"Baulas"
[REDACTED], a.2012
017 "Bluefield"
Barracks - Base: Adamant Nexus
"StorySide"
"What in Aion's name do you think you're doing?!"
That roar from the nightmare was so loud that it woke me up.
Thunk.
"Ow—!"
Adamant's barracks didn't have enough bunk space for people to sit up in, let alone to even jump on the bed. Of course, at the time, I had my hands clamped onto my forehead, trying to squeeze the pain out. Of all the places, it had to be here that a nightmare did this to me.
"Ahh…" I shook my head and pulled myself out of the bunk. I walked over to the dresser by the door, pulled open a few drawers. In five minutes, I was dressed in an orange long-sleeve shirt, faded blue jeans, and white socks. I looked at myself in the mirror for three seconds.
My reflection stared back, like, …what do you want? It'd been looking like that a lot lately.
I sighed and moved on. I grabbed the essentials—ZeroDrive from the dresser top; grey hoodie jacket from the door.
There was a dull pain in the back of my neck—right side. I ignored it the best I could as I walked toward the barracks entrance.
I went to the shoe cubby next to it, pulled out my black sneakers. As I laced them on, I thought about that nightmare—that angry roar.
I guessed that it was time to go back.
Time to go back through the door.
The song "Hikari" by Aoi Teshima played on the intercom as I went from the barracks to the Hub.
"Blood from the Sky"
[REDACTED], a.2012
017 "Bluefield"
"Guest Room" in Unknown Area of: Sanctum, Elysea, Atreia
Aion { Fan Fiction } - "StorySide"
Being a Zero, I don't think my absence had anything to do with Jaya's boredom.
In the four weeks I'd been gone, Jaya had fallen prey to an all-permeating monotony. She'd start every day by waking up, getting dressed, then waiting for Kiert and Sathas to come in. After the swan had applyed some special salve to her wound, they'd let her eat the food they'd brought in. Bread with honey instead of butter, warm soup—although they still "had to" wait for her to finish, it was better than the mush they'd given her in the first cell.
After Kiert and Sathtas left with the clean plates, Jaya would wait an hour or two for Kit and Kryson to come in—the peregrine with a cheerful smile and armloads of scrolls and parchment, clearly for working on the Lay (and Jaya's learning of Elyan). After the guard ensured that Lady Delainne had safely made it to you-know-who, he'd return to his post at the door.
Kit and Jaya would then spend the next several(?) hours working on a particular section of the song. To summarize, they needed to create two translations in Elyan. One would maintain the flow of the original song, since to do otherwise would be a disservice to Mishuvel the Pale's work; while the other would be a literal transcript, for the idioms and other literary devices used in Asmodae and, namely, Carcarron.
During lunch, Jaya and Kit would have lessons in Elyan while still talking about the Lay. Then the afternoon bells would go off in the distance, and Kit would reluctantly go to ready up for "evening court". Of course, she'd leave Jaya with a few things to ponder over, usually about—no surprise—the Lay. Once she was done with that, she'd either wait around, or (more likely) practice with her leg again. Boredom was not a productive companion for her. Neither was the fact that Kiert was right: Jaya would be limping for the rest of her life. The pain wasn't as agonizing; but it just pulled itself inwards, towards her bone.
When dinner came around, so did Nico the Butcher—she herself carried it in. According to Jaya, she still hardly acted like a "Butcher", especially since she'd flirt with Kryson and Sathas; but that next to Kit, she was one of the few Elysians that Jaya got along quite well with. She also helped Jaya with learning Elyan—usually sentences you'd find when you talk with people in the home or with friends at malls and such, not from an ancient work like the Lay or Romeo and Juliet.
After dinner, after Nico had left with the dishes, Jaya would usually change into a nightrobe and go to bed. The next morning, the sun would pierce through the thick curtains to wake Jaya, and she'd start this routine all over again.
How did I know all of this? [Vaire]. They'd uncovered a fragment of the original Transcript, which they in turn gave to me. I still wonder, though: did I really have to paraphrase it into this thing?
Oh, well. Better safe than sorry, I guess.
- [ Current Seg.: Chapter 08 ]
- [ Seg. Progress: ~=9.85% ]
When I came back, it was raining. Again.
