by Beth Wangler
A rock hand claws my skirt and pulls. I fall. My elbows smack the ground, and the air abandons my lungs, but I can’t linger. By Aia’s grace alone Luemikaroeth remains in my hand.
I kick, twist to my back, and slash the sword across my skirt. The fabric flies away in the aivenkaite’s hand. I’m free!
My neck jerks back as something yanks my head. Savi shouts my name over the aivenkaites’ cacophony. Before I can react, an unholy shriek deafens my ears. The being is gone.
Savi is here, chest heaving, coated in dust turned to mud by the sweat running down his face. Our eyes meet.
A bolt of sand hurtles toward his back. “Duck!”
Savi drops.
Luemikaroeth cuts through the aivenkaite.
For two heartbeats, there is no attack. We lurch toward Nhardah, Nihae, Yori, and Forziel’s retreating backs. “Keep moving,” Nhardah orders. He runs on the heels of the others, a small barrier between them and the aivenkaites.
Three more aivenkaites reach us. All but the instinct to fight disappears.
No matter how many we cut, more keep coming. My arm burns. My eyes sting. My attacks weaken. With the next swing at a falling pillar of stone, I barely raise Luemikaroeth in time.
This can’t last much longer.
Savi cries out. I drive my sword through a rock ten times my height.
My husband’s in trouble. I have to get to him.
“Aia-hae,” I scream in the storm of dust and rock and evil spirits.
I’m dimly aware of Savi inching back beside me. I follow, best as I can.
For a second, the dust clears. Savi’s holding one arm close to his chest. Blood trails down his cheek.
“Run.” Nhardah’s voice comes from a long way off.
I grab Savi and turn after Nhardah’s voice. Have to run. Have to keep going.
But the sky has turned to sludge. Air drags against my limbs, riptides trying to pull me under. With all of my strength, I drag Luemikaroeth in front of me. It’s like trying to stir wet adobe with a straw. The blade meets no resistance, but my arm can hardly move.
Nhardah’s voice spurs us forward. I struggle a couple steps more.
Then the air lets go, followed by a hurricane of damp wind. I’m soaked. Escaped hairs are plastered to my face, and what remains of my skirt drips.
What?
I glance over my shoulder. A cloud of dust and rock rises anew. It launches itself at us. But more dirt lurches in its way. The cloud bends back and writhes.
The wind chants a familiar language.
“The kaites,” I tell Savi. He’s already dragging me away.
Debris litters the uneven ground. My sandal catches on a stone. I pitch forward. Savi’s grip tightens, so only my knees hit the ground. I’m up and running again before the scraped skin stings.
We dodge rock towers—these ones stationary. The others have disappeared. Savi stumbles but keeps going.
Then we crest a short hill. The ground slopes down to a vast, blue river. The other four wave at us from the bank. We half-run, half-slide down in a cascade of loose rock and dust.
“Can you swim?” Forziel asks.
Yori and I nod, but Nihae and Savi shake their heads.
Nhardah pushes them into the river anyways. “Then you’re about to learn. Hold onto the rest of us and don’t struggle.”
The aivenkaites scream loud behind us, their cries shaking the ground. My hairs stand on end. Without another thought, I plunge into the slow-moving current.
The water stings my scraped knees but soothes the rest of me. Nhardah’s arm clamps around Savi’s chest. He easily tows my husband toward the far bank. I reach for Nihae. “Keep an arm over my shoulder,” I tell her.
She does, barely tight enough.
“I might drop you,” I gasp. “Hold on.”
Nihae’s arm tightens enough that she shouldn’t slip away. I lean into the water and kick us forward. Swimming is easy, but I’m weak. Half way across, I struggle to support us both. “Forziel? Yori? A little help?”
Nihae tenses, which only makes it harder. “What’s wrong?” Her voice shakes.
I fight for air and to keep us afloat.
Forziel’s head pops up on the other side of Nihae. “Gotcha,” he says, far too cheerful for someone just attacked by aivenkaites after running through the desert for hours.
“Rai?” Nihae asks.
“We’re going to be fine,” I tell her, though I don’t fully believe it. “I just needed some help swimming. It’s been a while.”
