by JA Andrews
“So I started to hunt.”
“And they all thought you hunted so well because you were blessed.”
Sora nodded. “It was nice to be outside, though. When I hunted with others, I brought them to larger herds in the mountains. There was no point in telling them the way I found things. It would have just convinced them more strongly that I was different.”
“I finally understand why Killien asked you to come to Lilit.”
She nodded. “He knew why I’d left the mountains. I stayed with him because he didn’t believe it.”
“Desperate people believe a lot of things.” Will paused. “I also understand why you were so upset that he thought you healed her. I’m sorry.”
She waved off the apology. “I’m a little sensitive to people thinking I did something miraculous.”
“Are other people born with talents like yours in the mountain clans?”
Sora’s brow knit. “The holy men and women claim to have powers. I don’t know if they’re real, though.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t try to make you a holy woman.”
“They did.” She ran her finger down the long claw that was tied around her arm. “Did you know the snow lynx is the enemy of the Serpent Queen? It’s a creature that only hunts at night, but it is all white. It camouflages itself in white places, whereas the queen hides in the darkness. And it hunts the mountain snakes. It’s supposed to be a great snow lynx that keeps Tanith up in the sky.
“I was with a hunting party. I’d chased a small hare away from the others.” Sora wound up the rest of the bandage and tucked it into her pack. “I don’t know why I didn’t notice the lynx. But it was on me before I could do anything.
“It sliced down my arm”—she nodded to the scar that ran under her armband—“but I had just enough time to stab up into it with my hunting knife. The other rangers found the lynx lying on top of me, blood soaking the snow around us.
“For a moment I couldn’t get my breath enough to call out to them.”
Will let out a laugh and she looked up sharply. “I can only imagine what they thought.”
A smile spread across her lips. “One of them cried out ‘We are ruined! The lynx has killed the queen!’”
“Who says things like that?”
Sora’s smile widened and a short laugh escaped her lips. “I was covered in the cat’s blood. It was so disgusting, and so heavy, I shoved it off with all my might.”
“What did they do?”
“About fell down and worshipped me. I tried to tell them the stupid cat had leapt directly onto my knife, but no one listened. In the official story, I rose ‘like a shadow of death, black against the winter snow, flinging the corpse of the lynx aside like a rag.’”
Will grinned with approval. “Dramatic.”
She looked down at her hands, the smile fading off her face. “After that, things changed. They gave me the pelt as a cape. They replaced the eyes with black river stones. It sat on my shoulder and stared at anyone I talked to.”
“I think I’d like to see you wear that.”
Sora rolled her eyes. “I wore it once, at the ceremony where they gave it to me, then told them something that sacred should be kept in the presence of the holy woman.”
“Did they give you the claw instead?”
Sora looked at her arm band. “I was terrified to step outside again. I felt too vulnerable.
“My mother went to the holy woman and claimed the claw as a trophy.” Sora’s lips curled up in a slight smile. “She wrapped this band around the wound, and told me it was a reminder that it wasn’t Tanith who’d saved my life, it was me.”
She raised her eyes to Will’s face and in her eyes he could see a spark of defiance. “It was the first time I ever felt I’d done something myself. I wasn’t just a tool of some great power.”
Her face was set with something mutinous and despite himself, Will let out a short laugh.
“Sora, you are the most independent, competent person I’ve ever met. It is incomprehensible to me that anyone would think you were only a tool.”
She looked at him earnestly. “They believed because of the stories they were told.”
“Your people need to hear the real story of who you are. One that shows a woman who is just as human as the rest, who has been misused by the people who should have protected her, and has grown into a capable, perceptive, strong person despite it all.”
Sora snorted and turned away, but Will grabbed her hand. “This is why Keepers seek out stories. Because if the truth isn’t told, people are hurt.”
She looked at him for along moment, before pulling her hand away. “Then I wish there’d been a Keeper in my clan.”
