Page 18 of The Night Prince 3
Glom’s tail swished happily.
Aquilan caught sight of Rhalyf speaking softly to Finley. It was clear he was telling the young man to stay well away from the action. He didn’t want Finley to get hurt. Finley was nodding in response.
They started down the stairs. Declan out front. The young man moved utterly silently. The kitchen knife was out and seemed to have a faint blue-white glow on the edge. Declan’s other hand kept moving to the back of his neck as if something was bothering him there. But that didn’t stop his fluid movements.
They were down the first flight when he caught sight of a few footprints left by Darcassan. They looked fresh. Aquilan hoped that meant that Darcassan had not come down here too long ago. Maybe a rift hadn’t opened yet. Maybe he was stuck waiting to get past the Leviathan.
You took first blood, Vex. If not my parents then the people you killed in that copse. You cannot find justice in going to war over a stolen sword or whatever Darcassan thinks to find there.
They were down the second flight. And there was a jog to the right. The walls were tiled. The floors were too. They had been white or off-white. Now it looked as if the Leviathan’s darkness was ground into them. Staining them. Aquilan kept his clothing tight to his body, not wanting to touch it, not wanting any of the others to touch it either as if they would be contaminated.
Vex… are you here?
Declan flattened himself against the wall next to where the wall turned and likely opened up onto the platform of this train station. There was silence from the next room. Maybe the faint stirring of garbage, but nothing else. And dark. Perfect darkness. Even his eyes were having difficulty piercing it.
So when the crackling blue-white light of a rift reflected against the dirty tile, it was blinding. He squinted his eyes and lifted a hand up to shield them from the light. The terrible light that did not come from the Sun. The slithery sound of Leviathan filled the air. So many coils.
And then the shouting began.
Someone was shouting a spell.
It was Darcassan.
Rifts
Declan was the first to dash around the corner as the chanting of a spell and the blue-white light of a rift flared. Finley’s chest grew tight. He remembered this. The endless flares of rifts. The endless battling. The faint screams of dying humans and then… those had stopped. But the Leviathans’ cries had just begun as his best friend had not wavered, not rested, not tired. Just kept going…
His best friend had always tried to hide his differences, his strengths, after that battle but now it seemed as if he were throwing all caution to the wind. Before Finley would have been glad.
See? He would have said. Humans have magic! They can defend themselves and others against the Leviathan! You should treat us as equals!
But he knew that Declan wasn’t human now. It was hard to believe he’d ever thought that Declan could be. His best friend was so different even before all of the Leviathan killing. That difference had drawn him near Declan, but repulsed most others. Not that Declan seemed to care.
His best friend regarded people with wary suspicion. Was that because of the 40 years of life he’d lived with the Kindreth? How hard had his life been? Had it caused him to develop some unconscious sense that people simply couldn’t be trusted? But Finley loved him all the more desperately for this uncertainty in dealing with people. Because Finley was different, too.
Declan’s special. I’m just strange.
Wasn’t that what his parents had always indicated to him with their veiled discussions and narrow-eyed looks? The kids at school had always thought him a little off, too. It made sense to everyone that the two outsiders–Declan and Finley–had become friends with each other. Because no one else would do it. Strangely, after the war, no one treated them that way. Because strange had become normal.
Declan had used his difference–everything in him without restraint–to save Finley and Gemma. And now he was fighting the Leviathan again for much the same reason. Finley’s heart began to pound like a drum. He nearly ran after Declan. Declan meant safety. But Declan shouldn’t be doing this on his own! Not this time!
But Rhalyf gripped his shoulder, drawing Finley’s attention back to him. “Stay back out of sight. Don’t even think about following after us until we call you. Promise me, Finley!”
Finley’s head snapped up to look into Rhalyf’s handsome face. There were lines there that had not been present that afternoon and it hurt to see them. They were carved by despair. His heart ached instead of pounded. He covered Rhalyf’s gripping hand with his own and squeezed it. His own fear dimmed. Rhalyf had greater problems. More immediate problems. And Finley didn’t want to add to him. Rhalyf clearly cared for his safety. It was surprising and it made him feel safe, too.
“I will,” Finley promised. “Go. Save Darcassan.”
Before he starts a war with Vex.
“I’ll be right back. With Declan. Don’t you worry,” Rhalyf promised him and then he leaned in and kissed Finley on the forehead once more. It wasn’t the quick press of lips like it had been when he’d been kissing Finley’s “big brain” but more tender. He pulled back and searched Finley’s eyes for a moment then said, “Everything will be fine.”
For me? Maybe. But for you? I wish I could make that promise to you, Rhalyf. I wish Aquilan could see what I do.
Then Rhalyf turned from him. The loss of his touch had Finley swaying forward as if he needed it to stand upright. He caught himself. Firmed himself. He was strong. He would be fine. He had to be fine for the others.
Aquilan and Rhalyf moved as one unit after Declan with Elasha behind them. She was pulling out two twin swords that flared with magical light. Aquilan and Rhalyf tossed spells to each other as if they had done this hundreds–thousands–of times. They probably had. Plasma, fire and acid balls were exchanged as if they were marbles. Rhalyf and Aquilan were best friends forged in battle and good wine and food after the killing was done. Would lies destroy all of that?
Lies that were understandable after what Aquilan said about Kindreth. Finley wouldn’t have expected the Sun King to have such prejudice, especially since he had seemed interested in Vex after singing The Forever Hunt. But maybe there was more here. There definitely was. Aquilan wasn’t such a hypocrite. He seemed torn between two different poles. It was odd.
