Nania POV

I did not sleep better the next few days. In fact, I slept less and less.

Despite how King Lordrin proclaimed officially for the Temple and public’s benefit he had forgiven me, I couldn’t take his words at face value. He was arrogant, but he would have to be a fool to truly forget everything and just continue trusting me. And I could sense them too. The stares of others. I heard their whispers. Surely there were new rumors, new insults, circling about the temple, the palace, the city. Animal. Slut. Traitor. Temptress, they must be muttering.

It wasn’t like that. They were the shallow ones who meekly went along with what they were told, because they’d been promised comfort and power. They just clung to whatever the great scandal of the time was. They were so starved for entertainment. He didn’t really mean those things he said. He was trying to protect me, right? That’s what that look meant. But someone needed to protect him. The both of them. At this rate...with things going like this…

I had impulsively thrown away my opportunity to become the Head Priestess and enact any control over King Lordrin and the Temple. Or at least, to be anything other than a figurehead if I became Head Priestess. And for what? Talon was captured. Elian was missing. Maybe dead. Maybe Elian had left, never to return again. Was either better than the other?

Another day. Another rumor. Another nightmare. One less day until the Rite of Sunset.

The Rite of Sunset. A rite of farewell, in which an Angran warrior was sent off to the realm of the Sun Fiend by sacrificial fire. In hopes that they’d appease the Sun Fiend for just one year longer. Just one year, just one. On and on and on. Forever. This year, there would be more sacrifices made than just one. A feast for the Fiend. But the chimeras, the burnt ground…

If even the Sun Falcon and Crown Naruune together could not put the Fiend down, then what the hell was Talon supposed to do? How could one man shine brighter than two Crowns?

Nothing. He could do nothing. All he could do was…

That night found me standing before the lower levels of the temple wielding a torch. Though my reputation was steadily going to shit, for now I still had the affections of the Crown-Son, however fragile. I had my shield. I would use it. With enough confidence and command, the guards allowed me into the basement with the captives. Lordrin had not announced me guilty of any crime, after all. There was no reason to keep me under watch. But as I descended the stairs to the basements my resolve flared, jumped, and sputtered, just like the fire I held. Dancing shadows on the walls became demons in my mind.

What was I doing? I had no plan. Simply strong emotions and convictions. Foolish, foolish, you’ll kill both yourself and Talon. And yet, if I did nothing, Talon would certainly die and...and then what? It would work out. Everything would work out. If I asked the Sun Falcon for justice and Crown Naruune for protection…

No. Fuck them both. What had they done to stop this? Did that mean they approved of this? I’d draw power from the Fiend herself, if I knew it would save him. And I had to save him, now, while my resolve was still strong. Everything else could come later, I would have what I resolved to do. I would kill the guards, the Priestesses, the Crown-Son himself if I had to. I would, I would, I had to.

Each of the basement cells was sealed by a Rune-Lock: a particularly complex piece of written channeling that, so long as it remained intact, was near impossible to undo. Engraved onto clay bricks as they were, however, it was incredibly simple to disrupt them by just removing the correct single rune-carved brick, like stealing a building’s cornerstone. With one collection of meaningful words removed, the entire story and spell fell apart. The temple was arrogant, however. Only a priestess could make it this far into the temple, and they believed no priestess would ever be so selfish as to let a sacrifice go free. I supposed they never considered the possibility of someone like me, who gave a rat’s ass for neither luxury nor duty. They never counted on a lazy and selfish traitor making it among their ranks; their arrogance. The firelight flickered as I checked the peepholes of each cell, until I found the one containing him. Without hesitation I rushed inside, holding the torch in my teeth as I untied his hands.

“What are you doing here? You should leave,” he growled.

I helped him up with one arm, holding my torch with the other. His hands were still warm. “That’s what I’m doing. We’re leaving, like you said,” I replied. “Whatever comes. We’ll face it together. Now let’s go.”

He glared down at the floor, chewing the inside of his lip in a way that reminded me of myself. “I can’t fight.” My eyes traced over his body. Dark bruises and scratches from the fight with the chimeras still littered it, and his weapons were of course nowhere to be seen. They had kept him from dying, but knew that fully healing his wounds would only invite him to be difficult

“It’s okay. I can fight now. I’ll fight for the both of us. Follow me, I’ll protect you.”

From the look in his eyes, I didn’t think anyone had ever told him that before. It made my heart swell to be the first to do so. I fed that feeling to my resolve, prayed it would be enough, and led him up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs stood the two guards I had passed earlier, minimally armored and wielding spears. As we approached the top of the stairs, they crossed their spears and barred my way. The dancing shadows across their faces made them resemble leering demons. “Candidate, where are you taking the prisoner? You were only to check the locks,” one asked in a low voice.

