64
Kora
Raiden and Aerion flew the coastal route, stopping every couple of hours for rest, to race them back to Mistros City.
Cassidy remained behind at Skybell, her haggard crew defending the heritage site from potential northern attacks.
They had to save the city, Barron was heading right for them, he knew they were unprotected, that the Mist was weakening.
How he knew, was a mystery. Unease unfurled, snaking into Kora’s limbs with every mile gained. They were missing something, something that she couldn’t see.
Refugees would need to flee north, potentially into the Horrow Mountains.
Raiden mentioned there was an inner cave system they could use to hide, but nothing lay beyond those peaks, only a simple path to the edge of Galen to sail to the Infernal Highland.
A collapsible system had been created near the Aurora Gap to cave in the pass in case the volcano ever erupted, protecting the rest of the island.
Kora practised spiriting whenever they landed, her elemental magic still not powerful enough.
It’d been a shock to Aerion and Aryn when she’d sneak attacked them both, enough for a blast of wind to knock her on her back.
She could spirit up to twenty feet away, but every time she landed on her arse, the air forced from her lungs.
And if she wasn’t practising that, she played with summoning her divine magic, figuring out how to separate it from her elemental power.
Compared to the thunderous thrum of power when she wielded water, her divine magic was warm, comforting, and bloomed slowly. And whenever light sparkled across her palms, twigs snapped in the forest lining the cliff, followed by a squeak and the flap of wings.
Once again, Kora tried spiriting and landed on her back, wheezing as the sand cushioned her fall.
“That’s what you get for keeping valuable mage secrets from us!” Aerion yelled after the hundredth time Kora spirited into a tree trunk.
The sun set behind the mountains, basking the Mist in a citrine hue similar to Windspire.
It was thinning every day that passed. The horizon becoming more visible every time Kora glanced towards it.
She near-enough expected to see those mighty green sails any moment, fear clawing its way up at the thought of facing Barron again already.
She’d barely spared a moment to process Blake, still unable to fathom his betrayal.
She wasn’t sure whether she would kill him instantly, or drag out the torture first. Perhaps she could wield their old torture tactics on him. Deal back what he’d coerced her into doing upon innocent souls.
“I just need . . .” Raiden panted, “five more minutes.”
He sat on a boulder, his shoulders tight and hunched as he leaned forward.
His locks had grown, the shaved sides growing out, tickling the tops of his ears.
Aerion was spread-eagled on the shoreline, his feet soaking in the shallow water as Aryn disappeared into the forest, hunting for their next meal.
Aerion’s chest was rapid, his breathing borderline worrying.
“You’re burning out,” Kora approached, wincing as her back sang with pain. “You both need to rest. You’ve been flying for a day straight. We’ve rarely stopped for more than ten minutes.”
“We don’t have time.” Raiden’s head whipped up as Aerion groaned in response. “They could be under attack. Barron could be there right now. My family . . . we could lose them all.”
“If you can’t fly, then we will lose them.” Raiden winced at her stern tone, but his weeks of training flowed through her as she redirected it back at him. “There’s always a limit.”
“I can’t stay here. I can’t stay still. Even if I have to walk every second I can’t fly, I will make it home.” Tears pricked his eyes, his knees bouncing with fear. Aerion grunted, his eyes still shut. His rich brown skin had become muted, cool undertones bleeding through.
“You won’t lose them like you lost Iris.” Kora cupped his cheek, her thumb swiping across his short beard. “Aerion is here with us. We will make it back.”
Raiden’s sparkling eyes shuttered as his fingers brushed her wrist. He inhaled once, and his stare met hers as he exhaled.
“If I move, I will vomit,” Aerion added from the sand. “I’ve never flown that much in my life.”
“If I could spirit us, I would.” Kora’s fingers curled into Raiden’s thick hair and he leaned into her touch.
“Would’ve been good to know,” Aerion slowly sat up, sand coating his curls. “I could’ve trained that gift.”
