He could at least fill in the Deity of Azure’s information since he suspected his brave knight was much more than he let on. Faust shuffled for a quill and ink, scribbling sky blue and wind next to the Deity of Azure. As for Vasil, red was a prominent color for the deity based on Terrence’s information and the locket he’d left with Terrence.
Faust turned the page and gasped at the sight of a paragraph about his family’s history.
A harsh battle took place that took the lives of many Kingsleys, including Photis Kingsley, father of Isoif Kingsley. Isoif was the only surviving child of Photis Kingsley and went on to rule Alios. He was forced to marry Leonora to carry on the Kingsley line. The children of Isoif Kingsley include Konrad, Takis, Nik, Faust, and Unknown.
Faust paused. Konrad’s notes suggested they had another sibling, but Faust should have remembered having another sibling. He sighed. It was just another thing to add to the long list of things Konrad kept from him.
Faust continued to read about the children of the crown next, which listed Konrad’s daughter, Oliva; Takis’s son, Alarik; and Nik’s surviving son, Loren. This made their family line quite small. It also made Emoris’s involvement in the deaths of Konrad, Takis, and Nik’s wives all the more likely that the deity was trying to keep them under control. Prince Ian, the youngest child of the crown, was also killed at the same time.
He scanned the next page, and his eyes narrowed. Konrad had scribbled the words Photis is alive on the page. That didn’t make sense. Their grandfather would have been well past his hundreds by now. It went on to explain the day Konrad met Arleen. The ink was smeared, and wrinkles covered one side of the journal. Konrad had been upset when he wrote this. Faust touched the page, certain these imperfections were from Konrad’s tears. It felt wrong to read more on her, and he flipped the pages until he came to the final page of the journal.
The name Chevaliar was scribbled on a loose page and was marked as the consort to the Deity of Carnage. Faust had read about this family in his history lessons with Rene. All the Chevaliar were hunted and killed by the Kingsley Knights for attempting to kill Emoris and Lathil and for the death of Lathil’s first Blessed. Faust could have sworn the Chevaliar were from Windilum, too. He wouldn’t put it past the two deities to hate all of Windilum for that incident alone.
Faust rubbed his brow. He’d gone and blown Windilum’s fragile peace with the death of Miklos, and now he didn’t know if anyone he’d befriended would forgive him. He hoped they would at least speak to him since they’d struck a deal with Terrence. The guild master wouldn’t have agreed to anything that would jeopardize Faust’s safety, or so he hoped. Merchants tended to be all about good business.
Wind tickled the back of Faust’s neck, a faint whisper of laughter echoing along the breeze as it drifted through the camp. Faust turned his attention to the forest, the laughter still echoing as the sky-blue aura drew closer. Aris jogged into the campsite, brow creased with worry, but the laughter stopped with Aris’s arrival. How strange.
“Did you find anything amiss, Aris?” Mika asked.
Aris shook his head. “But I think we’re being tracked. There were footprints in the snow not too far from here. I counted at least three people.”
“It could be the mercenaries that split off,” Mika said. “I’ll keep an eye out. We’ll move after you’ve both rested for a few hours.”
“What about you?” Faust asked.
“I am used to running on little sleep, my lord,” Mika said. “I will be fine. It’s you I worry about. Now, rest up, you two.”
Faust glanced at Aris with a smile and opened his arms, his unease fading now that the other was so close. He had so much to think about and do in order to fill the hole Konrad left, but with Aris by his side, Faust had a fighting chance.
Aris crawled over to Faust and rested his back to Faust’s chest.
Faust unhooked Aris’s blade and set it aside before he pulled Aris as close as possible. “You are so warm,” he murmured into Aris’s neck.
Aris held Faust’s hand, lacing their fingers. “Sleep well, my king.”
Mika shook his head and laid a pelt over the pair. “Don’t forget your duty, Aris.”
“His duty is to keep me warm,” Faust said and held Aris tighter.
Mika waved his hand in dismissal and sat at the edge of their camp.
Faust drifted through an eerie forest full of fog. It cleared slowly, and sky-blue orbs flickered and pulsed in a beautiful dance around him. He tapped one, and it popped into a spark.
Laughter came from above him.
Faust pitched his head back but was blinded by the light.
A pair of translucent sky-blue wings raced alongside a set of red wings. They banked and chased one another in a playful dance, with the red set catching Linos.
Faust pursed his lips. Commandant Vasil.
Linos shot down toward Faust with the red close behind. Vasil sped past the blue deity and came closer and closer.
Red eyes pierced Faust’s soul, stealing his breath.
Unbearable heat seared his senses.
Faust gasped awake.
Fire.
Fire stones were nearby.
“Aris.”
Aris rolled out of Faust’s arms and grasped his sword. “What do you sense?”
“Fire stones—a handful of them.”
Mika kicked snow over the flames. “Aris stay with him. Stay put, my lord. No magic. Let me handle this.”
Faust shuffled to his knees and readied his sword with a nod. He grabbed his glasses and secured them in place.
Mika threw an earth stone out, and it blazed a brilliant green. The roots of the tree coiled and shielded Faust mostly from view, but Faust positioned himself so that he had a view of the area. He wouldn’t stand by if Aris or Mika were in danger. Faust grasped for his sword and unsheathed the blade.
Aris jumped up the roots and climbed onto the branches of a nearby tree. He settled under the cover of the snow and waited. Fire sparked off to Aris’s left, and Aris flicked one hand, forcing snow to move in that direction for Mika to see.
Hooves thundered and snow melted in a small river. The glow of a fire stone stood out in the dark night, giving away their exact position.
Mika motioned, and the trees uprooted and danced around the mercenaries, sending them into a panic. Mika dropped to the ground below the horses and charged. Wind propelled Mika over the thick snow as it parted for him.
A mercenary yelled far too late—his head flew.
Mika turned on his heel, a wave of snow in his wake, and slashed at the second mercenary, but he dodged. Mika took off the man’s ear.
The mercenary howled and shot at Mika, but his bullets sliced with a strange wind.
Mika rounded again and slid across the snow to finish the job. More bullets rang out, but the commander ducked. A tree branch shot into the last mercenary’s neck. Mika stood and flicked his sword clean of blood as the mercenary’s fire stone fell into the snow, silent.
Aris jumped from his perch. “That should be the last of them.”
“Should be.” Mika raised one hand.
The roots of the tree fell back to the earth and Faust scrambled to sheath his sword before Mika saw it, but the heavy sigh signaled Mika saw it anyway. Faust forced a quick smile. It earned him a shake of Mika’s head. “You two work well together,” Faust said.