The Forgotten Land of Myria
Chapter 33 - Maeva

SAFIRA

The edge of the Potterswoods, just outside the main gate of Musgrave Pen looked like it had survived a bloodbath. As we soared over the Matahi Monument the harbor was covered in puddles of black muck. We noticed that a small part of the field was still under attack. A Cumhau Titan was towering over a small group of Taiowen warriors, swinging a large sheath. Seeing as it was his guild, a still largely injured Leof quickly took action.

“Lower flight!” he yelled at Ada, who pushed the reigns down. When we were just flying over the massacre, Leof jumped off the Serpent, pulled out his sword in midair and landed on top of the titan, with his sword through its skull. This being right in the center of Musgrave Pen--home sweet home...And here we were flying in on one of Myria’s most feared creatures.

Startled, the few Myrians who were still moping around, ran for cover amidst terrified screams as we landed in the harbor.

“We should have thought of that,” Roy said sullenly.

Only one person came to greet us--one of Teva’s frontmen.

“Trilith!” I called out as we hopped off the Serpent. He plodded toward us, not taking his small, grey eyes away from it.

“What’s this beast doing here?” he snarled. The Serpent retaliated with a menacing shriek, but he barely budged.

“We’ll report later,” Leof landed his bloody hand on Trilith’ shoulder, and at this he flinched, “Right now, we have our urgencies.”

“S--sir,” Trilith croaked. Y--your all bloody. Full of cuts, and...y--you need help.”

“This isn’t my blood,” Leof cut him off. “Like I said. Urgencies.” He gestured at Angus whom he had just set down on the ground. I scoffed. It amused me how an arrogant Frontman could shrink to the size of a milkvetch seed in Leof’s presence. Trilith also caught sight of Roy carrying Alice in his makeshift sling. Ada had tied the Serpent to a tree--it waited until after everyone had climbed off before it broke the tree off its roots and flew away. Simple as that. There was no other way to describe it. Ada stared longingly at the horizon as if part of her wanted to keep the beast. After it had disappeared through the clouds people started to draw in, still a bit sketchily, once they saw it was us.

Two neophytes from Alyven rushed in to help take Angus and Alice to the healers, closely accompanied by Roy. At that moment, there were a few gasps from the surrounding crowd and I looked back to find the wildlings, who had been hiding behind Ada. I had completely forgotten about them and apparently so had Leof. He tried explaining, but he didn’t quite know about the whole story.

Both of them looked more terrified than anyone in the crowd--probably from never having seen so many other humans at once. Banebee creeped up next to them as well.

Where could Ez be at a time like this? Seconds later, my question answered itself.

“Excuse me,” Eleazar grunted, pushing past villagers. Banebee leapt onto him, wrapping around his neck comfortably. Eleazar casually gave him a nibble of his kithelite.

“Don’t worry,” he directed his glance at Leof and me. “I’ll take them. You two have a ceremony to catch.”

“What ceremony?”

Again, answering my question, the horns sounded from the Matahi Monument and the crowd shifted in that direction. “That would be it” Eleazar said with a sleek grin. “Go on.”

“Who’s were the deaths?” I asked Trilith as we followed the crowd to the monument.

“Trigonna of Alyven, Melahar of Bigolle, Devinne and Erocan of Galacia, and Saldinus Greenlyon of Nalini.”

I sighed in relief. No one from Teva.

The five bodies were gently wrapped on a stool in the monument and each respective Chairmen positioned next to them. I spotted Roy in the crowd, looking very disoriented.

“Everything alright?” I asked. He took a while to find my voice.

“Oh...yeah. The healers are treating Angus as we speak. Alice is still unconscious...but she’s breathing--and Ada stayed to help out but they made me leave.”

I pursed my lips. I wished I could tell him it would be alright, but honestly I knew as much as he did.

“Don’t worry,” he then said, chuckling, as if to reassure himself. “It’ll be fine.”

I nodded.

“So anyway,” he said. “How’s this gonna work? The ceremony.”

“Right.”

I explained to him how, in Myria, the burial ceremonies were different for each guild. Each person would receive a shower of Myrrh and then be disposed in the element of their guild.

“For instance,” I explained, “if a Taiowen Warrior were to die, we fashion a burial fire.”

We watched Melahar of Bigolle being showered in Myrrh, sheeted in molten steel, pierced with a dozen swords and carried off into the Bigolle crypt. Next, Saldinus Greenlyon of Nalini was sheeted, then lowered into a white silk veil. When they folded the veil the body had vanished. That one always impressed me.

Then, Trigonna of Alyven was placed on a patch of soil. Hundreds of vines sprouted from the ground, wrapped around her, and absorbed her under the soil. Roy shuddered seeing this one.

“Wait,” he said. “What are they gonna do for Galacia? Fly them away?”

“In a way, yes,” I responded, and we watched as Hiro disintegrated the showered bodies of Devinne and Erocan and blew the dust off into the wind.

Everyone bowed, and sang the traditional Moehau prayer. The horns then blew once more.

