25. Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kya
I slept under the stars that night. Too hurt and angry to be under the confines of rock or cloth.
I needed to gaze up at the wonder of the universe and let it come crashing down on me.
I laid in the lush grass of the plain, my hands clasped behind my head, letting the soft breeze cool me down and calm me.
I concentrated on the sounds of the insects, the wind blowing my loose hair, the grass tickling the back of my neck, the soothing swirling inside of me, and the sky above.
It shouldn’t have bothered me so much. I should have been stronger.
While I may have been keeping myself together on the outside, my soul was cracked, splintering under the weight of it all.
My mate’s rejection was the final blow, splitting the hard stone of my emotions and allowing them to pour out.
Beneath the stars was where I could go to get away and clear my head.
Those little dots of light in the sky promised hope, and it was awe-inspiring to imagine the other realms that could be out there.
Ones without diseased land and lost families.
Ones without Trials and thieves and denied bonds.
Just for a moment, I allowed myself to wish for a world rid of troubles and worries.
I didn’t sleep that night. There was too much on my mind. Silence filled my throat the next day. I didn’t know where to start, there was so much to say that I couldn’t speak at all.
Nikan seemed to understand and let me be, leaving me to my thoughts and leading the way. I didn’t even know where we were going as I blindly followed. Odarum stayed close, and I think Nikan had told him that I needed space to work things out in my own way until I was ready.
Once the sun set, we made camp for the night and Nikan spoke.
“We’re in Ulrik now,” he said softly. An offer to talk and bring me out of whatever this was. He was sitting next to me in front of the fire and looking into the flames.
“Why?” I glanced at him.
I could tell that we were farther north from the cooler temperature. He always knew what I needed. I leaned my head on his shoulder.
“After you bolted from Moury’s room to go Gods know where, I met with a contact who said there was word of a Roav in a small village in Ulrik.” The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
“A ‘Roav’ huh? Wonder who that could be, since there are just so many of us.” I lifted my head and winked at him.
He looked at me questionably.
“There are rumors that there are at least a dozen Roav out there.” I chuckled, remembering the conversation with Njall.
“Really?” Nik asked.
“Apparently.” I shrugged.
He shook his head and chuckled. “We should get to the village where Malina was last spotted shortly after morning. We can track her down from there.”
I nodded slowly.
“Hey.” He elbowed me gently. “You good?”
I smiled up at him. “Yeah. I’m good. ”
I did feel slightly better about it all. I needed the time to think and clear my head, and Nikan had given that to me.
We left the next morning just as the sun began to crest over the horizon.
I spoke to Odarum about training with my magic and shifting, and he agreed that we should start after we find Malina and decide where we were going next.
Neither of us brought up the last couple of days.
It was done and over with, and time to move on.
Trotting through a small patch of woods, a voice echoed through the trees.
“I never thought I’d be so happy to see someone that I thought was dead.”
I stopped my horse. “Doesn’t sound like you had a lot of confidence in me.”
I searched the dense canopy above me—the leaves were turning from green to red and orange and yellow.
Malina was known for keeping to the treetops, using the illusion of the sunlight peeking through the leaves to conceal her.
She would get the attention of her victims before blinding them.
It gave her the advantage of the high-ground to spy and fight as well as remaining obscured from below.
But instead, she stepped out from around the trunk of a tree next to the path.
Malina’s hair was twisted into a bun on top of her head. She was dressed in her Roav leathers. Her pack was hanging over one shoulder, and she was twirling one of her daggers between her fingers.
“A mistake on my part.” She gave a smirk. “Who would have thought that a Roav could be Worthy.”
I hopped off my horse and hugged her firmly. Nikan jumped down and stood next to us before hugging her as well after I let go.
She glanced behind me at Odarum. “Well, it looks like it wasn’t quite so unfortunate that I lost my horse. You seem to have an extra. And it’s got wings!” She clapped her hands.
“She will not mount me,” Odarum huffed.
“I don’t know about that. She’s never turned down a suitor before.” I giggled when he snorted and his skin twitched.
“That’s Odarum. He doesn’t like to be touched. What happened to your horse?” I asked my sister.
“Ah, damn thing bolted a few days ago. One of those saber-tooths was in the area.”
