The Hidden (Shadowed Wings #1)(42)
I follow the ghost through the now open archway and look around to find a stone city that’s overgrown with vegetation. Moss and climbing greenery are slowly swallowing the cream stone up, but it’s massive and stretches as far as I can see. I take another step forward in awe of everything I’m surrounded by.
The green ghostly figure now looks more corporeal. Her smile lights up her whole face, and I gasp, overcome by her beauty. “Welcome, Daughter of the Shadows, to Vedan, the lost city of The Dark Ouphe.”
15
Her words bounce around my brain as they try to sink in, and all I can think is do Zeph and Ryn know this is here? I look around and stare at the inside of the cliffs. Houses are carved into the walls, and tall buildings rise up and look like they’re trying to compete with the massive trees. Light pours in from the open top of the mountain, and I spot other massive sealed doors around me that look exactly like the one I just walked through.
“My name is Nadi, and I was once part of the Ouphe council. My essence was left here to help guide a worthy Bond Breaker such as yourself so that our people can rise from the shadows and once again take their place in this world.”
Nadi tells me all of that and then gestures out to the dead city like she’s the Vanna White of the Ouphe world. I stare at her warily.
“And exactly how am I supposed to do that?” I ask, not at all liking the sound of Bond Breaker and the underlying you’re our only hope. I’m also not sure that the Ouphe deserve a place in the world if what the Hidden say about them is true.
“You must speak it into existence, and the binding will be undone,” she tells me, her face and tone serene.
“And what does that mean? What happens when the binding is undone?”
“Then the Gryphons will be free, and the Ouphe and their magic will no longer be a threat. If the Ouphe people are free from being hunted, then we can once again thrive and rebuild and take our place as the Sentinels of the realm as it should always be,” Nadi explains.
“And what keeps you from enslaving the Gryphon like you did before?” I press, not trusting the kumbaya, everyone will be happy and love each other part of her plan.
Her silver eyes grow sad, and she motions for me to walk with her toward an overgrown gazebo. I fall into step at her side, watching her white robes sway as she walks. “Our error in judgement has left us on the brink of extinction. We have learned our lesson and have vowed to never repeat the mistakes of our ancestors.”
We make our way slowly up the steps of the gazebo, the moss-covered stairs cushioning my steps. I run my hand over a tall clump of heather flowers growing next to the entrance, and the contact fortifies me in a strange way. “Then why haven’t you broken the oath and the magic binding the Gryphons to you before?”
“Others have tried,” she tells me, her voice pained, and she sits gracefully on a grass-covered bench. “The branch of magic with the ability to break the vow, once and for all, has all but been destroyed. The last full blooded wielder of Bonding Magic was killed twenty sun cycles ago.”
She looks at me poignantly, and the hair on my arms stands on end. My father’s face rises up in my memories, his green twinkling eyes suddenly reminding me of the green glow of the symbols on the door.
“Your mother’s mixed blood held the key, too,” Nadi informs me, and I look away from her hopeful eyes.
“How do you know that? How do you know I can even do what you’re saying?” I challenge, skepticism pooling inside of me. This all feels a little too convenient for my liking.
“Because, Daughter of the Shadows, you were able to wake me. Only Bond-laced blood can pull my essence to them, can wake up the Ouphe magic woven in the stones of this mountain and every other Ouphe stronghold that has ever been built. Your people know that you are here, that the Bond Breaker once again walks among them. Help them, daughter. They have been waiting so long for you.”
I glare at Nadi. “No pressure, right?” I snark and then step back away from her. “I appreciate that your essence has been waiting for me,” I tell her, raising my hands and putting air quotes around the word essence. “But this is all a little too Lord of the Rings, if you catch my drift. You’ll have to forgive me for not just taking your word for it, but given everything that’s happened, I think it’s best to approach all of this with a serious dose of caution.”
Nadi nods and rises from her grass-cushioned seat. “Whatever you feel is right, child. Support will be here for you when you are ready.”
And with that, I’m picked up on a breeze and unceremoniously thrown out of the city, the large stone doors slamming shut behind me. I crash into the wall opposite of the arched double doors and crumble to the ground. I glare at the stone entrance, my cheek pressed against the cold stone of the floor.
Well, fuck you too.
I’m painfully aware that I’ve spent far too much of my life since coming to the Eyrie lying on the floor, tired and pissed off about something. I’m over it. I trace the symbols on the door with my eyes, riding their angles and swirls with my gaze. I get lost in the way that some of them flow into each other, while others stop abruptly and sit solitary and disconnected. I’m not sure how long I lie there staring at the stone doors, but suddenly my name trickles toward me through the dark. I spot a floating orange light in the distance, and I glare at it.