They got a little more rest before the shadows of the mountains stretched far to the east and Sora announced it was time to leave. Will roused Rass and packed up his things while Sora cut thick pieces of rabbit for everyone to eat.
Will was packing his books when Sora came up next to him. She held a roll of leather in her hand, fiddling with the straps that tied it closed.
“Do you think Talen will find you again?”
“He’s found me everywhere else.”
“Then maybe you’ll have a use for this.” She pushed the leather towards him. “It adjusts small, so it might fit Talen…If you ever need something like this.”
Will unwrapped it to find a falconry glove and a small leather hood. He slid his hand into the glove. It was darkly stained, thick leather, the fingers blocky and an extra thick layer of leather blanketing the wrist. The hood was a tiny, bulbous piece of soft leather with straps in the back and a braided tassel perched on top.
“You bought these for me?” He held up the glove, fisting his hand.
“I bought them for Talen,” she corrected him. “If he stays with you long enough, I have no doubt you’ll bring him to inappropriate places, like the queen’s court, and the poor bird deserves to be protected from the chaos.”
“Ah.” He pulled the glove off and wrapped it back up with the hood. “Then Talen thanks you for such a thoughtful, and unexpected, gift.”
“I like that hawk,” Rass piped up.
Sora looked up at the darkening sky. “We can leave soon.”
Will’s body ached with exhaustion “I can’t leave Ilsa. But Killien’s book…” He scrubbed his hands across his face, rubbing at the weariness. “That book should definitely get off the Sweep.”
“There’s no way you can get to Ilsa, Will. And even if you could…”
He sank down next to his pack. “She might not want to come with me.”
Sora’s face was sober. “It would be strange if she did. She doesn’t know you.”
He shoved the rest of his things into his bag. “I know you think I should leave. But I can’t. And it’s not just Ilsa. Rass is free—”
Rass raised an eyebrow at this.
“I didn’t know you’ve always been free.”
She grinned at him and rolled her eyes. “I’m going to find some grubs. Do you want any?”
“I’ll be fine with the rabbit,” he assured her, and the little girl slipped out of the cave.
He cinched his bag shut with a yank. “What about Sini? How can I just walk away and leave—”
He stopped. That note Sini had left him…
“Is there something unusual about Sini and Lukas? Sini said they weren’t random slaves.”
“Of course they’re not. They’re Killien’s because they’re training to be stonesteeps.”
Will stared at her, his hand clenched on his bag.
“Maybe Lukas already is one, I don’t know. Killien spends a lot of time with the two of them, but keeps their training secret.”
“They can do magic?”
“Lukas does…”—Sora’s face turned distasteful—“things for Killien. And Sini can heal people. That’s why she was in Lilit’s tent. She’s getting better at it all the time, but Lilit was far too much for her.”
The cave a
round him spun slowly and he set his hand against the floor. Lukas and Sini were from Queensland. And they could do magic. “Sini’s fifteen…How old is Lukas?” The question came out in a whisper.
“Around twenty-five. Why?”
The truth sank into him.
They filled the gap almost perfectly. Keepers appeared every five to ten years.
Lukas was about six years younger than Will.
Sini ten years younger than that.
“Killien has the next two Keepers.”
Sora’s brow crinkled in doubt. “How could he?”
“Vahe found them. He must have a way…”
The fire. Vahe had thrown that fire over the crowd, and when it had reached Will, it had done…something. The air around him had sparkled, and right after that he’d shoved closed Tussy’s gate with magic. Vahe had somehow woken his powers.
“Vahe brings Keepers to Killien.”
“But Ilsa can’t do any magic,” Sora said. “At least I’ve never seen her do anything unusual.”
A rock dropped in Will’s gut. “She can’t. It doesn’t run in families like that.” He could see Vahe’s face in the window, reaching for him. The man’s fury when Will hadn’t come.
“He wasn’t there for Ilsa,” Will whispered. “He was there for me.”
