CHAPTER 822: DESPERATE PLAN

"Y-you’re hurting me," I whimpered, tugging at his hand.

"Ah! Sorry." Gayron’s grip loosened, but he didn’t release me. I tried to squirm away, but he was firm, the glowing embers of his eyes capturing mine.

"You had a vision of me?"

I nodded, struggling to breath past the tightness in my chest. "I-I saw you on the northern continent. That’s why I thought that you...um..."

I averted my gaze, biting my lip hard. He held me a second longer, unmoving, before his hand fell from my shoulder.

"I see," was all he said.

Giving myself a shake, I clutched my ring again, squeezing it tightly. His outburst had shaken me, and it took the cool touch of the metal against my palm to gather my scattered thoughts.

What we knew was that, somehow, Gayron ended up in the Northern Continent. He had used his ring. And he wasn’t overly concerned about me, at least, until Luke found out he had left me. Which meant we must have had a plan for me to escape. Or...I’d convinced him we did.

I pushed that latter thought aside. It wasn’t that I was unwilling to go that far if it meant one of us survived, but I wasn’t about to give up quite yet. It was better to assume we had a valid plan.

"Hey, uh, Xiviyah. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just...surprised. So please, tell me what you’re thinking. Don’t shut down on me."

I blinked, looking up to see Gayron with a pensive expression, his hands folded together. He ducked his head as I met his gaze, his tail twitching anxiously.

"It’s fine. Really. I was just thinking," I said.

"No, it’s not. Korra warned me about hurting you by accident. Even after carrying you all yesterday, I still...underestimated you. I’m sorry."

My face softened. "Thank you. That means a lot to me."

He nodded. "So, uh, have any ideas?"

His awkward attempt at a transition was almost refreshing, and I smiled faintly. "Kind of. The Wayward Compass is bound together by a thread of mana that crosses the world. I think the reason it only works one way is that crafting both ends as a sender and receiver would have been too complicated. But I’m wondering if I could cast the spell independent of the magic item, just using its thread to bring me to Luke’s half."

"That’s insane."

Short. Like a slap in the face. It hurt more than I was expecting.

"What else is there?" I cried, my eyes wet. "And why does it matter to you? Whether I can or can’t, you’ll be safe. You can go back to Korra."

"Me?" He followed my gaze to his finger, where he wore his half of his Wayward Compass. His eyes widened, and he shook his head violently. "No, not happening. Even if we don’t always see eye to eye, I’m not abandoning you. I’d like to think we’re at least friends enough for that."

"Friends?" A lump built in my throat. "We’re...friends?"

He nodded. "Probably."

"Then...would you trust me? Like a friend?"

He groaned, rubbing his horn. "How is that fair?"

"Gayron, you wouldn’t be abandoning me. Trust me, I would know. But if I’m to replicate the spell, I need

to see it happen at least once. I can study the memory and try to figure something out from there."

"And what if you misremember a rune? It’s the equivalent of a sixth-circle spell, with thousands of them! Do you even have enough mana for that?"

"Yes."

He raised an eyebrow, and I looked away, tightening my grip on the ring.

"Well, um...maybe?"

He let out a sigh. "The emperors themselves gave these rings to us. It’s not magic that exists in this world. Trying to learn something like that in an hour or two, before they find us, would be impossible."

"It’s not unique magic. I’ve teleported several times, and I know most of the runes that are used. I can figure it out. I have to!"

He was quiet for a long time, gazing at me unblinkingly. I held my breath, hands shaking slightly. After what felt like forever, he groaned and rubbed his horn.

"Fine. But Luke’s going to kill me. Or torture me, then hand me over to Korra. And then they’ll kill me together."

"Really?" I asked, face lifting.

"How can I argue with the Oracle?" he asked, grinning to let me know he was teasing.

"Then let’s hurry. We don’t have much time," I said.

He raised his hand, letting the ring catch the light of the last few stars. He wove a thread of mana into it.

"Watch closely. I’ll do it slowly."

