Chapter 142

Idith thought of Blue North’s cloth, which seemed a very similar material. He gently rolled it back up and started to hand it back to Aden.

“It’s not the typical cloth of the winter region,” he said. Like North’s cloth, the divine object that protected you from the cold. He wished he had that here now – it was chilly in this tent.

Flak! A light suddenly seemed to glow from the cloth.

Idith’s eyes opened wide with realization – the cloth was magic. Instinctively protecting his master, he quickly pulled it back from Aden. As he did, the light faded.

“Divine power?” Aden asked. He didn’t consider it dangerous – such power was something he knew better than anyone. But the blue light that had flared in the cloth was the same light that his own hands produced when he used his power.

“Your Majesty?” Idith asked, flustered. The air in the tent was noticeably warmer now. It was the same divine power Aden possessed.

“I think I know now,” Aden said. He waved Idith over, and Idith handed him the cloth again, though he still held one end of it, just in case. He wrapped the cloth around Idith’s hand and gestured.

“Let’s make it cold now,” he said.

“How?” Idith asked. He didn’t think Aden meant to use his own power.

“Like before,” Aden said. Idith looked perplexed, but Aden just waited. After a moment, Idith closed his eyes and pondered.  What did he do before? Even though Idith served someone with divine power, he didn’t think there would ever e a time when he would use it himself.

Before…

What had he done? Just thought it was a little chilly in the tent?

Flak!

The blue light shone again, now from Idith’s hand. Divine power, but not from Aden. From Idith. Idith frowned, feeling a slight tightness in his chest.

“Ah,” he breathed.

Now Aden thought he fully understood the light from the cloth. If he was correct, this cloth was … his gaze went to Idith, who still looked flustered.

“Does this have the ability to use another person’s divine power,” Aden asked as he examined it. He touched the material again, felt the lightness of it. So soft and sheer it would slide off skin, so thin the light shone through it, and yet it was unmarked. And the light that flowed through it came out another color.

This strange cloth was like Blue North’s divine object. And like the mobile that sat beside Ilyin’s bed. He clearly remembered whenever he saw it in Ilyin’s bedroom, the light that struck it was reflected as a different color. He touched the cloth again and felt it clearly – that strange tingle he got whenever he held power in his hand.

“Your Majesty?” Idith asked uncertainly.

“This cloth,” Aden said, “We’re taking it back with us.”

Idith examined the cloth more closely, as though trying to divine whatever danger it might hold.

“It’s the Molly tribe’s item. We might need some magical advice on it,” Aden said. There was no telling its full power, or what unexpected thing – like Idith’s use of it just now – might e from it.

There were no human wizards in Biflten. To find one, they’d have to travel to the warm region. But this was a winter region item, more in the area of the Duke of Winter than some wizard from the warm region.

Aden shook his head, feeling the cloth in his fingers. He was known as someone who possessed divine power. This cloth he was holding was a divine object.

***

There was little that monsters needed a base. They obviously didn’t need shelter from the cold. The most important factor was that the area needed lectura, on which they fed. It was considered just a weed in most of the winter region and grew best in the cold. Wherever it grew, monsters would be nearby. That meant the first order of business in taking over the base was to burn away all the lectura.

“This is a big region, and there’s not much on the map…” Idith said, trailing off.

Aden nodded in response. I’ll show you something really pretty. Glancing northward, he remembered his promise to Ilyin.

She had said she liked summer, but there was no summer here. No land full of life, no sun shining down. But the winter region had places with its own special beauty. It had to.

Somewhere at the north end of Biflten would be the place he promised her, the bright, snowy place no one had yet seen, not even the Duke of Winter.

Places where life hadn’t touched had their own beauty. The warm region’s gardens showed the beauty man could make. Biflten promised the beauty of nature itself.

He hoped she would like it.

“We’ll need to send out several men to scour the area,” Idith said.

Aden understood. This place had been the Yesters’ for over a thousand years, and the Yesters had existed even before all the winter region’s seasons had bee full of snow.