The Spade Chronicles Book 0: Eagles Rising

I awoke to the sun beating down on my already burnt face. I sat up with a groan and immediately felt a comforting weight on my shoulder.

“Allie! Thank the winds your okay. I thought you had died!”

“I’m alright Kyrie.” I croaked, bringing a hand up to stroke her head.

Everything ached, especially my head, which throbbed every time I moved it. I wanted to go back to sleep, to for the pain to fade away to darkness, but I knew that wasn’t an option. I looked around, I had landed next to a small river that babbled gently.

There was a waterfall somewhere. Wincing, I stood and turned in a full circle. I was surrounded massive walls of sheer black stone.To one side, water came crashing down from fifty feet up, flowing at the bottom at my feet to a tunnel formed on the opposite side. In the distance, a clap of thunder was heard, and I felt rain fall on my shoulders and hair. After a moment of deliberation, I drew my hood up and walked over to the tunnel. Whether by time and rest or Robbin’s assistance my leg held up fine, the only hindrances being the pain in my ribs and pounding headache. Once I was out of the rain, I questioned Kyrie.

“How are Belladonna and Peppermint?”

“Their in the same place you fell from. The Vipers left as soon as they saw what had happened to you. No one bothered to check if you were alive.” She answered, petting my cheek.

“Foolish mistake,” I scoffed, blowing a strand of hair out of my eyes.

“So it would seem. I’m going up there to tell them you’re okay.”

“‘Okay’ may be a bit of an exaggeration.” I mumbled ruefully.

“Not dead then.” She corrected, before hopping off my shoulder and flying into the rain.

While I waited for her to come back, I walked further into the cave. Miraculously, the contents of my pack had survived, even the sand sphere Robin had given to me. It had been safely padded by my clothes and rations. So now I drew it out and used it to light my way.

I was in awe.

The size of the cave opening did nothing to hint at the massive cavern I now found myself in. It looked as though several buildings had been carved from stone. I willed the sand to glow brighter, and was surprised to find that glow sand filled countless street lights in what I now knew was an underground city.

Like Lailoria, the buildings formed rows of various levels, although they descended towards the center, unlike the capital city. It had canals that channeled river water to, which must have been useful for the people that once lived here. As it was, it looked rather like an oversized amphitheater. For a moment I thought it might be the Viper’s headquarters, that would explain why they were always so quick to appear in the forest. But the city was all but abandoned. Evident by the state of ruin it appeared in, and the dust and grime that layered the ground told of decades, perhaps centuries of disuse. Kyrie landed on my shoulder.

“Well this is something,” she commented, and I nodded in response.

“Do you know anything about this place?” I inquired, gazing at the buildings as I made my way down to the streets.

“Nothing comes to mind, I might remember something later though. Let’s explore and see what we can find” She responded thoughtfully. Not wanting to give up quite yet, I pulled out my communicator and tapped the owl, calling Kennedia.

“Hey Allie, what’s up?” She greeted with a smile, I smiled back.

“Do you think you can tell me something about this?” I requested, turning the communicator so che could see what I was talking about.

“Blades of Spade that’s incredible! Where are you?” she tittered, excited for a new discovery.

“I’m in the ravine in the western part of the Forest of Trials, the river leads to it.”

“Ravine? What are you doing at the bottom of a ravine?”

“I fell in.”

“You WHAT?”

“I’m fine.” I claimed, waving my hand to dismiss it, eager to find out more about the city.

“If you say so . . . . I’ll look into the city for you. In the meantime, I guess you can explore, but be careful.” Kennedia cautioned before hanging up. I made my way to the center of the city. On my way down, Kyrie caught site of an official looking building and suggested searching it. I opened the rusted metal doors, not knowing the hinges had rusted away. A ear-splitting crash echoed through the cavern when the door fell to the floor.

“Subtle,” Kyrie quipped as I stepped over the doors into the entrance hall. There was an ancient desk at the far end of the room, more than likely a reception desk. There were portraits on the right and far walls, and upon taking a closer look at them I saw that they were carvings that had been embedding into the wall, with different stone materials used as different colors. There were about fourteen men and women depicted, each bordered by a different image. One woman was surrounded by plants, while another was rimmed in flames.

“What do you think the different borders mean, Kyrie?”

“If I had to guess, I would say it’s a reference to whatever magical ability these people possessed.” She answered, gazing at the different images. I moved down the line until I reached the one on the center of the far wall, above the desk. It depicted a man with bronze skin and deep set eyes, with desert features and a crown perched on his head. He was surrounded with various types of swords, forming a circle around his torso. A broadsword in each hand, he looked ready to defend against an army. On my shoulder, I heards Kyrie gasp.

“What?” I questioned, curious as to what caught her off guard.

“That’s Asbestos Bezoar, the founding king of Spade.” She informed, contemplatively gazing of the portrait. My communicator buzzed before I could respond. It was Kennedia.

