Moonshadow (Book 1 of the Torrent Skies Saga)

Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Price of an Answer, Pt 1

Katerin took a breath and looked around, searching for her friends. She was unable to stand, so she slid down the broken stone and landed awkwardly on her side, gasping at the pain that wracked her and unable to put any weight on her leg. She saw Arjiah leaning over Fykes and Ho'ryian, and her thoughts of Byron vanished. Arjiah's face was smeared with blood and tears, and she looked at Katerin with a pained expression. Katerin could not yell, could not even find her voice.

"He won't wake up," Arjiah said, her voice breaking.

Graiden limped toward them, and Auglier and Brazen helped Juen'tal free of the rubble that was the other side of the balcony.

Katerin dragged herself to her knees beside Fykes, everyone else forgotten. This was all to keep him here. She brushed his hair from his face and kissed his forehead tasting sand, sweat and blood. "Please wake up," she begged in a hoarse whisper. "Please... I love you."

He lay still, unmoving and only breathing in shallow breaths. And now she saw the change in his hair, and her throat closed. Graiden laid a hand on hers, and magic washed over her wounds—though she could barely feel it. Relief, pain and emotion were lost as she stared at Fykes.

"Katerin," Graiden said softly, nodding his head to the far back wall of the arena. "I'll take care of him. Go."

She turned, and in her state of numbness, she almost missed it. A number of cells lined the far wall. Thick spiked metal bars and black stone. She swallowed and stood, taking her staff as Graiden offered it, and limped towards them. Everything felt slow, as if it was out of place and off by a second. A striking form sat within the fourth cell, head down.

Katerin swallowed and looked back at Graiden with wide eyes. He nodded reassuringly to her. She walked with shuffling steps towards the line of cells, then spelled the lock open with shaking fingers. Her vision was precariously close to fading, as the magic pulled her energy near to nothing.

As the cell bars opened, the woman looked up, and bright blue eyes smiled up at her.

"Sulea?" Katerin said, and she found herself on her hands and knees again, her injured arm held close to her side, staring at the woman before her and trying to find her words. Sulea was dirty, bloody and beaten, and bruises left purple splotches across what should be a striking face. "Mom?"

The woman smiled as Katerin helped her from the too-small cell. "Katerin?" she said, her voice much sharper and more willful than Katerin's. "You've grown up."

Katerin nodded, and hugged her for just a moment. "We're going to get out of here," she said, exhaustion coating every word. "Don't worry." She could see something haunting in her mother's eyes, and she took a shaky breath.

Sulea patted her arm and stepped away. "I know."

They helped each other back to the grouping of people. A few minutes passed, while everyone took a deep breath and picked themselves up. Quiet introductions were made, but no one had enough energy to speak more than a word or two. Katerin spent her time torn between the very real form of her mother, and Fykes, who was still unconscious on the sands. She was loathe to leave his side, and loathe to let Sulea disappear from her sight. She half expected the woman to vanish again if she moved too far away.

Suddenly Graiden was thrown onto his back in the sand, as the ruby in his coat pocket exploded. The Uhma'zarhins burst out around him, some nearly stepping on him as they fought to catch their balance. Everyone's hands dropped to weapons until faces were recognized.

"What happened?" Graiden asked them, a surprised note to his disgruntled tone, as he pushed himself back to his feet, wincing at every movement.

"We were taken. We fought terrible creatures... demons," they said, nodding. Eyes still wide in fear. "We searched, but never found you, I do not think we were truly... here. It was a place that had no rules, no ending."