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Nikan asked.
She looked at him and nodded. “Yep. And it’s fucking heavy to be lugging around on foot, too. I left this morning to head back to Morah.”
She dropped her pack and sat against the base of the tree with her knees bent and her forearms resting on them.
“But enough about me and some old tome. Kya, tell me everything .”
“We really should keep moving—”
“We have time, Nik,” I interrupted as I sat down next to Malina with my legs crossed underneath me.
I told her all that had happened from the beginning of the Trial—leaving out the little details. I told her of each of the Tests, the creatures, being chosen by Kleio and her command for me to find the truth about the Glaev, Odarum, the book being stolen, finding the dead seller, then coming here.
“You have yet to mention your mate to those closest to you. Interesting,” Odarum said.
“Watch it. That is none of your concern,” I snapped.
Malina took a few moments to take everything in, mulling it over.
“And you didn’t discover anything about who stole this book from Morah?” she asked.
“No,” Nikan and I responded in unison.
“No other clues about how this Moury male came into possession of it?” She tilted her head to the side and chewed on her lip.
“No,” Nikan said.
“Yes,” I answered at the same time. He gaped at me as I continued. “I met with one of my contacts and learned that Moury found the book on a beach at the northern end of Dusan.”
Umana was my own little Roav secret. We had met on one of my earlier missions and she has been an invaluable asset ever since, not to mention that I paid her well for the information she divulged.
But she requested that I keep her identity confidential, not wanting anyone back at Morah to find out.
Seeing as we often had to give detailed reports to Eamon about our journeys, I didn’t want to put Nikan and Malina in a position to lie.
Both Malina’s and Nikan’s eyebrows creased.
“There is no beach on the northern end of Dusan. The Rip goes right through it. I think your contact was mistaken or lied to,” Nikan said.
“Unlikely. She has never led me astray before.” I shook my head.
“There is a small area.” Malina blew out a sharp breath.
Nikan and I looked at her. “My mother tried to take me there when I was a child. There was a small strip of land just past the Dusan border, at the far end of the Rip, that leads you to an isolated piece of land with a beach. She wanted to visit and stay for a few days with me and my father. I was terrified at the time when we went, being so close to Odes’s grave, and we didn’t even make it past the Rip before we turned around. ”
My eyes were as wide as Nikan’s. Malina never spoke of her mother and father.
Being separated from them after losing our home had been hard for her—hard on both of us—but I had practiced compartmentalization and adjusted to it more easily, while she continued to mask her pain with smiles and sassy remarks.
“So yes, there is a beach at the northern end of Dusan. But I don’t know if it’s still accessible by land. It was right on Atara’s border, and I don’t know if the Glaev closed off the path to get to it,” she added.
I nodded. “Alright. We can go to Morah and find maps of the area to see if the Glaev barred the path. It would be faster to get there on land rather than going to the coast at the southern end and chartering a boat to get to the northern end.”
“Unless you’d like to put those wings to use?” I said to Odarum.
“I would not,” he deadpanned.
“This is kind of a big fucking deal. You’re all about protecting the balance and everything. Don’t you want to help me with the Glaev?”
“That would be interfering,” he said.
“We have a plan then. Let’s get moving.” Nikan stood and walked back to his horse.
“Your mark isn’t gone,” Malina stated, pointing to my exposed wrist between my sleeve and glove. “I thought it was supposed to disappear when you completed the Trial.”
“No.” I pulled down the collar of my shirt over my shoulder to show her the extension. “Now that I’m a Worthy, the mark will always remain. It’s changed though. It now goes up the length of my arm and bears the symbols of Kleio since she chose me.”
Malina and I stood and she gestured to Odarum. “So the flying Spirit pony is like your pet now?”
“I am no pet nor am I some feeble pony!” Odarum shouted through my mind and he reared his head back.
Nikan snorted and I laughed. I was grateful to be here with my family.
A couple of hours before dusk, we stopped to camp for the night.
I wanted daylight so that I could start training with Odarum.
I was tired of waiting. Malina had ridden with me while Nikan carried our packs to help even out the weight for the horses since Odarum refused to carry anyone and grumbled something about not being a mule when I asked him to carry the packs.