Stirring, Kaislyn Shifted back to the snowstorm where a bare patch of ground was disappearing beneath more snow. Stepping into a new pile of snow, she Shifted to the goats.
The snow went with her.
She tried it a few more times, seeing how much snow she could take with her. On the last experiment, not only did she drag most of the snow, but an icy wind arced around the hillside, whipping her hair around and making her shiver. The goats ignored the sudden snow and wind.
Thoughtful, Kaislyn returned to her original perch.
A few weeks later on her seventeenth birthday, Grehesh offered her a small pouch. “I’ve been saving this all year,” he said, smiling as Kaislyn opened it.
“You threw this away!” she cried, drawing out a familiar rock. A tiny loop had been attached to it and she unhooked her necklace to string the diamond on it. It clinked pleasantly against Ikaros’ earring.
Grehesh rocked in his chair, openly pleased by her astonishment. “That’s how it appeared, yes.”
“Do you know how long I spent searching for it?” Kaislyn demanded.
“I watched you. I think you’ve earned it now.”
“Thank you.” Kaislyn clutched the diamond.
Grehesh jerked his head at the darkening slope below them where they had been watching a set of riders, now vanished behind a rise. “Thought I’d give it to you before your parents arrive. They might not appreciate seeing such a gift.”
Kaislyn sobered, having forgotten in her surprise that Drazan and Sveka would soon be here. She wished she could be happier about the prospect of seeing them.
“Be polite,” Grehesh commented, seeming to read her thoughts.
“I’m always polite,” Kaislyn said, fingering her charms.
“Child, you’re as polite as a goat.”
Her parents greeting to her was as warm as Kaislyn’s was to them. A brief hug from Drazan, a critical, sweeping gaze from Sveka, and then all three turned to Grehesh for a distraction.
Grehesh provided it, inquiring after their journey.
“We pushed through the last night to get here,” Drazan rumbled. “Can’t do that as easily anymore.” He stretched his feet toward the fire. On closer examination, Kaislyn thought he looked exhausted. They both did. Sveka sat against the hut wall, eyelids closed to weary slits.
“Why?” Kaislyn asked.
“Phoenix caught up with us,” Drazan grunted. It was the queen’s favorite method to communicate with any of her Royal Governors. Or to track down her elusive Royal Assassins. No one argued with a bird who could set your hair on fire. Or argued at all since the queen witnessed everything her bird saw.
At first, Kaislyn thought the phoenix had to do whatever the queen ordered, but judging by the muttered comments Nisken made, there was as much quarrelling between queen and bird as there was cooperation.
“The Sabah river’s been poisoned and people are dropping like flies in the Second City.” Drazan reconsidered his words. “Dropping like birds, actually. The birds and fish are dying and the surrounding area is turning brown. Half the City Guard is sick and Raina’s been making daily visits in the city. It’s a wonder she and the baby aren’t sick either.”
“Wait. There’s a baby?”
Sveka opened her eyes wide. “Raina’s finally given the cities an heir. That’s the only reason we can think of for why the Sorcerer tried such a sloppy way of killing her and it.”
“It?”
“Don’t know if it’s a boy or girl yet, and Nisken isn’t cracking under the usual threats.” Drazan scowled good naturedly. “No one will know till the official naming ceremony in three months.”
Sveka’s eyes returned to slits. “We expect you to be there. You owe Nisken a formal apology over those diamonds anyway. Making an appearance at the ceremony of his firstborn would do nicely as one.”
“’Course,” she mumbled. She’d have to poison herself or something. Or get Ikaros to push her off the mountain again and break her leg. Maybe both legs? She muffled a sigh.
“We’re headed to the Second City now to take over the City Guard and whatever else needs to be handled.” Drazan looked at Kaislyn. “We had intended to spend more time with you here. If you wanted to come with us...” His voice was carefully indifferent.
“Does that mean my exile is over? I’ll think about it,” she promised. Which wasn’t fair of her at all, she realized as Drazan grinned at her. She would think about it, but she wasn’t going to go. Her home was here. Ikaros was here. And where Ikaros was, she needed to be.
