Chapter Twenty-One
To whoever finds this: If I’m gone, please find my mother and make sure she’s ok. Rill on Eaglet road, down the hill in the eagle’s district. I am her second daughter Thallia.
Florian stared at the first page of the ledger notebook for a long moment, reading the note over and over in the flickering light of the candles that they had set around the wide room.
It had taken about an hour to clear out all the heavy shelves and set up a small camp in the inner room; then he used his magic to refuel their shroud pendants to make sure they were full for tomorrow; and after that, he’d spent some time trying to help heal Koji’s arm further. It was looking much better than it had just a few short hours ago, and Koji assured him that he barely felt it by the time the wounds had faded to shiny, fresh scar tissue.
Finally, they had a quick dinner and went to bed. His and Kade’s sleeping bags were right next to each other, closer to the door, while Koji and Rune had theirs along the other twowalls. Koji had immediately gone to sleep, obviously worn out from their journey while injured, and Rune had laid down to read a book she’d brought from the Winter Court’s library. Kade was also resting beside him, but his orange eyes opened when Florian sat up to look through the metal lockbox again, watching him curiously.
Part of him really,reallydidn’t want to read whatever this was. This Thallia was long dead, and reading this would only make Florian sadder still. But she had put her final words out into the world, and they had gone unread for two centuries. Florian had found them. It was only right to read them.
And maybe there would be some sort of hint about what they were supposed to do. And with that grim thought, he flipped the page and read on.
I don’t know what happened. I was in the back preparing ice when there was a tremendous noise. No screaming or anything. But when I went to check, the door felt warm. And the light started burning me the second I opened it.
I healed myself, but the light hasn’t gone away. That was a day ago. I’m scared. I don’t think anyone knows I’m here. I haven’t heard anyone around. I think they’re all dead.
It has been two days. It took some experimenting to find the right phrasing, but I have been able to step out into the shop without burning immediately.
No one there or in the streets. It looks as if the sky is on fire. Going out of the building makes the light too strong for my protection to hold up.
Surely the Queen is organizing a rescue. It can’t be much longer. This must be an attack, but from who?
The Summer Court hasn’t been at war in centuries. Our only conflicts are over trade. The horse shifters have been vocal but could they create magic like this?
It has been three days. Still I’ve heard nothing. Only silence. And the light continues.
What is this? Where did everyone go? Did they leave me behind? Are they dead? I won’t believe everyone is dead. There has to be someone somewhere.
Maybe mother is alright. She keeps her sewing projects in the basement. Maybe she was there when it happened.
It has been five days. I tried to run across the street to the other building. The sun burned through my protections before I got halfway there and I had to turn back.
These burns take longer to heal. I don’t know what kind of magic this is. Who could have done this? Why hasn’t the Queen done anything?
It has been ten days. Despite my efforts, the ice is almost all melted. Whatever magic this is must fade soon. And then the Queen will send rescue. I can hold on a little longer.
Why would anyone destroy our city like this? I don’t understand why this is happening. No armies have come to finish this. Who is responsible for this? Why??
Twelve days. Can only summon a bit of food and water now. Not enough strength left.
If mother is still alive, please tell her I love her. I had an extra stash of coins under the floorboards in my room she can have when I’m gone.
All the pages after that were blank. Florian flipped through them a few more times, pensively looking through them without really re-reading it. Thallia had lasted twelve days, maybe a bit more… holed up in this ice room where the Blight couldn’t reach her. He could barely imagine how terrifying it must have been: trapped in a cold, dark room with no idea what had happened to the outside world, except that the very air was like fire.
She seemed to have thought the Blight was some sort of attack on the Summer Court, and she’d believed the Queenwould retaliate and rescue the survivors. How could she have known it was the Queen who had caused this; that there were no other survivors; or if there were, they were like her, trapped in whatever closed-off room they happened to be in when the Blight exploded out from the castle?
He wondered how things had ended for Thallia. Had she laid down against the back wall, starving and dehydrated, and tried to sleep until the end came? Had she opened the door to let the Blight in, injuring herself enough to take her life and refusing to heal her mortal wounds? Or maybe suicide was simpler for fae. Maybe she only had to speak it, and her life was snuffed out like a candle’s flame.
Whatever it was, he hoped it was quick. For Thallia and her mother, and everyone else in the Summer Court. If nothing else, he hoped it was quick.
“What the hell is that?”
Beyond the central street was a retaining wall right where the rest of the city sloped down, steeper than the rest. After they’d woken and ventured back out, Kade had stood atop the wall to peer down into the rest of the city. He had remained very still for a moment, then gestured for the others to join him, helping Florian up onto the wall.
The remainder of the streets below seemed just as empty as those they’d already passed through. From this vantage point, he could just make out where the city ended and the wild outskirts began. The line was perfectly demarcated, like the way the Blight immediately began at the edge of each of the kingdoms; but it took a long moment before Florian could figure out what he was actually looking at.
The low visibility at such a distance didn’t help, but after a moment, Florian was almost sure it was a swarm of some sort of insect. The swarm must have been massive, though, as it looked like a vast cloud that covered the horizon as far as Florian could see.
