Sapphire Falls (The Lost Realm #2)

18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Morgan

M organ rode on the back of the enormous eagan for the final travel day to Orofine. She still couldn’t believe that she was riding on the back of an eagle—an eagle the size of a minivan. Susan and Avery joined her, while Rue and Kyla rode with one of the Nepheli warriors. Rylo was flying beside them, insisting he see them to Orofine himself. The trip wasn’t exactly comfortable, especially riding all day. The wind stung her eyes and it was a chore to hang onto her seat, a contraption that was a mix of a saddle and a chair.

Then there was the issue of where she was going. Morgan had told Avery why she wanted to stay in Nephel, but she couldn’t get her sister to see her side of things. Avery’s plea was enough to convince her to join her in Orofine, even if her instincts were shouting at her to turn around, to flee from this unknown threat to her life.

Plus she was beginning to enjoy her quiet mornings studying in Rylo’s library and afternoons practicing magic and self defense with Avery’s friends. Susan had begun to join her during the mornings at the library instead of hiking through the mountains with Avery, Rue, and Kyla. She and Susan had already practiced a few spells in one of the old spell books, including one that allowed Morgan to control her shadows enough to levitate above the ground. It was incredible—this feeling that anything could be possible through her magic. The potential for what she could accomplish was enough to keep her up late into the night, pouring over old spells and practicing to see what she could achieve.

Now Morgan was soaring through the sky, and she could see a city down below. It was a bustling community, bigger than the population of the Towers. As they banked in lower, she saw the entire city was made of wooden structures built into tree trunks with branches void of needles or leaves.

“Oh!” Avery gasped. “The whole city is made of treehouses! How did Savine not share that with me?”

Morgan smirked as she turned to look at the excitement on her sister’s face. She bit back the urge to ask how a soulmate could leave out those kinds of details when he described his family home.

“It’s beautiful,” Morgan said instead.

The eagans glided down to the ground, landing at the base of a huge outdoor staircase leading up to what must be Savine’s treehouse palace. The building was a series of interconnected rooms linked by outdoor bridges and exterior stairs. It was amazing, like no architectural feature she’d ever seen. But it did look like it would be cold in the winter. The structure was flanked by steep, heavily forested mountains. The air was fresh and crisp with the scent of wet trees. It even smelled like the woods she explored in Montana. It was all so familiar, yet so foreign at the same time.

Around them was a growing crowd of fae. Some had that strange bark essence, like Savine and Kyla, while others looked nearly plant-like with a greenish tinge to their brown skin. Still others had the striking marks of fur under their skin. The shifters.

Morgan watched as Avery made eye contact with Savine. Her sister unstrapped from the saddle and jumped off the eagan’s back in a flash. She heard her squeal with delight as she ran to Savine’s arms. Soon, Kyla was doing the same to her mate and Rue was welcomed with hugs from other Latians.

Morgan stepped down from the eagan, but that’s as far as she could go. She felt a growing sense of overwhelm and her shadows encircled her arms protectively. Susan put a gentle hand on Morgan’s shoulder.

“Are you okay, Morgan?” Susan asked.

“I don’t know if I can face all these people,” she muttered, her shadows circling her and Susan.

Susan squeezed her shoulder. “Just take your time. It will be okay, and I’m here with you.”

The crowd grew around the eagans. Most seemed peaceful, but there was a growing murmur as fae began pointing at Morgan by the eagan. Morgan’s heartbeat was skittering so fast, she wanted to escape as soon as possible. A fae with a furred essence made eye contact with Morgan and showed his teeth, snarling at her.

Morgan shook her head. “This was a mistake. I’m better off in Nephel.”

Susan looked at the sneering man as a few others approached, walking swiftly toward the eagan. The great bird shrieked as one of the men shifted into a huge grizzly bear.

Morgan’s heart was pounding in her chest. She felt like she was going to die of fear as the bear bounded toward her. The crowd screamed as the flustered eagan reached down irritatedly and grabbed a woman in its enormous beak.

Something inside Morgan snapped as she lost her hold on her own panicking nerves. Before she knew what she was doing, she unleashed her writhing shadows at the bear and strode toward him. She felt herself becoming weightless, just as she had practiced. The shadows wrapped and entangled the monster, seeking to kill the threat to her. She let his strangled body fall to the ground. Yet still, she floated just overhead.

