25. Chapter 25 #2
She’d always thought of the fae as a battle-hungry people, needlessly drawing on the earth’s magics to suit their own needs and win their wars, with no concern for the costs to others.
The bored disinterest with which the fae lieutenant had delivered the news of her parents’ deaths, his lip curling with distaste as Isla had broken down, lived in the back of her mind like a poison, spreading flames through her blood.
And yet, Evric and Vaelin were soldiers in the fae battalions, were they not? Members of the very same army that had rounded up humans like her parents to use as fodder in the war against the Askeldrathian shifters. A frown returned to her face.
“So,” Aurelia began, dusting off her hands and taking a seat across the fire from Isla. “Tell us your tale,” she said, smiling.
“Not much to tell,” Isla turned toward Vaelin’s voice.
He made his way toward the fire, that preternatural grace having returned to his movements.
He pulled his tunic over his head in one smooth motion and Isla tried to ignore the way her eyes caught on the lines of muscle on his bare torso before the fabric slipped into place.
She looked away, pretending not to see Evric’s widening grin as Vaelin lowered himself to the ground next to her.
“I made my way through the villages in central Terravern as planned,” he said.
“The human healers knew nothing more than we did — the illness is spreading, resistant to treatment. But then in Rowanmere, I found Isla,” he looked to her, and her pulse jumped as his eyes met hers.
“I told her about my dream, and she chose to come with me.”
“Why?” Evric asked.
Isla looked up, that same lazy grin seeming to be permanently etched on the fae’s face, an annoying, teasing gleam in his eye.
“Why what?” she asked, willing away the flush she felt creeping up her neck.
“Why would you go with him?” he clarified.
Isla grasped for an explanation, but Vaelin spoke first.
“You know I saw her in my vision — she’s important to stopping this…
whatever this is” he said, rubbing a hand over his jaw.
He looked to Aurelia and Evric. “You know as well as I do this is more than just the illness. The unprecedented weather events, unexplained attacks… it’s eerily similar to Sereth’s vision. ”
Evric’s smile slipped a bit, betraying his surprise. Almost simultaneously, Aurelia’s eyebrows shot up. Isla’s own brow knitted in confusion.
Aurelia cleared her throat, recovering easily. “So you don’t know of a cure?” she asked, and Isla’s heart clenched at the look of dashed hope on Aurelia’s face.
“I’m so sorry, I wish I did,” she said, and the words tasted like failure. “I know you’ve had losses, as have we. I was sorry to hear about your High General. I understand she was well loved.”
Evric’s eyebrows seemed to climb higher, and Aurelia blinked. “Thank you,” she said, sliding her gaze to Vaelin with something like curiousity.
“So, now what?” Evric asked.
Vaelin ran a hand through his windblown hair, either ignoring or not noticing his friends’ expressions. “We’ve decided to pursue the Scholars,” he said. “If anyone knows anything at this point…” he trailed off, not bothering to clarify that this would be their last hope.
“Eugh, Dunovar,” Evric muttered, grimacing.
“The next shuttle doesn’t leave for months,” Aurelia noted. “What are you planning to do until then? Are you bringing Isla back to Vaelastris with you?”
Vaelin scoffed darkly. “No, I wouldn’t subject her to that.” Isla raised an eyebrow, but he continued, “I plan for us to leave as soon as possible.”
“You’re crossing on foot,” Evric deduced, his seemingly customary grin replaced with a seriousness that seemed odd on his routinely jovial face. Vaelin inclined his head.
Aurelia crossed her arms. "It could take you weeks to cross the sands and back on foot. That's assuming the storms are on your side and the dunes don't swallow you whole."
“…and you don't shrivel up and die of thirst during the day, or freeze to death at night,” Evric added, ticking dangers off his fingers.
Isla paled, swallowing.
Vaelin ground his teeth, glancing at Isla briefly as though he sensed the growing tension in her body. “It’s not my first time crossing the sands. I can get the two of us there and back without incident.”
Evric chuckled, looking to Aurelia as he crossed his powerful arms at his chest. “Listen to him talking like we aren’t going with him.” Aurelia smirked.
“You are not,” Vaelin said sharply. “It will be enough to keep myself and Isla alive without having to worry about you two as well.”
“You’ll need a healer with you,” Aurelia asked. “Unless you think your stubbornness alone will keep you alive?”
“Isla is a healer,” Vaelin ground out, but Isla knew as well as he did that her skills would likely be next to useless in the hostile sands of Dunovar.
“We’re going whether you want us or not, brother,” Evric echoed, leaning back on his elbows, his amber eyes dancing.
He grinned at Vaelin, who glowered at him like a storm cloud.
“Oh, come on. It’ll be fun! A perilous journey in the second-to-worst climate the continent has to offer?
A looming calamity that could kill us at any moment? Fun!” he insisted enthusiastically.
"Well, you know I love fun," Vaelin deadpanned.
Evric’s grin widened and Aurelia shook her head, a faint smile playing on her lips.
“Gods, was that sarcasm?” Isla murmured.
Vaelin shot her a look. “Don’t get used to it.”
She smiled and the corner of his mouth curved up. Isla looked away, neck heating.
Aurelia stood, dusting gravel off her pants as she reached for a bow and quiver that leaned against the rock face. “We’ll talk plans more later. Right now, we need to eat something.”
“If you make me eat another bird, I swear to the Gods,” Evric muttered, jumping to his feet as Aurelia narrowed her eyes at him.
“Are you sure about this?” The words slipped out quietly, before Isla had a chance to stifle them. She turned to find Vaelin’s eyes already fixed on her as Aurelia and Evric argued in the background over who was the better hunter.
“No,” Vaelin drawled, “but decades of experience suggests they’ll come along whether I want them to or not.”
The corner of Isla’s mouth twitched weakly, “Not what I meant.”
“I know,” he said. They stared at each other for a few heartbeats, Isla’s pulse quickening. “I’ll get you to Dunovar to see your sister,” he said quietly, and she believed him.