My father nods. “Maharaja Belwar, Maharani Belwar, we are going to have to contain the fumes. I believe it will take all three of us.”
Maharaja Belwar whispers into his hands and wisps of orange smoke dart in various directions. “I’m calling to all my guards. If Mount Gandhak blows we will need green forte wizards to redirect any landslides.”
Without Riya, Prisha, and that other healing girl, the rest of us run toward the training field. “Is Maharaja Moolek still here?” my father asks as we turn the corner.
“He left a few days ago,” Maharani Belwar answers.
“It all makes sense now,” I spit.
“What?”
“It’s too convenient. Moolek is gone, Adraa, the most powerful red forte in Belwar, is…gone.” A bulge of anger tangles in my throat. “It’s not right.”
“You wouldaccuseour most powerful ally?” Riya’s mother hisses.
I don’t bother answering. I don’t care. This is Moolek. I can feel it.
Riya’s mother doesn’t reply either, charging forward with plans. Assignments are yelled and thrown around like spilled rice. Riya’s mother will lead those who can’t fly to the docks. Hiren is sent straight there to make sure ships aren’t leaving port without the maximum number of passengers. Kalyan is tasked with evacuating Azure Palace. He and I nod to each other before he bursts into the air toward our home.
And as I listen I don’t hear a word of how we are going to actually stop this thing. My heart lurches. Without Adraa…
It’s just me. Our duo cut down to one.
“I’m going to Mount Gandhak,” I say as those of us left round the last bend toward the training yard and front gates.
My father whips in my direction. “Jatin.”
“I’ll freeze it from the inside. I’ll stop the lava.” My voice hardens so that I don’t break in half. “No one else dies today.” Now that I’ve said it I’m calm, maybe still numb. But it feels like it’s the right thing. The Belwars each nod and Maharani Belwar even smiles through the tears still spilling from her eyes.
“No.” My father’s voice bites. “I can’t lose you too.” The sad part is I don’t know whether he means my mother, my sister, or Adraa at this point. But now isn’t the time to argue or to elaborate on years of protectiveness and restraint.
The ground quakes. The arches and stone balconies hold their shape, but dust and the sprinkle of rubble suggest total collapse. “I’m the only one that can do this. Please, let me be the raja of Naupure for once.”
My father looks over at me like he’s trying to memorize my face. Finally he nods. “You always were.”
People gush from the palace and into the training yard at the same time we reach it. Guards burst from the other side of the yard. Everyone is talking or yelling. I can’t hear anything but theroar splitting the sky in two.
When we stop in the training yard, Maharaja Belwar cups his hands to his mouth and thousands of small pockets of orange light shoot into the sky. A few blaze over his shoulder and I hear bits of their message.
Mount Gandhak…
Evacuate to the docks. Fly if you can.
Rest assured we will…
But the message isn’t getting out fast enough. I can already see streams of color flying upward around Belwar. It looks like the Festival of Color. But no, that’s wrong. These are signals, all of them meaning only one thing: help.
The Belwars and my father board their skygliders and fly to the roof. It takes me a second to process, but then I’m right there with them, bounding upward and landing on the thick tiles behind them.
“Listen, everyone!” Maharaja Belwar’s voice booms.
Chaotic chatter still consumes the air. Many people are already running out of the gates and into the street. I look behind me. The sky is crawling with skygliders. More fliers than I have ever seen in my life.
Guards and servants below us shout out questions.
“Is the Goddess Erif cursing us?”
“Did Lady Adraa fail the ceremony? Is that why Mount Gandhak is erupting?”