Dragon Aster Trilogy

28: TENU



Yri’s mentioning of an Awl who was sent to kill her brother, Fevre, had Hain guessing just which one would be dense enough to take up such a task. Or which one wasn’t playing by the rules, just as the High Priestess hadn’t been. If it truly was Damek, he had to know just how many strings Vanir was able to pull in his use of the Awl kind. For if Vanir was able to separate, manipulate and then enslave Damek’s Eminor from his soul, that meant that no Awl was safe. The scarier scenario was that Damek was consciously doing it all himself.

When Feryl caught up with Hain in Atrum City, he had brought with him Sybl’s request to save Delare and Gloria. In Hain’s search to do something incredibly stupid, it had ultimately been delivered right to him.

Hain tucked his long, straight brown hair behind his ear as he tried to pick up on their trail that had ended at the Atrum. He regretted having thrown all the soldiers from Vanir overboard the GLORIA on the trip over to the Torian Continent, as he didn’t anticipate needing to question one later. Now they were fish food.

But his missing lead was already watching him from the black obelisk-like castle before him. He couldn’t pick out who it was, as every time his psi got close, it was cut off. What he did manage to sense was that it came from inside as he looked up to the countless windows and verandas of the Atrum. Whoever it was, they were toying with Hain to go inside. Doing such didn’t need a trap, as with the hundred Awls he sensed within, tripping just one could get him killed by more than he could handle at once.

But if he walked away now, the itch for answers would follow him everywhere. And if the Atrum had teamed up with Toria, then it would be raining dragon fire on top of all his current problems. As he thought about his Bond, Kayla, the last thing he wanted was to find his daoran on a battlefield that would force him to choose sides.

He caught the Threads of the guards positioned at the front gates, and turned their sights with a flick of his wrist. It was easy enough to slip past the feeble-minded and those completely oblivious to the spiritual Threads.

As he walked through the gates and into the main hall, he caught sight of two Awls. Their customary wooden masks looked his way with their engraved expressions. Only their mouth and eyes were cut out entirely, exposing their green eyes. He guessed that they were participating in the celebration from the brightly colored suits, adorned with feathers and jewels that they wore.

They didn’t sound the alarm or attack him. Instead, they turned back to their conversation and proceeded to ignore him. If that wasn’t strange enough, it got stranger as Hain looked to the main stairs where a mermaid stood. He hadn’t sensed her appear, as she had yet to let her persistent gaze fall off of him.

The mermaid said nothing as she studied him for a moment from her black, glossy eyes under her long black hair. She simply turned around and went back upstairs. So he followed.

They continued to the second last floor of the Atrum, that was also the highest floor for the bedrooms of the royals. Its floors were a cold, black marble. Grey and dark blue curtains were left open to let in what light might dare to enter this place. It was to Hain’s unending surprises that they stopped before Lord Vanir’s bedroom, judging from the scent coming from the draft under the door.

“Lord Vanir would like to have a word with you.”

“In his bedroom?”

She opened the door, and Hain shrugged off the potential risks as he stepped inside. He looked around the lavishly decorated room of brown and navy blue silk. None of it described who lay in the bed of embroidered linens, and the unmistakeable scent of the body that came from it.

Vanir was dying.