Page 90 of In Between Darkness
“Your mother was at war with her morals, not unlike yourself.”His head trails off to the side as it follows a black bird gliding past our view.“It was hard for the both of them to fight the stigma of interdaecial relations.”
“So how did they get past it?” My question ebbs with a longing to understand my mother’s headspace.
“They surrendered to their hearts.”His gravelly voice softens. “Can I give you some advice?”he asks and sways his head gently back to centre.
“Please.” I nod and stroke his fur between his shoulder blades; a slight trill vibrates under his skin as he purrs.
“The strongest fortressesare often guarding items with the highest value.”
His words scratch the part of my brain that itched for an understanding of my emotions, why I am drawn to a heart that seems unobtainable, why I find refuge in the love of a man who doesn’t love. Because behind that harsh exterior, there is a soft centre waiting to be embraced. Behind the fear of abandonment, there is an equal longing for companionship…and we are drawn together whether he likes it or not. So, I will wait for the winter to pass, for the day the ice finally melts because, although his head is stubborn, there is a cold heart sick of isolation just waiting for my warmth.
I shake off the thoughts of him and urge Craize to leap into the air. Though I have not been riding long, I have realised that it is one of the best remedies for clearing your mind. The air whistles through my ears as the wind whips through my hair, stinging my cheeks in cool delight. Below us, the world stretches out like a painted map of green fields and silver rivers, which feed into icy mountaintops as we move towards the valleys just past Moon Castle. There is not much else I think about other than Sovereign’s beauty. Well, that and holding on for dear life, but that just makes each ride more fun. Exhilarating even. The thought that a majestic and notoriously unpredictable beast is the only thing keeping me from falling to my death intrigues me more than it should.
My thoughts are interrupted by movement near one of the mountains in the valleys. Craize notices too because his ears perk up in synchrony with the motion. I imagine the sound of the gravel and rocks crunching as the wheels of a black van eat into a windy road that snakes up the mountain. It drives slowly and pulls up a few meters away from the top, partially covered by a bare tree. The van is unusual; its wheels are disproportionate to the rest of the vehicle and are larger thanthey should be. A much-needed modification for driving in such steep and perilous conditions. Something about this sparks my intrigue; it’s not every day you see cars around this area, let alone a modified van. Maybe it’s a delivery of some kind. I know Sun Sovereign can expect a delivery every three weeks or so, of weapons for students to train with, but we had ours delivered yesterday. Silver daggers and scrap metal for light workers to weld into shields and spears. I wonder if Moon Castle’s deliveries are the same as ours. I imagine they are, though I can’t think of a reason why the delivery van would be travelling up the mountain and away from Moon Castle if it was. My eyes fixate on the van and wait for further movement; a door swings open. I can’t see much from this distance, but I can differentiate two figures exiting the van empty-handed; they slide around to the back of the vehicle and open its double doors. I think they retrieve something. It gleams in the light, but from here it just looks like a speck of dust.
“Craize…do you think you could get a little closer?” I feel his large head nod in agreement and hold on as he swoops down towards the movement. He glides stealthily and rides the wind’s natural current so that he is barely making a sound. We are seamlessly blended into the clouds around us. He hovers for a moment, just high enough to be incognito but low enough for me to see the figures closer. I notice a slender figure with ginger curls swaying in the wind. She is wearing dark clothes and walks with purpose. The other figure is dressed in a dark sweater that cradles a white-collared t-shirt. Something about them feels vaguely familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. The ginger woman makes swift motions with her hands, and the doors to the van swing shut. I gasp, that’s where I know her from. That woman is Miss Worthington. But what is she doing so far away from Sun Castle?
We wait for a moment, hidden in the clouds, hoping to get some understanding. The wind is cool and tangles through my hair, we’re still pretty high up, and I am starting to feel a little queasy looking down. My knuckles tighten around Craize’s fur. I like to think he would not let me fall, but my palms are beginning to sweat, and my grip is pretty lax. I fidget in between his shoulder blades, and there is a dull ache in my legs from being stuck in the same position for too long.
“Shall we settle down somewhere?”Craize asks, clearly sensing my unrest.
My mouth parts, and I am seconds away from responding when I see movement again. It’s her. Her ginger curls are greeted by the wind as she steps out from behind the twisted bark of the bare tree, obscuring my view, whilst the man in the dark sweater trails behind. I do not recognise his face, but I feel like I have seen him before. I pull my telescope out of my satchel to get a better look. He is wheeling a tall, upright rectangular box on a moving trolley; the box is opaque and looks to be made of some kind of sturdy plastic. Whatever is inside must be heavy because the man pushing is red in the face and working up a sweat, the wheels of the trolley stutter over the gravel, making the man stop for a moment and then push harder. Whenever he stops, Miss Worthington waves her hands around and ushers him to hurry up. The man keeps pushing, but the trolley is stubborn and fights the loose pebbles. One gets caught under the wheel, and the box plummets off the trolley. The man runs to lift it back up, but he struggles. If the box was heavy on the trolley, it’s going to be heavier lifting it from the ground. He bends his knees and hoists the box up, huffing and puffing with frustration, but the lid has come loose in the fall, and I see something. Miss Worthington rushes to conceal the box’s modesty, to rejoin the lid to the box, but it is too late. I havealready seen inside. Only for a moment… Just for a second… I could’ve sworn I saw a… hand?
Five thick fleshy fingers, one with a silver and blue ring sitting proudly on it. I furrow my brow. How odd. It’s most likely a female due to the silver nail polish draped over each nail.
The box is quickly propped upright on the trolley and escorted into what looks like a cave near the peak of the mountain. They disappear for a moment before becoming visible again, getting into the van and driving away.
“Craize, did you see that too?” I ask, hoping for an explanation, whilst I place my telescope back into my bag.
“This is not the first time I have witnessed such a thing,”he answers as he begins flying back towards the taming quadrant. I clench my legs to hold on tighter.
“What were they doing?” I ask, my words muffled by the direction of the wind.
“They come and go every month, always the same thing,”Craize replies matter-of-factly.“I believe they take students to be scorched,”he says, whilst gliding through the skies.
TheSun and Moonkind are not considered widely superstitious, but we do follow the same rituals in death. When a vessel dies, the body must be scorched for the soul to rest. This is completed by light workers to return the flesh back to the Gods. This explains why Miss Worthington was present. If there are light workers in there, it would make sense that the deliveries are done by one of their own, even if the body is of Moon.
“You think there was a dead person in there?”
My mind begins to worry, what if a studenthaddied… What if it was Ryder?
Chapter Thirty-Five
‘Relax, my child, Ryder is alive and well.’Oriah’s soft voice startles me.
“How can you be so sure?” I reply, worry lines still clear as day on my face.
‘Our connection has not weakened,’she states, which puts my mind at ease.
I hold on as Craize circles back around and heads for the salvation of the taming quadrant’s main meadow. I breathe a sigh of relief when Craize finally touches solid ground and the aching in my legs subsides.
“Your connection with Ryder…how does it work?” I ask, assuming that Oriah is still present in my mind.
‘The venom in his arm acts like a beacon to the Stars…’ she continues. ‘You can feel him too.’
“Well, she feels something for him,”Craize butts inand chuckles again.
It’s nice to know my secrets aren’t safe with him. I give him a wry smile and dismount, ignoring his comment.