Jaya's room was dim, but lit enough for me to look around without strain. The curtain was drawn aside, allowing me to see the clouds of grey that blocked out the sun. The window itself had no glass, only grey metal bars—a cruel reminder of what the occupant was: caged. Jaya herself was staring out of the bars, arms on the stone windowsill. She was resting her head on the palm of her hand, eyes staring out with deep longing. She swung her left foot, absent-mindedly. She looked really bored, but more than that, she looked sadder than usual.
I knocked on the door behind me. Which, considering that I was in the same room as her (again), was stupid; but then again, I didn't choose to put myself in there.
Knock-knock.
At the sound of that, Jaya swiftly turned from the window, stared at me in shock.
"Hey, Jaya," I said.
"—Bluefield?" she managed, hand gripping the windowsill. "For how long were you standing there?"
"About ten seconds," I said, wincing at myself. "I take it you've been busy with the Lay?"
She nodded. I'd half-expected her to attack me again. I still felt bad, invading others' privacy like this.
I joined her at the window. The view wasn't good or bad—I just couldn't see much of Sanctum, which was probably why they'd chosen this room. What I could see were gardens—situated along the battlemented outer walls of the city, partolled by squads of mortal guards. I noticed that they would often stay at the guard houses along the way, likely to keep warn in this lovely weather (and I do mean lovely). The curtains of rain were thick—I couldn't see any landscape from beyond Sanctum.
Lightning cracked. Thunder boomed. Was it less than a mile away?
Jaya turned her gaze. I followed her gaze to the carved walls of the structure, just as a streak of purple lightning cracked overhead. As thunder followed, the brief flash illuminated the large wall that Jaya was looking at. From what I could see, it was an image of war between Elysian and Asmodian Daevas, and they all seemed beyond angry about something. I was getting tired of looking at the same kind of binary shit all over again—and this was only my second visit, for Pete's sake.
Looking down and away from the giant carving, there was another side garden. It looked like someone had spent a long time working out the kinks, if there were any. Aside of the artfully-arranged trees and vines, there was one artistic piece of greenery that wasn't perfect: a bird. To be blunt, it stood out from the rest of this garden. It was a bush-like plant, trimmed enough into the shape of an avain creature in flight; but beyond that, it looked more—as Jaya had put it—"ragged". In layman's terms, if it was going to fly, the bird would experiance a very wobbly flight.
But it just stayed in that position like a bush. Which it was.
"Well," I said. "That's a new one."
Jaya looked at me. "Of what?"
"I've seen statues that symbolize human freedoms, natural rights," I replied. "but 'til now, I've never seen any greenery that served that purpose."
Jaya nodded, understanding somewhat. A few moments later, she set her feet on the floor, started pacing again. I noticed that the floor was now covered with a large, plushy fur rug. I guess that Kit had kept her promise on the floor part; but it wasn't without downsides, especially for Jaya's stubborn exercises. Walking on an uneven surface with one lame leg and two bare feet, Jaya didn't exactly look stable.
I don't remember how many steps she got to today. All I know is that she was certainly long past 9 steps after a few rounds on the rug, slowly going faster and faster—just as the front door opened.
Jaya was about to run right into Kit and Kryson, who stopped short of entering at the sight of her approaching.
Instinctively, I rushed forward.
There was a yelp, scrolls and papers hitting the floor; and the next thing I knew, Kit, Kryson and I were all holding Jaya by the shoulders, her left leg loosely propped between her and the floor. The whole scene must've looked pretty ridiculous.
I looked past the raspberry hair, at the peregrine. "Hey, Kit," I said, mildly casual.
Kit glanced at me. "Sir Bluefield?"
I sighed. "Please, ma'am. Just 'Bluefield' or 'Blu'. No 'sirs'."
Kit nodded absently, then focused on her mortal charge.
"Are you hurt?" she asked. "Is something wrong? With your injury, you should not be moving about so—"
Jaya was already annoyed that two people + 1 Zero were touching her, even if it was only to keep her from a painful spill. Believe me, I didn't like this any more than she did.
"My injury is of no consequence at the moment," she grumbled. I rolled my eyes. Now that she was learning Elyan, I could now understand what most Elyan-speakers were talking about. Right now, there was a small window in the bottom right of my vision (courtesy of the ZeroVisor), so I could see that Jaya was speaking Elyan, and Kit in Asmoth. (Ironic, huh?)
Jaya pulled her feet back under her, tested her left leg for the umpteenth time, then stood herself up. I pulled my hands back from her shoulders and walked around to get a better view of Jaya looking Kit in the eye.
