The Light of Eaglefriend (The Tale of Eaglefriend Book 4) by C. L. Murray

Author:C. L. Murray [Murray, C. L.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2022-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Breathing Underwater

V aleine stood in her son’s garden, where fruit withered on vines of ashen gray that matched the sunless sky. She would prefer to see the aftermath of an insatiable fire. Instead, this graveyard of life that had bloomed with bright potential now sagged from lack of hope, from the absence of a single caretaker who saw value in the endeavor to unite such disparate empires.

Evinn held the Crystal Spear with his back to her, as her brother had, as her father had—may their ashes rest high on the mountains with their fathers before them. The fact that he was about to give up his royal scepter and station brought her some small comfort, but she had seen what became of their only patriarch who’d found the humility to yield his power. Humility in an Eaglemaster was as good as rot to circling vultures.

“You are going to abandon us to those who would have gladly taken our heads already, were it not for your decree as King,” protested Tarksen the ferotaur. “Do you honestly come here asking us to restrain ourselves, out of optimism that the redcapes will reciprocate in good faith? They’ll fly to tear us limb from limb the moment they learn of your abdication, and we’ll defend ourselves as viciously as ever!”

“I ask only for time,” Evinn replied with a calm that belied the dire urgency she sensed in him. “Every new wisp of darkness mirrors another Eaglemaster entertaining proposals of chaos and destruction from He Who Lurks, another one of your brethren, perhaps you yourself, considering powers that would make your previous degradation pale in comparison. It is no miracle that our two sides have not yet bloodied each other. It is a testament to our shared resolve under terrible pressure, our common vision of a future worth waiting another night, another hour for, rather than turning back to centuries of carnage. Give me that extra hour, stretch it through the night if you can, so I can cut off the hands that stir this combustible mixture, and silence the tongue that would whip it aflame.”

“I assure you, King Morthevinn, I’ve harbored no such notions of betraying you,” said Oknahl the shrieker. “Though, I will admit, appeals to my frustrations have been made, and heard.”

“Then remember what was louder when you saw my father and Roftome fly together for the last time. Remember the sound that compelled you and your people to say no to remaining servile beasts, because finally you recalled what it is to be men.”

Her stern expression relaxed when Evinn uttered Hironthel’s familiar words, which Morlen had relayed to her so many times with a spark in his eye. Their son carried on Morlen’s torch, but the air that fed it was so thin that every eye must strain. Looking away became far easier by the minute.

Evinn concluded, “I wish I could promise that no predator will find you without finding me first, and no snare will catch you without catching me.

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