43. Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter forty-three
Fiery thirst ravages my scratchy throat.
It's all I can think about when I open my eyes, grateful everything is staying still.
Looking up at the beige canvas dome above me, I don't register his presence until Zenn's low, rumbling "Good morning" has me jerking upright, realizing this is absolutely not my tent.
"Shit, it's morning already?" I croak, covering a yawn.
He holds out a silver canteen I take gratefully, draining half the too-cold water in seconds. "Relax. It's only been a few hours."
"Willa–"
"Is fine. Much better, actually, thanks to you." I shift uncomfortably to sit cross-legged on the bedroll I'm assuming is his, surveying the tidy space that's much the same as our tent. "Felix is turning the spare tent into a stretcher bed so we can carry her out of here."
"We're leaving?"
"Yes. What you did for her was amazing. Lira thinks she's ok to be moved now, as long as we're careful.
We need to get her to long term help and proper rest, and we can't have you burning yourself out again.
You'll take good care of her on the way home, won’t you?
" Something about the way he says the last part turns the pit of my stomach into a gaping chasm that has nothing to do with magic.
"Once we're out of the mountains, we'll sort out transport to get you all back to Raviaz. "
My heart plummets. "What do you mean, to get us back?"
"I won’t be heading home yet. There’s a few things I need to do first."
"I can't go home either, Zenn. That wasn't the deal. You said if we tagged along, we'd get to continue after." I guess it's more like I continue now, not we.
There's a heavy pause before he continues. "It never occurred to me you'd still want to, not after everything that happened. I said I'd take you if it was feasible. It's not, so you're going back."
"No, I'm not."
"You are. It's not up for discussion."
"Why? Where are you going? Why do you have to go on your own?" I demand.
He waves a hand, throwing up a sound shield around us. "I'm not. I'm going with Jeska."
"You're taking Jeska?" I repeat, voice soaring with my temper I can't get under control. I'm not sure I even want to at this point.
"I'm not taking her. It’s usually the three of us. Hendrix would be coming if he didn’t need a break."
"Semantics," I hiss, and I swear, a hint of a smile curves the corner of his lips, only making me angrier. "What changed? Or was it always your plan to send us back?" If looks could kill, the man would be a corpse. Not that I'd be in better shape—his scowl is just as murderous.
"For fuck's sake, please don't make this difficult."
Difficult. Don't be difficult. Hard work. Too much effort. "How did you expect me to react to you sending me away?" The words ring in my ears, getting louder until I can barely hear him. I take another drink from the canteen, trying to calm down.
"That's not what's happening. I'm not–"
"Or is this about what happened between us? Do you regret it? Maybe it's more convenient if I leave." Gods, the hot spring already feels like a lifetime ago.
"Where the fuck did that come from? Do you really think so little of me?" His eyes blaze with hurt and disgust as he drops his head to rest on a bent knee, like he can't bear to look at me.
"No, I don't," I admit. "I'm just trying to understand what's happening here."
"I'm trying to keep you safe, that's what.
We already lost Xaavi. I won't risk something happening to you too.
The mountains are dangerous, but they're nothing compared to the Median.
That's where we're going. Jeska and I are trained, and we'll ride with minimal stops.
But you…" He doesn't need to finish the sentence. I'd slow them down.
"Great. That's where I'm going too. Through the Median, all the way around to Orz."
His eyes widen, horror clouding the blue depths. "You…you're what?" I lift my chin, saying nothing. "Aly, you can't be serious. You're trying to get into another kingdom? Why? What could possibly be so important?"
Filling my lungs slowly, I send a mental apology to Bri and pray this pays off. "I need to get to my sister."
The silence stretches between us before he asks, "What the hell is your sister doing in Orz?"
"I can't tell you, only that I need to see her. She might be in trouble."
"No, absolutely not. It's impossible. There's no way you can sneak into another realm. If you're caught, you're fucked."
"I'm not going to get caught. I can blend in with dark grey clothes, disguise myself as a Triv. I'm not planning to stay. I just need to talk to her." I won’t back down, no matter how ludicrous this plan sounds, even to me.