Vahe had taken Ilsa only because Will had refused. The truth felt so obvious, he couldn’t believe he’d never seen it before.
All this time he’d felt guilty because he hadn’t fought hard enough to save Ilsa. When in reality, his fighting had been the reason she was taken.
Will pressed his eyes shut, finally understanding Killien’s comment in the rift. “Ironic,” Will whispered in agreement.
He stood. “We need to find a way back into the clan.”
She threw up her hands in exasperation. “We can’t—”
“Will!” Rass shrieked from below.
He scrambled to the entrance.
Hal stood in the barren clearing below the cave. His huge hands held Rass’s tiny form in the air at arm’s length while she thrashed around, her legs flailing and her arms pinned to her side.
Sora stood next to Will perfectly still, her knife in her hand.
“You’re in luck, Will,” Hal said. “Bringing you back to the clan is exactly what we’re going to do.”
Chapter Thirty
“Come down. Sora first.” Behind Hal a ranger stepped forward, an arrow nocked and aimed at them.
Will cast out, but the vitalle of the nearest trees was too far away and the ground from the cliff to the forest was just dirt.
“Anything your magic fingers can do right now?” Sora asked him under her breath.
Will shook his head. “And there’s no grass nearby for Rass.”
Sora waited a breath before shoving her knife back into her belt and flinging her pack onto her shoulder. Will searched for anything to do, but came up empty. Sora started down the rocks and Rass went limp at the sight. Hal lowered her until she stood on the ground, but kept this hand clamped around her little arm. When Sora reached the bottom, she dropped her pack and the ranger stepped forward, keeping his bow trained on Sora until the last moment, when he grabbed her and tied her arms roughly behind her back. He gave a sharp yank and Sora grunted in pain.
“I confess I’m a little surprised to see you here,” Hal said to Sora. “When Killien said not to trust you, I doubted him.”
Sora fixed him with a furious look. “You know Will doesn’t deserve what the Torch has planned for him.”
Hal motioned for Will to come down. “Will is a Keeper, who can suck the life out of us at any moment. Who traveled with us for weeks, and lied to us the entire time. What confuses me, Sora, is that you spent most of those weeks trying to convince us he was a liar. Then, when he proves it, you’re suddenly friends with the man?”
“Of course he lied,” Sora said, squeezing her eyes shut as she shifted her shoulders, pulling against the ropes.
Will climbed down while Sora’s feet were bound, the truth of their situation gaining more of a stranglehold on him the farther down he went. Before he reached the ground, the ranger took Rass from Hal, gripping her shoulder with one hand and holding a long, wickedly curved knife in the other. Rass’s face was set in a little mask of fury.
“Hello, Will.” Hal clapped his hand on Will’s shoulder and pushed him to his knees several paces away from Sora.
Will shoved against Hal’s hand. “Let Rass go.”
“I have no intention of hurting the girl.” Hal looked at Rass with an apologetic face. “Are you thirsty?” He nodded to the ranger who, after the slightest hesitation, offered her a drink from his water skin. “She’s too young to be held responsible for her terrible taste in friends.”
Will cast out toward the trees again, but they were just too far away. Hal pulled a leather package from his pocket and unwrapped a long chain holding a blue stone. He slipped it over Will’s head and it thunked against his chest. A crushing wave of exhaustion rolled over Will.
He cast out for any vitalle he could find from the trees or even Hal, but it dribbled through his grasp like water. His mind worked sluggishly. His eyes slid shut and he lost focus. His head felt like dead weight, and his body pressed heavily down into the ground.
“The compulsion stone will only work for a few hours.” Hal crouched down in front of Will, studying him. “But I think the exhaustion should keep you too tired to work any magic. It’s too bad we don’t have a stone that could keep you from lying.”
The ranger came over to Will and wound ropes around his wrists, tight and scratchy.
Will shook his head, trying to clear the fog. “The only thing I didn’t tell you was that I was a Keeper.” Will shifted his shoulders, trying to relieve some of the pressure in his arms.
