Sunrise Gate

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

As we exit the tunnel, the burning sensation in my legs aches, but the sharp scent of desolate air sends me home to Ebonhawke and its plains. Home at last, I think as I part the ivy that has grown over the exit - a crevice in a rock formation with Ebonhawke in clear sight. This must be how Arnith got to New Rah so easily. But how did he know this was here?

We walk onto the fields, breathing in clean air for the first time in what has felt like an eternity. The sight of sunlight and something more than rock walls is stimulating, drawing Demi, Athair and I to take in our surroundings with the greatest focus of details. A hillside covers most of Ebonhawke’s outer wall, the top half of it fully visible but anything lower is concealed. All around boulders scatter the land, dust wiping up into the air, bundles of dead plants drifting in the winds. Home is here.

I pay more attention to the distant details, looking to the sole tree residing on the hillside, a place I know. The place where my parents are buried. Their graves are unmarked, the tree already serving that purpose, and it gives them the privacy from potential looters or the story seeking adventurer. Yet, something shifts nearby the tree and I realize, someone’s there now.

I motion to Demi and Athair and they see it as well. I start walking towards the tree, Demi and Athair following just behind me. As I get closer I start to see more and more people appear, the hillside no longer hiding them. For a bit, I only see five figures and a sense comes over me that something is not right at all.

“Demi?” I ask, “How many people do you see?”

“Five or six,” she replies.

That’s about how many were in my parents’ scouting squad. That’s exactly where they stood vigilant over the valley, waiting for the Sabres to start approaching. What kind of sick trick is this?I start to think Siafi is involved, especially as the figures never seem to show their true colors. Shadows conceal them in a manner that raises my suspicions. There’s no way to trust anything now.

I move further more cautiously and more bodies appear, revealing a much larger group than I thought. A group perhaps four or five times than I originally thought, and I realize this can’t be a trick of Siafi’s. That, or she really has no idea how many soldiers were part of my parents’ squad. Their appearance slowly clears as we come closer, however, and I see that they wear Guardian standard, and they’re waiting.

A man from the group breaks off as we get closer, jogging to us. He’s taller than I, very muscular and chiseled, shoulders broad. His hair is brown, trimmed short. He holds a hand for us to wait and so I stop, still unable to see the gate I long to see so much now, but the man moves quickly and I do as he intends.

He speaks loudly as he approaches, “Thank the Gods you are here! My name is Mark Litwalk, head of scout division three.”

“What is going on here?” I ask him. “And do I know you?”

“The Sabres have arrived, Lyra. Lynx’s orders are for you to assume command immediately, taking any and all actions you feel necessary. You have unlimited command effective now.”

I step back surprised, “What! How did Lynx know I would be here in time? How could he take that kind of risk?”

“My feelings exactly,” he says. “But if it’s worth anything, his answer to that exact question is that he had faith you would be here.”

He had faith….I remember him telling me that. That damn fool best watch where he puts that faith, but I realize, he wasn’t wrong though. Damn him for that.My mind turns back to other pressing matters, “What is of Arnith? Are you aware of his whereabouts?”