AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Riven’s violet gaze was full of mischief. “The secret city. And my first home.”
We traveled in an easy silence for the rest of the morning through the Dark Wood along the northern ridge of the Burning Mountains. The golden leaves of the Elder birch cast auric rays on our backs as we rode through the trail. Large teal birds the size of dogs flew overhead, following us as we journeyed onward.
“Do they want food?” I called to Riven, pointing at the feathered beasts.
He chuckled and shook his head. “Those areosthira. Syrra calls them guardians of sorts. They do not sing, but if they open their beaks to speak it is loud enough to be heard for a hundred leagues or more.”
I blinked up at the bright orange beak of the bird closest to me. He craned his head to the side and his rose-colored eyes blinked back at me. He followed us all the way to the portal, which was a small pond in the middle of the wood.
Riven tossed thewinvraberries into the pool and the water rippled with golden rays of magic. The pool swirled as Riven dismounted his horse and led him through by the reins. He stepped into the water and sunk below the surface like he was walking down a set of stairs.
I hopped off my saddle and followed behind him. My horse did not flinch as we stepped into the water but remained completely dry. She tugged at the reins, quickening our pace as we stepped out of a small spring-fed pond.
The Burning Mountains were to the west of us now, their snow-capped peaks looked more like clouds along the horizon than rocky giants. To the east was the large lake that fed the Three Sisters of Silstra. I squinted through my lashes and could see the outline of an island through a thick, gray fog.
My chest tightened. One of the seals lay on that island. Riven stepped beside me, looking out at the Pool of Elvera too, and I knew we both were wondering if that would be the seal that pushed his magic over the edge.
He brushed his hand down my arm and pointed to the south. As far as my eyes could see, the field we stood in was covered in small flowers of every color. There was no breeze but Riven pulled a scarf around his face and passed me another. A single gust of wind could blow the flowers’ pollen onto our skin and cause a festering rash that lasted for weeks.
We wouldn’t meet any travelers walking through the field. Riven clipped a small bead to my horse’s bit and then an identical one to his. “It will keep them safe until we reach the portal.”
The first sun skimmed the eastern horizon by the time we reached a small grove of trees in the middle of the meadow. It was like an oasis in a desert, lush and thick with Elder birch. Two ofthem twisted together to form a long oval across one side. Within their trunks was a thin veil of mist. Riven placed twowinvraberries in the crux of a branch and the mist turned gold.
He paused with one foot in the veil and turned back to me. “Just in case you didn’t learn from last time. No noise and no lights.”
I gritted my teeth but didn’t say anything as I followed Riven through the portal. We were in the Singing Wood. There was just enough light filtering through the thick canopy of vines and swirling trees to see the path that cut through the forest. My mare’s ear flicked, listening for the creatures that called this place their home.
I rolled my shoulder defensively remembering how it felt to be sliced through by the claw of an Unnamed One. Riven marched on without a worry. Somehow his steps felt lighter here in the dark than anywhere else. Perhaps his magic called out to the shadows and they welcomed him too. In the darkness, the twisted trunks of the Singing Wood seemed to shift and sway.
A light breeze blew through them and the haunting song of a Fae echoed down the wood. I reached out, the voice had taken hold of my body and all I could think of was finding whoever was singing that melody. A shadow curled around my arm and stopped me.
I opened my mouth to protest, and Riven covered it with his hand. His touch broke the spell on my body and my mind cleared just enough to realize how close Riven’s mouth was to mine. He drew his thumb over my bottom lip, slow and tantalizing, before he trusted me enough to drop his hold altogether.
I leaned into the absence of his touch as he started down the path again. My body turned cold enough that my teeth chattered and my brow began to sweat. Riven glanced at me over his shoulder and pulled out another small vial of pale green liquid. He dropped two doses on my tongue and then said something in slow stilted movements with his hand.
I shook my head. I hadn’t learned any of the signed language the Elverin used. Riven’s jaw pulsed and he nodded down the path once more. I shrugged and followed him.
A few minutes later the path opened up to a large valley in the middle of the wood. The thick canopy hung across the wide expanse, shielding the city from the bright rays of the suns. The clearing was lined by large trees that were just as tall and thick as the ones in Myrelinth, though these came in every color of sunset. Small silver balls of faelight floated through the thick canopy of treetops, casting the entire city in eternal dusk.
Like Myrelinth, the trees were home to many dwellings, but they were not large burls emerging from the trunks themselves. Instead, the twisted branches braided together along the middle and tops of the trees to form homes of every size.
They were beautiful but empty.
As we walked through the city, we passed pool after pool of water along the ground. They shimmered under the balls of moonlight, each one a slightly different shade of blue. They reflected our faces as our horses walked along the curving path to the heart of the city.
A large orb of water hung above us, suspended by a thin net of vines that seemed too weak to hold this lake in the sky. It shimmered with silver light, swirling inside of itself like one of my braided gusts.
It was larger than both the suns combined and reminded me of the grand chandelier Lord Curringham had installed in the House of Harvest. I stared up at it and realized that it was placed directly in the center of the circular city so that it could be seen from any spot. Just like the Myram was the heart of Myrelinth and Sil’abar was the heart of Aralinth, the orb was the heart of Vellinth.
I turned to Riven and pointed to my mouth, unsure if I could speak. He nodded and I glanced around the city once before asking my question. “Does it have a name?”
His smile was proud as he nodded. “Miikibi’thir miichi’vra.”
“Water hands?” My nose wrinkled as I tried it for myself.
Riven leaned his head to one side. “In a rough sense, though Vrail would give you a better translation.”
“And a four-hour lecture on the history of this place.” I peered up at the orb again.
