De'Vas Chronicles Book 4: Chapter 41

Silver watched as Aerial took the last bite of the dish she had brought from Mei’s Den. The banshee had devoured it.

“How are you feeling?” Silver asked.

Aerial nodded as she chewed.

“I’m doing better, spending less time asleep,” she answered.

Silver looked at the stack of books beside her bed.

“Well, at least someone is keeping you stocked on stuff to read.”

Aerial smiled.

“The human, Agent Miller. He’s been bringing them to me when he comes by,” Aerial answered.

Silver raised an eyebrow.

“Does Miller come by a lot?” she asked.

Aerial’s smile grew.

“He checks in on me every day. Usually brings me something for breakfast,” she answered.

Silver arched an eyebrow and was about to say something when she felt her phone go off.

Vivian: We need to talk.

“Sorry, Aerial. I have to go,” Silver said.

Aerial reached out and took her hand.

“I heard you got her,” Aerial said. “Thank you, Cleo.”

Silver squeezed Aerial’s hand before standing and leaving Lilly’s shop. The night was brisk as she walked toward the Flatiron. Most of the district’s residents had turned in for the day. The few she saw out were members of the gangs, many of whom returned earlier today from the raid missions against the Coalition districts. She had seen a few celebrating at Mei’s or the Twins and was sure that’s what Vivian wanted to talk to her about. As she neared the Flatiron, she spotted someone kneeling before the memorial to those who died from Sero’s reagent harvesting.

“Naomi, it’s late,” Silver said as she approached the salamander.

Naomi looked up at her, streaks of mascara running down from her eyes. She was kneeling before a small patch of fresh dirt before the memorial—the place Silver had seen her bury the ice dagger that was made from her mother’s heart.

Silver held out her hand, and Naomi took it. She helped the salamander to her feet.

“How long have you been out here?” she asked.

“Not long,” Naomi said quietly. “I had a bad dream.”

Silver nodded. Faylen had said she was worried the dagger would dredge up bad memories.

“Let’s get you inside,” she said.

As they walked toward the Flatiron, Silver sent Faylen a text. The wolfkin was waiting for them when they entered the building, wearing a t-shirt that was no doubt Ash’s and sweats.

“Naomi, are you alright?” Faylen asked as she wrapped the salamander in a hug. “Luna and I are having a sleepover. Junk food and bad movies, come stay with us tonight, Naomi.”

Did she not get a text from Vivian?

Before Naomi and Faylen were out of view, one of the gang members from the Frozen Scales approached her.

“Mrs. Grayson asked us to keep an eye out for you, Silver,” the gang member said. “She’s waiting for you in Perry’s workshop.”

Silver followed the lizardkin through several checkpoints, all of which made sure she wasn’t a changeling. When they arrived at the goblin's workspace, Silver saw several tables laid out with reagents, weapons, and other strange items. Rory walked along the tables, frowning as he looked down at them.

“Silver, thank you for coming,” Vivian said.

She stood in the corner of the room beside the computer Perry had built. The tattoo goblin was sitting at it and typing away as cords ran from the machine to a silver ball sitting next to it.

“It’s done?” Silver asked, staring at the item.

Vivian nodded, but the goblin answered.

“It will be in about five more minutes,” Perry said over the clacking of keys.

Vivian stepped away from the computer.

“The raids brought more than enough reagents for us to power the device,” she said, but Silver didn’t miss the frown she wore. “We also uncovered caches of relics. Some that Rory recognizes as being very powerful.”

The forest elf swordsman swore.

“The bastards are robbing the graves of Elvish heroes, Kings, and Queens. Stealing the weapons spoken about in our legends from the hands of their owners’ corpses!” Rory raged. “The damage some of these items could do in the right hands.”

The swordsman shook his head.

Vivian exhaled before looking at her.

“Rory has told me enough about the relics he can identify that I can tell this was a major part of whatever they have planned. The raids might have been too successful, add in the fact that you girls took out two of the Coalition members,” Vivian’s lips thinned. “I worry we might have backed them into a corner, and soon they will lash out in a risky and dangerous way.”

Silver looked at the tables covered in relics and reagents, then back to the silver ball, before her gaze returned to Vivian.

“What is it you wanted to talk to me about?”

Ash

As the sun rose, Ash and Selena waved farewell to her Uncle and Aunt as they left her childhood home. Selena rode beside him, smiling, and more than once, he caught her glancing at him. She still had a heated look to her after last night, and Ash worried it hadn’t gone unnoticed that she draped her hair to hide the right side of her neck. On the same side, he had left a decent-sized hickey.

“I’m not used to already being sore when I get in the saddle,” Selena said.

She smirked at him.

“I’d be a little more sympathetic if you didn’t have healing magic,” Ash countered, returning the smirk.

“A little soreness is good. It reminds me of last night,” she said.

Ash laughed.

“I’m curious where you got the potion from?” he asked.

Selena’s smirk grew.

“The fireweed wasn’t the only thing I purchased from the alchemist at Riverbend. I had made up my mind about you before that bastard dragon sent us here,” Selena admitted. “I would have shared one with Haylee if she told me what she planned to do.”

Ash shook his head as they arrived at the runesmith’s shop. When he entered the shop, he found the keplie face down on the counter. She raised her head and looked at him with tired eyes.

“Oh, good, it’s you,” she said before placing the silver ball and a small stack of papers on the desk. “I stayed up most of the night going over this… tangled mess.”

Ash picked up the silver ball, glad to have it back in his possession. Then he picked up the stack of papers and saw the writing covering it. He flipped through and counted ten pages.

“I did my best,” she yawned. “Something didn’t make much sense, like the runic lines that correlate with numbers. I don’t know what they’re supposed to mean, but I wrote everything down I could and in detail.”

Ash nodded before pulling out another coin and placing it on the table.

“Thank you,” he said, his gaze locked on the sheet of paper.

The kelpie runesmith counted the coins with a sleepy smile.

“Come back anytime,” she said with a yawn as they left.

Ash was still looking at the paper as they walked out of the building. He was already piecing together what runes to select to send them home.

“You’re smiling,” Selena stated.

He turned, grinning at her as he slipped the papers and silver ball into his saddlebags before mounting his horse.

“We’re going home,” he said. “And I’m not just talking about Castle Markal.”

Her eyes widened as she climbed into the saddle.

“You already know how to use it? Just from a glance?” she asked.

Ash kept smiling as their horses started to trot out of the village.

“I had my suspicions when she said the symbols were just fragments of runes. They’re settings, like a TV remote. We just push our magic into the ball, selecting which ones we want active before pushing our magic to the runic line that activates everything.

“I think most of the lines are for rifting to Vas. The numbers that confused the kelpie could be for some kind of coordinates for where to rift on Vas. Returning home should be simpler since it’s tied to the brass ball, though that has its own issues.”

Selena kept her smile as they passed through the gates. When the guards stopped saluting her, she frowned and continued their conversation.

“When we rift back, it will be where every brass ball connected to this one is,” she said. “Which means an area under the control of the Coalition.”

Ash nodded.

“We have one more night on the road before we return to Castle Markal,” Ash said. “I’ll read through the papers the runesmith gave us.”

Selena bit her lip and looked at him.

“I hope you don’t plan to read all night,” she said, blushing. “I wanted to spend another night with you before we return.”