Riders of the Realm #2

by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez

  Rahkki glanced back, surprised. Giants usually didn’t show mercy. They could communicate and make tools, but they were beasts nonetheless—like jaguars or snakes or sea dragons. And no jungle beast walked away from an easy meal, so why had the Gorlanders?

  His brain began to ache—everything he believed about giants conflicted with what he’d witnessed today. Help me, the giant had signed to Rahkki. Those were not the words of a beast. But if Gorlanders weren’t beasts and weren’t people, then what were they? Rahkki felt unsettled, but grateful that he’d boiled the toxins out of the dragon drool. He’d be darting the Gorlanders with sleep medicine during the coming war, not killing them. And he was curious. Perhaps his mother had been right about befriending the hordes. Perhaps giants could be reasonable.

  38

  Intruder

  AS RAHKKI AND SULA SOARED DOWN THE MOUNTAINSIDE, Rahkki stroked his Flier’s neck, inspecting her as best he could from his position on her back. The tree branches had scraped her glossy silver hide, drawing blood, but none of the scratches appeared deep or severe.

  Her beautiful purple feathers, however, were bent and crushed on her left wing, and Rahkki noticed that she strained to flap her limbs in unison. Also, the bandage had come off her other shoulder, revealing her healing brand. How it must ache, he thought. His matching injury still occasionally throbbed.

  He glanced around them. In the distant north, over the Dark Water, lightning sparkled between smoky clouds. It was evening by the time he and Sula arrived at the jagged peak where he’d told his team to wait. Sula stumbled upon landing, and her left wing hung to the ground. Rahkki’s new friends rushed him.

  “Did yuh fly ’er or crash ’er?” Koko asked.

  “Both,” he answered.

  “You smell like death,” Mut said.

  Rahkki glanced at the night sky. “It’s too dark to return to General Tsun tonight, and Sula needs to rest her wing. Let’s finish making camp,” Rahkki said. “And then I’ll tell you everything.”

  As his team rustled about, Sula’s large eyes rolled toward him, and she flicked her tail in frustration. “Come here,” he whispered to her.

  His mare lowered her muzzle, and Rahkki exhaled toward her nostrils. She sucked up his scent with a deep whuffing noise, and then Rahkki pressed his forehead against hers. He’d seen her do this with her wild friends, and he knew it calmed her.

  Slowly, she relaxed.

  Then Rahkki pulled away and stared into his mare’s dark eyes. “We’ll free your herd tomorrow. I promise you.”

  Rahkki sighed, wishing for a nearby lake or a stream so he could bathe his tortured skin. “No fire tonight,” he whispered to his team. “And keep your daggers close.” They’d rolled out their beds, and Rahkki spread out his rain cloak since he’d burned his bedroll.

  “Tell us what happened,” Jul urged.

  While Koko tended Sula’s injuries, Rahkki recounted his adventures, beginning with the location of the wild herd and ending with the python attack.

  “A snake big enough to attack a Gorlan prince—I don’t believe it,” Jul said.

  “He ain’ lyin’,” Koko mumbled.

  “How do you know?” Jul asked.

  “Cuz Rahkki’s a terrible liar. Can’t pull nothin’ on no one.” The four peered intently at Rahkki.

  “I can lie,” he said, and they all busted out laughing.

  “But we know he talks to dragons,” Mut said, his face afire with admiration. “So I suppose he can kill a giant serpent too.”

  And since no one argued against that, the team settled for the evening. Rahkki wished his brother were with him, but thoughts of Brauk saddened him. Was his brother truly paralyzed—forever? Rahkki couldn’t believe it.

  “We’ll set up a watch, so you and Sula can sleep,” Mut offered.

  “Thanks,” he said, yawning. Koko had rubbed a salve of chamomile and mint on Sula’s sore muscles and fed her willow bark for her pain. Rahkki now rubbed the same salve on his aching thigh and bruises. Just as he reached into his pack for dinner, a small figure shifted in the dark, moving toward them.

  “Ay, who goes?” Mut hissed, pointing at the hooded shape.

  Koko, who had just lain down, flipped onto her feet before the rest of them could react. She charged the intruder, knocked him down, and rolled him into a choke hold.

  “Wait,” wheezed the stranger.

  Koko dragged her prisoner into the center of their small encampment.

  Rahkki’s heart stuttered when he recognized the stranger’s cloak. “It’s the assassin who put the blood viper in my blankets!” he cried.

