Dyle was standing to the side of the pool along its circumference, not on the bridge crossing over it. Quilla couldn’t be sure if he’d noticed her, though he hadn’t given any indication of it. He was not looking in her direction, and his back was almost directly to her. He seemed to be staring at the sky. Perhaps looking at the moon and stars. It was a clear night.
Maybe he hadn’t noticed her. She could turn around now, go back to the Palace, and he would never know she had come. Part of her wanted to do that. Zandrue was right; this was too dangerous. Dyle was a Darker. He killed people. Why was she even considering talking to him? She had made up her mind to leave the Palace and go to Quorge, so why had she changed it?
For the first time in ages, she wished Felitïa was here.
No, that wasn’t true. She had frequently wished Felitïa was there—just for different reasons. This was the first time in ages she wished for Felitïa’s help.
But she didn’t need Felitïa’s help, did she? No, of course not. She could do this on her own.
Couldn’t she?
Her heart was beating fast and heavily. She had started out from the Palace with so much resolve, and every step of the half-mile journey to the Bear Fountain had eroded away a small portion of that resolve. Now, she was terrified. She was such a coward.
“Nothing’s forcing you to be here if you want to turn around and go back,” Dyle said. He was still not looking at her. So much for not noticing her.
She took her time before replying, mostly to get her nerves under control, but she hoped it conveyed some sort of contempt or intimidation. “I’m just evaluating the scene, making sure you don’t have anyone waiting to jump me.” Zandrue had told her to keep her eyes peeled for that possibility. She had forgotten, but she started now.
“I see,” Dyle said. “You distrust me that much.”
“You haven’t given me any reason to trust you, Dyle.” There didn’t appear to be anyone else, but it was difficult to tell. There were so many shadows. Zandrue had told her to pay most attention to the shadows, but they just looked like shadows to her. Maybe that was all they were.
“I would have thought all the time we—”
“You sneak around, appear and disappear. You spy on me. These are not reasons to trust you.”
“Then why are you here?”
She took a deep breath, tried to gather back her resolve, and approached him. “I want answers.”
He turned to face her, pushing back his hood and brushing aside his low-hanging bangs. “And I’m happy to provide them.”
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Quite a few things,” he answered, “but the one relevant to you is trying to save your life.”
Quilla almost laughed, but he gave no hint of sarcasm or joke. She scowled. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
She rolled her eyes. “From what?”
He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. “Oh, come now, Quilla. You’ve been paying attention. There are people wanting to kill you and your friends. I’d prefer you remain alive.”
He had a point about people wanting to kill her. “Don’t you work with those people?”
He smirked. “Mostly just indirectly.”
Quilla shook her head. “You’re going to have to be specific, Dyle, because this isn’t telling me anything. If you’re protecting me—and by the way, I don’t need your protection—but if you’re protecting me, then why all the sneaking around? Why the stalking?”
“I should have thought that was obvious. I can’t just openly wander the Palace, now can I?”
“Then why not just come to me and tell me what you’re doing?”
“I did, and you threw me out.”
So now she knew a little more of what had happened that night. She sighed.
Dyle motioned with his arm. “Let’s walk while we talk. It’s too cold to stand in one place.”
Quilla looked along the path where he was motioning.
“Keep to open areas,” Zandrue had told her. “Don’t let him lead you to areas where there’s a lot of cover, where people can easily hide.”
The road in both directions was lined with trees and shrubs.
“We’ll circle the pool,” Quilla said.
Dyle shrugged. “As you wish.”
They started to walk. Dyle initially tried to walk on the outside of their circle, but Quilla made a point of crossing his path and taking the outside. She didn’t want him or the pool in her way.
He plucked an icicle off a marble nymph and fiddled with it as they walked. “Quilla, you must have realised that you possess...special...powers.” He looked at her.
Quilla looked away.
The Volgs who had kidnapped her had called her Catalyst. She had not known what that meant.
Not until that moment in Ninifin.
Corvinian was lying unconscious on the ground, surrounded by the crackling, yellow light that streaked out from the direction of the Temple. Felitïa was standing by the line of light, looking towards its source—a staff held by a glowing Volg on the Temple steps.
“What are you doing?” Quilla asked.