His sigh is so deep and long, it sounds as if it's being torn from his soul. "I have a contact in the Orz castle who might be able to get us access."
"Wait, what? You're going to help?"
"I will go look for your sister and try to bring her home, but I can't take you with me. It's too risky."
"You have no idea what I’m capable of."
"Gods damn, it’s not about being capable.
I just watched you fry yourself with a warped power you apparently didn’t know you had.
We need our magic to sustain us through the Median, and I don't trust yours.
" I don't trust you is what he really means.
"Don't you want to stay with Willa?" His placating, supposed-to-be-soothing tone has the opposite effect.
How fucking dare he? "You are unbelievable.
Of course I do. I want her to be ok more than anything.
But I have to speak to Bri, not bring her home.
" The words are a strangled shout, tearing my throat as I try unsuccessfully to shove down the blazing anger.
I can't swallow the bitter thought of coming this far, only to not make it to Orz.
"I'm sorry, Aly. This is the best I can do. Tell me what I need know, and I'll do my best to get to her. But either way, you need to go home."
My voice goes lethally quiet. The rage that had flared hot drops to an ice cold fury in a flash. "Is that your final decision, Commander?"
He winces, staring like he doesn't recognize me. "It is." I nod and get to my feet, ignoring his protests and attempt to grab my wrist, leaving the tent. If he thinks I'm going home, he doesn't know me at all.
I almost run smack into Lira as I'm storming out. She takes one look at my face and hooks an elbow through mine. "What's wrong?"
"Fucking men, that's what," I seethe, not caring if I was loud. Nav joins us in time to overhear, and he lets out a snort of laughter, taking Lira's basket and then her free hand in his. "Sorry, don't mind me."
She smiles knowingly. "We're heading into the forest to forage for birch mushrooms so I can make Willa a poultice to ease the stress of travel.
Why don't you come with us?" There's a faint pulse from the spot where I access the magic.
Without knowing what it means, I nod, despite not having the energy for any of it.
We wander, Lira explaining the properties of different plants to Nav.
He hangs on her every word with rapt fascination, pausing occasionally to re-tie a leather band around his long, black braids or kiss the back of her hand.
We're deeper into the trees when that same pulse of energy flutters in my stomach. I wonder what’s causing it.
"What type are these, honey?" Nav asks affectionately as she crouches down to examine whatever he's pointing to.
"Oh, they're diamond chips. They grow in a variety of climates but don't serve much of a purpose, since they're inedible and non-medicinal.
Pretty, though, especially when the sunlight catches the tiny silver fragments on top.
See how they reflect the light like real gems?
That's where the name comes from. I've never seen them grow in spirals like this, though. "
Alarm clangs through my mind like the time-keeping bells in Raviaz. Words leap out at me.
Fragments. Spirals. Diamonds. Whether it's intuition or memory, a fourth word completes the picture: Mycelium. Here's me searching everywhere for gemstones, when the Sage was hinting at mushrooms of all things. She couldn’t have told me that?
I make note of the small, flat fungi’s location, and when the other two are ready to head back, I tell them I need a little more space and ask Lira for a scrap of paper and a pencil, promising to be right behind them.
Rushing over to where she’d been sitting, I pull the prism sphere from my pocket and hold it over the diamond-chip fungi, feeling stupid.
Then, I think about the Sage's words, illuminate the way, and angle the prism into a ribbon of buttery sunlight dripping through the leafy canopy.
Bright rainbows of light burst from every cut surface when the sun hits, illuminating the chips on the mushroom caps, not just near my boots, but bouncing to other spiral clusters further up the hill, revealing a colorful path.
I follow the light reflections up the steep, forested slope, occasionally stopping or going back to beams of sunshine when the path disappears, until I'm standing next to a towering tree with pale bark and a trunk so thick, ten of me couldn't fully encircle it with outstretched arms. The looming silhouette looks to be hundreds of feet tall and is nothing but trunk until at least half way up. Nobody is climbing this one.
I wonder how you find the path on a day without sunshine.
