Chapter 29 #3
The Lumerians in Korteria were still unaware that under the shining sun, akadim could emerge from the shadows and attack at any moment. But I couldn’t say anything—couldn’t warn them. Not without drawing attention to myself.
Did information just travel that slowly here? Were they in denial? Or had it somehow been suppressed?
When our day ended, we returned to the cave, using our cloaks to sleep on the ground near the fire, our ashvan tied up just outside.
We repeated our routine in the next town, and the day after that in another.
Every day we listened, and every day we trained and prepared.
The same variations of the same rumors were circulating everywhere we went, everywhere we listened.
And still, no mention of akadim. Nor any clues that could lead us to Rhyan.
I was starting to wonder if the akadim attack the other night had been in my imagination.
Not that I wished for it, but why weren’t there more?
Why hadn’t Morgana’s and Aemon’s forces made themselves known?
It didn’t make any sense. They were out there.
But even Auriel had no further sensations of Rhyan. Or the void of his soul from his body.
With nothing else to go on other than Auriel’s hunch that Rhyan wasn’t far, we continued, moving through more towns, our eyes black, our hair blond, and our armor silver.
Our hands never strayed far from the hilts of our swords, we were always on guard both from Ka Kormac and akadim.
Though after I’d gotten too many comments about the color, size and shape of “that strange colored sword on my back,” the red shard, I glamoured it, too, turning it into something that looked old and rusty.
Something worthy of that Godsdamned soturion we’d fought that first night.
Days and days of searching and listening passed and still there was no real news. Only more disgusting rumors about me, or updates on the search for my whereabouts. There were none—a relief.
But soon the gossip turned to the latest stories about the vorakh task force and the mandatory testing that had been rolled out. According to some mages I’d overheard, the protests happening now were focused on the testing, and the sudden uptick in arrests.
Allegedly, unverified accusations were flying now. Anyone could accuse anyone of being vorakh. And though there were nahashim testing for the forbidden magic, apparently now, an accusation was all it took. The accused would be taken to Lethea without a test, and without a trial.
Though I suspected that even that was a lie.
Lumerians were being taken, and kidnapped.
But I didn’t believe they were being brought to Lethea.
I’d already overheard the discussion of the new prisons being built.
Marring my land, my country with their construction.
The bastards didn’t care who they took—they just needed bodies, slaves they could control and extort.
Vorakh or not, Lumerians were being taken to the Palace and made into chayatim. I was sure of it.
I had to stop underestimating the Emperor. As well as everyone else serving him.
Once it grew dark, we climbed back onto our ashvan and returned to the cave.
Days were passing and the pattern remained the same.
I was getting antsy, more worked up every time we returned without learning anything new.
More word about protests, about Lumerians vanishing.
About me missing. Nothing about akadim. It didn’t make any sense.
Everyday Auriel was reassuring me it was for the best that we’d found nothing.
Because I wasn’t ready to fight Rhyan. I still needed more time with the sword.
With the shard. I knew it was giving me more energy, and allowing my spells to become more effective, to last longer.
The proof was in my new skills with glamour.
At night when Auriel closed his eyes, I read from his Valya, looking for differences between it and the ones I’d studied. Reading over and over anything he’d written about the cure.
And then a week passed. I was getting stronger. Better at fighting with the shard. But more anxious and unsettled by the day. Why hadn’t we found him yet? Why, when Auriel was so sure he was in Korteria, had there been no sign of akadim? Not since that first night.
When we returned back to our cave after a second week of fruitless searching, visiting endless towns, and walking through the hills for signs of nests, I broke down. “Where the fuck is he?” I asked, slamming my fist into the cavern wall.
Auriel came to stand beside me. “He’s out there, Lyriana, he is.”
I shook my head. “It’s not like it’s that hard to find akadim.
Especially a horde—or whatever you might call the number serving him as an Arkturion.
Isn’t it the whole fucking point that they go out hunting for you?
I mean, if we hadn’t found him by now, shouldn’t he be finding us?
” I held my arms up wide, turning in a circle and screaming.
“We’re fucking prime targets out here! We’re alone!
We’re in the middle of nowhere. The akadim should come running! ”
“Maybe let’s not advertise that right now,” Auriel said. “I mean once word gets out that we’re here and we’re tasty, the line to sample us will reach the town and then—”
“Stop it! Just stop! You’re not going to talk me down by making jokes!”
Auriel bit his lip, the muscles in his jaw flexing. He leaned his head against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. “Okay. I won’t.”
I exhaled shakily, meeting his gaze. “What if you’re wrong? What if he’s not here? What if you’re feeling something else?”
His eyes softened. “I’m not. I’m sure he’s here. I don’t know why we haven’t found him yet. I wish I did. I wish I had a better sense of him, I wish that he felt—I don’t know, clearer to me. But that doesn’t change anything. I know what I feel.”
“What if Sean found him?” I asked. “What if Branwyn never got through? And he’s gone?”
“I would know. I would sense it.”
I shook my head. “Or you’re just wrong and won’t admit it!”
“I would admit,” Auriel said, “I think we’re close. There’s— there’s something. Some reason I feel him, his void. Some reason I’m sure.”
“What?” I asked dully.
“In my mind. It feels cloudy, not quite like before but like … there’s something I’m just not putting together.”
I turned away, my arms folded across my chest. “Well, let me know when you do.”
“Wait. Aemon is Moriel,” Auriel said slowly. “And Morgana is Ereshya.”
I nodded in exasperation. “Yes.” Because he already knew this.
“They already claimed the indigo and the orange shards. And now they have a horde of akadim under their control led by Rhyan.” He started to pace.
“Akadim that can move in the day. And akadim that need to feed. And I’d bet on a somewhat regular basis.
