Chapter 8: A Sapphire Prawn Mouse
Alone, I gave myself to be Devoured. What could it do to me that it hadn't done already by taking everyone from me. It was not a fight. It was not a confrontation. I stood before the beast, and I begged – nay, demanded – my end. To take from me everything, leave me no part of myself. That when I return, I would be something wholly, entirely new.
3. The Stablehand
The Violet Cathedral was coming down. Two silver sabres were strapped to my waist in a that felt uncomfortably correct. Something was pulling me toward the carnage and not away. I couldn't say what or why or how, only that I had to move toward it. Like I had done it all before.
Earlier in the sun, I had at last met Ferrite the sapphire-haired waif, but I'd had no time to truly get to know her. She was, after all, in a desperate hurry to catch up to her wife.
No. Not Ferrite. Lady Thornleaf. That's what I'd called her. And Lady Thornleaf was from Blue Stone, just like Ma. My childhood was filled with stories of the city, their music, their people, their love. I couldn't say how I knew, but I knew it.
And not Arian Indra or Jas or any other name. The silver-haired goddess in human form, who happened to also be Princess Jasmin. The summons had arrived the sun before, and just as she'd promised, the Princess came to see me. Far too calm.
"In a little while," she said, her hair finally down and free of its bonds, "my beautiful wife will be coming through here. Well, for certain definitions of 'little while'." She pulled out a small card and handed it to me.
Thank you for your kind friendship, Delia.
— Jas
"That one is yours. If we run into each other again," her face told me she didn't expect to ever see me again, "I might not remember you. Show me that. I will do anything in my power to help you with anything you need."
"I don't know what you mean, Jas," I smiled, "but I hope we do see each other again some sun."
"Now this one is for my wife," she was fighting back tears as she handed me a second card. "When she comes by, give her that card. You'll know her by her hair and frantic demeanour. With any luck, she won't follow, but I know she will."
My love,
I told you not to follow. Did you really think I'd make this easy on you? The horses have been put out to work for the sun already. If you're going to do this, you're doing it by your own strength, silly woman.
Please, love. Don't follow.
When you do anyway, leave the sabres with the stablehand. Trust me.
Jas.
I spent several seconds reading it over and again. "What does it mean?"
"Take the swords when she gives them to you," she smiled as her breath caught, "and then send her on her way. She'll be slow on the uptake. Feel free to poke fun at her."
And then she was gone. I never saw Jas again. Not as the silver-haired goddess, not as the beautiful friend I'd made. Jas was gone, and in her place was some dread purpose I feared more than death.
Even so, there was something else there. An outlandish and ancient beauty I couldn't place. It was impossible. But a name kept coming to the surface. She truly was Arian Indra, not Princess Jasmin. The silverthorn goddess. Salora.
I had to make it to the Cathedral.
2. The Elegy
The waif had arrived as scheduled. Sapphire and silver, a Rose if I'd ever seen one. She was stunning in her warrior's garb, ready for a fight and desperately pursuing her wife's steps. I couldn't be shocked that she nearly bowled me over. And I couldn't be mad that she was stuck in her own head.
Ferrite wore two sabres at her side. One silver with sapphires. One silver with emeralds. They were stunning weapons, and they called to me. She looked like she could use them.
It wasn't fair, really, to call such a powerful woman a waif. She was small, sure. And she wasn't naturally imposing. I found myself jealous of her physique. But she was also a muscular beast. You could see it in her movements. You could feel it in her presence. A sickly silver light seemed to line her skin.
As we sorted ourselves out from the initial collision, I slipped the card into Ferrite's hand. She read about as quickly as my sister. The thought made me smile. This woman could easily be my kin if she didn't have such wild eyes and sapphire hair.
"Well, do you not know how to read," I said with a wink, "or do you simply read very slowly?"
"What?" She met my eyes. Something in them was processing the moment. "Oh. She says I need to leave these." As Ferrite began removing the belt that held the sabres, a weight seemed to lift from her shoulders. "I don't like it, but I trust my wife."
"Good thing, that," I said, taking her weapons. "Good luck, Lady Thornleaf. Take care of yourself." Why had I called her that?
That was the last I saw of Ferrite alive. Not like Jas. Jas was altogether changed. Ferrite didn't survive her disguise. But I didn't know that as I pushed my way through the crowd, fighting the flow of people just as desperate to escape the fall of the Cathedral as I was to approach it.
Jas and Ferrite were moving too soon. Kovar had said that we would be taking the Cathedral on the eighth, not the seventh. But I'd not told her or Nico or Nyx about the summons I'd handed to Jas. Why hadn't I?
Em and Tal were due back that sun. Kovar assured me Tenebra would arrive just as soon. And the operation couldn't proceed without all the pieces, so the very next sun was the earliest it could be. I'd given Jas enough messages to indicate as much.
I truly wished Tenebra was back from whatever had claimed her attention several moons prior. Where had she gone? What was she doing? I longed to hold Dasara. It was the first time since I met Jas that I felt so alone.
My eyes caught a flash of red hair in the crowd, and it pulled my gaze, but it couldn't slow me down. I had to keep moving.
Had I seen Nyx? Had I seen Em? Was there someone else?
My speed increased as the crowd thinned out, and I remembered something else.
"You should bring her by some sun," I'd told Jas the first sun we spoke. I laughed. She had brought her by. And coincidentally, the Violet Cathedral was coming down that same sun.
