A Gleaming Path Page 16

  They had traversed much of the Tower Mountains fairly quickly. With the many air currents that flowed throughout the twisting maze of rock spires, they were able to soar between the peaks, the plumage that covered their bodies acting as sails to carry them great distances in little time. When they came to the desert, however, their progress slowed dramatically. The barren wasteland did not offer the same air currents that could carry them for miles, and although Elisstriss had the ability to conjure winds of a similar nature, repeated efforts would drain her magic, and her life force, leaving she and her soldiers to spend nearly all their time in the desert marching by foot.

  But the distant magic that she followed urged them onward, particularly a day earlier, when she had sensed it, again. This time, she saw a vision of who summoned the magic. It came as a brief, vague image of another person, a human, as far as Elisstriss could tell. The person was a young woman, seemingly Elisstriss’s age. She was beautiful, with green eyes that shone like emeralds, and long, thick locks of amber hair. Her clothing told Elisstriss the most about her—regal attire that was adorned with a panther surrounded by four diamonds.

  Elisstriss had never seen this young woman before, but she had been told enough by Dayneth long ago to know that it was Princess Raissa Hokara who she perceived in the vision.

  However, she now feared that she may never even reach the Princess of Tordale.

  As night fell upon their third day marching through the desert, a great horde of bandits beset their group. They appeared swifter than the darkness that veiled the Arid Reaches, and in far greater numbers than what Elisstriss had in her party. They did not issue a warning or an announcement; they ambushed the Aesur without hesitation, ill-intentions painted over their malicious expressions. They were rough-looking men, dressed in dingy clothing and worn, mismatched armor. Each one was outfitted by an array of swords, daggers, and other deadly weapons. Some guided themselves through the night with torches, while others used the gloom to conceal themselves before attempting to catch the Aesur off guard with a surprise attack.

  Ausmus and his soldiers expertly held off the first wave that threatened them. Despite being outnumbered nearly two-to-one, the Aesur proved that their years as Skyscape’s most elite warriors had forged them into combatants that were far superior to the reckless bandits. The Aesur took to battle formations without delay, unifying their fighting strength and granting them the protection of their fellow soldiers at their side. Their spears and bladed-talons, used in tandem with their unequaled deftness, proved insurmountable. The Aesur foiled the marauders’ attack before it seemed to even begin.

  But where the first wave of bandits failed, more took their place. It quickly became evident that a sheer horde of ruthless outlaws set their sights on Elisstriss’s party, surrounding the chain of rocky hills. No matter how skilled the Aesur soldiers were, they could not face what amounted to a small army. Ausmus led Elisstriss and the soldiers onward, making sure that they hurried as quickly as possible while shielding the Highfeather’s youngest daughter from any danger.

  On occasion during their retreat, a handful of bandits leapt out of the darkness at them. The men rarely posed a grave threat, being easily dispatched by the Aesur just like the other assailants. As their attacks continued, however, Elisstriss realized that her party’s advance slowed, allowing more of the bandit horde to close in on them.

  The Aesur eventually came to the crest of a hill that overlooked the rest of the rocky chain, granting them a broad view of the desert beyond. As they neared the crest, Elisstriss saw that several bandits had already gotten there, and more were hurrying to join them. She pushed her way to the front of the Aesur soldiers and began to silently call to her innate magic, readying a mighty spell that would capture the marauders in a furious wind.

  She never had the chance to unleash it, though. Just before she could, Ausmus and a few other soldiers dashed ahead of her and met with the bandits, themselves. Ausmus alone felled half of the ruthless men. His bladed talons struck them down with flurries that the bandits were helpless to defend against. The other Aesur soldiers disposed of the remaining foes with little trouble.

  At a different time, Elisstriss may have been in awe of the soldiers’ prowess in battle, but she was frustrated that they threw themselves into danger when she could have handled it herself.

