Gathering Darkness (Falling Kingdoms 3)
PAELSIA
Immediately after claiming the earth Kindred on behalf of the princess, Jonas, Lysandra, and Felix had set their sights on the next two.
Jonas hadn’t sent a message to Cleo yet. He wanted to have all three crystals in hand, to show her he was worthy of her trust.
He wasn’t entirely sure why proving himself to her mattered so much to him.
Claiming the air crystal at Chief Basilius’s abandoned compound had gone just as smoothly as at the claiming at the temple, even though the compound held memories just as painful. That was where the Paelsian slaves had risen up against the abusive Limerian guards, triggering a massacre just moments before a tornado had torn across the dusty land.
That was in the past now. Jonas knew he had to focus on the future.
Within the compound, dirt paths led off to a labyrinth of small stone cottages with the chief’s large villa in the center. They chose to draw the symbol in the clearing where the chief’s bonfires, feasts, and nightly entertainment had been held.
“I want to do it this time,” Felix had insisted.
He held the blade to his forearm, made a shallow slice, then flexed his arm out, allowing his blood to drip onto the cracked dry ground. He smeared it with his fingertips to create a spiral symbol, then stood up and wrapped his arm with a cloth.
Lysandra clutched Jonas’s shoulder as a breeze picked up, circling around them in a sudden whirlwind that made Jonas’s breath catch in his chest.
“Over there.” Lysandra pointed at the chief’s bonfire pit, which was now only a scorched circle in the center of the clearing.
A small sphere had appeared, sunlight glinting off its pearly-white surface.
Moonstone.
The air Kindred.
The sight of it alone was akin to the sweet taste of victory after so many bitter failures.
Felix picked it up without hesitation, grinning from ear to ear. “Nice.”
He tossed it to Jonas, who caught it and looked down at the smooth surface of the orb. Like the earth Kindred, there was a sliver of darkness inside, swirling around in an endless cycle.
Lysandra glanced at Jonas. “So where are we headed next?”
“The mountains,” Jonas told her, more determined now than ever.
Jonas led them along the path of the Blood Road to the camp he’d attacked along with his group of rebels in the ominous shadow of the Forbidden Mountains, a camp now cleared away with nothing there to remind him of his crushing defeat except for the charred ground surrounding the road.
Here Lysandra insisted on using her blood to draw the symbol for fire.
But nothing happened.
Jonas tried, then Felix.
Nothing.
“Looks like someone beat us to it,” Felix said.
But who? All Jonas knew was that he wasn’t ready to give up yet. They had to keep trying. And so they did, staying there in the barren and deserted east of Paelsia for two days before they’d exhausted all other options. They finally gave up and headed back to Auranos, disappointed at their failure.
Two crystals out of three, Jonas thought. It would have to do.
• • •
Jonas knew they couldn’t continue to use the Silver Toad as a meeting place. But he had to pay one last visit there to see if any new messages had been delivered in the week he’d been away.
“I’m starving,” Felix said as he pushed the front door open. “Let’s stay and eat. There’s a nice private table in that dark corner over there. Just keep your hoods up, both of you.”