Who was Ferrite? The Rose, for sure. But I knew her. She was familiar. Like someone or something had placed her face in my life, and I was too much a fool to realise who or what or why.
Not a fool. Tenebra would be disappointed in me calling myself a fool. It wasn't my fault I'd forgotten everything.
1. The Collapse
Nyx
"What do you mean Flux left?" I was at the stable. Flux was nowhere to be seen.The stablehand who was left behind just shrugged. "The rumbling started. Then the running. And she shuffled off into the crowd."
"You let a woman with a waning awareness wander wildly away?" I had to fight my cold flame to keep it from lighting my whole person up. "What wisdom is that?"
"She's been fine. I didn't think —"
The entire area lit up bright white with my full body burning colder than a winter's night. "You didn't think. And now she could be in danger. If I were you, I would lose myself in the crowd and hope the enormous goddess with a warhammer doesn't find you later. Fool."
I stormed off, no longer fighting back the cold-flame. Flux needed someone. Anyone. It had to happen differently this time.
Tenebra
"When do we see Momma, Miss Briarpatch?" Asha was an adorable child. Davian and Delia had done a good job with her and Sage.The road back from the far reaches of the deimward region had been long and hard. Even worse than the initial journey to the safehouse. Children were impossible to travel with, even with Davian's help.
Asha was so pleased to be reunited with her dolly, whose name I learned was actually Linna. I didn't have the heart to tell her the baggage that name carried. Her many times great-grandfather's many times great-grandmother had done nothing to her.
The dolly Linna had served her purpose. Roisin had received the message I left on Delia's behalf. Everything was coming together, and they would be together soon.
"Soon enough little Ashen one," Vaelis's voice was just as hollow as I remembered. I was pleased to find her at Aurelin's temple on our return trip. "You see, we need to find your aunt Afina and her wife first because —"
A loud and thunderous boom cut off everything. The highest tower of the Violet Cathedral was coming down.
"Come, everyone. We must move."
Salora
I carried her in my arms, a solemn march away from destruction. She deserved more. Deserved better. The black and silver marks were spider-webbing their way up her arm. She was long gone already, but the poison would advance until it took her whole body.Perhaps if not for the voidstem dagger piercing her heart, she might have survived. I'd stopped silverthorn poison on multiple occasions. Even from my prison in the Other Rose's memories, I'd found a way to save a fire-haired young woman. Her eyes had changed, but she was still alive.
Tears wouldn't invade my eyes. I wouldn't let them. I didn't deserve to cry for the loss. She gave everything for me, and I would not sully that by feeling bad for myself.
I felt the walls crumbling, the ceilings falling, and the floor collapsing beneath my feet, but I would be fine. The silverthorns would carry me to safety as I walked, calmly, from the site of my most terrifying pyrrhic victory. She was almost too great a price to pay.
As the sun's rays finally fell on my skin, the second greatest terror gripped me. There she was. The only woman in the world I didn't want to see while carrying my love in my arms.
Nyx
The crowd was already thin enough I could move freely. I had to get Kovar. She would be able to help. Somehow. I was certain.My eyes streamed salt and pain as I moved with the full speed my cold-flame would let me. I had to be thankful for all those years practising with Micah. They were an excellent friend and an incredible teacher.
"Kovar. Quick." Only two words, but my face probably said more than enough. She and Nico were already moving before I opened my mouth. We had to hurry. "Hold on tight. I will get us there as fast as I can."
Tenebra
Adults were easy. I could move them with all the speed of shadow. But there was only one adult. Vaelis in her current state couldn't possibly count as an adult. Asha was only nine years old. Sage was only seven. Moving them through the shadows was dangerous.So we ran. I lifted Asha. Davian lifted Sage. And we moved as fast as we could, Vaelis keeping pace better than any mortal might have.
Em and Tal caught us up as we ran. No words were exchanged. I handed my burden off to my wife. They were faster than me by far. Sage was passed to Tal. Davian went up into my arms, and we took off at full speed.
It was all happening too early. This was the worst case scenario. Had the Fiend discovered us and pushed up the timeline?
Delia
So much was coming back to me as I made my steady march through the streets of Violet's Repose.I had a husband. Davian. He and I had been childhood sweethearts. My mother had nurtured our love from the moment Davian and I had realised how we felt.
There was a daughter. Asha. My little ashen princess. The dolly was hers. Asha was our first child. She was far too smart for my own good.
And a son. Little Sage. He looked just like Da. Almost exactly like a tiny version of Da. He was a little prince among men. Sage would one day be a fine husband to some lucky man, woman, or other soul.
Roisin had helped me raise them. I loved her for it. She cooked for us. I was never good for the kitchen. So I would sit with Davian as he read his romance stories, and she would whip up magic at the stove.
Powell's Square. Our home.
Mrs. Reed. Ma's closest friend. She'd told me once to be on the lookout for the Sisters of Iron. She was Iron. She was Kovar's sister.
All thought came to a stop. All of everything came to a stop when I saw her. Salora. The goddess. Silver hair. Emerald eyes. Utterly engulfed in emerald cold-flame. Everywhere she stepped, silverthorn vines grew from the ground, wild and wicked. The rubble of the Violet Cathedral was quickly vanishing in her wake.
And in her arms. "Roisin," I whispered when I at last recognised my sister's smile, "my sister." Her hair had turned sapphire. Her eyes had gone silver. But it was her.
And she was dead.