by Nhys Glover
I let out a huff of amazement. He loved me? My whole impression of him shifted at the news. And I felt my heart lighten a little more.
How did I feel about him? Not love. Definitely not love. I’d barely stopped hating him. And his constant digs at my vulnerable female side hadn’t done him any favours.
I thought about what he’d said at the end of the meeting... was that only this morning? He’d said he was ready for more, as he hadn’t been laid for moons. He made it sound like I was just a cheap whore. Nothing special. He’d never made me feel I was anything special.
“Why did you say those mean things to me? If you loved me as you say.”
He went to shrug but thought better of it. Even with me carrying some of my weight, he was struggling.
“I wanted to get your attention. Your hound has it because you’ve known him so long. The white freak has it because he can soothe you. The only way I could get it was by needling you. A broken nose seemed worth it at the time.”
I shook my head. “You’re an idiot.”
He laughed loudly then. Had the thundering hooves not drowned out the sound, it might have been enough to alert the Devourers to our hiding place. As it was, the din was enough that even I could barely hear it.
We’d managed to talk away the tense moments while we waited. And it had felt good.
I paused to listen more intently. Were they veering off the track toward the tree? It didn’t sound like it. It sounded like they were riding on. Glancing around the edge of the trunk, I saw maybe as many as fifty priests riding past at a furious pace. The dust they threw up obscured them quickly.
“I’m moving around to the other side of the tree, just in case someone looks back and sees us through the dust-cloud,” Laric informed me as he began to sidestep around to the far side of the trunk. It wasn’t far, but I had to let go of my branch for him to manage it. On the other side there was no similar branch low enough for me to reach.
The sound of the thundering beastlings was fading. So they had no idea how far we had gone. Did they expect to see us just walking along the road? How did they even know this was the direction we’d come in? Maybe following the one road in and out from the shack had been a stupid idea.
“They’ll likely go as far as they think we could have travelled since we were captured and then they’ll double back,” Laric said. “Our only chance is to make for the mountains and find shelter there. A league is manageable. Can you make it?”
I began lowering myself until I was sitting on his shoulders. Once there I vaulted to the ground. Laric grunted at the pressure I put on his shoulders, but then the obvious relief he felt at being free of my weight was obvious.
“I’m not the one who can barely walk. I can make it, but can you?”
An idea struck me before he had a chance to reply. Picking up a broken off branch nearby, dead leaves still attached to it, I hastily began to wipe out our tracks from the road. When I got back to Laric’s side, I threw him a cheeky grin.
“I’ll race you,” I challenged.
“I have to go ahead of you if you’re going to wipe out both our tracks with that,” he said, scoffing at my idea.
“It was an offer to ease your male pride. I was going to let you win! Now you spoiled it with your gods’ damned logic,” I grumbled.
Laric gave a bark of laughter and took off toward the mountains. I could see that every step was agony for him. But what choice did either of us have? He was right. They would come back when they couldn’t find us. And fifty was too many to fight. Way too many!
Dragging the branch behind me, I followed in Laric’s footsteps. Though the sun had set, there was still plenty of light, and the heat was still intense. I had no idea how long I could keep going with the branch as dead weight behind me. I was fit, but I was also exhausted and thirsty. Very thirsty.
We finally reached the rocky outcrop marking the edge of the sheer rock face that shot skyward. This part of the mountain range didn’t look anything like a triangular volcano that had had its top sheared off or filled in. It looked more like it had been forced upward, like a cork in a bottle, from the earth surrounding it. The few piles of rocks around the foot of it had likely come loose as it rose.
There was no time for contemplating the formation of mountains. We had to hide, and the rocks might do the trick. They were scattered along the full length of the cliff-face and it would take a long time for the Devourers to pick their way through them to find us, especially in the dark. Maybe there was a cave we could hide in. Not low down, but further up, that they couldn’t see from the ground. It wouldn’t need to be deep, just deep enough. Why hadn’t we thought of this earlier? Why had I been so determined to find the army, rather than hide properly?
But then, if we’d hidden, wouldn’t the Soothsayer have predicted that and the priests would have started a search of these outcrops immediately? Somehow, we’d changed our fate by doing what we’d done.
Panting and aching, we flopped down behind the tallest of the rocks. I turned to look up at the sheer cliffs that loomed over us ominously. How easy would it be to climb with Laric’s injuries? There might not even be a suitable cave we could use. And all sorts of creatures dwelled in caves. None of them friendly.
I thought about the cawls the Clifflings captured and tortured for their entertainment. I had no desire to come face-to-face with one of those fearsome featherlings.
The dust-cloud the Devourers had created was settling again as Laric’s breathing evened out. They were gone for now, but for how long? Our tracks were now well hidden. Their own had covered the ones on the road. There was no way they could now track where we left that road.
“You’ve got a good head on your shoulders for a girl,” Laric joked amiably.
“I’ve got a good head on my shoulders for anyone, even a man. But I can’t take credit for the stick idea. That was Trace. It’s how he kept his trail covered from us when he kidnapped Airsha. No tracks, so no one left the road at that point. It was only later when Zem pinpointed the best spot to cut through the forest to get to Godslund that we found the beastling droppings and their trail from there on. But it wasn’t easy. The forest was dense.”
