The wind coming from the portals rocked the tents. Three of them spawned in a triangle of black and purple spirals. Shadows of people appeared. Orken was in the front left portal, his short and round silhouette gave him away. Shaelyn was on his right; short and wearing a dress. Daerious must have been in the one at the back. To her surprise, Leila wasn't in any of them.
Gravel lifted off the earth, along with pebbles and dried grass. Aurelie kept her hand in front of her face to protect her eyes.
Jermyn grew near the cave entrance. He was a small tree, just about her length, when she turned to look at the portals. His shadow stretched twenty feet past Aurelie within a few seconds and completely blocked out the sun.
She was nervous to see them. They had no idea about Kirin, the discovery about the Dream Keeperâher grandfather not the original Keeper, though the fact that there were two wasn't going to make it any easier to explainâor about anything that transpired in the Icelands. Last they heard from her, she was going to a ball in Redayrah. Kirin must have told them about the portal and her intentions when she got to the Icelands, but anything after that was unknown to them. If she could have sent a letter she would have, but witches weren't going to trust a Dranoir and she didn't want their whereabouts revealed.
Vera ran up, holding onto her billowing skirt in one hand and a bucket, which bent her whole body to the opposite side, in the other. "I think this will get her to sleep," she said, passing Aurelie a bucket of a thick, green concoction with brown jelly-like blobs floating at the top. "It's opium," she took a moment to think of a proper word to use, her left eye narrowed in thought, "soup, I guess."
The howling wind stopped, and Aurelie heard the dry grass crunch under their footsteps. A lump formed in her throat. She took the bucket from Vera with a shaking hand and set it down, the corner of her eye caught Daerious and Orken. "Thank you," she said, wide-eyed. "Uhm..." She collected her thoughts. "Please tell one of the guards to carry it to the cave."
Tears warmed her eyes. She was anxious to be with them, yet dazed by their presence. The footsteps drew closer until she felt someone stand directly behind her. Arms took hold of her and spun her around. Daerious looked down at her, his own eyes glimmering with tears.
Aurelie smiled, her bottom lip quivering. "I missed your stupid face."
"You love my face." Daerious wrapped her in a tight hug, while Orken looked past both of them toward the cave. Behind him, Shaelyn watched her with a potency that Aurelie didn't have time to think anything of. She looked away and buried her head in Daerious' chest.
"I missed you so much."
Stepping back, he held his hand to her face. "How do you think I felt not knowing whether you were alive or dead?" Orken grunted something under his breath, that she was meant to hear but thankfully didn't.
Jermyn's leaves rustled behind them. He remained in place and gave them time to talk, denting the ground below his feet. The grass withered, the color seeping into him.
"There was no way for me to contact you. I didn't even know Peter hadn't returned home." A guard stepped up, a man shorter than she was, and took the bucket.
Daerious pursed his lips. "Oh, he came home." He gave her a weary look. "We can't return there anymore though. He promised to hire a witch to block us." He looked around the field, searching face to face. "Any news of Kirin?"
Aurelie shook her head. "I don't know what to do anymore. I'm about to lose my bloody mind." Keeping her face even, she held her breath. More tears would come. She thought seeing Daerious would make things easier, but everything felt more broken in his presence. He and Kirin were inseparable at the inn. One without the other was a crushing sight to see.
Orken stormed past them, his jaw clenched at the news. "Where's this dragon?" His question required no answer; he made his way to the cave without waiting for a response.
Daerious held his hand on her shoulder as they followed Orken.
"Where is Leila?" she asked him.
Valice's blood had reached passed the boulder that blocked the entrance. Orken squeezed through, his belly bulging at the side.
"She left shortly after Peter took you to the castle. Left a note" he said coldly, clutching her tighter to himself. As if he could brace her for the revelation. "Turns out she was the one feeding information to the King."
"I know. Queen Alorah showed me all of it." The reek was less potent now, but still prominent.
Daerious held his hand over his nose and stepped through, moving his hand from her shoulder to hold her hand.
She looked back to Shaelyn, who had her arms crossed and her lips pursed. It didn't look like she wanted to enter. All she saw was a problem. The hatred inside her had not calmed as Aurelie hoped that it would from her absence. If she were at all useful, Orken would have called her to help with the boulder but he didn't.
"Wow," Daerious said observing Valice.
Valice didn't move, her eyes barely open. The bucket was emptied and lay turned over beside her mouth. Some of the green mixture dripped onto the floor, both from the bucket and her mouth.
"So, you say he's not dead yet," Orken asked. The veins on his temple swelled.
"Not that we know of. Everyone is quite convinced that they'll keep him alive for now."
Orken nodded. "And there's no more news?"
"No."