Felitïa didn’t look at her. “Finding out how close I need to be to the Volg before I can safely stand in the way of this energy stream.”
That didn’t make any sense. The energy was pushing anything that tried to touch it away. How would getting closer help? Wouldn’t it be stronger nearer its source?
And just standing out in the open like this. What was Felitïa thinking? Corvinian was lying helpless on the ground. People were fighting ahead of them. Volgs were flying overhead.
“I’ll explain later,” Felitïa said and began walking alongside the line of light, towards the battle.
Quilla stayed with her. Felitïa was the only protection she had right now, and as strange as her actions seemed, she trusted Felitïa knew what she was doing.
After a short distance, Felitïa reached for the beam of energy. Her hand rebounded from it. She continued walking forward and Quilla followed.
One thing she’d learnt during her captivity by the Volgs was that one of the best ways to tell the beasts apart was by their horns. They each had unique horns. This one had particularly large horns. And then there were the black robes he wore.
“The glowing Volg,” Quilla said. “He looks familiar. Is he…?”
Felitïa nodded. “It’s Nibdenoff.”
The Volg who had been her principal captor.
Two Volgs broke off from the battle and flew directly towards them. Quilla’s heart skipped a beat and she clutched Felitïa’s arm even tighter.
A tingling shot through her body, and she felt awake! Alive! In an instant, she was full of… Energy? Magical energy? It was like nothing she had ever felt. It flowed through her, moved about from her toes to her fingers, back to her legs, then her neck, leaving that tingling sensation momentarily behind in each spot. At first, it seemed to move randomly, but then she realised that wasn’t the case. Felitïa was controlling it.
More than that, her senses magnified. She could feel every breath of air she took move through her lungs and into her body. She felt her blood pump. She could distinguish between every yell, every swipe of a sword, jab of a spear, or flap of a wing. Every insect’s chirp, every purr from the still-sleeping jaguar. Her heartbeat slowed to a calm pace and her shivering stopped as she no longer felt so frightened. Everything was going to be okay now. She just knew it.
And every remaining bit of magical energy in Felitïa flowed more freely, too. Somehow, Quilla sensed that. She knew Felitïa just needed to route it through her and she could easily move it wherever she needed it. Felitïa only needed the tiniest drop to put the first Volg to sleep, and then the second.
Then Felitïa sent half of it all at once in multiple directions. Volg after Volg fell asleep in the battle, fell over where they stood, or crashed to the ground from the sky. In the blink of an eye, they were all lying on the ground.
Except Nibdenoff on the Temple steps.
Felitïa didn’t target him, just looked at him for several seconds. What was she doing?
But then the energy moved again, jolted through Quilla. Not all of it. Just a small portion. And the Volg collapsed, the staff falling from his grasp, and the yellow light vanishing.
Then the magical energy swept out of Quilla, every last drop sucking painfully back into Felitïa. Quilla gasped and let go.
Her senses returned to normal, and her fear returned. Quivering, she asked, “What happened?”
“They called you Catalyst, isn’t that right?” Felitïa said.
Quilla nodded.
“Now we know why.”
“Catalyst,” Quilla said.
“So you’ve heard the term,” Dyle said, not looking at her.
“Catalyst,” the Volg said, glaring in her eye as he clutched her chin. His snout curled into something like a smile. Then he shoved her back into the arms of the Volg behind her, growled something in their language, and turned away.
“The Volgs who captured me used it.” Quilla shivered. That was a time she didn’t like to remember. But the memories came back to haunt her from time to time. She’d been so focused on Garet’s death lately, they’d stayed at bay. But now… Days, weeks she’d spent in that cave with barely enough food and drink to survive, forced to live in her own filth because there was nothing but the floor to relieve herself on. She’d had no idea what they were planning for her. She still didn’t know, though she suspected now that part of it involved waiting until they had caught Corvinian.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Dyle said. “The Volgs are barely willing to accept you have a name other than your prophetic title.”
She glared at him. “Prophetic title? I’m mentioned in prophecy?”
Dyle lowered his head and smiled. “You and more than a few others.” He looked at her again. “But that’s something we can discuss another time.”
“Why not now?”
