ShadowSong [Book 1 & 2: Complete] [NaNoWriMo16/17]

Chapter 44 - Driven By Doubt

The mission was simple: locate the nest Harpy and Wyvern were supposed to have been at and set up DragonFae's scale for scrying.

Together they headed to outer Kaladrel, Cryo by air, Banshee by rooftop and Golem by ground. Though Cryo out-flew her as always, Banshee was just grateful for the chance to run. The rooftops in Kaladrel were different from those in Cevinari and Sylrael, providing a fresh change to the whole thing. It helped keep her thoughts where they should have been: in the present with her team.

On the outskirts of outer Kaladrel, Banshee stopped on one of the higher buildings to take in the view.

She'd never been to the southern districts much as either of her identities. Banshee's territory was on the opposite side of the city, and Olivia hadn't had the money or the reason to go. Unlike Cevinari, where wealth was spread thinner the further from the centre you went, Kaladrel's districts were the opposite, and it was entirely due to the waterfront location they offered.

In the darkness, the great southern lake seemed to stretch on forever, its choppy surface an imperfect mirror of the night sky above it. The waters closest to the shores were lit by city lights instead of the stars creating a strange gradient from sand to shallow water to the dark depths beyond.

Perhaps even stranger was that the buildings in outer Kaladrel were consistently higher than those in its central districts. What Banshee could only assume were high end resorts covered the land a hundred metres from the shore, each claiming their own section of shore. The designs of the buildings themselves were far more modern than anything she'd ever seen in Cevinari or Sylrael. Clustered together, they stuck out like a Manifested on golden starstone, but they seemed to do so with an air of defiance, like they knew they were different and were completely proud of the fact.

She was still gazing at them, taking in the various details when Cryo landed beside her.

"Different, isn't it?" said Cryo.

"Just a bit," said Banshee, trying to listen for the sound of the water lapping against the shore. "Have you ever been here before?"

"A few times," said Cryo. "Outer and Inner Kaladrel is a far cry from the districts we're used to. Did you know one of the resort owners once tried to file a lawsuit against the Luminaries for damage to their property during a Manifested fight?"

Banshee raised an eyebrow. "Starstone heals with the auroras, though. And why is it the Luminary's fault and not the Manifested's?"

"I believe the Manifested was one of the owner's best customers," said Cryo. "He was unsatisfied with his usual room being taken before the Other took him. The resort owner tried to make a case that they'd lost business while the building was damaged. The case was dismissed, of course. The precedent for holding Luminaries responsible for temporary property damage would have made our lives infinitely harder."

"Mmhmm," said Banshee, only half paying attention.

Cryo fell silent.

The sound of Golem's approach reached Banshee's pointed ears almost a minute before she saw him. Lacking agility or flight, Golem transformed the stones that made up the lower half of his body into a giant wheel that he could propel forward with a decent speed, but it was loud, like thunder through the starstone. The ground rumbled beneath him as he passed, and there was a good reason why Golem's thunder was feared by the Manifested.

"Let's go," said Banshee, and jumped off the roof.

She landed at street level some hundred or so metres before Golem reached her, well aware of the people who'd left their homes to investigate the noise. Normally, she might have waved, even introduced herself to a few of them--as a Lumi, of course--but tonight, she didn't feel worthy of that. She couldn't look them in the eyes and pretend they believed in her when she no longer knew if she was capable herself anymore.