“Did you find anything?” I asked as soon as her face came into view.

“Yeah, I had to look through a few different books, but now I’m certain you’re in Auroria, Spade’s old capital city.” She rifled through a thick tome as she spoke, until she found what she was looking for. “It says here that King Asbestos deemed that to be the base of operations for his troops and his people during the War for Ivaline. It’s hidden nature gave them an edge, as none of the opposing forces could find them. After the war ended, the people remained there and the city grew until it became a hub of commerce and culture.” As I listened, something about how worn down the building was brought up a question.

“If this was Spade’s old capital city, then why did they leave? This place is nothing more than ruins now.” It was one thing to move the capital to a different location, it was another thing entirely to just up and leave a city.

“It doesn’t say much here,” She mumbled in way of an answer. “It just says the city’s security had been compromised during the Spade War and they had to leave it.”

“By the way you describe it, it seemed pretty prosperous for a city beneath the ground.” I was still a bit skeptical about how such a wonder could be brought into being.

“Well, the river gave them fresh water whenever they needed it, and it says here that they had express access to various fields, but it doesn’t clearly state how. It just says they would go to the deepest part of the city whenever they needed food. It’s all quite fascinating, I wish I knew more about it,” she mused, reading more from the book in her lap.

“I’ll go check out the city a bit more to see if I can find something out for you. If you find out how the Spades got out of here let me know,” I requested before signing off. I pocketed the communicator and exited the building. I had a little ways to go before reaching my destination, but I found it okay. What I saw baffled me.

I could see the back wall of the cavern across a whirlpool of water where the river ended. I gazed into it’s churning depths.

“Kyrie, does this make sense to you? Why would there be a whirlpool in a cave?”

“I have a hunch, but we’ll have to go around it to the other side to make sure.” I did as she told and after a few minutes we were directly across from where we had previously stood. As I gazed at the opposite wall, I found that below our previous position an image was formed in the rocks. It had the oval shape of an eye, and the river cut into the rock where the tear duct would be.

“This is the Pool of Tears isn’t it?”

“Yes, I believe so. The Pool of Tears manifests itself in countless places across Ivaline. This place, however, is its origin. That would explain how they could get to farms.” She reported.

“How so?” I inquired, curious.

“The Pool of Tears can function as a portal, much like the one to the Forest of Trials’ border. The main difference is that you can determine your destination by throwing an object that comes from the desired location in the water before jumping in.” She explained, and I listened raptly.

After admiring the churning waters, I felt it was time to get back on track. Once we were back outside, I considered the wall I somehow had to scale to get back to Spade.

“Any ideas?” I asked Kyrie, who thought for a moment.

“I think I was some rope stored in the buildings on the city’s edge. There might be some that survived the centuries.”

After about another hour of searching, I found some rope in a crate that must have been enchanted, because the cord seemed as good as new. I walked back outside to find the sun setting, and set down to work.

“Peppermint! Belladonna! Are you two still up there?” I called up, and heard Peppermint’s bitter voice in response.

“That depends, are you still alive?”

“And kicking!”

“After worrying us so much, you deserve to be kicked!” he shouted back, and I sobered.

“I’m sorry I worried you so much, I’ll be more careful next time, I promise!”

“I highly doubt you’ll be able to keep it, but for now you’re forgiven,” he grumbled, and asked how I was going to get out of the ravine. I didn’t want to move around so much because of whatever was wrong with my ribs, so instead of outright climbing I fashioned a lasso out of the rope and had Kyrie fly it up to place it around Peppermint’s neck. Once that was done I made a knot on my end of the rope and wrapped my legs around it.

“Alright Peppermint, take it away!” I called up once I felt secure. Even without the magic boost, Peppermint was the kind of horse you would call to help pull a truck out of a ditch, so he had no problem pulling the weight of one teenage girl. I rose steadily, and soon I was safely over the lip of the cliff and mounted on Peppermint, ready to travel the final leg out of the Forest of Trials. Before I could relax, my communicator buzzed. To my surprise it wasn’t Kennedia, or any other Eagle for that matter.

“You’re ETA passed hours ago, Sage. I told you not to delay.” Queen Rhiannon scolded, brow tense with irritation.

“There was an unexpected development.” I explained, eager to quell her anger.

“How unexpected?” She inquired, and I adjusted the communicator to show the cliff.

“See that ravine?”

“Yes, what about it?”

“I fell in.”

“WHAT?! How did you fall into a ravine?”

“I was being chased by Vipers so-”

“You know what? Save the explanation for later I want you back in Lailoria as soon as possible. How long will it take you to get to the portal?” She interrupted with a sigh of exasperation. I consulted Kyrie before answering.

“About an hour.”

