Chains of Fate

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Three

"Have you been listening to a word I've said?"

I blinked against the warm light coming from the afternoon sun. I realized that it was cruel. Though the sun was warmer than life itself, it did nothing to dissolve the ice that coated my heart.

"Lannie!"

Mayra stood in front of me on the tower steps, dressed in black leather and red runes. I shook myself from my thoughts. "Sorry, I heard something about staying somewhere."

"You're going to stay in Eremith during the fighting," she said as she flipped a strand of hair from her ponytail behind her pointed ear.

"Right."

The sylph looked at me seriously. "And you're not going to do anything that a Harbinger wouldn't do."

"Okay."

She put a hand to her forehead and sighed. "I'm sorry about this, Lannie."

"It's what's necessary, isn't it?" I studied the Eremithians as they gathered in the courtyard. Nymphs coated in runic scripts were armed with bows and arrows. Their armor consisted of only leather, which lightened their steps and allowed them to attack from afar. There were satyrs wearing silver breastplates and kneepads to protect their goat legs. Other magical creatures populated the courtyard, including small pixies and griffins. I even saw a gorgon.

The creatures who were part of the front line were armed with spears, while the rest were armed with swords, axes, and other such weapons.

Mayra set a hand on my shoulder. "War is never easy," she said, "nor is letting the people you love most go."

I looked at her. The sorrow in her amber gaze felt as though it burned through me. I forced my eyes to the ground, forced my hands to stop trembling, forced my heart to freeze over. To feel nothing.

To feel as if my heart hadn't been ripped out of my body.

"But sometimes letting go," Mayra whispered, "compels us to action. To be brave, to be reckless."

The army before us gathered into an orderly group, waiting for Astera—who was speaking with Chileos inside the tower—to give them orders. I turned to the sylph beside me. "What are you trying to say?"

"You hold a power within you that can destroy thousands, Lannie," she said. Her eyes shifted to me, and it was the first time I'd ever seen her so serious. "But more importantly, you hold the will to save thousands. And right now, you are the only one who can truly summon Eden and work with her as it was meant to be when the Harbingers were first chosen."

I sighed. It wasn't worth the effort to explain to her that I couldn't do it. Not with the cursed pendant I had now.

"I overheard you speaking with Ayacinth," Mayra continued. "I have her placed under guard, so don't worry about her doing anything. Therin tricked her," she added, "but I believe he has underestimated you greatly. You are capable of much more than you believe."

"If you know I have the pendant, why are you bothering to tell me this?" I hissed. "I can't do anything."

Mayra chuckled as a breeze caused her ponytail to wave in the air. "Just trust yourself, little skeptic. And by the way," she added, "the entrance to the tunnels Gavin used is underneath the tower."

Suddenly, the door to the tower opened. I had a vague sense that Astera and Chileos were exiting, but all I could do was stare slack-jawed at the sylph. "Mayra, I thought you told me to stay inside Eremith."