Endbearer by J. E. Holmes

Author:J. E. Holmes [Holmes, J. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Publisher: Elyssia Books
Published: 2022-03-08T16:00:00+00:00

One night, Ediline drifted to the edge of camp. She leaned on the crumbled retaining wall and gazed out into the dark, empty streets and wondered what had been. It had been so long since she’d been able to dream to Lord Phae, and yet here she felt closer than ever to her linked partner. She wondered what Phae was doing, which was silly, because all of her life had happened already, but it always felt like it was still unfolding whenever Ediline listened in. She couldn’t help but wonder, everywhere they went, if it was somewhere Phae had been, long long ago.

In the shadows far ahead of her stepped a figure. Through the layers of the Everquiet, there were no footsteps. Ediline sucked in a sharp breath and her hand went to her side.

The figure saw her. In the light of the distant flickering fire pit, she saw the edges of his features, the long hair framing a sculpturesque face.

Ediline glanced back toward camp. No one was looking her way.

This was crazy. But she had to do it.

She hopped over the short retaining wall and into the Everquiet, where her footfalls should have made sound against the stone street beneath her. The figure waited until she reached him, the darkness fallen over them like a heavy blanket.

“I didn’t expect to see you,” Ediline said. Her voice was nearly swallowed by the Everquiet. “Have you found the answers you were looking for?”

Loethe swept his long coat along with him. “I have remembered a way that you can learn them,” he said. “And . . . I wanted to return to this place, to sink into the sorrow. Come.” He began to walk away, into the night.

She didn’t follow. “Where?”

He didn’t stop. “I will show you.”

“I don’t like following you into the unknown.” She walked after him, just so that he didn’t get away from her. “Tell me before you show me.”

“Insistent. She shared that trait. Ha. The Hündagrät.”

“Hyoond-a—what? I understand everything you’re saying, but—”

“That is what it is called. Hündagrät. The immense opportunity deep below. It is an old word. Translations do it no justice.”

She shivered. It didn’t sound like anywhere she wanted to go, yet she found herself following him still. “How can I understand you? I’m speaking a language I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense. Nothing about you makes sense.”

He cocked his head, as if considering her question. “You are correct. That does not make sense. I will attempt to think on it, and maybe I can concoct an answer for you, inquisitive Princess.”

“I’m inquisitive for good reason. You must be here for something. All of this—Phae, the chimeras, the Desolation—it has to fall together, but there’s part I’m missing. And I don’t have time to figure it out, because my whole family is being marched to what may be our deaths.”

“Why would you do this? It sounds foolish.”

“That is a simplistic way of looking at it.”

“Ha.”

“Not used to being insulted?”

“Tragically, I believe I am all too accustomed to it.

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