“And that you were from Queensland, you sit on the queen’s council, and you wield magic.”
The ranger gave one last, sharp tug on the rope and a shooting pain sliced up Will’s arm to his shoulder. With a few quick loops his feet were tied together too.
“I don’t sit on the queen’s council,” Will muttered. “That would be my friend Alaric. He’s the one who talks to the queen. And he’s quite a bit better at magic than I am. Actually, he’s better at translating runes too, so he’s the one Killien should have captured.”
“Is he nearby? I’d be happy to bring him to Killien also.”
Will let his eyes slide closed. “He’s too smart to come to this barbaric, ugly land.”
“Ugly land?” Rass sounded sleepy too.
“Lukas made the compulsion stone you’re wearing. We weren’t sure it would exhaust a Keeper to the point where they couldn’t perform magic, but it looks like it’s a success. Which means I didn’t really need to use my backup plan.”
The world beneath Will spun slowly and he forced his eyes open. “If it was Lukas, I’m surprised he didn’t make it something deadly.”
“Lukas isn’t that bad,” Hal said. “Although I have noticed he doesn’t like you much.”
Rass swayed slightly on her feet and the ranger sheathed his knife. Will’s heart lurched and he leaned toward her, but Hal held him back. Sora strained against her bonds.
“What did you do?” Will demanded.
Rass’s eyes sank shut and her knees buckled. The ranger caught her and lay her down on the ground.
“Rass!” Will called, pulling against Hal’s grip.
“Just an added measure of security,” Hal said. “She’s sleeping. Would you like a drink too? It’s the same concoction Killien put in your wine the night of the attack, although a much lower dose.”
Will glared at Hal, hopeless fury rising in his chest. Hal pushed Will over and he crashed onto his side, landing heavily on his shoulder. The ranger rested his knife on Rass’s sleeping chest.
“I don’t want to hurt her, Will, but if you give me trouble, I’ll do what I need to do.”
Hal opened Will’s pack. “The Torch will be pleased tha
t you still have his book.” He went to a pack sitting near the trees, wrote something and tinkered with a cage. A small raven flapped out and soared out toward the Sweep. “That should let Killien know where we are.” He crossed over to Rass’s limp form and gave the ranger some orders. After a last check of Sora and Will’s bonds, the ranger struck out down the hill. “There are rangers spread out all across the Hoarfrost looking for you. Reinforcements will arrive soon, and we’ll all be on our merry way back to the rift.”
Will let his head sink down on to the hard ground and watched the ranger go with a sick feeling in his stomach. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe if he could get back to Killien, he’d convince the Torch to let Ilsa go.
There was no hope in the thought.
“Let Sora and Rass go,” he said to Hal. “I’m the one Killien wants. He doesn’t even know Rass is here, and you can say Sora got away. He’ll believe it.”
“When Killien finds out that Sora helped you, he’s going to want her too.” He leaned back against a boulder. “Let’s all just sit tight for a bit. Shouldn’t take more than an hour or two for the nearest rangers to get here.” He glanced at Sora. “We didn’t really follow your orders, of course. We’re spread all across the Hoarfrost and the Scales to catch our Keeper no matter which way he ran.” He gave her a look more regretful than angry. “Killien liked you. He never likes foreigners. And yet he brought you in, trusted you, paid you better than any of the rest of us—”
“I’m better than any of the rest of you.”
“—and despite your constant superior attitude, Killien still put up with you. What made you take up with this traitor?”
“I am not a traitor!” Will threw the words at Hal. He shoved his elbow against the ground, trying to push himself back up to a sitting position, but his strength gave out and he just rolled to the side, sending dust into his own face.
“Killien was generous to you, too.” Hal turned on Will. “He shared meals with you. I heard him tell you his dreams of peace for the Roven.”
“Oh yes,” Will said, spitting out dust, “he’s an amazing, benevolent leader.”