Page 39 of The Cruel Dawn
A light shines in a dark corner of my mind, and I swipe the tears from my eyes. “If he refuses to see me here, I’ll go to Linione or even Mera. Can you take me?”
“I’m not Mera, and therefore, I’m not allowed to step foot on Mera,” he says, shaking his head. “You know this.”
“And I know that you must grant me permission to use that down there.” I point at the guards standing at the dark end of the aerie. “Please take me to Linione—”
“I can’t take you to Linione,” Agon says and lowers his head.
“Nimith,” I say, “the steward who escorted me up here. She addressed me as ‘Blood of All.’ I’ve never heard that before. What does that mean? Why—?”
“There is no time. Again: what do you want?”
“I’ve told you,” I shout, my eyes wide and desperate. “Every request I’ve made, you tell me that you can’t, or you won’t. You’ve refused to help me every time I ask. I know you’re a monk and probably don’t talk much and didn’t prepare for my return, and I know that I’m bossy, and yes, I’ve caught you off-guard, so I apologize for that, but surely you can be nicer. Right?”
Agon doesn’t speak.
My temper grows close to boiling. “I have a job to do. I’m supposed to stop the One, and he’s as powerful as Sybel warned. I was fooled, lulled into not believing any of this was possible. But I’m awake now, and I need your help, and you need mine.”
“You’re correct,” Agon says. “The One is a danger and still needs to be stopped. Is that what you want?”
“Yes!” I thrust my hands and send blasts of wind that knock over a bookcase. The ancient fierer wood splinters, and the ghastly sound of breaking shelves echoes off the stone.
The old man whirls around to glare at me, his face twisted with shock and rage. “Youdareuse your power against me? In this sacred place of learning and respite?”
I cover my mouth with a shaky hand. I can’t see him clearly because tears cloud my vision again. “I’m sorry, but you’re nothelpingme. You’re notlisteningto me. Why don’t you care about what’s happening here? Why don’t you care about what’s happening tome?”
Agon sneers at me, his face quivering because he’s that mad. And now,hetakes a breath, places his hands behind his back, and stomps over to the window. “You are the Destroyer of Worlds, and I’m vexed that our destiny lies in your wicked—”
“No!” I fling wind from my hands again, knocking over another bookcase. I send another blast of wind to turn over a table. Then I kick a chair that hits the wall and shatters. “Don’t call me ‘wicked’! I’ve done nothing to deserve that!”
Agon’s face twists with a fury that he’s barely controlling. “The convocation that just ended? It wasn’t a meeting about Danar Rrivae. It was a meeting aboutyou. About how to stopyouwhile also trying to appeal to anything good within you—”
“What?”I cry, lightheaded with outrage. “Who do you think you are, questioning me, questioning my intent, my identity? You sit up here, in your cave away from everything and everybody, away from the threats and sickness of this realm. Howdareyou—”
“Silence!” His hands push out from those sleeves and a gust of wind sends me backward, wheeling toward that window. My blood boils as I right myself. Heat erupts from every pore on my body. I lift my hands, but Agon’s hands are already out, and they shine with silver energy that hits me hard.
The aerie glows bright as though Selenova has entered the room.
“Stop this!” Red cardinals flutter behind Elyn Fynal, who now stands just inside the window. Her white hair is pulled into a braid just as it was the last time we were together. She wears a cloak of swirling golds and blues, and white pangolin-scaled armor. Her walking stick seems solid now, no longer clouds and sugar. This stick can strike over and over again, forever, until the end of time. The glossy black stone in the center of her dove amulet vibrates with pent-up energy.
“Agon the Kindness has brought you here despite the danger you present,” Elyn says, “and you and I must discuss—”
I snatch her hand.
She cries out in surprise, then strikes the side of my face.
I hit the wall as though an elephant has whipped me through the air. I fall to the stone floor, breathless. But I shake it off and thrust my hands out, striking back at her with my own blast of wind.
But the cyclone that I produce doesn’t even flutter her cloak.
She sends back that whirlwind.
I stumble and land on my back.Shit.I push myself up on my elbows, shaking my head while trying to square my shoulders.
Elyn leaps forward and strikes my jaw.
Red-and-gold dust explodes all around me. Her blow sends me sliding backward, hitting the wall again.
Someone’s learned how to punch.
