Chapter 59—Right There |
Not having to pass through or over a storm wall made the appearance of Fallen Reach almost a surprise to Hiral. To the others, as well, when he told everybody over the raid chat. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Seeyela’s head snapped up, before her body leaned forward on Bliss’ back.
Sensing the urgency in her rider, the Nightmare lowered her head, fire flaring out of her nostrils. Beside her, Thunderclaws swooped in beside her, a scree echoing from his beak in her direction, before a powerful flap shot him slightly ahead.
A challenge? To see if she could go faster?
Whether it was because of the competitive gryphon, or her rider’s palpable need to get back to her daughter, Bliss rose to the challenge. Flames flared around her hooves, while the wiry muscles beneath her dark flesh rippled with power. Stride after stride, she threw herself into the last hundred miles to Fallen Reach.
A bellowing roar that echoed across the sky from beneath Hiral told him Drake wasn’t going to be left out of the “fun”, and a beat of his blue flame wings shot him forward with an impressive acceleration. Beside the dracolich, Vili and Seena clearly weren’t going to sit idly by, fiery feathers burning like floating embers with each beat of the phoenix’s wings.
“Speed smash!” Bash said into the raid chat, the engine of his Skybike revving and pulling ahead of the pack.
Not that it lasted for long, with the sight of Fallen Reach bringing a new energy to everybody, their own flying mounts getting pushed to keep up. All but one, with Devison slowing as they got closer to his home. To having to face Yully’s family.
Something the Grower on the back of Drake noticed.
“I should go back,” Drahn said. “He shouldn’t have to do this alone.”
In Hiral’s sensory domain, Nivian and Wule slowed, peeled off from the rest, curving out wide and around to loop back and pull up beside Devison. The sensation of a private raid chat formed, and Hiral left them too it.
“They’ll take good care of him,” Hiral told Drahn.
“He won’t even talk to me,” Drahn said. “Yully and Dev, they were best friends for most of our lives. Never a couple, or anything like that, but closer in a lot of ways. We all thought they’d be like that forever. They put up with me, too, ass that I was. That says a lot.
“And, even though she was my sister, he’s taking it way harder. I don’t know what he’s going to do without her.”
“Are your parents…?” Hiral started, not really sure if he should ask.
“They knew the risk. Made peace with it,” Drahn said. “They’ll be heartbroken, but they have each other. Dev, though? He had Yully. Now, he doesn’t have anybody.”
“He has you,” Hiral said. “Nivian, Wule, and the rest of us.”
“Think I heard you talking to Nivian earlier,” Drahn said. “I can already feel the Hunger starting to gnaw at me. We’ll be leaving soon enough. Sooner, if we can. Dev, he can’t come with us. He needs to stay way from any fighting right now. Far away. I… worry what he’d do—or not do—if faced with something that could kill him.”
“We’ll make sure he gets the help he needs,” Hiral promised.
“I hope so,” Drahn said. “And, Hiral, after everything you and me have been through. Especially the, like I said, the me being an ass part, thanks for getting us through all that. I’m sure you’re beating yourself up about the people who didn’t make it home with us, but the rest of us, we don’t blame you. We all did everything we could, and we’re all equally responsible.”
“Thanks for saying that, Drahn,” Hiral said. “I’m glad you rejoined our raid group, even with our bumpy start. And, I am sorry about your sister.”
“We all are,” Drahn said. “She died saving the world, though. That counts for something. I’ll still miss her. Say, when I get the Hunger under control—however long that takes—we’ll come back, and I hope we can all have a drink together to toast her, Dole, and Ilrolik.”
“Sounds good,” Hiral said. “Sounds good.”
That was the end of the time the two of them had to talk, the mounts having devoured the distance to Fallen Reach. In front of Hiral, the floating islands filled his vision, while Drake and the others shot straight for the central Grower island where Grandfather towered protectively. Already, people who’d recognized Drake’s roar were rushing along the connecting root-bridges to welcome the returning party.
And, to Hiral’s Atn, two people ran faster than everybody else. A certain husband and his young daughter.
“Go… go,” Seeyela urged her mount, the Nightmare pulling ahead of the rest as if her rider’s need to be with her family fed her speed. Burning hoofprints scorched the air in a trail behind the horse, then across the ground as Bliss blitzed toward the pair.
Heedless of the Nightmare charging them, neither Trev nor Favela slowed, their eyes entirely on the white-clad woman on the mount.
For her part—with one hand—Seeyela ripped off her eight-eyed helm and threw it aside, even as Bliss pulled up short and skidded across the ground. Dirt churned into the air. Fire flashed at the Nightmare’s hooves. The white-armored woman vaulted from the horse’s back, legs pumping before she hit the ground at a frenzied run, only to stumble as her weakened body failed her.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Momentum brought her hands to the ground even as her daughter called out “Mom!” in worry, though she needn’t have bothered. It didn’t matter if Seeyela’s body barely had the strength for her to stay awake, let alone upright. It didn’t matter if her armor felt like it weighed a ton. It didn’t matter that every bone in her body ached like it was broken, or her muscles twitched and quivered with every breath.
None of it mattered, because her daughter was right there. Everything Seeyela had worked for, fought for, suffered for was crying out for her, and she would not let her down. She would not wait another second to hold the little girl that meant more to her than the rest of the world combined in her arms. She would not wait to tell her it was all going to be okay now.
She would not wait to tell her her mother was home.
Hands and knees hitting the grassy ground, Seeyela pushed past the decrepit state of her body through sheer force of will alone. She told her bones to hold her up, and her muscles to move her. And, like anybody—or anything else—trying to stand before Seeyela when she was determined to get her way, they obeyed.
