38. Hauyne
Two Weeks After The Feast
I’m tired of training. It takes from sun up to sun down.
The terrifying, unsettling thing about feeling the power thrum under my skin is my inexperience. No matter how much I learn, there seems to be more. I could dedicate a lifetime to playing the enchanted lyre of my music and still find new chords. Some of my attempts at melodies prove weak, others too strong.
Tonight, it wakes me up from my nightmares. Screams plague my sleep like almost visions. That is why I rose earlier than any Enduar—even Liana.
Normally, after nightmares, I wake up nauseous, and Teo rubs my back until I drift back into sleep. Tonight, there was a voice that whispered in my waning consciousness.
Drathorinna.
I eased out of my mate’s arms, and replaced my body with a pillow and placed a chunk of amethyst next to his head to prevent him from waking. Then I’d placed some moonstoon on our nightstand, just to be sure he’d sleep soundly after a long day of endless work.
Now, I follow the tunnel down to the glacialmara stables where my mentor had brought me a handful of times. When I find the right spot, Rahda bangs against her stall, insisting to be set free.
She is restless, as if she, too, heard the whispered word that gives me purpose.
Once atop her smooth back, I don’t need to guide her through the tunnels as she carries me along to that sacred place deep in Enduvida.
The air turns stale and ancient, and then streaks of light cut through the pitch-black cave.
I hold my breath and see her form in the distance, filling the space. Her crystal scales gleam in the low light, and her long tail stretches out behind her, curling around her body as she rests.
She is a mountain of luminous beauty. I dismount Rahda who has already started to shift and squirm beneath me.
Waves of power radiate through the room, each hitting me in the chest.
This time, I anticipate my Fuegorra’s pulsing heat. It accompanies my god-touched glow, in recognition of her power. I let the song fill the space, hitting every enormous crystal that juts out toward me. Step after step, I cross the space toward her. Her eyeless head swivels toward me, and I stand under her scrutiny.
Fearless.
With Rholker killing slaves, we need to march on Zlosa soon. Liana will be joining us in battle against the giants in Zlosa, but drathorinna has been slotted to stay home so as not to cause too much damage.
Something about that doesn’t feel right.
Perhaps that’s why the voice called me here. Now I’m standing before her, actively pushing away every thought that tells me to wait for Liana.
There isn’t any time left.
The weavers have made under armor for everyone, and the armor that existed before has been mended or remade. Twenty of the underwater Enduares have been brought back to Enduvida, and Teo spends his days training them with Lothar and Vann.
Training is long. Tensions are high.
Everyone is spread thin, and we need to leave within the next two weeks.
I take a deep breath and step forward in my nightgown, feet bare against the stone. My unbound hair hangs down my back, and I wait.
You heard my call, the old creature’s voice slides along my mind.
“I did,” I call back.
Then approach, wise woman.
At last, I move forward. It feels like it takes a small eternity to cross the way.
When I arrive, I reach up to touch one scale.
I feel the mother of crystal wraith’s continue to take in my power, my elastic strength flexing and bowing as the vibrations around me pick up in speed.
When my fingers connect with her crystal, light blasts out of my arms. Energy dances across the walls of jagged rock and lightless moss, lighting up the entire cave. My back muscles tense as I arch with the sheer force of power.
Even drathorinna lets out a long symphony of twisting melodies and harmonies, waking up the entire cave. Crystals glint, and small ruc’rades scurry away.
Gathering every inch of my courage, I reach up, grabbing onto one scale. And then another.
I climb, slowly at first, until I reach her back. I pause, still standing and waiting for her to react. The dizzying height makes me sway as I peer at the stony ground.
If I fall, I might die. It would take them a long time to find me since I hadn’t told anyone I was coming.
Sweat beads along my skin, but I take a few fortifying breaths before stepping forward toward the junction of her shoulders and neck. It’s far too wide to straddle properly, but she is unearthly still as I sink to my legs and take up my best approximation of a riding position.
I look around, trying to find something to hold onto.
As I do, the twinkling sound floats over crystal, and a small handle forms over one scale.
I let out a long breath and reach for it.
As my hand connects with the solid material, the mother of all glacialmaras starts to move. It feels like the earth quakes beneath my feet as she stands.
Gods only know how long she has laid dormant, but I can feel every quiver and groan of rock as she stretches her legs. It takes ages for her to take her first step.
Then, slowly, scratching chords drown out the beauty of her musicality as wings peel away from her sides.
I try to adjust my position to accommodate her movements as solid crystal expands. The sheer size of the being beneath me inspires terror and joy all at once. It is mesmerizing.
