Sky Warriors: Poleuthan's Thief (Sky Warriors Saga Book 1) (39 page)

He grabbed the shelf with strong and sure hands, his
muscles bulged as he lifted the shelf by its edge with apparent ease and gently moved it a few feet in a pivot. He displayed no effort with his inhuman strength, Ange shook her head at the sight.

Ange quickly went around him and began inspecting the floor, a large stone slab with an
impressed rune caught her eye immediately.

She knelt down and stared at the symbol perplexed. It was a snowflake similar in design to the one she and Showl bore on their skins and within its five points was the head of a dragon with majestic horns in complicated designs.

“It can’t be,” Showl whispered kneeling next to her and rubbing the mark with his fingers, his yellow eyes dazed.

“You recognize it?” Ange promoted, hoping the mark would trigger some of his memories. He had hoped to find answers in the library but had found nothing in the
months past that would help unlock his
sealed memories of Harfang.

“Yes,” he whispered awed. “It was
Harfang’s personal crest.”

Ange touched the crest, wondering what could possibly hidden beneath the stone. As her fingers came into contact with the cold stone near Showl’s fingers, the crest glowed in reaction as the sealant around the edges crumbled.

Ange and Showl exchanged a look before he gingerly removed the stone slab, old dust showering from the disturbed stone as they peered curiously into the shallow crevice.

A white velvet bag was surprisingly well preserved and lacking any dust as if it had been protected from the passing of the years. Showl picked up the cloth enveloped object and gently tugged the string, as the material fell away it revealed an elaborately decorated book of the softest blue with white filigree with the same crest at its center.

“A book?” Ange asked though she wasn’t surprised, the letter had mention reading whatever was under the stone brick.

Showl gazed at the book sharply and quietly murmured. “No, a journal…that I don’t recall, yet…seems familiar,” his frustration was growing more apparent on his face as he stared at the old book.

Ange hovered over his shoulder as he snapped open the strange lock and flipped the pages…

“It’s blank,” Ange stated flatly completely baffled.

“No…” Showl said carefully. “The writing is simply hidden. A spell is keeping us from seeing its contents.”

Ange glared at the journal then Showl. “How can you tell?”

“Here,” he passed her the book, “do you feel the energy inlaid into it?”

Ange frowned flipping the book over in her hands and then opening it to scrutinize the pages, hoping if she glared at it long enough the words would reveal themselves. The cover was made of cool and smooth material, the pages where like any parchment and
Harfang’s seal didn’t glow when she touched it.

“No. I don’t feel anything, if feels like any normal book,” she stated
flustered.

Showl frowned troubled. “Your powers have been truly tightly sealed away just like the words in this diary,” he observed quietly with an edge of frustration as he took the book back. “We need to be careful with items that may be saturated with
mana around you since you cannot sense it anymore.”

Ange snarled equally irritated. “This is so stupid. I never even learned how to ‘sense’ anything. Sure I could feel other people’s power for a while before the sealing… Will I be screwed if I touch another
Aeterna Vas?” she wondered, considering the implications.

He glowered pensively. “It’s possible,” he answered honestly and disturbed after a moment.

“Great,” Ange hissed.

Her temper was flaring and she needed some fresh air, she turned away from Showl and climbed the last stairs up to the peak of the tower. Mentally she fumed and imagined throwing daggers at Ileana’s face before reaching the top.

As she opened the door, stormy fresh salty air assailed her senses.

She observed the large circular area for a moment as she took a deep breath and noticed the stormy sky. The open space was like a lighthouse but at the center was a large crystal hovering between massive metal plates with runes etched deeply into their surface that manipulated the constant fog that surrounded the library island. The giant round crystal was in fact a very rare blue sol gem, glowing like a star that had fallen from the heavens, measuring a good ten feet in diameter and would have been blinding if not for the tempered glass and mirrors around it that refracted the light yet still kept the area around it warm.

She ignored the large crystal she had recently been learning more about, its name in the dragon language which had kept to the common language was an accurate description for the crystalline energy source. The thick shell around the miniature sun was a composite of the densest kind of diamond in existence, which Ange never bothered to memorize its name or its atom structure that was apparently so important to recall. And the sun within the hollow section worked exactly like the ones that dotted the universe, only on a smaller scale. They produced the same radiation, capable of flares, and erupting into black holes which was a rare occurrence that lasted only moments but destroyed everything around them and could usually be predicted.

She leaned against the stone railing, looking out to the stormy waters as the liquid churned in pale grays and blues. Quietly she heard the click of the stone door behind her and the soft foot falls.

She sighed as Showl stopped next to her, leaning on the rails with the journal in his hands. They stayed like that for a while, listening to the angry sea and breathing the air as it grew more violent.

“You should keep this,” Showl stated quietly as the wind subsided for a moment as he passed her the book.

She raised an eyebrow and stared at it incredulously as she took the book from his hands.

“Why?” she asked flipping the book in her hands.

“I believe it is intended for you,” he admitted. “If anyone can discover its secrets, I believe it is you.”

She gaped surprised by his confidence in her and could sense his sincerity trough their bond.

Touched, she opened her mouth but was caught off guard as the locket resting against her chest under her shirt began to vibrate wildly.

Showl gazed down surprised at the ring on his right hand.

“It’s Amaris, she wishes to speak with you. Apparently it is urgent,” he said with a dark expression.

Ange blinked surprised before quickly tugging out the locket and snapping it open. She quickly slipped the ring over her right index finger and swiftly the vague presence of the other Sky Warriors touched her mind.

