Sky of Wind by Emily Deady

Chapter 35

Fully expecting another pair of guards, Sol swung the door open, readying his magic to sing them to sleep.

Meena stood facing him in the doorway, her hands also held defensively in front of her.

Time froze for a single second while he stared into her shocked eyes. Her brown eyes sparkled with joy as she registered his face. She threw her raised fists into the air above her head and opened her mouth as she inhaled.

“Sol!” she shrieked, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

He caught her instinctively, but as soon as she moved, he saw Ezra standing behind her.

Sol swung Meena around to his side, holding her slightly behind him with one arm. “She’s a chaos Quotidian,” he alerted Neven and Jules, the other two members of his party.

Ezra raised her hands above her head in a show of surrender. “Wait, Sol, I’m on your side.”

Jules pushed around Sol and Meena, standing in front of his wife, also holding out his hands in peaceful defense. “She’s right,” Jules said. “She was trained in chaos magic, but she no longer uses it. We are both working with River’s Talon like I said. I promise.”

Sol did not relax his stance. “She used it on me this morning,” Sol corrected Jules. “Although she didn’t use it very well, since the silencing gem turned out to be empty . . . Oh.” Sol dropped his defensive gaze. “That was you?”

“I’m sorry I drew upon your pain,” Ezra said. “It was the best way to disperse the magic in the gem as quickly as possible.”

Sol nodded his thanks. He was grateful for her help, but she used pain to take control. She was his enemy.

“Ezra, you guard the outer entrance.” He pointed behind him to a door on the other side of the room. “Jules, go with her.” He needed Ezra as far away from the room full of chaos magic as he could get her, and he didn’t trust her on her own.

“You can trust her, Sol,” Jules replied, as if he could Sol’s mind.

Sol shook his head. “Maybe one day, but not right now.”

Ezra nodded. “I understand.” She walked through the room to the open door and Jules followed her.

“Neven?” Sol asked.

“I’m still fairly depleted,” the older man responded. Neven had spent a large portion of his magic navigating the trail and singing the four guards to sleep. He had also spent a significant portion of his energy climbing the steep terrain.

“Guard the inner door.” Sol pointed to the door Meena and Ezra had come from. “We are most likely to be discovered from that side. Go far enough that you’ll have time to warn us if someone is coming, but not so far that we can’t hear you.”

Neven nodded.

“Rest. Refill,” Sol said as Neven left the room. “I may need your help soon.”

Sol turned back to Meena, who had not left his side. Her eyes traveled the length of the small storage room in awe.

Every part of the man hewn cavern was completely covered in strings of glass beads. They were in a multitude of colors, mostly shades of blue, and fairly uniform in size. Almost as large as his thumbnail.

Sol had lit the room with a stationary glowing orb, and the glass beads sparkled enticingly in its light.

Meena brought her eyes back to him. “Each of these beads is filled with chaos magic?” she asked.

Sol nodded.

“I thought it would be one large object, like a jewel encrusted goblet or something. These look so small and insignificant. And beautiful.”

Sol had not slept in hours, and he was facing the most dangerous and important task he had ever undertaken. But Meena’s unfiltered thoughts filled the aching in his muscles and his mind. He inhaled, soothed by the harmony her presence offered him.

“We don’t have much time,” he said, reaching for the closest string of beads.

“An hour,” Meena said. “Maybe two, but probably less than one.”

Sol untied the leather knot at the end of the strand and unstrung a single bead. He did not know how much magic each bead contained. Despite the urgency he felt, he knew better than to attempt draining an entire strand at once.

Holding the bead in his palm, Sol curled both hands loosely around it. He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply to calm himself and access his magic.

With a low hum in his throat, he pushed his own harmony magic into the small bead in his hand.

The magic in the bead pushed back against him, more fiercely than he expected.

Sol took another breath, surprised. There was so much pain in this one tiny bead. So much pain that had been channeled through an innocent victim.

Sol felt his eyes sting with tears.

