Page 97 of The Eye of the Fifth
‘There was nothing you could have done differently, Sunsi,’ Gedeon said quietly. ‘They’ll be alright. Your father’s magic will hold strong. Sekun will not find them.’
Sunsi was not really listening. ‘If we… if you and I hadn’t…’ she stammered, but could not finish the sentence as emotion stole her voice away. She knelt before the fire’s embers and wept, and Gedeon could do nothing but watch as her body shuddered with racking sobs.
He did not know how to comfort her. No words of consolement would ever be enough. The bond that they once shared had been reconciled with one night of reckless passion. But it had beenirrevocably crippled again by the consequences of that same, reckless passion.
Gedeon somehow knew that it was irreparable this time. Shattered.
So he stayed silent as Sunsi wept, and he prayed to the flames that Naal Westerra would hear his desperate plea for unity.
???
I imagine the Eternals’ welcome will be as frosty as the land they call home when we land on their shores,Tanwen candidly mused to him as they flew over the Birlisuss Ocean hours later. The sky was darkening with shadows born from the setting sun, the temperature dropping swiftly with each flap of Tanwen’s wings as they drew further and further northward.
Her brutal frankness and cynicism, for once, was something Gedeon was less than enthused to hear.
Sunsi’s arms were stiff around his midriff, and she held him with less intensity than she had before. As though she wished to be anywhere else in the world but there. She had not said another word since her lamenting outcry, and she seemed to deliberately avoid looking at him from then on.
Do you have a plan?Tanwen pressed.
Land in the plains to the west, as far from the Floating Mountains as possible. They will be on high alert after the attack on the city. On foot, we are less of a threat.
Guilt rose high in Gedeon’s throat. He shoved it down.
And then I suppose you beg the Air Warden for forgiveness? I would not be surprised if you are killed on sight. The attack on their capital was an abomination,Tanwen said.
She was pensive, not spiteful, yet it sat horribly with Gedeon.I do not need reminding, Tanwen.
It is good to be reminded. The Air Warden will sense a lack of remorse in you as swift as a dragon smells fresh blood.
I do not lack remorse,he tightly replied. It was quite the opposite, in fact, and before he knew it, his heart was opening with an admittancethat he trusted only her to understand:I feel like… like it’s choking me, Tan. I cannot escape it.
I know,Tanwen replied.I see it in your eyes. But it isgood, Gedeon. Choke on this guilt, let it submerge you for a while. When you find your freedom from it, your true self will at last be realised.
No more was said after that. No more needed to be said.
The air soon became bitterly cold, the only respite being that it was not snowing. The shore was visible now, even with a wet evening fog obscuring a clear view of the white, graded north. They were desperately under-equipped for Nythanor’s climate, and Gedeon began racking his brain as to how he and Sunsi would survive the trek to Phaenon. Walking the harsh terrain was one thing: scaling the mountain was another.
His fire would be of no use, not with Sekun’s curse still rampant in his body. Perhaps Tanwen could track and kill a snowbear for them? Its fur would serve as thick cover from the icy air, and the butchered meat would be enough to keep their stomachs from emptying on the journey.
Butwouldit be enough? Gedeon could not be sure how long it would take them.
‘Do you see that? Are they birds?’ Sunsi asked suddenly, her breath hot in his ear. He instantly followed her line of sight to the right, where through the mist at least five or six shapes moved in the sky.
He squinted, trying to make out the figures. As the seconds ticked by, they drew ever closer, and their feathered wings were unmistakable, flapping against the frigid air.
They were not birds.
Dive, Tanwen!
Through the mist the Eternals came flying, small in numbers yet ferocious in attack as they spearheaded toward them, each knocking arrows into bows of impervious metal, ready to cut down the intruders from the scaly back that held them.
In the centre of the formation was one Gedeon recognised, with hair as white as the snow of her lands, and an irrefutable expression of deadly rage.
Bow nocked. Ready to kill.
The Eternal’s arrow flew.
Swerve!