“Not like this then,” Laric said dryly. “I could do with a bit of forest right about now.”
I gave a good-natured grunt and settled down more securely at his side. For some reason, I needed the physical contact. Though he didn’t have the power to soothe me the way Landor did, his strong presence calmed my jangled nerves.
Turning my gaze back up at the cliffs, I tried to find some suggestion of a cave not far above us. Just enough. It only had to be just above eye-level from a mount to keep the bastards from noticing.
“There,” Laric pointed at a dark indentation a little more than a mounted man’s height above us. He had clearly read my thoughts and was considering the options as I was doing.
That’s when I heard them, the unmistakeable sound of giant flapping wings. My heart rose in hope. I edged out from our hiding place so I could see and be seen by the single airling overhead.
It must have spotted me—airlings have incredible eyesight—because it swooped down and came in for a landing not far away. As soon as he came close enough for me to identify his telltale spot over his eye, I knew it was Spot. Goddess be praised, he’d found me!
Jumping up and down excitedly, I dashed out to greet my dearest friend. His love wrapped around me as soon as I came close, and for several long moments we rubbed against each other in relief and welcome.
Then the sky was filled with more airlings, these ones carrying riders. The rest of The Five had found us! I looked back at Laric, who was cautiously climbing out from our hiding place. He wasn’t as sure this was a rescue as I was.
“They found us!” I told him unnecessarily, pointing into the sky where the four airlings circled in preparation for landing.
Then I felt the ground begin to rumble under me again. Gods! The Devourers were coming back. Maybe the sig
ht of the airlings had alerted them to our location. We needed to get into the air fast.
The others must have noticed the approaching Devourers too because, instead of landing, they turned in their direction while Patch, the black and white airling that had claimed Laric, came in for a landing alone.
“Quickly, we have to get in the air,” I yelled to Laric as I took precious moments to help him mount. It wasn’t easy to throw a leg over the high back of an airling, at the best of times, but when you have an injured leg and cracked and bruised ribs, it was far harder.
But with a lot of pushing from me, Laric finally scrambled onto Patch, and I ran back to Spot. I kept an anxious eye on the other three airlings and their riders as they dive-bombed the approaching Devourers. Their attempts had the beastlings breaking formation and scattering to get away from the airling’s cruel talons.
In what felt like forever, but was likely mere moments, I was on Spot and taking to the air behind Patch. Relief soaked into every pore in my body. My men had found me!
Once they noticed we were airborne, the others soared upwards away from the blue-robed menace. As one, we turned south and began our journey back to the capital.
But less than a quarter turn later, Zem surprised me by turning eastward, curving back in a wide arc toward the mountains.
Not back to the palace then. Where was he taking us? The army camp, which had to be around somewhere close by?
I got my answer less than a quarter turn later when the army campsite came into sight and the airlings headed directly for it. Part of me was glad. Though I wanted the safety of the old palace, Airsha, and the Airluds, another part wanted to get Laric healed as soon as possible. I couldn’t stand the thought that he might pass out from loss of blood and fall off Patch.
We landed with several hops, in a field not far from the army’s main encampment. From the look of it, there must be upward of five hundred men awaiting orders to attack. There was expectation in the air that I’d only ever felt once before—just before the last battle when the Godling’s army came into sight.
Gods, that had been an exhilarating and terrifying time, especially when the Airluds had run off, just before we were to take to the air. They’d done it because something had happened to Airsha.
Laric had happened to Airsha!
I pushed away the antagonism I always felt for him when I remembered what Airsha had gone through. It had been war, and Laric had been doing the Godling’s bidding to save his sister’s life. A wasted gesture, but still... I would have done the same in his place.
The sudden realisation that my feelings toward Laric had changed dramatically over the course of this one very long day, came quickly. And only moments before Zem reached my side and swept me up into a hug so tight and heartfelt that he knocked all the breath from me.
“Gods, Flea... Sorry, Flame! We were so worried!”
Feeling his oh-so-familiar and comforting arms around me was like coming home. Zem was no faithful hound, as Laric cynically portrayed him. He was my anchor, my solid core. And I loved him so much it hurt.
“I’m all right, Zem. I’m all right!” I told him, realising only when I said the words that they were true.
But for how long would they stay that way?
Chapter Seven
While Landor saw to Laric’s injuries, I looked on anxiously. I knew Landor had healed me. I knew he’d healed Zem. But still, I feared that Laric’s injuries might somehow be beyond even his impressive abilities.
Zem stood behind me, protectively, proprietarily, as I watched Landor’s glowing hands do their work. It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen, this magic of his. I was in awe of it every time I saw him use it.
“You’re worried about him,” Zem said into my ear, not jealously but curiously.
“He’s hurt because he tried to save me from the Devourers. He did save me. So, aye, I am worried about him.”
“How did you get away?” Prior asked from where he stood at my right side. He brushed against my arm slightly, but in no other way gave any indication he was relieved to see me again. Maybe he thought he’d have been freed of his task if I’d died.
