26. Chapter 26
"You do have a knack for finding yourself in difficult situations, don't you?" Aurelia’s voice drifted out of the pines as she stepped onto the cliff where Vaelin had taken up watch for the night.
He didn’t bother to turn as he replied, “That can’t possibly surprise you.”
As they’d pressed on through the Pass that afternoon, Vaelin and Evric had spent their time arguing about the best approach to crossing the sands and which ruins they should take shelter in once they crossed Dunovar’s border.
Finally, with Aurelia mediating, they had agreed on a path forward and found another plateau where they could make camp for the evening.
They would head to the Market first thing in the morning today to stock up on much-needed supplies — if the weather held, they should make it before nightfall.
They’d send a hawk to the King, rest for the night, and make their final push for the border the following morning.
Aurelia sank down to the earth beside him, tucking a blonde wave behind her pointed ear as she chuckled. “Not at all. My turn,” she bumped his shoulder lightly with her own, “You go get some rest."
"I'll stay. Not tired."
She cocked her head. “Not tired, or avoiding sleep?"
Vaelin huffed a laugh under his breath. She knew him too well. There was no judgement in her expression, only subtle concern.
"Both," he conceded.
Aurelia cast her gaze out across the mountains that surrounded them. Minutes passed in silence, but Vaelin had known Aurelia long enough to know that more was coming.
"The healer—“
"Isla," Vaelin said.
"Isla," Aurelia corrected, failing to hide the smile that curved on her lips. "She seems nice, if a little guarded."
"She hasn't had the best interactions with the fae in the past. Lost her parents in the border wars a few years back."
"So her parents were military?"
"Father was a soldier, mother was a healer who worked with the earthwielders. Retired. Until they were conscripted," he laid his sword aside, frowning darkly. "Given an impossible choice, then never returned home. Left three children behind.”
Aurelia dropped her eyes to the ground, shaking her head. "At least she's not alone.”
Vaelin scoffed, “Despite her best efforts, no." Aurelia tilted her head, a questioning look on her face. "The brother's in Terravern, the sister’s studying in Dunovar. Sounds like the parents’ death caused some… friction.”
Aurelia hummed. "Explains why she refused healing."
"That, and she's an even worse patient than you are," he smirked at her frown. "Is it some sort of rule among healers that you have to care for every one but yourselves, even if it’s to your own detriment?”
Aurelia smiled at him with an expression he couldn't quite decipher. He raised an eyebrow.
"You seem to know a lot about her," she observed.
He shrugged, looking away, but she was undeterred.
"And you told her about Sereth. That's rare, for you."
"If you have a question, just ask, Aurelia.”
Aurelia chuckled, unbothered by his prickly response. "I think you’ve already answered it." She tilting her head back toward the plateau. “Try and get some rest, Vaelin. You're going to need it."
Sighing, Vaelin rose, knowing better than to attempt to win an argument with Aurelia. Re-sheathing his sword, he strode back down the rocky trail to their campsite, her words settling beneath his skin like a sliver. He knew what she was implying, but she was wrong…
He stepped on to the plateau, his eyes scanning the campsite and landing on Isla’s sleeping form, like a reflex he hadn’t noticed was there.
She lay next to the fire, firelight flickering across her face.
She was relaxed in sleep, unbound hair sprawled across the makeshift pillow she’d made of her satchel.
She had wrapped herself in Evric’s cloak - the firewielder insisting he had no need of it - and Vaelin frowned.
He dragged a hand over his face, irritated.
Fine. Maybe he’d grown… protective of the healer.
But if his gut feeling was right - and it usually was - she was the key they needed to put an end not only to this illness, but the entire calamity.
And come hell or high water, he would get her to Dunovar in one piece.
They rose at dawn, continuing their hike through the mountains, the crisp mountain air whistling through the Pass.
They’d gained some elevation now, and waterfalls of snowmelt from distant peaks cast the occasional misty spray over them.
Isla shivered, trying to appreciate the rugged beauty of this realm, but her soul tugged towards home, where familiar, lush forests and soft earth waited.
She felt like the world had been leached of colour, grey extending in all directions, with only the barest spots of green and brown visible.
Now she could appreciate Vaelin’s feeling of discomfort in Terravern, the forests that felt warm and welcoming to her, restrictive and confining to him.
