Hellion's Reckoning

Inias awoke to a tumultuous storm the next morning. The sky crackled with lightning, and a fierce bolt fell, illuminating the cottage in a blinding flash as it struck the waterfall. Styx cowered beneath his blanket, the thunderous roar shaking the surrounding walls. Inias whispered, “The cottage is warded,” as the mesmerizing dance of light playing across the window transfixed him with each successive strike. The waterfall seemed to pulse with an ethereal glow, repelling every bolt and casting a gentle glow over their pond.

“We’re safe in here. I hope…” He said once he’d finished dressing himself. Styx peeked out and whined when Inias opened the bedroom door. “I can carry you.” Inias offered, opening his arms. The fox hesitated for a moment before bravely leaping into Inias’ arms. Feeling the tiny heart pounding against his chest, Inias braced himself and stepped out onto the patio as another thunderous roar filled the sky, gazing at the rain lashing on the water’s surface.

Styx only slipped from his arms when Inias sat down, resting his head on Inias’ leg. Inias presented the plate of meat chunks left for Styx on his leg. Styx ate carefully, while Inias smiled at the plate of fruit set out for him. As he took a bite of an apple, Inias blinked, catching the scent of dandelions wafting in. He turned to see Keira pulling the cloth shut as she entered. “I came earlier to check the wards,” she said, kicking off her boots and hanging her jacket on a hook. “See? We’re perfectly safe!” Inias reached down and ruffled up Styx’s head. He received a few licks, but the fox went back to eating.

“You didn’t tell us you were going to see the Magistrate,” Keira asked, crossing her arms. “You didn’t tell me you were coming to visit.” Inias shifted away, sensing the anger in her eyes. “It had nothing to do with you. Don’t worry.” He waved a careless hand and went back to his apple. Her inky black eyes flared purple and Inias gulped, “Idiot!” She slapped the apple out of his hand and gave him a hard shake. “Whatever you did, whatever you said, he will use it against us!” She hollered before Inias pressed his hand onto Styx’s head to keep him from biting her.

Inias blinked and ran his fingers through his hair as she plopped down beside him. The lightning struck again, and the sky roared. He recalled his meeting with Ailog, how Ashryn had threatened him. “And what’s this we’ve been hearing about the Sage?” Keira narrowed her eyes at him and Inias kept his hand on Styx’s head as the fox began growling. “Awful, isn’t it?” Inias answered, looking at the falling rain. “Aubron spoke so highly of him…do you…do you think there are any good people in this world?” He shut his eyes and turned away, hoping he hadn’t overplayed it.

“Of course there are Inias,” Keira rested her hand on his shoulder and offered him a gentle smile. “So, how long has Ruvyn been a student?” She smacked him across the head and growled. “One of our knights caught him following a wagon train!”

“I need his help!” Inias rubbed his head and groaned, “Had to draw him out somehow…” he said, sliding away before she could smack him again. “That’s not the point. Everything you do affects us, my clan, my family! He’s looking for any excuse to bring the army in. He’ll twist your words, beg the king to give the order. The same way he justified the village massacre.”

“He said they were killing the city’s children,” Inias told her, recalling the cult of Talos. Keira shook her head and sighed, correcting him. “They killed two children,” she said, looking away. “When the village elders discovered it, they turned the cultists over to the Magistrate. He convinced the city and the king that the village was crawling with them and sent his soldiers to occupy it. When the Hellions resisted, he sent the army to wipe them out.”

Inias turned his head to her, surprised. The way the Magistrate spoke of it, he’d thought cultists were sneaking in, stealing dozens of children to be sacrificed. He’d threatened to destroy the Ravenmoon’s if they stepped foot outside their forests. What would he tell the King after Ashryn pointed a blade at his heart, ready to strike him down? “You can’t leave this place,” Inias told her. “The Magistrate will do the same to you if you step outside the forest.”

“We’re prisoners now?!” Keira raised her voice, earning a warning growl from Styx. “And you’re okay with that?” Inias held the fox tightly and brushed his fur to calm him. “Never!” He answered her, setting Styx down on the sofa again, whispering a spell to let him sleep. As the fox curled up and snored, Inias turned to Keira, “The city’s too well defended. Even your knights couldn’t break through.” Inias recalled the towering walls, the red armored knights outside the gates. “I don’t know how many of my warriors would go along, either.”

Keira shook her head. “We can’t hide behind these wards forever.”

“I was hoping we could lure out the Sage and ask him.”

“You’re putting all your faith in a mou-.” She cupped her lips and gasped. “A moose?” Inias asked, blinking. Keira shook her head and snatched a handful of grapes from the bowl. He took her wrist before she could stuff her face. “Who am I putting my faith in?” He demanded and yelped when she bit his hand. Sighing, she set the grapes down and turned to him. “The Sage is a mouse, Thaddeus Whiskertail.”

Inias couldn’t help the laugh bubbling out when he heard it. Whiskertail. “You’re not serious,” he said, clearing his throat when he saw her unmoving gaze. “Do you know where he is?”

“When you started spreading rumors, all the hellions began hunting him,” she explained, giving him another light whack on the head. “The wagon train was harboring hellion refugees, rallying to strike the sage down outside the city.” Inias wasn’t thinking of the danger he left the poor man, mouse, in. “My father took him in. He wants to see you after the scarlet night.”

“The Scarlet Night?” Inias blinked, taking one grape into his mouth. “The Hellion’s Night. Above the forest, the sky turns red as angels streak across it. My father plans to offer a sacrifice and hope they hear us.” Keira explained to him by pulling one of the books from the stack still left on the table. The cover was painted red with little dots springs in and streaks of light. She opened the book and passed it to him. Inias took the brittle leather in his hands and gently placed it upon his lap.

“Fallen from their world, they found solace in the skies of Harrowsvale,” Inias read aloud as Keira inched closer to him, peering over his shoulder. “Their wings lost, they were carried by the prayers and dreams of all the lost and forgotten. The Nightfangs saw the seven angels, lifted by a mighty wind as they streaked across. Forsaken from their home, they traveled aimlessly, chaos following in their wake. It was on that night those seven stars guided them out of the wild.” It was a cute story; one he’d never heard. No different, however, than the myths he’d been taught as a boy.

The book went on to explain it’s coming every two centuries, and the Hellions were among the few who continued to celebrate it. The association of fallen angels and a blood red sky weren’t popular with the growing Purist elite who worked to stamp it out. The king had kept many things from him, forbade him from learning them. Inias was never told of the massacres, the slow purge of their people. The rising power of men like the Magistrate. Or maybe he hadn’t cared to see it. It was easy to look away while he was strutting around Nightfang castle. Safe behind those stone walls, protected from the worst abuses by his name alone.

“You have to promise me something,” Keira broke the silence, resting a hand upon his. “No more scheming behind our backs. My clan can’t trust it when you’re keeping secrets from us.” In meeting the Magistrate, he had cast suspicions on the Ravenmoon’s. He needed them. They were the last clan strong enough to defy the purists’ growing power. The only ones who would stand beside him. “I promise.” Inias took her hand in his with a gentle squeeze and she threw her arm around his shoulders. “Sorry for slapping you around.”