Instead of falling on her face, she got one of her legs under her, catching herself, before pushing up with her arms.
Ten feet in front of her, tears ran down Favela’s face as her little arms stretched out. A doll fell from each hand, forgotten in their need to reach her mother.
Bones practically creaking from what Seeyela demanded of them, she hauled her next foot forward, planting it like a flag in the ground. Her leg would hold her up another second, there was simply no other option, and she took another step.
Five feet in front of her, Favela stumbled, so eager to get to her mother, she wasn’t watching where she was going. As her toe caught the lump in the ground, her eyes widened, and gravity took hold of her.
Except, gravity and Seeyela were old friends, practically siblings at this point. If it was going to play a part in this reunion, it would be a helpful one.
There was a thrum of solar energy, though it seemed to come as much from the island they stood on, as it did from Seeyela, and Favela’s fall paused. Like the laws of physics had taken a timeout, Favela hung in the air, neither falling nor running forward. One racing heartbeat, two, and her eyes went from the ground she expected to hit, to…
Seeyela dropping to her knees in the space in front of the little girl, arms wrapping tight around her chest. That seemed to be the cue for gravity to get back to doing gravity-things, and Favela fell crying into her mother.
She threw her arms around Seeyela’s neck, and buried her face against her mom’s cheek.
“Mom,” she sobbed over and over, as if she couldn’t believe the woman was really there, and the two of them fell into a crouched embrace, neither willing to let go for even a breath. A second later, another set of arms joined the hug, Trev arriving to pull both his girls close.
Tears ran down his cheeks too, and they certainly weren’t the only ones in the crowd. Growers who had come running stopped to give the two the moment, while the rest of the raid party left their mounts near the edge of the island, while the riders stopped near Bliss.
A look from the Nightmare told everybody not to interrupt the moment. Not that they had any intention to.
Despite the people who didn’t make it back, the unsure feeling of “winning”, and the threat still out there, this is what they had been fighting for the whole time. Protecting their loved ones from things like the Raze and the Enemy.
They’d done that. Genesis was free. Favela would get to grow up on a world instead of an island.
“It’s okay,” Seeyela cooed. “I’m here. I’m back. It’s all going to be okay now.” One hand rubbed Favela’s head, while the other reached around to hold on to Trev. For his part, the man didn’t say anything, just squeezed the two of them tight.
Like that, the three kneeled on the ground as the center of attention for several long seconds, before another pair of Growers pushed out of the crowd and rushed in to join the group. As soon as the pair showed up, Seena ran forward to add herself to the growing crowd.
“Those are Seena and Seeyela’s parents,” Yanily told Hiral quietly. “Not to say you don’t have a chance or anything, but they’ve never approved of one of Seena’s boyfriends.”
“They approved of Trev?” Hiral said, sizing up the two older Growers.
Yanily chuckled. “Even they know better than to try and tell Seeyela what to do. Uh, but don’t let that get your hopes up too much. Seeyela learned that from her mother.”
“We just saved the world,” Hiral said. “That’s got to help, right?”
“Not as much as flowers,” Yanily said. “Seesetta—that’s their mother—likes something called a bluebell. Hard to find, and only on the surface.”
“You’re the one who told me about Seena and lilies,” Hiral said. “Do you know which flower every woman likes?”
“Just the important ones,” Yanily said. “Remember, bluebells.”
“Got it,” Hiral said, though the conversation turned to more important things as people started noticing the condition Drahn was in. Held in scarves of energy, it’d taken more than a few second-and-third glances to realize the man didn’t have legs. Once that’d finally sunk in, more than a few healers had come running.
“Seena,” Hiral said over the party chat, and the woman turned from her family reunion to look in his direction. “I’m going to get Drahn and Loan to the healers. After that, I’m going to go grab Osteo. I have a feeling his expertise is going to be needed. I’ll catch up with you after that?”
“You just avoiding meeting my parents?” she joked, and the smile on her face—along with the happy tears in her eyes—showed she wasn’t serious about it. “That’s fine. Are you okay to do that? Don’t you need to rest too?”
“Plenty of time to rest once we make sure these two are okay,” Hiral said. “Though, I should stop by the Cradle and let them know what happened…”
“Finotol and I are thinking about heading back there now, if you have no objections,” Romin said.
“No objections,” Hiral said, then stopped to think about it. Depending on the route he took… “Give me an hour to get these two settled—and get Maker healers down here—and I’ll go with you. The Cradle is on the way to Trevallen. Mostly. Dad would kill me if I waited too long to let him know I’m back.”
“I will go with you, as well,” Sera said. “An hour will give us time to get things in order here with the others before we go.”
Hiral almost reconsidered his decision to go to the Cradle first—he wasn’t ready to talk to her yet—but the choice was made.
“Right, so, an hour then?” Hiral said.
“We’ll be here,” Romin said, his small companion wandering around and looking at all the new sights.
“See you soon,” Hiral said, turning his attention to the healers fussing over Drahn and Loan. Nearby, Laseen was giving them the lowdown on what had happened, and what was still the problem. Leaving Devison with Nivian, Wule joined the discussion, and it was decided where to take the pair.
Then, as soon as Hiral had them both settled in beds—after the short struggle of finding something big enough to support Loan—Hiral made a quick trip up to Fallen Reach. “Quick” being relative. It took him almost the full hour to find the right people to help, since not any-old healer would do, and he returned to the Grower house will three additional Makers.
Getting them all settled—and promising to return soon with Osteo—Hiral went and met up with Romin, Finotol, their companions, and Sera.
It was time to return to the Cradle of Tomorrow and let everybody there know they’d won.