"I have been kept in one cell or another for a month or more, if my sense of time is correct," she said, calmly yet firmly certain. "I will go mad if I am not allowed outside, even for a moment, to breathe free air."
If this surprised Kit, I only saw it the moment she blinked.
"Kryson, gather those up, if you please," she said in Elyan, about the parchment now laying like dropped groceries. As the guard in question got to work on that, she turned back to Jaya, drawing her aside a few steps. "From whence comes this notion, all of a sudden?" she queried.
"I am bored senseless," Jaya answered, straightforward. "Perhaps a Daeva may be merrily committed to the same endless goal, day in and day out"—I raised an eyebrow to that, wondering if that applied to Zeroes to some degree—"but I am mortal, and thus prey to stagnancy. I do not ask that you take me out among the High Court, like some foreign ambassador—"
"My lord would have my head on a platter, High Chantress or no," Kit said, cheeks flushing pink. I winced at the thought.
Jaya seemed to sympathize with her on it, too, even as she said, "I only ask for a turn in some side-garden."
Kit raised both of her eyebrows. "What, out in the rain?"
Knowing Jaya, she wouldn't be so easily swayed out of it.
"You spoke of it yourself: an Elyos sun is too bright for an Asmodian, unless it is veiled," she pointed out, chin up. "Amidst the rain, no nosy Elyos nobles will stir from cover to catch a glimpse of me. The gardens will be abandoned, and the rampart patrols may be forewarned, or replaced. And if I am truly held a guest here, of your lord's mercy, then I am owed a boon for my work upon the Lay."
Kit's face paled before the end of that argument.
A long moment of silence. Then…
"Tarry a moment longer, Kryson, if you please," Kit said, finally. "Sathas?"
At that, the other guard, standing just outside the doorway, peered his head around to look at us. "Milady?" he inquired.
"Do come in, and close the door behind you."
At this, Sathas paused briefly, weighing whatever directives were in his head, before obliging, coming to stand in front of the closed door.
With all four Ones safely inside, Kit turned back to face her charge. "Now, Jaya, this is no ordinary favor you ask me, and so boldly."
Especially since she'd vocalized this request in Elyan, which both the High Chantress and the guards all grew up speaking.
"I do not ask it lightly," Jaya said, as if she knew the risks. (Which I suppose she did.)
"I know." Kit sighed and shook her head. The bells in her earrings let loose another cascade of chimes. "You are ever loath to ask of me anything you cannot accomplish on your own. And I suppose you are owed that much; both our peoples crave the sky, whether we've the wings to fly it or not, and 'tis cruel to keep you from it. But my lord will not like it, nor agree readily." And here, she glanced at me—the unknown factor—before going on. "I suppose your continued cooperation is a condition of my acceptance?"
Jaya blinked. Then she said, in Asmoth: "The word of any Daeva is law, where the populace is concerned, is it not?"
Now it was Kit's turn to blink—again, briefly. "My lord is not a target for petty rooking," she replied in Asmoth.
Jaya thought about that. Then she pulled her chin up.
I tried not to hold my breath. If this "lord"—to whom not only Kit answered to, but Oros, Nico, Kiert and Trist as well—was indeed an Elysian Daeva, then this was probably dangerous territory.
And yet, here Jaya was, jumping straight in:
"Your 'lord' has yet to involve himself in my welfare, beyond sending the scions of his reign to poke and prod and bother with their needling questions, all allegedly in his name. That is sheerest cowardice, among my people. As far as I am concerned, the only dealings I shall cleave to are those made with you, or the proud gyre, who at least has shown me the respect of a warrior. Your mysterious dandy Helios-lord, however, hides from me, afraid of a crippled mortal."
At the risk of repeating myself: Ouch.
"Jaya, it is not so simple." Kit gasped, her face paling at this form of disrespect—something she couldn't exactly dismiss as false.
But Jaya wasn't done. "I will no longer allow myself to be cultivated in his name," she growled in declaration, "when he hasn't the stones to approach me in his own flesh."
With that, she turned away from Kit and stomped—well, as best she could, with her leg crippled—past me, back over to the window. As she stared out of it, apparently looking down to see the "ragged bird", the two guards stared at her back, silently puzzled. Since they didn't understand Asmoth, I couldn't blame them. Kit, however, looked hurt, even as she stared at Jaya's back with them.
