Light the Reign (The Forgotten: Book 3) (11 page)

Katya brightened. “Can you fly up over the
ridge and see if you can find a path for us to follow up?”

Petra’s face lit up with understanding. “Of
course! I should have thought of that.” She bunched her legs up
again and leapt into the air, spreading her arm-wings wide. Though
slightly unsteady, she was breathtaking.

Katya’s eyes fell on the Dena’ina leader who
was wearing a rather self-satisfied smile.

“Did you know she could do that?”

His smile grew. “It was rumored that the
Kanza who found the field had similar…characteristics to Petra’s
own. I admit to having hoped that she would discover how special
she really is by this journey.”

Katya nodded, and admired his wisdom. Though
Petra’s time with the Dena’ina had influenced her thinking to the
better, there was still the undertone of resentment towards the
changes to her flesh.

She returned not long after, the range of her
flight significantly shorter than an actual bird’s, with no luck.
The look of complete and utter failure in her eyes tore at Katya’s
heart.

“We’ll have to walk a little farther along
and send you back up, will you be up for it?” she asked the
woman.

Petra nodded firmly, setting her jaw in a
line of determination.

They walked another hour and sent her up
again. Still no luck. They repeated this process well into the
afternoon, and Petra began to sag from exhaustion. The flying
obviously took quite a toll on her body.

“Why don’t you rest for a bit in the cart?”
Katya suggested. They were still dragging along the cart that Petra
had spent the first leg of their journey hidden within, now
carrying supplies. Without waiting for Petra to answer, Katya
opened the side and took out one of the packs, slinging it over her
shoulder. One by one, the rest of the party also took one until the
entire cart was empty.

“I couldn’t, it wouldn’t be fair…” Petra
demurred weakly.

“Nonsense,” the Dena’ina leader said at the
same time as Katya asked, “It wouldn’t be fair of us to expect you
to go flying around every hour while all of us sit around and rest
in the meantime?”

Petra sighed, which quickly turned into a
yawn, and smiled her thanks to each of them. Then she settled into
the cart and was soon fast asleep. They traveled another hour or so
and stopped, ready to have her look, but waited until she woke of
her own accord.

“How long have I been out?” she asked
worriedly as soon as she looked around and saw the setting sun.

“The exact amount of time your body needed to
rest,” Katya told her in a tone that allowed no argument. “Do you
think you’re up for one more run today?”

Petra stretched out her wings, testing them
for sore spots, and turned the corners of her mouth downwards. “I
think so, I’ve never flown this much in one day, but they don’t
seem to be any worse for wear.”

She happily took to the air once again and
circled off, searching for their route.

Katya turned to the Dena’ina leader. “She
doesn’t seem very well practiced, surely you take advantage of such
an impressive trait?”

“Surely she must be very highly valued within
the tribe for this trait,” Hunter cut in, rewording her question
and giving her a look. Apparently she’d said something
offensive.

The Dena’ina leader was not fazed by either
comment. “We do very much covet her abilities, but she fails to see
how impressive they are herself. She spent too many years with the
thought-train that all changes made by the Dark King were negative
that she can’t see how they can be used for good. We have given her
jobs within the tribe which take advantage of this skill, but since
all of them could technically be accomplished through more regular
means, she chooses to see this as us simply giving her menial tasks
to make her feel useful. She once again fails to see that while,
yes, we could climb up the side of the mesa and perform the same
task this way; by her flying up instead, it cuts down immensely on
the amount of time it takes and also the amount of danger that
someone would be put in.”

“I hope she remembers how special it is in
the future,” Hunter said, “We certainly could not accomplish what
she is doing now without her.”

“Yes, perhaps we could all try and point this
out to her subtly?” the Dena’ina suggested to the group, who all
were intently listening in, and everyone nodded.

A noise drew their attention upwards and they
saw that Petra was already on her way back, and she was fluttering
in the air first to one direction and then to another. It looked as
though she may be having difficulty keeping to the air and Katya
exchanged a worried glance with Hunter.

Petra tumbled to the ground fifty feet in
front of the group, her body crumbling and rolling over the rough
terrain. Katya and Hunter rushed forward with the rest. When they
came closer, they could see that she was smiling. She got to her
feet before any of them reached her and held out her arms to
them.

Katya could now see the reason for her
harried flight, her entire body was shaking with excitement.

“I found a way!” she exclaimed, “I really did
it!”

Hunter clapped her on the back and all
showered her with praise, the Dena’ina leader’s words fresh in
their mind. The happiness on the girl’s face would have been enough
for any of them even without the extra incentive. Her joy was
contagious.

The path was hidden behind a large bolder and
an entanglement of loose vegetation. Without Petra’s assurance that
the way was clear just beyond from her reconnaissance above, Katya
would never have attempted to get by. As it was, it took them only
ten minutes to navigate their way through the brush and emerge on
the other side, where a path led winding up the cliff.

At the top, they found a good area and
settled in for the night, content with the fact that on the morrow
they would be able to start their search in earnest. The path led
along the top of the cliffs, affording them an excellent view into
the valleys below.

Once the campsite was set up, Katya found
herself still antsy and went to explore the region. She soon found
herself sitting on a log, staring off into space. It was strange,
after so much time away from people and avoiding their presence,
she was actually enjoying this trek. Hunter, of course, she loved
being near, and she felt a strange connection to Petra. But even
the other members of the group, who she knew very little, seemed
companionable. And being at the Myaamia, though much of the time
had been unpleasant, had taught her to enjoy the company of others
once more.

Hunter came and sat next to Katya looking out
over the valley. She shifted slightly to give him room on the
log.

“Do you think we’ll actually find this
mysterious plant?” she asked him after a few moments of comfortable
silence.

