Chapter 11: Shadow's Shearing Assault
The lakes, dire calm
Hearts seek love's balm
A daughter, a friend, a joyous bond
Eternally, entirely fond
Shrouded Shock
Micah recovered as well as one might, barely waiting for the sun to end before begging that we should 'go pay our respects' to their missing wife. Afina, of course, was all for it. She was desperate to learn the truth of whether the goddess truly married such a rugged soul. I didn't bother fighting it.
What was the worst that could happen? We find Dee, who is actually Draethis reborn, and she welcomes her spouse to stay with her at the Black Lakes? That's what I was hoping for anyway, so fighting against it would have been foolish.
I should have fought against it.
Having Afina along meant that we didn't have to worry over getting lost. She insisted we bring Talia as well, though she wouldn't say why. And the four of us set out for the Black Lakes only a sun and a half after the sandstorm let up. The trip wasn't as straight as I would've expected, given that Afina should have known exactly where to go, but I had to assume she had reasons for taking us on such a winding path.
Three suns passed, and we found ourselves on the edge of the desert, the boundary of the Voidwater Shroud. The Shroud was aptly named, given that it was a dense jungle that served as barrier to the Black Lakes and the temple that stood on an island at the centre. Jungle, it turns out, is not a friendly biome if you've spent most of your life living in the phobward highlands.
To call it hot in the desert was to describe an open-air oven. It was just a more intense Spire summer with a bit more sand and a bit less joy. But the jungle was isolating, suffocating, miserable. I swear I breathed more water within the Shroud than I drank during the journey across the desert. And that was to say nothing of the way our clothes stuck to ourselves.
More than once, Micah made a crass comment about how my figure would attract anyone I longed for if I showed it off more. And each time in response, I tripped them and reminded them they were married as I helped them back to their feet. It was odd, really, that they didn't use any of their cold-flame tricks to break the fall, but I assumed they were as distracted as me by the heat.
"Tell me, Afina," I said after five suns wandering between trees and stepping from shadow to shadow like it was a game, "how is it you and Talia know each other, that she would trust you so well at your word?"
Both women stopped in their tracks and turned to face me, causing Micah to almost bowl me over. Afina and Talia looked at each other, then me, then Micah, and back to each other. "It can't be helped, really," Talia said with a soft voice, "she was bound to ask."
"And we are bound to not tell, Talia. You know that," Afina said with a gruff noise that almost sounded like a dog's growl, "but if you would like to try, I shall not stop you."
Talia looked to Micah rather than me. "Well, you see," she said, fighting something, "I've known Afina as long as I can remember," she wasn't trying to hide this, "so when she arrived in the Sands, I was just happy to see a face I know."
Both women's shoulders sank at once. "That's answer enough," I said, recognising it must be related to the Path Afina walked that prevented her from sharing some truths. "Eventually, you will reveal your secrets without saying, and when that time comes, we can all bask in the truth."
"Wise words, white-eyed wanderer," Talia said. "For the time, shall we continue?"
"Let's."
Several hours passed, letting me pretend I'd forgotten the exchange until Micah whispered to me. "What was that about, Nyx? Earlier, with them."
I weighed my words for a time before whispering, "She bears a divine purpose, one which she cannot speak unless the listener already knows. It's a stupid rule, but they dare not defy the Path."
They hummed a simple affirmative, letting me assume that had been enough, but after another few minutes, Micah spoke up again. "Yes, sure, I can accept that. But how do you know about that rule, Nyx?"
My feet planted themselves where I stood. It was a good question. One I wasn't prepared to answer. Least of all for myself. But I suppose I came by the knowledge honestly enough. "I must have heard one of the goddesses or Mavi say something of it in my dreams."
A convincing lie. Even I could believe it. Micah must have, as they didn't mention the concern again. The truth hurt more. It was instinct. When Afina said she couldn't tell us the full story, I knew she was bound to her Path. Talia was likewise bound to hers. A truth deeper than my soul.
If I still had a soul of my own.
Two sevensuns had passed when at last the stink of placid water assaulted every sense, overriding my ability to think for a full minute. I was not alone in that disruption, as Micah and Afina took to violent coughing and gagging fits. Talia, though, seemed fine. Refreshed even.
"It only gets worse from here," Afina said as she regained composure. "Or better," she pushed Talia playfully as she said it, "if you are an aberrant monstrosity and enjoy the smells of rot and death."
Talia feigned insult and turned her back to Afina, "Well we can't all be graced with the scent of sweet misfortune, you know. Some of us adapted to far worse."
"They fight like Pot and Mill back home," Micah giggled lightly. They didn't expand on the thought. I appreciated that.
We heard the voices long before we saw the first glint of a metal helmet. We saw the helmets long before we saw the queen's banners. We saw the queen's banners at the same moment some great fear gripped my soul, begging me to turn and run, as fast as possible, to escape.
I did turn. And I moved to run. But it was too late. It stood where my escape should have been. Shadow stealing the face of Eliana Primrose. Darkness given form. The eyes weren't just wrong. They were empty, hollow. Bloodless.
This wasn't Nihil – Draethis – but something far worse.
Reaching for any name I could remember, I landed on, "Talia." It was a whisper, but that whisper was all I needed.
A silver blade found the space between the Shadow and my heart, severing some tether I hadn't noticed it driving into me. Not Talia, but Afina. She stood strong and fought back.
"You are meant to be dead, Thorn," the words oozed into my ears like sin, not meant for me but arriving all the same. "No matter. You will soon join your precious Misfortune."
Micah's hand, too small to grab my arm properly, wrapped as far as it could and yanked me away from the place I stood. "Didn't you hear Afina? We need to run!"
I shook myself out of the stupor that had held me so tightly and began to run. Talia led us, Micah in front of me, and my legs slowly regaining their sense.
The sounds of silver and shadow meeting over and again were the music of our retreat until I was certain we were safe from the fray. I turned back, just in time to see Afina crumble under her own weight. A scream must have escaped me because I was breathless as Talia dragged me along for far more distance than should have been possible.
She'd stood to defend us. To save me. For what?
One thing haunted me more than seeing Afina fall, though. For just a moment as they fought, I was certain I saw real eyes within the Shadow. Crimson, framed in blue. She'd stolen so much from so many. Linna was the first, I knew, but to see her in that creature. It broke my heart.
"We cannot stay, Lady Togha," Talia insisted, continuing to drag me along. "If you stay, you will fall once more. Either move your feet, or I will move them for you."
I must have run. There was no other possible explanation for finding myself lying on the ground next to Micah as a bright star flickered between Deim and Phob. It had a name I couldn't remember, sitting neatly at the tip of the huntress's arrow.
"One step forward," I said when my voice found me. "Ten leaping bounds backward."
"No kidding, Nyx," they said, drawing as closely to me as they could, "what in Lafleur was that?"
"That, Micah," I bit back the tears, but they kept pushing, "is the thing Afina called the Fiend. The Shadow that devours goddesses."
Micah's own tears were already soaking my shirt, "Did it get Dee, Nyx?"
"I wish I knew, Micah."