Journey onto the Storm (BOOK 2)

Chapter 30

ADARA

The old toll of Prunal's bells heralded the sunset. It splashed a tawny shade across the rolling clouds sucked into the sea's might. It dripped through the horizon with the long moments, and she flinched when Yuven ordered for their escape to close behind them with a shuddering groan of wood against rusted hinges. Glyphs from the Storm Wardens created barrier walls in the broken corridors leading deeper into the hill-side monastery, with Fenrer himself taking a seat at the table over the empty basin. Memories dread filled her soul and stretched through her fingertips when Yuven placed her in a corner with an expectation to stand still and power the nearby protection runes — to create a cage for the wraith.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she questioned when Yuven doused the lamps to leave the last shimmers of the sunset in the hall, with Storm Wardens sat at the ordinal corners.

"It is not my idea, Sazaka." He checked the tables and flat pews. "Warden Katau, is the area fortified?"

"Everything is set, Captain Traye."

Adara huddled in her corner and longed for the familiarity of home — a rare instance of uncertainty when Tebora gave her the expectation of hiding to avoid death. It was no way to live, but it was the life she led nonetheless, until a Derelict horde supped for her magick and her aurora of silver blasted them into stone. I've escaped that cage, but... Adara winced when Yuven eyed her with a sharpened glare. It seems I haven't gotten any farther than before. "I'm ready as I'll ever be, Traye, though I don't like this..."

Yuven nodded at Fenrer, who tipped his head forward and tugged a phial off the medicinal strap. Adara held her breath for fear, but there was a sense of calm overlapping her mind when Fenrer pressed his lips against the rim of the corked bottle of glimmering liquid crystal. In the drifting shade of the sunset, it slipped into his eyes and set them into a spiralling cosmic, emerald glow. He released the energy with a pop of the phial, and dumped it into the basin around him. Droplets turned into a cascading river, and Adara bit down a gasp of wonder when it filled to the brim and into the runes. It followed a path along the monastery floor and into the rafters, to the marked coils of the serpent of knowledge. Fenrer placed the phial back on its clip and sent a single green ember onto the silver candle.

It sprung to life in the pewter wax and bounced to the other two candles to set them alight. On his right, the candle carved with a wyvern in the wax, glowing frozen violet in the shadows. On his other side, a wolf howled into the wick and it burst into a deeper green, tilled with brown. Fenrer breathed deep, then brought his hands to his brow to shield his eyes as the smoke tangled into a silver mist.

"What's he doing?" Adara whispered.

"If he's smart, thinking about his next move," Yuven grumbled. "But, more than likely, praying to the Ancients for luck and their assistance..." His scowl deepened. "This is all Fenrer, I do not see why he bothers with this part. It will always be just him, the Ancients are not like to come down from wherever they are to make right the world." He folded his arms and took his own spot beside her. "Enough questions, Sazaka. You shall see for yourself. This is not like the Sending ritual you experienced in the Fields of Light. Pay close attention. We know not what shall show itself when he begins." He nodded at Katau. "As this is your wraith, you know what questions to ask — but be prepared to fight."

Katau nodded and stood closest to the table.

Fenrer lowered his hands and raised his head to the frayed ropes above their heads, where the smoke raised with its heat and swirled into them. An odd expression of satisfaction smoothed out his furrowed brow when he said, "Yuven, I need a living anchor."

Yuven puffed out a breath and approached through the aurora of mixed light beneath their feet. He knelt at the chair and reached out his hands around the silver candle. Fenrer rested his palms in them, closing his eyes. After another quiet moment, he nodded. "I'm done, Yuven. Get ready." He rolled out his shoulders and the tension went out of his hands and face when he leaned closer to the silver stream of smoke without shoving his face into the flames as he had with her. He straightened out the pile of papers and held the quill, with two unused ones at the other stacks of parchment.