“He saved you, if I remember rightly.” I look over my shoulder at her.
“He did,” she says with a sigh of resignation.
“Okay, if you’re going to batter us over the head with it, Deus isn’t all bad, except when he’s plotting to betray all the Sarkarnii to a mad female one,” Maggie says loudly.
I don’t respond. The only way I’m going to convince them, and myself, that Deus isn’t the Sarkarnii everyone thinks he is, is by finding him.
And getting to the truth.
Even if the truth might break my heart.
We reach the cabin relatively quickly, even with my chattering friends in tow.
“This is nice,” Scarlett says. “Not what I was expecting.”
“Better than the cave,” Kerra says.
Maggie eyes the dwelling carefully. “He must have moved it,” she says. “It’s the same one Driok took me to, only that one was near an outdoor aquium.”
I’m not sure what to say because I’ve never asked Deus about Maggie’s visit, assuming he perhaps didn’t know and I didn’t want to upset him.
“Maybe he did,” I respond, going up to the main door, before stopping dead.
“What is it?” Kerra comes up behind me.
“This…isn’t how I left it,” I say, my voice a whisper.
The inside of the cabin is a wreck. The furniture is torn, there are holes in the internal walls, and occasionally, sparks fizzle from the damaged areas.
“Oh wow,” Scarlett says. “Something went down here.” She covers her mouth and nose with her hand. “And what is that smell?”
She’s joined by Rosalie, Maggie, and Gillian. Together we stare at the ruin, all of us covering our noses. The chemical stench is almost overwhelming.
“Deus couldn’t have…” Rosalie starts her sentence but stops when we all look at her. “No.” She shakes her head.
“There was a fight here,” Gillian says, stepping into the cabin and avoiding the worst of the mess.” “A vicious one.” She looks at me. “I’d say Deus did everything he could not to be taken.”
“Taken?” Maggie queries.
“What do you mean,taken?” I say, my voice hoarse.
“Look.” Gillian points to the crushed items on the floor near the doorway. “This is where he fell.” She points further into the bedroom. “And this is where they dragged him.”
“Who?” We all stare at Gillian.
“How should I know?” She raises her hands. “Something or someone who can disable a Sarkarnii the size and weight of a brick outhouse.”
Kerra looks at me. “It’s true. Deus is a big male. He’d take some felling.”
“We need to know what took him,” I say urgently. “And we have to let the warlords know.”
My heart is singing again, singing like a canary in spring. Deus is not a traitor. He didn’t leave me.
But then reality sets in. Hard.
He might not be a traitor, but the fact he was taken against his will…that can’t be good. Ice fogs up my insides.
Something took down Deus. Something which waited for me to leave.
