Carmine (Completed)

Chapter 53

The travel out of Tiam refreshed me as much as it nauseated me because I got flown out of it and into the nation of Ulyia.

My shoes crushed into the thin snow yet moistened the cloth. The oversized coat, and thick cotton robe Corona gave me hugged me and suppressed the horrid wind's might. I shivered and grabbed either arm with the other to ease the chill.

A fifteen-foot white bird stood before me on his hillside with streaks of blue and cried bountiful screeches of joy. If I told Para about this, she would have called me mad. I got tired of trying to ponder if I was dreaming a long time ago. Large birds that carried you for miles, spears that struck like lightning when thrown, of course, all those things existed!

My eyes caught Corona's back. Her hands rolling rope connected to the bird's neck. She got back her spear. I always took that spear for granted. Who knew that it contained such power?

The thought of what happened incensed me. Janilla, Valor, Five, and Sandream, especially Sandream, I could not even protect her.

Corona said Sandream ported out of her body, so she was not dead. Uncertainty plagued me, and weighed my heart as time flowed by.

"You sure the others are okay?" I asked.

She sighed. "I am not repeating myself."

"You could be lying to me."

Her jaw clenched when she glared at me. "The toxin will recede, so you haven't nothing to worry about."

Why would you worry?

That was not the same for me, for those were my people. I growled low. "You left a hole in Sandream's chest."

Corona's eyes went up and down my body before she cut her gaze in contempt. She laid her bony fingers on her bosom with a smile. "Better she than me." Corona laid the last of the rope around the stump and walked off.

I stared at her with as much might as the coming storm but begrudgingly followed.

Ulyia was a small rather insignificant nation. It settled in a territory that cut through the republic of Eathen. Eathen would have usurped this nation a long time ago if not for the fact that this nation was built on a mountainous hellscape. Part of the mountainous range traveled into the east of Tiam.

Tiam was barren, but Ulyia was literal hell. The hills and mountains had spear-like peaks, heavily jagged faces. I walked the cracked and fissure-ridden earth, yet an impossible feat laid before us. Ahead of us was the city which held the truth I sought.

What that truth had in store for me, peaked fearful thoughts.

This had been my first time here. Ulyia had a small population. The Ulyia King was a secretive one. My father said he could never be trusted. The Eathen King loved the idea of destroying this nation if only to rid him of those Terisons. Yes, Terisons hid out here if not far north. They raided and disappeared into the desolate mountains of Ulyia if not the cold maze of the forested north.

Still, was there a real desire for me to meet my mother? Also, why was it, that my future desire involved killing her? All of this confused me. Best to get those answers, the problem was would I live after that?

I asked, "Why are you doing this? Helping me meet my mother?"

Corona turned and said flatly, "Ask her yourself."

"I order you to tell me."

She stared at me, while her hair whipped about with wild grasps at the fleeing wind.

I continued, "I am her daughter, you should afford me some allowance as you—"

"You forget your place way too quickly. You are a Shyia to me, a drop of Elamnite blood does not allow you to curry favor with me. A cockroach is what you are and what you will always be, Carmine."