XX.

Ambush

[He doesn't want me to do this.]

Okella stood in the black of night behind them, in a damp, piss-soaked alley that reeked of rot and bile. Behind Cedric and Rithi. Behind the two lying in wait to stalk Ivalié.

Her esera was suppressed. She avoided the leylines as best she could, though it strained her to keep her mind so deaf to the swelling voices of the strays and beggars in the nighttime streets. Silence was unnatural. Unerring. There was no truth in silence. It was a trick of the mind, deceit built to conceal the lies of men.

And never did she like a liar.

Once, she did dub her ability Truth. But that was before it got out of control, and before her mind was constantly overrun by voices. There was no turning that much off. There was no silencing the truth from spilling out, no matter how good the liar. There was no unseeing the pain and sadness and sorrow that marred the souls of every being in the realm.

She hissed her tears away. [Not yet.] Her tendrils writhed forward.

Cedric stirred. She froze.

But when he returned again to his tense stance, her tendrils began to creep again. He leaned his head out just a pace from the alley's edge.

"It's quiet."

Okella jumped at the sound of his voice. Her tendrils froze again.

[Damn it all, Okella! Now's not the time for hesitation—we know what must be done!]

And finally, the tendrils plunged into his mind.

Cedric's head went low. He could feel it, most assuredly, like a dull, prodding headache. And he could surely feel the strange memories bubbling up as she dug around. The important part, then, was to find Dyosius and rip it out, then cut his ley from his pineal gland and kill him quickly. Silently.

It was an easy job. It wasn't anything unfamiliar.

But tears streamed her cheeks nonetheless.

His mind spoke: Where is he? The schedule is off… he should already be on his way to Kyrrith.

He's going to kill us. She reminded herself. [I have to kill him before he can kill us all.]

And then again, his mind spoke: If Kogar is in there, we're screwed. We're not ready for him yet…

Her eyes shot wide. Before she even realized, she asked, "What would it take for you to be ready?"

They both spun in alarm.

Cedric summoned his black blade—he summoned Grivonym.

"P-please!" She stumbled back with her hands up defensively.

"Rithi—"

"Hear me out!" She stomped her feet like a child. She was still crying.

Rithi threw a hand out to block Cedric. He didn't have the heart to begin his attack.

Cedric glanced between them and sighed in frustration. "It becomes harder to trust any of you by the day."

Rithi said, "I read her mind, Cedric. Her malicious intent is fading—she won't hurt us."

They stood to face her more directly. Cedric dispelled his blade.

"I need help to kill Kogar." Okella admitted.

"Kill Kogar? Aren't you...?" Cedric looked for the words to describe their relationship.

She shook her head before he could find them. "He hates me. He wants me dead, wants to rip me apart and leave me in a gutter…" She looked to they alley behind as if it were to be her grave.

"Shocking. I'm surprised it took you so long to figure that much out."

"I've known since I joined The Twelve! I never wanted to be a part of it, but Rykaedi wouldn't leave it alone!"

Cedric scratched his head in deep thought.

"Please—what would it take to kill him?"

"For starters, I need Serkukan back. Then I need to hone Dyosius—"

She flinched at the mention of its name. Rithi tensed up at her reaction.

"—and if you could fuse as well that would give me three Etherians against his, counting Tirolith."

"More importantly, we need information. Then we could hatch a plan." Rithi added.

"You don't have a plan?"

Cedric sighed. Rithi shook his head.

"You don't have a plan at all…? What are you going to do if he attacks?"

"Die." Cedric's answer was punctual. "According to my arbiter, at least. We can't counter him yet."

"You don't have a counter...?"

"It was close last time. Serkukan only managed to bring me back from the brink thanks to the high-ley environment. The environment that Kogar created without so much as a drop of sweat."

"So there's nothing that can be done..."

Rithi interjected, "We can have a plan ready in a few days if you're willing to cooperate. We need to know about his power and his location. Without that, we can't even begin to consider that as an option."

"You want to get into Haketh?"

Cedric narrowed his eyes.

"I've never heard of it." said Rithi. "Would this be the place hidden away in Kyrrith's museum?"

She nodded.

"In any case, this isn't the place to be discussing our plans. We're wide open." he looked to Cedric.

Cedric agreed and pointed down the main road. Across the long path that led to the museum was a much larger and grander building, with massive marble pillars upholding the carved stone roof. "We'll meet in there, tomorrow. Like nothing happened. The Diplomats'—"

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Okella grabbed her hair in horror. "No, no! Not the Diplomats' Hall! Not there, anywhere but there!"

They were both taken aback.

"He—he went there, he killed everyone… he killed everyone!"

"He… what?" Cedric froze in shock. His heart raced.

"Everyone who crossed his path was cut down… some escaped, but, the sheer number… the bloodshed…" She wept, while her tears only grew stronger.

Rithi turned to Cedric in alarm—"Mari!"

Like a fire had been set, they both leapt out of their hiding spot and sprinted at full speed down the cobbled path.

Okella stayed—she fell to her knees soon as her tears overwhelmed her.

But for Cedric and Rithi, their haste was stayed by a white-robed man in the middle of the path before them. A man with a blonde topknot. He pushed up his spectacles...

And a fierce gusting of wind announced the summoning of his crooked staff...

- The Alisan Way -

Sixth of Savus [6] 207CA

Faunia Vleren sat on damp jungle ground beside a dark-barked tree that soared so high up she thought she'd be able to see the entire world if she climbed it before the sun finished setting. The leaves at the top splayed out far and wide, like parasols for the lemur-looking things and other strange animals that bounded between trees and across mossy vines.

Painted in the center of the tree's bark was a dark red arrow. A sign that she was following the Alisan Way. The hidden, harrowing path that led to Alisa.

