Riwenne and her friends are still trying to figure out how they can stop their enemies from destroying Riqar City. They decide to search for more clues at night.

Night Patrol

Although I was exhausted after the long day, I still felt anxious about our position in the city. I wanted to go out and take a look at things for myself. My friends also seemed restless. We agreed that everyone would take turns sleeping and going out on patrol to take a look around.

Amena and Deryt went out first since they would look for signs of local rebels and use a code to contact anyone who might be nearby. Kyra and I would take the second trip when they got back. Janera and Vilqa would take the third patrol. Nexita wanted to stay up late just to work on her designs, and Illari was also writing a rough outline of our show based on our discussion.

I managed to fall into a light sleep during the first shift, but as soon as I heard Amena and Deryt return, I bolted awake. Kyra and I met them in the galley, where the lights were still on over the table as Nexita and Illari worked.

“Any luck?” I asked hopefully.

Amena shook her head. “It’s too soon to tell. We’ve put out feelers, now we have to wait and see if anyone responds.”

I sighed. It made sense that the rebels wouldn’t want to be obvious if they were in Riqar, but we didn’t have a lot of time to wait.

“Good hunting,” Deryt said softly as he headed for the men’s sleeping quarters. He’d have the whole room to himself.

Kyra and I had changed into dark clothing and kept our godcrystals hidden. Amena had given each of us a small knife to defend ourselves without magic, but otherwise, we didn’t carry any tools. We were just supposed to be looking around.

We waited for the city guard on patrol to pass by the airship, then we slipped outside. The park had many trees that we could use as cover. Once we were half a block away, we jumped up onto the rooftops and traveled above the streets.

With Riqar divided up like a cross, there were four quadrants to explore, but we only had three pairs searching tonight. We’d agreed that each group would just go wherever we wanted to familiarize ourselves with the area and we’d figure out a better search pattern later.

The place where I wanted to look was the heart of the city, so we headed east along the main street. I needed a better view of the temple, and if we could get closer to R&D for clues about the Synthetic Ethereal Apparatus, even better.

As we ran, I kept my magical senses open for any hint of power from Fairuza or the other planetary warriors. There were traces of them in the park where we’d fought, but otherwise, everything was erased again. They must have learned a new way to cover their tracks. That worried me.

Even though it was after midnight, the temple was shone brightly among the other darkened buildings. Street lamps reflected off the pure glass dome and the white pillars which surrounded it.

But to my inner eye, all I could see was the golden light of solar energy emanating from within, tinged with the red of blood. Powerful magic had happened here recently, fueled by death and sacrifice. I shuddered at the tainted magic that filled my senses.