Binarius (26 page)

“
It wasn’t pleasant, but scars
just give you a thicker skin. Don’t worry about me, Fir, you’ve got
enough to worry about.”

“
I’m sorry they did that to you…it
killed me to leave you.”

“
I know Fir, but you had to. It
was the only way we could get to this point. I’m happy you’re home,
even if it’s only for the bread and cheese.” Auralia
smirked.

“
I missed you too,
Mum.”

“
You’re not my little girl
anymore, though.”

“
No, and we have to leave
tonight.”

Auralia asked two of the cooks to
prepare a satchel of food for Firinne, and Kaolin’s journey;
neither of them could think of anything else that they needed.
Firinne was more concerned about the safety of Citrine. She
explained to Auralia that they had to go on a long journey, but
that she would not give her details. She didn’t know how much of
their plan the Blacken already knew, and she couldn’t risk putting
her Mother in more danger for knowing too much. Auralia wanted to
know when they would be back, but Firinne couldn’t answer; she
didn’t know herself.

Kaolin agreed with Firinne to sleep
at Citrine for two hours; no more than that. She couldn’t stand the
thought of sleeping in her own bed, so she slept in her Mum’s
chambers; wrapping herself in all of the maternal
smells.

When she awoke, she went out to the
garden where she found two of the gardeners pulling Triphosa’s
corpse from the top wall. Firinne asked them for a shovel, thanking
them for their help, and requested solitude. She had dug the hole
and was now standing over Triphosa. Mangled and disfigured, with
eyes staring at the heavens; perhaps watching her soul depart.
Firinne thought she may be sick but managed to keep it all down
until the first layer of dirt covered her friend. How dismembered
the world was — and she was spinning as she watched the pieces of
it fly.

Firinne went to her chambers and
was instantly nauseated for the second time that night. There were
so many memories in this room; memories of her youth, and memories
of Cyneric. She avoided the bed and headed straight for her pine
armoire. She traced her hand across her dresses, remembering how
she would choose the dress that suited her mood for the day. She
was numb with nostalgia.

She pulled the tattered dress down
over her shoulders and let it fall in a whisper on the floor. What
did she feel? She walked into the new dress and pulled it up her
skin. It hugged her like an old friend. The mirror was dusty, but
behind the dust she could see the crimson. The black embroidery was
like black birds resting on her collar.

Rebirth.

Auralia had Firinne’s hands in hers
and was staring her deep in her eyes. She told her that she would
be at Citrine waiting for her. She told her not to worry. She told
her not to take too long. She told her to be safe, and she told her
all of the things that any mother would say to her child. More than
that, she told her daughter to believe in herself and
fight.

“
If you die, I will die, and if we
are both dead, then we will meet again.”

They hugged for a long time. Then
she felt Kaolin’s hand lie gently on her back, and she knew. It was
time to leave; time to leave her Mum again — time to leave her
home, Citrine. Everything had been packed meticulously for
them.

“
It’s a shame your stag didn’t
make it. What did you name him?”

“
Ma—how’d you know about my
stag?”

Auralia smiled. “I sent him to you,
didn’t he tell you? What did you name him?”

Firinne’s eyes were welling up with
tears. “Mabon…” she croaked out.

Auralia nodded in understanding. “I
felt him leave. He loved you, and he was okay to die for you…both
of you.” She looked at Kaolin.

As they walked out of Citrine, the
people of Citrine began to chant. It was an ancient chant; from
time before time. Firinne remembered the tune as the one her mother
would hum to her as a child.

Outside of Citrine, she stopped and
turned around. The ground shook; Firinne shook. Her masterpiece
came stabbing out from beneath the soil; impeding her view of home.
The people were still chanting. Firinne was chanting with them, and
as she took one final look at the wall, she knew the Blacken would
never violate Citrine again.

CHAPTER
THIRTY

Sea Spray and Barbs

They had
become used to traveling primarily at night, and although their
nerves were high-strung, the Moon was awake, and the woods were
silent. They were traveling north-east now on the merchants road
which cut through the woods. Rest was not an option; they had
already tampered with the schedule that Lazata had provided by
traveling to Citrine.

“
Your Mum was really nice,” Kaolin
said.

“
Yeah, she’s amazing. Maybe after
all of this is over, you can get to know her better. She’d probably
beg you to come and live with us.”

“
Really? I always kind of thought
that when all this is over, I’d just head back to Stahrling, and
pick up where I left off.”

“
What, living in solitude, and
eating voles?” Firinne laughed. “No, she’d insist you came to live
with us once she found out about your eating habits.”

“
Oi! They aren’t that bad…” He
crossed his arms and put his head down. “It would be nice not to be
alone all of the time, and…have a comfy place to sleep.” He
smiled.

“
Well, that settles it then. So
let’s you and I just hope we can get through all this and make it
back.”

“…
I don’t even know where I would
begin.”

“
Begin what?”

“
Starting over…how do I go back to
a life that isn’t at all the same as it was?”

“
I don’t know…”

“
Let’s stop talking now for a
while. We need to save our energy and I don’t want us to be
overheard. From here on out, if you see one of the Blacken’s pawns
— kill them on the spot. We can’t afford to be generous
anymore.”

“
But…damn, it’s like murdering our
own people.” He said.

“
It is exactly that, but there
isn’t a way to wake them up until the Blacken is gone, and even if
they did wake up…we don’t know what kind of state they’d be in. So,
for the sake of our sanity…let’s just consider it mercy
killing.”

