Wings of Deceit

Chapter Seven

"Fuck." Was the first word that Haera said, her eyes never leaving the creature that still battled with the Goddess's barrier — the first of the many curses that left her mouth. It was only when she stopped did anyone else dare to speak.

"Is that all?" Larc teased as he panted, resting on his knees. "You give me the impression that you know a lot more curses than that."

"I can't waste all of them now, Dragon-born. I like to save the best ones for special occasions." She pulled out a flask from the side of a satchel and downed a mouthful of its contents.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked from where I laid on the ground. My legs were thankful that they finally got the rest they deserved.

"We're fine," my sister replied. "What about you? Are you hurt? You're the one who was the closest to that thing."

Shaking my head, I sat up. "No. I'm fine too."

"Did you know this was here?" Larc questioned, his golden eyes pinning me down, ready to interrogate me. "There is no way we would have found this otherwise, even if we weren't being chased. It was completely off of our route."

"Not that we had much of a route in the first place," Haera quipped. "All we did was run and hope for the best."

"I didn't know. It felt like I was being tugged over here by my power, like the Goddess was guiding me here." Now that we were safely inside the barrier, my magic had calmed and no longer flared beneath my skin. I didn't think it was even possible for it to surface like it had when I was mostly drained from healing Larc.

"Do you happen to know what that thing is?" My sister nudged the Dragon-born with her boot, causing mud to stain his tattered trousers. "Was it your plan to lure the creature to us to kill us off?"

Larc blew out a sigh. "I did not entice it out here, nor do I have a clue as to what it is. I've dealt with some strange creatures before, but nothing like that. My sword didn't even pierce it." His gaze fell to the shadowed beast still battling with the Goddess's magic. "Do you think the barrier will hold?"

"It should do," I confirmed. The magic around us felt ancient — a much older strand of the power I had been blessed with. If it was going to fail, it would have done so long ago.

After a few more attempts at biting the blue light that kept it from us, the creature backed away into the trees, growing bored of its futile attacks. A blanket of safety fell over us as it left our view, but I knew it was still lurking close by, waiting for us to leave the barrier.

"What is this place? Do you think the Lyre is here?" Haera questioned, getting to her feet and pulling out a blade from a satchel she saved.

"It's not." Larc frowned. "We would be able to tell if it was."

I nodded in agreement. "The only power here that I can feel is the wall surrounding the tower." The protective barrier was a wonder in itself. All the Goddess's magic was ever known for was healing — not whatever this was. From all the records in the Temple about the Goddess, a tower or the ruins of one was never mentioned.

"Well, we might as well find out what's inside the tower while we're here." Haera extended her hand to help me up and I gratefully accepted it. "It could hold some sort of answer to the Lyre and anything would be helpful at this point."

We approached the ruins with caution and entered with the same vigilance. After seeing how the tower separated into several different paths, we agreed to split up and search, not straying too far from each other so we could assist someone if they got into trouble.

I pushed a door that had begun to rot in the hope that it would reveal a room, but it refused to budge. However, after throwing my body against it, it finally gave way and opened.