Barin’s drug wore off early in the morning, and then the servants administered food to him. With the prince strapped to his bed, despite how hard he fought to be free and the profanities he uttered, the terror and carrying on, the men managed to feed him.

Erika missed her brother. She kept vigil by his side every night when he slept, held his hand, spoke to him, cooled his head with a rag. But during his waking hours, she dreaded seeing him struggle and often stole off to her father’s room during his feeding. Her brother’s screams echoed through the halls and could be heard as far as in the king’s chambers.

Three days after they had rescued Prince Barin, Cephas came to Erika’s door.

“You have a note for me?” she asked the lad. With Barin’s condition, a cloud of depression hung over the castle as if Skotádi had cursed the entire kingdom. Good news would be a healthy reprieve.

“No note. Just words,” the boy replied. His eyes were open wide as if what he had to say would terrify her.

“And those words are?” she asked.

“There’s a rumor the sailors wanted you to know.”

“A rumor? Why do you worry me with rumors?” she asked.

“They told me you would want to know. Two anglers who were fishing near the island heard a great noise and threw down their nets. One of them hurried along the beach to see who had called out for help. He said he saw a man up on a hill wielding a great sword about as big as this room fighting those winged beasts. The flock became a black cloud and came at him like a twister swallows a farmhouse. The man didn’t win. The anglers saw him fall.”

She stared at the boy, not sure if the reason he came to her was that the rumor was about Arell. Her skin grew cold as her heart slowed. This is only a rumor, she told herself. It couldn’t be Arell. Odd how he was the first person who came to mind as if the man were continually in her thoughts. She caught herself from falling by leaning against the door frame.

“Are you all right?” Cephas asked. She nodded.

“After the man fell, chanting began, and the skura were taken up into the sky. The men saw natives put the man on a horse and rode off. The fishers thought you and the king should know.”

Erika reached in the purse strapped around her waist and pulled out a few coins.

“Is that all?” she said, breathless, afraid she would faint in front of the lad if he didn’t leave soon.

“That’s all. Just that the anglers were sure this man was important. Maybe a king or someone. Just bringing the message. That’s what they told me to say. Only they didn’t say the sword was as big as this room, I said that because it had to be if he were fighting those monsters three at a time like they said he was.”

Erika listened intently, her heart sinking.

“Thank you, Cephas,” she said as she dropped the silver pieces in his hand.

“Much obliged!” He grinned just before a blood-curdling scream came from Barin’s room. Cephas jumped and looked down the hall. Feeding time.

“Go now,” she told him. He mustn’t know the condition of the prince. No one in Prasa Potama should know. After Cephas raced away down the corridor, Erika felt her head for fever, collected her balance, and left for her father’s chambers.

“Is he going to get better, Erika?” the king asked as soon as she stepped into his room.

“I don’t know, Father. Kairos says he can’t undo a curse.”

“I bet those Cho Nisi can. Didn’t your Arell fellow write a letter telling us they wanted to be friends?”

“He did.”

“Why don’t you write him back and ask him to bring some of their healing ministers here?”

“Father, I don’t think they can.”

“It won’t hurt to ask.”

“I just got word that the skura have surrounded the island and that maybe...,” she breathed deeply. It was just a rumor, she told herself again. “They said that maybe it had involved the king.”

King Tobias frowned. “When did you hear this?”

Erika bowed her head. There was a tremor in her voice when she spoke of the news. “Cephas was just here, only a moment ago. He said a fisher saw someone mauled by the demons. The man didn’t know who, but they thought it was King Arell. No one has said whether he lived or died.” She turned away from her father, afraid that she’d break down. Her father sighed, exhaled, and patted her hand.

“You should go see.”

“Me? Father, they banished me from the island.” She wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

“Who did?”

“The elders. They have orders to kill me on sight.”

“Nonsense. You can’t banish an ally from your homeland. Either you’re friends, or you aren’t.”

“Well, they did.”

“Go anyway. Take an army.”

“Father!”

“Since when has the threat of death ever stopped you?” He took her chin and lifted her head. “My daughter, you’ve fought against being a princess since you were small, you defied your brother and took off to conquer a nation, you adorned yourself with armor when all odds were against you. Who’s stopping you now?”

His eyes filled with love, his words were like a waterfall to her soul. She’d been a goose flying against the skein all her life. She never regretted soaring against the wind. Passion had always been her motive.

“It’s not death I’m afraid of.”

“Then what is it?”

She swallowed her tears. She couldn’t see Arell again. It would break her heart. What would she do if he told her to leave? To be in his presence again was more than a dream, more than a hunger, more than impossible.

“Love.”

Her father raised his brow and gave her a contemplative frown. “Then I shouldn’t ask such a thing of my daughter. There’s no need for you to be involved in politics. Perhaps we can send someone else. Kairos. They didn’t banish him, did they?”

“No! I mean, no he wasn’t banished but… it’s not that I don’t want to go. I do.”

Her father raised his brow. “You do?”

She swallowed and composed herself. “Of course, I want to help in any way I can.”

“You can help with Barin.”

“Father.”

Wisdom beamed on his face. “What Erika?”

“You’re teasing me. You tell me to go to the island and now you tell me no. Which is it?”

“Do what is in your heart.”

She looked deep into her father’s eyes. Had he known all along her feelings for Arell? She had contested Rhea at one time, challenging her to tell Father that she loved Kairos. Now it was her turn to speak the truth to her father.

“Arell is in my heart,” she whispered.

“Just as I suspected,” he said, and a smile slowly crept over his countenance. His smile turned to a soft chuckle, and he nodded. “That sounds more like the Erika I know.” He patted her hand.

Life had come back to him. If that were a sign, she could defeat the devil. Yes. She would go.

“Thank you, Father.”

Kairos had been at the door watching them with his arms folded. The king waved him inside. “Ah! The wizard! Just in time. See that, Erika? Take Kairos with you. And some of his apprentices. They can help with Cho Nisi’s skura problem.”

“Excellent. Did you hear that, Kairos?” she asked the wizard. He observed Erika and her father for a moment.

“What? Go to Cho Nisi with you? Again?”

Erika nodded.

“To do what?”

“To fight skura.”

Kairos breathed in deeply.

“You do a marvelous job.”

“Yes, well, we need to talk about that. You see my heart—” his voice tapered, and he rolled his eyes and sighed again. “I will be strong,” he muttered and then smiled. “So long as I’m not taken prisoner, I suppose I could oversee it. Can Rhea come?”

“No,” Tobias said bluntly. “Rhea stays here. That way I know you’ll come back.”

Kairos frowned. “Well, then if I must.”