AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The sudden emergence of wind, combined with the excess of kindling in the summer house, ensures that the mansion burns brightly and swiftly. My friends and I remain on the alert, waiting for either Melanis and her followers to attack at the goddesses’ behest, or a group of Forsworn deathshrieks, loyal to the Idugu, to arrive. But as the last vestiges of the sun go down and the first glimmers of moonlight spill over the estate, no pursuers arrive, only Keita, his entire body bathed in flames now, although his armor still holds. Those Maiwurians truly know what they’re about when they design armor. He slowly rejoins us, and together we watch the palace burn to the ground, nary the slightest hint of smoke despite the intensity of the fire.
It’s as if the enchantment still holds firm: there are flames, there’s wind and heat, but no smoke rises, only a sweet, flowery scent that wraps itself around the compound.
“It’s fitting,” Keita says once the conflagration finally reduces the place to ash, its orange hues brilliant against the darkness. “Mother loved the smell of flowers. She loved the smell of these trees.”
He points to the fruit orchard, which remains standing, a silent sentinel. The flames didn’t touch it at all, as if it was still protected, still cloaked in the invisible bubble my kelai constructed around the estate.
“And now, they’ll watch over your family’s spirits for eternity,” Belcalis says solemnly, patting Keita’s shoulder. “Take comfort in that.”
Keita nods, tears glistening in his eyes as he accepts this gesture. “I will. Just as I’ll take comfort in knowing that they’re here, together in this place, this paradise.” He turns pointedly to me as he says that, squeezes our connected hands a bit tighter.
Li steps forward. “I know it must be small consolation, given everything that happened here, but at least you have that—the knowledge that they’ll be together always in this reverie that was created just for them. Hold on to it. Cherish it. It’s a rare thing in times like ours.”
These thoughtful words seem so out of character for Li, of all people, I gape.
“What?” he says defensively when he sees my expression. “I can be sensitive.”
“So can a blood-sucking parasite,” Adwapa says.
“Hey!” Britta protests. “Li is more sensitive than a parasite…I think.” When Li pouts at this half compliment, she ruffles his hair.
As Adwapa shrugs doubtfully at Britta, Belcalis turns to the rest of us. “I hesitate to say this, given the occasion, but we need to get going. We need to return to Ilarong and regroup. Find a way to steal back Deka’s kelai before Okot tries to snatch her away again.”
“I actually have an idea for that,” I say, thinking about all the feelings that flooded into me when I was in that room, in the presence of that box. “I’ll just summon a door back, yes?” I add, glancing at Keita, who’s still watching the embers of the building.
I don’t want to rush him if he still needs time.
When he nods, I swiftly begin to sink into the combat state, not even needing to connect to the Greater Divinity now. There’s enough of my kelai here, enough of its remnants, that I just need to draw them into me, use them to bend open the edges of space. As I begin to do that, however, I suddenly feel something—a subtle tingle shivering up my spine.
A presence.
I whirl, trying to find its source, until Britta gasps. She points, delighted. “Look, it’s an indolo!”
I turn in the direction of her finger.
There, just at the edge of the orchard, are two glowing green feline forms. An indolo—what appear to be two small catlike creatures connected by a golden tether. Their golden horns and the profusion of vines that seem to float around them as if by magic glow in the darkness.
Britta tiptoes closer to the indolo to get a better look. “I’ve never seen one before. Look how beautiful it is!”
To my surprise, the creature doesn’t move. It doesn’t even lift a paw as Britta, Ixa, and I inch nearer until finally, we’re face-to-face with it. That’s when I notice its eyes.
Usually, indolo eyes are a shimmering golden hue that matches the glow surrounding their bodies. This indolo’s, however, are black, all four of them a shade of liquid obsidian that seems to peer deep into my soul. I blink, startled out of my daze. There’s an intelligence to these eyes, an intellect that feels so familiar, I suddenly have the thought that I’ve seen this indolo—or, rather, the person that’s inside this indolo—countless times before.
I sink to my knees, kneeling so I’m face to face with the goddess who has always been my firmest ally. “Anok,” I say reverently. I can see her now, peering at me through those eyes. “It is you, isn’t it?”
Both heads of the indolo nod.
“Anok?” Britta repeats, startled. “It’s her? Does that mean the others are coming?” She glances around, uneasy, and she’s not the only one.
Beside her, Ixa is bristling, every muscle in his body tensing as he growls. Dark one here. Dark one watching.
I pet his brow to calm him. “It’s all right, Ixa.”
I look back at the indolo and there she is, the dark goddess, staring back at me. I can feel her vast intelligence, feel the kindness, which I had feared was being corrupted by the others. It’s still there, still deep inside this goddess who defied her own sisters—her own kin—to save the lives of myself and the others.
“Can you speak?” I ask.
The indolo shakes its heads.
