World Warden, page 28
Elias considered ignoring him. They had never fought before, and although he was angry, he realized he was also scared and sad.
He glanced at Tristan, who was smiling, holding the bottle out for him. It was still full. He hadn’t drunk a single drop.
“I know you’re thirsty,” Tristan said. His own lips were cracked, parched from lack of moisture. “You should have this.”
Something melted in Elias’s heart, and his anger vanished. He reached for the water container and carefully set it aside. Then he fell into Tristan’s arms, hugging him tightly.
“I’m so sorry, Tristan.”
“I’m sorry too,” he replied, hugging him back. “I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. I apologize. I—”
“You were thirsty. Tired,” Elias finished for him. “I am too. I understand. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
“I am thirsty,” Tristan conceded, “but you being angry at me, that was so much worse.”
Elias smiled. “I love you.”
Tristan opened his mouth, hesitated, and instead said, “Come on. You should drink.”
Elias’s brief burst of hope was squashed as quickly as it had appeared.
He can’t say it. He doesn’t love me.
I can’t make him love me.
“Are you okay?” Tristan asked gently.
Elias closed his eyes for a moment. It’s okay. I can’t change the way I feel about him, and he can’t change the way he feels.
“I’m okay,” Elias replied. He even managed a weak grin.
“Let’s share the water, then. It will do us both good.”
That night, as Elias held Tristan in his arms, he took a moment to give silent thanks for having Tristan with him. Again Elias reminded himself that Tristan could have chosen not to come on this desperate quest at all, but he had done so freely. He’d had many opportunities to go back, but he had never done so. He had been true.
Even if he doesn’t love me, he’s always been there for me, Elias reminded himself. He’s never given up on me.
He remembered how Tristan had found him at Crescent Valley all those months ago, and how Tristan had told him that he had never given up hope that Elias was still alive. He remembered the now countless times Tristan had saved his life, and he realized that he was not sad that Tristan could not reciprocate his feelings for him.
Instead Elias was scared.
He looked up at the star-filled sky and tried not to cry.
I led him here.
The recrimination rang true in his mind, and it would not stop bouncing in the close confines of his guilt-stricken skull. If they were in this situation, it was because this was the plan Elias had come up with. If they were now adrift and lost, it was Elias’s responsibility to fix it. And he could not.
Elias hugged the sleeping Tristan more tightly in the darkness, a couple of tears running silently down his cheeks. His heart burned with guilt, worry, and desperation. He was not scared for himself, but he was terrified for Tristan.
I led him here, he told himself again, every word hurting like a lash. If he dies… it’s on me.
Chapter 18. Eyrie
OSCAR SLEPT very little that night, terrified about going to see Dresde the following morning. He had nightmares that were similar to the ones he’d had while he had been in the prison. He relived the anguish he had experienced while Dresde had carried him, and he also remembered the brief conversation with her when he had first arrived at the volcano. He recalled the way she had slapped his injured arm with her tail, knowing full well how much it would hurt. He kept having flashbacks of how quickly Dresde had approached him until she was standing close enough to end his life with a single bite.
The night brought him little rest, and he was almost glad when his link beeped, telling him it was time to wake up.
He got ready quickly and efficiently, grabbed the spear, and went downstairs. He barely tasted his breakfast.
“We are leaving now, Oma,” Samantha told Nadja as Oscar was putting on his shoes by the door.
“Be safe, both of you,” she replied.
Oscar looked up from tying his shoelaces, surprised.
Did she include me?
“We will,” Samantha said firmly.
Outside the air was fresh and invigorating, which helped Oscar focus, given that he was equal parts nervous and sleepy. The sun was about to rise, and the now-familiar landscape around the house was illuminated by the gentle light of dawn. It was very quiet, and only the far-off sound of waves breaking reached Oscar’s ears.
He tried to tell himself it was going to be okay, but he wasn’t sure he believed it.
He shouldered the backpack Samantha had assigned to him, which contained provisions and some water. It wasn’t very heavy, for which he was grateful. He had no idea how long he would have to carry it.
“Follow me,” Samantha said, heading uphill with her own spear in hand. “Doran has been sent elsewhere, so we will have to get to the eyrie on foot, and it is about three hours to the Flower chamber.”
“Three hours. Right,” Oscar replied, gulping. “Lead the way.”
Samantha walked a couple of paces ahead of him, apparently unafraid, but Oscar couldn’t help but remember the last time he’d taken this route with her.
It had been weeks ago, and he had tried his best to forget, but as they left the cliffside behind and headed for a distant cave on the upper slopes of the volcano, Oscar recalled vividly how awful it had been the night he’d first gotten there. His shoulder had hurt a lot. He had been confused, with no idea of where he was or what was going to happen to him.
My shoulder is better now.
He rotated his arms experimentally and felt no pain.
I’m also stronger than I was back then. I know where I am. And I think I’m not alone.
With three quick steps, he caught up to Samantha.
“What do you think she wants with me?” he asked, trying his best to sound casual.
Samantha shook her head briefly. “I do not know. As I said yesterday, sometimes she is simply bored. There have been times when she summons me only to talk.”