He looked her up and down, focusing on the tiara atop her head. Aurelie felt naked and guilty. She wanted to rip it off and stomp on it until it broke. The damn thing was bigger than her head. Cassandra was to thank for that. She didn't see Orken being okay with one smaller in size either but that would have looked a bit better. His face was cold and emotionless as if he were looking at a stranger.
Hold it in.
She felt as though he thought that all the riches of the castle had bought her loyalty and changed her position in their cause when all along their cause was flawed and they were wrong.
"You're doing alright though, aren't you?"
Aurelie exhaled and held a tight fist out toward him. "Everything's different. I'm different, but certainly not in the way you think!" She wasn't going to get into a scuffle with him now or explain weeks of events when Valice was still in severe pain. "Can we think of Valice? When we get back to the castle I'll explain everything."
The veins on Orken's temples hardened even more and another appeared on his forehead. If he were any angrier at her, they'd surely burst.
"Oh of course, at the castle," he said turning to Valice.
"Orkenâ" Daerious attempted to intervene.
"Go make sure that girl isn't in the way," he told Daerious.
Daerious took a step back and peeked out. "She's not."
"Nij-rak sin lohare lok," he said. A breeze whooshed around his fingers. He formed two tight fists and pushed out. The boulder went flying. It rolled down the field in front of the cave and took a right turn down the hill toward the tents. Valice bellowed, puffing out a cloud of smoke that stole all the air from the room. Daerious coughed.
People screamed below the hill. Orken didn't seem to notice, or rather, care.
"There are people down there," Aurelie said and ran out of the cave. A tent was flattened. The boulder came to a stop just beyond the smashup. Apart from that, everyone looked okay.
"How am I to control the path the boulder takes? I was called to get rid of it," he muttered.
"We're on a hill!" Aurelie didn't push him any further. When it was her trying to shift her rage elsewhere, Revin almost ended up dead. Hopefully, the giant rock settled Orken's rage. Though, she doubted it.
The front part of Valice's wing was destroyed. Bones were broken and the skin between the broken bone was shredded. From the look of things, she'd not be able to fly again. Aurelie held her hand against Valice's nose. A golden ray appeared between them.
"We're going to have to return to the castle," Aurelie told her. "I can't leave you here. Can you walk?"
"Weak," Valice replied.
"Are you in pain?" she asked. Stupid question. Her wing was in ruins.
"Little."
Daerious and Orken stared in awe. Orken quickly averted his eyes when he saw her looking back. "Your eyes," Daerious said. "What was that?"
"What do you mean?"
"They turned gold, and your hands... What is that?"
"Oh," Aurelie removed her hand from Valice, "I can talk to her." She explained how she consumed the curse, which freed Valice and gifted her with the ability to speak with her. Orken's face was blank. He didn't ask a single question and left the cave before she had finished speaking.
Daerious put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll come around."
Aurelie put her hand on his, and lightly pressed her cheek against it. "I know. I'm more worried that he tries to kill the King."
"Never thought I'd hear you say that."
Aurelie felt like she could scrub a layer of filth off her skin after being in that cave for so long. Past Valice, a graveyard of bones made up most corners of the walls. Death. It was everywhere.
"Daerious," she turned to hug him, "you stay alive, okay?"
"Okay."
She was scared to lean on him too much. Scared that she would fill the emptiness inside of herself with him. That was danger in its purest form. But there where they stood, in the dark, pungent cave his presence held her seams together. Among everything that was broken, even within him, he stood out as the light. You shouldn't have come. She held onto him tighter, at the same time, wanting to beg his pardon for doing so.
"You seem different," she said, while he rocked the two of them gently.
"Spend a month locked in one room with Orken and two women who refuse to acknowledge each other's existence, but mostly with Orken, and then tell me how that works out for you."
Aurelie smiled. "I mean toward me."
"I missed you." He shrugged. "And we had that fight before the attack."
"I've forgotten all about that."
"I couldn't stop thinking about it. That it could be the last real memory we have of each other." Daerious took her face in his hands.
"I love you, Aurelie DranoirâPrincess Aurelie, or whatever you're called now." His cheeks reddened, and he bent down to kiss her forehead. "Just thought you should know that."
"I know. I love you too."
He let go of her and put a hand on her back, leading her out of the cave. "Like a sister though - none of that candy and flowers nonsense."
Later that afternoon, Aurelie met with Vera to discuss the wounds Valice sustained to her wings. There was not much she could do to salvage the bone but suggested a consultation with their weaponsmith.
Valice was large enough to sustain the weight of iron on her wing. If they could get the correct weight, by measuring her unbroken wing, Vera assured her that Highfire possessed enough skilled craftsmen to build her a replacement. The fleshâthe easiest part to fixâwould be replaced with strong leather, bison was the front-runner.
Transportation was difficult. There was enough opium to keep Valice tranquilized and pain-free, but she needed to be moved to the castle and out of the dark cave so that measurements and treatment could be started. That was going to be a task and a half.