Another tendril of lightning snaked across the sky again, close enough to light the room up for a blink of time. Thunder boomed (I thought the storm was getting super-quiet…), and as if on cue, the rain came down harder. If the storm were any more violent, it would've torn the ragged bird from its own "perch" before we could get there.
But in that room only, there was a long silence. I shifted my feet, uneasy.
In retrospect, Kit was a stronger character than Jaya and I had given her credit for. After what seemed like minutes (it was really around 40 seconds), the peregrine finally spoke, in level Elyan that veered away from "darkly" and "dull". "We must have you go veiled," she said, "and with a full escort."
Jaya's brow rose somewhat. I could tell that answer had lifted her spirits, even though she was doing a fine job with hiding it as she turned around. "Define 'full escort'," she said in Elyan.
I sighed, somewhat relieved, somewhat restless. "Well, whatever the hell it means," I said to her, "I'm assuming that it'll only include the people who know about you, but aren't interested in killing you."
Jaya glared at me. I shrugged at her, turned to Kit. "Am I correct?"
The High Chantress nodded, trying not to lose her composure despite the ridiculous mental image that went along with the default "full escort": a full platoon of guards following us around, through cramped corridors and into the garden. Which was obviously out of the question.
Kit turned to Jaya, answering: "Myself, Nico, and this pair, of course." With that last part, she gestured to the two guards on either side of the room. "An ample escort, I think, without attracting undue attention for three ladies out walking in the rain." She then turned to look at me. "And you?"
"Don't worry about my blowing your cover," I replied. "Whether I'm present or not won't change if any unwanted attention comes our way."
Kit nodded. "All right, then…"
"Milady." That was Sathas, still standing at the door, but with alarm clear in his voice. "Should not milord be asked first?"
Kit turned to face him, and her bright demeanor changed to something more…regal. Higher up.
I knew in my gut that she meant business.
"I was The Voice of Ten Thousand Chimes long before I bent my knee to my lord's cause," she said to the mortal guard, voice cool. "Though my lord is often allowed to forget, my status is no less than his, as a princess of a noble House. As this matter does not concern the welfare of the Furiae, my word is as good as his, or better."
Both Sathas and Kryson actually pulled back from her—about an inch or two—before she'd even finished speaking. Once she had, Sathas swallowed and bowed. I guess that having an immortal noble staring at you because you said something about who's in charge isn't very comfortable.
Luckily for Sathas, Kit was still the metaphorical good cop. She turned her attention back to Jaya and I, smiling brightly. "Now," she said, her regular demeanor returning, "I must gather what is needed, and whilst I am gone, you will sit and rest your leg. You will need all your strength for even a short walk in the gardens, unless you desire that we carry you—"
"Not bloody likely," I heard Jaya mutter under her breath as she walked over to the couch. I sighed. Of course.
"—or that I locate a crutch, or a cane or suchlike, which I believe you will also refuse."
Jaya proved Kit right by waving her off as she dropped herself onto the couch, left leg stretched out.
I looked at Kit and gave her a shrug of faux-exasperation, like, Oh, well… What can you do? She replied with a rueful smirk, which grew larger when she focused on Jaya. "I will be back shortly," she promised. "Sathas, Kryson?"
"Milady." At their mention, the two guards snapped to attention.
"You may return to your posts. No one is to be told of our little excursion, hmm?"
"Yes, milady."
With that, they followed Kit out the door, shutting it behind them.
Lightning crackled again.
- [ Seg. Progress: ~=50.47% ]
"It's a bit big in the chest," Nico said from beyond the door, where they were helping Jaya with dressing up for a walk.
The cloak that she and Kit had brought for Jaya was made out of thick cloth—for females to go out in cold tempuratures, I guessed.
When the two ladies came in, I immediately left the room before they could tell me to. Sathas and Kryson soon followed (on Kit's orders), closing the door behind them.
Kit, now dressed in a saffron-colored gown, was busy (I'd guess with) tying the cloak to Jaya's form. As for Nico, she had on a buttoned tunic—with her navel exposed, of course—and skin-tight leggings. I guessed that since she was a Daeva as well (nobility having nothing to do with it), she could afford to wear that much and not catch a cold or fever.
I guess Jaya caught herself staring at Nico's outfit of choice (or of something else). "My apologies," she said, with some very mild sarcasm. "I am not so gifted in certain areas as some of us are."
I heard Nico laugh. "Pretty sure we can find something to pad your assets with," she said with a mischievous delight.
After a few seconds of the annoyed noises that followed, Kit finally begged an irritated Jaya to hold still.