Avery was shouting something and other fae monsters were approaching, but Morgan didn’t let them near her. Her shadows wove through the crowd and she whispered the words of a spell she’d read. With an explosion like a grenade, the whole area was shrouded in a cloak of darkness, dotted with falling starlight.

Suddenly, a brilliant light and a gusting wind filled the darkness and Rylo walked toward her like a glowing star. “What are you doing? Get over to your sister,” he barked.

“I’m calling in an oath now. You will swear to remove me from Orofine and give me safe passage back to Nephel. I can’t stay here.”

Rylo looked at her through glowing eyes. “I can’t do that. It’s an oath that is in direct contrast to an already agreed upon bargain. It would…”

“DO IT! Now, damn it!” Morgan screamed.

Rylo looked over his shoulder to the chaos behind them. The darkness was still settled all around the crowd and the people screamed in terror. Morgan could hear Avery shouting her name, but she couldn’t stay here. It was impossible. These monsters wanted her dead, and she’d known it before they’d even left Nephel.

“I will suffer the consequences,” Rylo said in a cutting tone.

“Will you die?” she asked, mounting the eagan that Susan had already climbed on in stunned silence.

“No, but…”

“Then take the oath,” she said, pulling her shadows back toward herself. The bird would need to be able to see to get out of here.

Rylo nodded and said the words of the oath. “I, Rylo Finnian, swear to remove you, Morgan Hollis, from Orofine and give you safe passage to Nephel immediately.”

As soon as he said the words, Rylo’s hands began to grow black veins across his glowing skin. He held the injured hands to his chest like a broken thing. Susan grabbed Morgan’s hand like a lifeline.

“Let’s go!” Susan shouted.

“If you truly value your life, you will fly,” he said as he mounted the empty seat on the eagan’s back. The other birds followed their lead as they took to the vast, empty sky above.

Morgan looked back at the stunned shock on Susan’s face and the growing agony on Rylo’s. The blackened veins were up to his elbows.

“Can I do anything for that?” Susan asked.

“Are you a healer?” Rylo grunted out.

“Well, I am from Bayberry,” she said with far too much optimism in her tone. “Oh and Morgan, can you share that spell you used when we get back?”

Rylo groaned in quiet agony. “Can you heal me or not?”

“I can try, but shouldn’t we land?” Susan asked. “I don’t want to fall off the back of this bird.”

Rylo’s tone was tense. “Keep your balance, you ridiculous woman! The Latians will likely go to war over this mess. We can’t safely land in the middle of their nation.”

Morgan turned to see Susan wrinkle her face at the Sun King. The black veins were spreading quickly. “It’s almost past his elbows now,” she said.

“Not helpful, unless your plan was to become a kingslayer twice over, possibly thrice since we don’t know if your sister’s mate survived whatever you did with your shadows,” Rylo bit out.

“It was only an observation,” Morgan muttered.

She watched as Susan unstrapped from the chair and cautiously made her way forward to Rylo’s seat. She touched his shoulders and began working her magic. Morgan hadn’t heard of Susan’s healing skills, but whatever she was saying seemed to at least be stopping the spread of blackness up Rylo’s arms.

“There. That’s all I can do. I’m not exactly a skilled healer, but at least the damage isn’t spreading,” she remarked before she crawled back to her seat.

“Will it go away?” Morgan asked. She looked at the throbbing black veins against Rylo’s golden skin.

“No, it’s not going away. I broke a bargain. I will be forever marked as deceitful.”

Morgan grimaced. “So that’s why you didn’t want to take my oath?”

“No, and if you had just acted on your own accord I wouldn’t have had to. Susan could have flown you to Bayberry for a month, or wherever your hearts pleased. Now I’ll bear these marks for the rest of my days.”

“Well, you could have said so!” Morgan protested, but Rylo just gave out a bitter laugh.

“You wouldn’t let me get a word in,” he argued.

“Enough!” Susan shouted in a squeaky voice. Clearly the woman wasn’t used to shouting.

They all settled into an uneasy silence. Morgan wondered what had happened to Avery during that mess of a situation. She hoped she hadn’t hurt her or their friends in the explosion.