Yet Ikaros had gone and poisoned the Sabah river which touched three cities. He’d been banished eighteen years ago so he must have done it from the Sabah falls in the mountains. The poison would run past the Second City first, then to the Fifth, before dumping into the ocean at the Third. All the farmlands in between would be ruined and even more people would die.
So that was why Ikaros had been quiet lately. He’d been busy plotting how to kill Raina. No one could stop him in the mountains. No one who was near enough anyway.
“Darling?” Drazan’s worried voice broke through her thoughts. “You all right?”
Sveka answered. “She must be. She has that homicidal look you get when you’re about to do something absurd.”
“I never do anything absurd,” Drazan protested while Kaislyn added, “I’m not homicidal! I was just... lost in thought.”
“Here’s something to distract you from your thoughts.” Drazan reached a lazy hand out to root through his pack before handing her a sheathed knife with a handle made of white bone.
“We thought you would get some use out of that,” Sveka commented as Kaislyn ran her hand over the soft leather and then drew the knife. It was no longer than her middle finger and glistened harshly against the firelight.
“Oh, yes,” Kaislyn breathed. “A lot of use.”
“Please tell me I don’t look that mad when we’re about to do something crazy,” Drazan half pleaded, half laughed to Sveka. “Maybe we shouldn’t have given her the knife.”
Kaislyn tried to turn her smile into something less predatory as she sheathed her new knife and rubbed a suddenly sore throat.
“Thank you for the knife. It’s perfect.” Not wanting to ruin the moment by saying something stupid, she beat a hasty retreat to the hut. She reemerged a few minutes later with a bundle. “I’m going to sleep at Fadil’s,” she told Grehesh. “You two can sleep inside for once,” she added to her parents.
“Won’t argue with that,” grunted Drazan.
Grehesh’s rocking did not miss a beat as he took in the bundle tucked under an arm, at her free hand playing with her necklace. “Watch that you don’t trip over any rocks in the dark.”
“It’s not my turn to trip.” She hurried from the campfire.
Once safely out of sight of her parents, she fastened her bundled cloak around her shoulders and attached her belt that held little packs of bandages and coma-inducing levels of Bliss Root. Kaislyn started her hike while redoing her long hair, working her new knife into the thick braids bundled at the nape of her neck. Once finished, she Shifted.
The grass withered beneath her feet. It vanished and she came to a stop in early morning, breaking the quiet with her sneezes. The far horizon was just beginning to blush grey with dawn. Judging by the sliver of moon setting, she’d Shifted about a month back.
She was familiar with Ikaros’ sneering complaints against the Phoenix Queen. But that’s all he ever did. Complain about it and then try to kill Kaislyn. What changed?
Raina’s baby.
Until now, it’d been a waiting game. When the queen died, Ikaros could take the phoenix and cities back. He was the default heir so long as Raina failed to produce any children. And in the meantime he amused himself with Kaislyn.
Now there was a baby and Ikaros had competition.
It was a clever attack, Kaislyn had to admit. He couldn’t enter the Five Cities and Raina couldn’t touch him in the mountains. He was safe.
What can she do, girl?
It was a four day hike to the falls. She’d figure something out.
Kaislyn heard the hissing thunder of the falls long before she saw them. It was past noon when, cresting another hill, the waterfall appeared in front of her. A narrow strip of water plunged down the cliff face into a large, deep pool. From there, it spilled over a barrier of rocks, turning into a churning river of white water. It pitched down the mountainside and into the foothills before broadening into the glistening Sabah river that cradled the Second City on two sides.
Kaislyn stared at the mist-shrouded water. In the wet sunlight, she could see a rainbow arching near the base of the falls. Tiny green birds darted around the tumbling water, their nests hidden in the rocks behind the falls. She watched the birds for a while. The muted roar of the water filled her ears until she couldn’t hear anything else. A cloud passed over the sun, casting a shadow over Kaislyn and she shivered.
