Chapter 36
Chapter
Thirty-Six
-brIDA-
We were suspended in the air, traveling at a speed I couldn’t fathom. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to shield myself from nausea.
“You can open your eyes now,” the same words he’d whispered to me when we’d arrived in Azmeer for the first time.
Before I had opened my eyes, I had known Iwas somewhere vibrant.
The blooms that lined the gateway were rich in their scents.
But here, there was nothing. But this, too, was a place I recognized.
Opening each of my eyes, I withdrew myself from Marsh and ensured my father remained steady on his feet. The color he’d been granted mere minutes ago in Tactras was beginning to fade. His color had turned green.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” my father said as he made his way a few feet from us.
Reaching for my belt, I ensured the dagger was in its place before cautiously taking a few steps toward Marsh. His shirt was in tatters, the scars on his chest visible, the fresher wounds still healing and raw.
Reaching out, I placed my palm on his chest, as I used my other hand to lift his chin. Tears welled in his eyes.
“Marsh…” I whispered.
“Brida, stand back from him.”
“It’s alright, Marius. He isn’t going to hurt me.”
His hair, normally so well-manicured and kept, had not been cut in months. Everything about him told the story of someone who had been mistreated.
“Why did you bring us here?” I cupped his face.
“This was the last place I was myself. That there had only been me.” His cool hand covered mine.
I should have known. Marsh had been cool to the touch, until he hadn’t been.
I nodded. I knew this would take time. I didn’t wish to push him, for him to break any more than he had. He would tell me everything when he was ready. But there was one thing I needed to know.
“Is it Yezed?”
“A Shadow Stalker?... A rare gift. Shadow Stalkers can step into the shadows of those they watch, essentially becoming that person…”
He offered a brief tilt of his head.
He had been the man I’d bumped into in Azmeer. I had sensed something off about him, but hadn’t known why. Gods, had he seen me pining after Marsh when he’d arrived briefly to talk with Qurasa?
I threw my arms around Marsh. “I’m so sorry.” He was smaller than when I’d hugged him last. The strong, defined man I’d known was no more. In his place stood a frailer, thinner version of Marsh. Someone I would do everything in my power to help heal.
“Just promise you’ll tell me everything when you’re ready,” I said, looking up to meet his gaze. Fear now lived in those eyes. Eyes that had once been so mischievous, so playful, now radiated fear.
I placed my hands on his cheeks, pulling him close, I leaned in and whispered, “You are more than your fear, Reed Marsh. You are the story you choose to write, and yours will be one of perseverance and strength.” I leaned my forehead against his as he sobbed.
“Thank you,” he said in a tone so soft I almost missed it. “Thank you for believing in me.”
I offered him a faint smile as I withdrew my hands and made my way towards my father. “Do you feel better?” I said as I bent down to rub his back.
“I do. I’d grab your hand and kiss it if I hadn’t just…” My dad gestured about twenty feet beyond us.
“I think refraining for now is best.” I laughed.
Rising, I looked out onto the barren landscape of Hadash. The world had been a different place when I had last been here.
In the time I’d spent in the cell—though I still couldn’t tell if it had been months—I had forgotten how beautiful Hadash had been.
The air was thin, sharp in my lungs, carrying no scent of life—only the dry, metallic tang of stone.
Just the stark contrast between the light spilling over the mountains and the cold, unforgiving ground that stretched endlessly before us.
“Brida,” Marius whispered as he placed his hand on my forearm, “we can’t stay here.” He gestured around us. “If we’re perhaps dealing with what I think we may be dealing with, then Marsh puts us in a compromising position.”
Wrapping my arms around myself, I moved in closer. “What do you mean?”
“Would you care to explain to me what you’ve learned so far?” Marius said.
“I swear, Marius, your sass is never going to help us, is it?”
He ran a hand through his hair before taking a step closer, “Please, oh sweet Brida, will you tell me what you know?”
A smile tugged at my lips as I lowered my voice, “This is the actual Marsh, who had also been held hostage by a man named Yezed. He was rumored, now to be confirmed, a Shadow Stalker.”
“Shit.” Marius kicked a stone in front of him as he continued to pace, hands at his waist.
“I’m going to need you to use more words.”
