Page 104 of A War of Embers

“So no friends to look out for?” When I give him a withering glare, he laughs. “What? I felt it was an honest question. No friends or lovers I need to be on the lookout for? I will warn you, I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence as Lord Rowan’s right hand if I didn’t dispel any threat to your mating.”

On second thought, I tell him, “If we stumble across Justin, feel free to shift into your dragon form and eat him.”

“Lover quarrel before your plunge into the Blood Sea?”

Snorting, I shake my head. “More like someone who tried to force me into an arranged marriage for their own benefit. I turned him down plenty, and even Lady Gwenyth turned him down, but he’s a persistent fucker who doesn’t take no as an answer easily.”

Zeke rubs his hands together with a malicious glint in his eye. “Great. Now, tell me what to do if your souls get activated before we get to where we’re going?”

Another thing I hadn’t let myself think about before leaving. “Do whatever you need to do to slow me down and get me to the Godlands immediately.”

“Can you feel Lady Gwenyth?” Zeke asks.

Taking a moment to really consider his words. I wait for the feel of foreign magic sliding over me, like usual when Lady Gwenyth is tracking my movements. “As of right now, nothing. She probably has an idea of where I’ve gone and isn’t looking for me here anymore.” At least that’s my hope for now.

“And the Godlands are where? I know we turn off this path to another nondescript path, but where do we go from there?”

“Straight west. It’ll take you deep into the mountains. There’s a good chance we could be killed upon arrival–” I start to tell him.

“Oh, thanks for the warning,” Zeke sarcastically says. “Didn’t think to mention that tidbit back across the sea before I agreed to help you?”

“I’ve never known someone who’s gone there. All we have are rumors here in Tellus how things work. Clearly the things we’re told here are often fabricated considering Aïdes isn’t supposed to exist at all and no one here is aware of anything to do with the Province Wars except a few people.” I feel my breaths coming out choppy as I force my emotions to even out.

Everything we’ve ever been told here in Tellus is some fabricated form of the truth. No one knows anything, therefore no one can be sold as a spy to Rowan’s kingdom. But those in charge of the Districts know what they’re doing keeping their people mindless and unknowledgeable about the realms around them. If people don’t know, they can’t ask questions. It creates utter complacency.

Sweeping out my hand towards the forest, I gesture for us to go ahead and begin our walk a few tree lengths in to avoid outright exposure. Once we’re inside, Zeke glances around curiously at the way the wind barely seems to blow. “Usually it only storms in Cinnabar,” I tell him quietly. “The ground is dying there anyways.”

Zeke glances towards the right, deeper into the forest, and nearly jerks to a halt as he spies a boneyard full of skeletons and disintegrating pieces of clothes. “Seems like a lot of things die here.”

Even though he doesn’t mean it as a pun, his tone deadly serious as he takes in the gruesome sight, I can’t help but laugh. “Welcome to Tellus.”

I thought the land was only dying in Cinnabar, but I was wrong.

The further we go towards Cinnabar District, the more I realize the decay has spread outwards. We’ve not even reached a mile from town, the iron railing still absent from the cliff’s edge, but the soil has grown ashy. Almost like the skeletons in the boneyard behind us, this place is becoming the land of death they once said only existed across the sea.

Oh, how the irony fits this place well.

Still, the idea of this place dying outright sends a nervous tingle down my spine. Something is wrong with the land, which would affect Aïdes in the future if we don’t find a way to stop it from spreading across the sea. Although Rowan knows about it and doesn’t seem worried, I’m beginning to think it has nothing to do with Sereia’s anger about building a city on the cliff’s edge and something else is behind this.

Zeke follows my lead in silence, his eyes staying peeled for anyone ready to jump out at us. Ever so often he looks to the treetops, no doubt remembering my mode of transport into the Wraithlands the first time. But the night remains still, something that worries me.

Typically this area is not this quiet. Usually people’s screams can be heard even within the distance. The forest of misfits unnerves everyone who walks in, but this is different. Almost like the bones are the only inhabitants.

“Something’s wrong,” I whisper towards Zeke who steps closer to hear me.

He nods his head while maintaining his alertness. “I feel it too.”

At least it’s not just me. I scan the area but come up empty. “What do you think it is?”

“It wasn’t like this before you left?” Zeke asks instead of answering the question.

“Not that I remember.” There are always gangs of assassins or thieves hanging around, ready to pounce on unsuspecting victims. No one has messed with me here in years, though I hadn’t left Cinnabar District in a long while. “Feels more like a ghost town.”

“I can’t scent anyone,” Zeke murmurs. “And you don’t have creatures here?”

“You know as well as I do that children from Aïdes were stolen and brought here, but I have no idea where they’re hidden or how their creatures are being controlled.”

“Maybe they were unleashed here in the forest and killed everyone.”

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