Dawn of Arcane Destiny

Chapter Sixty

Caelum looked around at the cliffs around them. They had been hiking for hours. What the land lacked for in vegetation, it made up for with rock formations. It seemed appropriate that Veir be in the sky mingling with the rainbow of stars. Veir was Keir’s twin sister. Caelum didn’t know what Keir did to be retitled the Destroyer of Creation, but he had a theory that Veir had caught him in the act or something of that nature.

As they walked Caelum inspected the stone walls around them. The stone was slate grey, occasionally marked with thin or thick veins of gold. That must be how Albindor made a living. He wouldn’t be surprised if they had a quarry somewhere nearby. They likely traded it for supplies to last them until the trading caravans came through again.

They didn’t talk much as they walked. Drayce looked completely lost in his own thoughts. Caelum would wager thoughts on his dream. They couldn’t figure out why he had frequent dreams or hallucinations. Caelum’s best guess was it was his brain’s way of handling the trauma. Of course, that didn’t make it any less miserable for Drayce. Caelum, himself, felt awful about that battle. He had ridden back to the camp and alerted Officer Kova. He had been furious just like Caelum had anticipated.

The biggest flaw in the plan was that they had been expecting the Istheos to react like Kamasians. He had ridden back around as fast as he could. By then, the majority of his squad had been killed or captured, including Drayce. Caelum had found Alarik while taking the casualty report. Drayce had never fully lost that haunted look in his eyes after he and the rest of the prisoners had been saved.

War was horrifying. That’s all there was to it. Caelum just chose not to dwell on it. It worked for him. But he knew that it didn’t for a lot of men. Drayce had never talked about his time as a prisoner of war. Neither had any of the others that had been captured. Caelum could only imagine what happened to them. But that day they had accomplished exactly what they had set out to do. The Istheo command structure blew up with those buildings. The Istheos had tried to recover after that, but they were significantly weakened.

Drayce probably would have been hung for insubordination if he hadn’t been captured, but after the generals got over their anger, they realized the significance of Drayce’s move. So, something good had come out of his time as a POW, but Caelum doubted Drayce saw it that way.

Caelum’s ears perked up as he heard a sliding of rocks from behind them and a soft string of curses. Caelum whipped around, his knife already out. In his peripheral vision, he saw Drayce do the same, Lillia did as well, but more slowly. Was it more Soulless? If it was Caelum was going to scream till his throat was raw and bleeding. Those guys were so annoying. Caelum smirked at how petty that sounded. They were more than annoying. They were deadly, soulless, or not.

“Show yourself!” he demanded. “We’re armed!”

A shadowy figure stepped from with a recess in the stone. He put up his hands.

“Step into the moonlight.” Caelum instructed.

The figure obeyed. The silvery light moved across his face revealing pale features and dark green eyes of Kavian. His dull hair looked black under the cover of night.

“Kavian.” Drayce said, sounding exasperated. “You followed us all this way?”

He nodded quietly. Caelum snapped his knife back in its sheath. The boy was no threat, but what were they going to do with him now? The last thing they needed was another member for this deadly expedition.