“Not a thing.” She rubbed her head. “Just some random symbols. That’s it.”
“Let’s get out of here. Something about this place rattles me.”
“Could it be the literal quake that just wiped out the ruins?”
“Could be.” I smiled. “Let’s get to the Keep so I can figure out what our next move is.”
We landed in typical scenery for the Wind Court: snow-covered grounds with scattered trees and the promise of something far in the distance to break the wind. She pointed to a phoenix symbol carved into a nearby tree. Finding another, we followed them until we reached a broken cart sitting back in a tree line some distance away from the actual keep.
“Something I can help you with?” a male with the nose of a hound asked crawling out of the cart.
“I’m here to see Rook,” I answered.
He looked to Gaea and back to me. “Never heard of him.”
“You move headquarters knowing hundreds of rebels don’t have a clue where to go, and you refuse to let them in, even though I’ve given you the leader’s name? Not really welcoming for the fae we are out there trying to recruit.”
“Don’t know what you mean.” He took a sharp bite out of an apple and leaned a shoulder against the side of the broken cart. “Care to help me with this broken wheel?”
I slowly nodded, hoping he’d give me more information.
“She okay?” he whispered, pointing to Gaea’s ripped and bloody pants.
“She’s fine.”
“No, I mean she’s not forcing you here by the king’s orders, right healer?”
“Oh, no. She isn’t. She will not be going in either.” I turned to her. “Could you meet me back here in say twenty minutes?”
“Happily,” she said sharply and spirited away. I hoped she didn’t go to the island, but if I knew her the way I thought I did, she was going to check on River.
“This way,” the male said, moving into the tree line. He shifted a large branch and revealed a hidden door in the ground.
“Why does everything have to be underground?” I mumbled.
“Hard to find?” He shrugged.
The door creaked as I pulled it open and walked down the narrow galley of stairs.
At the bottom, a sentry stood watch with several weapons. “Name?” His detached voice was a replica of his impassive face.
“Temir.”
He finally lifted his eyes to take me in as he stumbled backward. “Come with me. Rook’s been waiting on you.” He led me through the rebel’s new headquarters, and though it was quite a bit smaller, it was a far cry from a cave in the ground. The walls were plain flat stone, there was proper lighting with individual meeting rooms, and I believed we passed a few bedrooms as we walked. Even though we were underground, the air was crisp and clean, and I would have never guessed this was beyond a door covered with a dead branch.
“Temir.” Rook stood from behind an empty desk and held his hand out for me. The room was bare aside from the single piece of furniture, but it was clean. I grasped his forearm in greeting and took the seat opposite of him.
“Rhogan?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“Damn it.” He bowed his head, a brief pause the only mourning I would see from him. “I have a mission for you, Temir, if you can manage it.”
“I’ve got my own mission, right now. Maybe we can help each other out. Tell me what you need.”
“There’s word that soldiers are storming Volos in two days. I need to send someone I can trust with them, willing to try to protect the city.”
“That’s on the other side of the kingdom. They would have had to leave days ago to get there in time.”