There’s no way that that many akadim are going unnoticed.
Especially since over a month ago they committed a massacre in Thene, and before that in Numeria.
They have the numbers. They attacked the Palace, the place that is supposedly impenetrable. ”
“Not anymore,” I said. “I also attacked the Palace.”
“And you’re the only story being spread and repeated. That you attacked, that you freed the vorakh—and yet they’re the ones the Empire wants everyone to fear.”
“And?” I said. “So what? We know this! We’ve been hearing confirmation for days. Weeks! It’s not like this is anything new, or even the first time they’ve put out lies, told us what to fear while ignoring the true danger.”
“No. But there is real danger. Somewhere out here is a small army of akadim. We met some of them already. And no matter how many lies the Empire spreads, something this big can’t just be covered up.
” He clapped his hands together. “Think about it, Lyriana. We haven’t heard shit about Aemon and Morgana.
And Aemon—Moriel—he was known as the Ready.
” Auriel’s eyes blazed, like he was on the verge of a discovery.
“Lady Morgana was known across the Empire. And akadim are the gravest threat that any Lumerian can face. I mean by the fucking realms. Was there ever a bigger, more violent, or more brutal attack on Lumerians in a single day, than the attack in the arena?” The attack that killed Rhyan, that turned him.
“No,” I said.
Auriel nodded vigorously. “No one discussing the akadim seems to have the slightest clue they can come out in the sun,” he snarled, his aura flashing with anger. “We literally fought that kind of akadim here—in this country! Why? Why doesn’t everyone know that?”
“Because it’s just like you said. The Empire tells us what they want us to know. And when the Empire is run by fucking Ka Kormac, of course everyone in Korteria believes it.” And probably New fucking Korteria, too.
“Exactly,” he said. “It’s just like last time we fought.
Just like when we battled against the Council, a millennia ago.
They control the narrative, the stories they want you to believe, they tell you where they want your attention to go.
And you know what stories they wouldn’t want getting out? ” His nostrils flared.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Protests,” he said. “Anyone in disagreement with them. Yet, we’re hearing about them every day, because they’re happening. They’re becoming a big deal.”
I frowned. He was right. Everyday, in every town, they were discussed.
And there was a rumor—albeit a small one—that someone from Ka Kormac had been arrested for vorakh.
No one believed he was guilty. Apparently, he’d been in a feud with another soturion.
That soturion had made the accusation out of revenge.
And that was all it took. He was taken in the night.
The soturion who’d made the accusation had been beaten within an inch of his life.
And then there’d been a small, yet failed uprising at the home of a local turion.
An attempt to free the accused. But it had failed, and everyone there had either been arrested or beaten.
Their soturion pay was docked as punishment.
At least, according to the rumors.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “They’re not completely controlling this narrative. So, what are you getting at?”
“So, Morgana and Aemon aren’t working with the Empire.
They have a legion of akadim under their control.
Two shards of the Valalumir in their possession.
Wouldn’t it stand to reason that with all that power, and all those moving pieces, that they would be in more stories?
More rumors?” His hands fisted. “But they’re not.
We know what the Empire wants everyone to know.
But things have a way of getting out. The truth can’t hide in the shadows forever.
Aemon and Morgana are lying low. They’re preparing for their next move.
I don’t think the akadim are roaming around Korteria and hunting.
I think the ones we found two weeks ago were a fluke, or they were on their way to meet the others.
Because I think they’re going after the next shard.
For Maraak Moriel, and Maraaka Ereshya. And now I’m convinced I know which one.
Because I know Rhyan’s here. And I know what else is. The green. My shard.”
“By the Gods,” I said, my eyes widening. “You’re right. Fuck. That’s the answer, isn’t it?” Shit! Shit! I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration.
If Lord Rhyan Hart’s soul cannot be restored, he will prove to be one of the most dangerous, and destructive forces the Empire has ever seen. Worse than the rise of Moriel. A prophecy exists even now. Visions shared by three. He has the power, as do you, to destroy our world.
By handing the green shard to Aemon and Morgana, giving them three, I wouldn’t stand a chance against them, not with only one.
“Auriel, do you know where the green shard is?”
He nodded. “It’s buried deep. I went for tombs, keys, and riddles when I hid the indigo and the red.
But for the green,” he smiled self-deprecatingly, “well, let no one accuse me of only having one trick. For mine, I chose nature as my accomplice. Nature and sheer brute force. I used my magic to create a hole, deep inside the mountains of Korteria, as far as the human lands. I buried the shard inside it, and then I closed it up.”
“And it’s in Korteria?”
He nodded. Then Rhyan was here. But …
“Did you do anything else when you hid the shard?” I asked suspiciously.
“Well, one thing,” he said, averting his eyes. “I made it so no one could use magic to reopen the hole. I guess back then I was kind of inspired by the way magic couldn’t touch akadim. I wanted something else magic couldn’t touch. And I put it in a place where magic was weakest.”
“West,” I said.
Auriel nodded. “The place can be accessed by anyone, human, or Lumerian, if the spot is known. But you’d have to fight nature, and dig.
” He frowned. “The hole I made, and the force I used to close it was extensive. Even for me, even at full strength. It would take months, and an immense amount of digging from an entire team of Lumerians with God-like energy and muscle. And that timeline is generous, and only believable if you had a team working day and night.”
“What about a month?” I asked. “But instead of strong Lumerians digging, it was a horde of akadim? Including one who had living memories of you. And remembered where it was buried.”
Auriel’s mouth dropped open. “Fuck. Fuck! That’s what they’re doing. They’re using Rhyan to locate it, and the akadim to dig out the shard. We need to go. Now.”