Time didn’t stop for anyone. If he had known about what was going to happen, then he would’ve spent this time being better; he wouldn’t have argued with Tavin, or teased Philyra, or caused the others so much trouble.
Two years after Lydia’s death, Tavin was officially recruited as part of the army. It was just paperwork, like Samone had suggested, but it was still more of a position than Natheniel could ever hope for. Honestly, they never really got along… and it certainly didn’t change as time went on. If anything had happened over the three years after that, it did nothing but make things worse.
Yet still Kiah found it a good idea to make them work together, and with Philyra thrown in there for the hell of it. Natheniel didn’t listen to half of Tavin’s briefing, up until the point where the younger realized he wasn’t listening.
“If you want to get yourself killed, dreamer, you’re doing an awfully good job at it,” Tavin remarked dully.
“Well, excuse me if this obviously isn’t anything important,” Natheniel retorted. “For one, you’re in charge of something that’s definitely not cleaning the library or sorting documents. You suck at doing everything but that. Second of all, Philyra’s here, and we both know Zofie’s a liiitle too overprotective of her most favorite most talented daughter ever. She also sucks at everything but playing the piano.”
“Well, trust me, if Step-Father hadn’t told me to bring you along, you would be at the castle right now complaining that you don’t get to do anything!” There was some odd sort of pleasure that came from knowing that Tavin wouldn’t be able to fight back in any way except for with words. “I’m sure you’ll survive with being a moderately decent human being for a couple of hours.”
“Can you do this some other time?” Philyra sighed. She was getting uncomfortable with the growing noise but, after all the exposure, had learned to hide it much better than before.
“What does this have to do with me?” Natheniel questioned. There was something specific about the decision, and honestly not being told of it earlier bugged him more than actually needing to go.
“More than you know, dreamer,” was Tavin’s only response on the matter before moving on. “Our job shouldn’t be hard and, if all goes well, it won’t take long, either. All we have to do is stay along for the ride, then the rest is all up to the army. Not only are we much more short-handed than usual, we’re also the least obvious candidates.”
“We’re the two princes of Seothia and the princess of Qizar,” Natheniel remarked dryly. “Remind me how we’re not obvious, again?”
“Let’s just say that who we‘ll be coming across aren’t quite living… they’re nothing more than dangerous husks obeying orders.” There wasn’t a hint of compassion in his tone. Whatever it was, there was no doubt that it wasn’t human—Natheniel was almost ashamed that he didn’t figure out why sooner when he had enough evidence to hazard a guess.
They went over a little bit more information, including where they’d go afterward, before they set off. The ship they were supposed to board would only be stopping once before their destination, and that stop was only a few minutes away by the time they got there.
It was a rushed entrance. He wasn’t even sure how they got in without being spotted, or what the people they were hiding from looked like. They were able to find a place where they wouldn’t be seen unless someone was looking for them, and it was clear that Tavin was relieved that everything so far was going smoothly.
Natheniel had, of course, still brought Ihu along with them. The little songbird didn’t make a sound, perfectly content with the pats that they got. There wasn’t a point to leaving them in someone else’s care if they behaved nicely, and he had a feeling that they might contribute to the plan somehow.
Tavin had been shifting through the cargo for a while, though was still quiet enough as to not alert anyone that they were there. A conversation was going on above them, which no one paid too much attention to until its abrupt change from talking about the weather.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“There’s a Xypnima Óneiro among us…” one of the people said. “I can sense one of our own…”
“Hidden away,” a voice mumbled.
“Being swallowed,” another agreed.
“In the darkest parts of the light,” a third chimed in.
“Dammit.” Tavin didn’t even bother to hide it, all the relief that he had moments before turning into a slight panic. “Change of plans. We’re heading back to the stronghold and meeting up with Domenique a little early. We definitely can’t stay here.”
It wasn’t until the boat stopped that Natheniel realized the trouble they were in. He still didn’t understand what made these people so dangerous; maybe part of the reason he felt like he did was because Ihu no longer looked comfortable, instead a little anxious as they nestled closer to his neck.
He decided not to argue with Tavin taking charge at that moment, recognizing it was better to simply listen to the younger prince. There’d be a time to assert that he was the oldest out of all of them later, when they weren’t right below the footsteps of what felt like a hundred men.
They’d moved from their spot near the cargo and moved a little closer to the ladder leading to the upper deck, somehow lucky enough that no one had gone down to look for them yet. It sounded like everyone was too busy doing something above them, as if they couldn’t really tell where exactly this “Zypnima Óneiro” was.
“I’m going to need Ihu,” Tavin told Natheniel quietly, “and your feather necklace.”
“Why?” The feather necklace he could have, perhaps, parted with; it was Ihu that he didn’t want to leave.
“If you’d listened to me earlier then you would know why,” was Tavin’s simple answer. He held out his hand, and Ihu willingly jumped onto it. “Don’t worry about Ihu, you’ll get them back safe and sound. All they need to do is carry the necklace in the opposite direction. Those things up there won’t pay attention to us if they think what they want isn’t with us. I doubt they even see us as much as they sense it.”
That made just about the least amount of sense out of any of it, but it wasn’t worth questioning now. Natheniel carefully took off his feather necklace for only the second time upon receiving it, and gently hung it on Ihu’s neck.
Tavin gave him a thankful nod before climbing just high enough on the ladder in order to push open the hatch. It was only big enough for Ihu, and that seemed to be the plan as he then whistled the bird call Kiah had taught both princes; at the sound of it, Ihu flew out of his hand and above deck.
There was a mix of “Bird!” and “The Zypnima Óneiro can shapeshift?!” immediately followed by the sound of everyone getting off the ship. Once it seemed to have died down, Tavin led the way up with Natheniel and Philyra close beside him. As soon as they were off board, they didn’t stop until they could see the stronghold.
Domenique was, of course, surprised to see them when they came in. She was even more surprised to see Natheniel without his bird or feather necklace—pouting a little more than usual because of it—and gently prompting, “Did something go wrong?”
“A specific someone caught their attention,” Tavin answered. He didn’t sound too surprised. “It wasn’t something we weren’t prepared for, though. Nothing happens without a reason.”
“Please look out for Ihu,” Natheniel added, almost desperate. He wasn’t worried that they wouldn’t be able to find him; they always found him before, so this time wouldn’t be any different. What he was worried about was whether they were safe or not.
“I’ll tell the guards to be on the lookout,” Domenique offered. She seemed to have specifically looked between Natheniel and Tavin before asking, “You’re all alright?”
“As fine as we can be, I think,” Tavin sighed. Maybe it was the lighting, but he looked a bit paler than he had before the mission.
She handed him a piece of paper and a quill. “Write down what happened while I get you something to eat. Once that’s sent you can rest.” When he nodded and took it, she left.
Philyra waited a little while longer before making herself known again. “The Waking Dream. I hope you weren’t expecting me to not catch that part, Tavin.”
“You knew what was there,” Tavin replied. “Just us and a couple dozen Skiá.”
“So, what was supposed to happen?” Natheniel asked. “Because I doubt whatever that was was supposed to be part of the plan.”
Tavin shook his head. His answer both answered his step-brother’s question and raised so many more questions. “We were looking for their heart. Even if we don’t have any of it now, we know that they don’t know where it is either… they’re just as desperate as we are.”