Page 4 of The Night Prince 3
“I’m not very good on horses.” Finley looked a little uneasy. “Michael has offered to teach me, but…” He shrugged.
“No worries. Silveril is gentle as a lamb,” Rhalyf said.
“If you are half as good with her as you were with Glom, you and Silveril will be quite happy together,” Aquilan assured him.
His best friend lightly threw himself onto Silveril who greeted him with a happy toss of her head. He held his right hand down for Finley. The young man took it and Rhalyf lifted him up onto the horse behind him. Aquilan noted that Declan watched all of this. Carefully.
“Now, where do we think Darcassan would have gone to look for rifts to Illithor?” Aquilan asked.
“The Pedway,” Finley answered without hesitation.
“What is that?” Aquilan asked, frowning.
“It’s a system of underground tunnels and bridges that link nearly forty blocks of Chicago’s old central business district,” Finley explained. “It covers over five miles. Darkest places in the city. If I were the Leviathan, I would have the majority of my rifts linked there.”
“I remember hearing about that place,” Rhalyf said with a creased brow. “While the Protectors went down there a few times, the truth was that it became too dangerous to fully clear out. Another reason to reclaim those ruins no matter what the Separatists think.”
Aquilan nodded slowly. “I recall this myself. All of the cities with their underground subway systems were problematic.”
“It encompasses five miles?!” Elasha pressed a hand over her chest and her eyes widened. “How will we ever find him?”
“Glom find!” Snaglak suggested.
“I don’t believe we have another ham,” Rhalyf responded dryly. Both Snaglak and Glom looked disappointed. “Do you have something of Darcassan’s on you, Elasha?”
She nodded and reached into a pocket pulling out a rawhide necklace with a purple stone attached. “He hasn’t worn it in some time. But we made these together. I would wear one and he would wear the other.”
Rhalyf took it from her. He closed his hand around it and let his eyelids drift shut. “Yes, yes, this will work. When we get closer, I believe I will be able to hone in on his location.”
“Then let us ride. The Sun is already well past its zenith,” Aquilan said and lightly kicked Erendriel’s ribs to get the horse going towards the ruins of Chicago.
They kept to the even, white stone roads of the Aravae for as long as possible, winding their way along the edge of the lake. They didn’t speak. Every one of them were simply intent on riding.
Aquilan leaned forward over Erendriel’s back so that they were a more aerodynamic design and the horse flew faster. He had to get to Darcassan. He had to stop this disaster. The wind whistled in his ears. Declan kept pace beside him. His Shadow mirrored his posture. Elasha and Rhalyf were next in line and Snaglak and Hegrom brought up the rear.
They made good time even when the road ran out. Until the ruins were fully reclaimed–and maybe even after–this land would not be completely safe and no Aravae roads would lead there. Rifts would always appear more often there as the veil between the two planes was always thinner after many rifts had been opened in one place. But the concrete and asphalt roads of the humans were still present.
“This is Lake Shore Drive,” Declan told him as the buildings started to loom up ahead of them and blocked out the Sun. They rode in stretches of darkness and then sunlight. His heart clenched everytime a shadow fell. “I used to love driving along here with my parents. They’d take Finley and I into the city for shows or dinner. There were tons of good restaurants and just lots of life.”
He was surprised at the amount Declan had just said. But he knew then that there must be great emotion underneath it to cause his Shadow to say so much.
“Is this the first time you’ve been back since the war?” Aquilan asked.
Declan gave a sharp nod. “There was no reason to come.”
“The Separatists would disagree with you,” Aquilan pointed out. “My brother reported to me that they are often in the city… and, just as often, are dying there.”
“They’re holding onto the past. But it’ll become a dream soon enough. One they won’t even remember clearly any longer,” Declan remarked. His mouth flattened then as if what he’d said displeased him somehow. Or distressed him. “Memory isn’t reliable.”
They had to slow down as the amount of hulks of rusting vehicles became thicker on the roadway and they had to thread their way between them. Aquilan kept a sharp eye out. He noted that Declan did the same. There was nothing that his Shadow did not notice.
“We should take the Fulton Street exit!” Finley called up to them. There was a rusted sign, partially hidden by vines, that said “FUL”. Aquilan imagined that the rest was behind the greenery. “That will lead us to the business district where most of the entrances to the Pedway are.”
“I’ll do a location spell when we reach there,” Rhalyf offered.
“We’ll find him,” Elasha murmured, her knuckles turning white on the reins of her mount. “We will find him.”
“We will, Elasha,” Aquilan soothed her.
