Chapter 32: Maverick

Cliffs above the City of Beceni, Northern Delos

Maverick was becoming far too accustomed to near-death experiences.

He and his small band of strange friends had run and they hadn't stopped running until they had reached the treeline on the north side of the Belleming Wood and burst through it to find themselves overlooking a bustling city far below them. He knew it well.

"Beceni," Maverick said, out of breath, as he looked down on the familiar city below.

He had been to Beceni many times. It was the largest Delosian city closest to the eastern coast and the Frozen Seas which many refugees had ventured dangerously across to escape their homes in Karil and the icy lands even further north of the continent. He had informants here, people who could help them, people who had always written to him to come and collect any of those refugees desperate enough to need royal intervention. He had met Aditya here. He looked over to her now and found that she was remembering that day as well.

"What did you do?" Neva snapped suddenly, drawing Maverick out of his reverie and back to reality where the lot of them had just outrun a madman and his overpowered posse. Zephyr and Delphi were still trying to catch their breath. Neva, having apparently caught hers, had Calliope by the collar and was shaking her about like a ragdoll, her braid swinging wildly about her shoulders.

"Neva!" Maverick cried, charging over to her and separating the girls. Calliope just took a deep breath and held up her hands in surrender. She was just as wide eyed and out of breath as the rest of them.

"What did you do, Ysuelt?" Neva shouted over Maverick's shoulder as he pushed her gently away. "You lied to us. Tell us what you are! Tell us what you really are!"

"No," Calliope said, shaking her head. "No, I swear. I'm just as surprised as you are, really. That– I've never done that before. I didn't even know I could do that. I still don't know how I did that."

"It's true," Sebastian croaked, rising from where Zephyr had set him down, one arm dangling as he limped forward. "I've never seen her do that before."

"That's impossible," Neva spat. "You had to have known. You–"

"Neva," Maverick interrupted with the most soothing tone he could muster. She looked at him then, finally, and calmed when he raised a brow in warning. "She saved us. She saved me. We were going to die there, all of us. She's the only reason that didn't happen."

The group fell silent, glancing around at one another as the truth of that sank in. Calliope's gaze fell to the ground, her lips parted slightly as though no one was more surprised by her power than her.

"What are you?" Neva whispered a moment later, just as in awe as everyone else.

It was a rhetorical question, of course. She hadn't expected an answer. After all, the girl herself had just admitted to being just as stunned as the rest of them. But an answer came anyway and from Aditya's lips.

"Andhakaar," Aditya spoke softly, reverently. They all turned to her for explanation only to find that she was now watching Calliope with wide, awestruck eyes. "The blackouts."

"Blackouts?" Zephyr asked, taking a step forward and glancing at Calliope as if trying to assess the threat level of the situation. "What are blackouts?"

"They were human silencers," Aditya explained, still marvelling at Calliope. "I felt it there, in that clearing. You all must have too. That's why you stopped fighting, that's how you knew."

"Felt what?" Maverick asked, looking at the Sahir in his party, obviously excluded from whatever they had experienced.

"Weakness," Zephyr whispered, looking away.

"Silence," Aditya corrected. "A dimming of our power. An absence of magic. A void. There are many words for it but it's nearly impossible to describe. That's why they came up with that word for them in the old language. Andhakaar."

"She can... stop magic?" Neva asked, and looked at Calliope now in a whole new light.

"It's more than that," Aditya replied. "But yes. That's the crux of it. There hasn't been an Andhakaar in centuries but they used to serve the human kings, stay by their sides to ensure that magic could not be used against them."

Calliope looked down at her hands, staring in simultaneous horror and fascination as if made newly aware of the incredible weapons she had been walking around attached to all these years. Neva caught Maverick's eye and he knew immediately what she was thinking. He needed protection. Calliope was protection. He shook his head and she frowned.

"We should go," Zephyr interrupted the silent communication taking place all about the small group. "If she truly is an Andhakaar, we need to get her back to the palace. She's far too valuable to have out here in the open."

"No," Maverick replied, shaking his head and thinking. "The Chaos will have come to the same conclusion we have. He will know what she is and he will be after her as well. He'll suspect we'll try to take her back to the palace so that's where he will be looking for us."

The retaliation hit them all hard and they all fell silent again, considering their options.

"What are we supposed to do then?" Neva asked after a moment, impatient and annoyed. "We can't just pitch another tent out here for the night. That didn't work out so well for us the first time."

"No, he will have his men combing the forest," Maverick agreed.

"So where do we go?" Sebastian asked. His injury must have been making him more inclined to play nice with the prince.

Maverick met Aditya's eye and knew that she was aware of what he was going to suggest before he suggested it. He felt for her, truly he did, but there was nothing else to be done. He turned to the city of Beceni and sighed.

"I know someone down there," he told them, pointing to the city below. "They will help us."

Aditya frowned, turning away from him and crossing her arms.

"You're sure?" Neva asked. "Loyalties have shifted since the war, Maverick. I know you trust Chaya but–"

"I'm sure," Maverick answered with some finality.

Everyone exchanged glances for a moment but, when it became clear that the city of Beceni was their only viable option, they dusted themselves off and started heading down the long incline to the bottom of the cliffs where the city gates lie.

As everyone walked on in silence, much to consider in each of their minds, no one noticed when Aditya fell in beside the prince. She didn't say a word, just kept walking along like the others, but he saw the frown on her lips just the same.

"I know it must be difficult for you to be back here," Maverick said under his breath so that the others would not hear. "If you would have preferred to remain in the woods awaiting our return–"

"If he found me, he would torture me for your location and I cannot say I would not give you up," she answered. He nodded. He had always admired Aditya's shrewd honesty.

"Perhaps it would help if you told... someone," Maverick suggested, gesturing covertly at Zephyr's back in front of them.

Aditya sighed.

"We aren't on the best of terms at the moment," she said.

"He would want to help you through this."

"He would. And that might be the problem."

Maverick frowned. Aditya fell silent. They walked on for a time before either of them spoke again.

"She's more important than any of us, Maverick," Aditya whispered then. "Even you."

"I know," he answered, watching Calliope as she walked on in silence, back stiff and gaze on the ground in front of her.

"I didn't see it before, why she mattered. I thought Delphi might have lost her touch. But this... I've got to hand it to the seer. This is extraordinary."

He didn't answer. He just watched Calliope walk, every now and then reaching over to stabilize Sebastian who refused to lean on anyone or let anyone else help him. She didn't seem too bothered by it. She was used to his stubbornness, no doubt. It was a warrior's pride which kept him from accepting help. Maverick imagined there was plenty of that to go around growing up with the Ysuelt. A few times, though, he caught her staring at her hands and marvelled at what she must be going through.

"Whatever is between you–" Aditya said then and Maverick's attention snapped to her.

"There's nothing–" he started but she held up a hand, too exhausted to hear any more denial on the subject.

"Whatever it is, Maverick, be careful with it," Aditya warned. "Delphi has seen things. Terrible things. And she's a part of them in some way. So until we know how, guard yourself. And that includes your heart."