Page 47 of Custodian

In typical Max fashion, she waved away his thanks, “No biggie. But what do you mean? Care to start at the beginning?”

“We went to spy on Garrett’s place,” Caspian admitted.

“You what?” Ten voices all yelled at the same time, causing the Order of Riparian to wince.

“Caspian, what the hell? What possessed you to do something so dangerous?” Ryker demanded.

Caspian shrugged, “After what you told us about Emmanuel and the break-out at the prison, we figured Garrett’s endgame must be nigh. The only way to see what numbers we’re dealing with was to go and check the place out. We also wanted to see if Emmanuel was staying there.”

“You should never have taken such a risk,” Ryker’s voice was still stern because the image of an almost-dead Cas was still fresh in his mind.

Caspian merely shrugged, looking around the room at all the frowning, concerned faces. “We owe you.”

“You don’t owe us your life,” Ryker responded, before anyone else got the chance. He couldn’t have Caspian running around playing hero because he thought there was a check to balance. He – and everyone else in the room – did not operate that way.

“Understood,” Caspian murmured, his smile a little sheepish. “Anyway, I honestly thought we weren’t in any danger of getting discovered. We weren’t anywhere near the house. We were at the bottom of the cliff. I used the ocean to see what was going on up top.”

“Used the ocean? How?” Cali asked, looking interested.

Caspian shrugged, “It was high tide. I asked some of the spray from the waves slamming against the rocks to stay up high. I then used those water droplets to spy – kind of like a seeing through a looking glass.”

“Holy shit! You could see what the water was seeing?” Cali’s voice sounded excited and Ryker guessed it wasn’t a common water ability.

Caspian looked embarrassed by the admiration he heard, “I can do a lot of things. Water is mine to command, not that it responds to me like a servant. It responds to me like a –”

“Friend,” Max finished his sentence and the anxious warden nodded. “That’s because you treat it as such – like a friend, like family. Any element treated that way will always respond in kind. It’s no doubt why you were so powerful too, Dex. I bet you treated air the same way.”

Dex nodded, “That I did. It’s a shame the practice seems to be largely lost.”

“Perhaps that is something we can fix too,” Max offered, before turning to Caspian once more, “What did the water see?”

Cas swallowed hard, “It’s bad. Really bad.”

“The whole place is crawling with chades. The air was black with them – and humming. It looked and sounded like a giant swarm of flies,” Leo shuddered.

“And beyond that; Orders. Dozens of wardens and paladins. I know you have a lot of people on your side, Max.” Lawson shook his head, eyes worried. “But I’m telling you; Garrett has more.”

Ryker cast his eyes over to Max and was surprised when he all saw was weary resignation on her face. He knew nightmares and visions constantly bombarded her now. Like the one she’d had of his face. He could admit, getting a chade claw to the face again wasn’t at the top of his to-do list. But he had also told her the absolute truth; he would do what was necessary to see Max succeed. And he would accept whatever fate decided to dish out to him – as long as it included him and Max and their family whole and safe at the end of it.

“Um, there’s more,” Caspian looked a little freaked out. “Their eyes were black.”

“The chades? Cas, I hate to tell you, but that’s nothing new,” Beyden said, eyeing his friend with concern.

Caspian was fit enough to roll his bright blue eyes in exasperation, “No shit. Not the chades, Bey. The wardens. The paladins. Their eyes were chade-black. No irises, no pupils – just blackness.”

Ryker gaped, “Are you for real? Are you sure they weren’t just being shown the chades?”

“I know the difference between a chade and an intact person. And I really know the difference between a chade and a paladin. Lark,” he turned to the earth paladin, “Isaac’s eyes were black. He’s a paladin. Paladins can’t be chades, right? That’s never happened before.”

“No. That’s never happened before,” Ivy murmured, taking Lark’s hand in her own.

Ryker felt like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, “Seriously? What the fuck?” he asked, no-one in particular.

“Maybe it’s like these,” Dex offered, tracing the brand on his left bicep.

Max walked over and touched the evidence of Dex’s loyalty to her, “What do you mean?”

“Well, this is like your legacy, right? It’s a reflection of our faith in you. Maybe Emmanuel has something similar,” Dex suggested.

---