  With a guttural snarl, Koko ripped off the stranger’s heavy cape.

  They each gasped as a long, sun-soaked braid rolled down the assassin’s back.

  39

  Think

  “I’LENNA?” RAHKKI RECOILED, STUNNED AT THE identity of his attacker.

  Koko wrenched the girl’s arms behind her back, making her whimper in pain. A familiar dagger hung from I’Lenna’s belt, and Rahkki remembered her holding it over him last night. “You tried to kill me.”

  I’Lenna stared back at Rahkki, her cheeks flushed, her chin defiant. “Is that what you think?”

  His eyes drifted from her dirt-smudged face to her sheathed blade. “You weren’t?”

  The crown princess wrestled with Koko. “Let me go!”

  Rahkki nodded to the head groom, and Koko released the princess, but remained close to her. “Who sent yuh ta kill Rahkki?” Koko asked. “Yur mum?”

  I’Lenna flinched. “I’m not an assassin.”

  Confusion choked Rahkki, sending his mind spinning.

  “If she was a killer, would she admit it?” Tam asked, genuinely curious.

  “Prob’ly nah,” Koko said, ready to leap if I’Lenna tried to escape.

  I’Lenna addressed the group. “May I camp with you tonight?”

  “Land to skies,” Rahkki sputtered. “You can’t just show up here like nothing happened.”

  She stared at him, unblinking.

  Rahkki dropped his face into his hands, shaking his head. The soil beneath him felt unstable, the world shifting. Last night’s assassin was I’Lenna’s size, wearing the exact same cloak and holding the exact same dagger. Could he be wrong? Was I’Lenna’s outfit just a coincidence? Frustration roiled his stomach. “Tell us why you’re here. Right now.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Bloody rain.” Rahkki wrung his hands. “You can trust us. We’re not part of the uprising against your mother.”

  “I know you aren’t, but don’t pretend you’re for her either.”

  Rahkki held I’Lenna’s gaze. No one on his team supported I’Lenna’s mother—and the princess knew it. How did that make her feel? But being against her mother didn’t make his team against I’Lenna. Or did it? Were they on opposite sides?

  He tugged at his hair and peered into her dark eyes, looking for answers. She smiled at him, one cheek dimpling.

  “Don’ fall fo’ tha’ smile,” Koko warned him.

  Rahkki shut Koko out. For all he knew, I’Lenna was everything bad—an assassin and a liar—but he had no proof. What he did know was that she was his friend. Or at least had been. That wasn’t a lie. It didn’t feel like a lie. “You can camp here,” he said to I’Lenna.

  “Rahkki!” Koko gasped.

  “You can’t trust a Whitehall,” Mut groused, annoyed.

  I’Lenna kept her eyes on Rahkki. “Thank you,” she mouthed. Then she removed her torn cloak and her ill-fitting soldier’s armor. Beneath it, she wore the thick dark-leather outfit she’d worn the night Rahkki had filled his waterskin with dragon drool. “Much better,” she said, stretching her arms.

  A moment later, muffled wing beats startled them all, and Firo floated down between the trees, landing next to the princess. I’Lenna flashed her pet a brilliant smile. “Firo and I left the Fifth Clan territory yesterday to catch up to the army,” she explained.

  Mut, Jul, and T
am stared at the wild roan mare with blatant envy.

  Firo trotted to Sula’s side, and the two Kihlari exchanged breath, nickering happily. Still baffled, Rahkki withdrew a smoked fish from his satchel and tucked into his dinner. Seeing this, his friends settled: Koko smoothed her bedroll, Mut tugged jungle debris out of his hair, Tam cut into a pineapple, and Jul made charms out of Sula’s shed feathers.

  All was quiet until Jul spoke, his eyes on the wilding mares. “My parents are going to buy me a Kihlara Flier next summer. I just have to apprentice for a year, in case I change my mind. But I won’t. I want to be a Rider.”

  Mut nodded, his eyes dreaming. “Maybe the queen will let us have a few of those wild steeds after we rescue them. We can train them like Rahkki trained Sula.”

  Koko nodded, and Tam grunted with longing.

  Rahkki interrupted. “We have to set them free.”

  I’Lenna turned her sharp eyes to Rahkki, but it was Jul who spoke first. “How? General Tsun’s orders are to bring them home.”

