AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Neither has experienced a shadow vale before. More to the point, neither seems prepared, should the worst happen. And the chamber has become dark now. Oh, so very dark….
Almost as dark as the vales.
A worried chirping begins among the aviax, but White Hands ignores it as she slowly, deliberately places herself in front of Lord Kamanda. “Open the door to the vale, Deka,” she commands. “I’m here.”
I will protect him.
I nod. “I’ll open it now,” I say, already picturing that horrific darkness as I sink into the combat state. The Greater Divinity flows into me so easily, I almost don’t notice when it does.
Then I pull the space in front of me apart.
Darkness immediately looms. Silence, deep and all-encompassing. And then those lights emerge, dim blue shimmers…
On the perch above me, the vizier cocks his head, intrigued. “Fascinating,” he says, inching forward, a captivated look in his eyes.
It seems aviax are just as enamored of lights as they are of jewels.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” White Hands says mildly.
“Do what?” the vizier asks, hopping toward the light.
Then a horrific roar sounds.
As the vizier darts back, terrified, a gigantic tentacle comes hurtling out of the darkness. Before it can connect with the vizier, a massive dark shape launches itself out of the shadows. A distinctive rattling sounds as it rends the tentacle in two.
Pandemonium ensues, panicked squawks and wing flaps rising as the aviax in the rows above us take flight, trying to get away from the reach of those tentacles, which are emerging swiftly from the darkness now.
I keep my eyes on that dark shape. “Sayuri!”
The gigantic Firstborn I once knew as the deathshriek Rattle is suddenly here, as are a host of other deathshrieks, the mist rising farther into the air as they battle the other tentacles, which are now shooting across the room with abandon.
“Close the door, Deka!” Sayuri commands as she whirls, slashing one tentacle after another, the spikes on her back rattling together with each movement.
“Doing so now!” I reply, already picturing the door sealing shut.
A pained roar resounds as the door complies with my wish, slicing through tentacles in the process. Within seconds, the vale is completely gone, leaving only the blood-spattered floor and masses of still-twitching tentacles in its wake.
As the mist recedes and sunlight shines again, a horrified silence descends. It only lasts moments. There’s a determined tone to the aviax’s chirping as they fly back down to their perches.
In fact, the only one who’s still silent now is the vizier. White Hands slowly, deliberately wipes a drop of the vale wraith’s blue blood from his feathers before she turns to the monarchs, who are squawking furiously between themselves.
She points to where the door was as she says, “That dark place you just saw was a shadow vale, and the thing that attacked was a vale wraith, a monstrosity the gods use to grow their power. If you do not help us in our quest, the entirety of Otera will become like that vale in a matter of weeks, and that includes your precious Ilarong, as well as all the other aeries. Everyone here, even you, your feathered majesties, will be food for the gods. And, as you have seen, they have no aversion to eating aviax. In fact, they might even prefer you.”
She smiles thinly at the monarchs. “Now then, do you still wish to send us on our way, or do you wish to become allies?”
The king blinks, then looks at the queen, silent messages passing between the two. Finally, he clears his throat and turns back to White Hands. “How many aviax do you need?”
“Every single one that you can spare.”
26
Sayuri is standing at the edge of one of Ilarong’s many peaks when I find her later, her eyes closed as if she’s listening to a song only she can hear. It’s midafternoon now, and an ominous chill has settled over the mountain city—the mist exuded by her deathshrieks. How so many managed to infiltrate the city so stealthily I don’t know, but I see White Hands in it all—my former mentor undoubtedly planned for the fact that the aviax would refuse to become our allies. Both the arrival of the deathshrieks and the opening of the vale are warnings to the bird folk: war is already here, whether you like it or not.
“Deka,” Sayuri murmurs, her eyes slowly opening when I approach. She looks me up and down before musing, “Or should I be calling you the Angoro now?”
“Deka will do,” I reply, my eyes fixed on the deathshrieks who move swiftly across the city, dark shadows compared with the aviax flitting to and fro as they gather supplies to pack their zerizard-pulled chariots.
I can only hope that a few of them have already been diverted to spy on Abeya and the Bloom surrounding it, but White Hands has repeatedly assured me that she has spies carefully watching the area. If so much as one follower of the Idugu steps foot in the mountains near the city of the goddesses, she’ll know and send me and my friends out to apprehend them so we can reach my kelai first.
