Page 62 of Draekora

Eanraka let out a rumbling chuckle. “Enoch is his name, and what a story he has. It’s been surprisingly difficult for me to learn his dialect, and for him to learn the common tongue enough to comprehend little more than a basic understanding. But from what I gather, he claims that one day he was walking with a friend and then suddenly he was no more.”

“He was no more what?” Niida asked.

Eanraka spread out his hands. “Those are the only words he used.”

“That must have been when he travelled theeidenpaths and found his way through to Medora,” Roka guessed, and his grandfather nodded.

“Indeed,” Eanraka confirmed. “And I must say, Enoch is a rather intriguing mortal. He’s already lived much longer than the lifespan of the humans who inhabit our world, and yet he is still considered young in Freya. He has an inquisitive mind and, rather than desiring to return to his world, he is content to remain here until the time comes for him to travel to what he callsha adar haleah.”

Judging by the looks all around the table, Alex wasn’t the only one unable to understand the phrase.

“‘The Great Beyond’,” Eanraka translated for them all. “I believe, despite our language barriers, that he was referring to death.”

“Jeez. Morbid, much?” Alex muttered under her breath, forgetting that there were now at least five people around the table who understood the common tongue—Niida, Astophe, Roka, Aven and Eanraka. Given Roathus’s and Cykor’s twitching lips, she gathered that they too understood her softly spoken words.

Eanraka’s eyes were sparkling when he said, “He’s a pleasant sort of human, young Aeylia, morbid or not, and he seems content to enjoy his hours wandering the hallways ofSoraya de lah Torraas his days move toward their final conclusion.”

“Otherworlders are so strange,” Aven spoke up for the first time all night. “Regardless of where they’re from.”

“Be that as it may, we’re hardly ones to judge, given our origins,” Roka said curtly, causing Alex’s ears to perk up, curious as to what he meant. But she would have to wait for Kyia to cover it in her lessons since it hardly seemed appropriate to ask while the council was in attendance.

As the conversation dwindled to less interesting topics and the table cleared of food, Alex thought over everything she had learned that night and wondered when she might sneak away to Akarnae. But as it happened, she needn’t have worried about devising a plan because when they all began to depart the dining hall, Eanraka sought her out directly.

“Aeylia, I thought perhaps given your background that you might be interested in joining me for a tour of my school?”

His words were perfectly clear in the common tongue, and at the risk of sounding too eager, she answered, “I’d love that! When can I come?”

“How does right now suit?” He tugged at the collar of his double-breasted vest as if he couldn’t wait to be away from the palace. “Unless you have other plans?”

“Not at all,” Alex said enthusiastically. Roka cleared his throat pointedly and she sent him a pleading look. He rolled his eyes and waved his hand, allowing her to skip whatever lesson he had planned for the night. She beamed back at him and he shook his head in amusement, walking out the door with the other Meyarins and leaving her with his grandfather.

“Shall we?” Eanraka said, gesturing for her to follow as they moved out of the warded dining hall. The moment they were in the corridor, he activated theValispathand they took off, zooming out of the palace and away from Meya.

Faster and faster they soared through the gold and silver forests before the trees transformed into the normal green and brown variety. She had travelled this path before with Zain, but it was no less remarkable thousands of years in the past than it had been that night in the future.

Before long, the Eternal Path began to slow down and Alex looked on with wide eyes at the familiar shape of the academy’s Tower building silhouetted against the night’s sky. As she stepped off the Path and onto the base of the medieval structure, she glanced around in awe. The grounds were the same, from the stunning Lake Fee mirroring the starry sky to Mount Paedris in the distance and the moonbeams bouncing off its snow-capped peak. But as for the buildings of the academy,thosewere definitely different to the future campus of Akarnae. Other than the Tower and two large structures that were in similar locations to the future dormitory and food court buildings, there was nothing else familiar. There were no Stable Complex, Arena or Clinic. Most notably, there was also no General Sector building, and without Gen-Sec, Alex wondered where most of the theory classes were held, let alone where the Medical Ward was situated.

Amazed by the similar but oh-so-different academy laid out before her, Alex trailed her eyes over the landscape before turning back to find Eanraka studying her closely.

“I daresay it looks much different to what you’re used to. Am I right, Alexandra Jennings?”

Alex gaped at him. She couldn’t even muster up a denial, so confident was his statement.

She must have looked as alarmed as she felt because he reached out and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, smiling gently at her.

“It’s all right, Alexandra. I’m not going to tell anyone.”

“How—How—”

“I didn’t bring you here tonight to give you a tour of an academy you’re already familiar with,” Eanraka said, using his hand on her shoulder to guide her into the Tower building. “I brought you here because I wasaskedto do so.”

In a high-pitched, disbelieving voice, Alex squeaked out, “By who?”

Eanraka chuckled and led her towards a familiar downwards staircase. “Who do you think?”

“The Library told you about me?” she asked, throwing her best and only guess out there. “You were sent to get me?”

Eanraka nodded as they descended the staircase together. “Collecting you was the only reason I travelled back to Meya tonight. I abhor those council meetings and the pretentious House representatives. They’re eternally stuck in their ways. My people might be advanced as a civilisation, but sometimes we can be anything but civil—especially to other races.”

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