“I want you there in thirty minutes,” she commanded abruptly before hanging up. I set off in the direction Kyrie pointed out. I urged Peppermint unto a canter, not wanted to be late and unable to stand the rough gait of a trot. I reached the portal when the moon began to rise above the trees. The same guards were attending the gateway.

“Long time no see, did you fall from any trees on the way over?” teased Charles, but I would have none of it.

“No, but I fell into a ravine on my way here.” I deadpanned, and his mouth dropped. Beside him Ishmael laughed.

“Nothing stops you, huh? Well, let’s get you to the palace to see if you can get fixed up.”

After I endured the sensation of being transported by portal, I found myself in the same room I arrived in when I came to Spade. Once again it was Sylphia who greeted me.

“Glad to see you’re all in one piece. Allie, I want you to go straight to bed after you’ve been checked by Galen, you have a big day tomorrow.” She tittered before placing her hands on my shoulders. She pushed me out the door before going off to fetch Kennedia.

Galen gave me some ointment for my ribs, which thankfully were only bruised.

“If nothing else, you’re durable.” He grumbled before shuffling back into his office.

“Allie!” I heard as I stepped out of the infirmary. I walked with Kennedia her back to the dorm.

“Glad to have you back.” Magnolia greeted from Kennedia’s shoulder.

“At least I managed to make it back in one piece!” I chuckled, ruffling Belladonna’s fur as we walked down the hall.

“Tomorrow’s a busy day for us. After breakfast we need to go over inventory of all the resources used and leftover, it’s tedious but we have to do it, the Queen’s council made it clear that it had to be an Eagle. I’ve already started, but if both of us tackle it, we can spend more time looking for information that can help Robin and the others. Then you have a meeting with the Queen after lunch. After that’s done we can research until you address the Dragons before dinner.” Kennedia spoke quickly as we neared our rooms. I was a bit baffled by it.

“I didn’t realize there was so much I needed to do.” I confessed with a nervous laugh.

“Well we’ve been placed in the center of an event that will go down in history. That kind of recognition doesn’t come without a fair amount of work.” Kennedia yawned before going to her own room. I felt myself yawn as well, exhausted from the day’s events, and after a quick bath I buried myself under the covers, ready for the taxing day to end.

After making sure none of the weapons and flares from the festival were missing, I was escorted to Queen Rhiannon’s office. Taking inventory had taken longer than expected, so I skipped lunch. I bowed to the Queen, relieved to see plates of food set out for me.

“Can’t give a good report on an empty stomach.” She said as I sat down. After I took a few bites, she began her interrogation.

“I believe we should begin with the most pressing question. What in the name of Spade were you doing in the bottom of a ravine?” She looked at me intently, and I found myself telling the details of our expedition from the moment we entered the Forest of Trials.

“Have you always been attacked by multiple hostiles? None of these attacks are one on one?” She asked, and I shook my head.

“There’s always been at least two.” I jumped when she slammed her fist down on the desk.

“Those blades-cutting cowards! Going after a child like that! No wonder you saw it fit to stop them.” She took a breath, regaining her composure. “You were lucky there were no casualties, otherwise there would be serious backlash from the other nations regarding your actions.” She said sternly. She sat forward and steepled her fingers. I slouched a bit.

“I’m sorry-” I began to apologize.

“That said, I am quite impressed.”

My head snapped up, eyes wide.

“What?” I rasped, not believing my ears.

“Not just anyone can pull off such a task with no training. You are to be commended for your aptitude as both a combatant and a charismatic leader. I have interviewed all of the students who fought under you, and they feel confident enough in your abilities that they will heed your call. That is no small feat, from a Hatchling no less.” She paused and gazed out the window before continuing.

“I didn’t call you here just to give you a pat on the back, in truth I have a question to ask, and I want an honest answer.” She turned back to me, eyes sincere. “If the need arises, would you accept the burden of a bigger leadership role? Knowing full well the responsibilities that comes with authority? I called you back to Spade because you need to fulfill the tasks you set before yourself as head of the Eagle Bastion student body. Your position, however honorable, comes with limitations as to what you can and can’t do. For instance, personally going to rescue a captain, however important he may be, is extremely ill advised.”

“But it’s my fault he was captured! It should be me who goes to look for him!” I protested, but she held up a hand to quiet me.

“Regardless of fault, the truth of the matter is that if you are captured, or worse, it would be a devastating blow to your troops’ morale. Not only that, but a general doesn’t abandon her troops, regardless the circumstances.”

I clenched my fists, but I couldn’t come up with a good retort, so I just nodded. She sighed.

“I know more than anyone how hard it can be, but that’s just the way it is. You may go.” She dismissed, and I turned to leave, hanging my head as I opened the door.

“Allie.” She called, and I turned back briefly.

“All of Spade is proud of you. Hold your head high.” She called. I didn’t say anything, but I walked out of her office standing straighter.