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Sitting on the ground, I looked around, wondering what would happen next.
A black shadow from the sky moved at frightening speed toward the tower. At the same time, a portal opened up and Kelia stepped out, right next to the pillar on the left of me. The black shape landed on the tower, enormous black wings curling back.
The crone.
“Did you bring ittttt?” It clacked at Kelia, scuttling across the stone like a vulture.
“The magi are not pleased with this decision,” she said, eyeing me before taking a vial out of the pocket in her white dress. She seemed too sweet and gentle, adorned in a white gown that accentuated her perfectly. How could someone like her be involved with a monster like the crone?
The two of them walked forward and I slid away, locked in place by the chains. Kelia kneeled on the ground and grabbed my face. “Drink.”
Clamping my mouth shut, I shook my head.
The crone hissed and came behind me, grabbing my braid between its talons and yanking my head back so much I screamed. Kelia poured the liquid into my mouth and covered my mouth and nose, forcing me to swallow.
“The tincture should work in a few minutes.” Kelia wiped her hand off on a handkerchief she pulled from her cloak. “Then you can remove her collar without any interference.”
The crone clacked and hissed, making an odd noise as it moved to one of the pillars and began tapping various parts of it.
The liquid warmed my belly and the tension in my muscles disappeared within the sunlight that seemed to radiate inside me. With a yawn, I laid my cheek against the stone, the chill of it feeling like a cool drink.
Kelia placed a hand on my forehead, her touch sent a tingling sensation through my face and down to my toes. “It’s working. Her body temperature is rising.”
“What did you do to me?” I licked my lips, my mouth dry and too hot.
“It’s a potent tonic that will remove any fear and make your body feel out of sorts.” She kept her gaze locked to mine. Her icy blue eyes seemed out of place, too piercing and cold to come from a woman with such a warm touch.
“Why . . . why are you doing this?” I licked my lips again and blinked the dizziness from my eyes. Every time I tried to focus on her, my eyes twitched, and I had to close them to regain some sense of stability.
“It’s our only option.” Her voice sounded distant, getting further away. “Farrow’s Gate cannot fall.”
I suddenly didn’t care about the whispers around me or the chains or even death. The sadness drifted away into the puffy clouds in the sky. When Kelia came back over to me, I could barely move, not that I wanted to anyway. She leaned over and unclasped my collar, talking to the crone, her words fuzzy in my ear.
She asked me a question, but I couldn’t follow what she said.
“Huh?” Lifting my face off the stone, I rubbed my hand over my neck, the sensation of my fingers against skin sending me into bliss.
Kelia grabbed me from under my shoulders and hoisted me to my feet. I slumped against her body which was warm and soft. Leaning my head on her shoulder, I rested, staring at the beautiful sky.
“Can you chain her to the pillars?” Kelia said, moving to hold me around my waist.
“You magi don’t knowwww how to creaattteee the right potionssss.” The crone yanked me away from Kelia and I frowned.
In the sky two shapes soared in and out of the clouds streaks of red and yellow making beautiful painted strokes in the air. The image reminded me of that time in the gardens where the ash raptors whisked me off into the air. As if my mind conjured him into being, a vision of Baine riding an ash raptor flew in the sky, coming closer.
The potion they gave me must be causing hallucinations.
Talons raked my skin, but it didn’t hurt.
Kelia tugged my cuffed hands in front of me, arguing with the crone about the right way to position me.
None of it mattered because my last thoughts were playing out in front of me.
I get to see you one last time.
A single tear slid down my cheek and I smiled.
Not because I was about to be slaughtered, but because I wasn’t going into the Never alone. Baine had come to say goodbye.
