Page 51 of The Lands Defying
Axis encourages me with a growl, pushing against my skin.
The butterfly still hovers, waiting for me.
I stumble forward and raise a hand, trying to grasp it, needing to keep it with me.
It dodges my hand, and I try again and again. It evades me every time.
It slips through the door again, but this time, I don’t hesitate.
I follow it through.
I need to catch it.
But then blood is on the butterfly, his silver wings tinged with red.
What happened? Does it hurt?
It comes to a stop, hovers over a round object before it disappears.
I don’t hesitate to follow it.
Fifteen
Rhea
Traveling though the rolling hills that will take us to The Drylands, I can’t help but feel nervous about what awaits us there.
Dozens upon dozens of mountains litter the horizon, their snow-capped tips high up in the sky, nearly disappearing into the clouds. There has been no signs of anyone the closer we get to them, and a heaviness hangs in the air that I can’t quite understand.
Since the rogures attacked the keep, and Maize’s death, we are all on edge, waiting for the next strike from well, anything.
Darius has not been summoned to do the Highers’s bidding and no new power spikes have been known, which Darius said it’s normal to have lulls in them.
But with the rogue numbers increasing, I don’t think it’s normal at all, and I can’t help the dread that Charles knows Darius is no longer loyal to him…
Add in that we have left the keep which has been a safe haven, not knowing when we will be back, it is hard to not let it get to us.
Darius stays close to my side like he has done for the past few days. We ported just outside a small farming village, remaining unseen by anyone that lives there. He said it was the closest he could get to The Drylands without being out in the open and not being seen by potential threats.
We all agreed, but it had cost us valuable time to get there.
I wrap myself up tighter in my cloak, fighting off the coming cold as I look at everything I can see. After living in Eridian for so long, it’s still strange for me to see other parts of Vrohkaria. When we escaped my old pack, we never wandered this far west. We always stayed as close as possible to towns close by so we could steal food.
I take it all in and keep it close, not wanting to forget this moment at seeing this new landscape. I wonder if you can breathe at the top of the mountains with it being so high up. Would you freeze to death? Could anyone even climb it?
My nose begins to sting with the cold, and I sniffle a little, keeping pace with the others. Darius looks at me, concern in his eyes and I wave him off.
A little cold won’t hurt me.
Leo and Josh are in front of us, talking casually and seeming to get along. Jerrod, Zaide, and Taylor are further in front, watching our surroundings closely while Hudson, Colten and Damian are at our backs.
We didn’t organize this formation, it was an instinct to travel this way, and it’s not lost on me that I’m central with Darius by my side. Two heirs from the land and below, protected at all sides.
We are the most powerful, most precious, and the most deadly beings in the lands—with a target the size of the mountains we are headed toward on our backs. Both of our lives have drastically changed since that day at Wolvorn Castle, taking a different direction to where we thought it was going.
But ultimately, the only thing solid in our knowledge is that we are tied to each other.
“Do you wish I didn’t unblock your memories?” I ask Darius, peeking at him from the corner of my eye as his head constantly moves around, watching for danger.
