Page 108 of A War of Embers

Very few people venture outside of their own District. Only those who claim loyalty to no one or are sent by their District out into Tellus know the truth. But it’s doubtful they will tell anyone if their Lord or Lady don't permit it.

Even in the dark, I can tell where the land seems to be dying off. The ground becomes rockier, dirt ridden. The trees are barren instead of full of life, and the silence deafening the forest floor is unnatural.

“This place is making me nervous,” I confide. “There’s magic at work here and it feels off.”

“Threatening?” Zeke narrows his eyes as he looks down at his boots. “I don’t feel threatened by it, even though I can see it’s clearly intent to kill everything.”

No, I don’t feel threatened by it either. “Maybe the High Lords and Ladies are at play.”

“Maybe.” Zeke quiets as we continue for several yards. “Tell me about your life here.”

Scoffing, I shake my head. “Why? So you can have more ammunition on how different I am compared to your realm?”

He rolls his eyes. “Because I’m bored out of my fucking mind and I don’t think anyone else is going to jump out to grab us tonight. Amuse me.”

How Rowan puts up with this man is beyond me. Zeke’s callous, rude nature is more than enough to get him killed by anyone here in Tellus just with how abrasive he comes off. But he’s right, this is a long walking path and nothing else seems to be happening. “I was told I grew up here, raised by the Anderson family. I don’t remember them except for the nightmares I have of slaughtering every single person I believed to be part of my bloodline. My actual vivid memories only come from after the immortal souls were placed in me.”

“Is that typical for an immortal?”

“Not that I’m aware of. But immortals of my league are few and far between. Sometimes, if the host is strong enough, Lords and Ladies will place two immortal souls in a being to control them. Although I’m considered an anomaly for how many I house, it’s not an uncommon practice to try and put multiple souls in one person. Usually they die, but no one cares about that aspect of it. Everyone wants to live forever.”

“But not you?”

“I was told I committed some heinous crime and had to pay it off in a form of debt by killing others. The tally eventually is supposed to add up and I’ll earn my freedom. No one knows what I did. There’s no record of any mass killings happening, so I don’t know.” I shrug, pain lancing through my head at the knowledge it was all fabricated to keep me complacent. “I lived on the outskirts of town, just north of Cinnabar on the edge of the path.” I turn to point towards where the cloud line of Sereia’s storm sits. “About a mile inside the city limits.”

“And no friends? No one to party with?”

A snort escapes before I can hold it in. “Friends? No. Everyone wanted to be me. They wanted Lady Gwenyth’s full attention and to be at her beck and call. They assume I’m her right hand because of how I’m manipulated and used. No one ever looks beyond the surface here.” Franklin Hallsman’s elderly face flashes in my mind. “Actually, maybe one friend. But he would kill me to save himself.”

“You don’t sound upset about that.”

“I would do the same.” There are no loyalties amongst people here in Tellus. Not in the same way Alyvia has friends or Zeke and the guards rely on trust when in combat. Everyone here thinks and breathes for themselves second, and for their Lord or Lady first. “Would you sacrifice Nox to live?”

Zeke doesn’t startle at my question, but his eyes narrow sharply. “Possibly. But Nox annoys the fuck out of me. There would be no love lost there.”

“Then you understand.”

Tilting his chin upwards, Zeke accepts my reasoning. “I figured it would take us days to traipse through here.”

“Magic moves those who have good hearts.”

He snorts, eyeing me speculatively. “Seriously?”

Shrugging my shoulders, I answer honestly. “In the mountains? Yes. Magic flows readily here, unlike towards the coastline. Magic will give you as much time as you need to reach a destination. Since we’re in a hurry, if the magic allows, then we’ll get there and back before sunrise. Sometimes magic doesn’t work that way and it does take days to walk from one place to another. The magic has been aiding us since we landed. It should take two days to walk to where we’re going but it’s only taking several hours.”

Looking up towards the dark sky, Zeke frowns. “I wish I could fly.”

“Maybe after we get everything sorted.”

He snorts then halts next to me, his gaze swinging towards the mountains on our left and scaling up. I turn to see whatever it is he spotted, but all I can make out are the dark shadows of trees, rocky terrain, and mountains that jut upwards at unreasonable scales. No one climbs these for fear of death.

“What is it?” I ask since I can’t find anything that’s alerting me.

“There’s a power source. I can feel it like a heartbeat.”

“We must be near the primordial portal the original High Lords and Ladies came through.” There’s no light shining behind the mountain to give away whether or not we’re near the village they all live in. “But you can feel it?”

“You probably could if your immortal souls weren’t burying part of your magic,” Zeke says. “It’s like a wave brushing against you gently, letting you know something powerful is there.” He turns to look around the pathway. “Would we have been killed by now if they weren’t going to speak with us?”

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