Chapter 28
The conclave dragged on deep into the night, although there was a noticeable shift in the atmosphere after a few hours.
The mood lifted, people were starting to drink and soon enough it was more of a celebration than a war council.
I felt the tiredness in my bones and searched for Theo in the crowd.
I spotted him in the corner with the red-haired Goddess who had spoken out earlier and made my way towards them.
She spotted me first and smiled at me kindly when I approached.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Maelis,” she said and bowed her head in greeting.
“I am sorry for speaking up today, but I hope you understand that I just want to protect my people. It was not intended to hurt you or question your character.”
“Please don’t worry, I understand that I am an outsider here.
I hope I will be able to prove my worth to you when it comes to it.
” I looked up at Theo who had a proud look on his face.
“I didn’t want to interrupt, I just wanted to say goodnight.
It’s been a long day, and I am afraid I don’t have your immortal stamina. ” I said.
Seraphae smiled, “Of course, good night, wordsmith.”
“I will bring you back to your room,” Theo said and put down his glass of wine on a nearby table. We walked through the crowd together, only stopping to say goodnight here and there. When we closed the doors of the ballroom behind us, a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
“You don’t need to walk me back, Theo. I can manage just fine.”
He smiled, but motioned me to walk with him.
“I don’t doubt it, I just wanted to make sure you were all right. We never had a chance to speak of the reputation that precedes your kind, the wordsmiths, and I am sorry that I did not prepare you for the possibility that some Gods might be hesitant to trust you.”
We walked slowly, passing by groups of deities and Faerie that were walking the grounds to get some fresh air or have a private conversation. It was a relief that Theo broached the subject with me, I too wanted to clear the air.
“Don’t worry, I knew this would happen. The Abbot, he… already filled me in with the particular reputation we have.”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Why did you never say anything?” he asked.
I sighed and stopped to look at one of the paintings in the hallway.
“Because if I had asked you about it, I would have had to address the fact that you too might have felt unsure about me. And that was something I wasn’t prepared to do. Some things I just didn’t want an answer to.”
He nodded and admitted, “I guess that is why I never broached the subject with you either. But I want you to know that I trust you, the person that you are.”
I smiled, hopefully it actually reached my eyes. We were in front of my room and I knew it was time to send him back to the others downstairs.
“Goodnight, I hope we have made progress tonight with the Gods.”
Before I could step inside my room, Theo put a foot in my door. He swallowed hard.
“It’s somehow easier to say things on paper than in real life.
But I wanted to tell you that you look absolutely stunning.
You are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on and seeing you wearing my insignia tonight and sharing this day with you made me realize just how much you mean to me.
I am so glad the Fates sent you to me and that has nothing to do with a prophecy or avoiding a war. When this is all over, I hope we can—”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence, because shouting erupted from the ballroom downstairs. Malek came running down the corridor panting.
“We need to get to Lumoria, we are under attack!”
* * *
Theo went into full-on God mode.
“What do we know so far, Malek?” he asked and turned to walk away with him to look for the others in our circle. He stopped to turn around abruptly and said, “You should pack the most essential things. We will be leaving in 5 minutes.”
I closed the door to my room with a soft click and leaned against it for a moment, letting the quiet settle around me. My hands fumbled with the zipper of my bag as I packed journals and a few changes of clothes, the fabric slipping through my fingers like it had a mind of its own.
The other stuff I neatly piled up on the dresser to pick up later.
I just hoped that nobody was injured, or worse yet, dead.
From the shouts all across the Celestium I gathered that we hadn’t been the only ones to be attacked.
The Gods and Goddesses quickly made their way to the Luminaris portal and one by one they disappeared into the night.
Our party was ready to go a few minutes later, with everyone getting ready to travel.
Lythandra was returning to check on her own court.
The worry lines on Theo’s face had deepened, the news from home was dire.
He stepped onto the pathways first with the Abbot, exchanging information and preparing for what was to come.
Theo had changed into his fighting gear and looked more like the God of Revenge than the one of Wisdom.
I was to travel with Lydia since I hadn’t mastered the Pathways yet and in silence we stepped into the veil.
Just before we arrived, Lydia gave me a supportive squeeze.
“No matter what happens next, keep your wits about you and never take your eyes off of your surroundings. We don’t know what we are dealing with and need to stay alert.”
I nodded and we came to a halt. The picture in front of me shattered my heart.
In the distance I could see the city, with smoke clouds billowing across the sky and the smell of fire and ash in the air.
Theo and Malek were already gone, headed towards the city and so I looked to see who might be in charge.
