“You were the one who was going to drag me out of bed!” I laughed.
“What bed?” he muttered, following me back to the low-burning fire. He unsaddled the horses while I stoked the fire but my heart was light and happy. Retger was here and he was going to help me get to Glorious Ingvar and free the general. What could be better than that?
I fell asleep happier than I’d been since I’d been taken from my home. My dreams were full of my family, sweet and fleeting. I melted into them, savoring every dream moment and feeling happy and at peace, knowing I would wake to family and an ally.
Instead, I woke to my leather cuff burning.
Chapter Eight
“HE’S HERE!” I CRIED, scrambling up to my feet and making sure the cloak was wrapped around me and the hood was over my head. “Zayana, wake up! Wake up! He’s here!”
Her eyes popped open and she was on her feet before I could take a breath. I nodded gratefully.
“Who is he?” Zayana asked, her eyes widening at the sight of Retger.
“No time to explain,” I said at the same time that Retger said, “Her brother.”
He was already untethering the horses. “Who is here?”
“Wing Osprey,” Zayana said. “He hunts us at the behest of Le Majest. He wants Aella.”
Retger nodded sharply. “He won’t be expecting three of us. Mount up. You can both ride Sesara.”
I mounted the snorting black horse. He felt powerful beneath me, his muscles bunching and head tossing as Zayana climbed up behind me, wrapping her arms around me. Her breath came out in little nervous gusts.
“We ride,” Retger said, making the sign of the bird, and then we were stepping out to the road, the horses’ feet light and quick on the ground, their heads still tossing with excitement as they danced a little, eager to be off.
“I don’t like this,” Zayana whispered.
“Trust me. The horses are good ones or Retger would not have brought them. Our family breeds the best horses in Far Stones.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.”
But she didn’t have time to clarify what she was worried about.
We reached the road and the horses leapt forward, moving from walking creatures to streaks of speed in the blink of an eye. I clung to the reins and the saddle of the horse I sat while Zayana clung to me.
“That’s truly your brother?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Has he been following us all this time?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t imagine that kind of loyalty.” She paused for a moment. “He looks very strong.”
“Hopefully strong enough,” I muttered. But strength wouldn’t be enough. Not with Osprey chasing us. Every moment that passed seemed to make the feather in my cuff hotter.
Morning streaked into a blur around us as the horses ate up ground so quickly that no one could possibly be able to catch up – not even Osprey and his glorious Os.
We’d ridden for maybe an hour when the light of the rising sun began to dim. I checked above us as I had a dozen times already. No silhouette in the sky. No sight of the purplish-white light of Os’s wings. I didn’t know why the light was fainter here.
Sesara danced under me, reading my mood. I felt edgy, waiting for the inevitable. Waiting for Osprey to descend on us. I was glad we hadn’t had to face that yet – and yet part of me longed to see him again. And that was a problem.
By the time I saw him next, I needed a firm plan of action. Should I try to carve out the rest of that feather? Should I take any opportunity I could to kill him? If I didn’t decide now, then I knew what I’d do. I’d stand there frozen in inaction because I’d hope that he was the Osprey from before the cathedral underground – the Osprey who wanted to help and to keep me safe. I shook my head, trying to clear the thought. Thinking about a young man who wanted me dead was a distraction I couldn’t afford. I needed a plan and I needed to focus.
We turned a corner in the road, and I gasped.
Ahead, the road was completely enclosed by Forbidding. It curled over the dirt track, making it into a tunnel, continuing on either side, its dark tentacles clawing into the air, reaching for us.
“I’ve never seen it so close to a city!” Retger called from his horse. He was reining him in. I followed his lead.
We paused, our breath coming in quick huffs, as we watched the moving, breathing mass ahead. Retger drew his sword with care and I drew mine, too.
“You’re sure you want to go to Ingvar, Shrikeling?” he asked.
“Yes.” I forced every bit of confidence I had into my words.
“Then, we fight.”
I kicked my horse up again and Retger kicked his up beside mine. We drew our horses neck and neck with practiced ease. Anyone who had ever ridden the roads in the north knew the drill. Two wide. Each of you was responsible for hacking your side of the Forbidding and keeping it from the other person. Retger had taken my left side on purpose, giving me the easier side to defend with my right-handed grip on the sword. We rode at a quick trot. Not so fast as to stumble, not so slow as to let the Forbidding slow us.
“I don’t like this,” Zayana said.
My wristband flared hotter and I looked over my shoulder as we reached the tangle of Forbidding. Was that a burst of purplish-white light on the horizon, or was my mind playing tricks on me? I didn’t have time to wonder more. The first tentacle of Forbidding reached toward me and I deftly chopped it off with my short sword. It fell to the ground writhing as I moved to the next tentacle and the next.
I knew this routine. Control your breathing. Don’t panic. Attack. Reassess. Attack again. I chopped and hacked at tentacle after tentacle, my grunts and labored breathing the only sign of my work. Beside me, Retger sounded the same as he cleared his side.
Our horses trotted further under the overarching boughs of dark magic, brave as only a Far Stones horse could be. Some people put blinders on them to keep the horses docile, but we didn’t have to do that with Retger’s mounts.
I risked a glance over my shoulder again. There was a last flash of light outside the tunnel and I could have sworn that I saw the briefest silhouette of someone removing a toothpick from his mouth. My heart felt a pang of regret for leaving him behind – which was crazy. I should not be thinking longingly of someone who was my enemy in action if not in spirit! – and then we were rushing deeper into the yawning mouth of the Forbidding and the muscles of my arm began to protest at the heavy work of fighting.
“We’ve lost whoever was following you,” Retger said as the tunnel grew darker. “That’s the good news. The bad news is that I think the Forbidding has closed over the mouth of the tunnel behind us.”
I cursed.
The tunnel filled, suddenly, with scarlet light. Flame danced above Zayana’s hand.
“Then it won’t matter if Flame is visible,” she said and she sounded relieved.
As an experiment, I let my bees free, too, and realized why she felt that way. The moment my manifestation was out again, I felt a sense of rightness. It was as if containing them swallowed a piece of myself. Maybe that was why Osprey had Os in view all the time. I wanted to keep my swarm visible, too – out where they could buzz in complete freedom.