Searching for me or for Ever? Cetus might be looking, but would he dispatch a whole squad for me, or is it a bluff? His face remains emotionless. No tells to give him away. “Help me. Let me speak to Calix and Crimson, find out what happened and where Ever is, and then I’ll leave. You have my word.”
He turns away again, as if weighing the options, and it’s his indecision that tells me that I’ve got him. If he didn’t have doubts, I’d be bound and detained by now.
“I won’t be able to get you into The Court, even under a new moon. You are too recognisable. Ever’s escape is the Warriors’ priority. How she got free and where she went, but that won’t assuage your own position.
“You can’t see Calix. Not until he is healed. We’ll need to hide you where you won’t be seen or found. Then we can talk about de-briefing.”
“Where do you suggest?” I ask. If he’s agreeing to this, he’ll have a plan. Hopefully, one that will allow me to rest and eat without the fear of being eaten myself.
“The Transference stone. There’s little light left today, and you should be safe. Tomorrow, we will come to you—with food, and supplies, judging by the look of you.” He casts his eyes over my salt-stained tunic. “But after tomorrow, I hold no promises. You will explain. My family will explain, and then you will return to Estereah.”
five
. . .
Aten
General Aster escorts me through the narrow paths of the Jet Mountains until we emerge, a little higher than the waterfall I took Ever to. The sound of the water cascading in the distance serves as a reminder of everything that was so close for us when I first took her there, and to think, it was only four weeks ago.
We keep to the edge of the mountains, happy to stay in the shadows and stay hidden as we make the journey that’s usually reserved for celebrating the Transference.
We’re relying on the fact that this place will be abandoned on New Moon night.
We bow to each other as we approach the clearing, and he slinks back into the shadows that dusk so happily provides. I’d have every opportunity to vanish or retrace my steps if I liked, but I won’t, not with so much on the line. Besides, I’d get nowhere fast. I’ve barely slept and haven’t eaten in days. He leaves me his waterskin, but that’s it. The rest of the items in my pack are useless, waterlogged and ruined. It’s been a long day,and I slept through the first half of it. As the evening passes, the night creeps up, stalking the light from the sky.
The stone table comes into view as I make it to the main clearing.
But there’s someone else here.
“Calm yourself, Aten. I am not here to do you harm.”
The Maker.
“How did you know I would be here?” I refuse to speak with her inside my head. That is reserved only for Ever now.
“Such a stupid question, boy.”
“Are you here to send me back? To uphold my banishment?” I tread carefully, closing the distance between us until the stone table is the only thing between us.
“Your banishment is of no concern to me. But I am here for a purpose.”
“Then tell me. Please.”
“Do you remember what I told you? You seem to have forgotten. Repeating myself isn’t a task I’m fond of doing, yet here I am. Do you understand me?”
Is she serious?But I hear the thrum of power—of menace—in her voice and force my mind to rake over the words she’s spoken to me over the years.
“Um, the journey. I have a journey.” I close my eyes and picture myself in the Great Hall receiving another one of her cryptic messages that didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
“You do have a journey to make. And a decision. And I’m here to remind you that your choice will play its part in shaping Kirrasia.” Her hollow eyes seem to look right through me—down to my very bones—as she imparts her message. Although, it’s more of a warning.
But now, after the decisions and events that have led me here, I have to wonder if this is tied to Ever just as everything else has been since she arrived. It’s like her arrival was a pebbledropped into the centre of my life, and now I’m riding the waves, fighting against the momentum that threatens to topple me into the depths.
“What’s the choice?” I ask, hoping for more than the shadows and mist of her words.
“That is for you to recognise and for you alone to act on.”
So many Kirrians revere The Maker. She, after all, is the link to Aslendrix and has overseen all of Transferences, ensuring the continuation of power and magic as we know it.