And if this really is the Mycelium, did its former patrons walk around with prisms all the time?
Then again, maybe they had the power to control the sunshine.
Stories about the Mycelium refer to it as an archaic travel network used by the unnamed gods to get around the entire island, long before Atafye split away and became an island.
It was particularly useful for the mountain ranges, since most of them didn’t have a way to access the peaks, not unless they were inclined to hike. Did gods hike? The idea of them behaving like mortals in any way has me laughing out loud.
Nothing happens when sunlight strikes glass this time, not until I get halfway around the tree and see a four-pointed star lit up near the base, almost hidden by a patch of lichen.
Before I can question it, as if the knowledge of what to do already exists within me, I crouch and press down on the star, stumbling backward, gaping in shock when a thumping, whirring sound grinds to life, and a panel as tall as Zenn and twice as wide drops away.
For a few blinks, all I see is pitch black, then my eyes adjust, and I sense motion beneath my boots.
Where I would expect to see the pale wood of the enormous tree trunk dropping down into thick roots, there's a row of what look like flat stone platforms, about the size of a large bedroll, and they're moving.
They steadily slide out one at a time, travelling a few feet before slowly cascading down beneath the surface of the earth.
It’s like a staircase of sorts, except the platforms move instead of the people. It's incredible, like nothing I could've imagined, and all seemingly perfectly preserved. Does this really cover the entire island?
Minutes later, I have my answer when, heart thundering, I steady myself on the edges of the opening and peek my head far enough into the tree to look around the inside of the still-living trunk.
I hope the thing won't slam shut when I hold the prism up, a multitude of colored lights illuminating an outline of the island, forming a network map.
Complete with access points and even tiny labels with the time it takes to travel each route.
The entire section representing the southern point remains dark and shadowed.
I hurry to scrawl a rough version of the map on the paper I instinctively borrowed from Lira, not knowing if I'll be able to find more of those mushrooms again at the access point closer to where I think we're camped.
"I just found our way into Orz," I tell Aven excitedly, quickly filling him in on my discovery and what I'm about to do.
"The lingering magic in the network must keep it this well protected.
It's pristine inside." Enough that I'm ready to take a chance and test it out.
"Assuming I survive this, can you gather the rest of the horses, get saddled up, and travel along the road to meet us?
This tree—or tunnel, I guess—comes out at the base of the mountain nearest to where the Envenar and Zelindyr borders will meet the Median.
" Ironically, not all that far from the crescent fields I lied about visiting.
"Already on it," he replies smugly. "Your Commander summoned Witt a few days ago, asked for a wagon for his sister and the other one who was hurt."
"Of course he did," I mutter out loud, rolling my eyes for nobody's benefit but my own, since Aven can't see me. He's closer, that's why he's sounded so much clearer in the last few days. "You could've told me that yesterday."
"I could've, but you didn't ask." He chuffs. "Just so I know, do you intend to continue this habit of pointing out obvious facts we're both already aware of?"
"Now I know how much you enjoy it? Highly likely," I chirp. "At least you'll only have to tolerate it for seventy-one years, Goddess willing. Much better than the hundred and seventy-one it could've been."
Aven grumbles. "Stop that. Your abbreviated lifespan is not remotely funny to joke about, Alyxia."
"Careful, someone might think you're missing me."
"Given we're the only two in this conversation, I have to assume you're intentionally being bothersome."
Laughing, I peer around the inside of this hollowed out tree again, estimating the timing to jump onto one of the moving platforms. "I miss you too. I better get back to camp before they come looking. See you soon."
I need to be in Orz within the next week.
Now, by some miracle, that's entirely possible.
If I wait until Zenn leaves, would Drea go with me?
At least she can conjure weapons, so it would be safer travel—unless she kills me for not telling her about Bri.
Felix won't leave Willa, and I would never ask him to.
Plus, it would be a liability to have Grange in the Median, where magic doesn't work.
The journey horse would never keep up with Aven.
Hopefully, with just us, we'll be able to outrun whatever's so bad in there, and the Mycelium will provide cover for the rest of the way. I'll go alone if I have to.