Avery

Savine was pulling Avery to the safety of the palace, but she kicked at him, trying to break free as he hoisted her into his arms. “Morgan!” Avery shouted for her sister, but she couldn’t see her through the impenetrable darkness.

“Shh…. Little Flower. Don’t fight me,” Savine whispered as he carried her up the stairs. But this was wrong. It was all wrong. Where was Morgan? One moment Avery saw her watching as she ran for Savine, and the next the world was cast into dark shadows with an explosion that sounded like a bomb going off.

“Where’s Morgan? Someone needs to get her! And Susan! Where are they? Is Rue here?” Avery said as she stopped kicking.

“Rue and Kyla were already at the stairs when the darkness settled in. Ave, I think that was from your sister,” Savine said gently as he set her down into a large room made of carved wood.

“You think Morgan did that?” Avery asked incredulously.

Savine nodded. “I saw some shifters change forms near her. I shouldn’t have let anyone be there when you landed, but the eagans drew in a crowd. I’m so sorry for endangering you and Morgan.”

Avery stared at him in shock. Was he trying to get rid of her sister? Surely he knew that she’d be sensitive to the shifters. Hell, even Avery would have felt panicked if she’d seen a massive bear in that courtyard.

“You did this!” she shouted at him. “You didn’t want Morgan here, did you?”

“Avery, of course not!” Savine said, hurt in his eyes. But Avery didn’t care.

She turned to get her sister back herself and Savine reached out to stop her. She didn’t even hesitate as she struck him with a powerful green light, and Savine slumped to the ground.

She ran as fast as she could down the stairs back to where she’d last seen Morgan. Kyla and Garnel were on the stairs with some other warriors, talking in low tones as she rushed past.

“Avery! Don’t go down there!” Kyla shouted, but Avery didn’t look back. She just kept running until she reached the bottom of the stairs.

A crowd was gathered at the base of the stairs. Some were holding dead or wounded fae and others were shouting vitriol against Avery and Morgan.

The eagens were gone. There was no sign of Morgan as she began to try and push through the crowd. What if she was hurt, or even worse, dead on the ground? What if someone had taken her sister in the chaos?

Morgan didn’t even want to come to Latiah. She’d even warned Avery that this very thing could happen if she showed up in the capital city. But Avery hadn’t listened. She’d pushed past the fear that they could be in danger here, and thought only of keeping her sister close to her. But by insisting that Morgan join her in Orofine, she’d endangered her sister in a worse way than if Morgan had stayed in Nephel.

Avery noticed the crowd moving in closer to her. As she began backing up toward the stairs and back to Savine, someone’s essence struck her, sending a shock of pain through her arm and down to her feet. The mob moved in closer as Avery tried to escape, but couldn’t move from where she stood, rooted into the ground.

Avery sent out some of her magic, knocking a few of the fae down, but others were too quick for her. She screamed as large hands grabbed her, pulling her limbs in different directions. Suddenly, she was lifted up and thrown into the air before she dropped to the ground. She heard the crack of bone as she hit the hard wooden ground, then hands were back on her, pulling and striking her. Someone punched her face as she tried to stand, then the kicking began. Avery tried to fold herself into something small, to protect herself from the attack, but there was nothing she could do to stop the assault on her. She tried to yell for help, but her voice was a whimper as someone kicked her hard in the stomach.

Suddenly, a wave of emotions came over the crowd. Avery felt it too. Cold dread coursed through her veins and the hands and feet stopped attacking her. Then an explosion of angry thorns tangled around the crowd. The fae screamed in terror, but there was nothing they could do. They were entwined in Savine’s grip and Kyla’s emotional control. She felt someone lift her gently off the ground, but couldn’t make out the face.

“Oh! Goddess help her,” the voice murmured. Rue. It was Rue who held her.

“Give her to me,” Savine growled and Avery felt her body being passed to Savine’s strong, warm arms. The bond between them sprang to life and she felt the steady beat that only his presence brought her.

She tried to look at him, but could barely make out his face.

“No, my flower, just close your eyes,” he said as he carried her back up the stairs. She felt his essence pulse into her and the pain leaked away as she drifted into a comforting oblivion.