A Shadowed Legacy

Chapter Fourteen

Wind whistled through the peaks as the solemn group stood before a simple, easily overlooked memorial, which was located on the secluded edge of the now-abandoned Corrum base. Iris ran a hand down the smooth engraving, of words written in mythical. May Phoenix watch over this departed soul. A little below that was some other writing, but it had been long scratched out.

"I wish I'd had time to know her better," Iris murmured from her place beside her father and her aunt, her yellow-green gaze resting on her mother's grave.

Mies rested a hand on her shoulder, his voice equally as soft, "she knew the risks of defying Anis, and there are no words to properly describe how brave she was to do that. The first Corrum to rebel in centuries, knowing what happened those who did in the past. All of it was to protect you."

Iris leaned into his side, flicking the dark navy hood of her cloak out of her face, "I know, and if weren't for her, we wouldn't have gotten this far." She cast a fond smile at Hanna, "and you wouldn't have become a thorn in Anis' side."

"You both did what I couldn't," Harlan, Iris' great-great-uncle, spoke tiredly from the edge of the group, his eyes pained, "if I'd done better, this wouldn't have happened at all."

"Stop blaming yourself," Hanna snapped at him, "we still don't know the true reason Connar acted as he did, but it most certainly was not because of you." Harlan visibly flinched and receded into the shadows of his cloak with his graying hair also concealed in shadow. He avoided looking at Mies, his icy blue gaze fixated on the mountains all around.

Mies sighed, then chided Hanna, crossing his arms, "oh, don't be so harsh. He's had to live with the consequences and blame for a very long time." Hanna frowned at him, about to snap another side remark.

"If you all are done bickering, I'd like to take a walk with Iris. Callia also wants a moment before we leave this place to collect dust," Holli appeared in the archway along with a still-injured Callia, who was supporting herself with a staff.

Iris regarded Callia with a wry smile, and walked over, "feeling better? I thought the healers fixed your leg."

"They made it hurt less, but there was a lot of damage," Callia shifted to regard a scarred bite mark peeking out from by her ankle. She cast a crooked grin at Mies as she spoke, "thanks for trying to fix it all, though."

"Not a problem," Mies returned the grin with a gentle smile, "I do what I can to help." He beckoned the others towards the arch, "come, let's give her some space to pay her respects."

----

"Where do you think the rest of our kin have disappeared to?" Holli asked Iris worriedly as they walked along a footpath which curved around the cliff. Towards the end of it, it opened out into the main entrance to the Hallor complex, a huge archway with a wide, stony clearing.

The Corrum shook her head, yellow-green eyes flickering, "Gods only know. I wasn't even here when they evacuated." She stepped out into the clearing, examining the tall cliffs that surrounded them in a semi-circle, then looked to where the cliffs fell away and revealed the forest that stretched far away, and the mountains on the edges of it.

Holli suddenly growled and looked around with narrowed eyes as she stepped close to Iris protectively, "Iris. We've got company. One unfamiliar griffon."

"Anyone else?" Iris drew her dagger, muscles tensing. A pale mist rolled in around them as she spoke, and she pressed closer to Holli alarm. The dragon shifter hissed as someone started to pull her away, but she shifted in a bright flash of light to beat away the mist with her wings. Iris shrieked as the mentioned griffon burst out of an open pocket in the mist, their talons tearing a long slash into her lower arm, "Holli!"

Before the dragon shifter could come to the rescue, the griffon grabbed Iris and dove down the cliff with her, pale gold feathered wings beating loudly in her ears. Crap, I can't shift- Iris started to panic, more worried about being hurt from a fall than the heavily bleeding wound. A bright orange and maroon streak tumbled both Iris and the griffon out of the sky into the forest as Holli chased after with fury in her slitted eyes. Retrieving Iris before she could fall, Holli snarled a challenge at the unknown griffon who immediately froze, then swiftly angled around to fly back over the complex, disappearing.

"Thanks," Iris wheezed, trying to regain her breath from the abruptness of it all as Holli placed her gently on the forest floor. She attempted to wrap the wound with her cloak as it began throbbing with even more pain.

Holli shifted back to her primary form and looked at the wound, her lip curled in disgust, "cowardly griffon, they really couldn't stay and fight, could they?"

"Neither could Iris during the raid on her home," Anis' chilly voice announced her presence as she materialized out of a shadow beside a tree, her sword in hand. Her icy blue eyes gleamed in the sunlight that filtered through the leaves, small spots of light reflecting off her armor. Iris shot a glare at her as she stepped back slightly.

"Her job was to keep you distracted, which I must say, she did very well. Hanna had good timing as well," Holli retorted back at her grandmother hotly, stiffening. She positioned herself in front of Iris, a growl rumbling in her throat threateningly. Before either Iris or Holli could make a move, however, someone quietly appeared from behind Anis.

Half a second later, Anis looked down with wide eyes to see the blade of a sword piercing through her chest. Her own sword dropped down into the grass as the former Corrum leader fell to her knees. The shadows cleared, and it revealed Hanna, staring coldly at her, then leaned forward to murmured something in her ear that was indecipherable. Blood bubbled up to Anis' lips as she tried to speak, but it was already far too late for her. She collapsed to the ground as Hanna slowly pulled her sword out, looking at the dull blue eyes, where a spark of life had been moments before.

Iris stared in shock with Holli halfway through healing her wound as their aunt calmly cleaned the blood off her weapon. Without looking up, she spoke casually, "my brother and nephew have been apprehended. Nia let me borrow some of her sleep darts before she left, so I used those, and Mira is taking them back as we speak. There's no one else around, Silvia and I checked."

"Silvia's out here? I thought she was still at the Sanctuary?" Iris blinked in surprise, glancing over at Silvia emerged from the undergrowth to her right, "if she's here, then where's Marian?"

"Keeping watch," a mild voice responded, making Iris jump.

She watched quietly as Silvia approached Anis' chilling body, "I wish it hadn't had to end like this." Her voice was barely audible as she gently closed Anis' eyes.

Despite usually staying out of sight, Marian quietly slunk out from where Silvia had been. Her voice was comforting as she laid a hand on her charge's shoulder, "it's what Suha does. She manipulates others' to do her dirty work for her and breaks them beyond repair in the process." Her tone shifted to a bitter one as she turned her dark green gaze to the tree canopy, "if I could get rid of any and all association to her for that alone, I would. It's done nothing to help me."

"You know I don't see her in you, Marian. If I didn't trust you, you wouldn't be here now," Silvia responded, her voice just as gentle. She shifted her eyes back to the fallen Corrum, "it's her actions that caused this, not yours. You are as much a victim as Anis was."

"Who...exactly is Suha?" Holli asked hesitantly, looking between the two with wary confusion, "should I know who that is?"

Marian and Silvia exchanged a glance that made Iris suspicious, and then Marian spoke slowly, "Suha led a radical group during our very first days in this realm. She was punished by immortality, the removal of her secondary form, and her abilities, which fueled her wish for revenge." The ice dragon paused, "you've probably heard of her, but not many mention her name these days. Only those descended from the ones who were allied with her from the beginning know where she is, and they actively assist in achieving her goals."