Chapter 43 #2
This was where we’d been ambushed. Where the akadim had attacked Garrett, leaving him forsaken for hours, turning in silence until he finally confessed what had happened in the arena. And asked me to kill him.
Asked me to let him die as himself.
All because of my father. Because he’d allowed the akadim inside. But that ended tonight.
The clock tower rang out and in the distance a flock of roaring, squawking gryphons came into view as they flew just above the trees. My heart sang. I hadn’t seen or ridden one since—since the night before I died.
And right now, Artem, my old friend and Glemaria’s stable master, was heading for us, leading the flock. There were about a dozen flying behind him. Dario had been able to send a message to Kenna via Meera’s nahashim, explaining our transport needs once we reached the border.
Lyr and Aiden stepped forward, releasing the shadow glamour that covered us, just enough so Artem could see. His gryphon moved into the sunlight and I gasped audibly, seeing its feathers and fur.
“By the Gods,” Sean exclaimed. “Is that—”
My eyes widened, my heart leaping. No. It couldn’t.
It couldn’t be. But it was. A wide grin filled my face.
Artem landed in front of me, riding on the back of a beautiful newly adult gryphon I never thought I’d see again.
Not after he helped me escape from my father.
He was unlike any other gryphon in Glemaria, not bronze, or silver.
He was red. He flew with bright red feathers. Batavia red.
“How?” I asked. “I thought he went home.” The gryphon was born in the Afeyan lands, part of the Star Court. But he’d ended up outside of Seathorne as a baby, and in need of care.
Artem shrugged, patting the gryphon’s head. “I think he likes me.” His eyes crinkled, looking down at me. “The lad just keeps coming back.”
Lyr stepped forward looking mesmerized. “I’ve never seen one this color.”
Jules looked equally enthralled, and smiled. “He’s beautiful.”
I stood back, my heart filling with joy, as I opened my arms. The gryphon met my eyes, eyeing me up and down, then he started forward, butting his head into my belly, like he was trying to burrow his way in, just like he had when he was a baby.
“Hey. Hey now,” I said, rubbing behind his ears. “I missed you, too, buddy.”
Artem descended, and slapped his knee. His pants were covered, as always, in dirt and straw from the stables. “Welcome back, Rhyan,” he said, his eyes sweeping over me.
“Artem,” I said, and opened my arms for a hug.
He shook his head. “I smell like gryphon shit.”
I laughed. “You always did.” I pulled him into a hug. And he patted me on the back. The rest of the gryphons in the flock began to land, each one touching down and squawking or kicking at the dirt and grass beneath them with their claws.
“He’s beautiful,” Lyr said, coming over to stroke his feathers. My gryphon looked up at her, and immediately pushed his head into her hand.
I would have called him a traitor, going to her so fast, but I couldn’t blame him when I had the same urge.
If he was going to love anyone else besides me, Lyr was a good choice.
I was glad to see that she seemed to feel the same way about him.
Much to my disappointment, she had taken a little longer to warm up to the creatures—though considering her first ever time riding one had been trapped in the arms of Aemon’s akadim, right after Parthenay had bound and captured us—I didn’t blame her.
Parthenay.
My vision darkened suddenly, the visceral scent of grass and blood and sweat in my nose.
You’re hungry, Rhyan? Aren’t you? Very hungry.
My mind flashed. Morgana ordering me to take Parthenay. To do what I wanted to her. Anything I wanted. She was underneath me, screaming, and crying. Her blood on my lips. Pain shot through my head, and my chest tightened. My vision blurred. I couldn’t breathe.
“Rhyan.” Lyr grabbed my hand and squeezed. “Look at me,” she said urgently. Her palm rested against my chin, her fingers stroking my cheek.
I met her eyes, my chest still hurting.
“Breathe,” she said quietly, just to me. “Breathe. I’m right here. We’re in Glemaria. We’re alive. We’re okay.”
I watched her chest rise and fall, and breathed with her, squeezing her hand back.
The images faded, and I nodded. Relief spread across her face, her thumb rubbing back and forth on my hand. We stood there another moment, just watching the gryphon when Lyr squinted her eyes. “He …” she frowned. “He looks familiar.”
“Um,” I swallowed, “he’s actually the gryphon I had tattooed on my back.”
“This is the gryphon?” Lyr asked. She looked quickly back and forth between us and grinned. “I see it.”
“Spend a lot of time looking at his back?” Dario asked.
Lyr glared.
“Yes,” I said. “And he’s Afeyan, that’s why he looks like this. The gryphons from the Star Court come in every color you can imagine.”
“Like Mercurial,” Lyr said dryly.
“Like Mercurial,” I said, more than aware of the anger in my voice. I was surprised that bastard hadn’t shown up yet to gloat, or call in another fucking favor. But that was coming. Something to worry about later.