“Laric used his magic on the two that took us. They had just enough time to put us in a root cellar before falling prey to their nightmares. And believe me, those nightmares are not something anyone deserves. If I’d thought about it, and had a weapon at hand, I would have put them out of their misery. But all I could think about was escape.”
“Didn’t they lock you in?” Zem asked.
I nodded. “Laric pushed up on the doors, bending the rod keeping them shut. All while suffering cracked ribs and a deep wound to his thigh, which I didn’t know about.”
“He’s become your hero then.” Now there was a note of jealousy.
Landor had finished and Laric was resting peacefully on the grass. Even his broken nose was repaired, I was pleased to note. I’d felt guilty every time I looked at it.
I turned in Zem’s arms and looked up at him. “He has become one of my heroes. Zem, we needed this. We needed proof that he was fully with us. And he is. I have no doubts now. When the Devourers came for me, he tried to convince them he knew where the ring was so they’d take him instead. After the torture he’d sustained, he willingly put himself in a position to have it happen again. For me.”
I could see Zem’s jealousy warring with his good sense. He knew we had to come together as a unit. He’d agreed to it only that morning. Now he had to face what that agreement meant.
I hadn’t made love with Laric, but I could have. I wanted to. And that was a big step for me. That I now consciously accepted my desire for both Landor and Laric was a major step forward.
Only Prior remained on the periphery, as far as I was concerned. And with his issue, I couldn’t imagine how he’d be moving closer any time soon. Unlike the stupid girl who assured him she was willing to risk her life to share his bed, I wasn’t so willing. And not just because I might burst into flames.
Prior was a stranger. And though he had joined us, there was a big part of him that hadn’t. He kept himself aloof from us. Apart from us. And because of that, I couldn’t feel the desire I felt for the others. Aye, he was handsome enough. But his looks didn’t set my heart to beating the way Landor’s or Laric’s did. Because there was no passion in him, I realised. Not because he felt no passion for me, but because he felt none for anyone or anything.
Except for his every-present fury that he kept tightly bound, it was like he was dead inside. He said he cared about me, had been drawn to me from the start, but it felt no different from me saying I cared that the gardens in the old harem wing were properly weeded. There was no feeling there. And a man without feeling was a man without magnetism. For me, at least. Other women might be different.
Zem brought my attention back to him by kissing my forehead tenderly. “I know. I’m trying. I’m willing to share you with Landor... but Laric... I don’t like the man. Never have. He thinks he’s so superior because of his royal blood. But he’s nothing but a torturer who enjoyed his job.”
I understood his feelings. I did. Hadn’t they been mine just this morning? But now it annoyed me that Zem wouldn’t give Laric a chance. He’d saved me! Didn’t that count for something?
I broke free of Zem’s arms to drop down beside Laric. Zem must have taken it for what it was—me taking sides against him—and he stalked away.
With a resigned nod Prior turned to follow him.
My heart ached. I didn’t want Zem hurting like this. But he had to change, or we’d all fail. Zem’s feelings were not mine to soothe, I knew that now. He would have to make his peace with Laric his own way. This bond between us required not only love but respect. Each of my men had to respect the others; trust the others. Their bond of brotherhood had to be as strong as any loving sexual bond I might be able to make with each of them.
Would me obviously siding with Laric make it harder for Zem? I didn’t know.
“You
have made progress with this one while you were gone,” Landor observed with amusement, his handsome face showing no sign of jealousy.
But his thoughts were closed to me. And I was all right about that. Oddly, I felt safe in Landor’s regard. I didn’t have to keep checking his feelings for me. Or his fragile ego.
“He is coming around. Give him time,” Landor said softly.
I nodded, knowing he was reading me as well as I’d ever been able to read anyone else. “I know. But he makes this so much harder for me. I feel like I’m betraying him because I have feelings for you and Laric. But it’s not like that. What I feel for you doesn’t take away from what I feel for him. It’s not a competition!”
“I know. And he knows that too. Or he is trying to know that. But he has loved you longer than we have. He has had you longer than we have.”
I brushed Laric’s hair back from his forehead. It was cool now. I hadn’t realised he’d been burning up before, because there had been too much else going on. But now I remembered his feverishness and the trickling sweat on his over-hot face.
“He’ll be all right?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.
“Yes. He will sleep for a time to complete the healing. But he is fine. A few cracked ribs and a deep gash. His loss of blood was the most troubling.”
“He overdid it. How did you find us?”
“A seer. A very peculiar young woman who lives alone in a cave not far from here. When you went missing Moyna said our best chance of finding you was by consulting this Lady Shardra. The daughter of a magical son and a noblewoman of Eastairshan. A common but awful story that I can well relate to.”
When I nodded in encouragement he went on.
“Her family did not know what to do with her when she started throwing fits at a young age. Eventually they worked out she was having visions of the future, not real fits.
“Those visions became more frequent over time until she found it difficult to tell the difference between what was real and what was... something else. And they grew worse when she reached womanhood. Gossip spread, and the family feared the Godling would send his priests for her. So they hid her in a cave, at first with a keeper, and then alone, when the keeper died.