“Ange!”
Amaris’s voice came through relieved.

“What is it Amy?”
Ange asked concerned by her breathlessness, automatically tensing.

“Thank the
Five you answered, we can’t talk long, Ana will realize soon that you’re wearing the ring even when she’s asleep. So I need to speak with you both quickly.”

“What’s going on, is everything alright?”
Ange asked glancing over at Showl realizing he was also receiving the message.

“No, not really. Ileana’s contacts have informed us that a recent digging has
discovered an artifact from the old days…The Compass of Coronders.”

“The Compass?”
Showl snarled in disbelief.

Ange glanced up at Showl’s horrified expression, his nails elongated into black talons as he agitatedly clawed the stone. She didn’t understand the significance of the news.

“What’s so special about this compass?” she asked.

Showl’s face flinched as he quietly explained.

“It’s an Aeterna Vas shaped into an ellipsoid, set into complex metal rings with ten metal vials and crystals containing blood and mana. This device is special and dangerous because…” he sucked in a heavy breath, “it can lead to any one of the Regina and Rexes in whatever state they may be in.”

Ange’s eyes grew wide with horror as she realized the implications of his words.

“You mean…it can lead the Adherent to Phoenix?” she whispered.

He nodded gravely.

“Exactly,”
Amaris replied.
“And the Adherents know that it’s been discovered. They plan on retrieving it after it’s unveiling in a few days at a reception by the noble that invested into the archeological expedition. Ana didn’t want you to be informed because she thinks we can handle it ourselves but I disagree…the Adherent have used their power and influences to outbid us for the artifact. The only way we can get it now…is to steal it during the party from right under their noses.”

“Where is this going to be?”
Ange asked suddenly serious.

“In
Cyridell,”
Amaris stated with a hush.

A lump formed in Ange’s gut, then a wicked grin crossed her face. It was going to be on her turf.

“How fast do you need us there?”

“Now. We are leaving in the afternoon as the suns are to set. Got to go, get here fast!”

Ange removed the ring and immediately placed it back in the locket.

“Angeline, this is rash,” Showl warned as she raised her hand to stop him, the wind was picking up again.

“Don’t,” Ange hissed cutting him off with a piercing glare of her hazel eyes. “You promised you wouldn’t change me and you still have another promise to keep.”

His expression warped darkly as he scowled at her.

“You never took me back to Cyridell as we had agreed. Or are you not a dragon of your word?” she taunted knowing he would not appreciate a blow to his pride.

It worked and she had to suppress a smile form surfacing.

His long claws scraped the stone as he furiously snarled as his fangs made an appearance.

“Do you truly believe I will let you provoke and manipulate me so easily, little thief?” he asked menacingly.

“Let?” Ange mocked with a small laugh. “I already have.”

His brows pinched together as he closed his mouth and forced his hands to relax, the black talons shrinking back to normal nails, his eyes narrowing.

“Oh, you are a vile little extortionist, aren’t you?” he replied exasperated. “You realize this will be dangerous, that we are going against orders, ignoring moral protocol, tempting fate, and that you are putting your life at risk above all else?”

Ange winked deviously. “It wouldn’t be any fun otherwise. And that is
our
lives at risk,” she corrected.

Showl groaned, his shoulders sagging in defeat. “I wonder, when
will I cease to repeat that we are doomed?” he asked rhetorically with a fond smile and a sad shake of his head.

Ange smiled. “I wouldn’t start counting, because you’re probably going to keep asking that so long as we live.”

He groaned which turned into a growl. “Angeline, this is still too risky. If the Adherent can’t get their hands on the Compass, we will be within talons’ reach, it may even be trap for that very purpose.”

“We’ll have the others with us, what is there to worry about?” she rebuked confident.

“Someone will have to stay behind to guard the Palace, usually a pair. At best it only be six of us against whoever of the Adherent go to retrieve the artifact and they will not hesitate to kill the others like we would.”

Ange glowered remembering that argument with the Council, they didn’t want to kill their enemies because the reincarnation cycle would provide no leverage and because of the bonds they still felt with their hopeless brethren. The Adherent had a means of warping the soul of Rex or Regina before it was born, assuring them the new dragon would be aligned to their cause just like they had done with Sora. On the other hand, the Adherent had no qualms of killing the remaining Sky Warriors except Showl because of the seals
Harfang had imbued to his being that could reveal Phoenix’s location as well as how to unseal her.

Ange believed it would give them more time if the Adherent had to wait to be reborn and provide them an advantage against the struggle, but the Sky Warriors refused to consider killing them in hopes they could still be saved as it was against their philosophy. Ange believed the Sky Warriors were a bunch of hopeless idealists.

“All the more reason to go, what if only Ileana and Amaris go to retrieve this compass? They may be able to turn into light and shadows but they wouldn’t risk doing that around humans, they could be easily outnumbered,” Ange persuaded. “While they are holding off the Adherent who better than a thief to steal your pretty compass?” she rationalized as the wind whistled around them.

Showl sighed shaking his head. “Let’s go.”

Her eyebrows rose up in surprise as her eyes grew wide with disbelief that she could have convinced him so easily.

He read her like an open book as always, giving her a sad smile as he responded. “If I don’t take you, you’ll find another way to get there. I might as well agree to save us all the grief in between.”

Ange grinned widely as the air whipped around her as she teased. “And here I thought you weren’t learning anything about fighting the inevitable.”