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They approached the town as it was settling down for the night. Ethan slowed his steps until he fell in behind the centaur. His sister walked at Issah’s side, her hand in his. Good. So long as she stayed near the prince, he’d not have to worry about her.
The moon and stars emblems hanging on the doors of the local shops told Ethan of the town’s allegiance. Perhaps this was why Darnel allowed the town to thrive? And from the stately buildings and pristine cobblestone roads, they didn’t seem to lack much. Except, like in Denovo, Ethan couldn’t help but feel the exterior was nothing more than a facade.
A niggling dread had found a way into his heart and set up camp there. Ethan swallowed hard, feeling the words bubbling up inside his chest and demanding to be let out. Was this what Alyra and Tarek experienced when they readied to light up? She’d often talked about an energy building inside of her core, intensifying and pulsating until she finally released it.
That’s how he felt at that moment. If he didn’t let loose the words building up, the warnings, the dire predictions, he might explode. He did have to admit that Denovo had looked worse off than this, the people plundered and the businesses dying out one by one. However, Denovo had some fight left in her. This town had completely gone over to Darnel’s rule.
They would not take kindly to whatever Ethan had to say.
A memory hit him, something that happened several years ago while he still attended the Academy. If he’d foreseen the outcome of that moment in time, he would have done things so differently.
“I want to go to the fringes.” Dean, his best friend, and Messenger classmate had stood beside him on the topmost floor of the Academy, his gaze transfixed on the sun setting in the west. Miles and miles of towns and wilderness lay between Dean and what he was seeing. “My heart aches for those who don’t know. They live in the dark shadows of that imposter’s fortress. They don’t know, Ethan. I’m determined to go tell them what I know.”
“But, they won’t listen,” Ethan implored his friend. “Not those on the fringe. Let’s go with the others who are aiming for the smaller towns just outside of Aloblase. I hear Denovo needs Messengers in their Meeting Hall. We can stretch our wings there, then move farther out as we hone our skills.”
Dean shook his head. “I’m ready. I don’t need to stretch my wings. I’m ready to soar, Ethan.”
Ethan halted his steps, blinking himself back to the present and widening the distance between himself and the others. If he’d followed Dean, would he be alive today? Or would they both have been captured and taken to Racah? Dean had met his demise there. But Alyra had shared the story of his bravery and willingness to help her escape. Did his friend know who she was? What she meant to the kingdom?
Ethan wondered if he would have recognized his sister had he gone with his friend. She wasn’t the same little girl who’d been tricked into leaving with their head-hunter uncle. That traitor sold to a witch looking to cash in on Illuminates.
Alyra had been nothing like what he’d expected his wayward sister to be.
Perhaps he wouldn’t have recognized her.
“This is it,” Issah stopped along the main road leading into town. They’d just emerged from an arched tunnel through the city wall. The entrance remained open and unguarded. Interesting, Ethan mused. They didn’t seem to fear being troubled by outsiders.
Silent warnings rose in his subconscious.
The prince pointed toward the cliffs towering over the town toward the west wall. “The dungeon keep is in that direction. Alyra and I will remain close to the wall.” He glanced down at her. “Tie back your hair, Daughter, and cover your head with your hood.” He also covered his head with his cloak.
“Issah,” Stitch’s hooves shuffled over the rocky ground. “Won’t I stick out? Are you sure you want the two of us to remain together?”
“Yes, I want you to stay right by Ethan’s side.” Issah pointed to a length of rope hanging from his utility belt. “We will need to use that. I will loosely bind your hands, Stitch. Ethan, you’ll lead him in. People will assume you are bringing him in for trade.”
“What?” Stitch balked.
Ethan couldn’t stop his smirk. “Jerin would love that! Might get a bonus fee from—”
“Look here!” Stitch’s hands went to his waist as he stomped his front hoof.
Alyra laughed, wrapping her arms around her beastly friend. “I’d never let anyone trade you, Stitch. It’s just to get you two in the city square, right, Issah?”
“Right.” Issah’s eyes glinted with the humor of Ethan’s joke as he pressed his smiling lips into a tight line. “We’ll not be trading our friend Stitch for anything. He’s very important to me and everyone else.” Issah patted the centaur’s tanned shoulder.
“All teasing aside. Once you reach the center square, you can remove the rope. What I need from the two of you is a diversion. You can sing songs, put on some kind of skit, anything that will draw the people’s attention to you instead of what we are doing.”
Ethan had something else in mind. Issah met his gaze for a long moment. Breathing deeply he offered a nod. “You can try. Take care, Son, they are set in their ways. I want you to walk away at the first sign of danger.”
