Page 74 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

“Your father,” she wheezed. “Isjord is in Hanai. They have the sceptre piece. His troops are in Aru, near the sacred land of Ryuu. A vision. I had a vision. I had several visions.” That is why she had called Kilian as well.

Both myself and Kilian shot up from our seats and I began shedding my jewellery to the ground along with my dress, heading to my chambers and grabbing the dark grey leathers and my brother's sword.

“The Ryuu you said?” Kilian asked, helping me button up my leathers.

Visha gave him a jerky nod. “The second piece, it has to be there. It makes sense. It is protected and the caves underneath the root of Ryuu could act as hiding space for it.”

His face grew dark. “Visha, the Ryuu is sacred ground. Magic doesn’t work within the land of the blossom alder.”

Pushing my legs into the bottoms, I gave them both a ridiculous look. “So?”

“Why would the sceptre be there?” he asked, kneeling to do the laces on my boots.

After pulling the last button of my britches through, I grabbed and sheathed my sword. “I will find out. Visha, portal me there.”

“No,” Kilian said, standing. “I am fading the both of us there. Not a chance you are going to risk yourself twice within seventy-two hours. Not on my damned watch.” He pulled my hood up and pinned the veil down. “Hold tight, we’ve done this before, but this is a far journey so we will have to fade a couple of times.”

Before we faded, I turned to Visha. “Let the council know.”

In a flash, we were in the middle of a white blinding field of snow, buried up to my waist onto a snow pile. Nausea threatened to raise up my throat as I dry heaved for a few moments.

A strong hand rubbed my back gently soothing me. “I’m fine,” I blurted defiantly, shaking him off.

“Take a minute,” he said, pushing branches of black hair that had stuck to my clammy forehead.

“I said I’m fine.”

“And I said take a minute,” he growled and made no move to fade us again.

“You know I can just bolt there.”

“Fine, alert the whole of Dardanes of your existence, let's see how good that will do to you.”

“You get a kick proving me wrong, don’t you?”

“I think it’s you who gets a kick when you defy me.”

“Defy you?” I asked, stunned.

He wrapped his huge arms around me, pulling my body flush against his. “You heard me,” he bit out and faded again.

Two trips later and we’d breached past the Hanaian lands.

My insides were in knots, but I managed to shake myself to attention. It was eerie quiet, the sway of autumn wind lulled a frightening calm around us and the cascading sunset was not doing it any favours. At least it would conceal us better.

The old forest swayed in colours of mahogany dulled by sunset, it seemed undisturbed. My attention drew to a line of limestone plaques that laid around it for what seemed like miles. There were strange runes engraved atop, some familiar and some not, but then I did doze off on that particular lecture.

“They are here,” Kilian said, kneeling and running a hand over the runes.

“Visha’s visions are steps ahead. They can’t be here yet.”

Kilian shook his head. “No, they are here already. The veil of magic is fraying with foreign disturbance.” As I made to step past the band, Kilian gripped my arm. “The plaques act as a shield, no magic is allowed beyond their line. Beyond them is the sacred ground of goddess Ryuu.”

I jerked from his grip and unsheathed my daggers. “Good thing I rarely rely on it.”

We pushed past the limestone plaques and through the maze of the hazel forest. Past the rune plaques it felt like the season had changed. The forest was a shining juniper, and the wind was soft and warm, like spring. My first breath in this part of the land felt different, deeper and unrestricted. For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel a cinder block pulling me under. My chest rose and fell faster and faster attempting to salvage what I'd never felt before—normalcy. However, it was odd. Magic still itched at my fingertips. Not as prominent, but I felt it flutter against whatever hovered in the air that suppressed the flow of magic.

Suddenly, my back was pulled onto a hard chest, and a hand over my mouth. Turning over my shoulder, I shot Kilian a glare.