Enough stalling. She picked her way up the steep, wet incline. She was soaked with spray and sweat by the time she reached the top of the falls and a thin stream of blood trickled down her leg from a scrape on her knee.
Here, the water ran strangely quiet compared to the thundering falls. She could follow the Sabah river’s path down to the plain that held the Second City, a blocky smudge. She was at the eastern edge of the mountains. If she turned to look behind her, to the east, she’d see the desert, a huge golden blanket stretching out forever. What lay beyond it? Or did it never end like the ocean beyond the Third City?
Kaislyn turned her attention to the water. It didn’t look poisoned, but that would be the point. If she went to an earlier day? Before Ikaros had poisoned the water? She made a face. No. She understood more and more as she Shifted that her actions happened all at once, the dye splattered on the tapestry, spreading in every direction at the same time. Ikaros was the same way. Going back would be pointless. The same number of people would still die because they already had. So how did she keep more people from dying?
The water swirled past her and the sun dipped into the horizon. As it disappeared behind a tall hill, a few deep red rays fell on the bank below Kaislyn’s feet. It almost looked like sand.
Barren and lifeless.
Kaislyn stood and followed the river upstream until it narrowed into a deep, rushing torrent. A twisted old tree grew at the river’s edge. Some of its branches dipped low over the water.
Removing her boots, belt, and cloak, Kaislyn climbed around the tree trunk until she could grab one of the branches that stretched toward the opposite riverbank. Bracing herself, she slid into the water, gasping as the icy water struck her.
Clutching the branch for support, Kaislyn inched her way to the center of the stream. Her feet slipped along the jagged rocks and sunk in the silt of the river. She hung onto the branch, struggling to keep her footing. It reminded her uneasily of her Shift attack in the Third City before Falan caught her.
She could take things with her. Ikaros and her earring. Black Sand. An entire hillside of snow. A river couldn’t be that much different. But what of the poison? She thought of the hillside again. She’d taken the winter wind, something invisible and elusive, with her. Why not poison?
Why not a poisoned river?
Kaislyn Shifted. She wanted to go far back. Everything blurred. The water began bubbling, boiling. Frantic, Kaislyn took a second step. She sliced her foot against a rock as she ended the Shift.
Her surroundings unblurred, settled. The boiling water cooled, but her skin did not. It was blotchy and red. Welts began to appear along her hands and arms. Her foot stung.
Kaislyn sucked in the cool air. Her skin burned, her internal temperature climbing. This was going to be a very nasty death.
She’d still been holding onto the tree and it was with her now. A dying, withered version, and the branch she held didn’t feel very sturdy. Still, it wasn’t breaking yet. She’d never had any issues with a Shift damaging whatever she took with her. But this was the first thing, aside from Ikaros, she’d taken that was living. Used to be living.
She shook her head, trying to clear it.
Something bright green glowed to her left and she looked, startled, toward the desert. It wasn’t there. A lush and green landscape, the young growth of a jungle, stretched away into the distance. Just how far back had she gone? Above the rush of the poisoned water stinging her skin, she could hear the chirping screams of monkeys and birds, saw large, red birds swooping lazily above the jungle.
Not just any birds. There was no mistaking the large, red forms with bits of flames dripping from their wings. Phoenixes. Four of them circling above the tallest tree tops, occasionally crying to each other.
One of them broke away from the others and glided toward her. It was the ugliest of the group, much like a vulture with its tiny, knobby head, stringy neck, and large, lumpy body. Banking in the air, its wingspan almost covered the width of the narrow river. Wings sweeping in a steady rhythm, bits of flames hissing as they struck the water, the bird hovered near eye level with Kaislyn.
Its eyes were bright black with a hint of gold around the irises. For a moment she thought she felt something moving in the back of her mind but when she blinked and shook sprays of water from her eyes, it was gone. Just nausea from the poisoned river and her burnt skin.
The bird dipped lower into the water, feathers brushing the surface and this time Kaislyn did feel something as the bird’s beak bumped against her nose. A cooling relief washed over her, washed against the river. Her foot stopped stinging.
