DARKLIGHT

- 31 -

Flying alongside Corvan's multi-winged wyrm, I finally learned why Hecatus had always complained about my father and I resting our legs on his wings. Despite Fleur's best attempts to stay perched on my back, her feet kept sliding down, making it awkward to flap upwards fully. Every time I mentioned it, she caught herself and apologized, but I knew that I was smaller than Hecatus and she had no real hope of balancing without using my wings a little.

Corvan seemed to have much more space on the back of his wyrm, Wryzhur. Kaces sat behind him with his arms tightly crossed, muttering to himself. Sometimes he glanced back at me and Fleur, or down at the trees that we were skimming over. When Corvan noticed the clearing that we were aiming for, he patted Wryzhur on the back, saying jokingly, "Down, boy."

"I would prefer fetch," the wyrm hissed, slithering down into the forest.

I held my wings up to slow down, prompting Fleur to nervously wrap her arms around my neck, and dove down after Corvan's arkaetre to find another huge, circular stone doorway in the ground like the one near the conversion complex. When we landed, Corvan lit his symbol and the door slowly slid open, revealing a massive cavern with several tunnels leading off of it. "The Resistance has been maintaining the WingWays all this time?" Kaces asked apathetically as we headed inside and down one of the passages.

"Once we altered them to let in people wearing Resistance uniforms, yes. They're still the quickest way to get around," Corvan explained. "The old Order had a lot of great ideas."

Kaces's brooding silence had started to make me agitated, but I couldn't help but enjoy the ride down the WingWay. It was difficult to stay steady in the strong wind, though, especially with Fleur on my back. Once, I nearly careened into the right wall, and Anahid thought sharply, Sid, bank right!

I caught myself just in time. Sorry.

I'm not the one you need to apologize to, I think.

I looked over my shoulder and saw that Fleur was rather tense. "Sorry, Fleur," I crowed. "I'm no professional flyer."

This passage was much wider than the last WingWay I'd been in, so thankfully I had room for mistakes. Wryzhur almost did a barrel roll before Kaces involuntarily grabbed Corvan around the waist and he told his arkaetre with a laugh, "Maybe not this time."

We came out into another manmade cavern, and the door far above our heads opened when Wryzhur and Corvan approached it. The trees in this part of the forest were many times taller than the ones around Serkha. Once above them, I saw that we were very close to the mountains. The one in the distance that Wryzhur started heading towards looked familiar, and I recognized it as Mount Harriet from Councilor Blaine's map. After about an hour of flight, by which point the mountain took up my entire field of vision, Kaces pointed down and said softly, "There."

A wide cobblestone road, almost completely obscured by trees, meandered through the woods below us. Wryzhur swooped down, and I landed beside the wyrm near a turn in the otherwise straight road, talons clacking against the paved stone. I knelt to let Fleur off before calling Anahid back. Once on the ground, the road was even more impressive. Despite being far from civilization, it was fairly well-maintained and wide enough for a few dragons to walk side by side. We all stood marveling at the feat of construction.

Suddenly, I heard faint voices around the bend. I grabbed Corvan's arm and pulled him towards the trees, whispering intently, "Someone's coming!" He and Fleur caught my meaning and we dashed into the brush. When we were far enough away to not be seen, I anxiously peered back towards the road and I couldn't believe what I saw.

A figure cloaked in black, who I could only guess was Master Brymea, was walking down the road alongside Councilor Hywel's hydra arkaetre, Thallo. Hecatus, Phari and all of the other Councilors' arkaetres were following behind them. I was filled with dread, and Corvan's usual cocky demeanor vanished in an instant. They were going at a fairly slow pace, and the arkaetres looked travel-worn. To my further astonishment, Master Brymea slid her hood off, stopping to wipe sweat off of her forehead in the hot sun.

Now I understood why she kept herself obscured. Her face was skeletal, uncannily feline, and unevenly formed, as if she had begun to melt away in the heat. The party following her looked completely unfazed by this. Despite her contorted features, I could see a certain intense intelligence in her ancient eyes. She turned to look back at the mountains, then said to Thallo, "The worst is over."

"Let's hope," one of the hydra's heads replied, neck swiveling to look in the same direction.

A shiver shot through my spine as Brymea picked up her pace again, heading towards Kaces. He had been staring down the straight stretch of road and hadn't noticed us dash away. He glanced back toward the bend, but found himself alone. "Corvan?" he called with a tremor in his voice.

Brymea and Thallo became visible around the turn, and Kaces seemed to lose all emotion at once. He and the Master stood a few dozen yards apart, staring each other down. "Master," Kaces said flatly. "I thought I'd never find you."

After a long, tense silence, the Master sighed and crossed her arms. "You've changed, Kaces."

"You're right," he said wryly. "I have." He started to walk towards her, and I edged towards the road in concern, but Corvan held me back. He was watching Kaces with fire in his eyes. "This was all for the greater good," Kaces avowed. "You know that, right?"

"You could have given me a little more warning," Brymea said with a sly, contorted smile, "but, no matter. I trusted that you had a reason for escaping with the griffin child. What was this all for?" She paused. "Where is that child, anyway?"

"It's a long story, Master. You won't be disappointed." He held out his arm with the red shifter disc. "Can you help me with this first?" She took his hand, bringing him close. Somehow, just by skillfully turning it with her bony fingers, the disc disconnected. Kaces's scales receded and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he said, lighting his symbol with vicious delight.

Brymea held the disc close to one eye to examine it. "Where did you come across a lock disc?" she asked warily.

Rage overwhelmed my reason. I escaped Corvan's grasp and dashed onto the road just behind Kaces. "You double-crosser!" I spat at his back, lighting my symbol.

"Ah," Brymea said. "There he is."

Kaces turned to face me with icy contempt, reminding me all too well of his menacing stares during my training at the conversion complex. His symbol pulsed with black light and Dark magic pooled on the ground around his feet. "You've served your purpose," he sneered, raising his hand. "Atva."

I was so close to Kaces that I didn't have time to shield myself. The Dark magic hit me squarely in the chest and I fell onto the cobblestone on my back, pain erupting from all parts of my trembling body. I hit my head on the ground so hard that I instantly knew I had a concussion, but I also knew that in a minute or two, it would all be over. I was already nearly paralyzed. Filled with hatred, I glared up at the sky, which was offensively sunny. When I lost the energy for that, my eyes shut, and I heard Kaces quickly incant the killing spell again.

I was sure that Corvan had come out of hiding to try to protect me. I cursed out loud through my tears, cursing Kaces, cursing my own gullibility and naïveté, cursing Corvan's boldness, cursing everything that had led up to this moment from the very start. My limbs started to go numb. The last thing I heard were Kaces's footsteps against the stone, and his cold, empty voice, sounding miles away, say triumphantly, "I've wanted to do that for a long, long time."