29
CALLUM
SCOUTING DAY 14 (1 week since last contact with Guild)
The wind howled aswe cut across the sky under the cover of the stars. I felt the chilled desert winds whipping around me as I beat my wings, staying low to the ground, praying to Aeternus that the RSG couldn’t spot our forms as we snuck from The Wall. I felt Axel’s illustratio affinity spanning across both our forms, shielding us as we flew from Raelyna’s apartment.
If I was right, the guards were far more concerned with keeping those inside The Wall in than they were about watching the surrounding desert landscape for angels flying through the sandy dunes surrounding Solis Quarter.
A gust of wind hit from my left, my wing pulling as it caught with the current, and I refocused on the task at hand. Letting the wind catch my wing, I glided higher, putting slightly more distance between myself and the desert sands. I could feel small granules pelting my wings as the summer sands blew across the open expanse of desert and could only pray that the granules didn’t embed themselves too deeply into my feathers.
With a glance over my shoulder, I tracked the distance we’d put between ourselves and The Wall—the towering, obstructive gray cement looming high into the night sky. I shook my head, still in disbelief that Lucanus and those before him truly believed that trapping citizens within a boundary was the solution.
Another gust of wind whipped across the desert dunes, and a curse slipped from my lips as sand bit into my skin, even with my dunewrap high in place.
“Do you truly believe there’s a cave system this far out in the desert dunes?” Pierce’s voice sounded over the wind once we were well outside of the RSG’s visibility, his affinity still surrounding us as he tried to shield some of the winds.
I huffed a breath as my wings flapped, head turning toward my second. “If there’s not, it’s going to be a long flight home.”
“We don’t even know what to expect if we find the caves she mentioned.” His voice held a hint of doubt as he spoke.
“We didn’t have many options—” I retorted.
“Not sure if flying into the abyss is truly the better option,” he stated as we flew further into the dunes.
“It was either the dunes or the RSG,” I replied with a low chuckle. “Not sure either option was really calling to me, but we made our choice.”
“Well . . .” Axel’s voice was a long drawl as he cut me a look. “You made our choice, but sure . . .wemade our choice.”
I laughed as we flew deeper into the unknown. “It can’t be much longer now.”
“He says regarding the unknown location we are flying toward with little to no directions.”
“Either shut up or help scout out the cave system,” I bit out as I refocused on the task at hand . . . finding the stars-damned caves that Raelyna claimed existed.
Was this a stupid idea? Perhaps. But I’d made far more idiotic choices on missions, so at least this wasn’t the worst decision I’d made.
Just look for the rocks.Raelyna’s words ran through my head on repeat. As the wind whipped against my wings, I was this close to cursing her name . . . starbound or not.Just look for the rocks.What sort of stars-damned advice was that to begin with? And for the love of Aeternus, why had I not demanded more details than that when we’d been inside her apartment?
Just look for the rocks. . . in a fucking desert filled with sand-covered dunes, whose landscape could change at the whim of the summer sands.
How I’d beenlucky enough to spot the stars-damned entrance to the tunnel system was beyond me. The small alcove amidst a clustering of rocks hadn’t been much of an indicator.
Our feet touched the sand just as the first streaks of sunlight began to touch the horizon. With a stretch, I fanned my wings wide, the golden feathers shining in the early morning light as I gave them a brief shake, praying to Aeternus that the summer sands hadn’t embedded themselves too deeply into the feathers. With one last movement, I tugged them in, retracting my wings until they disappeared entirely, and felt every muscle in my upper back ripple from the released pressure.
“She expected us to find this?” Axel half scoffed as he looked around the barren dunes that surrounded us.
I just shook my head as my eyes narrowed on the rocks before us.
It wasn’t much . . .
A clustering of five rocks, not even half our size. The reddish hue of the stone had the cluster blend into its surroundings. I scanned each rock before my eyes focused on the smallrectangle faintly etched near the bottom of one of the larger rocks.
I moved in, stretching my hand out, pressing against the outline, when I heard a faintclick, and the panel popped out of the stone.
“Stars-damned,” Axel cursed behind me as we stared at a small keypad in the stone.
“Fuck,” I bit out as I studied the keypad.