I can’t begrudge Forziel his energy. With his help, we manage to kick to the far shore. Nhardah, Yori, and Savi wait there, dripping.
I drag the hand holding Luemikaroeth over my brow. Thank Aia that fordue metal doesn’t rust or tarnish. I have nothing to dry the sword.
Forziel stamps his feet, sending water splashing out of his sandals. “C’mon,” he says. “This way.”
I have no idea where he’s leading us. He heads downstream, along the riverbank. We’re trying to get to the capital in the north, so the direction doesn’t make sense, but I’m far too tired to care. Nhardah’s following Forziel, so it must be okay. I squeeze Nihae’s arm and nod, too drained to smile at her. Her eyes are blank, her cheeks dragged down by exhaustion and grief. Savi steers Nihae forward with a hand on her back. Yorchan brings up the rear.
I trudge after Forziel. “Aivenkaites don’t like rivers,” he explains, though no one asked and we all know this. “Running water’s too clean, and there’s ‘most always kaites there looking for Maraian babies. If they want to do real damage, they’ll avoid the rivers, so we’re safest here as we would be anywhere.”
Forziel continues prattling on, but I’m too tired to follow his train of thought. His voice becomes a background hum. The bank rises, and we have to walk one at a time between river and cliff. When the sun is high enough that the cliffs no longer shelter us from the unrelenting heat, Forziel points out a dark recess in the cliffside. “We can rest in there.”
We squeeze through a narrow gap into a thick, damp shadow that is blessedly cooler than the air outside. My knees buckle. Luemikaroeth clatters to the ground just before I follow.
In an instant, I’m asleep.
Chapter 23
Someone is moaning, long and slow. It stops for an instant, only to start right back up.
Who is moaning? Why?
I wrench my eyes open. They’re dry and scratchy and at first only see shadowy dirt. Rolling onto my side sets all my muscles complaining. I wince.
A tall earthen wall greets my eyes now. Another rises close behind me. Savi sprawls prostrate and motionless at my feet. Yori curls not far away, breath ruffling the dried frizz of her hair. At their feet are Nhardah and Forziel’s silhouettes, hunched together in the cave entrance.
Farther inside the cave, Nihae clutches her knees and rocks. She moans again.
Elesekk.
I curl in like I was punched in the stomach. Unholy screams. Fighting in a tight place. Sword arcing through the air.
Crack. Thud.
I scramble to my knees, then I’m heaving up bile.
“She’s awake,” Forziel unnecessarily says.
A hand swipes the loose hairs from my face. Another rubs my back. “Relax, Raiballeon,” Nhardah hums. “You’re all right.”
I spit and wipe my lips. Inside me feels just as tumultuous as it did when I was gagging. “How can you say that?” I choke. “You of all people know that’s not true.”
Nhardah sighs. “No. But you’re alive, and so are Nihae, Yorchan, and Saviayr. The rest will ease with time.”
I swat Nhardah’s hand away and glare at him. “Enough of your stupid wisdom. Where were you when we needed you? Why couldn’t you have come just one moment sooner?”
I roll my neck and test my ankle. It’s sore, but I don’t think it’s too much worse. At any rate, the rest of me isn’t much better off.
That decided, I rise with a groan and join Nihae. Her eyes stare a
t the cave floor. She doesn’t blink at my approach or stop moaning.
I crouch in front of her. Close up, I see hints of moisture gathered in the corner of her eyes, along with both new and dry tear tracks. My breath catches. My stomach knots again. How long has Nihae been like this?
I rest a hand on her arm. “Mama?”
Nihae doesn’t react.
So I just stay beside her, holding her arm while she rocks. When my legs cramp from crouching, I mimic her pose.
My nose tickles. I wipe it—
And my hand comes away red.
A cry leaves my lips. Blood! Has an aivenkaite invaded me? Am I dying?
The noise wakes Savi and Yorchan. Savi shouts and crawls back to me. Wide-eyed, cheeks flushed from sleep, he grabs my face. “What happened?”
I push him away. “Stay back!”
Savi reaches for me again.
I shove my arm between us. “Stay back! If it’s an aivenkaite…”
Savi’s eyes stretch wider. Horror fills his face. “Aia-hae, it can’t be.”