“Talk? Like, as if she was your friend?”
Samantha’s tightened her lips into a line. “No, nothing like that.”
“Then what do you do?”
“Mostly, I listen. I think human speech amuses her. She can convey meaning without words—it has happened a few times—but I think she enjoys talking to me and forming sentences in her mind. I do not know how to explain. I intuit this. She is very intelligent, and sometimes I think she likes bouncing ideas off of another intelligent creature.”
“And what do you guys talk about?”
“Sometimes inconsequential things,” Samantha replied. The sun had come out fully, and the first golden rays of the morning appeared to caress her skin and made her inquisitive emerald eyes take on the color of amber.
Oscar realized he had been staring and turned his attention back to the increasingly steep path full of dark-gray gravel and some rocks of larger size that made the going tricky now they were actually climbing. He tried to use his spear as a walking stick, and it helped give him some stability.
“Sometimes?” he said to keep the conversation going.
Samantha sighed. “I would rather not go into detail about what she chooses to discuss. You should know this, however. She is a cruel creature. If you show her weakness, she will pounce on it. If she sees that her words hurt, she will keep talking and talking, hoping to break you. Show her nothing. Let her words wash over you, but never let them sink in.”
“It sounds hard to do,” Oscar said quietly.
Samantha gave him a rueful grin. “I have had many years to practice.”
“How long have you, you know, been Dresde’s, uh….”
“You can say it, male. Say it openly. I am her slave, as all in my family are, and now you. I may be her favorite plaything, but I am not free, and I never forget that. When she orders me to come, I come. When she orders me to fight, I fight. I never wanted to fly halfway across the world to duel with your brother and invade your home, but I had no choice.”
“Why you, though?” Oscar asked, unable to suppress the question, even if it made Samantha mad. “You’re the youngest. It’s not fair.”
Samantha appeared to think for a long while. Eventually they reached the entrance to the cave that led into the side of the volcano, and she went in without hesitation. Oscar followed close by, wincing at the sulfur-laden smell that reminded him even more strongly of the last time he had been there. When Samantha spoke next, her voice echoed faintly off the rocky walls around them.
“Why me? I suppose it is because I have stood up to her the most. Perhaps. My grandmother and Laurie interact with her as little as possible, and they never talk back.”
“That’s weird,” Oscar commented. “Your grandma and Laurie are scary. Like, it wouldn’t be easy to intimidate them.”
“Oh, they are not intimidated. It is simply that they have too much to lose.”
“What do you mean?” Oscar asked, although he was certain he wouldn’t like the answer.
“They could lose me, male,” Samantha said matter-of-factly. “Dresde threatens us with the only thing of value we have, which is our family. Therefore, out of love for me, they never challenge her. They know what would happen if they do. My mother….” There was a long pause Oscar dared not interrupt. “She paid the price for defying her, and she is now broken.”
Oscar teared up at the catch in Samantha’s voice.
“She’s not broken. She can still talk,” he almost whispered.
Samantha stopped so suddenly that Oscar bumped into her in the shadowy confines of the tunnel they had reached.
“What?”
“She can,” Oscar insisted. “Yesterday we were at the graveyard together, before you came home. We saw D—we saw her, flying overhead. Ute tackled me to the ground and told me to be quiet. She told me she would protect me.”
Samantha turned to face him, still standing very close. Oscar perceived clearly the faint citrus fragrance of her hair.
“You are certain of this?”
Oscar nodded vigorously. “I’m not making it up, I swear. I was really surprised.”
Samantha ran a hand through her hair. “I always suspected she still… but why with you?”
“To be honest, I don’t think she knew it was me. I mean, I think maybe she mistook me for someone else. It was weird. At that moment she looked so different. Strong, determined, fierce, awesome. Kind of, uh, like you.”
Oscar realized he must be blushing, and he was thankful for the dim light that hid it from view.
Samantha resumed walking.
“Thank you for telling me this,” she said. “It gives me hope, cruel though it may turn out to be.”
Climbing the volcano was hard, and Oscar soon had no breath to spare for conversation. Although they had begun by taking a path that was similar to the one he had descended weeks ago, Oscar realized they might be going higher this time. Samantha led him ever upward, through tunnels of rock, caves, and breathtakingly beautiful but really scary sections out in the open on the exposed flank of the volcano.
After about an hour and a half of climbing nonstop, they finally had a brief break on an exposed ledge that looked south, where they had come from.
The view was spectacular. The sharp slope of the volcano was clearly outlined below them, and Oscar was able to follow the contours of the rolling landscape until, very far away, a hint of green showed him where the house should be. He was too high up to see anything in great detail, however, and other than a very thin and sparkling line that he supposed was the river, he could not distinguish any landmarks.
To the right the ocean spread out in all its immensity. Low-hanging clouds looked close enough to touch, and despite the fact that it was summertime and the sun was shining, Oscar shivered a little bit with the bite of the relentless wind that blew past him. The rock on which he was sitting was hot, though, and it counteracted the chill with a strong and pervasive warmth, which made Oscar wonder, not for the first time, why it was that the rock all around the volcano, as well as the water in the river, was always so warm. He wasn’t an expert in geology, but he didn’t think it was normal.
