Free Aeralis by Kate Avery Ellison Page A

soldiers have been combing every nook and cranny searching for them.”
    Restorationists. I remembered Gabe mentioning the term. He was one of them now.
    “Breakfast?” Raven said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and sauntering toward the fireplace with a swish of her hips. “I feel like breaking something. Let’s have eggs.”
     
    ~
     
    I waited alone in the barn after we’d eaten. Raven joined me half an hour later, carrying a sack of her things.
    “Shall we?” she asked, as if we were going out for a pleasure ride.
    We rode out on two shaggy ponies with black and white patches. The sky was the color of dirty water. Wind whipped our hair and dragged at our cloaks. My mount snorted, lifting his nose toward the paddock. I steered him to the road, and he reluctantly picked up his feet and headed toward the horizon.
    “He smells a storm,” Raven said, clucking to her pony under her breath.
    I glanced at the clouds, and apprehension brewed in my stomach. “A blizzard?”
    “We don’t get too much snow here,” she said. “The winds come from the south, and they’re warmer than in your Frost.”
    That was a mercy, since we had a ways to go before we reached the city, but part of me ached to see a blanket of fresh white on this broken ground of churned grass and melting sludge. A crisp fall of snow could make even the cruelest visage look soft and beautiful, and there was something about the blinding blankness that centered me and helped me think.
    “We should reach Astralux tomorrow before nightfall,” Raven said, breaking the silence.
    I nodded calmly, but my heart thumped against my ribs and my palms tickled restlessly. I ground my teeth together and resisted the urge to fidget, instead staring straight ahead at the place where the sky and ground blurred together.
    We were silent for hours, listening to the clop of the ponies’ hooves. Raven whistled tunelessly under her breath. I wrestled with thoughts of Jonn and Ivy.
    When the sun began to sink below the horizon, we dismounted to eat and build a fire. Raven produced bedrolls lined with fur, and we slept by the fire.
    I woke with frost on my lashes. My muscles were stiff, and my mouth tasted like ash.
    Raven handed me a piece of dried meat. “We’ll eat on the road,” she said. “Let’s get going.”
    The landscape slipped past as we rode. Raven said little, but she watched me out of the corner of her eye. She hummed songs beneath her breath.
    Finally, a glimmer of black appeared on the far horizon. Astralux? Fear choked me, but I swallowed it back. I was a Weaver. I had faced the gate, I had faced Watchers, and I had faced Farther soldiers. I would not let this city frighten me. I’d been here before. I would not tremble and cower.
    “Astralux,” Raven said, confirming what I’d seen.
    As we drew closer, I could see the towers rising from the mist that clothed the city. Sunlight glittered on glass and intricate metal. A river encircled the city like a snake, its water shining like scales.
    “We’ll meet a Thorns agent within the city,” Raven explained. She tossed her hair out of her eyes and flashed me a challenging smile as she nodded at the towers and bridges ahead of us. “It’s astonishing, isn’t it? Quite a change from your wilderness Frost, yes?”
    “You’d be surprised what we have in the Frost,” I answered, thinking of Echlos, and she shrugged.
    The ponies’ hooves clopped loudly as we crossed a bridge of stone so tall I had to crane my neck to see the top of it. Statues of men holding guns and swords crowned the pinnacle. A shiver went through me.
    A throng enclosed us as we entered the city. Men and women clothed in thick coats and hats swarmed the streets around us, and wagons and steamcoaches rumbled past, causing my pony to shy to the left. Steam filled the air and made the ends of my hair and cloak damp. We crossed another bridge and passed down a maze of cobbled streets. Houses and businesses huddled together,