Chapter 17: Chapter 17 – Of Want and War

GrandHall echoed with unrest, stank of fear and agitated excitement. Packed not only with my fellow first years, but what had to be the rest of the students and academy staff, as well. Unfortunately, the stink was not enough to overwhelm the delicious intensity of the hundreds of different skyborn scents mingling in its broad enclosure. The shadows danced as the lantern lights flickered, their flames seemingly stirred by the intensity of the energy trapped there.

We’d all had to wait until those who’d been injured in the attack were attended to, and worked ourselves into a collective frenzy of nervous agitation in the process.

But at last the mysterious headmaster had come to stand at the heart of it all—his back to the same altar I’d cut myself on the day before. Of course, I could barely see him over everyone’s heads and wings, but I caught the occasional glimpse.

“Silence.” he said, his voice amplified, seemingly, by a staff of black stone held in one hand. “The information we have is, as of yet, incomplete. But I will share with you what is known. Today, the wards which have contained the Rend of the Unseen Isle for the last two hundred and ninety-eight years ceased entirely to function, releasing undead and other beings in numbers as yet uncounted. The defenses surrounding the region were summarily disabled and destroyed. The sea towers have been taken.”

He paused. No one spoke, their collective shock like a sudden chill in the air. But still my instincts screamed at me to shove my way past all the annoying deepborn crowded in around me. Find my way to Thors. Tell him how much I…

No. Stop that. Stop it now.

Keshry stood at my side, her arm looped in mine. I snaked my hand down to squeeze hers, anchoring myself.

“As I am sure you have all imagined, this changes a great deal. The initiation of our first years has, of necessity, been cut short. They will be residing here, in GreatHall, until tomorrow’s midnight while the Elders deliberate on their placing. Defensive measures surrounding the school will be expanded and reinforced, and there will be a re-ordering of student service duties. A good deal more of you, fourth year and up, will soon receive the honor of the guard.”

There was some murmuring at that, but it broke off at the barest gesture from the hooded one.

“There is little of which we may be certain, but I can say this: difficult times lie ahead. I warn and advise our first years that this event will be taken into account and given significantly more weight in coven placements than matters of preference or petty rivalry. And while some groupings may seem less than ideal to you, know that they will be made with the utmost consideration for your lasting survival and for the greater good of all peoples of this territory.”

There was a lot of whispering at that. Another subtle raise of a claw from the hooded headmaster, and silence reigned once more.

“All save our first years are dismissed. For most of the rest of you, food, bedding, and personal effects will be brought in shortly. Zia of Clan Ashri and Erek of Clan Odros. Remain where you are. An escort will seek you out.”

Sudden panic yanked me down from the heights of pheromone-addled distraction.

An escort? Oh gods, am I being expelled? Already?

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

There was a great deal of commotion as all of the returning students and staff made for the exits. Keshry tightened her grip on me, which was good…because I’d just scented Thors through the sensory chaos of the crowd, and I wasn’t sure I could contain myself.

His aroma grew stronger still, and then I saw him, breaking the stream of kobolds headed for the nearest exit as he approached, a vaguely familiar deepborn at his side. He was taller than me, but not as tall as the average skyborn, with scales that were a sort of blue-gray shade that reminded me of storm clouds.

His eyes caught mine for half a second, and his glyphs appeared.

1Gem Sapphire

“Ashri-an,” said Thors, a smile lighting his features as my gaze fixed on him. Others stepped readily out of his way, and Keshry locked her arm tight with mine as he came into full view, pulling her hand from my grip to curl it around my bicep.

“Come,” said Thors. “This is Odros-an. You’re both to stay elsewhere until placement, for your Moon. I’ll show you.”

My face burned.

“Can’t a deepborn show us?”

His ears drooped a bit.

“I am the only one who volunteered,” he said.

“Oh,” was all I managed in return, though I immediately felt bad. I was trying to keep my breaths shallow, which made talking at length difficult.

I looked sideways at Keshry, who hadn’t loosened her hold on my arm.

“I’m going with her,” she said. “I promised myself as keeper for her Moon.”

“Very well,” replied Thors. His expression became thoughtful, and he met eyes with Erek.

“Do you have a keeper you’d like to join you? There is room.”

But the deepborn just gave the barest shake of his head, his gaze skirting away at once from the skyborn’s.

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“I can help you both,” said the Jade.

The Sapphire barely acknowledge her, merely jerking his head a bit to one side.