Marius grabbed my arm, dragging me further from my father and Marsh. “Has he told you why he shadow-stalked him?”
I shook my head, “I know it has something to do with me, but he will tell me when he’s ready. What remains the problem if he no longer has him?”
Marius dragged a hand over his face, “Shadow Stalkers are not only able to possess the guise of those they stalk, but use their magic, abilities, and have access to their memories.”
I stared blankly, “And?”
“What’s happening right now,” Marius pointed back towards Marsh, “our arrival here, the conversation the two of you just had, that is in the process of becoming a memory for him. A memory that Yezed will soon be in possession of. As he likely still has enough of Marsh’s blood in his system…”
My face paled, “So it’s blood magic then? I wondered… with all of the scars and wounds.”
He nodded. “He will be able to present himself as Marsh so long as he has enough of his blood. We have no idea if he has been collecting it to use at a later time, or if he simply was ingesting it with each slice.”
I looked back to Marsh. He’d always been fair, but whatever color he’d had the last time I had seen him, the last time I had truly seen him had been leached from him. What had he endured?
“What are you suggesting?” I turned back to face Marius, whose expression had grown more severe by the lines now appearing between his brow.
“We need to get moving. We can’t stay here, but anywhere Marsh would think to take us, that is a place that Yezed would be able to follow.”
“Are you saying we need to abandon him? Look at him, Marius!” I tried to keep my voice down. Marsh’s pallid expression, his stance that appeared barely able to support himself. There was no way I would leave him to fend for himself.
“Do you know where we are?”
“Of course I do,” I pointed to the mountains in the distance, “we’re in Hadash.”
“And do you know what’s here?”
“Would you stop asking questions and just tell me what you think we should do?”
Marius sighed, dragging me towards the edge of the cliff we stood upon. “Down there is the entrance to the cave that holds…”
“The Pool of Vitality,” I said before he could finish.
“Yes, but there,” he shifted his arm to the left, “is a hidden entrance to... something else.”
“Another pool?” Two Pools of Vitality… Two prisons.
“In a manner of speaking. It’s a gateway to my home.”
“And how will we be spared of Yezed following us there?” I pressed my fingers into my temple in an attempt to soothe the ache forming there.
“Those who wish to be granted passage may only do so if they are accompanied by someone who hails from there. To my knowledge, I am the only Quialan here.”
Quialan… Quiala… Water kingdoms!
“Are you telling me you’re from Quiala? I thought it was a myth!” I couldn’t help the glee in my voice. I had read countless stories of Quiala as a child, ones my mother had given me. Ones I had shared with Kadian once she had died.
“Most of what you thought has been disproven in the last few months, has it not?” He raised his brows at me.
“But what about those in Azmeer? Will we be able to come back?” I thought of Kadian, Oz, Tamra, every singular person in Azmeer who had no idea of what was happening outside of its walls.
“There will be time to explain, but we must get moving.”
After informing Marsh and my father of the plan, we quickly set off down the mountain and into the canyon.
The air was hot as the sun was in full view above us. The last time Marsh and I had walked these paths, it had been cool, dusk. It was where he had told me his secret of sneaking into Azmeer.
I gazed over at the man who had been my friend and saw a shadow of a man.
The joy, the glee, the lighthearted Fae I had known struggled to put one foot in front of the other.
His wind-walking the four of us here had taken the bulk of his energy.
He’d only been able to complete the task with my magic bolstering him, according to Marius.
My magic… I had no idea what any of it meant, and I hoped there would be time to process everything that happened in the last few days, but now, we needed to move.
Rocks littered the path as we made our way towards the caves. Each of us was silent, mirroring the landscape around us. I knew the Eternal Court was near, although I hadn’t seen it last time I was here. I knew part of it rested atop the caves, some of which had…
“Wait,” I said to Marius, “the earthquake that damaged the entrance to the Pool of Vitality, would it not have damaged the other cave as well?”
Marius shook his head. “No, it was protected.”
“Protected?” I echoed.
“Yes, it is hard to explain, but the magic of Quiala is not the same as Eldara. In many ways, they share roots, similarities, but remain vastly different from one another. Quiala’s magic tends to be stronger than that of Eldara.”
Stronger. What types of magic were they dealing with?