I was resisting the urge to say something like, Young'un, stop that shit.
- [ Seg. Progress: ~=54.86% ]
I nodded as Kit and Nico both stood back. "Yeah, you look real inconspicuous now," I said, unable to help myself from smiling.
"Oh, piss off," Jaya growled (not about her disguise).
Nico laughed. I wasn't sure what at, or for. "So what d'you think?" the butcherbird asked, grinning, a hand mirror held out to Jaya.
Once the two Daevas had finished up with the "makeover", they knocked for me to come back inside. I don't know why. This "return visit" thing was changing everything around me faster than it should have. But I desided not to argue.
Aside of the cloak, I saw that Jaya's disguise now included the following:
A.) gold hairpins, to alter her hairstyle into something more "ladylike".
B.) Jaya's own jade coralline necklace.
C.) a veil that concealed her face…with the obvious exception of her silver eyes.
D.) two handkerchiefs in the front, that Nico had pulled out for "asset padding" (I assumed that Jaya did not look happy when Nico gave them to her).
I turned to Kit. "How about it, Lady Delainne? Is your guest ready to go?"
"Well, there are some imperfections in this disguise," Kit admitted, "but on the whole, it will more than do." She turned to Jaya, who nodded. "Your leg is sound?"
"More than sound enough for this journey," she answered. "May I make a small request?"
The two Daevas looked at each other. For whatever reason, Nico busted up, giggling like one of those girls who would try to stalk me in high school: all bubbly and gossipy (Oddly enough, Nico didn't strike me as that sort of person, so I didn't feel repulsed by this).
Kit, meanwhile, simply smiled crookedly again. "You ask an awful lot of favors, once your mind is set upon a thing!" she said. "But do go ahead. I confess to curiosity."
Even through the veil, I saw Jaya's cheeks flush—just a bit—as she said: "I wish to see the ragged bird topiary."
(I don't know if that warrants one of those comical collapses you'd see in anime and manga.)
For once, Kit actually looked confused. "'Ragged bird'?" she asked, blinking.
Nico, however, knew what that meant. She stopped herself giggling. "Oh, the bird! Yes, it's a weird one, innit? You can probably see it from your window, if you squint, right?"
Jaya nodded.
"That's the one. It is so strange, so unique, and so out of place! I love it, I know exactly where it is. Boys!"
That last part was because she was calling Sathas and Kryson back, the door open while they stayed at their posts. "Milady?"
"Is the coast clear?"
Kryson quickly checked up and the corridor.
"Yes, milady," said Sathas (easy for him; he didn't actually follow Kryson's lead to check again).
"Excellent! Follow me."
With that, Nico strode out ahead of us. Kit and Jaya both followed, side by side. I went after them shortly, sneakers against marble, as the guards locked the door and brought up the rear.
I never really noticed how large those two were.
- [ Seg. Progress: ~=63.29% ]
The walk there took too long.
Out of the whole maze of passages that Nico led us through, we'd only passed by one young blond girl. I guessed that she was a page—maybe an errand runner or a budding knight-in-training—but I hadn't dwelled on it.
I didn't know if Nico was trying to mess with Jaya's sense of direction, or if she was taking such a complicated path for no reason. But since the shrike was in too good of a mood, humming and singing to herself as she walked along, I didn't feeling asking.
But this was taking its toll on Jaya; this wasn't the kind of "short walk" that Kit had been talking about. Her leg was starting to shake when she put her foot to the ground. Kit herself looked exasperated, too. How long did getting from point A to point B have to take?
Finally, Nico brought us to the end of the hall. "Here we are!" she said cheerfully, pushing through.
"Oh, at last!" Kit sighed.
Jaya stopped. The smell of the garden's green occupants, I guess, were very new to her. Kit noticed her staring, touched her elbow to reassure her. Jaya nodded, and we all stepped through the door.
I think Jaya was, understandably, the last of us to adjust her eyes to the light. For her, the corridors were dim compared to outside.
We were standing at a point of a green isosceles triangle, vertices rounded. The other two points were at either end of the rampart's long edge. The trees along the edges covered our heads, but not enough to keep the lights of the guard station fires—or the rain—from getting through. Octogonal slabs of grey stone connected various points of interest in the garden: vibrant flowerbeds, statues of historical figures from Elysia.
But what Jaya was really interested it was the garden's centerpiece work: the "ragged bird".
