Page 44 of Raven's Dawn

But that wasn’t the case here. It wasn’t like the war I had fought before, where many of the soldiers I saw die were teenage boys, unaware of what their leader was even doing, conditioned by years of radical nationalism.

These people didn’t age. Even if the ones I’d seen looked like they were in their thirties, they were probably several hundred years old. They had enough lived experience to develop good morals, and they chose not to. They chose to stand with an enemy, whether that enemy was the Angels or the air an tagadh.

They made the decision to be evil.

How could I sympathize with that?

Then suddenly, in the midst of my philosophizing, they appeared. Jeremy, Laila, Connor, and Naomi appeared.

I jolted two feet backwards.

After all these years, I should have been used to teleporters, but I was not.

“Alright, everyone,” Naomi called. “Gather around. We’re going to go over the plan.”

Good thing, too, because I had questions.

The soldiers began filing in, forming a circle around their gods. We stayed sitting.

“We’re getting a later start than I’d hoped,” Laila said. “We’ll still make it by nightfall, but our next stop isn’t somewhere I particularly want to be after dark.”

“Where is our next stop?” Graham asked. “You just said up north.”

Jeremy pressed his lips together. “Makora.”

Graham harrumphed. “Which is why you only told me up north.”

In Graham’s mind, I asked, What’s Makora?

He waved me off.

“We know how they feel about us, so we know how you feel about them,” Laila said. “But Caeda knows more about the life eaters than we do. And after what we discovered today, I think you’ll agree. We need to talk to her.”

Did that mean that Makora was a person? Or was Caeda the person?

“Caeda and I aren’t very close,” Iliantha said, “but we were once. That’s why I’ve joined you all. Once I make the introductions, unless you all need me, I will return home. I do hope that she will give us the information we need about the life eaters, but if she does not, there could be a problem.”

“What kind of problem?” Warren asked. “Like, another battle?”

“One we won’t win,” Jeremy said. “Makora is an Elvan city. Caeda is their queen. She’s over a hundred years old, she is Elvan, and she uses the same magic the maalaichte cnihme do to retain her youth. Meaning she has the power of dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of people inside her. I imagine much of her army does, too.”

“And she’s not a threat.” Laila’s eyes glowed brighter than usual. A sort of mothering, don’t argue with me expression took over, though it was blissfully not pointed at us. Only the soldiers that surrounded us. “I have a vague understanding of the history here. I know the Fae and the Elves don’t get along like they used to. But we are not going there to wage war. We are asking for help. If she refuses to give it, then we will leave. We’ll find our answers elsewhere. But no one, I repeat no one, draws a blade in her presence.”

“Caeda is… a bit of an eccentric,” Iliantha said. “She has a flair for drama. Even if something looks dangerous, I cannot see her genuinely hurting any of us. Even if when we arrive, a blade is put to mine or Laila’s throat, you keep yours holstered. We don’t hate one another. We are not here to start a war. But they will stand their ground, and we are their guests. We will behave as such.”

A glance around proved the soldiers’ disapproval. Most of their eyes were glowing, all of their jaws were clenched. Some of them were even cursing to themselves.

“And I don’t want to hear any lip about it,” Laila added. “Deal with it, or go home. I don’t have time to argue.”

“Mount your dragons,” Connor said. He looked for Naomi to give the order.

“We leave in five.”

17

WARREN

It was only midday when we began our next flight. Nevertheless, we were once again told to sleep as much as possible. We needed it, too, after waking up to an ambush and a battle on the first night. Graham and Rain were out first, cozied together on the rear of the saddle. In his sleep, Ezra joined in the cuddle puddle. He was the little spoon, tucked up against Rain with Graham behind her at the saddle’s farthest edge.