Lost Identity: Eloria Series Book 1 | ✓

42: Stopover

7/25/3028

Snow crunched beneath my feet with every step I took.

For a moment, I stopped and opened the locket that swayed around my neck. The compass needle pointed in the direction I was heading in. I put my hands into the fur-lined pockets and continued uphill, making dainty puffs of my breath as I went along. I trudged through the packed snow and navigated around trees of white bark.

It was several minutes more before I crested the ridge, then I traveled downward on the other side of the ridge. I spotted Rahaiwen and Radevin at a distance ina clearing by a cliff. The two sisters sat on a boulder with a russet coloredcloak laid between them. Standing nearby was a young man with jet black hair. I was still a good distance away, but he had long noticed my presence.

He turned to Rahaiwen and said something to her. Then the sisters got up from the boulder and looked around the trees, searching for me. I continued down the slopes and dragged my boots a little, intentionally snapping twigs as I went so that I was heard.

I came out from the trees and stood in plain sight in front of them. Rahaiwen and Radevin made the triangular hand gesture.

"Sye-Liene Anmyn, we have been awaiting your arrival," Rahaiwen said.

I held my right palm out with my ring finger bent, then waved my hand with a single stroke as if shooing a fly. "I apologize for my tardiness. I couldn't leave Mór earlier without drawing attention to myself. If I had a pair of wings, I would have arrived sooner," I said. "How much time until the Ora appears?"

"Any time now," Radevin said. A phantom breeze tousled her blond hair. "We were starting to worry that you might not come."

"Are you certain this is what you wish to do?" the boy asked me. He was quite tall, but his young face revealed the truth of his youth.

"Of course I am," I retorted.

Without warning, the glowing Ora appeared. It came with such force that it disturbed the pressure in my ear, taking my hearing temporarily.

Radevin walked over to me, holding the cloak in one hand and an Ora map in the other. I reached out to take the items from Radevin but stopped at a flash of movement in my peripheral vision. Rahaiwen and the tall boy crouched on the ground clutching their legs with contorted faces of pain.

I spun around just in time to duck as a spinning object flew over my head. The object—a dagger—lodged itself in Radevin's face. She fell to her knees and her mouth opened in a shriek of pain as she dropped both the cloak and map.

I glanced around, trying to locate the source behind the attack. A girl with mahogany skin charged in my direction, wielding two daggers.

I seized the cloak and map then made a mad dash toward the Ora. I pulled on one sleeve of the cloak while I ran. Then, a sharp pain cut through my calf and I tumbled to the ground with a cry of pain. The dagger in my leg was corin-enhanced; impossible to pull out now. I had to carry on with it in my leg.

With all my strength I forced myself to stand up, keeping most of my weight on the other leg.

The girl ran into me, jumping on my back and almost toppling me to the ground again.

"Get off me!" I yelled.

The girl clawed at me, trying to snatch the map out of my hand, but I shoved her hard and she fell backward into the snow.

I limped towards the Ora again with the map in hand, but the girl flung herself at me. Her hands were wrapped tightly around my neck, choking me.