Evony – Aedrialis, Sultira
Fear pulsed through my chest as I dropped to my knees, peering through the wide gaps of the balustrade where Ronan and Vander faced each other in the courtyard below. Another rumble echoed, this time shaking the very foundation of Mount Telum, my knees bumping against the stony floor.
I pressed my back against the thick curve of the marble post. My heart banged against my ribs as I slowed my breathing and strained my ears to hear what was being said below.
“—no reason for you to be near the sewers beneath Mount Telum,” Ronan continued, authority riding his low voice. “You’re hiding something.”
Light flickered from the torches lining the courtyard, and two captains flanked Ronan as they approached Vander. The fresh scratches near his eye were red and angry.
Vander straightened his shoulders as the soldiers approached, and he cocked his head. Marian’s face appeared in the shadows of the overhang below, and she stared at Vander. Her brows knit together as the blood drained from her face.
“Marian,” Ronan began, a question forming in his voice. “What are?—”
Marian’s arm lifted, and she signed the words with a quick snap of her wrist. Her wide eyes were locked on Vander, who had stilled at the center of the courtyard.
“Messenger god.”
The hair on my arms rose, my blood stilling, as the final piece to some deadly puzzle clicked perfectly into place. The events of the past several months spun through my mind, confirming the devastating conclusion Marian had come to.
Sintarrak was here.
We knew enough from Lord Pavel and Nerissa’s short visit that the rubelline hidden in the construction of Mount Telum had activated when the gate of the world had opened on Kayj. And that the Embodied, the beings whose powers were stolen by the Bellators, were coming for them.
Lyvia had said the Messenger god, theImpostor, had been watching her for years now…Silvereyes appeared in weak minds. He was here, but he wasn’t justwatchingthrough Vander’s eyes…
I shifted, getting a better look at Vander’s gray eyes. His smile twisted into something ugly, and understanding punched me in the gut.
Sintarrak was inside Vander.
He wascontrollinghim.
Sintarrak had to have jumped into Vander’s body before he arrived in Aedrialis, where magic no longer worked. My breath came in quick huffs, and I glanced at the glowing walls of Mount Telum, suddenly grateful for the strange nullifying magic the rubelline stones gifted us. Sintarrak might have arrived on the shores of Sultira, but he was powerless here.
Ronan’s eyes remained pinned on Vander, not a flicker of surprise in his expression. If he hadn’t figured it out, he had suspected something was off. His hand rested on the blade at his belt as he murmured something to the captains flanking him. They took slow steps, tracking a long arc to either side of the man in the center.
Vander’s eyes ignited from dull gray to living silver as Sintarrak’s smile widened into a sinister grin. He turned his face to Marian and clapped his hands softly.
“I wondered if I should have put you down as well,” he murmured.
My stomach clenched. Father Marcus.
“His mind may have been flayed, but the old man certainly saw more than he should have.”
Marian’s face tightened, and Sintarrak took a slow step toward her.
“Sintarrak,” Ronan barked across the courtyard as his men flanked the creature, “You are under arrest for the murder of Father Marcus, and?—”
Ronan’s words were cut off as a blast echoed across the stones. Mount Telum shook with unimaginable force, and I braced myself against the marble stone. My quiver of arrows tipped over.
Sintarrak turned slowly, his head moving before the rest of his body as his light brows pulled together, and he flashed his teeth.
“You have no power here,” Ronan spat, and he gave a nod to his men. His blade sang in the silence that followed as he unsheathed his sword, angling it toward the Embodied. The captains drew their blades, and I slipped the rubelline arrow from my quiver as I quietly adjusted my footing, balancing on the balls of my feet with my bow in hand.
An unholy laugh ripped through Sintarrak’s lips, the sound like the cracking of bone, as his head tipped back. The soldiers converged, and I drew my bow. The muscles in my upper back burned as the familiar scrape of the bowstring pushed against my calloused fingertips.
Sintarrak stretched Vander’s long arms to either side of him as he looked to the skies, still dark and ominous as night refused to give way to the approaching dawn. A bellowing roar cut through the air, and I fell back as the stone below me rumbled.
I regained my footing, and my bow slowly fell as my eyes landed on a turret in the distance. The blazing red of the rubelline stones suddenly guttered out as the massive, speared section of Mount Telum crumbled.
