Page 34 of Vanquished Gods

Darkness pressed over me, heavy as soil. Its intensity was dizzying, and I tripped over a rock, but as I did, Sion caught me by the waist. As if I didn’t weigh a thing, as if he hadn’t just been shot by an arrow, he lifted me onto a horse, my dress riding up to the top of my thighs as I slid into the saddle. I gripped the pommel, and Sion mounted the horse behind me, his strong arms wrapping around my waist.

The wind rushed over me as we galloped off into the canopy of night, until the shadow magic faded and the stars bloomed in the midnight sky.

CHAPTER 17

On Sion’s horse, Poppy, we rode along a winding seaside road that hugged the mountain’s edge. The night breeze carried the cold sea spray, mingling with the scent of seaweed. To our right, a cliffside rose high above us, while to our left, the land sheared off into the rocky sea far below. The waves churned under the moonlight, and each time I glanced down, my heart pounded wildly. As we rode, the horse’s hooves kicked up pebbles, and they tumbled down the sheer drop.

One little slip of Poppy’s hoof, and we’d plummet to a brutal death. Or at least, I would. Sion could probably dust himself off and walk away. But the path had been our only option; a few miles back, we’d been forced onto this alternate route to avoid the Luminari on their way to Lyramor. As the Magister had said, they already marched on the main road, fully armed.

The wind whipped over us, briny and cold. It nipped at my skin through my thin dress. After hours of riding, my thighs ached, and my throat felt as dry as bone. I held tightly to Poppy’s pommel, trying to master my fear of tumbling off the path.

“What a night for you,” Sion murmured, his voice almost lost in the wind. “You learned the Pater’s weakness, and now you get to ride on a horse with a devastatingly handsome vampire king. Iknow, I know. It’s no basket-weaving in a hovel, but a good night all the same, yes?”

I couldn’t even come up with a response. My focus was almost entirely on the cliff. Every time I looked at the waves crashing against the shore, the pebbles bouncing off the cliff, I felt my blood roar.

“It’s all right,” Sion whispered in my ear. “Poppy is a brilliant horse. She won’t let anything happen to us.”

“I’m not nervous,” I lied.

“Of course not.”

The marine wind kept whipping over us as I stole yet another glance at the frothing waves far beneath. My eyes closed tightly for a moment. When I opened them again, I exhaled in relief. At last, the path curved sharply upward, turning away from the edge.

“Almost there,” I muttered to myself.

We galloped up the hill onto a tree-lined path, finally leaving the sheer drop behind. As we reached the main road again, I glanced back and found it empty. I let out a long, slow breath. The worst seemed behind us, and we’d outpaced the Pater’s army.

“Can you hear them?” I asked. “The Luminari?”

“They’re a mile away, at least. We’ve gotten here in time.”

The city walls loomed ahead, built from weathered stone. The gates to the city yawned wide open, inviting in anyone who wanted to terrorize the city.

The people who slept inside its walls had no idea what was coming for them.

The sound of running water burbled nearby, and I realized how desperate I was for a drink. My throatachedfor water. When I glanced to my right, I saw that just by the forest’s edge, a stream flowed down from the city, its waters glinting under the moonlight.

I slipped off the horse and sprinted to the stream. As Sion hitched Poppy to a tree, I drank water as fast as I could, spilling it down myself while I slaked my thirst. To my left, the river flowed downhill from an arched tunnel, where a carving of a bearded man seemed to watch over me from the stone.

When I’d drunk enough to keep going, I ran to catch up with Sion as he approached the city gates. From the walls, torchlight illuminated symbols of waves, tridents, and spirals. Just above the gates, statues of women with seashells on their breasts stood proudly, bathed in the sheen of moonlight.

But the important thing was the mechanism for opening and closing the gates. As we hurried, I glanced at a large lever that jutted from the walls to the right of the gates, with a keyhole beneath it. Was that the way the gates opened and closed? We needed that bloody key.

At the entrance to the city, the guard was sleeping in a chair, arms folded. His snores echoed off the stone arch above him.

I shook the guard. “You need to wake up!”

The guard startled awake, and he reached for his wooden club. “What’s happening?”

“You need to close the gate,” Sion barked. “Do you have the key?”

The guard stared at him. “What are you on about?”

“The Luminari are coming, now,” I said. “The Order has a Purification planned as soon as the sun rises, but it won’t be a normal one. He’s planning to murder the city’s children to see who reveals their magic to stop it. If you care about anyone in this city, you’ll close the gates to the Luminari. The Pater has ordered a single day of trials, here, today. They’re going to torture everyone all day and see who survives. He’ll take the five strongest, then burn them.”

The man paled. “Luminari?”

“They’re coming.Now,” I said sharply. “The trials will happen here, in Lyramor, all in one day. Trust me, it will be hell here if they make it into the city. Many people here will die if you don’t shut the gate.”

---