“Rai,” Yori says, hovering nearby.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Nhardah says, hunching down beside us. “It’s not an aivenkaite. It’s just a bloody nose.”
A ripping sound distracts me. Forziel tears the hem of his tunic and holds the rag to me. “Here.” He gestures to his nose. “For the blood.”
I press the cloth to my nose and back away from him. “How do you know?” I ask Nhardah.
He rolls his eyes. “We’d all know if an aivenkaite was trying to possess you. After this morning, they wouldn’t be gentle. It’s just the dry air. You’re used to Ira’s humidity.”
It takes a while for my pulse to calm. By then, the bleeding has stopped.
Nihae’s moan draws our focus back to her.
Forziel mutters something about checking our trail, probably an excuse for respite from our grief. He scurries out of the cavern.
When Savi looks at his mother, his shoulders tense. The bump of his throat bobs. He blinks repeatedly and clenches his jaw.
I swallow around the lump in my throat. “Savi?” My own tears slur my voice.
Savi swallows again, shaking his head at my outstretched hand. “Where’s Forziel?” he asks, voice strained. “We need to keep moving.” Savi pushes up and heads toward the entrance.
Yori crouches by Nihae, petting her hand. Nihae doesn’t flinch away from my sister, but she doesn’t change her actions, either.
Nhardah stays motionless, head bowed. I hiss at him, “Help with Nihae; it’s the least you can do.” Without waiting for a response—I don't want to hear anything from him right now—I join Saviayr. He leans an elbow against the cavern wall, chest heaving.
I rub the warm, river-stiffened material of his tunic. “It’s okay to grieve,” I whisper. “You can cry. Elesekk…”
Savi’s breath shudders. The muscles under my hand tense further. “No.” He takes a deep breath and pushes off the wall. “I have to move on. We’ve got a mission to accomplish. My dad doesn’t matter⎼” his breath hitches⎼ “when all Maraiah is counting on us.”
A sob slips out before I can catch it. “But Savi⎼”
“No. This is my decision.” He keeps his face turned away. “I’m gonna go find Forziel. Onto Plan B, right?”
Savi dips around the corner and disappears into the darkening world outside. I turn back into the cave with a sigh. Back in the shadows, Nhardah sits on Nihae’s other side. His dark hand rubs her back while she keeps rocking. Nhardah and Yori murmur to her.
“We’re leaving soon,” I tell them, not expecting or receiving a response.
A thread tickles my knee. That’s right—the aivenkaite grabbing my skirt, me cutting the fabric to free myself. I pull the gaping edges together. The result is a skirt too tight for easy motion, too short for decency or protection from the sun.
I scan the cave for the sack with my clothes and writings. It’s nowhere to be found. My stomach sinks lower. I didn’t have the bag last night during the fight. I didn’t carry it across the dunes or through the tunnel. In the aftermath of speaking with the Voice of a Multitude, I left the bag on the floor of the royal Yrin’s main hall.
My scrolls. Just like that, three years of work are lost.
I dissolve into tears as Savi and Forziel reappear.
“I thought you said things were calmer,” Forziel exclaims. He backsteps.
Savi shuffles closer. “Rai?”
“It’s Elesekk, and the aivenkaites—and what are we doing? The sultan’s gonna—and—and my histories, that I spent all that time writing—and I don’t have any clothes!” A hiccough interrupts the last word.
There’s silence but for my gasps and Nihae’s moans.
“Your...clothes?” Savi asks.
I wave at the side of my skirt. “Yes. I can’t go wandering through Izyphor half-naked!”
Again, silence.
Forziel starts edging deeper into the cave, watching me all the while. Savi shifts his weight between his feet.
I try to slow my breaths. This isn’t their fault. I shouldn’t be freaking out.
“I wish I had something to give you, but I was traveling light and never went back to my room at the palace,” Yorchan says. “Fynor the guard warned me away when I showed up at the door.”
“I have some spare pants you could wear?” Forziel offers.
I rake fingers into my hair. Half of it isn’t held by the tie anymore. That must be fixed. I undo the tie with shaking fingers. “Okay. Yeah.” My voice shakes, too, so much the words might not be distinguishable. I have to calm down. I should follow Savi’s example, focus on our mission right now.