“We don’t know what it means,” Raiden argued. “This is new territory. A mage has never spirited before.”
Aerion’s doe eyes slid across them, narrowing slightly. Cogs turned behind his stare, his infinite wisdom assessing the situation. “We’ll stop for dinner, sleep a bit. Then fly in the early hours.”
“Or we could go now and—”
Aryn stumbled out of the forest, two rabbits in his hands as he slid down the short bank from the forest line.
Mud slicked his legs and splattered across his face.
Kora patted Raiden’s cheek as they set to work creating a small fire, skinning and roasting the rabbits.
Her stomach tensed, coiling at food that wasn’t as divine as Raiden’s cooking, but was enough to fill the hole gnawing at her.
Raiden tucked Kora into his chest, keeping her close as they attempted some resemblance of sleep. She tossed and turned, images flying through her mind of death, of citizens of Mistros City screaming, crying, fearing her. Would they welcome her return? Would they accept her once again?
A shadow with purple eyes and dark claws emerged from the depths of her mind, followed by a cackling laugh causing her hair to prickle. Kora bolted upright, her breaths shallow and fast, cold sweat breaking out across her skin.
“Kora?” Raiden reached for her. His warmth penetrated her clouded mind, and her eyes adjusted to the dark. On the other side of the doused fire, Aryn and Aerion laid side-by-side, the latter snoring softly.
“Sorry, I can’t sleep.”
“Me neither. I can’t stop thinking about Skylar, about the civilians. Even my father. Pathetic, isn’t it?” Raiden shuddered, his crystalised eyes glowing in the dark.
They’d chosen to camp within the curvature of the cliff, protected from all sides bar the ocean before them. Quiet ocean waves soothed Kora’s frayed nerves, and she clasped Raiden’s hand. If Barron attacked now, Erick would be helpless. Would he be safe underground with the healers?
“We’re not even halfway home yet,” he continued. They needed a gods-damned miracle. Something with the raw power of flight. Kora’s eyes flared as an idea sparked. “What? Something’s going on in that sexy mind of yours.”
“Lucky for you, I might have some friends who can help out.” Kora smiled gently, and tugged Raiden to follow her to the treeline lurking on the bank.
She hoped the theory brewing in her mind was right, that the little signs she’d noticed whenever she used her divine power weren’t imaginary.
Tapping into her new power, she raised a hand, allowing the smallest of white lights to glow, her veins burning like starlight, her skin simmering with a strange new warmth.
It faded, her ability to hold it only lasting a few seconds.
Raiden frowned, glancing around. Aerion grumbled, emerging from their sleeping nook, Aryn in his wake.
Kora held her breath, wondering whether her instincts had failed her, her essence misleading her on what she was supposed to do.
Just as hope’s blade dug into her gut, a blue ferret’s head popped up from the thick grass several feet above her.
“There you are, Cadence.” Kora smiled as the ferret zig-zagged down the cliff, springing off the bank into Kora’s arms. Despite her water form, she was still soft to the touch, her silken hair running through Kora’s fingers like cashmere.
Raiden opened his mouth, but jolted as Rayne swooped down from the sky, his talons sinking onto Raiden’s shoulder. He chuckled as the eagle’s translucent wings brushed over his head.
“What in the gods is going on?” Aerion stumbled, rubbing his bleary eyes as Cadence purred in Kora’s arms. Rayne shrieked, flapping his wings at Aerion.
Aryn froze, gold rushing to his eyes so fast they burned. The two phantoms paused, their stares whipping towards him. His hands twitched, a swallow audibly running down this throat.
“Are they what I think they are?” Aerion grabbed Aryn’s wrist.
“So . . . there’s something else we didn’t tell you.” Raiden raised a brow as Rayne’s beak brushed against his hair.
A twig snapped and they all spun towards the forest. A small glow broke through the trees, increasing in size, until a fiery fox flew from the edge, landing in front of Aryn with a growl. He stepped back as Fajra’s tail flicked, her coal eyes aflame.