“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully, “but
we have to try, right? Even if we were to stay up here, there’s no
guarantee that we’d be free of the curse. I don’t know about you,
but I’m not really looking forward to becoming some blood-thirsty
pus-filled creature.”

“Nor just sitting by while the rest of the
world does. I hate to say it, but I’m actually growing rather fond
of the rest of humanity.”

Hunter laughed. “We’re not so bad after all,
huh?”

“Well, some of you are still annoying,” she
teased and they fell silent for a moment. She rested her head
against his shoulder and he moved to put his arm around her. She
sighed. “I just hate the idea that we might be on some wild goose
chase. Wouldn’t our time be better spent elsewhere? Or just taking
the stone?”

Hunter gave her a long look. “I’m not exactly
the epitome of moral standards,” he admitted, “but I don’t think
I’d be able to do that.”

She sighed again. “No, I guess I wouldn’t
either. Sometimes I almost wish I had the collar on again,” she
commented, though not really sincerely. “I didn’t have to think
about consequences and emotions. I just did what had to be
done.”

“Oh, yeah, that sounds much better than being
able to choose what you think is right,” Hunter said.

She punched him good-naturedly on the arm. He
leaned over and kissed her. The world seemed to slow around them.
Then suddenly the air lit up as though with a thousand fireflies.
Katya drew away, gasping.

“Hunter,” she started, pointing, but he was
already seeing what she was. Down below them was a field of yellow
flowers, opening their petals in the last light of day.

“Over here!” Hunter yelled, getting to his
feet and dragging her up with him. The rest of their party came
running over and all of them stood at the top of the field,
watching in awe as the last of the flowers opened. They reflected
the final rays of sunlight around them, momentarily giving the
valley a beautiful glow.

Petra ran down into their midst, and as she
did so, her human features started returning. When she reached the
bottom, she spun around in a circle, holding her human hands
outstretched and her jaw dropping.

“We found it!” she exclaimed.

The rest of them clamored down the hill after
her, in awed silence. Katya touched Hunter’s arm gently and pointed
to the edge of the field. Now that they were in the valley, she
could see what they missed from above. The edge was covered with
chokeroot. Not only had they found the plant which would secure
them the second powerstone, but they had stumbled across the plant
desperately needed back in Gelendan to slow the spread.

“That was quite a kiss,” she joked to Hunter,
squeezing him around his middle.

CHAPTER 7

Layna found herself once again seated before
the Council and the Ieldran.

“Are you sure you’re telling us everything
about this mysterious curse?” Heinrich asked them for the umpteenth
time.

“We have shared with you and your mages
everything we’ve been able to discover about it. Believe us, we
want a cure to be found just as much – if not more, seeing as how
we are the ones currently affected – as you do,” Gryffon answered
this time, though Layna had already said as much many times over
herself.

“But the two of you are on chokeroot?”
Whitcomb asked abruptly.

“Yes,” Layna supplied, “We very much
appreciate the supplies you sent, and our people up north were able
to send us more. All of us at the palace are currently taking it
and we have set up booths throughout the city to try and get it out
to as many people as we can.”

“As many as you can?”

“We have broken the news to those still in
the city, and they were understandably upset. It is too dangerous
to allow any to leave the dome, and after being told what the
disease they are being quarantined for is, they are becoming
panicked. It is hard to get them to come out of their homes and
deliver the plant, and we don’t have enough men in the guard to go
house to house.”

“Didn’t you tell them that this is their best
chance of survival?”

“Of course, but again, we are dealing with a
city full of people who are scared for their lives and feel like
they are being detained – which they are. Not only do we have the
threat of the curse ever looming over us, but now that they are
feeling like trapped animals, we’ve also been dealing with looting
and riots. So there are a fair amount of them, we guess, that have
not come forward to claim their share of chokeroot. Either too
afraid to leave their homes or because they lack faith in us, we
don’t know.” Layna’s voice broke a tiny bit at the last sentence,
her heart breaking from her people’s pain. She felt Gryffon’s
reassuring hand find her knee under the table.

“We would send you more men, but…” Lady
Ravena on the Ieldran began, but left the thought unfinished. They
all knew what she meant. No one wanted to enter the dome. Even with
the best mages in both the lands and Katya’s party with the tribes,
Layna could feel the ever lessening hope for a cure.

She nodded her thanks to the woman anyway.
“We have redoubled our efforts and hope that the damage can be
contained and the chokeroot delivered to everyone before it gets
out of hand. We have received good news from our party to the north
that the means to get the second powerstone has been discovered.
They are in the process now of delivering it to the tribe.”

“They did it?” Heinrich asked, his tone very
obviously surprised.

Layna bristled. “I had no doubt that they
would. The leader of the expedition – Katya – is extremely capable,
and all the Knights are exceptional.”

After the meeting, Layna and Gryffon returned
to their chamber, dismissing their entourage in its entirety. They
had both decided that they needed to see what was happening in the
city first-hand, but none of their aides were likely to allow it.
Gryffon had managed to get Sir Ruawn alone and though he did not
approve of them going out into the city, he had agreed to help
sneak them out if they would bring him and a few of his men
along.

He told them there was a secret entrance to
underground passageways that ran underneath the city not far from
one of the entrances to the palace grounds. They hastily changed
into dark clothing and Layna tucked her blond ponytail into the
back of her hooded cloak. They waited until the moon had risen to
its full height in the sky before creeping out the window and into
the gardens below.

Though Layna had only been using magic for a
few short years now, she had grown very accustomed to its constant
presence within her. The strange emptiness she now felt while
taking the chokeroot made her feel naked. The jump from the window
to the jutting roof below, running along the high edge of the
rooftop, and the hop down to the ground after that suddenly seemed
a lot scarier when she didn’t have magic to catch her should she
fall.