We all walked to it along the slippery stone slabs.
The base was a hedge trimmed into a geometrically-symmetrical dome and cylinder shape, at least six or seven feet tall. The main part "roosting" on top of it was not as, well, "perfect", but that's what made it cool. Its beak said that the head was looking up, probably getting ready to fly from its perch. Green shoots stuck out from its body here and there. Bunches of little white flowers—some were producing seeds—covered the bird shape in such a way that I could recognize it.
It wasn't about whether the bird would be able to fly, I knew: this was letting things happen as they naturally do. Humans are born with natural rights and freedoms, and this work of greenery—a signal of individuality and differnce in this space of "flawlessness"—is an excellent example.
You can't stop what's natural. You can't stop people from thinking and acting as they do.
And that's what makes human individuality, human nature, so damn valuable.
I thought about Olivier and Chisari then—how they'd never be able to share this sight with me.
Unfortunately, the time for admirating rain-drenched garden art didn't last. Just as Jaya had come to the same conclusion I had, I noticed a man in a grey cloak, crouching on the center's far side. I'd only seen one person in this world who wore that color before.
In the corner of my eye, I saw Kit and Jaya notice as well. The cloaked person in front of me stood up.
Just as he looked at us, face becoming visible, lightning flashed across the sky again, enough to light up his features.
I was looking at Ouroboros Stalks-By-Night himself—the gyrfalcon pensive, eyes calm, but definately the same man I'd last seen a month ago.
I'm sure that within two seconds, Oros had locked eyes with Jaya—her veil sprinkled with rain, her eyes silver signals.
Uh-oh.
He figured her disguise out rather quickly.
Next thing I know, I'm looking at classic, angry Oros again: face sharp, eyes figuratively ablaze.
Thunder rolled through as he roared:
"WHAT IN AION'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
That was much, much louder than the roar from the nightmare.
Nico, Sathas, Kryson, and Jaya all jumped in shock. The sound of leather and metal moving suddenly intruded with the rain.
I felt my jaw tense as Oros stomped over.
Busted.
But on the bright side, it was someone we all knew.
Kit was the only One who didn't react like the others had. She straightened her back and tilted her head upward slightly, as if she'd dealt with this sort of thing a lot. As the gyre shoved past me—"Move aside, knave!"—to stand mere inches in front of her, looming over the group, she calmly, coolly, replied in Elyan, "Nothing that I will not answer to our lord for, Lord Ourobouros."
I got up from the grass, resisting the urge to say something like, Oh—excuse me?! EXCUSE ME?! to Oros. Besides, it didn't fit with the context, and it certainly wasn't going to help, either.
"And answer you will, Lady Delainne, for allowing this against all better judgment!" Oros snarled. The bastard looked angier than when we last saw him. "What has gotten into you? No, wait, don't—I know that answer—"
And as I finally go to my feet, I saw Oros turn to Jaya, "heard" him switch from Elyan to Asmoth.
"You!" he snarled, pointing a finger at her. "I should have expected no less than this…this outright manipulation!" He thrust his finger again to point over Jaya's shoulder—to go back through the double doors. "You are not welcome here in this holy place," he snarled, leaning in close in an attempt to make her pull back. "You will return to your quarters immediately or I swear—"
"You swear what?" Jaya snapped, standing her ground (as best she could). "You yourself, Elyos, spoke that first day that your people do not treat their prisoners as slaves! I am no child, nor any soldier of yours, to be browbeaten into submission!"
Oh, great, I thought. Not this shit again…
"Oros…?" At the sound of her saying that, I looked at Nico. She was looking up at something in the sky, trying to get the gyrfalcon's attention by tugging his cloak sleeve.
While gyre and guest ignored her, I followed Nico's gaze up to the sky…and immediately, two things happened to me. First, I felt an intense, slicing pain across my chest, as if someone was carving a word into it. Second, a similar pain wrenched at my tongue, as if…as if someone was using a knife to try and cut…it…out.
"Auhagh…!" I rasped as I fell on my knees, clutching myself in pain.
"Bluefield?" I heard Kit say.
No, I thought. No, just ignore me…
"—learned in our tongue as well!" I heard Oros yell in Elyan. "Is there no low you will not stoop to, no sanctity you will not profane in your spying, Asmodian?"
I tried to think straight. Amid the pain that screamed in my body, screaamed to my mind, I heard Nico say, louder, "Oros—"
"'Spying'?" Jaya snapped. "As I recall, Elyos, you were the ones who took me from my people, not the other way 'round!"
