47. Jaxus
FORTY-SEVEN
JAXUS
“ D id we need this much secrecy?” Emrys pulled back his hood, revealing his salt and pepper hair pulled back into a low tie at the nape of his neck.
“We did.” I kept my voice solemn. “If anything I say is too much for you, I beg you to remain silent on the subject as my friend. I need you to swear it to me before we go on.”
“I owe you my life. You can ask anything of me.” Emrys held up his hand. “And beyond that, I think you are right when it comes to the elders driving us to extinction with their unwillingness to aid the Twelve Kingdoms. Being the last remaining alive is still only prolonging disaster.”
I accepted his hand and pulled him into my chest in an embrace. “I trust you with my life.”
“And I you, soul brother.” Emrys squeezed my shoulder .
We put our foreheads together before breaking apart.
I felt Kiera smile from her place in the shadows. I raised a hand, commanding the others to reveal themselves.
My brother stood next to Kiera, and Faolan, Emrys’ eldest son, leaned against a tree.
Emrys’ eyes widened in shock. “I see we are in good company.”
Faolan flashed a crooked grin. “The elders would exile me if they could. Might as well exile myself.” He shoved off the tree, nodding his head to his father. “If you tell me to go home, I will tell you to go to the Goddess.”
“I would expect nothing less.” Emrys glanced between his son and me. “Do you want to leave with Jaxus?”
“Yes. There is no place for me here. And they’ll eventually kill me if I stay.”
Emrys frowned, but he didn’t disagree.
“What are they talking about?” Kiera asked silently.
“Our elders will euthanize dragons who refuse to conform to our way of life. We don’t believe in imprisonment. It’s torture.”
Kiera gasped audibly. Everyone looked at her.
“Barbaric, ain’t it?” Faolan grinned, cocky as always. “I deserve it. I’ve been spouting anarchist ideals since I could speak and undermining the elders’ authority since I was old enough to get anyone to listen to me. I’ve created a fair amount of unrest, and I’ll only do more. I can’t live here any longer. I’d prefer they kill me if I can’t get out.”
None of it surprised me because Faolan had always been this way. He’d come out of his mother headstrong, knowing better than those around him, and he was charming and smart enough to persuade many to his cause. He’d only filled a place the elders had created themselves with their way of leading. They didn’t listen to anyone but each other, and a lot of the younger fae thought their ways were outdated .
“I’ve dreaded this day, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t expect it.” Sorrow dripped from Emrys. “I want to come too. There is nothing left here for me, either. Your siblings are settled, and with the disendowment?—”
“Aislinn left you?” I asked, cutting him off.
“Yes. She’d been waiting for our youngest to go to his temple training before she told me. I think she blames me for encouraging Faolan’s free thinking.” Emrys hung his head, the wound still fresh.
“It’s not your fault.” Faolan gripped his father’s arm.
“I know, but that doesn’t change how your mother will always see it.” Emrys put his hand over his son’s. “I love you for who you’ve always been. I’m sorry your mother never has.”
“She loves me in her own way. I’ve made my peace with it, but I need to leave.”
Emrys nodded. “I will go with you.”
Kiera frowned, distressed by what she heard.
“This place is far from perfect.” I took her hand.
She nodded. “No place is. I’m not sure if imprisonment is any better, but surely they can’t just kill dragons when they are so scarce.”
“But they aren’t scarce here. We have plenty. They don’t see it as the First Kingdom does.” It was an entirely different mindset.
“Still.” Kiera shook her head.
“We should take our places so we aren’t questioned.” Faolan passed baskets from the stack. “There shouldn’t be any more of us. The call was filled by us five.”
“Who’s on watch?” I asked, taking the basket he offered.
“Osiris and he’ll be asleep by now. As long as we continue to shield our conversations, we shouldn’t be overheard.” Faolan was an invaluable asset. He’d run secret groups for many years and developed many ways to keep his activities under the nose of the elders without getting caught, and he also had supporters and sympathizers in nearly every part of the city.
“What are we looking for?” Kiera asked, running her hand over the tall grass.
“Fungus. They are smaller than the pad of your thumb and only bloom in the full moon.”
“Your favorite,” I said to my mate.
“Not tiny mushrooms again,” Kiera groaned, and I laughed.
The others exchanged confused glances.