The phoenix lifted itself higher into the air and glided away. Kaislyn watched it go. A phoenix had healed her! She’d never felt healthier. A yawn escaped her. And another. Her astonishment and excitement faded. A phoenix’s healing always left someone in a coma afterwards. She couldn’t risk lingering any longer. Besides, she was beginning to notice the poisoned water brushing against her skin. Could feel it beginning chafe.
Kaislyn Shifted.
Not as far this time, though. She wanted to make sure it had worked. Shaking water droplets from her eyes, Kaislyn looked toward the jungle.
The towering trees were gone, the air empty of life, the skies clear of the majestic demon birds.
Sand covered everything.
She’d destroyed an entire jungle. And the phoenixes? Had they died too?
Blazes, Ikaros had created a powerful poison if this was the end result. But the Five Ruling Cities should be safer now. There wasn’t anything she could do about the poison that’d already passed through the mountains. But the rest she’d moved. Just like the wind and snow.
Exhausted from more than just the phoenix’s healing, Kaislyn Shifted. She arrived in the clear, sharp water, glistening in afternoon light, the same afternoon from when she’d reached the falls.
Wearily, Kaislyn turned to work her way back along the branch to the riverbank.
The branch sagged toward the water.
“No, don’t,” Kaislyn begged. “Just a little further. Come on. You made it this long.” Taking the tree through three different Shifts had been too much and it’d gone from living to dead to rotting. Kaislyn lunged for the safety of the river edge as the branch crumbled into multiple pieces. She was still too far away and plunged, instead, beneath the water. She broke the surface for a moment, gasping for air as she was swept downwards in a frightening rush.
There was no windowsill to hold onto this time. The current pressed her back under the water, cocooning her in a shell of soft silence. Her lungs began to ache. Why wasn’t she breathing? She needed to breathe. Opening her mouth, the cold water rushed into her mouth.
Drowning.
The water pummeled her, spinning her around and around. She reached the surface of the water again thanks to hitting a large rock. Coughing, she tried to dispel water from her lungs and breathe at the same time.
The river disappeared in front of her. The roaring current became something else. A great bellowing.
The Sabah falls.
Screaming in absolute terror, Kaislyn was swept out and over the falls. She had a long, sickening view of the rocks and swirling water far beneath her and then she fell.
2 | The Royal Captain
Water coursed over her body in a thin, calming ripple. Her face was pressed against the shifting mud. Kaislyn turned her head, spitting mud and water out of her mouth. There were large rocks around her. Judging by the water’s slower current, she had washed into a side pool.
“I hurt.” Her lungs burned as she tried to talk. She couldn’t tell what pain went with which body part.
“You fell over the falls. Who can guess at the damage you incurred in such a feat? I’d say your shoulder is dislocated and your ankles are swelling up like twin watermelons. I like watermelons. They bleed and remind me of pleasant times.”
Kaislyn strained her head the other way. Ikaros was dressed in an ornate black robe hemmed with red and gold thread. He sat on the rocks above her. A neatly trimmed beard framed his handsome face. His blue eyes were bright with curiosity. “What exactly were you doing?”
“Stopping you,” she croaked.
“Please stop me more often if it means I get to sit here and watch you go splat over the falls.”
Her back wasn’t broken at least. She wanted to cry she hurt so much. Ikaros’ inquisitive gaze made her swallow her tears. “What’s with the fancy robe? I thought you preferred ragged pieces of cloth fit only for a madman and a murderer.”
“Ti-em has made a pair of statues of me to flank the riverside gates. I look magnificent.”
Was that the First City? No, that was Semte. Or was the Fourth City Semte? It definitely wasn’t the Third... It had to be the Second City. It must have been Ti-em before the First Bloody Year.
“And no one... no one thinks it’s odd that a dead king shows up at his own ceremony?”
Ikaros chuckled nastily. “I can be clever. Besides, it was Nakia and she’s not very bright.”
The Immortal Walker Page 7