Second Gemstone

The kitchens are dark and empty. Crow tilts the teakettle and watches golden liquid fill his cup, steam swirling around him. Anise sent him a box of the apple-cinnamon tea along with a letter, tucked in between the pages of a book he’d dropped in the rush. It’s safe in the library now. He puts the kettle back. In his hands the cup of tea looks smaller than it is but it’s warm all the same.

Crow walks back to the library where he’s been staying for a while, ever since he’s been unable to fall asleep. The headache caused by tension and the ever-increasing flash of images behind his eyelids makes him dizzy but he’s gotten used to it enough now that he’s able to push past it and walk without tripping. He makes his way towards the window seat.

Here, it’s easier to breathe.

He unfolds Anise’s letter again. Odd things are happening in town, it says. People are going missing and no one seems to care that they’re gone. Attacks are increasing on the merchant roads, resulting in less trade. Anise says she wants to find out what’s going on so she’s decided to travel further out and see the extent of the damage. Crow wishes he could follow. Not out of curiosity but because he wants to help.

In the end, he can’t. The magic tethers holding him to the estate don’t allow him to go far. Crow leans his head against the cold glass and watches the sun’s slow descent, pink and orange melting away into the dark purple of night. His eyes catch on the center, on the final brilliant blaze of the sun and he can’t move again. But this time he knows how to breathe through it.

The image that rises in his sight is that of a man in knight’s armor standing in front of a column of twisting black smoke. His lips are twisted into a snarl and the sun hits the pommel of his sword, making it gleam. Behind him is a legion. Crow closes his eyes tightly, focusing on the warmth of the tea. He drinks it carefully. His wings, still prickling with a sense of danger, are flat at his back in discomfort.

Crow finishes his tea and holds Anise’s letter over a burning candle, hands trembling. When all that’s left of it is ashes he turns and looks over his sanctuary for a long moment. They won’t let me back in here for a while, he thinks. Not with what he’s about to do. The library glimmers in the last of the day’s light, rows and rows of gilded books towering over him. Crow resigns himself to the knowledge that he’ll only be seeing the cold walls of his room for a long time.

He pins his wings back and for the first time in years doesn’t wear anything over them. He hasn’t bothered to change out of his sleep clothes either. He pulls the library key from his necklace and holds it tight. Crow doesn’t know what it means to see what he does but it doesn't really matter to him. He’s made his decision and he doesn’t want to regret not trying to help his friend, at least once. He quickly gathers what he needs.

The window is easy to climb out of. Crow does it slowly, so the security shield doesn’t activate. He hits the ground with a muffled thump and begins to walk. Tonight Anise will leave and he doesn’t know when he will see her again. For his first friend, a sacrifice like this is well worth it. His wings flare out, beating powerfully as he takes to the skies. The security shield goes off as soon as he builds up speed but he’s already created some distance.

The butler isn’t up yet, he knows.

Cuts appear on his arms and neck as the magic claws at him, trying to pull him back. Crow pushes himself further, his shaky figure impossible to see in the night sky, melding with the darkness. He keeps going.

By the time he lands on Anise’s roof with a muffled thump, the pain has turned his nerves haywire. Every breath brings up a bubble of blood. He wipes it away as quickly as he can and tucks his wings back so they can’t be seen. Crow slides off the roof and plants rise up to catch him before he hits the ground. Anise’s green magic curls around him like a friendly cat and he can feel his cuts close up immediately.

“Crow? Are you alright?”

She sounds like she just woke up and as she rounds the corner, Crow can see that she has one hand held in front of her, her magic shaped into a ball of light.

He waves sheepishly. The magic disappears from her hands as she sighs in relief.

“You look like a mess,” she grumbles before her voice cuts off in a yawn. “Well. Come in then.”

Crow shakes his head and Anise frowns, shaking her head to wake herself up further.

“Why not?”

The security shields are screaming in his ear and he can barely hear her over the noise. Crow comes close enough to put what he’d been holding in her arms. The library key clinks somewhere inside of it and he knows it will be safe with her. He clears his throat.

“...stay...safe...”

His voice, rough and rasping, fills the air for a moment before he steps back and disappears.

Anise holds the package to her chest. The musical noise of jewels shifting inside it rings out softly as she squeezes it tight, and stares at where he was standing for a single moment.

Then she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. When she opens them again, they're clear with resolve. She whispers something that is stolen away by the wind as she walks back inside. She does it without looking back.

Crow sighs in relief, knowing that she's trusting him, and carefully nudges the friendly plants away on his way out. He unfurls his wings and takes off as soon as he’s sure no one can see him. By now the pain is several degrees worse, twisting and tearing at him inside and out. Looks like the butler is awake. His wingbeats falter but he keeps going. The sky is slowly beginning to lighten and he wants to see it, the sunrise. He knows he won’t be able to see it for a while. Crow perches on the old clocktower, trying to shake off the effects of his messy landing, hissing as he tries to stand without worsening his wounds. He turns towards the rising sun.

The pain cuts off abruptly. The noise follows a heartbeat behind and Crow freezes. The absence of pain makes his body echo like a hollow vessel. He sways in place. This has never happened before. Crow has never not been hurt. He’s never not been in pain and the shock of it makes his head spin. The sudden emptiness makes breathing hard but the recent practice he's had makes sure he can still take in a few sharp inhales.

That is, until he notices that the sky is filled with black smoke.

Then he stops breathing entirely.