It's cripplingly sad.
In the distance, I see the treetops of Rexxan's kingdom, painted in thousands of shades of orange, yellow, and green. He has built his Kingdom at a higher elevation than most of the world. At first, I thought it was luck that so many of Rexxan's people are safe from the floods, but I quickly realised as I read through six hundred years’ worth of his planning and implementation that it's not luck at all.
Hot on my heels, Onyx makes his way up after me and then Stellan almost runs up the sheer rock. Stellan is a freak of nature, the only person I know who is even close to Rexxan's size. He could climb that cliff one-handed if he wanted to. In fact, I've seen it happen often when he has a snack in the other hand that he doesn't want to drop.
"Let's kill the bastard and put the stone back," I declare, and the other two nod enthusiastically. I never did have a skill for motivational speeches.
With the wind biting my skin like the jaws of a wolf, we begin the trek up the serpentine path, loose rocks crunching beneath our feet. Stellan ties a black mask around his face, presumably to either look scary or try and fight the cold. Knowing him, it’s the former.
Onyx comes to a halt in front of me and pushes the heel of his boot into a small patch of charred earth on the path. "Someone's had a fire here." He crouches down, running his fingers through the blackened earth. "Less than a day ago, I think."
"Good." We must be getting nearer. Fatigue swirls its menacing breath through my tired muscles, making each step feel as though I am wading through water. Stellan must see this, because he tosses me a lemony sweet which I catch in my mouth, bowing to his enthusiastic applause. It cheers me up enough to distract me for a short moment at least.
I felt uncertain at first, when I told Rexxan I'd agree to his proposal, but every hour that goes by, every inch the sun sinks lower in the tangerine sky, I know it's what I want. I don't want to slot into his life, or to slot him into mine. I want to build a life with him from the ground up, to create an environment where we are both free to be ourselves together.
As long as I make it back from this trip, I remind myself, as we take a hairpin bend towards the slope where Kelen had been spotted by some scouts in a boat just a few days ago.
My heart rate rises just a little in my chest as our footsteps get lighter, quieter, approaching the mountain cave with panther-like stealth. I steady my breath and keep my back flush against the rock wall, stopping at the mouth of the cave and raising a finger to my lips. Onyx nods, his yellowy eyes vibrant in the evening sun.
I have no way of knowing how many people are in there, but if they're protecting the stone, I imagine it's the South's most brutal fighters. Stellan waits opposite me, his fingers flexing around the grip of his sword. His breath puffs out from the mask around his face, clouding the green glow of his eyes beneath his black hood.
An arrow nestles ready in my bow, and after a composing breath, I creep around into the cave.
Darkness. No sound. No movement. No voices.
"Aiheneya blazidiena," I whisper, a ball of fire appearing before my hands, my eyes adjusting to take in the sight before me. "Fuck!"
"What?" Shouts Onyx, coming in behind me, his sword poised to strike as Stellan comes in from the other side, bowstring pulled back.
I use my boot to roll over the body on the floor, the only person in the cave. I vaguely recognise it as Kelen, but he is badly beaten, his face plastered in dirt. He’s missing some fingers, and I know that was Rexxan’s doing.
"Fuck!" I yell, again, too angry to say something more intelligent. Realisation sinks its malevolent claws into my skin, churning the contents of my stomach.We're here too late. We search every inch of Kelen and every inch of the cave. Nothing.
"Shit!" Bellows Stellan, his cavernously deep voice ricocheting off the jagged rock that surrounds us.
Kelen's bleeding lips move slightly, attracting my attention. "Oh my gods, he's alive," I hiss, skidding to my knees beside him. "Water. Water," I beg, holding out my hand to my brother who tosses me some. I hold my breath and pour a few drops into Kelen's mouth, his eyelids too bruised to open.
"They took it," he croaks, eventually.
"Yeah, no shit!" I shout, my knee pressing into his already broken ribs. A low grunt of agony reverberates from his chest. "Who? And where did they take it?"
"I don't know."
"Well, work it out!" I hiss, my face an inch from his. Rage consumes me, flooding every corner of my body until it feels like my only identity, my veins bursting with it. Kelen screams, and it is only then that I realise my fingers are burning his bruised flesh, actually sizzling his skin.Brilliant. I'll add accidentally grilling people to my list of newfound talents.
"Thirteen of them," he whispers, between weak coughs. His breathing is almost non-existent as I turn to Stellan.
"Stell, bring him back from the edge. We need information.”
Before he was a shadow hunter, Stellan was a healer, a job he claims he only got to try and get the attention of his wife. He bites the cork out of a glass bottle of potion, spitting it out and liberally spreading it over some of Kelen's wounds as Onyx presses a hand over his mouth to muffle his screams.
"Why are you helping me? You're not angry?" Asks Kelen, an hour later, as I carefully stitch closed a laceration to his shoulder.
I cannot help but laugh out loud. "Oh, Kelen. Naive as ever. I'm healing you so that I can have more fun killing you. But first, you're going to give us a little bit of help finding your new friends, okay?"
"They're not my friends!" He pleads, eyes wide with fear. "They lied to me!"
"And you believed them, and now the known death toll has ticked into five figures. Pleased with yourself?" My hands shake with the bitter malice I feel towards this man.
