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I step back from Cirrha to take a good look at her. She looks exhausted, with deep purple bags under her eyes. Her yellow jumpsuit is smudged with dirt, and her feet are bare.
Taegan stands just behind her, an orb of Light in his hand, his face thin and gaunt in the shadows it casts. He forces a smile when he catches me looking at him and shrugs as if to say, "What did you expect?"
"We can catch up back in Rainworth. Hands on me, please," Viola says, interrupting my thoughts. The three of us step to her, and I place my hand in hers. Cirrha rests a hand on her forearm, and Taegan places his on her shoulder. Shadow hisses ominously, and Viola nods at the snake. "I'm going," she says quietly, as if in answer to a command.
Once again, magic swirls in the air around us, and the Light in Taegan's hand is extinguished. We're in the shadow vision again, the edges shimmering with Shield magic, and Viola points at a door on the edge of the vision. It looks newly built, and a faint orange glow pulses around the edges.
The edges of the vision start to ripple, the iridescent sheen of Shield magic blinking in spaces. "He's trying to get in," Viola says with a snarl, running towards the door. We follow, tumbling through after her as she wrenches it open.
We run into Rainworth, the moon lighting the grassy common area Viola and I vacated just minutes before.
Viola looks harried, eyes sunken, and my chest twists and aches with the realization that I have failed her as her highpriest. "Shadowweaver!" I shout, catching her in my arms as she collapses. Her eyelids flutter, and she grumbles something under her breath, trying to force herself from my arms. "No, stay fucking still, Viola. Taking three people through the vision and doing the visions so closely back to back seems to have drained you. I have to help you replenish."
I close my eyes and search Krillium for the threads of devotion that weave through it. I can see them, light and infrequent, leading to me from Ytopie, and I smile. Taegan and Cirrha's work was paying off. Strong threads weave through the Lowlands, but it's not everyone, and probably not enough for what lies ahead of us. Not even close.
But here, in Rainworth, the devotion is blinding, a beacon of support and adoration from all who reside here.
Except for two dark, black holes in the home that we exited not long ago.
I pull the bright threads from our town, weaving them together into an object of pure fealty that I push into Viola. She gasps, chest jolting up, and looks at me, eyes wide.
"That was a lot of devotion, high priest. Are you going to collapse now?"
"I was careful, Shadowweaver. I didn't pull it too quickly. You need to remember this is what I was made to do."
"I don't want you to burn yourself out, Zeph," she says. "I didn't need to be fully restored at once."
"I know my limits," I say, exasperated. "I don't tell you how to be a God. Don't tell me how to be a high priest."
She rolls her eyes and scrambles from my arms, smoothing her clothing and looking at Cirrha and Taegan. "I won't interrogate you now. You look exhausted. Zeph will show you to homes you can sleep in and get you some food. We'll talk in the morning."
Cirrha takes two steps closer to Viola and bows her head, a hand on her chest. "Thank you for saving us, Shadowweaver."
"You helped save me first, so I guess now we're even," Viola says with a chuckle. Taegan wrings his hands in front of him, saying nothing, but the movement must catch Viola's attention because she steps in front of him, pulling his chin up with two fingers. "Taegan, right?"
"Yes, Shadowweaver."
"I only met Loris once," she says quietly. "But I heard what he did for me. It will not be in vain."
Taegan's eyes swim with tears as he looks into the smokey grey eyes of the Shadowweaver. "I know it wasn't. I can already tell."
Chapter 35
Zeph
"He just keeps getting worse," Cirrha says as we walk on the stone path through the center of Rainworth. "When he discovered Viola was missing, he immediately labeled you an enemy to Ytopie."
"To no one's surprise." I sputter a laugh, shaking my head at the idea. "From high priest to enemy. How I've fallen," I say sarcastically.
"Yeah, well, he thinks you stole her," Taegan says from my left. "After her display with Kon, half of the city thinks there is no difference between Viola and Himureal. He's pushing the narrative that that stunt was orchestrated between the two of them."
"He set her up," I say firmly, pushing open the door to a small home just a few doors down from mine. "Kon was dangerous, and Himureal tried to trick Viola into killing him so he didn't have to explain why he betrothed them."
"Trust me, there are just as many who realize what and who Viola is. I told them all they need to do is make their devotion to her known, and you'd do the rest," Cirrha remarks as she looks at the small home. "You all put this together quickly."
"It's surprisinghow fast it can move with Viola supplementing Mace and Plume's magics. We've been able to grow crops quickly, get furniture crafted, and even make clothing. We're close to being a fully functioning city." I can't keep the pride out of my voice. We've all worked hard to make Rainworth a place where everyone is welcome and would want to live, and we're getting there little by little. "We've already brought back Solarius and Avidor, too. Once we bring Amaryn back, we'll develop a plan to stop Himureal."
"Why not bring them all back immediately?" Taegan asks, looking around the space and then settling on the small bed.