Dean hadn’t run when he was faced with danger, had he?
“Not the same situation, Ethan.” Issah spoke in a low, warning voice. “Do not compare your situation, or abilities, to that of your friend.”
Stitch interrupted their exchange by tugging at his medallion. “I better take this off for now. Don’t you think it’ll give us away?”
Issah nodded again. “But keep it close. It’s your protection in these dark lands.”
Stitch stuffed the necklace into his pack hanging over his shoulder. “You better put yours away, too, Messenger.”
Ethan would never take his off but did tuck it inside his tunic.
While Issah finished securing the centaur’s hands, Alyra moved closer to him until they were face to face. She had their mother’s features which often pierced his heart when he looked at her. He reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “You stay right beside Issah. Got it?”
She bobbed her head in a quick nod. “You don’t get all cocky and opinionated while you’re distracting those people. From the looks of things, they are Darnel’s pets, through and through.” She smoothed down the collar of his shirt, her gaze locked on her pointless task. “My guess is they do Darnel’s dirty work by taking creatures like Stitch and forcing them into serving Racah. So please be careful. I’m not sure why Issah brought him along. Promise you’ll keep Stitch safe. And yourself.”
“Sure thing, Sissy.” He quickly wrapped her in a hug. “When you find Tarek, let him know I plan to throttle him for this.”
“Hear, hear,” Stitch agreed. “He’s definitely getting a swift kick—” Stitch’s uplifted hoof froze at the incredulous look Issah gave the both of them.
“Surely, you will both offer him the same grace and mercy bestowed on you, correct? I do hope you’ll hear his story before you... um, throttle him?”
Ethan ducked his head at the same time Stitch did. Both muttered their agreement.
“Very good.” Issah quickly turned away, but Ethan didn’t miss the slight shaking of his head, even under the hood of his cloak. “Let us go while we still have light.” He handed the end of the rope to Ethan, then motioned for Alyra to follow him down a narrow side street.
Ethan gave the rope a playful tug, “Let’s go beast.”
Stitch gave a hard tug back that nearly yanked him off his feet. The glare the centaur shot at him quelled his teasing, and they continued walking side-by-side. Ethan headed for the town’s center where a fountain towered over the people passing by. He stopped to stare at a figure, a man chiseled from a dark-blue granite. The statue had a long coat adorned with intricate designs, down to the gems embedded into the elaborate headdress.
“Must be someone important in this town.” Ethan mused. The man held a tall staff and from the tip poured a stream of water.
Stitch’s green eyes widened. “I guess you’ve never seen him before, have you?”
“Who?”
Leaning closer so he could speak in a whisper, Stitch glanced around them nervously. “That’s the Dark One, Darnel.”
Fury burned up Ethan’s throat. His hands managed to grab hold of a couple of good-sized stones. He knew exactly what to do to cause a diversion.
“Thief! Liar! Fools!” He hurled the first rock that smacked the side of the figure’s face, knocking off a chunk of the nose. “You are all foolish to think this false king deserves such a position in your town.” He hopped up onto the wall surrounding the pool of water. All reason left Ethan as the words that had been building up inside spewed out like the streams flowing from the fountain. He let his words flow, unhindered to the stunned group gathering around him and the shocked-faced centaur.
“Let me tell you about the one true King....”
* * * *
Alyra wished she could see where her brother and Stitch went, but Issah led her at a fast pace along the wall, through the clustered streets, toward the outskirts of the town. The buildings here reminded her of those in the township of Racah. Colorless clapboard storefronts and weathered walkways ran along a dirt road.
Issah turned down an alley filled with garbage and reeking of waste. Soon, they reached the foot of the cliffs that protected a portion of the town. He stopped a couple of times, closing his eyes, as Lotari often did when he was taking in his surroundings. Listening to sounds she’d never hear with her human ears, or picking up scents she’d never catch with her dulled senses. She had a feeling Issah tested his surroundings with a different means of perception. That same cognition he used to know when she needed aid or was in trouble. Could he feel Tarek’s nearness? Hear his inner thoughts?
Could he read her own inner dialog? Her growing annoyance with Tarek over choosing wrong, again? She’d tried to be understanding, but this defied logic. What had he been thinking coming way out here and how had he managed the trip so quickly?
“Portals.” Issah smirked, glancing over his shoulder at her.
Trolls breath! He was reading her thoughts!
“He lied to me, Issah. I’m having a hard time dealing with that.”
He didn’t respond for several minutes as they made their way along the impoverished part of the village. Broken windows patched with blocks of wood or covered with thin material lined both sides of the street. She hoped they didn’t stick out too much. Most who passed didn’t seem to notice them walking by.
