Souls of Aredyrah 3 - The Taking of the Dawn Read Free Page A

Alicine dismounted and joined him, but
whatever it was they were looking for was no longer in sight.
    Dayn shrugged. “Probably just a rock or
something.”
    Alicine halted. “No,” she said, and reached
down to gather something that lay at her feet.
    Dayn took several strides toward her. “What
is it?”
    Alicine thrust out her hand. Dayn gazed into
it, his heart skipping. He would have been less astounded if she
had been holding a serpent under his nose. Cradled in her hand was
a brooch of silver, a purple amethyst set at its center. It was a
brooch surely made for a royal, much like the ones they had seen
Whyn, Reiv’s brother, wear. But Whyn’s jewels were emeralds, not
amethysts, and he would never have had cause to be in this
place.
    Dayn took the ornament from Alicine’s hand
and inspected it. “This can’t be Whyn’s.”
    “It’s Reiv’s,” Alicine said. “I’m sure of
it.”
    “Reiv’s? But when would he have—oh…of course.
But I didn’t think he’d actually been here. I mean, when he
transcended and the goddess gave him visions of the valley, I
thought they were just visions.”
    Alicine’s eyes sparkled as she gazed at the
brooch. Dayn handed it back to her. “Here, you keep it. Something
to remember him by, ‘til you see him next time. Won’t he be
surprised you found it?”
    She smiled, then pinned the jewel to her
dress, low enough at the breast so she could look at it with ease.
“The color reminds me of his eyes,” she said, running her finger
over the stone. Then she gazed at the shell bracelet draped around
her wrist, its iridescent swirls competing with the elegance of the
brooch. Both were precious in her eyes. Reiv had given her the
bracelet and now, in a way, he had given her the amethyst as
well.
    ****
    The pass into the valley from the southern
side was not difficult, other than the finding of it, but the pass
into Kirador to the west proved to be more treacherous. There was
evidence of recent landslides all along the canyon-like passage
they had entered. Dirt and massive boulders were tumbled into
precarious mounds on either side of them; trees, once towering
giants, lay toppled with root balls exposed; a fresh mountain
stream was now a river of mud and debris.
    As Dayn and Alicine slowly made their way
through, an uneasy silence surrounded them. There was no sign of
life, no birds or insects, no song of the wind, no fluttering of
leaves in the trees, not even the dry ones. They glanced nervously
at the towering walls of stone on either side of them. Perhaps it
was just as well there were no sounds. The slightest vibration
seemed as if it could bring the mountain down on top of them.
    A landslide of pebbles trickled down the
slope, bouncing and echoing off the larger rocks below. The horses
responded with nervous neighs and dancing hooves.
    “We need to get out of here,” Dayn whispered.
“This place gives me the chills.”
    “Do you think it’ll be like this back home?”
Alicine asked in a worried tone.
    “I hope not, but let’s not talk about it now.
I’m afraid anymore noise might bring something unpleasant down on
us…like that,” he said, motioning to an overhang of granite above
their heads.
    They continued on as quickly and quietly as
the terrain would allow, and before too long the scenery changed
from that of potential entombment to a place to soar and breath
free. They paused atop an embankment and stared at the forest that
stretched down the mountainside. They had finally reached
it—Kirador—the place Alicine called home, but that Dayn no longer
could.
    “We’re there, Dayn,” Alicine exclaimed.
“We’re finally in Kirador!”
    But Dayn remained silent. He was happy for
his sister, but couldn’t bring himself to share in it.
    “I can’t believe you actually got us here,”
Alicine said. “You did it!” She began to laugh, then cry, then
leaned over to Dayn and threw her arms around him, almost tumbling
from her horse.
    “Whoa, hold on