  “I don’t know how,” Rahkki said. “But it’s wrong to keep them and wrong to sell them. They were born wild.”

  “But the clan needs to sell those steeds to pay for this war,” Jul said. “I was at the same meeting you were, Rahkki.”

  Mut tossed back a handful of seeds, crunching noisily as he spoke. “If Lilliam didn’t waste all the clan’s money on herself and her kids, we wouldn’t need to sell them.” His eyes cut to I’Lenna, taking in her fine-stitched leather clothing.

  The princess frowned and looked away.

  “Isn’t it against Clan Law to sell Kihlari to the empire?” Jul asked.

  “Technically, but my mother planned—” I’Lenna stopped herself abruptly and then continued. “I mean, my mother plans to sell them to a zoological society. The wild Kihlari would be held in trust for our people and placed on exhibit in the empire. The seven clans would receive a cut of the entrance fees.”

  “It’s wrong,” Rahkki repeated, dismissing the subject.

  The princess had unbraided her hair, and it curled down around her shoulders, reaching her waist. “Let’s not forget that we have to free the wild herd first,” she said sullenly.

  “We?” Rahkki asked.

  “You,” she corrected.

  “We will,” he said. “Tomorrow morning I’ll give the coordinates to General Tsun.” Rahkki imagined his waterskin bag of boiled dragon drool. “We won’t lose this war.”

  I’Lenna smiled. “You’re confident.”

  “I have a plan.” He shrugged. “Let’s get some sleep, everyone.”

  Rahkki’s team dispersed to satisfy their evening needs. While he ate his fish, Rahkki watched I’Lenna press chunks of hard cheese inside her folded flatbread and then devour it. Eventually she left her blankets to sit next to him. She placed her hand in his, and a jolt of heat shot through his body.

  “Do you trust me?” I’Lenna asked, her brown eyes huge in the darkness.

  Rahkki considered all her odd behavior: sneaking around Fort Prowl, standing over him with a dagger, following him into the jungle, and refusing to explain herself. His answer popped out before he’d finished thinking about it. “I trust you,” he said, and then a ridiculous grin spread across his face. “I have no reason to, but I do.”

  Mut was near, and he shook his head at Rahkki like one does at a trusting animal about to be slaughtered.

  I’Lenna grinned back, her unease with him erased. “Good.” Then her gaze shifted toward her gleaming dagger. “You know who the real assassin is, Rahkki.”

  He laughed. “I do?”

  She tapped her head. “You have a brain, but you’re not using it. Think.” Then she crawled into her bedroll. “Good night.”

  Rahkki leaned back to do as she asked. One by one, his friends each slunk beneath their covers.

  Sleep came with I’Lenna’s challenge swirling in Rahkki’s mind. Three people were involved in the moments surrounding the assassination attempt: I’Lenna, Harak, and the rumpled soldier who’d chased the assassin into the woods.

  If, for the sake of her argument, he ruled out I’Lenna, that left Harak and the solider. The soldier had appeared after the incident and carried no weapon. He was yawning and confused, so either a very good actor or he really had just woken from sleep.

  That left Harak, but he had tussled with the assassin and taken a blow from the dagger—all to save Rahkki.

  And none of this changed the fact that I’Lenna was the only one with a weapon. Rahkki rubbed his eyes. Think, he said to himself. She says you know the truth. Find it!

  Rahkki drifted off to sleep, and when morning dawned, so did the truth. “Mut, Koko,” he whispered. “Jul, Tam, wake up.”

  Koko rolled over, her blond hair stuck to her head. “Kill the gator,” she yelped, still dreaming.

  “I know who the assassin is.” But no one was listening to Rahkki. He leaped out from under his covers and crawled through the early-morning mist toward the princess. “I’Lenna,” he whispered. “I know it wasn’t you.” But when he arrived at her sleeping spot, all her things were gone, including her and her wildling mare.

  His eyes found footprints. I’Lenna had walked away on foot, leading Firo behind her.

  Rahkki woke his team with a strangled shriek. “I’Lenna is missing!”

  40

  Charmed

  “DO YOU THINK GIANTS TOOK HER?” TAM WONDERED aloud.

  “Stinkin’ giants!” Mut growled, spitting. For all their mistrust of I’Lenna, she was the crown princess of their clan and they were obligated to protect her. Koko drew her dagger. Her lips tightened, and her fingers clutched the grip so hard they turned white.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Rahkki said. He scanned the area again. There was no sign of Gorlan footprints or broken foliage. “We would have heard them.”

