers and wept, and Gedeon could do nothing but watch as her body shuddered with racking sobs.
He did not know how to comfort her. No words of consolement would ever be enough. The bond that they once shared had been reconciled with one night of reckless passion. But it had been irrevocably crippled again by the consequences of that same, reckless passion.
Gedeon somehow knew that it was irreparable this time. Shattered.
So he stayed silent as Sunsi wept, and he prayed to the flames that Naal Westerra would hear his desperate plea for unity.
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I imagine the Eternals’ welcome will be as frosty as the land they call home when we land on their shores, Tanwen candidly mused to him as they flew over the Birlisuss Ocean hours later.
The sky was darkening with shadows born from the setting sun, the temperature dropping swiftly with each flap of Tanwen’s wings as they drew further and further northward.
Her brutal frankness and cynicism, for once, was something Gedeon was less than enthused to hear.
Sunsi’s arms were stiff around his midriff, and she held him with less intensity than she had before. As though she wished to be anywhere else in the world but there. She had not said another word since her lamenting outcry, and she seemed to deliberately avoid looking at him from then on.
Do you have a plan? Tanwen pressed.
Land in the plains to the west, as far from the Floating Mountains as possible. They will be on high alert after the attack on the city. On foot, we are less of a threat.
Guilt rose high in Gedeon’s throat. He shoved it down.
And then I suppose you beg the Air Warden for forgiveness? I would not be surprised if you are killed on sight. The attack on their capital was an abomination, Tanwen said.
She was pensive, not spiteful, yet it sat horribly with Gedeon. I do not need reminding, Tanwen.
It is good to be reminded. The Air Warden will sense a lack of remorse in you as swift as a dragon smells fresh blood.
I do not lack remorse, he tightly replied. It was quite the opposite, in fact, and before he knew it, his heart was opening with an admittance that he trusted only her to understand: I feel like… like it’s choking me, Tan. I cannot escape it.
I know, Tanwen replied. I see it in your eyes. But it is good, Gedeon. Choke on this guilt, let it submerge you for a while. When you find your freedom from it, your true self will at last be realised.
No more was said after that. No more needed to be said.
The air soon became bitterly cold, the only respite being that it was not snowing.
The shore was visible now, even with a wet evening fog obscuring a clear view of the white, graded north.
They were desperately under-equipped for Nythanor’s climate, and Gedeon began racking his brain as to how he and Sunsi would survive the trek to Phaenon.
Walking the harsh terrain was one thing: scaling the mountain was another.
His fire would be of no use, not with Sekun’s curse still rampant in his body. Perhaps Tanwen could track and kill a snowbear for them? Its fur would serve as thick cover from the icy air, and the butchered meat would be enough to keep their stomachs from emptying on the journey.
But would it be enough? Gedeon could not be sure how long it would take them.
‘Do you see that? Are they birds?’ Sunsi asked suddenly, her breath hot in his ear. He instantly followed her line of sight to the right, where through the mist at least five or six shapes moved in the sky.
He squinted, trying to make out the figures. As the seconds ticked by, they drew ever closer, and their feathered wings were unmistakable, flapping against the frigid air.
They were not birds.
Dive, Tanwen!
Through the mist the Eternals came flying, small in numbers yet ferocious in attack as they spearheaded toward them, each knocking arrows into bows of impervious metal, ready to cut down the intruders from the scaly back that held them.
In the centre of the formation was one Gedeon recognised, with hair as white as the snow of her lands, and an irrefutable expression of deadly rage.
Bow nocked. Ready to kill.
The Eternal’s arrow flew.
Swerve!
Tanwen obeyed his command. Sunsi let out a yelp of fright as she did. Tanwen, land! If we keep flying from them they will only follow! They have to know we are not a threat!
Agreed. Hold on.
‘Sunsi, hold tight to me!’ he shouted, for she’d lost her grip in the chaos.
She secured her arms around Gedeon once more.
Tanwen’s wings imminently stopped in their beating and pulled into her scaled, rock hard body as she nose-dived to the shore.
They shot out again just a hundred metres above ground, beating the air to her will as she landed in the deep snow with an almighty thud that rattled sleeping birds from surrounding trees.
Gedeon slid off Tanwen’s back and onto the white ground, Sunsi doing the same behind him.
Before the Eternals could surround them, he found Tanwen’s face and placed his hand on the bridge of her enormous snout.
I cannot hide behind you now, nor can I allow you to defend me any longer.
This is not your battle. Go, friend. I will find you again one day, I promise.
She pressed her great snout into his hand and exhaled. The spirit is strong within you, stronger than it has ever been. Princeling you are no longer. I am proud to know you and honoured to serve you… Fire Warden, Master of Darkness.
Go, he said gently, though his heart significantly warmed. And Tanwen… thank you.
He let his hand drop from her face, but did not watch as she took off into the foggy air.
The six Eternal warriors landed around them, a tight circle of fierce faces and drawn bows, and Gedeon instantly fell to his knees, lifting his freezing hands in surrender, vaguely aware of Sunsi mimicking him to his left.
The white-haired Eternal approached him slowly, the string of her bow taut. An arrow pointed right at his jugular. She seethed with venom, ‘Give me one good reason why this arrow should not find a home through your worthless throat?’
Gedeon did not move from his position of submission. ‘There is none I can give that you will hear and wholeheartedly believe. But I implore you to give me the chance. We are not here to harm, this I swear by the Four.’
She hissed, ‘Then why do you come?’
‘We have come to speak with the Air-’
A soft thud sounded next to him, along with a pained exhale that had Gedeon’s insides twisting with dread.
Sunsi had collapsed. Her chest rose and fell as though air would not fill her lungs. Her eyes rolled in her skull like loose marbles.