The crystal atop the ring released a faint radiance. Runes started appearing around Gayron’s feet, framing a magic circle two feet in diameter. Shadows rose from the ground, turning the rock an inky blackness, like a gate in its own right.

"Here it comes," Gayron warned.

My heart quickened, butterflies in my stomach. The loneliness and fear that had gripped me throughout my vision returned, crashing down on my shoulders. Even though I knew this had to happen, I moved before I could stop myself, grasping his sleeve, looking at him with tears in my eyes.

"Don’t...don’t leave. I...I don’t want to be alone."

"Damn it!" he growled, "Why did I even listen to you?" He shook his head, gently prying my hand off. "You have to step back. It’s not safe to cross the circle. And no, I can’t stop it. You knew that before you had me start."

I took an unsteady breath, wiping a tear from my eye. My face warmed as I stepped back, my tail lashing back and forth.

"S-sorry, I couldn’t..." I took a deep breath. "This is what I wanted. No going back now."

"He nodded. "I’ll wait for you on the other side. Luke will ask, I’m sure, but I’ll stall him as long as I can. I’m sure he’ll love learning to fly."

"Just don’t tell him about me. Please," I said.

More runes appeared, forming in a magic circle that rose and fell around him like waves. I studied it as closely as I could, but it was too complex and rapid for me to follow entirely. The runes blurred together, merging with the rising shadow, until Gayron was completely obscured. There was a flash of light, and he was gone.

My hand darted forward, grasping for him, but all I touched was cold, fading darkness. It retreated into the ground, leaving only the slight smell of ozone behind. Tears clouded my eyes as I sank to my knees, hugging myself and rocking back and forth. I hated that smell; I always had. But why was it fading so quickly? Couldn’t he at least leave me his scent for comfort?

It took a few long, agonizing seconds for me to collect myself. I stood slowly and summoned my staff, running my hands over the familiar glassy facets. The star glowed faintly, pulsing with my heartbeat.

"Wait for me," I said, rubbing the ring one last time before letting it slip from my hand. It rested between my breasts, warm from being held.

Lifting my staff, I carefully cast a Memory Projection. The spell was relatively simple, but still used close to half of my mana pool. The mirror-like screen flashed as I linked it with my mind, displaying Gayron holding his ring in the air. Over the next few seconds, I watched closely as the teleportation activated, whisking him away.

After watching the scene several dozen times, I mimicked the structure of the runes and circle with threads of mana, without actually forming any of the runes. Keeping my mana loose like this allowed me to shape and reshape them without expending more than trace amounts required to sustain them outside my soul.

After I was confident my circle was identical to Gayron’s, I shifted the Memory Projection to show Luke’s ring. I’d never been able to see it activate before, but by comparing it to Gayron’s, I could see how the enchantments lined up. By finding the differences between them, I could isolate the parts of the spell that did the teleporting and those that were the unique identifiers for the particular pair of Wayward Compasses that we shared.

As the minutes ticked by, I grew increasingly conscious of the lights spreading through the mountains below. The skyship was fully visible in the sky now, slowly winding through peaks and valleys, checking locations soldiers on foot would be unable to access. With the small amounts of mana I was using, it would be unlikely they spot it by eye or sense my soul, but that would change the moment I cast a spell for real.

I shifted the Projection one last time, displaying the moment Emlica teleported us to the southern continent. Teleporting with a ring was like following a rope strung between two trees. Using the shard was like throwing the rope into the woods, lassoing a particular tree, and then dragging the caster, and anyone else with them, toward it.

The executions were wildly different, but they provided a vital perspective, one I’d missed by studying just half of the teleportation experience through the rings. I knew most of the runes from the runic dictionary Nithalee had gifted me, and with the tips Emlica had given me in Haven, I was able to isolate the various components of the spell. It was a relief to find that the core runes were the same as with the rings, giving me a third spell to reference.

The lights were closing in, the ship just a few miles north of my mountain. Three would be enough. It had to be. I was out of time.