Alarmed at being caught, even if I should have expected it, I stiffened my spine and coughed to clear my throat, doing my best to sound and appear official. “He is—I mean, I am under orders from the Crown-Son to…” I paused. Why was I even bothering to pretend?

I shoved my torch into one guard’s face.

His eyes widened. And then his flesh began to blister and bubble. A choked scream barely escaped his lips, but was muffled by the torch in his mouth. The scent of burning flesh hung heavy in the air. His companion cried out in alarm, lunging towards me with his spear. Before he could do more than scratch me, Talon grabbed the spear from the other guard’s slack arms and stuck it in his neck. Together, Talon and I shoved him down the steep stairs. We didn’t waste time listening to his body bump and bruise, or his fragile bones crack. Talon wasted no time in turning to the first guard and snapping his neck.

For the first time, I had killed someone. A person. But they were going to kill Talon. This was the first time I had seen Talon kill, but surely he had done so before. Done so many times. He looked like the same Talon, he looked so unshaken by the violence he had just inflicted. Unrepentantly. Remorselessly. But they were going to kill him, just as easily. So it was okay, right? It was...in defense of him? Punishment, retribution? My stomach turned, a funny feeling fogged up my head.

Talon tugged my arm. On his face was a solemn look. Stern, yet softened by concern, in the way his eyebrows tilted, or in the line of his mouth. “Nania. You were the one who wanted to leave together. You have to move faster.”

“R-right,” I muttered over the protestations of my stomach. Then I staggered to a halt, and abruptly emptied out its contents across the floor, dropping the torch.

“Nania!” Despite how drained I suddenly felt, my fragile resolve just gone now, Talon pulled me back to my feet. “We cannot go back. You’ve already killed two guards. We can’t make excuses for that, we have to commit. It’s too late.”

“I-i know—I don’t want to turn back,” I muttered. He brushed some of the vomit from my face.

His eyes went cold and hard, his mouth set into a grim line. “You didn’t kill them. I killed them both, I can finish the rest. But I need you to keep up, and to restra—”

“What’s going on here!?” Another voice rang out in the dark night. A second guard rounded the corner wielding a flickering torch, and quickly noticed the dropped torch and vomit, which he began to investigate.

Talon, as ever, was fast on his feet. He practically carried me into an alcove on the wall, the shadow of a statue hiding us from the guard’s torchlight. His face was hidden from me, but I heard a small pained gasp from him as his grip on me weakened. We were safe, for now. But the guard knew there was someone nearby. He’d investigate too close, or he’d alert his brethren. We had to keep moving, now, while he was distracted. I linked my elbow around Talon’s and gently pulled him from the statue alcove, clinging to the shadows. We’d find a window to escape through, and disappear into the night. None would be able to catch us.

Talon stumbled. A quiet noise that seemed to fill the whole hallway. And then its raucous echo, “Get away from the Priestess-Candidate, savage!” I looked back to see the guard grit his teeth in rage. In the firelight his place was positively demonic Though clearly displeased, Talon complied and lowered the spear he had held. The guard flinched at the intensity of Talon’s glare, but did not back down, angling his own spear at him.

“Priestess Candidate, are you alright?” the guard asked. He didn’t wait for me to respond. I couldn’t make my mouth work to give him one, anyways. His brown eyes flicked between me and Talon, mouth pinched in concern. Or was it suspicion? Did he already suspect? Did I need to--? “I’ve already sent my patrol partner to alert the rest of the guard of suspicious shouting, and so more will be coming soon. One of them can escort you to the infirmary. I will handle the escapee, you needn’t worry.”

Talon shot me a look, but I couldn’t read it in the flickering light. Pained? Pleading? Disappointed? Or were those my own feelings distracting me? My mouth opened and closed. No. No. I made it this far, was it going to end now? He would take Talon back, and kill him. He would see the bodies of the guards, and...and…

As a ghost haunting the living, I trailed after Talon and the guard. I wasn’t sure how. My body felt too weak to move. But I heard him stop at the top of the stairs down to the basement as he looked at the burnt and marred face of the dead guard.

“How did...how did this prisoner escape? They said the rune-locks were…” he muttered, but I didn’t give him the chance to voice the rest of his conclusion. Rather, I took up the spear Talon had abandoned and thrust it into the guard’s back. At first, the tip only wedged into his leather armor. The guard turned, seemingly caught off guard. There would be no third chance. I stabbed him in the neck, connecting with the magic in the spear to give him an electrical shock. He made a pained cry as he crumpled to the floor, and I raised the spear to stab him again.