They had some food and drank most of the water in Oscar’s pack while they rested. Oscar used the time to massage his legs, which were shaky after the relentless hike. He was careful not to let his spear roll away, because if it fell off the side, he would never be able to retrieve it.
“How much farther till we reach the top?” he asked. He had to raise his voice a little bit to be heard over the wind.
Samantha looked up at the sun. “About an hour and a half more, I estimate. But we are not going all the way to the top.”
“We aren’t?”
“No. The caldera is a mysterious place where only Dresde goes. Our destination is the eyrie, which is below.”
“Was that the place where we first arrived, after I was brought here?”
“No, that was but one of the many caves that face the ocean. The males often use them to rest at night, or at least they did before. I rarely see any males anymore other than Doran. The eyrie is above that, and it is a much larger chamber. You will see it very soon.”
“Yay, sounds like fun,” Oscar grumbled.
“We should go or we will be late. Dresde does not like to be kept waiting.”
“Right,” Oscar complained as he stood up, leaning on the spear. “Let’s not make Her Majesty wait.”
“You say it as a joke, but she really thinks of herself as the queen of the world,” Samantha pointed out. The two of them made their way back into a nearby tunnel that led up. “She thinks every other creature on the planet is beneath her, and that includes her sisters.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think she could be a great queen if she tried, but I also think she lost control of herself long ago.”
“What does that mean?”
Oscar received no answer to that, and soon he was out of breath again. The climb was even more arduous than before, with the added complication of the temperature. It was tolerable at first, but the more they climbed the hotter it got. When they reached the vast underground chamber lit by a lake of molten rock that oozed slowly from a crack on the volcano’s massive wall, it was all Oscar could do to remain focused and put one foot in front of the other. The air was stifling, and it was also noxious. Oscar hurried behind Samantha to leave the chamber behind as soon as possible, and he took in great gulps of fresh air as they reached a cave that he recognized. It was where he’d first arrived what seemed like ages ago. There was another magnificent view of the ocean at the mouth of the large chamber, but he had little time to appreciate it because Samantha kept going.
They took a rough path that was treacherous because of all the loose rocks. It was also narrow, barely big enough for one person at a time to use, and Oscar realized that the climb had only then begun in earnest. He was soon on all fours, panting, his only focus to keep going, telling himself to ignore the fierce headache that throbbed between his temples. He managed, but it cost him.
The next minutes were a blur of exhaustion. The temperature fluctuated between uncomfortably hot and chilly, and every rock held the potential for injury if Oscar trusted it too much and it ended up moving under his weight to potentially send him tumbling down the way he had come as he broke every bone in his body. Oscar got scared that he wouldn’t be able to reach the top or, worse, that Samantha would leave him behind to fend for himself with no idea how to get back down at all. He was obsessing over this last worry when he bumped into Samantha once more as she finally stopped.
“Our last break,” she said, very nearly whispering. “We are close.”
She offered him water from her pack, which Oscar gulped gratefully once he stopped panting. As he handed the half-empty bottle over, he realized that Samantha had made it so they had drunk the water in his pack earlier, as well as eaten the food he had carried, so his backpack would be lighter for the hard part of the climb.
She climbed all this way with a backpack full of water and rations.
“I can’t believe you do this all the time. You don’t even look tired!”
Samantha shrugged. “I have come here many times. I am used to it.”
“Still, wow. How close are we?”
“Close enough for you to keep your voice down. Remember, do as she says. Do not contradict her. With luck, she will get bored of you and we can be back home before sundown.”
Oscar tried not to be too obvious about the fact that he was terrified and gave what he thought should look like a brave nod. Samantha packed the water bottle, picked up her spear, and resumed climbing, with Oscar close behind.
They broke into the eyrie with very little warning, climbing up from the path they had been following and through a hole in what had looked like the rocky ceiling of a tunnel.
Oscar followed Samantha up through the opening. He struggled to heave himself up but could not. Samantha lent him a hand, reaching down through the hole, and he was able to push with his legs and finally come out and stumble onto the floor of the largest rock chamber he had ever seen. His spear fell to the floor, and he scarcely noticed, distracted by what he saw.
“We are here,” Samantha said. “The eyrie.”
“It’s… enormous,” Oscar whispered.
He could barely see the walls on the far end of a vast cave that sprawled overhead, its domed ceiling so high up that even the stalactites that hung from it looked like tiny twigs. One side of the dome, which looked out over the ocean, had either collapsed or been sliced clear off the side of the volcano, and it offered the most dramatic view of the distant blue vastness of the sky Oscar had yet seen during his climb. He took a couple of tentative steps in that direction, marveling at the magnificence displayed before him. He had climbed so high that even the clouds were beneath him from where he stood. The wind howled in the cave, as if to say that he had reached the end of the world. He felt as though he were standing on the observation deck of the tallest skyscraper ever built, but on a scale that was not meant for humans. What would have been a window was instead an opening so large that his entire house would have easily been able to fit through it with room to spare.
