Page 91 of The Song of Sunrise
Four minutes pass.Before, I hadn’t been able to fight.
Five minutes.Before, I was helpless… but I will never be again.
Standing with a renewed sense of purpose, I walk back toward the open farm fields now covered in ice from the water magic of the River Tribe. I carefully shuffle out into the open space and look up to the sun now blazing high in the noon sky.
I know what I must do next.
I pull the white feather from my chest pocket, not sure of how this process works. But before I can manage to try anything else, Heru lands with a thump next to me and bows her head.
I reach out and pet her feathers. “It’s time to go home.”
Darkness descends upon us as we continue our flight east toward Goldenpine. Heru soars with such ferocity, onlookers below may mistake her for a shooting star. The moment I mounted Heru and asked her to take me to Goldenpine, she knew exactly where to fly.
I wonder how much these magical creatures really understand. If all rocs are anything like Heru or the famous Tellings, they are extremely intelligent creatures. And now here I am, riding one. Living like the heroes in the stories I so often used to sing about.
Heroes of the great battles are highly regarded, honored even. At what cost? How many had to die for their honor? How many Tellings have I shared about battles and wars with reverence, not thinking of the death and destruction that likely followed? It all starts to feel raw and wrong the more I think about it.
I don’t bother to cast a protectivesolarysshieldor conjuresunfyreas we fly to Goldenpine. I embrace the cold. Let it seep into my bones and wake me from this nightmare.
Heru slows her pace as we near the thick pines that I know by heart along the northern border of the village.
“Here is fine,” I say. “I want to meet them on foot. No offense, but you would scare the shit out of them.”
Heru seems pleased by that comment with the slight pecking of her beak and glides us down. I slide a leg over the side like Garrot taught me, let go, brace for impact, and roll. Heru flies away, giving me space.
I brush off the snow from my Watcher uniform and walk through the tree line toward Goldenpine. I forgot how dark the sky is in the countryside; only the stars and a sliver of the moon light my path toward town. Though I would know my way around these woods blindfolded.
Breathe in, breathe out.
The noise of my boots cracking the layers of ice on top of the snow is abnormally loud in the silent night. That, or I’m not used to how quiet it is.
Was it always this quiet?
I clutch the pendant necklace and squeeze, finding comfort in its ornate design as familiar to my hands as my own fingerprints. No matter what I find, I am not alone.
I squeeze my necklace once more and put it back.
I am not alone.
Step after step, I work my way toward the main roads of Goldenpine where I’ll find the familiar sloping roofs of the town shops. Some of the farms outside are dark, but I pay them no mind. It’s late; I wouldn’t expect to see bright fires burning from their houses.
I crest over a hill and descend into town and see… and see… I rub my eyes, willing the image to change, to be wrong.
“Nooo!” The cry rips from my throat as I stumble forward, then break into a sprint toward what remains of the village square.
“No, no, no, no, no…” The words fall from my lips in a rhythm of panic, a helpless chant as I search through the broken bones of Goldenpine.
Wooden beams lie snapped and blackened, homes reduced to piles of ash and splintered timber. The air is cold and still, thick with the scent of damp smoke. A dusting of snow has settled over everything, softening the edges of the ruin, as if nature has already begun to reclaim what remains. As if it’s trying to forget.
But I can’t forget.
Each collapsed roof, each scorched doorway, is a ghost of what it once was.
My throat burns, but I no longer hear myself scream. Flashes of Bane, Row and Rosie appear in my mind. Marrow’s lifeless stare as he lay broken on the stage.
Sorrow and rage course through my veins, and I instinctively pull on the Source magic still thick in the air, feeling the intense rush of power wash over me, and scream to the stars above. Cursing them for what they witnessed here.
I was supposed to come here eventually, or sooner, if I didn’t make it farther into the Summit and find myself expelled for whatever foolish reason the Elder Superior rashly decides upon. A small part of me cracks deep inside as I realize that this back up plan is no longer an option. Goldenpine is destroyed. It’s just… gone.