“I think they’re going to call us up now,” I said. And so they did. Roy, Leof and I climbed up the steps and a sigh of relief filled me at seeing Livia, Sky, and Jardious already there. Paewyn greeted me at the top of the monument with a nod, and then proceeded to briefly explain what had happened, leaving out the fact that Angus was in treatment and Eulisses had been left behind--or even the story about Alice being Lanai. Roy reacted to his obscurity of information, to which he openly explained: “The details will be shared during the next Holutu Night, four days from now. For the next few days, I will give each of you heroes a chance to rest and reflect on what happened while I consult the rest of the council so that we can gather our thoughts and plan our next step.” Paewyn sighed as the crowd murmured in confusion. He looked utterly exhausted.

“We have been at war for three days straight,” he continued slowly. “Yihwa has watched over us and granted us the strength and will to triumph once again. The way I see it, Theon won’t be back for quite a while, but I promise you this.” His voice rose before any further discussion aroused amongst the crowd. “Times have changed. Theon has retreated, but we have seen what he is capable of doing...Yes, we may have won this battle, but we have just stepped foot in a war that may last a long time. And we must be ready.”

Dead silence filled the crowd. The apprehension was so strong that even the wind that bristled through the trees looked threatening.

“That is why, from here on out, each Order will have to work thrice as hard. And be on the lookout...for even the fairest of you may disappoint. You are all dismissed.”

Without waiting another second, he turned and disappeared through the glass doors. Part of me felt offended that he hadn’t bothered to greet me, but I knew that, as he had mentioned, there was a lot of work to be done. As the crowd began to disperse I stepped down from the monument to greet a few guild members. They gave me further details on what had happened in the past three days--apparently Theon had attacked in waves, coming in from the Potterswoods. They explained that the five deaths weren’t the only people we’d lost in battle. Of the fifty troops that were sent to the Potterswoods to stall the army while the rest set up defense, only a few more than thirty had returned. The rest--including five rangers from Teva--had supposedly been taken hostage, or worse.

I thanked the fellow guild members for the news and proceeded to the healing barracks to greet Aunt Eeva before hiking down the Silvergan River. I spent the rest of the afternoon resting atop the Cedarbud tree. Then, only then, away from everything and everyone, was I able to relax and let out a great sigh of relief. I was hoping to get some quality time to evaluate all that had happened during the Quest, but I realized how exhausted I was, seeing as the only thing I found myself capable of doing was staring blankly at the clouded sky, while listening to the peaceful flow of the river.

I lay as still as one of the rocks in the river, letting the water flow through me, losing track of time, like always, only to be brought back to earth hours later by the sound of footsteps behind me.

“I knew I could find you here,” Paewyn’s voice tore through the silent breeze of the trees. I spun around to face him.

“Glad you have time to talk now,” I said.

“You know, seeing as I am your Chairman and, being the youngest Warden in Myria, one would think you’d show me at least a speck of respect,” Paewyn said, crossing his arms, though allowing a grin to slide onto his face.

“I’ve just come back from my noble work as a Warden,” I responded in the same sarcastic tone. “Cut me some slack.”

Silence took over for a few minutes, before he spoke again.

“You found it, didn’t you?”

“Found what?” I asked.

“The Vermillion,” he responded promptly. “You found it. In the forest.”

I looked down, feeling slightly ashamed.

“No,” I said, “I didn’t. I thought I did...but all I ended up doing was putting everyone in danger.”

“Really?” he asked, taking a few steps closer to the tree. “Then do you suppose it was a mere coincidence that the bird flew in to scene at the apex of the battle?”

“Well, that I don’t know, but--”

“And can you give me an answer as to why its followed you all the way back here?”

I frowned.

“What are you talking about?”

Paewyn’s lip curled.

“Care to look up?”

My stomach jumped. Within a canopy of trees, several feet above me, I spotted a sheet of bright red plumage.

“You did find it, Safira,” Paewyn said slowly. “And it has chosen you.”

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

“Hold out your arm.”

I extended a shaky arm and in an instant, the large bird fluttered down and wrapped its lengthy claws around my forearm. It tilted its head sideways, as if it had done when I first saw it, and stared deep into my eyes like it could see straight through me. A look that I’d seen once before...

“It has claimed you as its human counterpart,” I heard Paewyn’s voice say, though I didn’t dare remove my eyes from the majestic bird that sat lightly on my arms. “You are free to name it, Safira. It’s yours now.”

I stared speechless at it for a long moment, watching it scuffle its red head.

“Might I add that it’s a female,” he said. “Then I’ll name it Maeva,” I decided. “After my mother.”

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“Maeva,” I whispered. She bowed her head in response and I reach out my hand to scratch her crown. Paewyn waited there a little longer, but upon seeing that I wasn’t coming down anytime soon, he gave me a wave and said “I’ll see you at the Holutu Night.”

“Just for the record,” I called, as he turned to walk away. “I will always see you first as Uncle Paewyn. So no, you won’t be getting much respect from me.”

Once again, he smiled, nodded in acceptance and strolled down the riverside, leaving me with the legendary Vermillion bird, perched on my shoulders.

“Maeva,” I whispered again.

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