“I think we killed at least six, maybe eight hundred of their soldiers back there,” Jax said.
“You might want to add the ones who didn’t make it out of the tunnels, and the ones I burned back inside the gorge,” Blaze added, running a hand through his dark hair.
“How many do you think we took out, in the end?” I replied.
Something had changed in the way Blaze was looking at me. It must’ve had something to do with our moment back in the meranium cage. I mean, we’d almost kissed. There was a peculiar warmth in his midnight-blue eyes, much more intense and specifically aimed at me. It made my heart flutter, but all I could do was exhale sharply and save that thought for later.
“I’d say at least twelve, even thirteen hundred.” Blaze grinned.
“We need a new action plan,” Harper said, her brow furrowed. “What was that about Darius, Hansa?”
“Yeah, please do expand on that,” I chimed in.
“There isn’t much for me to tell you, other than the fact that both Jax and I saw Darius, very much alive and kicking, in Shaytan’s throne room,” Hansa replied. “His death was staged. And I think it’s safe to assume that so were the explosions. He snuck out of the city and met with the king of daemons. I think they’re in cahoots, somehow.”
“I’m not sure if the others know—I mean, the other Maras,” Jax added, then looked at Caspian. “Do your people know, Lord Kifo?”
We all stared at Caspian for a while, but his expression was firm and didn’t give anything away.
“Is there something you’re not telling us?” Harper asked.
He gave her a pained look, nervously scratching the back of his head. “I wish I could tell you more, but honestly, I can’t. But the rogue Imen can help you with this.”
“Dammit, Lord Kifo,” Hansa growled, while Harper cursed under her breath. “After all we’ve been through so far, you still don’t trust us? It’s ridiculous.”
“It’s not even about trusting us anymore. It’s the fact that you’re withholding information from us,” Harper said, visibly frustrated. “Information that could save our lives!”
“I’m sorry…” Caspian breathed, his gaze fixed on the grass at his feet.
“What could Darius possibly be doing with Shaytan?” I asked. Clearly, Caspian wasn’t going to tell us anything else, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t speculate and draw several potential scenarios for us to move forward.
The rest of our team was still back in Azure Heights, and they didn’t know anything about this.
“I don’t know… They’re supposed to be enemies, with daemons kidnapping Maras and eating their souls and all that,” Hansa scoffed. “Either way, there is clearly some kind of conspiracy going on here. Darius faked his own death and seems to be good friends with the king of daemons.”
“Whatever it is they’re planning, they want to make sure that we don’t make it back to Azure Heights and warn the others. And that is exactly what we need to do,” Jax said.
“But we also need to find the rogue Imen,” Harper replied. “We were already planning to do that, and you all heard Lord Kifo. They have answers. Answers we desperately need right now.”
A couple of minutes went by as Jax and Hansa thought things over. Was it just Darius who had planned this? “Do you really think the other Maras are involved? After all, a lot of innocent people died during those attacks,” I muttered.
“I find it hard to believe that the Lords would willingly kill so many of their own, just to stage an explosion for Darius to get out of there. Let’s not forget that there was a second explosive charge in Lord Kifo’s house. If it had just been about Darius, and his faked death, I’m sure it would’ve been just his mansion turned to ashes,” Blaze offered. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Blaze, Caia,” Jax said, “you two should fly back to the city and warn the rest of our team. After that, you should summon the Lords and tell them about Darius. Watch their reactions carefully: one of them might flinch or falter, if they were behind all this. Hell, if we’re not supposed to get back there in one piece, then surely they won’t be happy to see the two of you there. And should you get a whiff of danger, even the slightest hint, I need you all to pack up and come to this area. Avril will be capable enough of tracking us to wherever the rogue tribe is.”
“Then what will you do? Look for the Imen?” I replied.
Jax, Hansa, and Harper looked at each other, then nodded.
