But before he could give further instructions, a soft, sharp cry sounded from the canopy above, and then Atheria appeared, gliding down through the trees. She landed before them in silence and went to Audric with a low, rumbling whicker. He watched her approach with tears in his eyes, and when she bowed her head to press her long velvet face against his, he held on to her, allowing himself a moment to breathe in her scent—cold, clean alpine winds; musk like any horse would have; a bright sharp brilliance, as if her coat held the far burn of stars.
“Take her and go, my king,” Evyline suggested quietly. “You and Lady Ludivine, and”—she dipped her head toward Sloane—“the Grand Magister. We’ll go through the tunnels. I know of them. Your father the king told me of them when I was appointed to…” She hesitated. “When I was appointed to my current position. We’ll join you in Mazabat as quickly as we can.”
“No,” said Sloane. “I’ll stay with your guard, Evyline.” She brandished her casting, a slender black scepter capped with a blue glass orb. As it cut through the air, it drew wolf-shaped shadows that then loped off into the gardens, noses to the ground.
Sloane shot Evyline a hard grin. “Just in case you need it.”
Evyline returned her smile with a nod. “We would be honored, my lady.”
Atheria knelt, wings spread wide, and Audric hesitated only once before climbing onto her back. Ludivine silently climbed into place in front of him, curling her fingers in the godsbeast’s mane. Atheria rose, and from his perch atop her, Audric looked down at all of them. Evyline and the Sun Guard, Sloane adjusting her blue-and-black robes at their side. Miren and Tal, pulling away from a passionate embrace. Miren looked up at him, bright-eyed. Tal kissed her forehead, and then she was gone, hurrying back toward Baingarde. Tal watched her go, his face cloaked in shadow.
Audric watched as well, following Miren through the gardens until she disappeared. He listened to the clamor of the city bells, the distant cries of fear and violence, the clash of swords ringing out from Baingarde’s open windows.
He let his gaze pass once over Baingarde’s towers, the sprawling gardens, the distant gray ghosts of the catacomb doors.
Then, incapable of any grand speeches, he said to them simply, “May the Queen’s light guide us home.”
Atheria launched herself into the air, and soon she had risen above the trees, dwarfed by the black might of Mount Cibelline and flying swiftly south.
Away from Baingarde. Away from Âme de la Terre.
Away from Rielle, and the home in which Audric had loved her.
Elements in the Empirium Trilogy
In Celdaria, Rielle’s kingdom, the Church is the official religious body. Citizens worship in seven elemental temples that stand in each Celdarian city. Temples range from simple altars in a single, small room to the elaborate, lavish temples of the capital city, Âme de la Terre. Similar religious institutions exist in nations around the world of Avitas. In Eliana’s time, most elemental temples have been destroyed by the Undying Empire, and few people still believe in the Old World stories about magic, the saints, and the Gate.