The ground shook before they all saw it; a shockwave of sand swept through the small village of Red Pond and swallowed it whole. The gallows rattled as the sand ravaged through the plaza. Evander was swept back, his entire body dangling by the noose around his broken neck. Victoria tried to shout an order through the sandstorm, but was tossed off the gallows instead.
Evander squeezed his eyes shut as screams echoed all around him. A flash of light shone through his eyelids, followed by the clap of thunder and the smell of burning wood. His noose snapped and he fell through the trapdoor below. His body crumpled over like a rag doll on the sand, but still he lived.
All he could hear were the sounds of steel clashing, the crackle of lightning, the roar of flames, and the dying cries of men. The sand died down and Evander slowly opened his eyes. Where once there were dozens of guards surrounding the two strange women, now only a few remained. The rest were scattered on the floor, their blood dyeing the sand red, at least the lucky ones were. The others were nothing more than charred husks, some were still burning.
“Retreat! Retreat!” Victoria yelled as she ran away with the last remaining dregs of her sune guards.
Tauri hurled one last bolt of fire into the back of one of the guards. He cried out and fell over as the flames licked his flesh and devoured him alive. Tauri was about to give chase, when Gale held her back.
“What are you doing?” Tauri snapped at her. “If we let them get away, they’ll find more men to hunt us down.”
“If we don’t go now, we may lose Stryg. You saw what that was, right?” Gale pointed to the southern horizon. “That was the astral light. Stryg has no control over that power. So, what could have made him use it? The repercussions of igniting the astral light alone could be devastating.”
“You’re right.” Tauri’s expression twisted with worry. “He could be hurt, badly. And that light was like a beacon to the cult. We need to find him before they do.”
“Then we’re in agreement.” Gale sheathed her sword. “This way.”
“Wait,” Evander called out, or at least he tried to. Only a quiet wheeze escaped his lips. He watched helplessly as the two women disappeared into the night.
They were going the wrong way, he wanted to warn them. Ignoring the fact that they were heading straight to whatever that light was like some sort of madwomen, the path south was filled with all manner of monsters hiding deep in the sands. The sandstorm tonight would have undoubtedly awoken them and left them in a foul mood. All this, Evander considered as he lay there, waiting for the last of his life to trickle away.
Except.
It didn’t.
As the seconds turned into minutes, Evander still lived. The world had gone deathly quiet, except for the quiet squelching. Where was that noise coming from?
Slowly, he realized it was from himself. His neck, to be precise. Sensation was gradually returning to his body. He could feel his shoulders, then his arms, his hands, and finally his fingertips.
With a loud crack, his neck righted itself. Pain returned to his body. Evander scrambled to move his arms and to his surprise, they did. He ripped the noose off his neck and tossed it aside. A breath of air was never so blissful. Even as his lungs burned, he continued to drink in gulps of air.
There was still no feeling in his legs and he could barely muster any strength in his upper body. It did not matter. Evander dragged himself as best he could over to the one person he needed to see. Grace lay broken on the sand. Though the gallows had fallen apart, her noose was still tied to the fallen wooden beam. Evander’s hands shook as he struggled to remove her noose. He tried his best to not look at her face as he worked.
Finally, the noose came off.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered in a broken voice. Evander held her close in a hug and cried quietly over her body. Her skin had gone pale, yet she was still warm.
Time slowed to a stop. Evander lay there next to her for what seemed an eternity. When his tears dried, he noticed he could move his legs. He stood up shakily and looked for a shovel amidst the wreckage. There were none. Victoria had planned to leave their bodies in the desert to rot under the sun with no burial rites whatsoever.
Evander picked up a shattered plank and used it as a makeshift shovel. He began to dig a hole, though there was little strength in him. He dug even when his hands chaffed against the wood and splinters. Blood dripped down his hands, yet still he pressed on, until there was a hole deep enough for a small girl of fourteen years.
Though he was not a priest of the Three Deaths, he muttered the sacred prayers as best as he could recall. Then he carried Grace into the grave and buried her with a lock of his hair.
“I know you’re supposed to go with treasures and objects of value… I’m sorry I have nothing more to give,” Evander whispered. “I’m sorry we never reached the Ivory Realm. I’m sorry you never got to see a—” he broke into a sob and fell to his knees.
What did it matter now? Did the burial rites done by a thief carry any weight? Would the Owls accept his meager offering and guide Grace through the Soul Chasm? Or would she be forever doomed to wander in the Chasm’s darkness? He did not know.
All he wanted was to lie down and die next to her and his crew. But death had rejected him, for some purpose he did not comprehend. Whatever the reason was, he did not care. There was only one thing he wanted to do.
Evander staggered to his feet and glanced at the other bodies. “I’m sorry, I cannot bury the rest of you. …But I swear I will avenge you.”
There was no time to waste. Victoria Greymark was already a league away, if not more. The sun had yet to rise, so she couldn’t be too far. But he would need help if he had any hope of killing her. There were only two people he knew who could help him now and they were heading south.