“You heard Lord Kifo.” Jax smirked. “He obviously knows more than he’s telling us, but something stops him from talking, so he’ll be kind enough to take us to the tribe. We need to get to the truth, as soon as possible, before more innocent people disappear and die.”
“That makes sense,” Blaze said, then stood up and took his pants off. My cheeks caught fire. The others instantly looked away, visibly embarrassed. I covered my eyes, all flushed.
“Dude, some warning would’ve been nice!” Harper snapped.
Blaze pushed the pants into my hands, while I kept my eyes tightly shut. “Sorry about that, but it’s not like we have dozens of clothes just lying around for me to put on whenever I shift. Might as well hold onto these until we get back to Azure Heights.”
I heard his footsteps through the grass, then the familiar shuffle of his body, his bones cracking as he turned back into a dragon. I opened my eyes and found him standing beyond the tree shade, his wings stretching as he looked at me.
“Be careful out there,” Hansa said. We both got up, and she hugged me. “If everything is okay back in the city, wait for us there. Obviously, if it isn’t, do as Jax said. And take these.”
She gave me two red lenses, which I slipped into the chest pocket of my leather suit. “We will have to make do with these, for now.” I nodded. “But as soon as we get a chance, we’ll look through the city for red garnet so our entire team can carry one.”
“Fly safe.” Harper took me in her arms. “And burn down every single one of them if they try to hurt you or capture you again.”
“Don’t worry, Cuz, I’ll give them hell.” I winked, then walked over to Blaze.
He lowered himself so I could climb up onto his back, gripping the thick scales over his shoulders as he took flight. We soared into the blue sky. My hair was loose, fluttering in the wind as I looked down and watched the world get smaller with every second.
I worried about Harper and the others. I even worried about Caspian. Despite his secrecy, he’d helped us. He’d put his life at risk for us. There must’ve been a solid, valid reason for why he couldn’t tell us the whole truth. Knowing Harper, she was bound to get to the bottom of it, one way or another.
In the meantime, however, I held onto Blaze’s back as we flew over the gorges, heading straight for the mountain. He glided farther to the right so that whatever daemons were left in the ravine wouldn’t see us.
The thought of the other Maras knowing about Darius put Avril, Fiona, Scarlett, Heron, and Patrik at risk. I’d already seen the inside of a meranium box. There was no way I was going to let my friends experience that fear and hopelessness.
Harper
(Daughter of Hazel & Tejus)
Twenty minutes later, we were trekking through the deep woods that sprawled over the western plains. Trees as tall as giants, with thick, straight trunks, rose around us, the rich overhead foliage keeping the sun out. Birds trilled from the branches above, a variety of high notes that made me feel like I was in the better part of a grim tale.
Deer-like creatures watched us from a distance as I used my True Sight to look for signs of Imen tribes. Caspian walked closely by my side, while Jax and Hansa stayed behind, covering our backs.
The silence weighed heavy on my shoulders, the tension between Caspian and me almost palpable. I was conflicted, mainly because I couldn’t trust Caspian—not fully, anyway, as he was clearly not telling us everything. I didn’t understand why, and he wasn’t going to tell me either, so I was left in a state of limbo that a
te away at me.
“Try farther to the northwest,” Caspian suggested, his voice low.
“Have you been in these parts before?” I asked.
“Not for the last couple of years,” he replied. “But they should be here somewhere. They’re far enough from the gorge, on this side. I doubt they would go any farther. Some of them hold hope that their brethren back in Azure Heights will eventually change their minds, and will come here, looking for the Free People.”
I didn’t have anything to say to that, as my mind kept wandering back to wondering why he wasn’t telling us the whole truth. It nagged at me, like a dull migraine.
“I just can’t understand how you could continue to withhold information like this!” I finally burst out. “Whatever oath you swore, how does it still hold validity when one of your own, Darius—a leader and supposedly an example of high morals—has betrayed everyone by aligning himself with Shaytan, the freaking king of daemons? How?”
