Chapter 58 Thyra #2
Like Antony, Rohan doesn’t wait for his eagle to touch down, leaping from the bird’s back and landing at a run, stopping only when Antony reaches for his axe and roars, “Halt, Rohan.”
Damn, but it looks like Rohan is willing to fight his way past Antony to get to Cassia now, no matter what injuries Antony might inflict.
Craning my neck, trying to keep them all in my sights, I can only watch as Antony launches himself forward, seizes Rohan’s defensively upraised arm, and speaks rapidly to him.
I can’t hear what Antony says, but Rohan stiffens.
Then he gives Antony a single nod.
Antony finally releases him, and Rohan doesn’t give Antony another moment of his time.
Neither does Cassia, sprinting toward Rohan, hurling herself into his arms. I’m close enough now to hear her sobs as he carries her into the temple, where they disappear from sight.
Silence falls as Azul folds his wings and I try to catch my breath, try to stem the burn of tears behind my eyes, pressing my hand to my heart, trying to ease the ache. Too much heartache.
Antony approaches me quietly, reaching up to help me to the ground before softly clicking the circlet back into place. “We’ll guard the front of the temple for a while. Make sure nobody followed us. Keep them safe.”
He draws me toward the white stone bench near the fountain I drank from last time, both the bench and fountain cast into shade from the temple’s roof.
Stretching toward the fountain, I quench my thirst before taking a seat.
Antony remains standing, a sentinel once more, clothed in steel and carrying the knife of an assassin, along with his own iron weapons, but this time, he’s standing guard for his sister.
Out in the sunlight, Azul hunches low to the grass, settling himself to our right.
Fortuna eyes him from the other side of the clearing, her beak raised, giving Azul a haughty look, but I can’t stop my smile when she shuffles a little closer to him. Then a little closer still.
I don’t blame her. There’s something so fiercely appealing about that blue beast of a bird.
For a few moments, I breathe in the quiet. A rare peace. Before I’m compelled to break it.
Softly, I ask Antony, “What did you say to Rohan?”
Antony’s chest rises and falls with an audibly deep breath. “I told him to heal my sister’s heart.”
I wait, knowing there’s more because a command to heal Cassia’s heart would not have made Rohan jolt like he did.
“And I told him to take my sister and get the fuck out of my kingdom. If he shows his face at Galla’s celebration, I’ll kill Cassia instead of him.”
Antony’s green eyes twinkle menacingly at me.
If he weren’t wearing his helmet, I’m certain I’d see his frightening grin.
“Liar,” I scoff.
He shrugs.
I consider the peaceful environment around me. “You told him to run.”
“East,” he says. “It’s the only way. They can’t cross the borders to the north or south, or they’ll be killed on sight.
And they won’t be able to hide along the western coast like you could.
But if they head east, they can take cover in the mountains along the way.
There’s plenty of food and shelter. They only need to stay hidden until we break the curse. ”
“It sounds like you’ve thought this through.”
More than the spur-of-the-moment idea I thought it was.
“There was a time,” he says, “long ago, when I considered disappearing into these mountains and never going back.”
I wish I could read more in his cold, cold eyes.
Eyes without a shred of hope in them.
“I will carry the hope,” I say.
His armored hand brushes my shoulder, trailing to my jaw, his thumb stroking my cheek. “Yes.”
For the next hour, we wait.
At first, my mind churns and my heart hurts, but slowly…as the minutes pass and the breeze lifts…my thoughts calm.
Twice, a fluttering begins in my chest, and I catch my breath, waiting for the Oracle vision, but the sensation fades, leaving me to fight confusion.
What warnings aren’t coming to me?
And why do some flow so easily while others sputter and die?
My right arm rests upturned across my lap, much of the blade’s image covered by my long sleeve.
With the forefinger of my left hand, I trace a line along the material, willing it to part to reveal more of the blade, but once again, the Lethian material stays right where it is.
My father told me to unwrap the blade.
Only once since the dagger sank into my body has its edge risen above the surface of my skin, and that was when the thread of Lethian silver was caught on it, tugging it upward…
With that thought, a question forms in my mind, but even for me, it’s too hopeful, too fragile.
Before I can speak, a low whistle sounds from above us, and Fortuna’s head rises. Both male eagles are also suddenly alert.
Moving in unison, Antony and I dart toward open ground, looking up to the roof, above the carvings of battle scenes.
Cassia stands at the edge, and a moment later, Rohan joins her, a hulking form, a new whistle sounding.
Fortuna and his eagle respond, lifting from the ground and soaring quickly upward.
For the briefest moment, Cassia remains paused there, looking down.
She gives her brother a smile, and that’s all, before she darts backward, following Rohan out of sight.
Moments later, their eagles reappear, quickly soaring into the sky, turning east, and disappearing into the distance.
Behind me, Azul makes a soft, keening sound, his crimson gaze focused on Fortuna until she’s a mere speck in the sky.
And then, they’re gone.
I tell myself Cassia and Rohan will be okay, but I don’t speak that thought aloud, conscious that it will sound as if I’ve Seen it.
Now, I’m faced with voicing another hope aloud. An even harder one. But it’s a weight I’m willing to carry.
“What if the hammer is all we need?”
Antony’s gaze flies to me.
I swallow hard, speaking carefully. “What I saw in the Chronicle was the hammer hitting the blade and smashing it. When I read the words ‘Unmade as it was made’, I assumed that encompassed all the instruments, but what if everything else is unnecessary?”
When his hands twitch, I hurry on, “I could be wrong. I don’t know for certain. But all of this pain…” I gesture to the sky. “I have to try.”
I can’t speak another word because his eyes are suddenly dark, suddenly as savage as if he had peeled off every piece of armor and now stands, seething and naked, in front of me.
When he finally speaks, my heart hammers in my chest.
“I will do anything,” he says. “Anything to make sure we get that hammer.”