  “Maybe a predator?” Jul suggested.

  Rahkki’s scalp tingled. “No. Her gear is gone too.” He paced, thinking. Her footsteps led straight toward the Highland Horde encampment. Was her business in the east with the Gorlanders? The giants wouldn’t welcome I’Lenna, not after her mother refused the soup. “Land to skies! Break camp. We have to find her.”

  Quickly, Rahkki bridled Sula, and his team buried their camping supplies, marking the spot with a pile of stones. Jul gave each person a Kihlara charm bracelet—a thin leather strap twined with beads and feathers, which they tied around their wrists. Koko declined hers. “I’m tellin’ yuh, tha’ mare ain’ lucky.”

  Rahkki stroked the amulet Ossi had made for him, which contained Kol’s bright feathers, and he accepted Jul’s charm—he’d take all the luck he could get! Rahkki pointed at I’Lenna’s small boot prints and motioned for all of them to track her on foot.

  Mut Finn was the best tracker, and as the tallest person in the Fifth Clan, he could also see the farthest. Mut took the lead, and the others dropped in line behind him.

  Mut stepped carefully, his eyes down, inspecting the surrounding foliage. Koko watched for danger overhead while Tam, Jul, and Rahkki guarded Mut’s sides and rear.

  “No way.” Mut halted and straightened.

  Rahkki edged past the others. “What is it?”

  Mut pointed. Straight ahead was an abandoned Gorlan campsite. The fire was out but still smoldering, and the giants were gone. “Her footprints have joined theirs. She’s traveling with the giants.”

  Chills rippled down Rahkki’s spine.

  “They didn’ kill ’er?” Koko asked.

  “Not yet.” He circled the camp, studying the bushes, the footprints, and the moist soil. “There’s no sign of struggle or force either.”

  Koko swiped her shiny blond hair off her forehead, her sweat making her face glow, and she narrowed her eyes. “Could I’Lenna be a spy?”

  “For us, or for the giants?” Rahkki sputtered.

  Koko shrugged. “Could be either.”

  “Koko’s right,” Jul said. “I’Lenna’s a Whitehall; anything’s poss
ible.” He cut his eyes toward Rahkki. “But you know that.”

  “You’re wrong,” Rahkki snapped. “I mean, I was wrong. It was Harak who tried to kill me, not her.”

  “She told you this?” Mut asked, eyebrows raised. “The princess has charmed you, Rahkki.”

  Rahkki shook his head. “No, I figured it out. Harak knew what kind of snake was in my bedroll before he saw it. He said, ‘Stay back! It’s a blood viper!’ But he said it while the snake was still hidden beneath my blankets!”

  His team stared at him, blinking.

  “Don’t you see? It had to be him who put it there. The princess tried to save me.”

  Rahkki explained his new view of his attack. After Harak slid the snake into his bedroll, he’d sat on Rahkki’s chest and covered his face with a pillow, waiting for the snake to bite. Rahkki’s death would have appeared as an accident, as an unfortunate run-in with a viper. But the princess had charged Harak and knocked him away. They’d tussled, and she’d cut the Headwind with her dagger.

  When the sleepy soldier arrived to help, she’d sprinted into the woods. Since Harak was the only witness, he’d spun the attack in his favor, playing the victim and the hero. But now it was all clear—so clear that Rahkki felt ridiculously stupid for thinking otherwise.

  Jul smiled at Rahkki the way one does at a dreaming child. “Sure, whatever you say.”

  The team exchanged looks, and Rahkki’s anger ignited. “I’m not . . .” He trailed off. He wasn’t what—charmed by her like Mut claimed? And then another truth slammed him—he was charmed. Land to skies!

  “Yuh like ’er,” Koko said, smirking. “It happens.”

  “I—” Rahkki felt his face turn hot. He didn’t know what to say.

  “Your eyes forge your path,” Jul added, and everyone except Rahkki chuckled.

  Jul must have learned that Riders’ saying from Meela. It meant that a Rider flies toward whatever he or she focuses on—it was a warning to keep your eyes fixed on the safest path. Was it so obvious to everyone that Rahkki was flying straight toward I’Lenna? Did she know it? “I’Lenna wouldn’t hurt me,” Rahkki insisted.