Forziel dives into his pack and pulls out patched brown pants. These he tosses over to me before poking around in the bag. He holds aloft a package. “Aha! I brought some food, too. We should eat before we go.”
While Forziel distributes the food, I slip into the pants. Common slave wear, they’re designed loose to make them fit as long as possible. These are too loose on me, though. I gather the waistband in one hand and ponder. My eyes fall on Luemikaroeth, abandoned on the ground. A belt—it can hold up my pants and carry my sword.
I clench my jaw and rip the hopelessly ruined fabric of the dress in which I married Saviayr.
With a new belt in place, I accept Forziel’s offer of food and grind the salted meat between my teeth. The earthy flavor of rabbit fills my mouth. On Ira, our meat mostly came from the island’s sheep flock. Rabbit is the meat of slavery, and its taste calls up hot nights in tiny huts, sunburns, living shoulder to shoulder with other families, and laughter with my sister and Savi.
“What do I do with it?” Nihae asks. A chunk of rabbit jerky dangles from her fingers. Her eyebrows pinch together.
“What do you mean?” Savi asks. “You eat it.”
Nihae frowns at the meat. With great suspicion, she nibbles the very edge.
Savi keeps prompting her to eat, so I turn to Forziel. I feel a little guilty for saying this after he just gave us food and clothing, but it can’t be helped. “I think you should go back.”
Forziel’s eyes widen. “What? But you said⎼”
I hold up a hand. “I know, but—” I start to argue that he is a terrible guide, leading us south instead of north-west, but that’s not really the problem. “Our path is dangerous. We’re heading to the capital. You saw what happened back there. It will only get worse from here. I can’t have your death on my hands.”
“Raiballeon, that’s too harsh,” Nhardah rebukes.
“No, she’s right,” Savi says from Nihae’s side. “It’s too dangerous, especially if he doesn’t know what he’s doing. We’ve got aivenkaites and Izyphorns on our trail.”
“But I do know.” Forziel throws back his shoulders. “Capital’s up the Havilim. So’s a bunch of other cities and towns. I led our trail away from major cities toward the coast. That’s just what they’d expect runaways to do.
“Now we’ll double bac
k walking in the stream. It’s one of the Havilim’s tributaries, too small for boats and trade. It’ll wash away our trail. We can get out far upstream, where they won’t look for us, and cut across the desert at night to get safe to the capital.”
I bite another piece of jerky to put off answering. When I swallow, I admit, “That actually makes sense.”
Nhardah shifts but wisely decides not to say anything.
“So...I can stay?” Forziel bounces once on his toes.
His enthusiasm exhausts me. He’s still a boy, but he can’t be far from Yori’s age. How is he so energetic? But at least someone in our group is untouched by recent grief. “Okay.” Aia, please don’t let this be a mistake.
Savi tenderly drags Nihae to her feet. I look around to make sure we have all of our belongings. Then Forziel leads us out of the cave.
The cliffs on either side block the sun, and the long shadows cast by the western cliffs show that it is evening. Forziel guides us down the short, steep beach and into the river. I wait for Savi to lead Nihae down and follow behind them with Yori.
The cool water is a soothing balm compared to the heat in the air. I’m thankful for my sandals and for the buoyancy the water provides. Along the way, Forziel fishes out pieces of driftwood for us to use as walking sticks as we wade on the silty riverbed.
“Careful, Mama,” Savi murmurs, tightening his grip on her arm when she pitches forward.
Nihae’s tremulous response is lost in the wind.
Yori shifts closer to me. “Rai, what’s going on? Why were you arrested?”
I can’t meet her eyes. “I can’t talk about it yet. Yori, it was…” I shudder. A rock sits in my throat.
She sighs but doesn’t press.
Soon, I lose gratitude for the water. Its resistance drags at my sore ankle. The cave is hardly out of sight when I start limping.
We walk without conversation. Despite our rest, I am still tired, and I’m sure the others are, too. Besides, if there are any Izyphorns nearby, we don’t want to alert them to our presence. We’ve had enough battles for now.
The cliffs sink, and the banks relax. On the left, we pass a place where the ground was churned by hurried feet. That was where we entered the river yesterday.
Farther along, a hand brushes my elbow. I jump.