Then she looked to her torn knee, badly scraped and bloody. Her grey pant leg had almost entirely become red.

"Faunia, I can—"

"Shh. It was a stupid idea. Must have gotten it from Cedric."

She threw aside the vines that still clung to her fingers and turned to tend the knee.

"You don't have bandages." Tirolith knelt beside her.

"But I have leaves." Faunia looked back and forth between the dense foliage all around.

Tirolith pouted.

"Healing magic is too loud. Let's focus on, uh… You couldn't light a fire, could you?"

"Faunia, I'm made of ice."

She sighed before reaching to the pouch strapped to her leg. Out came a leather-bound notebook which she popped open and quickly scanned. She said, "Okay. What if instead of pulling the leylines, you pushed them? Can you reverse the temperature?"

"I'm not even sure what that means." She stuck out her tongue playfully.

"Well, it's like... you cast by pulling? Are they not lines that you can... perceive?"

"I don't know about any way to push instead of pull. It's not quite like that..."

More similar to natural magic than I had thought? Or...?

She flipped hastily through the pages. They didn't hold much, but her mind was too flustered with hunger and exhaustion to properly remember her thoughts. "What if you got… really mad? Think about something that frustrates you, like Cedric, or Kogar, or…"

Tirolith shut her eyes and mouth and squeezed as hard as she could until her face when red. Then she released with a gasp and shrugged awkwardly at Faunia.

She sighed again, shut the journal, and finally pointed to her injured knee.

Tirolith began to glow as the injury quickly sealed itself up. Soon, the scrape was gone entirely. All that remained was the torn pantleg, and the red stain.

"What if you absorbed the blood?"

"Faunia…"

"I know. I'm just… thinking. There's got to be something we missed, some kind of secret… Kogar was so strong, it's a miracle I don't have nightmares."

"You do." Tirolith looked somber for a moment. "I take them so you don't have to."

Faunia's face became concerned.

The girl only laughed and waved away her worries. "It's okay. They don't affect me as much as they would affect you. Death for me is just a change in perspective, so fear isn't innate to me. I would just become a part of the being who kills me."

"And I would become dirt in the ground."

"We don't have to worry about that for a while." Tirolith gently hovered up into the air and took a look around.

Faunia pouted and lifted her knees up to her chest. It had been days since she left Calamon. Weeks. She was dirty, sweaty, and now overwhelmed by the jungle heat. Long ago she had chucked her Hunters' armor into the back of her wagon along with her plainclothes, leaving herself in longpants and a white shirt, which she'd cut the sleeves from to make a bandana around her high ponytail.

"Any sign of him?"

Tirolith shook her head with a firm "Mm-mm." She soon hovered back down to the ground and fell to her knees with her arms around Faunia.

It was like being engulfed in soothing ice. It was the one respite she relied on to survive the heat, though Tirolith could channel that frost for only so long before she'd begin to heat up as well. And if they both got too hot, that would quickly become fatal.

"This… sucks." Faunia dropped her head onto Tirolith's glassy shoulder.

"I know. We'll be there soon."

"Liar." Faunia shut her eyes. The amber glow of the sun would vanish soon and leave them in complete darkness. Then they'd be subject to the ravenous and wild beasts of the jungle. Beasts with names she didn't even know. Beasts with appearances that stunned and wowed her. She'd long ago made a habit of sketching them in her journal, along with notes detailing all she knew—which wasn't much.

"Did you drink your water?" Tirolith asked.

"I…" she groggily held up her waterskin and jostled it. Then she turned it over.

Nothing came out.

"I'm empty."

Tirolith nodded, then held Faunia tighter. With just a hint of quiet soothing magic, the Silver Sword was soon asleep. With a final brush of her hair, the teal girl hovered away into a frozen mist and vanished.

And the night set in…

Faunia woke to a sound of shattering glass.

Her hand was at her hilt instantly. She looked—and there stood Tirolith, wearing an extra set of beige plainclothes that Faunia had put aside, with her teal hair revealed all the way down to her back.

"Tirolith?" She sat up in a hurry.

In Tirolith's hands was a large stone. Beneath her was her frozen armor, shattered into chunks of melting ice in the small water barrel she'd taken from the wagon.

"Tirolith!"

"You need water, Faunia. This is the best way."

"But—your health!"

"Yours is doubly important. I'm etheric, don't forget."

"That's no excuse!"

"It'll regenerate! I'm fine, really!" She smiled meekly.

Faunia frowned and stood up to walk over. She grabbed Tirolith's hand. "You're warming up."

"I'm still cold. I was worried I would shock your body, anyway."

Her concern was not eased any, but Tirolith pulled her hand away and then returned it with a full waterskin. She offered it to Faunia with a smile.

So Faunia took it and drank. She drank the waterskin until it was empty, and then handed it back to be filled again.

Tirolith began filling—

But the gesture was cut short by a cracking, breaking sound. Like shattering wood—in the direction of the wagon!

She turned in alarm and broke into a sprint, disregarding caution over the thick roots and hefty grass swarming the ground.

Just as she came into view of the hidden, leaf-covered wagon—

Thwip!

—Tirolith leapt before her and took the impact of the wooden bolt that shot from her vehicle. Water splashed from the girl's skin.

Atop the wagon was a bestial creature: a black-furred azar, in heavy, dark brown clothes that blended with his fur. He held a crossbow in his hands, and a long saber at his hip.

In his other hand was Faunia's silver armor.

The cat growled, "A Hunter, ehhhh? And not just that…"

He lowered the crossbow and began to reload it.

"...a Demon Knight."

His golden eyes glimmered.

And then went the second bolt.

*