His father had been one of those victims. A part of his father was in this very room, perhaps in the very bead he held.

He clenched the bead in his hand.

The part of his father still contained here was filled with pain. His father was a hero. A tall, quiet man who listened carefully and thought strategically. Who sacrificed his life in the hope that his children might have a better future.

Sol unclenched his fist.

Meena touched his shoulder. “Can I do anything for you?” She must have sensed his sadness.

Sol shook his head. “No.” Her calming presence was more important to him than she knew. “Yes,” he contradicted himself. “Keep your hand on my shoulder.”

Inhaling once again, Sol continued to force his own magic into the bead. Very, very slowly, his magic made a dent in the store of chaos magic.

A crackle of lightning snapped out of the bead as a small portion of the chaos magic left it.

Sol jumped, opening his eyes to see the surprise mirrored on Meena’s face.

“That would be the chaos magic dissipating,” Sol explained. He had to take a few more breaths to steady himself before he could channel his own magic again. This time, with each flash of energy that left the bead, Sol felt the tightness around his heart loosen.

He would cleanse this place of his father’s pain, of his people’s pain.

By the time the bead was empty, Sol was damp with sweat.

Sol handed the single bead to Meena and drew another off the string. It had taken far more energy and time than he cared to admit to remove the evil magic from the tiny object.

Without his bidding, his eyes swept in the uncountable number of beads strung throughout the room. This would take days.

He had no time to waste. Lifting the second bead, he began the process again, hoping it would be faster as he grew accustomed to it.

He was able to replace the magic in this particular bead at a better pace, but he was breathing heavily by the time he was done. He could also feel his magic store depleting quickly.

He held out the second bead to Meena.

She took it from his hand. “Sol?” Her voice was hesitant. “Will all of them take this long?”

Sol shrugged, wishing he had a positive answer. He picked up the string to slide another bead off it. “It takes a bit of time to get started since each bead is separate. So I don’t think I can do it any faster. I’ll get through as many as I can, though. Perhaps you should go relieve Neven?”

“What if we ask Ezra for help?” Meena suggested. She squeezed his shoulder with her hand.

Sol looked up quickly.

“She drained the silencing gem of chaos magic, and she said she did it quickly.”

Sol shook his head. “She is a Quotidian. We can’t hand her a string of chaos magic.” He held up the string of beads in his hand.

Meena nodded, but her hand on his shoulder remained firm. “She freed you.”

Sol shook his head, his entire body felt tense and exhausted.

“She helped me take out the soldiers.”

“She caused me pain,” Sol whispered. He was not speaking about the few moments earlier that day, but rather on behalf of every Majis prisoner who had been forced to endure another person’s chaos.

“You don’t have to do this,” Meena responded. “But she did cause herself pain to spare it from the guard.” Her hand massaged his shoulder.

“I want to hold her responsible,” Sol said, untangling his thoughts from his feelings. “For all of it.”

“That is not her burden to bear,” Meena said. “And neither is it yours.”

Sol exhaled.

“Would you trust me if I could wield chaos magic?” Meena asked.

Sol looked back up, realizing with surprise that he did trust her. Completely.

“I think she’s our only chance,” Meena continued. “Alone, you can get through maybe thirty or forty beads before they find us. With her, you could potentially empty half this room.”

Sol nodded. She was right, but he didn’t trust himself to say it.

“The worst will happen either way,” Meena continued. “This is far more magic than either of us was prepared for. I don’t want to force you into this decision, but if you choose to, she can help us remove this power from Gareth forever.”

“Yes.” He clenched the string of beads in his fist, releasing the tension in his muscles, or at least the tension in his one hand. The rest of his body still felt an invisible pressure. “It is a big risk, but it’s worth it.”

With a quick step forward, he dropped a soft kiss on Meena’s forehead. If this was the end, he wished he had the moment to take her in his arms and kiss her for real. But their task came first.

“This wouldn’t be an adventure if it wasn’t exciting,” he whispered, feeling a little reckless despite the logic in their decision.