The cavern deep in the mountain looked like it was plenty spacious, but now, with her entirely unfurled, she looks like some celestial steed of a divine being, swallowing every inch of the space.
Just as I think I’ve got a hold on her movements, she takes a step forward, and I slide across the sharp scales. My grip on the crystal handle slips. My inner thighs slip and chafes against the surface, and I cry out at the stinging, sharp pain.
It hurts like hell.
“Hostia?1,” I scream as another movement thrusts me forward, nearly vaulting me off the creature.
My arm pulls out of my socket, and I hear a pop that produces more awful pain.
I scream again.
“Por los dioses?2, this was a mistake,” I huff.
Reaching with all my might, I manage to swing myself up and latch onto the handle with both hands. With a firm grip I pull myself up, despite my screaming shoulder. When I am back on the neck of the creature, I feel the sickening power beat against me.
Blood drips down my legs, and my arm throbs, but my Fuegorra heats up, knitting my skin and bones back together.
What happens next is what steals my breath.
My magic has always felt erratic and dangerous, but with drathorinna, the lyre string running from the tip of my head to my toes finesses its perfect tune. It’s not merely a harmony in the air, but a rightness in my body that makes me want to soar.
I let out a yelp, now anticipating her movements as she brambles through the space. I hear the ruc’rades and ruc’cieles squeak to light as she squeezes herself through the hole. The space is not nearly big enough. I duck as close to her body as possible as she pulverizes everything in search of the open air.
Stones stumble down, sharp and deadly heavy, but none touch my body.
Fear pierces my heart when I think of the humans and Enduares above. I am helpless to the movements of the creature beneath me.
Keep them safe.
I pray at the same time I curse my idiocy.
Why did I come here alone?
As we clear the space, we crawl out onto some hidden plateau along the black Enduar mountain range. Relief floods my body, all the way to the tips of my fingers.
I let out a whoop as her wings stretch once again, this time reaching their full, vast glory. The first beat is followed by a joyous cry from her tongue-less body. The air stirs in a relentless torrent, blowing back my clothes and hair.
Once again, I hold on for dear life, waiting for her to move. She doesn’t—just sits. I kick my bare feet gently into her sides, and she continues to stretch in the moonlight.
For the first time, I fully realize that I have let this monster out of the mountain with no real way to control her or get her back in.
Acid slips through my veins. This was supposed to help our problems, not make them worse.
Respira.
Gasping breaths come in, and I close my eyes. I think of everything Liana told me, of the cards with the magic futures, of the Fuegorra, and reading crystals, and visions, and giving blessings.
I begin to count; not mindless steps; but the good things in my life.
Teo, Mikal, my home, Arlet, Meli, Svanna…
Soon, I am filled with light.
It’s then that my eyes reopen.
My magic can connect with other crystals. I lift a shaking hand off the handle and lean forward to press my palm into her stones. It takes a moment for me to focus my concentration properly, but when I do, the light begins to burn.
For a minute, my awareness slips away, and I no longer see. The world is black and white and perfectly clear.
All around me, there is sound and frequency, like strings of light that can be followed in every direction. It is a miracle to achieve such perfect clarity while sinking into such utter darkness.
Drathorinnalistens to my command, and when I point her towards the lines that lead to the sky, she follows.
My human body feels the rush of air, and the bite of frigid temperatures, but my other senses discard such discomforts as we fly under the moon itself.
When we draw high enough for the wind to scream against the melodies we create and the air to grow thin. Only then do I aim to return to the ground.
I realize my mistake when she begins to spiral downwards. I pull her back up, and we gently lean into each other, sensing the right way to go. We avoid the mountain peaks and the other creatures that roam the night sky.
High in the misted clouds, the lyre string in my chest is pulled back, and then, a beam of light shoots out of drathorinna’s mouth.
It draws me out of her mind in shock, and when I return to myself, a voice hits my head almost instantly.
Estela, my star.
I gasp when I see the world around me. We cut through clouds. Ice whips at my face, and when the creature veers to the left, I look down. There is… nothing keeping me from plummeting to my death. From this high above the trees, my stomach lurches. The snow glistens, fires burn in the distance, and the stars twinkle.
The world is so much bigger than Zlosa or a cottage. It is bigger than the enormous city under the mountain.
For a second, I don’t respond to my mate, I savor the sensation of being brought to my knees before that which I had never known.
My star, Teo says again, this time more insistently, how you shoot across the sky. I see you atop the glacialmara. Please, come back down.