  Ausmus apparently sensed it from her. He faced her as soon as the brief melee was over. “You should not have to waste your powers on lowly beings like these,” he said. Ausmus did not look at her long enough to even allow her a response. Instead, he turned his eyes to the oncoming swarms that continued to close in. He then looked to the horizon that ran away from the rocky hills. “But if you wish to use it, now would likely be a good time.”

  Elisstriss knew exactly what he meant. She could settle her dispute with him later. Without a word, she began to summon her Airtaming ability, once more. Having already called to it before, it did not take very long before she was able to gather the necessary magic that she required for what she intended.

  When she felt her magic peak, she directed it out of her physical form, sending it into the very air around the Aesur. As her magic and the air converged, she bent the desert air to her will, crafting it into a tremendous rush of wind that roared over the hills like a hurricane.

  She and her fellow Aesur caught the monstrous gale with the plumage over their limbs. The desert floor dropped away from them, and they were lifted high into the night sky. Even as Elisstriss ceased her spell, the gale roared across the desert like a tidal wave from the most furious ocean, carrying the Aesur far away from their pursuers. Soon, Elisstriss could not spot the bandits’ torches burning in the night.

  The monstrous air current took them a few miles over the desert, setting them down just beyond a vast canyon that ran from one edge of the horizon to the opposite. They ran on for a short while, if only to further widen the gap between themselves and the bandit horde.

  They finally stopped when they came upon a rocky outcropping in the middle of the flat expanse, where they decided that they would make their camp for the night. As soon as they gathered at the heart of the outcropping, Elisstriss surveyed her companions. She counted the number of soldiers and was relieved to see that there were still twenty of them—no one had been lost in the ambush.

  “Are all of you okay?” she asked, as they began to sit or recline over the rocks.

  Ausmus glanced about their numbers, and answered for the soldiers. “Aside from a scrape or two, we seem to be fine. But what’s more important is that you’re unharmed.”

  Ausmus’s reverence may have been entirely sincere, but Elisstriss was still somewhat vexed to hear him so casually dismiss his and soldiers’ own safety, simply because of her. “I’m fine; you should be more concerned for yourselves,” she said. “I didn’t have to fight off any of those men like all of you did.”

  “That’s exactly how it should be,” Ausmus replied, total confidence in his voice. “We’re supposed to face dangers so that you don’t have to.” He paused and looked back at the rest of the soldiers, all of which were either tending to their weapons and armor, or reclining over the rocks. “Besides, wild men like those bandits are no match for a squad of elite Aesur soldiers. There was no reason for you to get involved and risk your well-being when we were hardly in any danger, ourselves.”

  Elisstriss frowned. She knew that she would never convince Ausmus otherwise in an argument regarding his dedication to protecting her, so she simply let the matter end there. She turned from him and stepped a few yards away, where she took a seat on a lonely boulder. She set her eyes to the desert that stretched out before her, gazing into the dark, sandy realm that she and the soldiers had found themselves in.

  It was not long before Ausmus followed her and stopped by her side. He, too, stared out into the darkness.

  “I understand now why our ancestors were so desperate to escape this continent and flee to Skyscape,” he said, a hint of disdain in h
is tone. “We’ve only traveled the surface world for a few of days, and we already got a firsthand look at some of the savage things that live here.”

  Unlike before, Elisstriss was more than willing to argue over this subject with Ausmus. “I think you judge the surface world too quickly,” she said, her voice unusually stern. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ausmus raise an eyebrow in surprise.

  He looked away and shrugged. “Maybe it’s justified when it provides us such an inauspicious start. Since we’ve left Skyscape, the only living things we’ve seen are beasts in the mountains who probably wanted to devour us, and ruthless men who likely wanted to kill us and rob us of everything we have.”

  “We’ve also seen barely a portion of the regions that make up Tordale,” Elisstriss said. “We haven’t even caught a glimpse of the countless other beings who call this world home.”

  “If we could see as many treacherous things as we have in the short time we’ve been here, I see no reason why there won’t be far more throughout the rest of this land.”