“Wait.” Talon took my arm and stopped me, then took the spear back from me. As the guard made little choked noises, Talon brought the spear down quickly and decisively, silencing him. Then he looked back at me. I couldn’t decipher all the emotions in his face. He only said, “Let’s go.”

If I stopped moving, I didn’t know if I’d be able to start again. So I didn’t stop. Found a window, dove out of it. Into the night. Scrapes and bruises. Couldn’t stop to tend to them. Already, we could hear dozens of footsteps, as the guards began to mobilize around the temple and across the city. We had to take advantage of the darkness, the Fiend’s nightmare realm, to escape them. Hope some chill wind snuffed out their torches and silenced their shouting.

“There! There they are!”

“Halt!”

Talon took up a fighting stance, gripping the spear, but I didn’t allow him to fight. There was no way he could. Instead I dragged him along behind me. We couldn’t fight so many guards. And if we stopped, then I wouldn’t start again. Keep going, keep going, keep going. The alleyways and rooftops, they were our only hope. I was more familiar with them than any other Priestess of the Temple, only I could navigate them and disappear within them, like drops of rain in an ocean. Especially in the darkness. None other could navigate them, and they’d all be too fearful to even try, or so I hoped. Some guards kept chasing us into the alleyways, I could hear them, but they’d yet to catch up with us.

“Where’s Elian?” I asked him. “We’re finding them now. We’re leaving.”

“Hallow Zaya,” he gasped.

“The Goddess of Flowers? What do you—?”

He shook his head, dispersing my questions for now. “No time. Let’s just get back to the Deep Woods. Lose them in there.”

I nodded. “Quick. The rooftops,” I said. We’d be able to travel much faster and more freely up there. The trade off was, I couldn’t judge my leaps as accurately as I liked. I...really hoped I wouldn’t fall again. Adrenaline and greater fear would have to substitute for true courage. It took more time than I liked for me to help Talon up there, but we got up. Desperately I hoped that Talon would also be able to make all the jumps, but my heart beat with equal parts panic and exhilaration. This was...exciting? We were almost there! In just a little longer, we could make it to the River Ter, then the Deep Woods, then they’d never be able to catch us. We could escape, we could leave for good. We could be happy and free and never, ever have to worry about sacrifices and Fiends and Crown-Sons again.

An arrow hit me in the arm. I yelped as a shock traveled through my body. In the dark. They shot at us in the dark. They hit us in the dark. The moon—was it light enough? It was strangely cloudy for the Sun Season. Sheer luck, then, or torchlight? It hadn’t been a magic weapon, but still—it hurt! My hand let go of Talon’s. He turned to glare at the scattered down on the street, slowly growing in number as more guards trickled in, as I clutched at my arm. He felt for the magic within the spear, and lightning crackled around its tip in a threatening display. A beacon in the dark, a convenient target now for the archers.

And we only had the one spear.

Live.

A drop of blue fell from the sky.

Once he threw the spear, then that was it. They would fire at will. They knew where we were. Maybe I’d be spared, so they could exile me instead of controversially killing a Priestess Candidate. Or maybe they wouldn’t care about controversy, and would kill me so the traitor and Angran couldn’t escape. Maybe the darkness would let them ‘accidentally’ kill the traitor-priestess. It was over. The end. We’d die. Elian would die.

Live!

With a resounding crack of thunder, Talon threw the spear. Lightning seared some of the guards, but not enough. In the night, a small number of citizens had crept out of their homes, gathering to watch the fearsome display. The guards shouted in the night, sounding off to confirm all were still alive. The captain called out for them to aim their bows.

No. No. No. No. No! No! No! No! No! No! No! I stepped forwards, protectively drawing Talon behind me, and thrust out my arm. The wind howled and sang, throwing the arrows off course. No other projectiles struck us.

Live. Live. Live. Live! Live!

More drops fell from the heavens. I, Talon, and several guards and other onlookers looked up. Some of the civilians let out cries of astonishment and confusion. Blocking the pale moon were rainclouds. Rainclouds, cooling the hot Sun Season night.

“Crown Naruune’s blessing…?” Talon muttered. Though he was not to type to stand slack jawed, his eyes were wide with wonder.