A crack of thunder split the sky, and we all paused to look to the top of the mountain where we had been. Three figures in black suits stood below a gaping wound in the sky.
“It looks as if it’s been sliced,” my voice was low, barely audible.
“Run,” Marius said, making his way to the back of the group, ensuring my father would begin to move.
Reaching for Marsh’s hand, I placed it in my own, “Like old times.” I forced my body into a sprint, pain radiating through my legs with each thud of my feet against the solid earth. Who is with Yezed? Why is he doing this?
Lightning flashed across the skies, except it wasn’t just lightning, it was being wielded, towards the cliffs, the edges of the canyon.
They’re aiming for us.
“Move faster!” Marius yelled behind me, dragging Dad as best he could.
Ten feet in front of us, lightning struck, and boulders of rock cascaded into the canyon, each impact sending tremors through the earth.
The wind grew violent, threatening to throw us off course, from our feet. I paused to look behind me and saw my father collapse.
“Dad!” I screamed.
Let me out.
Closing my eyes, I listened to the voice.
Let. Me. Out.
With a deep breath, I slammed my foot down and an orb, so similar to the ones in the grove, grew around us. Formed of light, fire, hope, promise. I ran to my father, offering him a hand along with Marius, and pulled him up.
“Brida… How?”
“I’ll explain later.” The figures that had been on the mountain were now in the canyon, a few hundred feet behind us.
“Why don’t they just wind-walk to the entrance?” I bellowed over the crashing of rock.
“His magic must be waning,” Marius said, gesturing us forward. The entrance to the cave was within sight.
Marius arrived at the rock first, reaching for my dagger, he slit his palm before placing it flush with the stone. As the rock before us transformed, I turned to see the three figures making their way towards us, Yezed, still guised as Marsh, along with two people I did not recognize.
They’re not Court of Whispers members. One had hair as black as night, and the other’s was ever changing, shifting with the light.
Who are they?
Panting, adrenaline coursed through me. With each beat of my heart, a shooting light shimmered down my arm.
Gods, what’s happening to me?
Marius grabbed my hand and pulled me through the doorway. The air was different here, thicker. A tang mixed with sweetness, a smell I recognized. “Why does the cave smell of wolfberry jam?”
“I told you, it’s my favorite,” Marius said as he led us around the first corner.
“Is everyone alright?” I looked to my father, keeled over, catching his breath, and Marsh whose fear was written all over his face. I reached for his hand, and gave it a squeeze.
“Never again.” I whispered, and he nodded.
Similar to next door, the cave was a labyrinth of passageways, tunnels, and traps. “It was built to confuse those who did not belong,” Marius said as we each leapt over a cutout in the floor. “It requires blood to gain entry.”
Unlike the cave next door, there were no bioluminescent fungi, nor did the stalagmites appear sharp enough to kill, or sharp enough to slice open a hand.
I looked to my palm where a faint scar lingered.
A memory of a simpler time. Gazing upwards, I found Marsh staring back at me, and I wondered if he was thinking the same.
We walked for what felt like hours, the passageways all appearing similar. Despite this, Marius insisted he knew where he was going. “When was the last time you were here?” I asked as I made my way beside him.
“When I came through,” he said, offering me a faint smile. “It has been a long time, but thankfully, I have a good memory.” He tapped at his temple, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Do you know who those people were who were chasing us?” He had taken Marsh to get to me. All of this is for me, my mother… Ilia.
“I think they are followers of Chaos.”
Before I could press him for more answers, we reached a small tunnel carved into the rock. “I’m sorry for those who are afraid of tight spaces. This will not be comfortable.” We each squatted to gaze in the tunnel.
“How long of a tunnel is it?” My father asked from behind me, worry etched in his voice.
I turned to face him, “I’ll be right behind you.”
With a curt nod, my father squeezed my hand before beginning his descent into the tunnel. I followed him, as promised, with Marsh behind me, and Marius at the end. The glow emanating from my hands, to my surprise, was enough to light up the space.
We were on our stomachs, trudging through the earth, unsure when it would come to an end. I fell into a steady rhythm, a meditative stance, it was the only way I was going to distract myself from the small space.
I turned my head to look behind me. “What was that?” I questioned.
“What was what?” Marius replied.
A noise. Slow and steady.
“Marius!”
“Shit.”