Airie

Stepping outside, they were immediately greeted by the banging of shutters and the howling of wind. Pieces of hay and other garbage flew around the yard. Servants were trying to get what they could inside before the rain started, but the change of weather was too abrupt. A storm was coming—a big one, as the bursts of wind pulling at Dusan’s clothes testified. The night sky, dark to begin with, was now completely concealed by clouds. As Dusan glanced up, he felt the first raindrops on his face.

Next to him, Tobias looked around the now desolate yard. “Are all the servants gone?”

“Seems so.” Dusan had to almost yell to be heard over the wind.

Tobias pulled him towards the entrance to the corridor leading to the guest wing. Inside, the floor was already covered with the dirt and the trash that had been blown inside. The wind, though weaker here, was still felt. Dusan grabbed at the sconce on the wall to steady himself, the torch in it long since extinguished by the wind and the occasional sprays of rainwater.

“You better wait here. It might get ugly,” Tobias said.

“What about you?” Dusan hoped the storm would get ugly—after all, that was the plan—but he felt uneasy about leaving Tobias alone. On the other hand, Tobias had to be outside for this to work.

“I don’t mind a little rain,” Tobias said.

With the folds of his black robe flapping wildly around his legs, his dark hair in disarray, and his face set in an angry grimace, Tobias did look like a sorcerer. In a way, he was that. He was an airie, and airies did magic.

Tobias turned around and headed back outside, disappearing from Dusan’s view. Dusan still held on to the sconce on the wall, but it seemed like a very flimsy thing to cling to given what was going on outside. It sounded like the whole palace was about to be blown away.

Then, came a distant cracking and crushing sound, only briefly breaking through the roar of the wind. For a moment, Dusan feared that the ceiling would crushing upon him. He had never witnessed a storm like this before. In his village, houses would go flying from a wind half this strong. The walls of this corridor were made of stone, but they, too, seemed ready to give in.

To his relief, he noticed the wind gradually weaken. The noises of the rain, on the other hand, intensified. In the end of the corridor, through opening of the entrance, he could see a wall of rain, falling at an angle, concealing the yard completely.

Moments later, Tobias emerged out of it. He looked completely soaked, but also rather happy, grinning like Dusan had never seen him grin before. Perhaps it felt good to him, to finally use his powers for something bigger than healing someone’s rheumatism.

“Let’s go,” he called, and Dusan followed him out into the rain.

The old oak by the Special Quarters was lying on its side now, torrents of rain washing the dirt off its roots that stuck up in the air to twice Dusan’s height. The middle part of it had landed upon the iron gates, now smashed and twisted. Dusan could barely make out any of this, for the thick wall of rain concealed almost everything just a few steps away. It would prevent anyone in the palace from spotting them through the windows, but the sheer weight of cold water soaking through his multi-layered garments pulled Dusan down, turning each step into a struggle. These clothes were ridiculous even on a good day, and now they were plain impossible.

It didn’t matter. They had to get inside before anyone saw them. Dusan gathered the wet folds of his dress and tucked them, as well as he could, under his belt, before grabbing the cold and slippery iron coils of the broken gate and beginning to climb.

In the yard of the Special Quarters, the familiar fountain was overflowing with rainwater. Flowers lay on the ground, battered by the downpour, mixing with the leaves from the fallen tree; more leaves and petals swirled in the current that was turning the yard into a lake.

The tall door was locked, but the glass pane in it was shattered, apparently by the bigger branch that had broken off the tree as it had crashed. Dusan wrapped the folds of his clothes around his fist and smashed the remaining glass before climbing inside through the opening. The hem of his robe caught on something, and he lost his balance and tumbled in, landing on the floor to the sound of tearing fabric.

He got up, tore off the part of his garment that- was now dragging on the floor, and looked around. He was in a big hall, its ceiling and walls disappearing in the dark. He could distinguish the beginning of a wide marble staircase leading to the second floor. Apart from the noise of the rain outside, it was quiet. The place seemed as uninhabited inside as it had done from the outside.

“Open the door,” Tobias said behind him, and Dusan realized that he was still waiting outside in the rain. Of course, being an airie, Tobias couldn’t risk climbing in through an opening that could still threaten shards of glass when a single cut could cost him his magical abilities.

Dusan fumbled with the lock, then threw the door open. A burst of cold entered together with Tobias. The healer bent down, gathered the hem of his robe and squeezed it, getting rid of some of the water, before straightening back up.

“Can you keep the rain going while you’re inside?” Dusan said, feeling half-deaf after all the noise.

“It’ll continue for some time. Let’s go. Should we check upstairs or downstairs first?”

“I don’t know,” Dusan said, and then added, voicing his main fear. “What if he’s not here?”

“There’s not much we can do then.” Tobias shrugged. “Let’s hope for the best. Upstairs?”

Dusan looked up at the stairwell disappearing in the dark. Darkness could hide all kinds of dangerous surprises, but right now, his biggest fear was that it might not hide what they came here to find. If Reijo wasn’t here, they wouldn’t know where to look for him.

“Let’s go,” he said, starting up the steps.

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