Page 51 of Alien God

I was about to head into the tunnel that led into the Eve Tower, to spend some time in my old room, the furthest place from where the human was, when my wings prickled with awareness. I whirled back towards the entrance hall’s door. It was closed, and other than the incessant wail of the winds, there was no sound.

But all the same, I knew something, someone, was out there.

“Stay here,” I growled at Shoshen, stalking to the door. I wrenched it open and stepped back out into the white abyss.

This close to the castle, I’d be protected under the Riverdark spell. No one approaching would be able to see me.

Who is it? Skalla? More humans?

I squinted into the sky, now nearly opaque with sheets of slicing snow. Eventually, something emerged from that whiteness. A dark, flying figure giving off a faint red light.

Maerwynne.

I relaxed slightly, then launched into the air to greet him. No doubt he was looking for me, and my castle, but he would not find it from up there.

“Maerwynne!” I called over the sound of the storm. “I am here! Land!”

“Wylfrael! Thank the stone of the sky. I thought I’d have to fly zigzags over this entire world before I found you.”

I led him down to the ground in front of my castle.

“There’s a Riverdark spell on it,” I explained. Apart from Skalla and my father, no other stone sky god had been here before, and Maerwynne wouldn’t have known where to search on Sionnach for my castle. “I’m surprised you got this close in your search.”

“I heard a lot of roaring and crashing noises. It sounded the way you sounded when you were fighting Skallagrim at Heofonraed. I merely followed the sounds into this storm.” He shivered, his red wings shuddering and his long black tail tensing. “Let me inside, would you, Wylfrael? I don’t know how you stand this kind of cold.”

I snorted at that. Maerwynne’s mother’s world, Vizhir, was one of humid heat and belching volcanoes. He burned hotter than most. Even now, his body heat melted snow before it even touched his skin. He was already soaked, as if he’d been trapped in a torrential downpour, not a snowstorm.

I spoke the password, and the castle appeared again. I led Maerwynne inside.

Shoshen had disappeared, likely off to deliver the bits of web to his sister and father. The entrance hall was empty – we could speak freely here.

“What news, Maerwynne?” I asked, turning to him. I untied my hair and shook snow from it before retying it, then brushed the flakes from my clothing before they could melt and leave me as dripping as my visitor. His crimson hair was so wet it looked nearly as black as his hide. He was dressed in the Vizhiri style, wearing a loose, white tunic and trousers that now clung wetly to his frame, accentuating hard muscle. My gaze was drawn, as if with the force of a planet pulling one’s feet down to the ground, to his star-dark hand.

“It is not spreading. Yet,” he said gravely, holding up his hand and inspecting it. The rest of him glowed just as it was supposed to, red constellations like little flames across his skin. “You have had no problems with your star map, I take it?”

“No,” I said, though I doubted that would last much longer. Since I could not seek out my mate, unless another cure for this star-darkness was found, I’d likely lose my star map eventually. If I don’t go mate-mad first.

“I have been to see Sceadulyr,” Maerwynne said, dropping his hand. “I went to confirm what Rúnwebbe told me. His star map is entirely dark, just as she said.”

The mention of Rúnwebbe was like venom in my veins. I clamped my teeth together and let Maerwynne continue.

“He is hosting a gathering of the gods soon,” Maerwynne said. “In the Shadowlands palace.”

“Hosting a gathering when he is so weak?’ I asked, surprised. But then again, Sceadulyr was often surprising. The shadow-wielding god was as unpredictable as he was treacherous.

“As far as I could tell when I spoke to him, he is not weakened. He just cannot open sky doors and travel.”

“Hmm. When is it?” I asked. It might be good to go to a gathering, even if it meant venturing into Sceadulyr’s shifting lair. I’d been asleep so long. I needed to continue getting caught up on the news from the other stone sky gods. Find out more information about the goings-on of the council, and the spreading star-darkness.

“It is... blast, this always does my head in. I hate converting time between worlds.” Maerwynne’s red and black eyes closed, and he rubbed his forehead. “It is... yes, it’s seventeen Sionnachan days from now.”

His eyes opened once more.

“I told Sceadulyr I’d inform the other gods as he cannot travel to invite them himself.”

“And that is why you’ve come here, then?”

“Yes. Although,” Maerwynne paused, turning towards the door and then back to me. “I wanted to see for myself how you’d made out with the human invaders. I didn’t see any sign of them while I searched for your castle out there.”

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