Much as riding all day throughout Terravern had left her muscles sore and tight by the end of each day, hiking this uneven, rocky terrain as the trail wound and climbed around the mountains was more challenging than Isla had anticipated.
Muscles she hadn’t known existed quivered with the effort of balancing as she focused on putting one foot in front of the other, trying not to slip on the smooth shale or trip over protruding rocks.
Ahead of her, Vaelin and Aurelia exchanged playful barbs, easily navigating the same terrain that frequently sent her stumbling.
Together, they looked like something out of a fable: Vaelin, the dark, towering knight, his hand resting casually on his steel, and Aurelia, the radiant, ethereal princess under his protection.
The fae’s hair fell in waves down her back, her blue eyes bright with laughter as Vaelin grunted some reply.
Isla frowned, swiping impatiently at the strands of her own hair that hung in her eyes.
A low chuckle rumbled behind her and Isla glanced over her shoulder to see Evric watching her, shaking his head. “What?” she snapped.
He shrugged, eyes on the path ahead as he stepped nimbly over a rock she hadn’t even noticed. “Anyone ever tell you that you wear all your emotions on your face, clear as day?”
Isla’s lip curled as her temper flared. “Anyone ever tell you that you seem extremely punch-able?”
Evric barked a sharp laugh. “All the time!”
Despite herself, Isla felt the corner of her mouth twitch into a half smile as she looked back at him.
He was annoyingly difficult to stay mad at.
“Oh good, so it’s not just—” the air punched out of her lungs as she collided with something hard, stumbling.
She’d walked directly into Vaelin, who had stopped and turned without her noticing.
She stepped away from his broad chest quickly, stumbling slightly as her boots slipped.
Warm hands closed on her shoulders as he steadied her, his brow furrowed as he looked down at her. “You okay?”
She nodded, her breath coming shallow and quick as the memory rose in her mind: the two of them wedged between the rocks as the flood thundered around them, the length of Vaelin’s body pressed against hers, her hands fisted in his tunic, and the brush of his breath on her neck as he dropped his head to her shoulder, grunting at the pain of being struck by debris.
Vaelin had taken notice of the change in her breathing, his concern deepening. “We can break for a bit.”
“No,” she said quickly, cursing herself. Desperately, she grasped for annoyance, anger, anything other than what she was trying so hard not to feel. “It’s just the altitude.”
“Yeah,” Evric drawled from behind her, “That’s it.”
She shot him a glare that could melt stone and his grin widened.
Vaelin’s eyes flicked between them, a line of confusion forming on his forehead. “What—”
“Vaelin!”
Aurelia’s call drew all of their eyes as she stood where the trail bent around a cliff face, her expression grim. The wind had shifted, carrying with it a smell that had Vaelin dropping his hand to his sword. “We have a problem.”
The tension forgotten, Isla hurried to Aurelia’s side, peering around the cliff. In their path lay a sea of rubble and debris, miles and miles long.
It looked like the mountains had exploded, the earth shattered and piled haphazardly back together in heaps of broken stone and dust. Isla’s gut roiled as she began to see evidence of extinguished life peeking out from between the cracks.
A wagon wheel on a broken axel, spinning in the wind.
A leather strap from a half-buried pack of some sort.
A piece of half-buried fabric, fluttering in the wind, delicate flowers stitched on the edge — likely a child’s blanket.
Isla’s heart clenched and she squeezed her eyes shut against the sudden burn of tears, willing away the tightening of her throat and the memory of Neve’s unseeing eyes.
How many unassuming people had lost their lives in this landslide?
A scraping sound drew her attention, and she dragged her eyes from the carnage to see Vaelin scaling the cliff in pursuit of a higher vantage point.
She watched as he looked out across the rubble, as if to gauge its distance.
He kept his face carefully blank, but Isla noticed the subtle tightening of his jaw and the white around his knuckles as he curled his hands into fists.
“The humans in the border towns mentioned hearing thunder in the mountain ranges, like they were coming down on top of themselves,” Evric said, his expression grim as he scanned the carnage. “Must have been one hell of a quake.”
Vaelin grunted darkly, and Isla watched as Aurelia ran her hands over the rubble, sinking her fingers beneath the dust, as though mapping the wounds in the earth.
“This debris field is enormous,” she murmured uneasily, fingers running over the grooves of stone and packed gravel.
“It would take days to clear, even with multiple earthwielders.”