Page 33 of Moonlit Guardians
Desolate Border
The wave of magic conceals the dark army in a swirling vortex of scorching sands. I peer over my shoulder and see what’s become of the stronghold. Theren summons his mirror and the Staff of Scorn returns to his body. There are no more towers standing. Our coms send static in our ears.
Screams still ring from the distance and I feel a stab of guilt so potent, it’s as if I was the one who issued the attack. Theren grabs my sleeve and pulls me down to his level where he crouches in the sand. He places his palm flat on top of mine, allowing me to see through his mirror’s gaze.
Eilish stands before Variant with her wings curling around her protectively. Variant’s fury is overcome by shock. He hesitates. Eilish fumbles with her blade, but catches it before it hits the ground. With a flourish of her wrist, she guts the false king…
Theren breaks the connection. “We have to make sure Variant’s dead. If we don’t, then we risk him coming after us. Eilish could be in danger.”
I grip my brother’s shoulder and stare into his eyes. “Eilish is with the others, Theren. She will fare much better with them than us, at the moment. There’s nothing we can do for any of them right now.” I scan the sands for the little fae that followed me here. “Noni?”
Her tiny head pops out of the sand. Bombri peeks out from under another pile, his hair matted to his head as he coughs up a cloud of dust.
“Since when does it rain in the desert?!” the hobgoblin complains. Noni climbs up Theren’s robe and Bombri climbs up mine. I envy my brother the light weight of the house brownie, for Bombri weighs twice as much as Flumph and Noni combined.
“You guys were some of them elves in the Lord of The Rings, right? I thought you looked familiar,” Bombri continues.
“What the hell is he going on about?” Theren asks with a frown.
“Human things,” I answer.
“No wonder it makes no sense,” my brother grumbles. Then his thoughts turn to other things. He faces me and nods. “Pyre created the storm. It was a clever way to mask our scent and obscure the orcs’ vision.”
I nod and start walking towards the location Pyre had said he would cast the portal. “If we hurry, we can make it to the others before the portal closes. It’s a shame that none of our magics are at full capacity in the mortal realm.”
“Why the hell’s that?” Bombri asks.
I look at him. “There’s too much energy left behind by the first Singularity and the tears in the ethers make it difficult to navigate by scrying. We must use the sun.”
Theren says nothing as he follows me through the Desolate Border. He pats Noni on the head and the house brownie climbs into his pocket for a quick nap. Bombri hangs off my shoulders like an unenthusiastic sloth, smacking his lips as he describes what he thinksice creamwould taste like. When the small ones are asleep, Theren finally speaks up. “Galmer has been slain.”
I pause in my stride and turn to him. “Variant?”
Theren nods, looking very grim for someone who only met the rebel king not long ago. “It was a theatrical display on the Hall of Clans. Galmer’s head rolled in front of his son. Novak is beside himself with grief. Unlike us, he had a father who was a good man as well as a good king. For that to be taken away from him…”
“It will change Novak forever, that’s for certain. Hopefully for the better.”
“It’s very rare that change is for the better,” Theren responds.
“I don’t believe that. The gods know my love for Eilish wouldn’t be so strong if she hadn’t taught me what it means to be a good man. Through her resilience and her compassion, I’ve learned to appreciate our ability to change. And I believe more people would change if they were given the opportunity to prove themselves worthy of redemption.”
Theren laughs and it’s a sinister sound. He faces me and frowns. “And what of me, Cambion? Am I worthy of redemption?”
I hear the sincerity in his questions and I wish I had the answers he seeks. “That’s something I can’t answer, Theren. I don’t possess the power to offer redemption. Especially when I’m still searching for my own.”
We walk for miles until our feet hurt and we’re far away from any orc stragglers. I see movement in the distance and pick up the pace.
“The portal is closing!” I call out.
Eilish sees me. She calls out for Pyre to hold the portal. Sweat beads on Baron’s brow as he assists Pyre in transporting the survivors.
“Hurry,” I tell Theren and, luckily, we reach Eilish in time. Theren makes it through the portal beside me. Noni giggles. Bombri screams in my ear until I fear I might go deaf. That unsettling chill from the tear in the Veil prickles across my skin.
Nausea and dizziness render me useless.
The battle has taken too much out of me and I fall to the ground.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
