CHAPTER 19 #2
I had so many questions and unknowns that my head felt like it might explode.
So I considered what I did know. There was a plot underway which would have a grievous impact on humanity.
Kilian was trying to prevent it from happening.
But he was cursed, stripped of his full powers, and waiting for someone to come along who would be able to break it. And somehow, this weapon would help.
“I know it’s a lot to digest, and I want to answer your questions, but as a priority there are things you need to be briefed on. Cosanus is a hostile environment,” Kilian warned.
“No shit. I would have never guessed,” Lana muttered.
“The only way to get there is through a scry,” Kilian said.
“I’ve heard about scries,” Lana interjected, and Moric nodded. “We have one in Dorisport.”
Kilian nodded. “There’s one on each isle. But they’re temperamental things. You have to input the precise coordinates of a corresponding scry or else you’ll end up stuck somewhere in the plane between.”
I shivered, the thought making me feel claustrophobic.
“We use the scries often on official business to the mortal isles, the monthly occasion to drop magic into the soil or to negotiate trading agreements. Have you ever seen one, Lirah?” Kilian asked.
I shook my head.
“It’s a portal, fueled by upper magic,” he continued.
“But they only work if another scry has been set up at the location you’re trying to enter.
And it’s the fastest way to get to Cosanus.
It’ll drop you right outside the boundary.
Then you’ll have to cross over yourselves.
What do you know of the world before the elven and mortals? ”
I glanced at Moric and Lana, anxiety settling inside me. They gave me blank looks which I was sure matched my own. “Nothing.”
“Right, okay. When the fae ruled, the land was very different. Where mortals and elven find sustenance in food and water, the fae nourished themselves with magic. The land – Cosanus – was rich in it. But it wasn’t the type of magic we know these days.
The gods tamed it with the introduction of the elven afterward, but before that, the kind of magic on Cosanus was raw and wild, completely unchecked, and the fae grew drunk on it.
You know of their rebellion against the gods which prompted their destruction? ”
Three nods.
“They betrayed the gods. They stole weapons of great importance. One has remained missing for a very long time, and we have reason to believe it might be on Cosanus. Scries cannot be set up within Cosanus. We’ve tried before but our current magic doesn’t react well to that environment.
So a portal was set up just outside, right on the edges of the salt-lined boundary delineating the end of Lortan and the beginning of their land.
That’s the furthest an elven can go. We can’t cross the boundary.
The salt – it’s not ordinary dinner-table seasoning.
It comes from the mountain Caspir, directly from the land of the gods. ”
“Is that where the stupid rumor that elven can’t cross salt comes from?” Lana muttered. “It would have been helpful knowing what type of salt before we wasted so much of it on Augustine.”
“This is… a lot to process,” Moric murmured. “Much more stressful than wasting salt, Lana.” Sweat had begun dotting his brow.
I couldn’t understand why Cosanus still existed, or why certain fae remained upon it.
Azrael was supposed to have destroyed them all for their rebellion.
The God of Death did not strike me as merciful and so there had to be a reason they were spared.
But either way, the gods were divine. Azrael’s actions couldn’t be questioned.
To do so was treasonous. And I was not in the business of angering the God of Death when my life hung so precariously in the balance.
“If the elven cannot cross, does that mean the fae cannot either?” I asked.
“Yes. Cosanus itself has been purged of magic, but the land is constantly craving it. You’ve each got a grain of magic from the link.
The land will want it. We estimate you can go undetected for about an hour before the land begins leeching from you whatever power it can.
It won’t stop taking until it kills you.
So you’ll need to get out before then. Whether you’ve found the weapon or not, once the hour is up, you have to be back on Lortan. ”
“Forget the land, what about the fae?” Moric’s voice hitched a decibel higher.
“There’s no magic for them to consume on Cosanus. My best guess is they’ve entered a sleep-like stasis in their cave,” Kilian said calmly.
“Your best guess,” Lana echoed dully.
“How will we even know where to look? Do you have a map?” I asked.
He grimaced. “No. The exact coordinates are unclear. Which is why we’ll have to split you up on different points around Cosanus. You’ll each enter in pairs so you can cover more ground before the hour is up. The teams have already been set by Echon.”
I stared at him in disbelief. It was an impossible task. A dangerous one, made almost entirely of conjecture. And to add wood to the pyre, he was telling us that the elven who hated my guts had set the pairings? I felt faint.
“Do you have any good news for us?” Lana asked weakly.
“Your sprites will be able to join you on this Trial,” he offered.
“It’s a weird glitch in the rock salt we discovered recently.
Technically, they shouldn’t be able to cross, given their relation to the fae, but the salt doesn’t register sprites.
We think it has to do with their size. They don’t emit as much energy as an elven or fae.
We’re still conducting studies on it.” All of this was added as an aside and Moric shook his head in disbelief.
“That doesn’t help,” he wailed. “We still have to face the creepy fae and hope to all the gods they don’t eat us alive.”
“I’m ninety-nine percent sure they’re asleep,” Kilian said. “And don’t underestimate your sprites. They might be of more use than you think.”
“Still doesn’t make me feel better,” Moric said.
Kilian was giving me a worried look. “I know this is far from ideal, but the weapon… We wouldn’t send you in there if it wasn’t important.”
I swallowed past the hard lump in my throat.
“If you pass the Rite, I swear I’ll explain everything,” Kilian said. “It will all make sense, I promise.”
If we even made it to the Rite.
If the fae or the land itself did not kill us first.
“You just need to trust me until then. Can you trust me?” This wasn’t a question aimed at the others. Kilian was asking me.
I stared up into silver, imploring eyes, trying to quell the panic rising inside my chest. I wanted to trust him.
I really did. I wanted to believe that he would not risk my life, the lives of my friends, on a whim.
He had advised us on the third Trial and was preparing us for the Rite, but other than that he wasn’t giving me much to hold on to other than his words.
And I couldn’t help but feel my days would come to an end before I could give an honest answer to his question.
After all, promises meant nothing if you did not live to see them fulfilled.