Page 76 of The Eye of the Fifth
Kyra squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself inward, clawing for the thread back to her body. Its glimmer was stronger now. She held onto it and pulled, willing her spirit back to her body.
‘Kyra,’ the Fire Warden said again, his voice sounding further away, as if he was speaking through a veil. ‘Wait-’
But then she was soaring through nothing and everything all at once, and when she opened her eyes to the blinding whiteness of the Summit, the Fire Warden was nowhere to be seen.
Naal’s hands were gripped hard on her shoulders, her silver gaze piercing her with a concerned fierceness. ‘You’re back,’ she said, relieved. ‘It’s alright. Breathe, Kyra.’
Kyra obeyed, taking in deep lungfuls of icy cold air, her head whipping right and left to further confirm that her shadowed enemy had not followed her through the abyss. There was nothing to be seen but the glittering white of the snow-capped Floating Mountains.
‘I assume that’s the first time you’ve ever projected?’ Naal asked, squeezing Kyra’s shoulders.
Not trusting herself to speak just yet, Kyra nodded.
‘I thought as much. With your magic so new to you I should have anticipated you might be more susceptible to an accidental projection. Many magic wielding children suffer the same thing before they learn to control their magic. In sleep it’s most likely: the soul is more volatile and liberated in that state.’ Her brow furrowed with concern once more as her eyes raked over Kyra’s face. ‘Where did you go? You look shaken.’
Kyra opened her mouth, a reply forming on her tongue, but it died almost instantly. What if Naal thought her connection to the Fire Warden was too much of a liability? What if Naal decided she could no longer trust Kyraat all?What if she locked her away, just to be sure he could not reach her, or learn their secrets in the coming war?
She’d never find the Eye of the Fifth then. She’d never free Oslan.
‘Avaldale,’ Kyra croaked. She cleared her throat, forcing herself to keep Naal’s gaze. ‘A Union soldier saw me on the docks. I… I was running from them when you called me back.’
Later, when Kyra lay in her room deep within Gallena’s temple, glaring up at the dark red canopy above her bed, she wondered justhow many lies she would tell Naal before this pending war was over. She also wondered if Roheia had made a grave mistake in choosing her as her Warden. Did the Goddess not know that her soul was marred black with death and deception?
When she finally slept, exhaustion ultimately overwhelming her fear of an accidental projection during unconsciousness, her dreams were filled with formidable flames and eyes of unfathomable black.
Chapter Twenty One
Pianoforte
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The Base, Dracyg Dominion.
Gedeon.
Kyra was her name. Kyra.
A name that seemed to linger in every corner of his brain since the projection, like a light he just couldn’t put out. He was quite used to seeing fear shining in the eyes of those who looked upon him, but seeing it reflected inherpiercing green gaze… it had unnerved him in a way he didn’t quite understand.
It had only been a day, but the Earth Warden had not projected to him again, and he was not stupid enough to return the favour. She had bolted before he’d gotten the chance to explain himself. Before he could even suggest that he was not all that she thought him to be.
Or… perhaps he’d wanted to let her believe the worst. Everyone else certainly did, and he could not blame them for it.
Even with the Prince of Fire in their midst, the people of the Base were happy enough. A small percentage of the inhabitants were now, two weeks after he and Amala had joined them,justabout able to look him in the eye. Those that would not still gave him a wide berth; out of fear, disgust or timidity, Gedeon could never tell. Still, it did not bother him. His own company was enough to keep him sane… for the time being.
Sunsi, and he supposed her father before her, had imposed strict rules for all who dwelled in the underground city. Rules that were only in place for the protection of all: a ten o’clock curfew each night to ensure no sound travelled above ground; prohibited magic to all butthe healers and runners, (a select group of adept illusionists who risked exposure above ground to ensure supplies did not run low), and no one but those runners were permitted above ground under any circumstances.
Gedeon knew the rules had ensured their survival. But the longer he stayed, the longer he began to feel that Sunsi had been right; they could not stay here forever. Some of the older inhabitants had not seen the sun in decades. Laori included.
The sentry captain’s visits to the Base were scarce. Her commitment to the sentry order took most, if not all of her time. Gedeon had seen her only once since she released him from his temporary confinement in the cell-room. Days trickled past where she would not show her face at all.
In her absence, a man by the name Rogeron acted as Base leader. His blindness in one eye did nothing to alter his intimidating appearance and demeanour; bald-headed and built like he was chiselled from rock, Rogeron had escaped the slave camps in the Agni Lands and lived to tell the tale. Gedeon had never heard the story himself, but he was sure there was a good reason the old man was idolised by most in the Base.
‘How is your wound?’ Sunsi said by way of greeting some days after their last encounter, breaking him from his reverie. She had found him, eating alone as usual, on the back table of the rotunda.
‘Completely healed,’ Gedeon said, and pulled back his shirt to reveal a short pink scar beneath. ‘The pain is gone, and though Darelle found an antidote to the poison the Eternal’s arrow was tipped with, the scar will remain.’
Sunsi nodded approvingly as she sat in front of him. ‘A small price to pay. Were you human, a scar would be the least of your worries.’
