A Ride of Peril(4)

Hansa stepped back, wiping the tears from her face with the backs of her hands.

"Nevertheless, Druid, rest assured, for as long as I'm still standing, there is a Red Tribe. Anjani is still standing. Twelve more succubi might still be alive. Azazel may have killed most of us, but he hasn't defeated us."

Her resolve was truly phenomenal. The emotional rollercoaster of the entire day had ended on a note of determination. Hansa was an exceptional creature. As she watched her entire family turn to ashes, she still had enough strength to stand tall and tell us that there was still hope-that this was not defeat.

Hansa walked over to a large black stone several feet away from the pyre. She took out a knife and carved a few words into its smooth surface, words I did not understand. She noticed my confusion and smirked as she etched her message.

"We invented a code language a long time ago. Only the Red Tribe knows it. We use it for safety and to communicate when no one else can be trusted. If there are any of my sisters out there, they will come back here to see if there are any survivors. They will find nothing but ashes and this message. It will guide them back to the mansion, back to safety."

"The Red Tribe is welcome in my home anytime," Draven replied.

"You're more like your father than you think, Druid." Hansa smiled at him, a familiar warmth glimmering in her eyes. "Ever the gentleman, even when he had to deal with wildlings such as myself. It's what drew me to him in the first place. Unlike the rest of his elitist kind, Almus saw past the leathers and sharp blades and sought to communicate, to get to know us better. I cared for him deeply, more than you might think, in fact." 

"You were close to my father, then?"

She nodded. "I have met all kinds of creatures in Eritopia. Some I liked. Others I loathed. A few I simply tolerated. But your father was something else entirely. I must be honest, Druid, I loved your father … deeply."

Her candor surprised me, and judging by how Draven's eyebrows arched up, it surprised him as well. We knew there had been something between Hansa and Almus, but she hadn't told us anything about it. We'd only had Phoenix's vision.

"I didn't know," Draven replied.

"You couldn't have known. I asked him to keep it a secret, especially after the swamp witches gave us the books. We couldn't risk people outside the Red Tribe knowing we'd ever met. Ultimately, things changed between us when he rescued Elissa." Hansa's voice dropped, enough for me to understand that her separation from Almus had not been her idea. "I don't think your father ever truly reciprocated my feelings. Sure, there was affection … attraction … but the moment he met Elissa everything between me and him faded, except for our friendship and loyalty. Both we take to our graves."

The dynamic between Almus and Hansa became much clearer, as I understood what they had meant to each other beyond what Phoenix's vision had shown us. Draven's past ran deep into Eritopia, rooted in his father's relationships with creatures who were now key players in his present and in our entire strategy against Azazel. Hansa's loyalty was just one of the many treasures that Almus had left his son with, even if Draven hadn't known anything about her up until a few nights ago.

I maintained hope that we might stumble upon more of these lost friends of his father's along the way. We needed all the help we could get, now more than ever.

As night gathered above us in shades of ultramarine and dark purple, we collected as many weapons and other unburned items as our horses could carry and galloped back to the mansion.

The woods hissed with discontent. A myriad of stars and a fat, pearly moon guided us down the beaten path of the jungle on our way home. The rumble of hooves was the only sound to come out of us until we reached the safety of the mansion's protective shield.





Aida





A few days had passed since Serena, Draven, Hansa, and Bijarki had left for Mount Inon. Despite the passage of time, I was stuck in a most delicious loop, constantly replaying Field's kiss in my mind. Whenever I wasn't giddy and whistling happy tunes around the mansion and remembering every detail of our moment together, I was shut in the attic, honing my Oracle skills.

Despite the dangers that awaited outside the mansion's protective shield, and despite the predicament I'd found myself in as an Oracle, Field was my beacon of hope, the root of everything that was still good and sweet in my life. His promise to be with me even if I went blind and barren didn't make the potential outcome any better, but it gave me enough strength to face the possibility with my chin up.

Shortly after we'd kissed that day, Field had taken me inside for a cup of coffee in the banquet hall. We'd laughed and talked for a while.