“There are too many other things to tell you first. And I need...well, more accurately, my associates need to know you’re trustworthy.”
Quilla sighed. This was ridiculous. He wasn’t going to tell her anything. He was playing with her. Probably had some ridiculous notion of getting back together. “Then tell me what the point of this meeting is.” She should have never come.
They passed under the bridge. “As I was saying,” Dyle said, “you possess unusual powers. There are others who desire those powers for themselves.”
“Like you?” There were more shadows under the bridge. More places to hide. Quilla tried to look at every possible place, but she also didn’t want to look like she was looking. It wasn’t going so well.
“Not exactly,” Dyle said. “Your powers are needed, but I would make certain you remained comfortable. You would have control over their use. Others, like the Volgs, want to tear those powers from you and discard the dead or ruined husk that remains. Some would torture you and make you a slave. Others have their own ideas.”
They came out from under the bridge and Quilla felt a small relief. “Why should you care what happens to me?”
“Quilla, you’re my wife. Of course I care.”
She groaned. “I’m not your wife. Not anymore.” At least now her anger could drown out her fear.
He sighed, looked at the ground, and nodded. “I could point our that, officially, we’re still married, but I won’t mince words. I accept that we haven’t been husband and wife in a long time.”
“But you’d like that to be different, I’m sure.”
“No. I’m not looking for that to happen right now.”
“Not right now? But later maybe?”
“Quilla, please.”
“Gods, I don’t know what I was thinking coming out here. Get to the fucking point already. Others want my powers and are willing to kill me for them, but you want to help me. How?”
He stopped walking, turned to face her, and took a deep breath. “Stay with me.”
Quilla groaned and started to turn away.
“No, please, hear me out.”
She crossed her arms under her chest. “You just want us back together. You’re a Darker, Dyle. Our relationship ended the day I found out. It would never have happened if I’d known from the start.”
“Yes, I’m...we call ourselves Servants of Sunset, not Darkers, but—”
“Oh, like there’s a difference. You’re a fucking killer, Dyle.”
“Only when necessary.”
“It should never be necessary.”
Dyle laughed. “Really? Your friends have killed many people, haven’t they?”
“Yes, but only…” She turned aside. “Let’s keep walking.” She didn’t wait for his agreement.
He hurried to catch up with her. Good. It gave her some degree of control to have him reacting to her. Zandrue had told her to try for that if she could.
“Can I at least finish what I was trying to say?” he asked.
“If you must.”
“I’m not asking you to stay with me because I want us back together. If you stay with me, it will be like I said. I can make sure you’re treated well. In fact, you’ll be treated like a queen. If you willingly help us, there’s practically no limit to what you might be able to do.”
Quilla laughed this time. “Help you? Why would I help you? You’ve tried to kill my friends.”
“No, I haven’t. I’ve kept your friends alive.”
“You expect me to believe that? My friends have been frequently attacked by Darkers.”
“Not ones under my command, and I’ve done everything I can to make certain the other ones have as hard a time as possible.” He grabbed her arm. “Quilla.”
She pulled away. “Don’t you fucking touch me!”
He held up his hands. “I’m sorry, but I need you to understand. I will be Dusk Supreme soon. The current one’s time is running out. There’s only one other serious contender for the position, and that one will be dealt with soon. Once I’m Dusk Supreme, I can give you anything. I can protect your friends for you if you want. Anything at all. All you have to do is use your abilities for us. Together, we’ll have the whole world at our feet.”
Quilla stopped walking again and stared at him. He looked so pathetic right now, huddled, his eyes pleading. “You’re insane. I don’t want the world at my feet. I don’t want anything like that.”
“Then what do you want?”
“You out of my life forever. Can you give me that?”
He didn’t answer, just slowly looked away.
“I didn’t think so. Goodbye, Dyle.” She turned and started back towards the road to the Palace.
“Corvinian!” he called after her.
She paused.
“He’s needed too. I can make certain he’s kept with you. The Volgs won’t be allowed near him. No one you don’t approve of will be. I promise you.”
She’d be damned if she let Dyle near him. Corvinian didn’t want to be with her anyway, and maybe that was a good thing after all.
“Goodbye, Dyle,” she said again, and continued towards the Palace. She didn’t look back.
