It needs to be tonight. When Aslendrix returns, and nightfall allows for an advantage against Fenix.
I’m out of time.
It’s nearly dusk by the time we make it back to the camp. There has been little talk, the Usher leading the way, back along the same path, past the open field where I stood under Novandia’s rays, and then into the forested area I associate with Fenix and his camp.
Fenix walks next to me, and Selina follows.
More people tag along the closer we get, emerging from trees as if hiding in wait.
It gives me time to pull an idea, the start of a plan, together. We said we’d wait until I was strong enough to take on Fenix, until we have more information, but we can’t wait any longer.
What will happen at the full moon? What difference will time make now?
We have what we have, and that’s got to be enough.
As we walk through to the main camp and past the firepit near where the Usher’s tent is, Kalan is perched, tending to the fire. I detour and go and sit next to him on the log.
“Ever,” he greets, a little startled, perhaps.
“Kalan.” I hold his gaze, forcing myself to see him as the man I remember him to be. The kind man who left me in the care of Lyle, who left me his brooch… that must count for something, and I wrestle with this over all the other information I know of the man.
“Is everything… alright? You’re well?” His eyes skip over me as if checking for an injury. I don’t answer him.
“Ever has had a busy day. I suggest she rests,” the Usher’s voice interrupts.
“I’d like to have dinner with Kalan tonight. And Fenix.” I turn to my brother.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea?—”
“Of course. You’ll join us, Sister,” Fenix interrupts the Usher. There’s a very small window to pull this off, and I’m running on nothing but fear, the jaws of time closing around me as sure as the night approaches.
“What happened today, Ever?” Kalan asks, looking at me with his too-perceptive eyes, before he glances across to Fenix, who’s taken a seat on the log opposite the fire.
“She finally used her power. Just like we’ve been asking of her, maybe she’s realising she could have saved everyone somepainif she’d only listened to us in the beginning.”
“How is your chest, brother?” I ask, assuming the Usher healed him.
“You’ll have to do more than that to get rid of me, Sister.”
“You’ve gone to all this trouble. It would be a shame to kill me now, before you’ve used me to take your place and rule Kirrasia.” I smile, cross my arms, and lean forward on my knees. It’s a risk, coming out and saying it out in the open like this, with witnesses, but I have to know if Kalan’s aware of his plan.
“You two still aren’t getting along?” Kalan asks, pulling my focus back to him.
I take his hand, dwarfing mine in his. There’s a gentle energy, a hum that sparks at our touch. And I could swear that the wind whispers to us as we make contact.
And that’s all I need as the idea takes shape. I’ve always thought that the magic between me and Ten was more his than mine. But, either way, I need Kalan to hear.“Help me. Get Ten and Crimson out.”He’s the only one who can help me tonight.
“Yes, yes, he will.”That gentle breeze blows harder this time, and in the air, that faint sound of voices, just like in the Variscite Forest.
“Can he hear me? Can he hear this?”I ask again, lost for a way to understand or comprehend this.
All I get is a gentle squeeze of my hand and a slow nod from Kalan. Nothing to raise suspicion.
“It has to be tonight.”I don’t know why, but something is telling me that. Something urgent and insistent. I have to leave tonight.
The Usher doesn’t let his gaze stray from me for more than a few seconds for the rest of the night. We eat in relative silence, only a few words spoken amongst the men. Selina is silent. And Marius seems to take watch. As the hour grows late, I feel the balance of energy begin to shift inside of me, tugging and pulling back, until there’s a reassurance of calm in the centre of me again, as if Aslendrix has taken up her residency and overtaken her brother’s presence.
My eyes drift closed, and I send up a silent thanks to the Goddess for returning to me and not shunning me for whatever I did earlier. I rub my finger over my ring and touch my pendant.
