Page 212 of The Eye of the Fifth
Gallena’s Temple, Phaenon.
Gedeon.
The warmth of Maida’s healing chambers was a welcome thing on Gedeon’s frosted skin. She handed both him and Kyra a mug of tea: lemon and ginger spiced, and unlike the first concoction she had made him drink after his time in the ice cells, it tasted exactly as it smelled.
Before long, Gedeon shed his furs. Swiftly after the transport ship pulled into the Frozen Tides, they realised they would most likely freeze to death before they even made it to the city. Broken from the inside out by Kyra’s earth magic, the unlucky sabre-toothed wildcat prowling the icelands had not stood a chance. When it yowled into the night as it lay on the snowy ground, bones broken, Gedeon drove a knife he had swiped from the tavern kitchen in Ousca into its neck. A swift kill.
He had skinned it and lightly burned the hide so it did not rot on the journey north to Phaenon. Admittedly, rotting was unlikely in this climate, though he did not fancy smelling like a dead animal.
Kyra still wore hers. Sweat was beading at her forehead but she made no move to take it off. She sipped the tea and glared into the hearth, barely even blinking.
Naal entered, and Maida gently squeezed Gedeon’s shoulder before taking her leave. Naal sat in the healer’s chair behind the desk and silently surveyed them both. Before, when she had suggested they usethe Council Room, Kyra had abruptly argued against it.No,she said.Anywhere else. Please.
Gedeon understood why.
So Maida had given them her quarters to use. A good thing too. He could not speak for Kyra, but he felt somewhat at home here. Maida was possibly his only friend in the Order, no matter if she still playfully denied the term.
‘Tell me what happened,’ Naal said. ‘Spare no detail.’
Gedeon glanced at Kyra. Her lashes flickered slightly as he spoke into her mind:I can do the talking. If you would like.
Without looking at him, she nodded.
In truth, Gedeon had never heard himself talk so much. He recalled everything. From the moment he found a hole in the Council Room floor, right to the second they stepped onto the temple precipice just an hour before. He told Naal about the Agni slave camps. He told her about the death of Commander Ren, and how they had swindled their way into Dracyg Dominion undetected. He told her where they had found Rosary, and of the hold Hossean had over her. It took some time to explain that. Lady Lilion’s part in it all, and how Oslan had been used.
When he finally reached the part about the prophecy, and the reason for his mother’s interest in both him and Kyra, Naal interrupted him.
‘Can you recite it?’ she asked sharply, fingers scrambling on Maida’s desk for a quill and parchment. ‘Word for word?’
‘I think so.’
Quill poised, dipped in ink and ready to document, Naal gave him a nod.
He delved into his memory.
‘Four there are, connected as one,
But when Light and Dark come together, then will it be undone.
A male of Fire, of Night and royal blood,
Must await she who ignites an ancient spark.
For when the Earth cracks and the Sun hides behind the moon,
Then shall she of light and land be born.
Rage will blind and tear down what is known,
For her power to come forth to take its throne.
Bonded must Earth and Fire be,
For Light and Dark to once more be free.
Four there are, connected as one,
And the Fifth shall watch as it is undone.’
