Chapter 73: Chasing Shadows
Aiyana whooped like a wild thing, twirling her staff above her head before slamming it down to scatter a spray of leaves. She vaulted over roots and hurdled fallen logs, barely slowing, her laughter echoing through the trees like a battle cry. Adrenaline thundered through her veins — this was her kind of chaos.
She and Atia crashed through the underbrush on purpose, making a racket loud enough to wake the Ancients. Leaves snapped, branches whipped past their faces, and still, they ran, never letting the eagles fall too far behind. They stayed just ahead, hidden enough to stay unseen, loud enough to be heard — leading them on like bait on a hook. If they played it right, the birds would never realise Yoa and Nova were already long gone.
Atia bumped into her playfully, grinning like the troublemaker he was, his energy crackling to match hers. It wasn’t every day they were the ones being chased, and if they were anything less than apex predators, maybe it would have been terrifying.
No, this felt like their cubhood all over again — tearing through the jungle, sneaking into places they shouldn’t, leaving chaos in their wake. Aiyana had always caught more flak for it, thanks to who her father was in the tribe. Yoa’s parents were not far behind, especially with the weight of his fate still hanging over him back then.
And then there was Atia. He was ’punished’ with nothing more than a scolding and his hair messed up. To him, that was the ultimate crime.
It had been a wildly unpredictable day, unusual to their usual day-to-day. They’d continued their hunt for Vulcan and Nova, which finally led them back to Silver Feather lands at first light. There had been many obstacles between them and snatching Nova back in the early hours of the morning. It took a lot of effort to hold Yoa back from tackling the women who had bathed Nova so viciously.
Their plans kept being derailed at every turn. Once or twice, Vulcan had almost caught sight of them from afar, beyond his patrolling warriors, watching Nova eat or brought to the central tree they called Skyhold.
They’d snuck back into their lands, fought and distracted Vulcan’s ’best’ warriors, then escaped with Nova after Yoa almost crippled their newly crowned leader—and rightly so. Neither of them complained, even if they were to blame for all of this in the first place.
Atia and Aiyana fell back into the same old game. He teased her, and her exasperation was either followed by scrimmaging or something more subtle like an eye roll, depending on Aiyana’s mood.