“I don’t think this is wise,” she’d objected. “We won’t be able to see your Forbidding if it’s here and we don’t know where we’re going.”
But whether it was by luck or the skies favored us, we stumbled onto an old road moments later. It was grown over with long grass and low tree branches, but it was passable. We hurried down the road, sticking close together. By the time dawn lit the sky, we had reached a crossroads where a wide, well-traveled road intersected it. I put the glimmer of gold to our backs and we began the tired march toward Glorious Ingvar in the west.
All day, I felt eyes on my back. I jumped at every snapped stick or shift in the wind until Zayana began to jump with me. We passed two towns before I agreed to stop and purchase a little food. We passed two more before the light began to fade again. The people in the last town had told us it would take another long day to reach Glorious Ingvar, so we found a quiet glen along the road to stay for the night.
“I’m too tired to go farther tonight,” Zayana had said as she persuaded me to build a fire there. “We have shaved days off our travel time. Let’s not waste that advantage by running ourselves into the ground. We won’t want to reach the city exhausted.”
I waited long minutes, watching the road behind us before I agreed to the fire. The road had been busy all day but as night drew near, there was only a lone horse which quickly walked by, its rider too intent on reaching a town to even glance our way.
“Okay, we can camp for half the night,” I agreed. “Then back to the road.”
“Half a night,” Zayana repeated, shaking her head. “We are likely days ahead of Wing Ivo and yet you won’t even sleep a full night!”
But I couldn’t explain this feeling of being hunted. I checked the cuff constantly to feel the feather, but it wasn’t Osprey who was close by. It was someone else. Could he have sent Claws after us, too?
Reluctantly, I settled with Zayana next to the fire and joined her in eating the rest of the food we’d bought in the village. Together, we spoke to our manifestations, and then together we tried to get comfortable by the fire. We took opposite sides to it this time, each of us absorbed in our own thoughts.
“Why do they call the city ‘Glorious Ingvar?’” she asked.
“It was the first place settlers landed when they arrived in the Far Stones,” I said with a yawn. “Conquerors might be a better word. But they found no people here. Just the Forbidding. They fought it back, though it killed half of them and wrecked their ship, seizing it from the waves. They held the rocky piece of coast, battling back the Forbidding until another ship came to help them. By the time it arrived, nine in ten of the men who had arrived on the shores were dead. So, they named the beach after an old story – the story of the Ishanians who were conquered three centuries ago by the Winged Empire. They called their underworld Ingvar.”
“Are you saying that this city’s name translated is ‘Glorious Hell’?”
I nodded. “And that’s all you need to know about the Far Stones.”
She yawned. “I suppose it is.”
I fell asleep dreaming fitfully of blood on a rocky ocean shore. And I awoke just as I had the night before with the sense that there was someone else nearby. I stayed motionless, barely squinting my eyes open.
Chapter Seven
A TWIG SNAPPED JUST behind me and before I could sit up, a hand clamped over my mouth. I grabbed at the wrist, my heart pounding, terror clawing up my throat. They were man’s hands. Rough. Hairy. Panic coursed through me. He’d found me. Osprey had found me.
“Shh.” The whisper in my ear was so faint that I could barely hear it. “Easy now, Shrikeling.”
Relief filled me, mixing with a sense of joy so strong it nearly choked me. The hand loosened as I spun, jaw dropping.
My brother Retger’s intense eyes stared back at me as he wrapped me into a hug.
“Retger. I must be dreaming.” It was all I could do to keep from sobbing with relief, but I couldn’t help the suppressed emotions that rippled through me. I pressed my face into his shoulder.
He let me stay there a moment before tugging me away from where Zayana slept. I followed him into the moonlit shadows.
“How did you find me?” I asked.
“I’ve been tracking you since a few days after they took you,” he whispered. “I lost you at Vlaren but I thought I’d found you again in Karkatua. I swore I saw you on the city walls during the fighting.”
“You did!” I gasped. “I thought I saw Oska!”
“He was with me as far as Karkatua. I had to leave him there. He’s gathering supplies for the family. But let me tell the story!” He laughed softly. He had a satchel at his side and as he spoke, he drew out a flask and handed it to me. I drank as he spoke – apple cider. A rare treat for us. “I followed a Wing to a large house and thought I saw a glimpse of you escaping through the window, but I wasn’t fast enough and by the time I turned the corner, you were gone. I had to dig deep after that – dig into contacts I have in the area.”
“The Single Wing?” I asked and his eyebrows shot up.
“Did the old man tell you about that?” He looked eager.
“Not the details, just the name.” I bit my lip. “Retger, he ... I watched him die.”
My brother cursed, leaning back from me to rub a hand over his face as he cursed again. “We’d hoped ... I’d thought...” He shook his head as if dismissing his thoughts. “I’ll get you out of here, Shrikeling. Before they kill you, too. Here. Eat something. You’re wasting away.”
He took the flask and handed me an oil-cloth wrapped cake. I unwrapped the cloth and dug in hungrily. The smell and taste of honey nearly made me shut my eyes in joy, but I tried to stay focused as I chewed.
“How are the others? Are they safe?”
He shrugged. “They were when I left. Abghar was leading them into the Forbidding. They will carve out a safe space there and we will join them as soon as we can get back. Are you ready to ride now? Skies, it’s good to see you alive! I brought a spare horse. Let me tell you, that was tricky through those snake mouths.”
“How ... how did you know which path I took?” I licked the crumbs from my fingers, wishing I had another cake. It had been like a taste of home.
He grinned proudly. “Followed your tracks into that underground room. Had to convince the horses to duck and crawl into it. I’m not as good with horses as Oska is but you’d be surprised by what little tricks we pick up as blacksmiths. Someone has to shoe these beasts. I used every trick I knew to get them in there. Then, I followed the scuffs of your boots on the floor through the right snake mouth twice. The last door had me tricked, but I figured it out after a minute.”
I shook my head. “You’re amazing.”
He nudged me playfully with an elbow, digging into his bag again.
“We aren’t going back that way, Shrikeling. We’ll ride. That thing shook me up inside and I don’t want to do that again. Now, come on. Your minder will miss you if we don’t leave soon.”
I shot a look back to Zayana sleeping in the moonlight and then back to Retger again. All I ever wanted was for my family to be safe. It was like fruit on top of cake that I might be able to go with them. For a moment, I let myself believe I could go. I let myself hope for just a minute that I could leave all this behind and just be Aella of House Shrike again.