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I supposed that I could stab them in the backs the way they had done to me, but in a more... physical way, but no, I had decided to do this. The thought of getting my hands on the moonstone, of feeling its cool, smooth surface in my palm nearly made me tremble.
I had wanted it for so long.
Such a shame that the sunstone was still kept in Yewan, the heart of the nocturnal kingdom. I would have loved to hold both stones... It did not matter though. Brought back to life and with the moonstone, I would not be turned away from my throne when we returned to our capital city of Yewan.
After taking my throne, the new, false king, Daaku would never see me coming.
As the hours passed, no one complained or asked for a rest, not even Clem who now walked with Batu Sun’s hand clasped in his.
“When we arrive,” Kiar said, after some time, “I shall enter the valley first. Clem, you remain hidden and Bracken will follow behind Sun.”
“What of me?” I asked. I was not surprised that Kiar was making plans. He was always making plans. That was why I had trusted him as my advisor, he used his mind over his baser instincts, a quality that many nocs lacked. Or at least, he had. Now, having seen the way he fawned over Sun and rutted with him at every chance I wasn’t so sure.
“No one knows that our king still lives,” Kiar said. “We must keep that to ourselves lest the current king send an entire army after you. You must remain hidden until we have spoken to the goddess.”
I couldn’t argue that, but it made my jaw clench. How was I supposed to hide while they got the stone? I needed to have it, to hold it.
“I don’t want to stay behind either,” Clem whined.
“You are too weak,” Bracken argued. “You will do as Kiar says or else risk all of our lives.”
He turned his pout toward Batu Sun, who until now had remained silent and I realized that I was not the only one who had lost my loyal servants to the human. Even Bracken’s pet deferred to Batu Sun.
He reached out, clearly suppressing a smile as he petted Clem’s head.
“I’m sure if any of us are in mortal danger, your glow will alert you and you can fly to the rescue again.”
Clem inflated, beaming happily as Bracken and Kiar both began to argue.
“He cannot under any circumstances enter Yin Valley–”
“It will be war; we will all be lucky to survive without having to save Clem.”
Batu Sun gave each of them a hard look.
“Do not forget that Clem was the one who saved me two nights ago,” he said. “Without him, none of us would be here and he deserves respect for that.”
“But our lives will be in danger the entire time,” Bracken argued. “He will try to rescue us and end up killing us all.”
“Bracken is correct,” I said. “Mothians are too foolish to be on a battlefield. They crave a taste of danger and pain and always end up dead.”
Sun pursed his lips, probably familiar with that truth about their kind.
“Then you can only come to our aid if it is very dire,” he told Clem. “In the meantime, remain hidden with Alhadya and keep each other safe.”
There was a moment of tense silence and I sighed, knowing that Bracken and Kiar were not done arguing with Sun’s reckless desire to have a mothian on a battlefield.
“Enough,” I said, walking past them.
The game path we had been following had become nearly nonexistent. Soon, I would be forced back into the branches in order to simply move through the trees.
“We have another day’s walk before we will reach the valley. Now is not the time to argue.”
To my pleasure, when I glanced back, the others were following me.
It was a small victory, but one that I would take. As meaningless as it was, it felt good to be listened to. It felt good to have a voice again in general, and even better to have a body. I felt, however, as though I had been cooped up for months, my mouth gagged.
I wanted to stretch and run, to fight and shout. To let out all the pent-up energy and emotions would be like freedom. Unfortunately, killing those bastards who had overthrown me would have to do. I just hoped when the time came, the others saw reason and joined me. After all, they could not remain with the human forever. He would abandon them eventually, or perhaps even turn on them.
