Page 74 of Compass Points
“What are you doing, Aterra? Interfering with the Compass Points is forbidden.”
“A fun loophole,” he said. “Turns out this one”—he pointed to himself in Aiden’s form—“isn’t actually the rightful Norden Point. So I didn’t break any rules.” He casually shrugged as the sandstorm spun around them. “You should talk. You’ve all but made that one your pet.” He gestured to Rose.
“Point of fact, Aterra. Thanks to your schemes, she’s not currently a Compass Point,” Arie replied.
“Arie, what is going on?” Rose whisper-yelled. Her volume was irrelevant since they were all still confined within the swirling storm of earth, but she thought it would be nice to know why Arie was calling AidenAterra, the name of one of the gods, and not the lost god, Zrak.
“That’s exactly what I’d like to know, Rose, but let me help with some introductions. Rose, meet Aterra, god of earth. He seems to have some agreement with the current Norden Point.”
“Always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, Arctos.” Anger dripped from every one of Aterra’s words.
“Aterra, Aurora, Zrak…Arctos…” Rose was whispering the names of the gods as she paused. She laughed. An inappropriate time, sure, but what choice did she have when she got to the last god, Arctos?
“Arie, short for Arctos, self-proclaimed Lord of Fire.” Aterra laughed as he made what he seemed to suspect was Rose’s first introduction to the Vesten god.
The bird transformed into a bear, putting himself between Rose and Aterra. He looked back at her, unable to smile in this form but showing off his teeth as he tilted his head at Rose.
“You’re a god?” she asked. Shocked, but not. She fell back on sarcasm, her old standby, saying, “We need to talk about what’s appropriate information to obscure in the future.”
“Sure, sure, add it to the list.” He laughed as he turned back to face the present threat. “Let’s focus on your friend here and the unwelcome god inhabiting his body.”
Rose’s attention snapped back to Aiden. She might have a god on her side, but Aterra was still a threat. Arie hadn’t moved against him, and she was beginning to suspect he knew what they’d been up against.
“What have you done with Aurora?” Arie growled. “Let her go.”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” came Aterra’s calm reply. “She has an important role to play in this game.”
“So, what’s your plan here?” Rose asked. “You pulled me into this tornado to what? Kill me again? You seem to have failed twice at that already.”
“Enough!” Aterra yelled. “I don’t need you two trying to understand something beyond your comprehension.”
Arie snorted.
“Rose, you stand in my way again, this time I won’t miss.” Aterra lifted Aiden’s hand and pulled the swirling storm of debris tighter around them closer. Rose flexed her shield of wind, expanding it to cover Arie. It continued to hold a slim layer between their bodies and the tornado of rocks and dirt, leaving it unable to bind them fully. The shield was thin enough, and Rose was sure that Aterra expected her to be Norden, not Norden and Osten. She hoped to hide this small protection from him. Let him think that he was suffocating them. Arie looked at her as if realizing that she was also protecting him. He switched back to the communication she knew and loved.
“I know I owe you some answers, but I wonder if you’ll trust me enough to do something reckless to get us out of here.”
She laughed inappropriately again. She wasn’t sure how close Aiden was—the debris surrounding them blocking her vision—so she just nodded.
“Good. I’m going to give you a little boost. When you feel it, I need you to stretch this shield for all it’s worth.”
Rose nodded again at the too-simple instruction.
Before she could blink, the bear at her side melted away. Was he leaving? She didn’t have to wait long for an answer as Arie’s magic unmistakably merged with hers. He’d inhabited her, likely much the same way Aterra had with Aiden.
Thatwasparticularly reckless.
It seemed though, that she was in control of how to direct their combined magic. The power of the Lord of Fire surged through her. It straightened her spine and poured through her limbs, waiting for her command. There was no room to hesitate. Instead, she focused on Arie’s words,stretch the shield for all it’s worth, and she did.
She pushed her wind, no longer creating a thin barrier of protection but her own swirling cyclone that stretched and sent Aterra’s tornado backwards. It circled him like he had been circling her and Arie. She pushed his cyclone closer to his skin, magically trapping him in his stolen body.
She wasn’t sure what Arie had in mind for an endgame, but she had Aiden caged with no intention of letting him go. She did not have a sword with her for the Ceremony, but she had Aurora’s dagger hidden in her high boots. She had kept it with her at all times since finding it. She pulled it out and took steps toward the captured god in Aiden’s body.
Could she do this? She’d killed in battle when needed and in defense, but not someone disarmed. Not her childhood friend who made a deal with a god. Was Aiden in there? Did he bear responsibility for what he’d done?
She knew she needed to end this before Aterra found a way out. He was a god. He wouldn’t stay trapped for long. Her steps quickened as she tried to close the gap between them.
The earth cracked around Aterra as Rose realized it was already too late. Her indecision had cost her. The ground shook and separated, creating a pit between her and the swirls of wind in which she’d tried to trap him.