I coughed, and the pain suddenly worsened. "Agh—ah…!"
"A condemned criminal enroute to the Barrow—oh yes, how could I forget?" the gyre hissed. "My liege has always had a soft spot for charity cases!"
"OROS!"
Somehow, Nico's yell was enough to do two things: it broke up Oros and Jaya's argument, and it suddenly ended the pains in my chest and mouth. I looked up to see Nico finish shaking the gyrfalcon by his shoulders.
Without missing a beat, the Assassin turned on her with equal fury. "WHAT?!" he shouted at her.
Immediatly, I realized that Nico wasn't scared of Oros when he yelled at her. Rather, she was scared of what had gotten her attention, what called for her to butt in—
She pointed up at the dark speck falling from the sky, hundreds of miles above…and falling.
My throat constricted when my eyes made out what it was. "Oh, hell."
It was a male. An Asmodian Daeva, with his arms around some sort of object, was hurtling toward the ground far, far below.
When everyone followed Nico's finger to the dark shape, I saw Oros' mouth open without sound, his eyes wide in shock, before he deftly tossed away his cloak.
In a flash of light, his knife-blade wings were already out and ready before his cloak hit the slippery stone slabs.
The gyrfalcon glared past Jaya, at the others. "Nico, with me!" he said. "Kit—watch this one." And with that, he pushed Jaya away by her shoulder. She fell on her butt; her left leg wasn't prepared for that.
Then he turned to face me. "And you," he snarled, "begone from here."
Not gonna happen, I thought as he headed to the edge of the rampart.
Kryson came over to help Jaya back up, but she didn't seem to register it. She just stayed there, frozen in shock, as she gazed after Oros vaulting the rampart and taking to the air. Nico rushed past me, and I soon saw her butcherbird's wings helping her follow close behind.
Behind me, I heard footsteps. "Bluefield—"
I thrust a hand in Kit's direction before she could come any closer—not an attack, but a message: Stay back. "No, don't—I'm fine, I'm fine," I said firmly, before getting to my feet.
I heard Sathas behind me: "What is that, in the sky?"
I stood up, watched as Oros and Nico grew smaller and smaller behind the curtains of rain.
"There is an Asmodian Daeva up there." That was Kit, her voice shaking slightly as she said it.
Immediately, the shape's wings flashed into exsistence. Oros and Nico flew around it. I noticed fires lighting up across the ramparts—signals, I realized, for trouble.
"He is…" Kit said, trying to make out what she was seeing, "…carrying something—"
Just as she said that, the falling Daeva dropped it, and i could see what it was.
The object was another Asmodian—and this one was falling, in no shape to fly.
As the wingless man tumbled down, away from the sky, the winged Asmodian suddenly flew straight up—into the cloud cover. Nico streamed up after him, while Oros dove down hard to catch the "delivery"—so fast, he could've missed it.
Kit gasped as Oros caught the falling man, wings beating hard to shift their momentum away from the ground. Any later, and the two would have become a grease spot in the otherwise-breathtaking scenery.
More wings overhead from around us. Other Elysian Daevas.
I watched as some diverted to Oros to cover him; then following the way Nico had gone in pursuit of the flying delivery man.
Oros gradually came flew closer.
"It's a man," Kit said, stunned. Then she gasped in horror.
My right eye briefly flicked to red.
Now I could see what Oros had wrapped in his arms: a limp, humanoid form with dark purple skin and brownish hair. At least, that's what I could tell from all the blood that he was covered in, falling from his body as Oros carried him. His chest was bleeding profusely, from a series of sword slashes that—as the ZeroVisor confirmed—spelled out one word in Asmoth.
TRAITOR
Oros plunged downward, then flew over us, the Asmodian's blood falling to the garden.
I had already recognized the man, and I'm sure that Jaya had, too.
It was Pentarus Lockstep, Avarran Carcarron's "spymaster", and one of the three judges who'd voted mercy at Jaya's trial.
My eyebrow furrowed. What the hell is he doing here? I thought.
"Sathas, Kryson," Kit said, hushed. She was stepping forward, preparing to fly after them. "Take her to her quarters. She was never here."
As the peregrine flew away, the two guards helped Jaya up on her feet. She was too stunned by what'd just happened to stop them.
I took one last longing look up at the raining sky, before following the threesome back through the double doors.
