Clash of Captains

Chapter 24

As she trailed off into silence, Aneira nodded gently. "The two of you sound so close. That's amazing." The blonde kicked a rock as they walked, sending it skittering off to the side until it hit a fallen branch. Instead of ricocheting, it stopped rolling and remained there against the dead wood. Aneira's eyes returned to Devyn as their gazes stopped following the path of the rock and looked back up as one.

"Do you have anyone you're close to? In Ledah?" Devyn asked, feeling a bit awkward. She was unused to picking up casual conversation with anyone; even Aneira seemed more adept at it than her.

The blonde's eyes lit up, as if she'd been waiting for her to ask that. "Yeah, actually. My friend Carys. She can be a bit... much." Aneira broke out into a soft laugh and Devyn couldn't help but smile a little. "She's the most involved person I've ever met, besides maybe one of the head ministers, always knowing all the gossip and probably causing a lot of her own drama as well. Carys lives for it. If I leave out all the 'juicy details,' she'll beg and beg until I finally tell her something more."

"She sounds..." Devyn trailed off, unable to think of a proper word to describe the girl.

"Like a lot? She is," Aneira answered for her, nodding in agreement. "But she's also the most loyal friend I've ever had. She's always there, stepping in from the sidelines whenever I need something that a fellow soldier just can't provide." She smiled a smile so full of emotion that Devyn's lips twitched as if they wished to replicate it. She wasn't sure whether she would have frowned or smiled in that moment, since she didn't get the chance. Something in the air had shifted, whether it was a breeze or simply a change in temperature.

"We're close," Devyn whispered. She held up a hand to keep Aneira quiet, though the girl had already finished speaking and had fallen into silence on her own. Devyn glanced warily at the bare trees around them. Nothing had changed, but it sure felt as if something had, as if they had entered a new place altogether and everything else had fallen away to reveal it. A fog had collected at the bases of the twisted trees, making it even harder to see. Devyn was squinting to make out the silhouette of something on the horizon when something tugged gently at her sleeve. She flinched, but it was only Aneira, her grey eyes flashing bright in the dim of the mist.

"Look," the girl murmured, her eyes going wide as her gaze locked on something to Devyn's left. Aneira held up a hand to point and Devyn followed her finger with her stare until she saw it: a large stone dais just at the edge of the fog to their left.

She nodded her approval and cautiously started towards it at once, feeling deep in her being that this was what they were looking for. The fog seemed to drift away as the pair grew closer, until suddenly it blew out all at once and the air around them was perfectly clear again. Devyn's hands flexed, her fingers curling in and out as she fell into her usual pattern of fidgeting. That's it, she thought to herself as the dais came into view. There's nothing else that could possibly fit what we're looking for.

The stone dais was old, very much so. The grey stone it was made from was carved with a large square base, three smaller levels stacked in the center to create a series of steps that led to an altar-like platform where objects could be set. The wall just behind the dais, Devyn noticed as they drew closer, had a mural painted upon it, mostly faded from age. She studied it with curiosity.

A great shadowy beast took up the center of the old painting, its wings splayed to either side as it spread its might upon the world beneath it. As Devyn saw that its face was painted in white, she knew that it had to be Nyswell's creature, Cigis, the very same one that the two girls had stumbled across on their ascent. She shuddered at the memory of the bird-like beast, at the lack of hesitation it had displayed in attacking the pair. The mural didn't just include the raven beast; there were several other characters that Devyn recognized in the faded painting. At the very top, just above the beast, was a robed man, his long dark hair flowing down his back. His eyes were dark as the shadows themselves; his robe was the color of blood. Nyswell. The man held up his hands as if to puppeteer his beast, and then Devyn noticed what the creature was attacking. Right at the bottom of the mural, nearly completely faded at this point, was a young woman with light flaxen hair. She was curled up, as if asleep. But Devyn knew better, and as she peered closer, her assumption was confirmed. The young woman was no one other than Sera, goddess of the light, her eyes screwed shut with fear as she cowered beneath the shadowy god and his creature.