  “There probably are. This continent is a vast place. There are sure to be far worse things than what we’ve already encountered.”

  “As evidenced by the destructive magic that brought us here in the first place.”

  He was making a point in his favor, but Elisstriss still nodded. “That’s right, but in a world this large, there are also sure to be many who we can consider allies.” She aimed a firm gaze at Ausmus. “My sister must have felt the same way. That’s the only reason why she would have left our home to work among the living beings here. She wouldn’t have dedicated her life to a world that was without good people like ours.”

  In a way, Elisstriss felt it was unfair to bring up Dayneth. She knew better than anyone the legendary status that her older sister had among the Aesur. To mention Dayneth’s name in an argument was to silence any rebuttals that the other person may have. Elisstriss did not even need to fully explain her reasoning. All she had to do was reference Dayneth, and there could be no rebuke from a fellow Aesur.

  That was why Ausmus—despite the clear disagreement still in his eyes—fell silent and submitted to Elisstriss’s words. No matter how much more he may have wished to say, he was never going to utter anything that would suggest opposition to Dayneth and her mission to reconnect Skyscape with the rest of Tordale. He turned his rigid expression away from Elisstriss and looked to the murky horizon.

  The strained silence between them lasted for only a few moments before Ausmus chose to speak up, once more. “How close do you think we are to her?”

  Elisstriss did not need him to elaborate; she knew that he referred to Princess Raissa, and the magical beacon that Elisstriss had detected throughout the last several days. “I can’t be certain what the distance is, but we’re definitely nearing her. This was easily the strongest signal that I’ve sensed thus far.”

  “Were you able to see anything new, this time?”

  “Not so much new, as it was…clearer. I was able to see the Hokara Princess again, but it was for longer, and the vision of her was as if she was standing right before me. I also got a clearer sense of why she was sending out that magical signal. It seemed desperate, as if she was trying her hardest to reach out to someone very far away.”

  “Could you tell who it was she was trying to reach?”

  “No, and even if we were right next to her, I doubt I would be able to sense that. What I could sense, though, was some of what she was feeling. It felt like there was a lot of concern and fondness in her magic; it seemed that, whoever she was trying to connect with, she had a very great love for them. I also sensed that she was projecting a great deal of her magical energy. Whoever she was reaching out to must also be a very powerful Spiritcaster.”

  “So, it couldn’t have been your sister that she was trying to reach.”

  Elisstriss nodded. “And that means that either Dayneth is with her right now, or…” She did not want to speak the alternative, and before she had to, she felt Ausmus gently lay his hand on her shoulder.

  “Or, nothing. Your sister must be with the Princess, then, and we should all look forward to seeing her, again.” He said no more than that before he stepped away from Elisstriss and went back to join the other soldiers, leaving her to be alone.

  At that moment, Elisstriss appreciated the solitude. As she let her eyes settle onto the empty horizon, she admitted that there was at least one thing that she agreed with Ausmus on—this world was completely different from her own. Skyscape was a realm where the very tips of the Tower Mountains stood, surrounded by fields of ice, mist, and seas of clouds and fog. This desert that she and the Aesur soldiers found themselves in had shown them nothing but rock and sand thus far.

  Although, she was still positive that there was much more to Tordale than what they had seen, just as Dayneth had believed.

  Her older sister remained in the forefront of Elisstriss’s mind while she sat and ruminated over what the next few days may have in store for her. Even if Dayneth was safe and in Princess Raissa’s company, Elisstriss was consumed by anxiety at seeing her older sister for the first time in many years. After Queen Saruma Hokara died, Dayneth made it clear that she would no longer consider Skyscape her home, and that her dedication was to the surface world’s benefit. Elisstriss had only actually seen Dayneth a handful of times throughout her lifetime; she could not even remember some of Dayneth’s visits when she was very young.