“Don’t ask,” I said, trying to contain myself. I hooked my arm in Kiera’s. “It’s a wonderful night for a moonlit walk.”
“That it is.” Faolan fell in step with me, sucking the air around us towards him.
The pressure popped my ears and raised the skin on the back of my neck. He pulled in and pinched the world around us, as if putting us in a bubble of our own. His magic was a mixture of air and sound, giving him an advantage in his proclivity for subverting authority.
It always made me wonder if the Goddess knew and gifted him those or if his magic affected his personality.
“Where do we begin?”
“We need to swear a blood oath of secrecy for what I’m about to tell you. If you wish to leave and not go through with it, tell me now.”
Faolan pulled out his knife while presenting a scarred palm. “If I could tell you the number of oaths I’ve sworn.”
“That doesn’t surprise me in the least.” I held out my hand, waiting to see who else would join us.
Kiera sealed the ritual between all of us.
I exhaled. The weight of the first task off my shoulders. The group watched with anticipation, and I didn’t keep them in suspense. “Okay, we need to steal the Amber Vessel.”
“What?!” They said in unison, all except Kiera, who knew the plan .
“I’m not saying no, but the Goddess be damned. You do not come with small requests, do you?” Faolan’s eyes were alight with glee. I knew the task would elate him.
“Why?” Emrys asked, searching my face.
“Because we believe it to be part of a key.”
“It has always been said to be the Key to the Kingdoms,” Emrys confirmed.
“How do you expect to do it?” my brother asked. “I don’t know how you will get them off your back long enough to pull off such a thing.”
“That’s why I need help. I’m not going to do it. I am going to fight with the elders to keep their attention on me and off you.”
“That’s all fine,” Emrys said. “But supposing we can even get to it without being seen, it can’t be removed from the stone plinth without another part. That’s part of the mystery. We’ve had it for centuries and can only speculate about it because the other piece was lost. I’ve always thought the elders must have it hidden somewhere. Otherwise, how would they know it’s even something of any value?”
“No, your elders don’t have the other piece. I do,” Kiera said softly, but everyone turned on her.
“What do you mean?” Emrys choked.
“It was in our seed archive in the Forest Kingdom,” Kiera answered simply.
Emrys shook his head. “This is—what was it doing in a seed archive?”
“It contains seeds. We were searching for the ingredients for the treatment of a severed soul-bond, and we found an old text that pointed it to the Lepidodendron plant. Some was stored in our archive in a small jar with part of a symbol carved in its surface,” she explained. “When we checked the archive texts to learn their origin, it was depicted with a second jar, and Jaxus recognized it.”
“As soon as I saw the drawing, I knew it was the Amber Vessel, and that is why we came. We need it to help Nyx. He is suffering greatly after the death of his twin, and without him, I don’t believe we stand a chance against the undead,” I added.
“How do the seeds help you in your quest?” Emrys answered.
“I honestly don’t know. The reference on them is so old that I think we are twisting the translation. We hope that with the other half, we will have a better idea.”
“But won’t the seeds take too long to grow if you need the plant?” Faolan ventured.
“The plant is extinct. It relies on earth magic to thrive, and with our land so depleted, it died out. The seeds are all that remain.”
“It’s not extinct in these lands,” Emrys spoke up.
“What?” both Kiera and I asked in together.
“There are entire groves of it to the west,” he confirmed. “We use it in many potions for binding.”
I exchanged a look with Kiera. “What does this mean for us? We still need the other half of this key.”
“We do, but I think we need the plant, too. Who knows what difference it could make?”
“I have it in various forms, but it won’t be a problem to get live samples too. I’ll have it added to the foraging orders for tomorrow.”
“Speaking of foraging orders—” Drystan spoke up, waving his empty basket around. “Didn’t we sign up for some moonlit mushroom gathering?”
“Goddess, yes,” Kiera muttered, picking one up and throwing a mushroom at me.
I growled and she grinned.
“What is with you two and mushrooms? Is this a form of fungi kink?” Faolan asked.
We continued along the path, speaking in hushed tones amongst each other. Kiera and Emrys were discussing theories and translations while Drystan, Faolan and I shared ideas on how best to get to the Amber Vessel. All within the bubble of secrecy Faolan had constructed for us. We would not get many chances to talk about plans, so we had to make each minute count.
So we gathered the required fungi and made our initial plans.