When he reached their vehicle, he leaned against the trunk while Eno and Drayce flanked him. Their expressions were grim, but they remained silent. Only Vale seemed to be getting annoyed with them, but Caelan ignored her, waiting for Rayne to return. His advisor would be able to see the flag and put everything into perspective for him.
They had to wait just a minute before they spotted Rayne walking briskly to them. The paleness of his cheeks wasn’t encouraging. His beard was coming in with a surprisingly red tint, compared to the faint hints of auburn in his hair. But the beard made his face seem that much paler.
When he reached them, Rayne opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He snapped his teeth together and paced a couple of feet away, staring down the street in the direction of the church and then turned to Caelan. No words passed his lips, as if the flag had locked up his brain and rendered him speechless.
“Yeah, that’s how I feel,” Caelan muttered. He scrubbed a hand over his face and pushed off the trunk. “Does this change anything for us?”
“Honestly, I have no idea,” Rayne admitted, his voice low and strangled, as if it physically pained him to say those words.
“What the fuck is going on? Who gives a shit about a flag?” Vale shouted.
Drayce leaned toward the woman, a small smirk tugging up one side of his mouth. “You know, you should lower your voice. You don’t want to attract attention to us.”
Vale balled up her fist and drew back her hand like she was planning to hit him. And in typical Drayce fashion, he grabbed Caelan by the shoulders and pulled his king in front of him as a shield.
“Way to go, bodyguard. Thanks for turning me into a human shield.” Caelan shook off Drayce’s hold and rolled his eyes. At least Drayce had the sense to be embarrassed. He turned his attention to Vale, who didn’t appear to have thought Drayce was all that funny. “They’re using the image of a godstone to represent the Dead God,” Caelan continued.
“So?” Vale held up her hands in front of her and shrugged.
“How many godstones are there in Thia?” Rayne demanded.
Vale glared at him for a second like she thought he’d lost his mind. “Just one. Everyone knows that. The Godstone of Erya holds the power of all the gods.” Her eyes darted around at each of them, her expression still confused and skeptical. “What? You think there’s another godstone because of that flag? I’m sure they just took the image of the Godstone and doctored it to appear broken, right? The Godstone represents the Goddess of Life. Why not use a broken one to represent the Dead God?”
“Is that what you think or what the people of Zastrad have told you?” Rayne continued to prod.
Vale took a step backward away from Rayne, her hand seeming to inch closer to the long knife on her belt. “I don’t know. Both, I guess. I’ve never really asked why they used a broken godstone as their emblem. I was just told it was the symbol for the church of the Dead God.”
Until coming to this village, Caelan had been sure the people of Thia thought there was only one godstone. Caelan pinned Rayne with a piercing look, but he didn’t need to speak. Rayne’s brow was furrowed in thought.
“It is possible the explanation is as simple as that,” Rayne murmured, sounding as if he were speaking more to himself than the entire group.
“Except I saw it,” Caelan countered.
“What? How is that even possible?” Eno demanded, though it seemed as if Rayne wanted to shout the same questions at him.
“Saw what?” Vale added. A new wariness entered her deep brown eyes as she watched him.
“When I saw the flag for the first time, I got a vision of the godstone in a cave. It was similar to the Godstone in Stormbreak, but there was a giant crack down the center. It also appeared to hover a smaller distance above the ground.”
“Do you think Kaes gave you that vision?” Drayce asked.
Caelan shook his head. “Tula, I’m sure. Nyx is her brother. I feel like she’d know him, or at least his prison, better.”
“Then maybe the flag was designed by the High Luminance,” Rayne suggested. “It would make sense that the leader of the country and religion would know the truth. That doesn’t necessarily mean that all the people of Zastrad know about the godstone of Mrtyu. I think it’s too early for us to worry. We’ll need to assess the situation in Temit and Mrtyu when we get there.”
This was the Rayne he knew. The man’s calm confidence helped Caelan get a handle on his own rabid feelings of panic. After Caspagir, he’d expected zero signs of the godstone. An enormous flag emblazoned with the crystal was certainly a slap in the face.