It was cold.
The night air streamed through Ryadni's hair. She screwed up her watering eyes and realised the ground rushed up to meet her.
Almost miraculously, the fall slowed. Something tugged and squeezed her under her arms and around her waist, ripping the air from her lungs. She gasped and then choked, slowing to a stop suspended in mid-air. Just when she started breathing again, she ran her hands over her body. Fingers skimmed the rope tied expertly around her torso. Ryadni reached behind her, pulled out her knife, and sawed through the rope. She fell the last six feet onto the ground and rolled.
All she could hear were the sounds of her panting and the snap and crunch of branches and leaves as she crashed through them. For a brief moment, the world spun around her and her stomach tumbled over and over. The strange alienating sensation that blunted all her senses dissipated. The scent of grass and dirt filled her nostrils.
Ryadni glanced up. Silhouetted against the starless night sky were the spiralling towers they had seen on the way in. Swinging lamp lights illuminated the broken windows of one of the towers. Urgent voices reached her ears. She kept absolutely still, willing her breathing to slow as blood pounded in her ears. Shadows flitted past the opening, but none of them lingered long enough to indicate they had seen her.
A twig snapped to her right. She turned, her knife held out in front of her. Squinting into the darkness, she could make out a growing shape. Had her fall been spotted? Unlikely, given the debacle inside, and nobody above had said anything yet. She tensed.
A woman's face came into view as the bushes parted, a frown upon her face, covered with fresh scratches and streaks of dirt. Her hair had come out of its neat bun, within which bits of twigs were still entangled.
"Didn't you hear me calling you?" she said, reaching out a hand. Ryadni hissed in warning, stiffening. The woman paused, a confused look on her face. "What is it?"
The familiarity with which she addressed Ryadni unsettled her. She was dressed in all black, the front torn, and she sported a deep cut on her forearm. She clamped her hand over the bleeding wound and continued to eye Ryadni with bemusement.
When she turned to check behind her, Ryadni raised the knife, ready to plunge it into the woman's neck.
The blade descended. Her eyes were fixed on the shadow beneath the woman's chin.
Then it all came flooding back to her.
She stared at the female Raider, her arm dropping back down to her side.
"Let's go; Casten's already been taken ahead. We only have to get ourselves out, now," said the woman, oblivious to what almost transpired, still turned in the opposite direction. Ryadni followed without a word, sheathing the blade.
Her whole body tingled as the pressured feeling she had built up to that point lifted. She gave the tower another glance before dissolving away into the darkness with the Raider.
Even as the distance increased between her and the Castle of Rubanast, it was like she had left a piece of her soul behind and it glowed as brightly as the sun, awaiting her return.
****
"I'm sorry to say we were unable to get Urseus back during this mission, Sumair." Pallas knew his words would be devastating.
All along the table, people avoided looking at Urseus's mother and none dared to break the horrified silence. Jocas gripped Sumair's flaccid, clammy hand.
"We will, of course, be sending a reconnaissance team later on this week after further information is secured about his whereabouts."
It seemed Pallas's words fell on deaf ears. Sumair said nothing.
"I assure you we will be making our best efforts to get him—"
"Your best wasn't good enough, was it?" Sumair burst out. Her voice cracked. Jocas tried to calm her with soft words but Urseus's mother shook her head, glaring across the table as pink spots coloured her gaunt face. "My little boy – my poor Urseus – is stuck in Hesprus's castle and you're sitting here, telling me how sorry you are, and feeding me all this rubbish about how you're going to try your damned hardest—"
"Calm down, Sumair," said Helene.
"I can't calm down, goddammit!" Sumair yelled back. She jumped to her feet, causing the chair to upend behind her. "My little boy is there all alone. What if he's dead? What if he's being tortured? What if they're doing worse things to him? And you're doing nothing about it!" Her voice rose to a screech and she banged her fists on the rickety table, making the others jump. "I thought the Raiders were skilled people? I thought they always get the job done? Why have they failed this time? That's not good enough! Why is there no punishment? Why aren't the Raiders paying for their failure? Why—"
"Sumair." Helene's voice held a warning, her eyes hard. Pallas rested a hand on his wife's shoulder. Now wasn't the time to antagonise an anguished mother.
Tears splashed onto the wooden surface as Sumair began to sob. "My little boy... my little Urseus... I can't believe you all let him down..."
"Jocas, can you please escort Sumair somewhere to calm down?" Pallas asked. Jocas would be the best person to dissipate Sumair's fears. They could have further talks once she calmed down. Jocas nodded and gently herded the crying Sumair out, a soft hand on her waist.
Sumair went in small steps, sobbing and her shoulders heaving. They left the room and before Jocas could shut the room properly, there was a thump. It was evident Sumair had collapsed in a weeping heap just outside. Pallas nodded at Lionus, one of the carpenter trainees, who subtly shut the door to allow Sumair some privacy.
