OathBlade (Wattys2015)

64. Flower Crown*

Three days' travel brought Elery and her companions to the locked Ortuna gate. She grasped the thick metal bars in both hands and nearly collapsed to her knees.

The keepers unlocked the mechanism and led them to a small brick home in which they could rest and eat. Isandel took his seryn form and joined them in a meal far larger than Elery felt the rations should allow, yet she could say nothing. Her ravenous hunger spurred pains like she'd never felt and urged her to eat all that was set on the steady wooden table before her.

Even Nyph's prior grace was forsaken in light of the bowl of fresh greens before her. She devoured them by the handful and occasionally drank from the mug of water set beside her food, ignorant to the curious looks given by those who came to look through the window of the small dwelling.

The lantern stones flickered in their sconces, sending dancing shadows across the table in the shapes of the mugs, bowls, and eating utensils. The gentle golden light brought a lovely glow to the aurel's smooth, pale skin and fair silver hair.

The door opened and Gaidel rushed inside. He closed it behind him with a heavy bang that resounded through the room. "Great skies Elery, when my brothers returned before you I knew not what to think!"

She bit into a full loaf of bread and tore a piece from the end, speaking as best she cold with her mouth so full. "I told them to return once Darkmoon had come."

"And it has," he said. "So they say, at least, and I'm inclined to believe them. You've been gone for some time." He pulled a chair away from the table and sat, then looked around. "Where is your young companion?"

Elery hesitated with the bread in one hand, her mug in the other. She set both down and frowned as she looked at the table. "Celestine has her."

Gaidel appeared as a man stricken when the words left her mouth. "Then the phoenix is free..."

"I wish not to speak on this until all involved are together. Once I speak to Cylphi's mother—"

"I think that to be a foolish course of action," Dakkan said. "This will only cause grief and discord."

"Her mother deserves to know what has become of her daughter," she replied.

"And in any other situation I would agree," Gaidel said. "But consider your position and that of your people. Look around you. Your people now share space with lycar and dragons, species with whom they have little experience coexisting. The stress placed on your kind is enormous, and that speaks only of those with no blood ties to this war. Think now of one who sent her child. Were Cylphi your child, what would you do upon hearing that she had not died for her country but is now the host of what threatens it?"

"I cannot avoid her. Word will reach her soon that I've returned. Those who knew I traveled with Cylphi will eventually tell her mother she did not return with me. What am I to do then?"

"If you are set on this, pursue it after rest," Isandel said. "We've gone through a great deal and this added stress will only make it that much more difficult. We've done all that is possible to this point. Sleep on a full stomach will do us all well."

Elery nodded. "I suppose you're right. I feel as though I've not been myself as of late." She stood and drew in a deep breath. "I'll meet with the dragons after I wake. With any luck their alliance will go beyond simply fighting for us to lending us their weapons. It is regrettable that the aurels have chosen not to join us but we'll make do." She closed her eyes and sighed. "As painful as this is to say, Cylphi has gifted us our chance to destroy this menace. She has brought the enemy into the open and given her a recognizable face. Trapped as she was in the heart of the Bethgardel mountains we'd have likely perished before ever finding her, but now..." She opened her eyes and narrowed them. "Now Cylphi holds her captive for us to deal the final blow."