As if by mutual silent agreement, the four guards turned and walked back to their spots at the wall. They looked more alert than earlier, but as long as they stayed there, I should be okay.
I stepped back and moved slowly around the altar. On shaky legs, I crossed the room and ascended the stairs. I didn’t breathe until I stepped out of the building into the bright sunlight. Bending over, I braced my hands on my knees and took a few deep breaths. I was too shaken by my close call to revel in what I’d done. And this job was far from over.
I straightened and hurried over to Gus who lay waiting for me. His head came up as I approached, reminding me he could see through my glamour. I stopped in front of him and pulled out the sack containing the ke’tain. His nostrils flared, and he lowered his head to sniff at the sack.
“You remember the ke’tain, don’t you?” I whispered. “There’s another one like this far away in the Duergar Mountains. I need you to take me there.”
Gus stood, and I tucked the ke’tain away. He picked me up, and we were off.
He flew back the way we’d come, but when land came into view, he veered north and flew along the coast. Small towns were scattered here and there, but we were too high for me to make out any of the details. Maybe someday, when I wasn’t busy trying to save the world, I’d come back for a closer look.
Hours passed, and the terrain changed, slowly rising to form a mountain range that stretched as far as I could see. Gus turned inland, and the temperature dropped. I was warm tucked against his belly, but I could feel the bite of cold air on my face when I lifted my head to look around.
We dropped lower as we flew over the foothills that were covered in dense forests. It was a little warmer down here, and I enjoyed the myriad of colors from the green valleys dotted with wildflowers and lakes so blue they didn’t look real. A few times, we passed other drakkans, but they kept their distance from us. One thing I didn’t see was signs of civilization, and it started to feel like I was the only person left in the world.
The hills became steeper and the vegetation sparse. The air stung my face as Gus crested mountains that got higher and higher the farther we went. We passed several crags with families of drakkans, and I noticed that the mountain drakkans were smaller than the ones that lived on the cliffs in Unseelie. A pair of them flew out to snap and growl at us for being in their territory, but they kept their distance from Gus who was twice their size.
We climbed above the snowline where the air was thinner and so cold it burned when I took a deep breath. I had to cover my face to protect it, and the next time I peeked out, I was shocked to see nothing below me but clouds.
Gus suddenly changed course and headed for one of the snow-covered peaks. I thought he was going to land on the summit until he dipped at the last minute, and I saw the dark spot in the face of the rock. The cave.
He landed lightly on the wide ledge at the mouth of the cave and carefully set me on my feet. My legs wobbled, and my feet felt numb after so many hours in the air. I leaned against his foreleg to steady myself until I could stand on my own.
“Oh, my God,” I said through chattering teeth when I stepped away from Gus’s warmth. The cold didn’t seem to bother him, but I was shivering so hard my bones ached.
Gus nudged me with his snout, a not so gentle reminder that I was here for a reason. The sooner I did what I came to do, we could leave this frozen place.
I pulled out the laevik crystal I’d brought with me, and it illuminated the cave that was roughly twenty feet deep. Walking to the back of the cave, I found a tunnel opening hidden from view by a protruding slab of rock. I held the crystal in front of me and entered the narrow tunnel.
A few feet in, the tunnel branched into two directions. I paused and frowned at them. I’d dreamed of this place. Just like that, I knew exactly where I was going.
I took the left tunnel, not surprised when it began to slope downward. It was as quiet as a tomb inside the mountain, and even my footsteps sounded muffled. At times, the tunnel was so narrow I had to turn sideways and suck in my stomach to squeeze through. I had never been spelunking, and until now, I hadn’t known how much I disliked enclosed spaces.
Aedhna had hidden this ke’tain well. If by a remote chance someone ever managed to find the cave, they’d have a lot of trouble fitting through some of the tight spots in the tunnel unless they were my size. No adult faerie I’d seen could make it.
I was questioning my sanity for being here when I noticed a change in the air. It was charged with electricity, and I felt a strong compulsion to keep moving. I didn’t know if it was Aedhna telling me I was close, or if it was the two ke’tains sensing each other.
I came to a spot where the ceiling was so low I had to crawl. On the other side, the ceiling leveled out, and I found myself at a dead end.
I laid my palm against the cold wall. Immediately, the ke’tain in my pocket thrummed with energy, and the hairs on my body stood on end. From deep within the rock, I felt an answering pulse, and the wall grew warmer. I withdrew the sack from my pocket and tipped the ke’tain onto my hand. I pressed the stone against the wall and waited.
Ripples spread across the wall like tiny waves on the surface of a lake. When the disturbance subsided, the rock was crystalline, and deep in its depths was a small glowing object. The object rose slowly to the surface, until finally I could make out a luminescent green stone the same size as the one in my hand.
The two ke’tains made contact, and my body jolted like I’d been struck by lightning. Every cell ignited, my vision turned white, and pain lanced through my chest. I would have fallen, but my hand was fused to the wall.
In seconds, the pain vanished, and my sight returned. Beneath my hand, the ke’tains pulsed and I could feel the one from the cave feeding the one from the temple. The energy was pure and immeasurable, and its divine beauty made tears spill down my cheeks. It should have reduced me to ashes, but my goddess stone protected me as Aedhna had promised it would.
I didn’t know how long I stood there like that before the ke’tains separated. I stayed where I was, watching the green stone recede until it disappeared, and the wall was plain gray rock again. It was done.
I secured the ke’tain in my pocket and wiped my wet cheeks with my sleeve. Then I made my way back to the main cave, knowing I would never be the same after this experience.
Gus’s head swung toward me when I climbed out of the tunnel and came into view. I smiled and walked over to stand beside him in the mouth of the cave.
“Have you ever seen anything like that?” I gazed at the snow-capped peaks that resembled islands in a sea of clouds. It was breathtaking and frightening at the same time, and I’d never felt so alone, even with Gus at my side.
An icy wind stole my breath, and I shivered. “Let’s go home, Gus.”
I fell asleep before we reached the foothills and didn’t wake until Gus growled to let me know we were approaching the island. The same four guards were on duty when I entered the temple, but they were more relaxed than when I’d left them. I was ready for this day to be over, but I took my time exchanging the fake ke’tain for the real one. Another misstep like the last one and the guards would call in backup for sure.
It was dusk when Gus set me down on the road near the forest. If I’d thought the place was creepy during the day, it was ten times worse in the near dark. I was too tired to create another invisibility illusion, but I had enough energy to run to the main road.