Heir of Obsidian (A Throne of Glass Fanfic)

19 - Flying and Falling

"--tap into your inner darkness--"

Huh? What's he saying? Lars blinked rapidly as he slumped against a new tree in a new forest relieved to collapse after another day spent trekking. His half-open eyes landed on a brightly lit clearing but the sunlight was too intense. He shut them again, embracing the darkness. Gods, he was so tired. He let his head fall back against the tree, not particularly caring whether Orcus could tell if he was listening. Technically this is an inner darkness...

He was standing on a mountain peak. The lack of trees left him exposed to the biting wind, freezing him to the core.

Lars steeled himself, and peeked over the edge. A jagged, near vertical cliff face greeted him. It was so deep and as the wind buffeted him he took a step back, just for safety. And sat down. The view was mesmerizing and with a lower centre of gravity he felt far safer. His legs spooled over the edge and he thanked whatever god that was awake with him this early in the morning for the fact that Orcus had not demanded he hike to the nearest village for food. In fact, he added a little footnote to his gratitude, thank Gods Orcus was not awake yet. The male's presence was unmistakable and beautifully absent from the cliff as Lars relaxed his shoulder, his legs and his mind. He watched how the suffocating dark of the cliff was punctured by his legs as he let them swing limply in the wind. It seemed to ripple around them. He felt some sort of joy in watching its affect and as he clenched his fist beside him he was sparked with a joyful burst of surprise as the darkness deepened around his leg, the shadows masking its existence totally.

His thoughts began to wander to the shadowy sky above him and he strained his rapidly tensing mind to claim ownership over the darkness. You are mine. His leg reappeared and he slumped, huffing angrily. Of course, now it runs away from me. He was too tired to calm his anger, so he let it run its course and suddenly blinked up in surprise as a tendril of dark cloud and mist was funneling to him from the lower clouds. He stood up and clung to that anger. You are mine. He forgot about Orcus, about his task, about the whole stupid world as he reached up to touch his darkness.

It was at that moment that he was thrown off the edge, not by the wind but by a massive roaring--holy hell! He turned and stared at the wyvern as he fell, his scream swallowed up by the massive roar the beast let out. It echoed down the tunnel that the cliff drop had become. The massive figure's wings were swirled in tight, covering most of its body, a shimmering film made them gleam in the sun and it was as he followed their swirling path along the beast's wing that he saw the second wyvern, and the riders that were astride each beast.

A woman with sharp bright hair was staring down the cliff like it were the barrel of a telescope. But the other woman...he recognised her. She was no longer writhing on the floor, her stomach mangled. In fact she looked alive and...happy as she bellowed a fierce laugh, challenging the sky. Her blonde hair wrangling free of her headband as she too dove towards him.

He looked again at the first witch: she had a blood-red cloak, and had not been in the room with the other woman. Did she know what had happened? Her golden eyes lightened as the other woman's laugh echoed down the gap and she finally outpaced his fall, streaming past him.

The other approached and he reached out to her. Unclean. The words flashed in his mind but he grabbed at her leathers; he wanted to know this woman. He shared her saddle as they flew and he watched as the first wyvern flared its wings and soared with an agile control, and then he felt it as the blue wyvern beneath him echoed the movement. He felt exhilarated and Lars was smiling as the woman again let out a laugh that could have rattled the star; it was a brutal but joyful sound and despite the darkness of his surroundings he was shocked to find light, both in her laugh and the other woman's eyes.