They reached the end of the row of shacks. The narrow road butted up against the sheer face of the cliffs.
Issah stopped again, his hands gripped his walking staff as if he expected someone to jump out at them any moment. “I understand how you would see it that way. Considering his last correspondence to you stated his intention to return to Denovo.”
“Exactly.” Alyra moved closer to him. His cautious stance worried her. She looked around, seeing nothing but the field and escarpment rising above them. “He’d written earlier in the week that he was finished training and couldn’t wait to join me. So what is he doing here, of all places?”
“That my dear, as I said before, is something you should ask him.” He placed a finger to his mouth for silence, before motioning her to continue following him. The sun had set behind the hills, and they had little light except for what the stars and a low half-moon provided.
She grasped the back of his cloak. At least he seemed to know their destination. Doubtful he’d want her to light up and risk being spotted, she followed silently. After about half a mile, his arm swung out to stop her progress. “Well, I’d hoped they wouldn’t feel the need to keep him so heavily guarded. Someone must have alerted the town leaders of his capabilities.”
Alyra had no idea what Issah was talking about. Before she could ask, the side of the mountain moved.
“I smells sumptin’,” rumbled a gravelly voice.
“Tis smells nice. An’ not from around here, I’d say.” Another answered from a short distance away. Was the mountain alive? And had it truly made a sound like the smacking of lips?
She gripped Issah’s cloak even tighter, fear inching its way up her legs and trailing along her spine. A desire to light up and cast a wall between herself and them rose with such urgency, heat burned inside her chest.
“Not yet.” Issah commanded.
“What are they?” She whispered not wanting to draw the creatures’ attention. From what she could tell, the closest one looked like the face of the rock and stood over twice Issah’s height. When it stepped away from the wall, she noticed its hands resembled DezPierre’s twig-like fingers. Vines covered the beast’s arms, and legs, and grew out of the top of its head. She’d never seen anything like it.
“A mutant, I fear. These people serve Darnel by helping him to create hybrid creatures. These two, though dangerous, seem to be an experimental failure. I assume they were once mountain trolls. Perhaps.” He continued holding the staff high off the ground and tilted it to the side.
“Are they deaf?”
“No,” Issah’s arm slid around Alyra’s shoulder as he guided her toward the frightening creatures. “I’ve set a wall of protection over us. I’d rather not alert anyone to our presence here. Let’s hope we can slip past unnoticed.”
For a couple of seconds, her feet refused to move, but his pull on her helped propel her forward. Oh, but Tare was going to pay for this. She’d make sure of that.
“Your dark thoughts will draw their attention, Daughter. Take care.”
She gasped and tried to clear her mind. If only she weren’t on the verge of panicking.
A sniffling came from the closest one. “‘M’ hungry, Gruff. When t’ey feed us, huh?”
“Soon t’ey says. Soon.”
“Where t’at smell come frum, eh? It gone now.” The hungry one said in a dismal tone.
“Wonder t’at meself.”
Whatever Issah was doing, it seemed to be working. They managed to sneak past the first one when a crevice in the cliffs opened up to them. Issah pushed her forward, telling her to hurry inside. She rushed ahead. Her foot caught in a gap, pitching her forward onto her knees. The rough stone ripped at her pants and cut into the skin on her legs and palms. Great, that’s all she needed. Could the beast outside smell blood?
Issah stopped to help her back to her feet, then urged her to keep going. She wiped her palms on her shirt and tried to tread more carefully.
He held the top of his staff toward her. “Place a little ball of light right there. We’ll need it to find our way. He’s close.”
Anger surged, causing the orb of light she produced to pop and crackle.
“Careful.” Issah warned. His former humor was gone, and the stern set of his brows unsettled her a little. She tried to calm her pounding heart as she set the light on his staff.
With the narrow passage lit up, their progress quickened again, and soon they came to a room of cells. Issah moved to the first one. Alyra hung back, trying to get her temper under control. Maybe it would be better for all of them if she allowed Issah to handle him. He’d be more gentle and understanding.
When Issah approached the cell, the man huddled inside quickly scooted away as if frightened. What did Tare have to be frightened of? Issah had always shown them all nothing but kindness. But Issah’s back was to her, and she couldn’t see what Tarek saw. And what Tarek saw seemed to indeed disturb him.
“Let m-me explain—” Tarek stammered.
“Stand up.” Issah commanded in a voice she’d only heard on one other occasion. When the Racan army was chasing her out of Many Rivers and Issah ordered his warriors to attack. “We do not have time for your explanations. I know exactly what you’re doing here.”