A minute passed quietly. I glanced at Caspian. He seemed genuinely remorseful, and yet he still wasn’t helping. And that made me angry in ways I had never experienced before, mainly because I expected more of him—I had feelings for him, and I couldn’t see myself falling for someone who didn’t stand for doing the right thing no matter what. His elusiveness went against my own set of ethics, and was in direct contrast with what my heart wanted from him.
“I can’t really explain why I can’t tell you everything,” he replied, and I caught a tremor in his voice, a weakness that hadn’t been there before. “But someday I will, with my own words. But until then, I promise you, Miss Hellswan, that I will do everything in my power to help you and your team bring all those responsible for so much death… to justice. I swear it upon my life.”
We gazed at each other for a while, lost in our thoughts.
Everything he’d displayed so far felt genuine. It felt true. Something was actively stopping him from talking about the daemons, about Darius, and about what went on in Azure Heights. And besides, I wanted to believe him. I wanted to trust him.
A twig broke under a foot, thirty feet to my left. I heard a bow stretching, and I stilled, lifting an arm to signal the others to stop.
“One move, and you all die,” a raspy feminine voice shot through the woods.
I turned my head to see Vesta, the young water fae who had helped us the other day, back in the gorge. She was joined by ten Imen, and they all wore the same patches of brown leather, tightly fastened around their trunks, hips, and calves with black strings. Orange dots were painted on their temples, making me think that they might be some kind of tribal status symbol.
They all aimed their arrows at us, and I could see that the sharp metal tips had been dipped in a purple fluid. Something told me it was going to hurt like hell if they shot us with them.
“Vesta, we meet again,” I said politely, keeping my tone calm and even, and my hands up. I slowly shifted my body to the side so I could face her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, frowning, pulling her arrow farther back just to show us that she wasn’t kidding.
“We’ve been looking for you,” I replied. “We need your help.”
She measured me from head to toe, then looked at Jax and Hansa, and I noticed the glimmer of recognition in her blue eyes. She then frowned when she moved her gaze to Caspian.
“What is he doing here? Why did you bring him here?” she hissed, clearly unhappy to see him. That just made me want to ask more questions, as I was beginning to think that they already knew each other. I’d seen her expression back in the gorge, but I had chalked it up to mere wariness of his species in general, and not specific dislike.
“There was an attack in Azure Heights. Innocent people died, Maras and Imen alike,” I said. “We then went into the daemon city beneath the gorge to scope out the enemy… and we have a lot of questions for you, the Free People, in particular. We couldn’t get our answers from Azure Heights, and the daemons will come looking for us soon. We need your help, Vesta. You have to tell us what’s going on in this world.”
She seemed to think about it for a few seconds, then nodded at Caspian.
“I may know a couple of things, but our elders can better answer any questions you might have,” she replied. “But I’m not telling you or showing you anything until Lord Kifo is restrained and blindfolded. And that is just a courtesy I’m extending, because our orders are to kill him, and any other Mara from Azure Heights, on sight.”
“I don’t get it.” I shook my head. “What’s your deal with him? He’s here with us. He’s helping us. He’s risking his life for us. Lord Kifo is not the enemy.”
“You’re clearly not from around here.” Vesta raised an eyebrow. Two of her Imen put their bows away and took out pieces of string and a wide strip of fabric from their bags, stepping forward. “You don’t get to decide who the enemy is. Even I don’t get to decide who the enemy is. Only the elders. So, if you want to speak to them, you have to follow our rules.”
“It’s okay, Miss Hellswan,” Caspian interjected. Our eyes met, and he gave me a brief, warm smile as he put his hands out. “Let them bind me however they see fit. I will not resist.”
“Listen, I know we didn’t get off on the right foot here, clashing from the very beginning, but I’m not letting you get hurt or restrained in any way until we figure out what the hell is going on here,” I replied.
