Page 23 of Crown of Betrayal and Blood

Which makes no sense. It’s not like statues can save me.

Blair and Bastian move up to join me. In the fading sunlight, Bastian inspects the gleaming metal of the hinges. Agnar and Leesa are still lingering near the boat, eyeing everything with suspicion. Now I’m even more disturbed by my lack of disturbance.

Nothing here makes any sense, yet I’m walking through it as if…

I’m walking with the confidence I would have in a dream. As if nothing here can hurt me. Which is going to get me killed if I keep this up.Wake up and focus, Lark.

We pass through the gate, the air almost vibrating with ancient magic. The living mist crawls along the ground. Gray tendrils coil around my ankles as if to trip me, and I shiver.

Before us, the ruins of a once-great city splay out like the bones of a fallen giant. Towers lean precariously and walls crumble as nature reclaims what humans have abandoned. If humans ever lived here. The buildings, at least, are the right size. Some could be shops. Others even have signs hanging on metal bars above closed and rotted doors.

Weeds have taken over what might once have been a cobbled town square, or a market if this town is as large as I think. I’m not familiar with large cities and don’t really understand the layout of this one.

Considering how close we are to the gates, I expected guard towers, or at least some sort of structure where the guards of the city could take shelter. But there’s nothing between the walls of the city and the first rows of buildings except an expanse of grass wide enough for Ryu, the largest Tirenese dragon, to fit comfortably.

Maybe they let livestock graze here? Or there was something here before that was made of wood, which crumbled and disappeared while the walls and buildings still stand.

Even more confusing, a once magnificent castle sprouts from the center of this place, standing defiant against the relentless march of decay. Its spires pierce the sky, broken yet proud.

Despite their decayed state, they reach higher than even the ones at the palace in Yorla.

“Can you believe this was once alive with people?” My voice is just above a whisper, the ancient majesty of this place seeming to demand silence.

Out of instinct, we traverse the area quietly, sticking close together. None of us are sure what to make of this. Leesa’s acting like she’s about to bolt at any moment. Where did my courageous sister go? Does the drachen’s fear still linger in her mind?

“Hard to imagine anyone ever called this home. If this mist is natural, I’m sure they wouldn’t.” Blair makes a swatting motion with his hand, sending a magical gust of wind through the fog. “It’s thick enough that you could get lost just trying to cross the road.”

I gulp as the puff of air hits the unmoving mist.

Agnar’s eyes widen, and he backs away. “Now that we’ve taken the boat across, let’s see if it’s possible to survey the city from the air. The sun is setting fast, so let’s be quick. Bastian, stay with Leesa. Lark, Blair, you’re with me.” He spreads his wings and jumps before landing in a heap, his wings crumpled.

Too curious to learn about this Lost City than pay attention to what’s happening with Agnar, I leap into the air, beating my wings and pushing the earth away.

When gravity refuses to relinquish control, I promptly stumble and cup my wings and attempt to propel myself backward.

Nothing happens.

Apprehension knits Blair’s eyebrows together. “What the hells?”

Agnar beats his wings without success, grunting from the effort. “Something is stopping us from gaining altitude.”

“How is that possible?” Bastian makes his own attempt to fly while Leesa gapes at us all, confusion and fear twisting her features. “This shouldn’t be possible.” He plucks a stone from the ground and throws it into the air. It rises and falls just as I would expect. “So nothing is heavier than it should be. But we can’t fly?”

Agnar rises, wincing as he shakes out his wings. “I thought we’d surely be able to fly once inside the city, but apparently not.”

“Guess not.” Rotating my shoulders, I tuck my wings away. For a moment, I’m terrified I will never use them again. Yet when I call them forth, they appear just the way they should. “It’s most likely the same magic that kept us from seeing the city when we flew overhead. Whoever built this place clearly wanted to protect it from anything that could fly.”

“So we can’t call for help or fly away.” Agnar glares at the sky as if it’s betrayed him. “How are we supposed to retreat quickly if we can’t use our wings?”

“I spent the majority of my life without flight, and Leesa has never had that option. We survived just fine.” I hold up my hand and call on my magic. Fire ignites in my palm. “We may not be able to fly, but we still have magic. We’re armed. And I can sense Kaida. He’s still waiting.”

“We’re already here.” Blair sighs, twitching his wings to test the air. “And Lark’s right. We don’t need to fly to finish our mission. But I would feel a lot better if we waited until daylight to start exploring the place.” He points to the darkening sky.

“Agreed.” Bastian drops his pack from his shoulders. “It’s been a long, grueling day. We need food and rest.”

“All right. We’ll stay. But not in one of the buildings.” Agnar brushes dirt off his wings, then spirits them away. “They’re too old. They could collapse at any moment. I say we make camp here, where we can keep an eye on the gates and have plenty of visibility.” He gestures to the wide open area between the walls and the buildings on either side of us.

The ground forms a short barrier around us.

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