We followed Thors out of GrandHall, just one part of a stream of other kobolds headed down a series of corridors and a few flights of stairs, Keshry maintaining her grip on my arm as we went. I could have pulled away from her, if I lost my self control entirely. But the pressure and the slight pain of it helped, prevented me from getting drawn entirely away from myself.

At last we came to a curving hall that was lined on one side with sigil-warded doors. Kobolds roughly Thors’ age crowded around at intervals, clustered against the wall or leaning in open entryways—war the only topic on their tongues. But several of the skyborn went silent as we passed, nostrils flaring and pupils gone wide.

“Here we are,” said our escort, stopping before one of the doors and reaching to open it for us. I grabbed Keshry’s arm with my free hand to prevent myself from reaching out for him as we brushed past and into the space beyond. Erek followed silently after us, arms wrapped around himself.

I came to a full halt just inside, nearly bowled over by the intensity of Thors’ scent pooled within.

Bringing my hand up to cover my nose despite how rude it probably looked, I took in the space. It was a high-ceilinged chamber, and could have been mistaken for a natural cavern were it not for its roughly rectangular shape. It was lit by a combination of faintly glowing sigils in the ceiling and small lanterns set into the rock. Random protrusions of stone jutted up from the floor and out from the walls, and moss-filled depressions provided what I supposed passed for comfortable seating. At the center was what looked like a natural spring of steaming blue-green water.

“The greenroom is back there,” said Thors, gesturing to the far end of the chamber, where five doors lined the walls and a ladder lead up to a narrow ledge and another four doors.

“Top right is mine, but you’re all welcome to any of the other quarters,” he added.

I looked to Keshry and Erek in my shock, waited for one of them to ask the question…but neither of their expressions echoed my surprise.

“This place is yours?” I forced out, resisting Keshry’s pull as she attempted to tug me further into the room and away from him. “Why here? Won’t your coven have a problem with—”

Keshry yanked on my arm, bending me sideways as she rose to her tip-toes to get her snout near my ear.

“He doesn’t have a coven,” she whispered.

Thors watched us, his tail uncharacteristically still, his smile now tainted by a sadness I could tell he was trying very hard to hide.

“There is nowhere else. All of the unoccupied rooms will soon be assigned. There would be no time to clear out your scent markings,” he explained.

“Thank you, Khural-an,” said Keshry before I could form a response.

Thors’ tail twitched.

“Of course.” He eyed me as I stood just inside the door with my hand still covering my nose. “I will stay away until I must sleep, and keep to my own chamber when I return.”

He inclined his head to the three of us, eyes lingering momentarily on me, before backing out of the room.

“Someone will come with your trunks and food soon, I expect,” he said, before shutting the door abruptly between us.

It had barely clicked closed when Erek turned from Keshry and I and made for the far end of the suite. Selecting the chamber furthest from Thors’ own, he disappeared within.

“Er, ok then,” I said, though I couldn’t exactly blame him. Probably better to put as many doors between Thors and me as possible. Already I was letting my hand down, reaching for the door latch, ready to follow him without even thinking about it.

“No, Ashri-an,” she said, tugging me over to one of the mossy scoops and dragging me down to sit beside her. “You must stay here.”

“I—” I swallowed back the desire to argue with her. Took a bit too deep of a breath. Now that Thors was gone, his scent lingered most intensely around his chamber door—a much less dangerous target than the kobold himself. I yanked my arm free and jumped to my feet, Keshry close on my heels as I made for the back of the suite and scrambled up the ladder.

I was at the threshold, hands coming up to snatch the door open when I registered the intent of the sigils surrounding it. I yanked my hands back before they could blast me off the ledge, and just sat down in front of it instead. Gave in to another temptation entirely, and inhaled long and deep. At once my brain felt like it’d been replaced by some kind of hazy, twinkly, horny cloud.

Keshry set herself down beside me and curled her arm once more around mine. But I was as far away from myself in that moment as she so often seemed. I should have been fretting about the war looming on the horizon. Interrogating Keshry to find out what the deal was with that invisible island or whatever they’d called it. But instead I was fantasizing about things I was pretty sure I could never have, because Thors was a fourth year—and from what he’d said, whoever my new coven was, they’d all be first and thirds.

But then again, he had no coven of his own, and if that was possible…

Wait.

“Why doesn’t Thors have a coven?” I blurted out.

Keshry’s gaze had been drifting steadily away from me, but she fixed her eyes back on mine. Looked into and past them. There was sadness in her expression, and a strange sort of understanding, too. Again I found myself wondering what it was she saw when she looked through me like that.

“Because they are all dead,” she replied.

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