On Sapphire Wings
Chapter Thirteen
Though Wink was normally a happy woman, there were few things in the world that could make her happier than sunrises. The strewn cascade of ginger, gold, crimson and rose seemed to lift her spirit, and she treasured the moment.
However, she had never felt so spiritually attached to the sky as she did on this certain shimmering morning. With her magical wings glowing in the rays, she soared over the earth, the morning light flourishing to her right.
The night had been long and the weather had been freezing to Wink's delicate skin, but despite it, it had been one of the most joyful times of her life. All through the dark night, the four airborne figures had kept each other awake and entertained, talking of everything that occurred to them. Kianako and Artewa had both spoke very broken English, but Lloyd had translated as well as he could, and it rarely was a problem.
Wink genuinely felt like she fit in.
"You like sunrises?"
The sudden addition of the low, gravelly voice at Wink's side sent a smile across her windburned face, and she nodded, looking over at Lloyd as he glided through the air. His silver hair whipped chaotically around his head, and his face was pink from the bite of the wind and dampened with sweat. "Yeah. Do you?"
He nodded. "It's better when you're flying."
"Yup." Wink turned her head to look over at the picturesque scene, squinting as the fiery red and orange began to fade into yellow.
"We did not have many sunrises in the forest." Kianako stated. He sounded somewhat strange to Wink when he spoke in the human language; the formal way he'd been taught seemed to contradict his voice and attitude.
"We didn't get many either, but they were pretty." Artewa said.
"They shined on the ocean." Lloyd agreed, "I remember that."
There was a pause, and then he spoke again, his voice slow and carefully controlled to circumvent emotion. "On me and Lenus' last morning together, we were flying across the ocean. The first light shone right ahead of us." He looked down and then back up with sunken eyes, and his chest dipped in a sigh. "It was beautiful."
Wink felt her eyes widen in pity, and she bit the inside of her cheek uncomfortably. Lloyd's face had gone from thoughtful to angst-ridden, and his red eyes were full of a swirl of emotions as the sunlight shone on them, making them bleed in crimson luminosity. On his other side, Artewa seemed also to be struck by the words, though not in the same way. Only Kianako seemed to be oblivious to the sensation in the air.
And as she watched Lloyd's face carefully, Wink felt an icy bolt of guilt squeeze her gut.
She envied Lenus.
How could she not? The woman had been so important to Lloyd, while Wink could be nothing to the man. Even now, during all that was going on in his life, he still froze at her name, and every mention of her sent him off in a self-loathing session of broading. Some violent part of Wink wanted him to long for her like he did for Lenus.
However, how could she meet the standards that Lenus had set?
Suddenly, the core of Wink's depression for the last seeming eternity spilled across the tile flooring of her mind.
She had never seen the wingly woman, but Lloyd had described her, and she'd gathered a fairly vivid mental picture.
She had a voice like a songbird, and a smile that just made you glad you were alive. She'd probably had long, perfect hair – silver, like all winglies – and eyes like jewels. Her mind had been quicker than lightning, and she'd been sweet and funny and perfectly admirable by everyone who knew her. She'd probably had a large amount of sex appeal too; Wink hoped that that particular attribute didn't matter to much to Lloyd, but she knew that, to most men, it was a very important part, and Wink's stoic wingly companion was only 'human.'
Wink sighed. No, why would a man who'd had the perfect lover ever want someone like her? She had nothing to offer, and she knew it.
There was a sad silence that hung like fog, then Kianako cleared his throat and said something in Dryjian, the wingly common language. Lloyd and Artewa smiled.
"He said that we should try and be positive right now, because this is gonna be one of the only times in awhile when we don't have to deal with any annoying humans." Lloyd translated. Wink gave him an indignant look, and he laughed. "Not you. You're not annoying."
"Thank you." She smiled, rolling her eyes melodramatically.
Lloyd laughed again, a sound that Wink had learned to desire and cherich, and the flight continued on.
Across the horizon, the sky was the only gentle observer.
Wink wasn't sure what she was expecting as they neared Rouge. Perhaps a tell-tale tendril of smoke, fluttering on the wind. Maybe fire, blood and gore. And possibly Kyris, smirking out at them through vengeful fiery eyes as an army of black-garbed men waited on his command.
With her chest pounding and her stomach tight with anxiety, the last thing she expected was what she saw.
Nothing. From across a horizon, the small island looked untouched by time. In fact, it wasn't even until they were around one hundred feet away when Wink's heart sunk in terror.
