{-Rennyn-}

“It isn’t over until I’ve dragged you down with me, Songbird.”

With those haunting words, he bolted up, trying to quickly calm down before the others noticed. But then, with another rise of panic, he realized Kaylin and Noa—the two he’d shared the room with, since Lyrei’s parents had offered to let them stay at the Archives—weren’t there.

Until he heard their voices, and breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s a good thing she was able to get back to us this quickly,” Kaylin said.

“A lot faster than I would’ve expected, honestly,” Lyrei remarked. “I thought she’d be busy.”

“But we did help the guards earlier,” Seldir pointed out. “So between your parents, the guards, and possibly a letter about Noa, she’s probably been given a good reason to talk to us.”

“She might want our help with something else,” Noa offered, “or thanking Rennyn for what he did with the guards. I doubt whatever Lord Aymer might’ve sent did anything but confirm who we are…”

Rennyn pushed the door open to see all of them sitting at the table with breakfast. “Did we get something from Queen Vaeri?”

“First thing this morning,” Kaylin answered with a nod.

“And you didn’t wake me up sooner?”

“It looked like you’d been having a nightmare, I didn’t want to bother you. Besides, you ran all over the place yesterday trying to help the guards find Dhymos’s minions. I thought you needed the rest.”

“Trying to get ahead of Dhymos is far more important.”

Seldir cut in to say, “No, it’s not. You’re not going to get anywhere without a clear head—and you don’t get a clear head on two hours of sleep.”

“I slept more than—”

“Not… really,” Noa mumbled. “You were up later than the rest of us. I heard you in the middle of the night, too…”

“We need you to be feeling up to anything,” Lyrei said. “And the thing with Queen Vaeri doesn’t have a set time to it, either. It said explicitly to come whenever we’re ready for it—I trust that, if she sent the letter, she’s capable of welcoming us whenever.”

Suddenly, Lyrei’s parents both appeared from the kitchen—her dad practically forced Rennyn to sit down, and her father sat a plate of breakfast in front of him.

“So, it can wait until after you’ve had a healthy breakfast,” her dad said matter-of-factly. “We might not be your parents but I’m certain they’ll like knowing you’re eating well.”

Rennyn grumbled something that sounded like protest but, truthfully, he appreciated it. It was… comforting, in a way, to have someone else acknowledge he was as much of a human as he was a hero.

At least, it was, until he remembered that didn’t change the fact he was responsible for anything Dhymos was going to do. Only he could stop what was coming, and to falter even slightly was a risk he wasn’t going to take.

…

He wasn’t fazed by the grandeur of the palace at Zaitha’s center. Neither was Noa, with Kaylin and Seldir expressing some kind of curiosity but not true excitement. Lyrei, on the other hand, acted like she’d never seen such a thing before—which, to be honest, she might not have. She did try, though, not to make it too obvious.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

All they had to do was show the invitation to one of the guards stationed near the gate. He gave a curt nod and said, “Follow me, then. Queen Vaeri is waiting for you in the throne room.”

“Hey, so… do you think we’ll need to do anything special when we get there?” Seldir asked. “I’ve never interacted with the big shot nobles before, and especially not royalty.”

“I heard that Queen Vaeri is actually one of the more casual ones,” Noa offered. “I don’t think I’ve met her, though. Or at least, I don’t remember meeting her. But Lord Aymer has. From the sounds of it, she’s not nearly as bad as King Merith…”

“He’s the one that took the throne after his father’s scandal, right?” Lyrei asked with far too little acknowledgement to their surroundings. “The same scandal he hasn’t done anything to resolve?”

Rennyn nearly winced. “Don’t say that kind of stuff out loud. All it’s going to do is cause us trouble.”

She mumbled an apology just as the guard stopped and announced, “This is the throne room. Let me first introduce you, and then you can enter.”

He started to open the doors, but servants on the other side must’ve opened it the rest of the way. He—followed by Rennyn and the others—bowed. “Queen Vaeri, I present to you the ones you asked for—Lord Noa, Rennyn, Kaylin, Seldir, and Lyrei.” Then he gestured for the five of them to step closer, while he took a step back, the door closing behind him.

Queen Vaeri offered them a smile, but… Rennyn, at least, could recognize when something was for show. She never moved from her throne. “I was hoping you’d all arrive soon. There’s several things I wanted to discuss with you.” She glanced over to the other servants. “Could you all leave us alone for a couple of minutes? I’d like to address them all personally. I’ll call you back when I need you.”

Without hesitation, the servants nodded in unison and left through a smaller door in the throne room.

“I want to thank you, first, for the continuous support you’ve given the guards over the past couple of days,” she began. “It sounded like all five of you helped quite a bit. In all the reports that mentioned you, they did nothing but sing your praises.”

“It wasn’t much,” Rennyn mumbled. “Just doing what we can. I didn’t want to know what would happen if we let the problem spread.” He thought it was a good enough excuse; something that held a fragment of truth in it, but could save the rest for a better time.

Seldir nodded. “I was already familiar with some of the guards. It was like lending a hand to an old friend.”

“Thanks to you, we prevented what could have very well been a major disaster.” For the most part, her tone didn’t change. But in that moment, there was a hint of true gratitude, and perhaps a regret for having to rely on them. “You’ve done far more than I ever could’ve expected of outsiders. I hope you acknowledge the lives you saved.”

“It was nothing,” Rennyn repeated. He didn’t want to take the credit. It would only make things worse when the time came for him to fail their expectations…

“I… didn’t bring you here solely to congratulate you, however. Your reward will come with time but there’s more I’d like to know—a few more things I want to be sure of…” Vaeri got right to her questions. “I understand that Seldir and Lyrei reside here in Zaitha. But that does nothing to tell me what led the three of you to enter the Crow’s Nest.”

“We came to try to stop a person capable of a lot of harm—the boss of the ones who set the Archives on fire, and made those runes in the forest,” Kaylin answered. “Rennyn and I come from smaller Elatenes villages. Without making things too complicated, we’re the ones meant to deal with this impending crisis. Noa’s here to help us—he, Seldir, and Lyrei are the other heroes we need to help everyone.”

“This person,” Vaeri said slowly, cautiously, “is named Dhymos, correct?”

Rennyn nodded. There was a brief rise of panic, though, at the idea of her knowing. No one else had been able to recognize Dhymos, so why could she? “Dhymos is the one behind all of this. Three people are working for him, too—Viragi, Kharis, and Ether. It looked like they had abilities only spirits should possess. Viragi could manipulate earth, Kharis could manipulate fire, and Ether could manipulate water.”

“Have you had any direct encounters with him? What else do you know of what he’s planning?”

“We haven’t seen Dhymos—it’s a better thing if we don’t. I don’t… exactly know what he’s planning, other than it isn’t anything good. It’s our job to stop it—all we need from you is the Goddess’s Ring, then I’d prefer it if you stayed out of our way.”

“For a varying amount of reasons, I don’t think I’m going to be able to do that.”

“The fact of the matter is, Dhymos is probably here because of us. What do we need to do so that we’re worthy of the ring?”

“I need you to prove that you’re who you say you are. Despite the good that you’ve done, I can’t tell you any more until I know where your desires lie. Once I’m certain of your will to help, I’ll tell you everything I know and let you have the ring. But first… I have something of a quest for you.”