Page 65 of A War of Embers

“Someone like you?”

“A mortal. Someone who will one day die.” She says it so matter-of-factly, I can barely register the sadness lingering in her voice.

“You want to live longer?” This is news to me. I thought Alyvia was happy with her mortal lifespan. Most people are.

A sad smile curve Alyvia’s lips. “Yes and no. No, I do not wish to live as long as you have or the others. I would miss my family and I think I would begin to take things I have now for granted. But the majority of people surrounding me are the ones who will live the longest. Sometimes it’s hard being the only mortal.”

Odd how immortality isn’t coveted by everyone the way it appears in Tellus. “I understand. My family is dead and there is no one for me to go back to if I die. One of the many reasons I want to find peace is the loneliness that accompanies being isolated from others.”

“A sad way to live either way.”

“Why I don’t want to be mortal,” I agree.

Alyvia heaves a tired sigh. “Well, I hope the dragon is able to help us. I also hope he’s home. There’s a chance he could be participating in the Haze, but not many dragons go to find companionship or to have babes. From my understanding, they go to party.”

I think about the two Ashguard men from the previous night who went to the town to party. I have no idea if they actually participated in the Haze, I assumed anyone who went did. “I didn’t get to see what was happening at the festivals.”

She raises her brow. “So where were you?”

As if I’m dumb enough to fall for her question. “We’re not talking about what I was doing. We need to focus on finding the dragon. Tell me his name again.”

“Gabriel Shore. He’s in his early thirties. He enjoys bartering for trade instead of using cash. Been known to slink around the law, at least according to associates who I swore I wouldn’t name. He’s expecting us, but I don’t know if he’ll actually meet us.”

Hopefully he does. I pat the jewels back in my pocket. “If he doesn’t, persuasion always works.” Most of the time it does, if you come with the right price and items. Currency in Tellus is common, most places won’t take trades unless they’re rare weapons or something that came from a Lord or Lady’s dwelling. Here in Aïdes anything seems to go. If it can be pawned, it will be in the darkness where no one can see.

“Are you ready for everything to potentially be over with? Anything you wish you got to do before the end?” Alyvia hums.

Killing Lady Gwenyth, ensuring her reign of terror comes to an end would be nice, though it’s a lofty dream. Aside from another, more powerful Lord or Lady going to war with her, there’s little belief she’ll ever stop poisoning her people’s minds and lives. But fairness in this world is few and far between. “What I want isn’t in the cards.”

“Are you sure about that?”

A self-deprecating chuckle falls from my lips. “Yeah, Alyvia, I’m sure. The person who made me into this will not have justice served upon her. There’s nothing I can do to stop her from doing this to someone else. But I can buy time for other people suffering my fate by ending what she’s done to me. These souls are precious to her, I know that without a doubt. So I’ll take from her what she’s taken from me, it’s as fair as I can make it before I die.”

“You’re at peace then?”

We walk a few more yards, entering the very edge of the village before us. People are moving around in groups, talking and laughing with one another. A tent is propped up on the far side, a little out of the center of activities. People with blue scarves gather around the area. Must be where the rest of Rowan’s people are situated. Close enough to intervene if necessary, but out of the way of the people who live here enjoying their time during the Haze.

A few people cast curious glances our way, but no one stops us as we move opposite of Rowan’s crew towards the village itself. The pyres give off the same red light, allowing the mist on the ground to be easily seen as it lights the ground in all directions. On the edge of the darkness, against houses, people collide together in moans and whimpers. Alyvia and I keep our eyes off them as best we can while still looking for where the Shore residence is located.

Apparently modesty goes out the window during the Haze.

Alyvia pulls out a rough map she must have drawn before we left, indicating where both the dragon and witch we need to speak with will be. She turns towards me as a man in a blue scarf approaches us. “This is my contact for the witch family. Let me speak with him for a moment and we’ll be on our way.”

She steps forward, walking a short distance and pitching her voice low to not disturb others and have people know our business. The man points off towards the far end of the village, shrouded in darkness just outside the pyre’s light. When he steps away, he makes a fist over his heart and then disappears back towards the direction of the tent.

Coming back over, she asks, “Are you ready?”

As I'll ever be.

The dragon’s house isn’t what I was expecting to find. Instead of a grand building, full of trinkets that spill into the outside, the house in front of us is a gray slab tucked between various homes of the same nondescript style.

Alyvia knocks using the wooden ring with a bulky metal piece on the end. Whatever design it was in its prime is now a weathered, deformed mess. We stand there for a few moments before the door swings open.

Gabriel Shore looks like every other typical mortal. His sandy colored hair is styled, his clothes are fresh and tidy. He even wears a pair of black glasses, blocking the only distinguishable part of his façade, his red eyes.

Unlike Zeke, he doesn’t appear to have scales protruding from his skin in an armor-like coating. His pale skin is smooth and unblemished. I doubt he’s ever been in a fight a day in his life.

“Gabriel Shore?” Alyvia asks. When he nods, she sticks out her hand for him to shake. “Lovely to meet you.”

---