Immobile, lifeless and silent, the scene before them spoke a story. A woman lay sprawled across the beach, bloodlessly pale with a knifewound across her back. In her outstretched arm was a tiny child's corpse. A trail of blood led across the sand away from her body, and reached a spot charred black by something. Beyond it was a large splash of now dried blood.
Though Wink stumbled across the soft sand as she landed, the three winglies landed without seeming to think about it, and immediately approached the body. Kianako was shaking his head, and Artewa seemed shocked.
Lloyd's sister-daughter said something in Dryjian, and though Wink didn't speak the language, she knew the word well.
"Murdered."
They began to walk up the shore, Lloyd in the lead and the others following, and when he reached view of the huge scaffolding, he muttered in a dangerous voice,
"Not murder." He growled, eyes flashing. "Genocide."
Wink ran up beside him, looked over the island village, and spoke in a soft, gaspy voice.
"Oh god."
The landscape in front of Wink seemed like a flashback of the destroyed Deningrad, except for one difference.
In Deningrad, the people had not burned.
"Wingly magic killed all of them." Kianako said in disbelief, speaking in Dryjian. "Every damn single mother and child!"
"Fireballs?" Lloyd asked.
"Yeah. Son of a bitch."
"Was it Kyris then?"
"No, when he did it there was no – black, charredness. He used some stone of some sort."
"Guys?" Lloyd looked over at Artewa at the sound of her voice. She was watching them anxiously. "Where's Wink?"
"What?" Lloyd and Kian turned to look at her, and then the knives of panic slowly began to poke through his skin and through his ribs, working up to his heart. He looked at his sister very slowly, then spoke in a dangerous voice, full dread. "Where is she?"
"She was behind Kianako, and then we all turned to look at the city, and now she's gone."
The words hadn't even finished before Lloyd rose in the air, scanning the air with ruby eyes full of open terror. He probed every part of the tropical land, hoping desperately to see the woman. There was nothing.
And then…
A fern swayed gently as a quiet figure with a complexion of ivory snuck through the forests, holding Wink against his chest roughly and casting about, trying to escape quietly.
"Kyris's in the woods!" Lloyd shouted down before flying forward and diving down towards the capturer. His whole face twisted in a enraged snarl as he hit the canopy and landed, hitting the ground running.
Kyris whirled around and looked at him with a smirk, then plunged on through the rainforest, pulling the struggling Wink with him. Lloyd followed, pushing aside plants and slicing at foliage with his sword. He lunged at Kyris, missed, hit the ground, and leapt back to his feet. Kyris looked back and tripped over a root, but regained his step and kept running.
Lloyd only just leapt aside as a small, unidentified missile flew from Kyris' skilled hand. The thing - a tiny, red-plumed dart – hit him above the collarbone and stuck. Lloyd scowled and pulled the thing out of the soft skin of his lower neck, grimacing as the barbs pulled at his flesh.
He looked up, and Kyris was gone.
He sighed and began to pant as the hunters restless energy abandoned him, leaving only a glaring, hopeless individual. Anger shot through his head. He'd failed Wink. Now she was gone, left to Kyris's inventions.
Artewa and Kianako finally caught up, and looked curiously at Lloyd.
"Where is she?" Kian demanded.
Lloyd stared off a moment, then pointed, exhillerated by his discovery. Though covered by plantlife, the mouth of the cave had become visible when Kyris hastily ran through it, a single fern having fallen out of place. In fact, Lloyd had to admit, he'd nearly missed it. "Kyris took her in there."
"Well, let's go!"
"Me and Artewa will go. One of us has to go back and tell the others, in case something happens." Lloyd said.
Kianako seemed ready to protest, then saw the look in his companions eyes, and nodded. "Alright. Good luck."
He turned and, without another word, rose in the air and departed.
Artewa and Lloyd stood a moment, waiting for some unknown cue, then Lloyd suddenly brought up his blade and sliced into the plants covering the cavern. They fell easily.
"Lloyd, what if…"
"Shh. Let's go." Lloyd looked at Artewa, and she nodded knowingly.
Though no words were spoken, both brother and sister knew the message he'd tried to project.
Artewa was a fighter, and Lloyd owed it to Lenus to never leave her behind again.
They slowly began into the cave.
A/N: God. Not only is the chapter late, but it's ridiculously small. Pitiful, Kikaiyu. Pitiful.