Page 122 of Of Serpents and Ruins
Her taunting words crept under my skin. Already, they worked along the edges of my mind like claws digging into the softness of raw flesh.
"What were you given?" I growled.
"I’ll let you figure that out." She seized me, dragging me up into the air. With a burning roar of orange-green fire, she swepther other arm in a circle. A portal appeared in the air, the flames turning purple, tinged with red as it pulsed. "Give Stella my very best."
She flung me through.
The energy arced and burned along my flesh, sucking and biting and singeing. The world around me blurred and hissed. Rocky soil struck me in the shoulder and chest. Dirt filled my nose and mouth.
Coughing, I struggled to lift my head. A myriad of scents enveloped me: invigorating spruce, chalky stones, mineral-rich waters, and fresh roasted meat. The cool night air kissed my skin, whispering lies that all would be well. Drums pounded in the distance in some sort of celebratory Vawtrian dance rhythm. Laughter and singing carried on the breeze.
No. My fingers dug into the earth, my limbs shaking as the need intensified and my thoughts blurred.
No.
Anywhere but here.
STELLA
Silence fell over the camp. I gripped the necklace, my fingers locking around the moonstone and charm. "Poison?"
Kine crossed over to Arjax and peered down at the ring. "What do you mean someone is stealing our shifting?"
Elias's eyes widened. He glanced down at his sketchbook, flipped to a page in the center, and then stopped. "Wait. What? Where…where did the theft happen? When? How?"
Lorna spread her arms as she looked at Arjax, the feathers rustling in her hair. "Clumsy theft, really."
Arjax gave a slow nod. He handed it back to Kine then gestured for me to give him mine. "But damaging enough." His voice became a dangerous rumble.
Elias started to turn through the pages, shaking his head. He ran his hand through his hair. "It can be stopped, yes?"
"Now that we know it is present, yes." Lorna paced back and forth, shaking her head. "We can fix it so long as we stay strong, but this is an insult."
Kine placed the ring back on his finger and studied it. "Can you estimate when the energy was poisoned?"
"It feels as if someone drew off the energy and then started to thread it in as a replacement, which means that this happened long before Stella returned," Arjax said. "This is siphoning."
"Did any of the rings go missing?" Lorna continued to pace. The scowl on her face deepened.
Kine rubbed the back of his neck. One of the logs on the fire crackled and snapped, falling into the fire pit amid a burst of sparks. He stared down at those embers. "It’s possible. Several rings went missing shortly before that in one of the attacks. Also when Taivren fell. But we assumed those were simply lost in the sea and the toxic waters that came afterward."
Elias lowered his sketchbook, his eyes wide with concern. "Is it possible… Could someone have used the magic in the shifter rings to save the Gola Resh’s life? Is that the missing piece?"
"That would explain a few things," Arjax admitted. "It means you are dealing with someone who understands more of the matters of magic and how they work together than you assumed."
"Someone chillingly intelligent," Elias muttered. He flipped back through the pages of his book, swallowing hard. Sweat formed along his brow. He stopped at one page in particular, his hand flattening over it.
"Is it something that you can share?" I asked.
He hadn't said what it was, and seers knew better than to pry too much, but I couldn't resist asking. My insides were already squirming. Was this what Auntie Runa had seen? And if so, why had she not shared it? These visions always brought with them such a burden, but this knowledge seemed important. Wasn’t it?
Elias’s jaw worked. He closed the sketchbook and set it down. "I am not sure how much I can say except that yes, I think we are on the right path. It gives me hope that this has been discovered. I—I’ll spend the night in meditation and contemplation to see if anything more comes to me."
Arjax grunted as he gripped my ring in his hand. Golden light flared and flowed around it before it calmed. "There’s a way out. There always is."
Neither Lorna nor Arjax pressed Elias to share. They were familiar with visions and foresight. I was too, and I did know better, but…I desperately wanted to know.
The temptation burned in me now with a strength almost as great as the need to see Brandt.
