Moonshadow (Book 1 of the Torrent Skies Saga)

Chapter Sixteen: Ancient Memory

Katerin peeled her eyes open, and the pain of it made her sick. She felt a weight on top of her chest, and it took her a few seconds to realize that Fykes was splayed on top of her, not moving.

"Fykes." She coughed, forcing her arms to move and shake him. The movement made her feel as if glue had dried over her skin, and she was tearing it free. "Fykes, wake up!" she said, panic rising in her voice. She laid a hand on his back, giving every ounce of healing magic she had.

He did not move.

"Arjiah—" she said, before a sob caught in her throat and stole her voice. Fykes couldn't be dead, not protecting her. "Please," she whispered to him, her voice sounding as if she had swallowed sand. "Arjiah! Are you okay?" She coughed again, aware of the tears on her cheeks, aware and how much they burned.

She heard a soft groan as Fykes stirred, his face turning into her neck. All she could do was stare at him as he pushed himself up with slow agonized movements.

"You're okay," he said, softly. He grabbed for her hand, holding it gently.

She wiped her eyes and stared at him, catching a glimpse of the bloodied and singed bandage on her hand. She was not sure if she was relieved, happy, or angry. She only knew that if she felt bad, then he must be worse. She shook herself and turned to see Arjiah approaching them covered in a white dust, with several small abrasions across her face and arms. Her face softened and she dropped down to sit next to Fykes, laying a hand on his shoulder with a stern face.

A mist appeared in the room as she began her healing. Katerin scrunched her face and blinked her eyes as the mists washed away the majority of their burns.

Arjiah sat back with a sigh, exhaustion showing on her face. "That's all I have..." she said, massaging her forehead.

Fykes stretched his arms, with a groan. "As always, it was more than enough," he said, his voice holding a serious tone, for once.

They sat in complete silence, staring at the room and the construct for a moment, and they spent many moments in silence, catching their breath and finding a grasp upon their shaken nerves.

Arjiah broke the stillness eventually, getting to her feet and looking around. "I want to see what else is here," she said, grinning with her pointed teeth. "I think we paid a steep admission to just sit around and mope."

"Me too," Katerin agreed, breaking her stare away from the giant hunk of strange metallic material.

Fykes sighed and followed them, "We are leaving if there are any more of those," he said, his tone brooking no argument. "I don't care if they're as big as a fort or the size of fruit ants."

Neither Katerin nor Arjiah disagreed and he sighed, as if reaffirming himself.

There were doors on either side of the room, and both led to tall and spacious half-circular rooms filled with books. Katerin and Arjiah walked along the ancient shelves with enthusiasm. Most of the papers were crumbled and faded, but many remained intact, and they studied them with utmost interest.

Katerin had to use the last of her dwindling energy to be able to understand their language, passing a hand and a spell over her eyes, and watching the strange runes morph into the common tongue. She found books on history and architecture, legends and stories from a time she had not known existed.

Over the next few hours, the two learned as much as they could about these Ihmu'tahd. From Katerin's best guess, this society had been destroyed well over five hundred years ago. As the histories of the world had only ever dated back that far and even in rare copies of magically preserved tomes, she had never heard tell of these people and their astounding civilization. What ever happened before the writings of histories they had access to—something had happened to the world.