"Azriel and I are friends, he was a gift from Ajali for my last birthday," she said, flashing with nimble speed atop the ridged back of the creature. "Riding him is my preferred mode of travel."
Distaste settled on the prince's face. "You will ride in the carriage with me. There is much to learn about each other, and it is best we get on with it. We must also be vigilant of the dangers of Taryllion."
The command fell between them, and they stared at each other. Quelling the shiver of apprehension that scythed through her heart, she murmured, "I am quite aware of the dangers, Prince Baku. I will ride Azriel until we reach the border of the wastelands, then I will accompany you in the carriage. I understand the journey from the wasteland to the heart of Avindar, the City of Zanadul, is five days ride by carriage. Those five days is plenty of time to learn more about each other and our expectations."
A shadow of displeasure settled on his face. “I expect you to obey, princess.”
There was a crisp note of warning in his tone and the depth of his eyes, and Xian lifted her chin in challenge. "And I expect you will learn to understand I have a mind of my own."
They stared at each other for several moments, and with a slight sneer of his lip, he turned away and vaulted atop a massive black kun and gathered the reins.
Xian sank her fingers into Ariel’s shadowy tendons and sinews and dug her booted heels into the ridge on its side. She waited until the convoy started their journey before urging Azriel to the sky. She did not fly too far, soaring above their heads, reveling in the freedom atop the creature she rode. The small army riding their four-legged beasts kicked up dust and trembled the earth as they race with stealthy speed away from Nuria.
Her creature flared its wings in mighty arches, dipped slightly, and climbed higher into the sky. She inhaled the crisp coldness of the air into her lungs. "Fly, Azriel…fly." Xian whispered.
Azriel shot through the sky with dizzying speed as the procession below rode away from Adara using the mountain paths with thundering hooves. The wraith dipped and twirled as they sped over the hills, valleys, and gushing waterfalls rushed by. Her heart broke with each mile passed, and unable to help herself she turned and stared at the City of fire.
In the distance, her city reflected like jasper and diamonds as the sun glinted off its many walls, turrets, baileys, and mezzanines. Emotions ravaged her heart, and she sent a silent prayer to the king of all, hoping war would not destroy her kingdom, and that Ajali and their warriors would do everything to stop the battle at the borders and protect the people of Nuria.
Azriel dipped low, flapping its wing with raw power. Almost an hour of flying, she exited Adara into sheer wilderness splendor. She slowed her creature’s speed, so they moved at the pace of the convoy below. It was another four hours of flying before she spied the hovering bareness of the wastelands. Dark, imposing mountains stretched as if they would reach the sky, and massive clawed footed birds circled the mountains of the Taryllion. Even from her distance, she heard their caws, a call of warning for those who lived in the wasteland. Urging her wraith to the ground, she slipped from it, and with clicks of her tongue commanded it to the air where it should watch vigilantly.
Xian flashed to one of the rider-less kuns and mounted it, trotting over to the prince.
“I am pleased you’ve joined us, Princess Xian.”
She made no reply, and simply rode in silence, heart filled with heaviness and resolve.
I’ll not fail my people…but I’ll wait for you Gavyn, and damn the consequences.
* * *
Something was wrong.
Gavyn stumbled weakly from the kun he rode toward his palace grounds. He had returned to the province of E’Bari, where he was the high duke and governed more than sixteen million denizens of Nuria. The warrior forced he trained there was Eight hundred thousand strong, and while they trained four hours out of each day, now that war had been declared, it would increase to eight hours daily.
He made his way inside, tugging at the silken cravat around his throat. An unknown fire raged inside him, raw and visceral, stabbing through him with gut-wrenching agony. It had started the very second he had walked away from Xian's chamber this morning. He had been a snarling, painfilled beast as he had watched her from the dark interiors of the forest as she'd ridden away.
A terrible craving had then tore through him, relentless, insatiable, and he had stumbled away, a savage wave of fury and pain clawing at the walls of his mind. Then the fever had come, unexpected and relentless.
Sweat slicked his skin, and the hands he lifted to his vision trembled.
Xian…he held onto thoughts of her as he battled the anomaly raging through his system. Heat speared into his thoughts, ripping through the sensual memories of Xian underneath and atop him. Fire consumed the sensual drowsy image of her, and in the distortion of his thoughts, his lover screamed, ablaze with flames and pain.
A few servants dipped into a quick bow as he stumbled along the opulent corridor of his palace, his boots squeaking against the onyx marbled floor as he dragged his feet weakly along. Reaching his chamber was critical. He tore the shirt and jacket from his body, ignoring the startled gasps from the servants. Gavyn tried to flash with speed up the winding staircases and found that he was too drained. He stumbled again, and he leaned against the walls of the hallway, laboriously dragging himself along.
“Your Grace, you are on fire,” a servant cried in alarm. “I will summon the healers!”
The sound of running footsteps reverberated in his head, but he barely paid it any attention, too focused on placing one foot before the other.
“Gavyn! What is happening?”
Acheron, high duke of the house of Thessaly, and one of Gavyn’s closest friends appeared in his line of vision and then wavered. Gavyn stumbled, and his friend flashed with such speed he did not see him, only felt when he caught him.
“King’s teeth! You are burning up, and your chakra is leaking all around you,” Acheron hissed.
“Take me to the caves,” Gavyn demanded hoarsely, his throat raw from the flames writhing on the inside.