"What of Casten's condition, Thecor?" Pallas said. Ryadni's head lifted. Thecor was just seventeen, but he was Jocas's second-in-command and had promising progress as a future medic.
"Stable condition, s-sir. The main concern is dehydration, but we're getting him to drink our herbal preparations. The cuts and the broken bones have been fixed. He should be on his feet within a few days."
"I'm glad." Pallas sighed. Some good news at last. "I'll go speak to him when he's ready. But now that Rubanast has gotten wind of our activities, we can't go back there anymore, and we still don't have the medicines we need. We'll have to send another team out soon – possibly to Nubina."
"But that's three days away," objected Hileos, one of the Raiders.
"All of the places we've raided recently don't have what we need. We need to stay away from the south; Hesprus has been seen fighting recently and we know how devastating his fires are."
"He's not called Hesprus the Fiery for nothing," Hileos said. "But there aren't any further casualties in terms of dragons. It seems their war isn't going to end any time soon."
"That's not our concern, anyway," said Helene curtly. "Our goal is to survive. What the dragons want is out of our control. Whatever they're fighting for has nothing to do with us. Our deaths will be by our own: mark my words."
"Helene," Pallas said. His wife sighed and leant back; the group appeared unsettled as it was. It wouldn't be helpful for cutting words right now. "I'll need to send a team to Nubina tomorrow. Can I have a team ready?"
"Who will you be sending?" asked Hori, one of the Raiders. She bore numerous fresh sharp wounds on her face from her recent reconnaissance mission for Casten and Urseus. Concern was etched on her features, bathed in the flickering candle lights. Something weighed heavy on her mind. "May I speak to you? Alone?"
"Of course. Any other issues?" Pallas was met with silence. He nodded. "Very well; everyone back to work then."
The adults of the Resistance filed out, talking lowly amongst themselves. Ryadni left alone, as usual. Outside, Sumair's quiet weeping could still be heard. It seemed Jocas hadn't managed to budge her to a more secluded area. Helene kissed Pallas on the cheek and departed for the training area further downstairs.
"What is it?"
Hori, the Raider, hesitated. There were dark circles under her eyes and her injured arm was wrapped tightly. She held it close to her side.
"We couldn't find Urseus. One of the prisoners told us he'd been moved a few hours before we arrived, before they started interrogating Casten."
"We will have to send in another team – or perhaps we can negotiate some sort of trade with Hesprus's family..." Pallas's thoughts trailed off and then snapped back to Hori. "My apologies. What is it about Ryadni you wish to tell me?"
The room was silent as Hori considered her words.
"Gaede was getting Casten out – we told him to leave via the back exit, with all the commotions, and that Ryadni and I will catch up once we got Urseus. We got separated. And-and Ryadni just zoned out. She wouldn't say anything and wouldn't listen. I kept pulling her, calling to her, but she just wasn't... there. It was like something else was speaking to her in her head that tuned out reality."
Worry gnawed in Pallas's chest at Hori's words. He nodded for her to continue.
"Then she just took off. I couldn't leave her – there was no way she could get out by herself – but she still wouldn't listen. Slaps, shouts, pinches – nothing worked. She just ran ahead and took me up to one of the towers of the castle. I have no idea how she knew the way – it was not on any of the maps you'd shown us. I finally snapped her out when we got to the top, but then she just lost it again and walked to one of the rooms and on top of this stand was a pile of crystals. It glowed, like sunlight, just like—"
"A dragon's Essence," Pallas finished her sentence. His heart raced. So that's what happened at Rubanast. Hori shook her head.
"I don't know; I've never seen one before, but it certainly was like how the books described it. Glows too bright for something without an energy source, arranged in a neat circular pile, pulsatile light—"
"What colour was it?"
"Purple. Not deep blue-purple, more like a pink-purple."
Khaus. Pallas closed his eyes. And it was calling out to Ryadni.
After several seconds, he let out a heavy breath.
"I see. Anything else?"
Hori shook her head.
"I couldn't break her out of the trance once she saw the Essence and the guards were coming, so I had to tie her and throw her out of the window. Ryadni was strange all the way home, but at least she was responsive after that."
Pallas heaved a sigh, his chest heavy. "It was a good thing you did, otherwise neither of you would be here right now."
"That's everything I wanted to say."
Pallas nodded and silence filled the air again. Hori nodded back and knew she was dismissed.
Pallas picked up the candle by its stand, studying the dying flames as they danced on the liquid pool of wax, the wick slowly being consumed by the heat. So Hesprus's family has Khaus's Essence. I'm not surprised Astrayas's line was too paranoid to keep it at their home, but now that the Essence has found its descendant again, the urge will only get stronger until she's revived.
He tightened his grip on the metal handle.
And it'll be over my dead body before that happens.