He moved closer, enough for me to feel his warm breath tickling my face. “It’s okay, Harper. If you can’t trust me on anything else, you can at least trust me on this. I’ll be fine. You need to meet the elders, and this is the price we must pay. I don’t mind.”
I sighed, then moved back so the Imen could do their jobs. One of them tied Caspian’s hands behind his back, while the other put a blindfold over his eyes. They then nudged him, making him walk toward Vesta. Jax, Hansa, and I followed.
“Much better.” Vesta winked, her lips stretching into a smile. What a contrast that was, from the fearful and almost feral fae who had joined our fight against daemons a couple of days back. “I can now take you to my people.”
“I still don’t get why you’re so against Lord Kifo. He’s obviously here to help, for Pete’s sake,” I groaned, increasingly frustrated. There was something about Caspian tied up like that—it just put me on edge. I hated it.
“You will soon understand why,” Caspian replied.
“Rest assured, Lord Kifo, I will let the elders know of your cooperation, and make sure that no harm comes to you,” Vesta said, then led the way deeper into the woods.
I was going to have to siphon some energy soon, as I used the last ounces on my True Sight, scanning the areas ahead. The tribe was there, less than a mile away, nestled between jagged rocks and giant trees.
There were hundreds of Imen moving around clay huts and conical tents. Fire burned in the middle, eating away at a pile of dry wood. I glanced over my shoulder at Hansa and Jax, and they both gave me a reassuring nod. We continued our walk.
Even they had noticed how uncomfortable I was.
However, I had to admit, Caspian was right. Having him bound and blindfolded was a small price to pay for the truth that we were going to get. Finally, after what seemed like forever, we were going to find out what was going on here, on Neraka, with the daemons, the Maras, and the Imen.
Clearly, the people in Azure Heights either didn’t know everything, or had expertly lied to us. And for their sake, I hoped the former was the case.
Caia
(Daughter of Grace & Lawrence)
Blaze glided over the Valley of Screams, and I held on and welcomed the cool high-altitude air brushing through my hair and filling my lungs.
I occasionally glanced below, noticing shadows as they darted through the ravines. I couldn’t see very well from this height, but I felt as though it was safe to assume that those were daemons, maybe following us from afar.
What might their plan be, though? Surely they weren’t crazy eno
ugh to try to attack us, not when Blaze was in full dragon form. They kept to the shade, hiding beneath the trees, before they shot forward.
“We’ve definitely dealt a big blow to the daemons, especially inside their city,” I said, mostly to myself, but also to Blaze. “With so many of them dead, they will probably need time to recover. Some are following us now, but I’m not sure what their aim is.”
“They’ll probably have to report back to Shaytan,” Blaze’s gruff voice came through, as his massive wings flapped.
“Yeah, it’s not like they can do anything else at this point,” I replied. “Besides, I don’t think we have more than one, maybe two days before reinforcements arrive from other daemon cities. You heard Mose, there are plenty of other daemons ready to take up arms against us.”
“For now, we just need to find out if the Lords knew about Darius,” he grumbled.
He was right. What Darius had done was beyond comprehension, and definitely beyond forgiveness. My mind kept going back to Rewa, and the seemingly endless stream of tears that she’d cried when she had recognized her father’s Lordship ring… and when they had cremated what were supposed to be his remains.
Her grief couldn’t possibly have been made up. That pain, it had to be real. I just couldn’t imagine someone so perfectly capable of such deceit. Frankly, I wasn’t too crazy about her, mainly because of the way in which she kept approaching Blaze, but that was just my jealousy rearing its ugly head.
And what about the others? Members of the other Lords’ families had perished in those fires. Dozens of innocent Imen were also gone. No, it just didn’t make sense. Darius must have made some kind of deal with the daemons. He must have switched sides, taking many of his own down in the process.
And he’d specifically targeted Lord Kifo, too. Maybe Caspian knew something. Maybe he’d suspected something about Darius and his intentions. Maybe he’d even confronted him, prompting Darius to rig the Kifo mansion with explosives as well.