Page 15 of A Deception of Courts

I raised a hand and placed it above the scar on my chest, the very one Althea had burned upon me after Tarron drove a blade of light through me. It felt like it happened so long ago. Far beneath the leather material, I recognised the scar, wearing it like a badge of honour. In a sense it was the day I died and was reborn into this new version of myself. “So much has changed in such little time. I’m scared to blink for fear of what else will happen.”

Althea focused her gaze forward to the glow of light that signalled the exit that we moved toward. She didn’t recognise this corridor like I did. Althea hadn’t been with us as we escaped Aldrick. After Seraphine had buried him beneath the haunting mirror that’d shown a glimpse of the demonic presence which caused all of this. Duwar. The demon.

Talking with Althea did little to keep the dread that had lodged itself in my heart from piercing it completely. The scorned monster and its threat to both realms always lingered at the back of my mind.

It’s that terrifying vision we witnessed that made looking in mirrors hard for me since then.

I wasn’t a fool. I knew that when we finally left Lockinge upon the ships that waited for us just beyond that door, it wouldn’t be peace we faced. The threat of Aldrick and his promise to bring forth the demon god into this world was genuine. Our next issue to deal with. Tonight was merely one step closer to solving the actual devil at hand.

“We must keep our focus on the horizon,” Althea said softly. “One step at a time, and we will one day reach it.”

I exhaled, feeling the pressure in my lungs fade. Duncan walked ahead of me, aiding an elderly fey woman by taking hold of her arm and offering her support.

Hewas my horizon.

As if sensing my attention, he glanced over his shoulder and smiled. Duncan kept me going, at least, one step at a time. As long as he was close, I had the energy to keep playing this part of king until it benefited those around me.

I returned his smile with one of my own. But the moment was severed when a hollow bang sounded far beyond the castle’s walls outside the doors. Right toward the rear of the castle where the Cedarfall ships waited for us.

The crowd ahead came to a collective stop suddenly. My breathing hitched as though talons wrapped around my throat and squeezed. The shuffling of feet faded into silence as the thunderous song of my impending doom chorused in my mind.

There was another bang, this time louder, like the splintering of wood. And then I was running. My mind focused on the blue expanse that raced toward me. There was a ground-shaking boom followed by the splinter of wood as it exploded beneath the force.

I knew, deep down, before I burst out into the world beyond and looked at the ocean, that our ships were under siege.

But what I didn’t expect to see was an armada of monstrous vessels cutting across the ocean toward the line of Cedarfall ships. Nor did I think it possible when I saw the white-winged figures filling the skies with hands full of gleaming weapons of gold splendour.

CHAPTER 6

Grand ships of perfectly carved timber were scattered across the ocean’s disturbed surface. From my position, they looked like wooden toys floating in a tub of water, ready for a large hand to descend from the sky and move them.

I settled on a ship closest to the shore, vessels of russet-stained wood formed a walled barrier. Atop masts, Cedarfall banners trembled in the winds that whipped across the ocean.

I tasted the bitter salt across my dried lips, mixed with the harsh smoke that billowed from the ship’s port side.

I should’ve felt a swell of relief at seeing the fey ships. Instead, heat coursed through my chest. Bile crept up my throat. I watched as the wall of far larger, far grander ships cut across the dark, foam-tipped waves toward the shallow waters.

Toward the fey ships.

I lifted a hand and covered my eyes. Squinting, I focused on the ivory sails, which billowed in the winds. Across the cream material was a symbol I recognised with sickening clarity. Not even its violent rippling could hide the mark of black stitching.

The wheel of the Creator. The same symbol I’d seen nailed above Abbott Nathanial’s church. I distinguished its two inter-crossing lines, which overlapped the circular symbol and pointed east, south and west. The northern line tipped like an arrow and pointed skyward to the Creator’s heavenly domain.

But that wasn’t the only similarity to Nathanial’s church. Because the creatures flying through the sky looked exactly like the depiction of the angel on his stain glass window.

“We’re under attack,” Althea gasped, eyes snapping from creature to creature.

She was right. I froze, not from horror, but the need to calculate my next steps carefully. Dragging my gaze from the wafting sails to the winged figures, I was transfixed as they swooped through the clouds as though the sky had birthed them.

They dove with grace. Like birds, they folded their feathered limbs and dove toward the ocean in a spear-like formation. Except the creatures didn’t disappear beneath the surface of harsh waters. They cast their great wings out, catching them mid-fall, skipping across the ocean’s surface like stones, directly toward the Cedarfall ships. The dull dawn light caught on blades. They glittered in their hands as though forged from light itself.

I heard them the closer they came. Their haunting cry of war carried across the winds like a siren song.

“What are they?” Kayne asked the question on everyone’s minds, breathless at my side. Lucari flared her wings upon his shoulder but didn’t dare become airborne. I didn’t share the same connection Kayne had, but I sensed her fear as sour as my own.

“Gryvern?” Duncan questioned, equally taken aback by what we witnessed.

“No,” I replied confidently. “Those are not gryvern.”

---