Worry returns. What if drathorinna hurts him?
As if reading my thoughts, drathorinna sends me something akin to, “I will only attack when you say.”
Warmth spreads throughout my chest, and I look down to see the entrance to Enduvida. I am too far up to see anything more than a few meager glimmers of what I assume to be spell light below.
Tapping back into my enormous mount, I push her back to the ground.
My stomach lurches as we draw near to the hard ground. We pull up with not a second to spare, and our landing is still a hard crash. I scream as I am yanked around once again, this time jolting off the creature.
The terrifying moment of weightlessness is ended in a second when a claw reaches around me, holding me safely before lying me on the ground.
My chest heaves, and I sense others draw near.
Teo and Liana are the two who approach, but I can barely move my neck. My body is weak from clutching onto scales for dear life.
I experience the sensation of still being in the middle of the air, burrowing through time and space.
Teo and Liana kneel beside my body, and my mate brushes away the snow from my face.
Liana’s eyes are full of wonder and pride, but Teo looks half mad.
“Well done,” the wise woman says. “You have proven yourself a formidable asset to our court. I never told you that she acts like a focusing crystal.”
“Hah!” I smile weakly, my eyelids drooping again.“I saw it when we were practicing the parting blessings.
“Enough,” my mate’s voice booms. I still as Teo’s hand passes over my face and body. “Are you hurt?”
“I feel fine.”
A muscle in his jaw feathers. “You look like you’re about to pass out.” He pulls a chunk of citrine and puts it to my brow before he starts to sing. It doesn’t take long for the weariness to fade.
I reach up and grab his hand. “Teo, I am fine.”
He sucks in a sharp breath. “I woke up and you were gone. I feared…”
My stomach drops, like a stone plunking down in the middle of a pond. “Mi amor,?3 I wasn’t trying to run away. I thought you knew I would never want to leave you again.”
He slides his arms under my knees and around my back. I lean into him as he picks me up.
Instead of continuing our conversation, he says, “We have received word from Melisa again.”
My eyes snap back open. The last update was so awful.
“And?” I choke out, throat dry. I fear the horrors her words could contain, especially after the last message.
Teo looks down at me with such wonder and tenderness, and it makes me restless. “The giant lords are planning to launch an attack on Rholker. They want him dead.”
I stare at him, letting the words seep into my skin. If there is a mine… there are more slaves suffering under Rholker’s hand. “Is he already dead?”
Teo shakes his head. “Not yet, we must ride soon.”
Everything in my soul and the world around me stills. “What of Mikal?” I ask. “With Rholker dead, we will be able to find him easily.”
Tears slip out of my eyes. So close to reuniting with Mikal.
But… Revenge is closer.
When my head muzzles into Teo’s neck, both of our Fuegorras begin to light.
It’s not the simple mating light both Teo and I have experienced before. This time, as we touch, I am sucked into his soul. My magic is a lyre string, and he is a deep, burning cavern into the depths of the known world.
I reach out into the cavern, spiraling down into all. That. Power.
The ground beneath us quivers.
Teo halts, eyes wide as he gazes down at me.
“What was that?” He demands.
Liana comes over, grinning. “It seems your visions are coming true.”
I blink rapidly. “I think… I just accessed your power through our bond.”
Teo’s hold on me tightens. His pace picks up, and he takes me back into Enduvida faster than even Liana can walk, all the while the spell light bobbing around us.
The magic from earlier has left me depleted, and I feel weary in his arms. I don’t question him, though I do send a few stray thoughts of surprise when we walk past the palace.
“Patience. We have come to see something new,” he murmurs.
He takes us along the moving pathways, over the caverns of lava, past the pumps which control the air, and over to the forges.
When he sets me down, I sag against him and clutch onto his arm. He guides me forward, past tools, and the fire which is now merely a scattering of glimmery rocks.
He walks to a stone chest and removes the lid. Slowly, he pulls out a set of golden armor. In his hands, it looks as though it would be for an Enduar youngling.
I look closer at the breastplate, finding it was clearly made for a woman and see some of the strange crystal glass from the underwater Enduar suits between the breasts.
Slowly, I approach.
My hands slide over the material, but the tune of this creation isn’t sharp. It feels like a star beam.
I bask in the excellence of the piece. The way the metal looks from the elbow caps and gauntlets, to the greaves and shoe coverings.
When I pick up a piece, I feel just how weightless it is.
My eyes find my mate. “Did you make this?”
He shakes his head with a smile. “I can do many things, but I leave metal and fine stone work to the benders.”