“You think? This is . . . it’s not . . . they’re extinct!” Aerion gasped as Cadence pounced, flying from Kora’s grasp to loop around his shoulders. Aryn jerked, stepping away, his eyes transfixed on the phantoms. Aerion squealed as Cadence played with his coils, swatting them.
“Is a god’s phantom playing with my hair? Oh my. This isn’t happening.”
“Cadence likes to play.” Kora giggled, opening her arms as the ferret jumped back, nuzzling her chest. Fajra yipped, approaching Aryn with a predator’s gait.
A moment later, the trees swayed, darkness following in the fox’s wake as a stag stomped at the top of the cliff face, moss falling from his hooves.
Erebus grunted, his decayed horns and wilting flowers barely visible in the dark.
“Cadence,” Aryn repeated, recognition flaring. “Then that’s Rayne.” He nodded towards the eagle.
“Our horses in the desert, they were phantoms watching over us.” Kora placed Cadence on the sandy shore, tickling her chin before stepping away.
“So Fajra . . .” Aryn trailed off, sucking in a sharp breath as the realisation hit him. He knelt to the fox, offering his palm, but Erebus grunted again, his green eyes flashing in warning.
“Ruhni, what are you planning?” Raiden gently brushed Rayne’s fluffed chest. Aerion inhaled sharply at the nickname, his brow raising slightly.
Raiden had refused to tell her what the Devanian nickname meant, trading in her Huntress title for it, and Kora was adamant to find a Devanian dictionary as soon as she had a spare minute.
“We’re going to take to the sky,” Kora replied. “We’re going to become phantoms.”
The wind tore at her face as Kora rested upon Cadence’s back.
Her palomino skin was a welcomed sight, and Kora’s essence sang as the full moon rose, lighting the night sky in a silvery glow.
Raiden yelled from her side, crying out with joy as Rayne soared past, his wings beating against the Mist. Aryn clung to Fajra, his hands twisted in her pale mane, yet her eyes still burned like coals.
Aerion precariously balanced on Erebus, the stallion barely visible against the midnight sky.
Only one creature could get them back to Mistros City in time.
The creature lost to Galen for hundreds of years.
It’d been dazzling as the phantoms transformed into Pegasi.
Bright light had skittered around them until they settled into their new forms, their hooves pounding against the sand.
Their wings shimmered, the moonlight casting a pearlescent aura over every feather.
Except for Erebus, whose wings remained dark as basalt.
“YES!” Raiden roared, his arms lifted into the sky as he flew into his element. His joy burned down the bond with such intensity that she felt it too, lifting her chest, her eyes crinkling with her grin.
His diamond layer shone, each individual weave of power protecting him also cascaded around Rayne’s strong form, and Kora’s breath caught as they floated up into Raiden’s hair, settling into the steeled strands, forming the faintest of crowns.
Currents of wind became visible, tangible, like the faintest wisps of smoke.
They coalesced around Raiden, following his every motion, pulsating with every beat of his heart.
And she could feel it. The bottomless wealth of his power, his strength. His boundless love.
He truly was a prince. A prince of the phantom sky. A prince of power, of the winds and spirits.
Raiden caught her stare, his grin stretched so wide. Her heart stuttered, unable to comprehend how she’d found him, how he had waited for her. How she’d heard his voice for so long, not knowing such warmth and devotion lingered on this side of the Mist.
She was falling.
Cadence’s tail flicked her back, as if knowing.
“I know, girl,” Kora patted her neck. “I’m a fool.”
Cadence snorted. Aerion and Erebus soared ahead, the stallion once again taking the lead.
“I’ve been broken once. Darkness lived in me for so long but I’m fighting it. I now know what’s right, who to fight for, and I won’t be broken again,” Kora murmured to Cadence.
The Pegasi flew throughout the night, racing across Galen southward. Every mile they grew closer, the more Kora’s spine steeled, her resolve hardening until her heart thudded with absolute certainty.
The Galenite War had reignited.
And Kora Cadell would not be conquered this time.