Caelan was standing in front of the Lodge, which appeared to be unharmed, talking to a group of his men.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
He ran a hand over his face. “The city has been hit hard, but they couldn’t get through the shields at the Lodge. Many people are hurt and my men are transporting the victims out here to the Lodge. We will put up tents to set up an infirmary, would you be willing to help with healing?”
I nodded. “Of course, I want to help in any way possible.”
Cae put his hand on my arm and said curtly, “I appreciate you, Maelis.”
Before I could walk towards where the tents were being set up, Caelan called me back. “When Theo returns, please keep an eye on him. The temple has been destroyed, they set fire to the library and I don’t… I don’t know how he is holding up.”
His words hit me in the gut. The library was Theo’s safe space, his life’s work was in these books. They had targeted the library because they knew how much it meant to Theo and for that alone I wanted to bring them down.
“I am sorry. I will make sure to check how he’s doing,” I promised, and Caelan went back to coordinating the rescue efforts.
I turned towards the victims and took a deep breath.
One breath. One act. One choice.
Do good. Stay clean. Hold steady.
* * *
The victims kept coming and coming. From minor scratches and burns to people barely hanging on to their lives we dealt with everything across the board. We set up a triage system to decide who needed help the most and I was rushing back and forth between makeshift beds and stretchers.
My heka was out in full force and I walked a fine line between healing and suppressing the resulting high that tried to grab me every time I used my heka. I was glad for the training that I had gotten in these past weeks, because otherwise I would have been taken out by the euphoria already.
We worked tirelessly until the later hours of the morning, but had managed to save most of our patients.
Some of them had been too far gone and others would surely need a lot of time to heal, but we managed to keep our losses to a minimum.
Malek returned from the city to tell us that the fire in town had been extinguished and that the Heralds had mostly targeted industrial buildings, so the uninjured people would be able to return to their homes soon.
The sun was high in the sky when I finally sat down on the front steps of the Lodge.
There was blood smeared all over my clothes, my hair was greasy from sweat, and I was dizzy from exhaustion.
Theo returned shortly after, still in his fighting gear. He was covered in blood as well and had a nasty gush on his head.
“Is everyone all right?” was the first thing he asked and we all nodded.
“Did you find them all?” Caelan asked.
Theo nodded grimly. His sword was drenched in blood.
“There were at least 200 Heralds, we got most of them. We spared their commander and a few others, and Malek is currently questioning them. It seems like they traveled here from the North,” Theo said grimly.
The North… I pulled up a map of the continents in my mind. So Theo and I had been right when we had identified Lacustria as the most likely location for the Heralds headquarters. Thalora, the Goddess of Oceans and Tides, had also been talking of movement in the North across the Sea.
Theo grabbed a bottle of water Caelan was holding out for him and took a big sip.
“There is more. The Commander had a message for us. He asked us to meet his army at the passage of the Moragond Sea. The Heralds have declared war against the continents.”
A thick, heavy feeling spread through my stomach. This couldn’t be happening. Not now, not so soon. We weren’t ready, I wasn’t ready.
“I have spoken to our allies and we are going to ride north in two days and gather at the Eternal citadel and we move from there,” Theo added.
Silence descended on us again. What was one supposed to say when war was no longer a threat, but had become our reality?
We all went inside, discovering that Enbergin had prepared lunch for us. We agreed to take a shower and get together for lunch after, but I halted Theo when he was about to head upstairs.
“Let me look at your head first,” I said softly and smiled at him. He slumped down on a chair.
“I promise, I’ll be as good as new tomorrow.” He said.
“I believe you, oh wise Lord, but let me help you anyway.”
I held my palm over his forehead and worked my heka again, although I could feel that my magic was nearly drained.
His beautiful eyes stared up at me and he swallowed hard.
“They burnt my library. It’s all gone, Maelis.”
The sadness in his voice broke my heart and I wanted to comfort him more than ever. All of my instincts told me to wrap my arms around him and to hold him, but that was the one thing I was not allowed to do. I ached to touch him, the pain almost physical.
“Let me try something,” I said and held both of my palms over his chest then.
I channeled all of my remaining heka and willed my gift to envelop him like a fierce hug.
I poured all of my feelings for him in that one last spell, letting it wash over him and settling on his shoulders like a warm blanket.
I opened my eyes to find his lids lowered, as if he were holding something back. When they lifted, the orbs behind them glimmered, and his jaw tightened slightly, a flicker of vulnerability crossing his usually controlled features.
“I will fulfill the prophecy, wordsmith,” he whispered, “and then I will return all the tenderness you have given me back to you.”