My hand slides over the smooth metal. “Will you help me put it on?”
He grins and comes over, picking up one piece at a time. Slowly, he fits them over my thin nightgown, fingers languorously trailing across patches of thin stone silk and bare skin. I shiver as he covers my torso, my arms, and then finally, my legs.
“Wait, I remember this,” I say, delighted to find a memory mostly untouched.
He looks up at me from his kneeling position and smiles. “Yes?”
My hands go to his head, which nearly comes up to my chest as he kneels, and my fingers slide through his silky locks.
“I helped you put on your armor before you left,” I say, luxuriating in testing my movements in the light coverings.
Teo hums.
Once on, I find each piece has more substance than I thought, but it is not so much to make my muscles groan. Perhaps after many hours of wear, it would be worse. I’ll bring it to show Svanna and Ayla tomorrow.
“Thank you,” I say quietly.
Teo beams at me. “So you like it?”
I nod. “Yes. I love it very much.”
His eyes grow heated as he reaches up and unclips my breastplate. He removes both of my arm coverings, and then he pauses to set aside the fine pieces and to trail his hands over my arms, across my back, and then around my belly.
“When I awoke and saw you gone, fear returned to me with a cruel vengeance.”
I place my hand atop his, marveling at the size difference between them, and soak in every inch of warmth that radiates from his skin.
“The crystal wraith’s call took me out of our room. She told me to come alone—I hadn’t thought to tell you.”
He leans forward and presses a kiss to my Fuegorra, and heat stirs between my legs. I press my hand down on his chest.
“It brings me joy to see you flourish in Enduvida. In this life as a queen,” he says. Then his teeth brush over the sensitive skin of my collar bone
“I never wish to leave. You should know that.” My voice is breathless.
He bites on the side of my throat, but retreats far too quickly.
Everyone still sleeps, and the forges are empty, but dear gods, what if someone walks in and sees us?
Then I think of the passionate kissing I saw at one of my first parties under the mountain, and I feel better—but only slightly.
I expect Teo to calm my thoughts or pick me up and whisk me away. Instead he says, “Relax,” and works to remove the armor he strapped onto my legs.
I shudder as his fingers dance around my calves and inner thighs. His hands slip up under my gown, reaching toward the strip of cloth around my hips and pelvis.
He grins at me, and pulls it to the side. I gasp, and he claims the sound with his lips as he strokes momentarily before thrusting a finger inside.
“I live for such noises. They are nearly sweeter than any song,” he murmurs against my mouth.
Each sound is swallowed by his excellent kisses, and I lean into the sensation. Every inch of exhaustion is shoved backward as my hands go to his laces to, release him.
He groans.
I fist him, but he has other plans. He wraps his still-bald tail around my back and pulls me forward. Time has taught him just how to angle the puzzle of our bodies and I sink right onto his cock.
It’s such a sweet pain.
I let out another sound, and he grins as he works out every delicious sensation that I’ve grown to acknowledge as love.
No sooner than my eyes had fluttered closed, they reopen as he puts his hand on the side of my face.
I grip at his forearms, and his eyes meet mine. At first, it is a passing heat, but then he doesn’t release me. My chest contracts as we move.
Pressure builds in my lower belly, but it’s nothing compared to the way I am laid bare before him looking endlessly into those eyes. Vulnerability as I’ve never known it.
Tenderness as every person deserves to experience at least once.
A new connection forms between us, one that lasts past the time of release.
When our moment finishes, a tear slips down my cheek. Not from pain or sadness, but from gratitude.
The urge to apologize comes up once more. I swallow it down and throw my arms around his neck, kissing him as he slides out of me.
This is intimacy as I have never known it.
“I love you,” I whisper against him.
His arms tighten.
“I love you, te amo, mihk daourn,” I sob into his hair as he clutches me, saying the phrase in every language I know.
He pulls me back, and his eyes crinkle. “I’ve never said that to you before. Not in my language.”
“Thank you, my mate, for giving me wings to fly.” I pull back, placing my hands on either side of his face. “I will protect you with my power, my influence, and if necessary, my own body.”
The memory of our wedding vows pours out of me. His large, blue eyes glisten.
“When we have a family, I will also protect them. I am yours, body and soul.” The small change of the wording, from ‘if’ to ‘when’ seems to break what little resolve he has. He presses kisses against my cheeks and murmurs sweetness through our bond.
We stay like that for far longer than we should, but I can’t bear to bring myself away from that spot. From his eyes… filled with quiet love.