I turned my attention back to the gryphon. “I found him as a baby outside my window a few years back. Took care of him—well, Artem did. He had a broken leg. But he healed, and he was with me when I escaped. My only friend in exile.” I looked at Sean. “At least, at first.”
Sean smiled, and gripped my shoulder, his eyes full of emotion. “A good friend then.”
“Well,” Artem said. “You all better go. And win. Please. I have to be on my way—to the actual Alissedari. Rhyan,” he pulled me back to him, and squeezed my hand, “You weren’t supposed to come back.
But you’re here again, and this time, I have a good feeling, lad.
But if I’m wrong, well—I’ve lived a good life.
” His eyes landed on Lyr’s. “My lady, be safe.” He went over to one of the smaller gryphons that had landed with him.
I turned to Sean and Lyr, my throat tightening, but it was time. And I stepped forward to address our soturi.
“This is it,” I said. “I am so grateful to everyone who has come this far. Who has come here with us. Everyone who stands before me now is here for a reason. Because you all believe in a better world. In better leadership. In standing up to tyranny. We have seen horrors that no one should see, that no one deserves. It’s time to stop those who enable such horrors, who help to bring them about.
It’s time to stop my father. To stop the man who has allowed far too many to suffer our fate.
The man who has controlled the North, keeping too many oppressed and in danger for too long.
You all know what to do. You all know where to go.
And I know that in a few hours, we will claim victory as ours. ”
I looked at Lyr and nodded. She stepped forward.
“Rhyan and I,” Lyr said, “will be right behind you. You go now with our full support, and full confidence. As well as our love. We all took an oath to stop the threat. And, today, that is exactly what we’re going to do by ending the reign of Imperator Hart. Today, we free Glemaria.”
Everyone cheered, and then Sean pulled them into formation while Dario and a Glemarian soturion named Rory began to round up the gryphons, feeding them some of the snacks we’d carried with us.
The soldiers began to climb onto their designated gryphons, some in groups as large as twelve on the biggest gryphon, while most had been placed into groups of six.
Lyr pulled out her sword, and at once, under the sunlight, it lit with flames, bright red light filling the meadow. Then she began to chant. “Ani petrova Rakashonim, me ka el lyrotz, dhame ra shukroya, aniam anam. Chayate me el ra shukroya.
Ani petrova Rakashonim! ”
Golden light exploded from inside her armor, lighting her up from head to toe, her hair a fiery red.
There was a thundering in my heart right then, my throat tightening.
Because she looked just like … just like Asherah.
Like my soulmate. And I had a flash of her.
A flash of Asherah lifting her sword and riding into battle.
In the same moment, I saw recognition in Meera’s eyes—Cassarya. And Jules—Hava.
I wasn’t sure, but Dario also had a strange look on his face as he watched her, like he’d seen this before.
I blinked and the vision faded, and she was Lyr again.
She connected the sword to her stave—Asherah’s stave—and then she took Aiden’s hand, her stave connecting to his.
A flash of blue light streamed between them.
Then they went to work, glamouring each gryphon with an illusion spell.
Slowly, each beast and the soturi they carried began to fade from view, their bodies blending into the surrounding field and trees.
It was a huge spell, and an even bigger undertaking.
Glamour this advanced wasn’t even studied, except by Aiden, and Ka Shavo in Bamaria.
Lyr had practiced with him until the early hours.
We’d decided that for a spell this large, and that had to last as long as it did, Lyr had to call on all her power.
And if all went according to plan, this would be the only time she would have to use it today.
Dario stepped forward, his arms raised high. He signaled to the first gryphon. “Volara! ” The gryphon, barely visible under the spell, began to run, roaring as its wings flapped, taking flight and soaring over the tops of the trees.
He signaled again, safely sending all but two gryphons out. Then he climbed up onto the one we’d designated for him, alongside Aiden, Jules, and Meera.
Aiden glamoured them all, and within seconds, my friends and Lyr’s family faded from vision.
Then Lyr climbed up onto the red gryphon, and I followed, seating myself behind her, my hand wrapped around her waist.
“I’ll see you on the other side,” I called out.
“Keep them safe, Dario,” Lyr yelled.
“On my life,” he called back, and though I could barely see him, I knew his fist was at his heart. Then he cried out, “Vra! Volara! ”
Wind gusted through our hair, pulling the hoods of our cloaks back. I couldn’t see the moment my friends took off. But I could see the wind bristling through the leaves, and hear the flapping of wings.
And then it was just me and Lyr.
Her back heaved against my front as she breathed deeply. Then she turned around, pulling my chin to her, kissing me softly, and then pointing her stave between us.
“Ready?” she asked.
“I’m ready.”
We disappeared.