In book four of the Torrent Skies Saga, Kryrial is scouring the lands, tormenting not only the people of his kingdom but those outside of it. His reach is nearly as vast as his ability.
Lodyne continues her insistence that she is the purpose of Kat...
Katerin strode into Alkyrindaun's streets, disheveled and more than a little uncomfortable. She had spent much of her time in the last two years within or near the manor, or on the neutral island used for occasional council meetings with all those who had signed the treaty. Even though Brazen and Telemir had accompanied her, she only wanted to be with the children.
But Kul Galysa had sounded urgent. Angry, even.
She had heard little from the giantess, since her wedding nearly two years prior. She had said not of a word of urgency at the council meetings they had both attended.
Making her way through the giant city, using a token it had taken her time to find earlier in the morning, she rushed for the hall of the elements, but had to pause and take it in. Something seemed different about the city, now. The air was crisp and cold, the sky blue. But all different, or so she thought, since her last visit.
She shook herself, remembering what the giants were like when angry, and hurried on.
And she could hear shouting through the throne room's door.
The giant outside Kul Galysa's meeting chamber recognized her and Brazen, and let them in without hesitation, a look of worry in her eye. Never a good sign.
That was something else that was making Katerin uneasy. All the giants were acting strange today. They ran about the city, shouting things, and in a general state of disarray. For all the time she had spent in Alkyrindaun, she knew disarray was not its normal state.
Kul Galysa turned as the door opened, anger filling her eyes. She waved a fist at Anulin, who closed his mouth, and sighed, waiting for Katerin to reach the throne.
"Took your time, did you?" Kul Galysa snapped.
Katerin panted as she bowed. "I apologize, Cyclone's Fist. I meant no offense." Katerin choose her words carefully. It had taken less than three hours for her to arrive, after all.
The grumble in Kul Galysa's throat was audible, and Telemir took a few unintentional steps backwards.
"I need your help," she said, though she sounded less than pleased about it.
"What happened? What would you have me do?" Worry sparked. Kul Galysa looked as though she was ready to tear off someone's head.
"We held betrayers, in our court." Kul Galysa's eyes flashed like a terrible storm. "They stole, and destroyed the gems that kept us floating, and kept us safe... They... Removed us from Neuavia. Katerin, the convergence is coming." She gestured to a curtained window on the side of the throne room.
Upon glancing, Katerin could see the snowy mountaintops, no longer below the city, but around them, jutting up like sharpened teeth. The mountains were almost familiar, too.
"We now live upon Luminya." Her lips pulled back from her teeth. "They injured many, with their stunt... and we need to find them, before the rest of the giants arrive."
"The rest of the giants?" Katerin balked. Kul Galysa had spoken of her kin's return to the world, but no matter the effort, Katerin had never gotten many details. Her head spun. "Who betrayed you?"
Kul Galysa bared her teeth. "Halessia, and Raek."
Katerin was the one who took a step back, now. She looked to Kul Galysa with horror. "No," she said. She had spent most of her time in training with Halessia and Raek. They had always been loyal supporters to Kul Galysa, and fine friends.
"Now is not a time to question me!" Kul Galya's shout thundered and shook the marble pillars of the room. "I called on you, for a reason. You will find them both, and you will drag them back to me. Alive." Kul Galysa's last words were hissed.
Brazen shot Katerin a nervous look, and silence filled the chamber. A thousand reasons to argue filled Katerin's head, but one glance to Kul Galysa shattered them.
Kul Galysa's eyes filled with challenge and fixed on her. "You made an oath, Katerin. And already I only see two of the three I called to fulfill it." Her tone was an angry growl, and it made the unease of the rest of the giants seem both understandable and understated.
Fykes, Katerin thought, trying not to gulp. "Fykes is... not here," Katerin explained, trying to not think too much about it. Almost two years. Sadness and anger welled up in Katerin, but she pushed them down, deep and practiced. "If he knew of your plight he would not hesitate, to help you, I'm sure."
Kul Galysa's eyebrows raised, but she seemed content enough with the answer. She waited, as if for a response.
Katerin bit her lip, thinking furiously. Where would this take her? Her children needed her. But if she disagreed, she did not know what could happen. Would Alkyrindaun become a threat to the world? If more giants were coming, intending to take back their ancient homes, then having an allied side was the wisest thing. Not to mention what might happen, if she refused, and the oath was broken. How would it effect Fykes wherever he was? She knew he was still alive, for sometimes at night, if she focused with all her might, she could feel his heartbeat in her ring. And she was not imagining things. She could not risk hurting him or Luminya by making an enemy here. But then there was the question of the goddess. She had been a nuisance, their last genuine encounter. One that ended with a dream of shouting. But though she did not appear to Katerin, the goddess was still in her dreams, and in her thoughts, when she was at her weakest. Always tempting, sickening, and testing Katerin's will. It was less when Katerin stayed at the manor and shuffled parchments. But it was times of strife and doubt that the goddess loved to rear her head.
"I will do what you ask, but I will need time," Katerin said, finally, feeling as though she might grow dizzy.
Kul Galysa nodded, as if she had known Katerin would make the wise choice. "For now, gather yourself, your weapons, and your friends. We will speak again, when I have more information. Until then, I want you to search Halessia and Raek out. You know many people, and all their holes to hide in. Halessia may still be kind to you. She thought you a protege, while you trained here. I do not care what you have to employ, but I want her and Raek returned to the city."
"I think I could help you much easier, if you explained what is coming," Katerin hedged, feeling a tingling in her hands.
"I will tell you, when you need to know." Kul Galysa's tone rumbled, annoyed. "I have other business. Go."
Her words left Katerin cold, as she, Telemir, and Brazen left the hall.
The months since the wedding suddenly now felt very much like a dream. And now here she was, a mother with a missing husband, and a task to hunt two of the very giants who had trained her.
Brazen shook his head, his eyes wide. "Well, this is no good," he said.
Telemir only blinked furiously.
Fykes, Katerin thought, somehow hoping he might hear. Please come home.
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