~~~
Titania awoke drenched in sweat. She opened her bleary eyes and looked around. A sliver of sunlight leaked through the crack in the vault. With a groan, she sat up and touched the back of her head. It was still tender.
“Where am I…?” Titania mumbled. She ran a hand across her head and two small horns. Then it all came back to her in a rush. The attack on the caravan in the middle of the night. Naomi dragging her out of her tent and shoving her into the vault. Then there had been a roar like nothing she had ever heard, as if the earth itself had ripped open. Though still inside the vault, Titania had felt the vault be thrown about like a leaf in a storm, all the while she had been macked around inside like a fish in a barrel.
The crack in the vault caught Titania’s eye. She stared at the jagged line that ran across the meter-thick wall of enchanted steel. It had not been sunlight that had bled through that scar of steel. It was a harsh silver light devoid of warmth. It had only been a brief moment, but the silver flash that had pierced through the vault had been enough to destroy her aegis and leave her unconscious.
“It really happened…” She looked down at her necklace. The amulet was composed of a runic key and a golden aegis. The aegis was nothing more than a few shattered fragments now.
Titania wondered what had happened to Naomi and the others. Were they alright? Naomi had told her not to leave the vault until she returned for her. But the sweltering heat was suffocating what little air was left in the broken vault. Even worse, there was hardly any room in here. She could have sworn the vault had been bigger.
Titania made her decision. She used the runic key and opened the vault from within. The heavy steel door swung open with a creak, before falling off its hinges, much to her surprise. She wanted to inspect more, but before stepping out, Titania remembered the old magics her mother had taught her. With a bit of concentration, she shifted her body to be taller and stronger.
Only afterwards, did Titania slowly poke her head out and look around. The camp was nowhere to be seen. The golden dunes of the desert surrounded her all around. She stepped out in the hopes of catching some landmark on the other side, but froze in shock.
Her mother had insisted on bringing the vault on the caravan, for the vault itself was one of the greatest treasures in her family. The vault was built of magical alloys and enchanted with ancient magics that not even dragon flames could burn.
The vault was unrecognizable. The steel box had been crushed from the outside and the metal stripped. Titania wasn’t even sure how she was still alive. There was probably a centimeter or two of steel left at most. She touched it and recoiled from the heat. Whatever enchantments had protected the vault before had been destroyed.
No matter which direction she looked, there was no landmark in sight. She was lost. Judging from the sunrise, Titania had slept through the night. She needed to find shelter soon before the sunlight cooked her alive. She needed to find Naomi.
If the sun was rising, it meant that direction was east. The vault couldn’t have been blown away too far. She just needed to go north and she would make her way to Red Pond. The rest of the caravan was probably already there.
The idea that they had all perished in whatever had ripped apart the vault crossed Titania’s mind, but she banished the thought. Naomi was strong. Very strong. And so was the rest of the caravan.
Lady Lydira had selected every member individually for the sake of this one mission. Titania did not know much about the details, her mother told her it wasn’t necessary. All Titania knew for certain was that Naomi and the elder phoenix had been entrusted to lead the caravan and what it was carrying, a locked, black chest.
Titania had never seen what was inside the chest, but she knew it was a very powerful weapon. One that could change everything, or so Lydira had claimed. The vault was meant to transport the chest, while Titania’s key was meant to open the chest.
Why Titania’s mother had gone through so many precautionary steps, Titania didn’t care. She was simply happy to be able to participate for once, instead of being cloistered away in the castle. No, rather, she was honored. Her mother entrusted her with a key part of the mission.
Now all that honor had faded away. All Titania felt was anxiety and fear. She was lost in the middle of the desert. But what bothered Titania the most was that the chest hadn’t been in the vault. She could have sworn it was there when the vault had first been closed the day the caravan had set out. But the black chest wasn’t there last night.
Someone had taken it. Why?
Had it been Naomi? Is that why Naomi didn’t seem surprised last night?
No. Titania shook her head. Naomi was loyal to her mother. She probably simply hadn’t noticed the chest was missing. It was dark. There was fighting going on. Naomi was busy.
But then where was the chest?
Had the enemy who attacked them last night stolen it?
Was that why no one had come to find her? They were busy looking for the weapon? But without the key, breaking into the chest risked destroying the weapon inside.
A chill ran down Titania’s back. Whoever stole the chest would now be looking for the amulet.
Naomi’s final words echoed in her mind. “The amulet. Remember the amulet.”
Titania gripped her necklace tight and looked around warily. She needed to hurry and reach Red Pond. As she walked and the hour slowly crept past, she noticed the air wasn’t getting warmer. It was getting cooler. Naomi stopped and looked back at the sun.
Had it gone down?
“Oh no.”
The sun wasn’t rising, it was setting. She hadn’t been stuck in that vault all night. It had been an entire day. Worse, she wasn’t traveling north towards Red Pond. She had been traveling further south. And as the night began to cover the rise, so would the hungry beasts that hid from the sunlight.
Titania glanced at her surroundings, panic settling deep into her heart. She couldn’t see anything but sand. Turning around, she ran back the way she came. The young sune woman failed to take notice of the several pairs of eyes watching her from a distance.