Kaolin agreed and added, “May the
ethereal collective know our souls…”

Dawn came and brought with it small
pockets of scouts sent by the Blacken. The first two were easy and
Firinne picked them off quickly with a couple of arrows to the
head. Kaolin took care of their Demogorchians with his electrolifi
sword; he sustained a few scratches. They were traveling in a new
way — leaving sneaking in the shadows as a past-time. They walked
on the edge of the road, partially hidden by the forest; like
assassins — surprising their foes with vicious attacks. With every
death, the air became lighter, that is until the Mist rolled
in.

There must have been a thousand
Demogorchians in the sky and the Mist of Blacken was spilling from
their wings. Streaks of black crisscrossed the sky in grids
threatening to suffocate Fia. The skies weren’t always like this;
mostly it was just a black line behind, or in front of clouds; here
and there. She’d never seen it like this.

The next day it rained. It was a
massive deluge of black sludge — Fia’s attempt to detox. How long
would Fia’s detox take, once all of this was over? What else would
she have to do to mend herself? Maybe more importantly, would her
people and her creatures survive the detox?

Firinne and Kaolin couldn’t get
Fia’s blood off of them. It was sticky and sickly smelling, and
they knew that there probably wouldn’t be a clear river for days.
By midday next, they could barely eat because the smell was so
overpowering.

Days passed, leaving cobwebs on
memories. They were coming near the shore now where they hoped to
find a ship that would take them across the sea. They still hadn’t
been able to wash themselves clean and as they ran to the white
cliffs, they were delighted to see that the sea’s waters were so
clear.

Full-force, down to the rocky
shore, where there were a few boats floating at the dock. They
plunged themselves into the water, where the Blood disintegrated;
it was the salt from the sea that did it. Neither of them had ever
been to the sea before, and they soaked up the new experience like
children on holiday.

After they were clean, they walked
along the shore towards the dock. There was an older man who was
untangling some rope on his ship’s deck, and as Firinne and Kaolin
drew closer, he lifted his head; nodding his head toward
them.

“
Maybe we should talk to him?”
Kaolin said.

Firinne approached the old man
first.

“
It’s our first time visiting the
sea. My name is Firinne and this is Kaolin.” She said as she
motioned towards Kaolin.

“
I’ve been on these seas since I
was just a lad. Learned to tie my first knot right here on this
dock. This ship was my father’s until he passed…name’s
Oswin.”

“
Nice to meet you.You’re a
fisherman, right?”

“
Indeed…”

“
You must sail quite often. Do you
travel far out?”

“
Aye…all the way out to the
Untouched Coast, although I never dock there.”

“
Why not?”

“
You must be from far away if you
don’t know about that coast opposite ours. No one ever goes there,
it’s off limits.”

“
Says who?”

“
The Blacken o’course,”

“
Figures…why’s it off
limits?”

“
Dunno, just is.”

“
I see…well you’ll have to take us
there.” She said as she crossed her arms.

“
Wh…what you mean?”

“
Just what I said, Oswin. I don’t
mean to be rude, but the fate of all of Fia now rests in your
hands, and your ship.”

“
And who might you be?”

“
I’m Firinne Luxithanya, Queen of
Citrine Castle. This here is Kaolin Satel, King of Stahrling
Castle. We are on a mission given to us by the fallen Clandestine
Guardians, and if we do not go now, there will be no future for our
world.”

“
Prove it,” Oswin said.

“
Prove what?”

“
That yeh are, who yeh say yeh
are,” He said matter-of-factly.

Firinne looked at Kaolin. Kaolin
reached behind is back and pulled out his silvers, drawing a line
in the air with electrolfi. Oswin immediately took a step back.
While Kaolin was doing this, Firinne fabricated a crystal in the
palm of her hand and presented it to Oswin.

“
For you, Sir,” Firinne said. He
took it from her somewhat hesitantly and then looked at it for a
while. There was a long pause before he finally said, “I was told
this day would come…”

“
By who?” They asked
together.

“
Lazata…”

“
How do you—

“
She’s my sister. After The
Ascension, I went to go look for her on the mountain…found her, and
a whole bunch of other stuff I didn’t know before. Our father
fought in The Ascension…”

Firinne touched the side of his
arm. “My father did too, and Kaolin’s parents were killed by the
Blacken.”

He gave both of them a knowing
look. “I’d be happy to take you across.”

“
Thank you so much,
Oswin.”

“
Aye, it’s about time that damn
Blacken get what’s been comin’ to it. I can ‘ave her ready in about
twenty.”

“
Okay, we’ll just rest over there
by those rocks. Let us know if you need any help.”

“
Nah, I’m a pro at this stuff. You
lot, look like you could use a bit of restin’.”

They sat at the rocks waiting,
breathing in the sea spray, and contemplating what waited for them
at the twin-shore the Blacken had deemed forbidden.

It was as though the game-makers
who decide what is proper of victim and perpetrator, hero and
villain, saw that all was not right in their world of
make-believe.
There is no rest for the
wicked,
the game-makers cried, and from
the cliffs, Kaolin and Firinne saw the Dantalion Lords coming
towards them through the fog.

Kaolin jumped up with such force
that the rocks beneath him were kicked out by his leather boots. He
ran towards the ship to alert Oswin. The old man’s eyes scanned the
cliffs; the widest his eyes had probably been since youth before
the weight of life had begun sagging the skin of a man who
had
almost
existed too long.

Firinne was at the ship now, but
she wasn’t sure what to do. She could try to pick them off with her
arrows, if she missed, though, they would be alerted to their
position. She didn’t want to put Oswin in danger either.