  Dayneth’s last return to Skyscape was years ago, when Elisstriss could barely be considered a young woman. Elisstriss had come to accept life without her older sister. She resigned herself to the fact that she may never see Dayneth again as the years went by without another visit.

  Now, she was likely just a few days from reuniting with Dayneth, and under dire circumstances, no less. Elisstriss wondered what her fearless sister would think of her. Would Dayneth approve of Elisstriss’s actions as the sole daughter of the Highfeather in Skyscape? Would Elisstriss’s leadership and effort to preserve her people be comparable to Dayneth’s accomplishments?

  Perhaps more than anything else, Elisstriss questioned how their lives could ever go back to normal after reuniting and working together to save both of the worlds that they had dedicated their lives to protecting.

  Elisstriss quietly sighed. She was truly caught in a strange circumstance if she was more concerned about reuniting with her only sister than the dangers of bandit hordes or a harsh, merciless desert.

  13

  Raissa’s eyes slowly came open, but the jarring change in what they beheld quickly forced them shut. One moment, it had been total darkness, and the next, a fiery light invaded her view. The Princess of Tordale allowed her senses to return before she cautiously opened her eyes for a second time. The blinding light that hung high above her was large and intense enough to capture her entire field of view.

  The air around her was rife with heat that was greater than the hottest summer day on the Plains of Oston. The soft ground beneath her was warm, as though heated by a roaring fire beneath. The soothing floor brought relief and comfort to her weary body. She lay beneath the overhang of a rocky hill that offered barely enough shade from the sun’s punishing light.

  Raissa sat up, but not without struggle. It felt as if most of her energy had been drawn out of her, leaving her weak and exhausted, even after sleeping for what she assumed was the entire night.

  She scanned her surroundings. Just like before, the earth was almost nothing but dunes of sand in all directions, only occasionally broken by mounds of dusty and gritty rock. Any trace of plant life was rare, and that which did somehow exist in the unforgiving desert was gnarled by its struggle to survive. Perhaps there was more plentiful flora in the distance, but Raissa could not see it. The horizon was a blurred, hazy curtain made by the sweltering heat and blinding rays of sunlight.

  She began to stretch her arms, her bangles sliding down her wrists. Even after being thrown from a battleship and holding on for dea
r life in a tiny boat during a raging storm, her mother’s bangles had somehow refused to leave her body during all of the chaos.

  Raissa groaned as she lifted her listless arms. The sound immediately attracted the attention of her two companions.

  Dayneth and Joth turned and leapt from where they sat a few paces away, hurrying over to Raissa’s side.

  “Are you all right, Princess?” Dayneth asked.

  “I’ll be fine in just a little bit,” Raissa answered. She offered no other explanation than that. Silence followed her reply until Joth spoke up.

  “Did it work?” he asked, a tinge of hesitation in his voice.

  Raissa nodded. “I was able to reach Alamor with my spell. I couldn’t speak to him, but I saw where he was; he is still out in the ocean, heading toward the mainland. He also knows, now, that I’m alive and that we’re here in the Arid Reaches.”

  Dayneth sat back, a look of awe in her eyes. “Your Serenity is truly astounding to allow you that feat.”

  Raissa’s expression hardened with frustration as she averted her gaze. “I wish it allowed me to do more.”

  “I may not know much about magic,” Joth expressed, “but I’d say if you had tried to do any more, you would have come close to killing yourself.”

  Raissa’s frustration shifted to a new target. “I told you before, I’ll be all right. I’ll have all of my strength back very shortly.” As soon as she finished, she regretted snapping at Joth. Her narrow eyes relented, and she felt shame rise to her features.

  Joth, however, grinned. He clearly was not the least bit offended by her tone or her words. He sat down just a pace from Raissa. “I don’t doubt you for a moment,” Joth said.

  Dayneth also joined Raissa near her side. “Were you able to see if the others were with him?”

  Raissa was glad that Dayneth changed the subject. “They all are. Tiroku, Rawner, Hinton, Pauma, as well as my brother.”