My mind flashed back to the chimeras, and the beetle. Talon drowning. Drowning in a lake. Flashing me a smile and then leaping in a lake. Those times I had used near-instantaneous magic previously, then to a conversation Elian and I had once had. Was this the secret I had been searching for? Believing that there was no other way. Deepest dread. A fervent wish to live. A million voices ripping through me, shouting the same demand, a trillion wills coalesced into one word. Live. Live! Was there a god who granted such power…?

Was this truly synchronicity?

I didn’t know. But I did know a deeper secret of this magic. I had called for help. Something primal and powerful had answered. Something far bigger than me, an ocean to my minnow. And in that moment I did not know or care who did. Crown Naruune, Sun Falcon, Sun Fiend, something else...I’d take them all and more. The warnings against channeling too much of a god’s magic too quickly echoed somewhere in my head, muffled and distant as though from behind a locked door. But none of that mattered now. Consequences be damned, we would be leaving. Neither of us would die. And so I simply echoed Talon’s sentiment.

“A blessing.”

Fire, wind, and lightning seemed to race through my veins, like manic joyful power. A chorus, a song. Perhaps they could lift me up and away into the sky. Perhaps I could at last fly, like I had always wished. Buoyed by these feelings I stepped forwards, a grin widening across my face. The rain fell heavier, as did frigid pellets of stone. The wind sang ever-louder. I held out an arm, pointing.

At my command a bolt of lightning fell from the stars, painting the night scattering the troops. I barely made out their silhouettes as they broke formation, desperately seeking cover. An airy laugh escaped my lips.

“Nania…?” The rain had soaked us through to the bone, setting in a cold chill that I could barely feel. Even the arrow lodged in my arm felt distant. Numbed. Talon looked at me, his eyebrows knit with concern. It wasn’t an expression I was used to seeing on him. I shook my head, still grinning. Shaking that smile off my face seemed impossible now.

“I’m alright, Talon. I’ve never felt better,” I told him, my tone as light as my body felt, then held out my hand. Carefully he took it, and together we strode through the rain. Now he was the one taking faltering steps, from his exhaustion and injuries I assumed.

This city knew many things. How to work, how to celebrate, but not how to rest. But now, that ever-wakeful city had fallen silent, under the song of the wind and the rain. Fearing we might slip from the rooftops, Talon led us back down to the streets. No longer did we need to rush as we walked towards the river, and the woods and Elian beyond. Somewhere beyond them, a few rays of warm light shown, as one of the two suns peeked above the forest’s canopy. The night was at an end, and dawn was on the edge of breaking.

Perhaps we should have rushed.

In the end, it wasn’t the guards that stopped us. Not the guards, not the priestesses, not my faltering will or the will of the gods. It was my own accursed body.

It started in my abdomen and spiked out through the rest of my torso, planting dreadful roots and thorny vines. A bolt of pain and weakness lanced through me. I stopped. Talon looked at me as if for the first time, eyebrows knit in concern.

“Nania…?”

“It’s fine,” I said, quietly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a few brave or opportunistic guards slowly approaching again. Taking advantage of our moment of weakness. As if I would let them. At a gesture another bolt fell, not harming any of them, but doing its work in scattering them again. Hopefully that would keep them away until we were long gone. But that great many-voiced song had abandoned me. This time, it was as if my feat of magic had stolen something from me. My legs spasmed, and another jolt of pain twisted my insides. I bent over, and my legs turned to mud. Talon caught me before I could collapse, his wonderful warm arms holding me tight.

“We need to go,” I said. Almost the second I spoke, the rainstorm began to abandon us just as quickly as it saved us, a hot wind scattering the clouds as the suns rose higher in the sky. The Sun Fiend, or the Falcon—did they abandon me? We needed to go. We needed to go! Where was that power I commanded so easily before!? Why did they give it to me then and not now? I struggled out of Talon’s grasp, sparing him only a glance as I began to run. But I saw Talon with an expression that didn’t suit him. How strange, crossed my mind distantly. His dark brown eyes were wide as he tried to reach for me, crying out “Nania, wait—!”

But it was too late. My feet tripped over themselves, and more scrapes and bruises were added to my collection as I fell upon the streets.

My vision began to tunnel and a ringing became clearer in my ears. I could only curse myself. So close, so many things accomplished, and it all ends here. With the rainstorm long gone and our shelter of shadows fled, and us two no longer capable of defending ourselves, the guards came out from the shelters they had taken, circling us at first hesitantly, but then encroaching on us more boldly as they realized we had no more tricks to play. Early bird citizens walked the sorry performance with equal parts curiosity and scorn. I was sure Talon would keep trying to fight...but I was equally sure he would lose, as weakened and outnumbered as he was.

It was over. It was all my fault. And now the gods had abandoned us.