“Unbelievable.” Erik pushed off the railing and turned to Arun. “Bring her around. Let’s see what this is all about.”
Arun nodded and began barking orders at the three of us, no matter that we didn’t know half of what he was saying. Erik clearly had a better understanding than Estrid and I though, and he dragged Estrid toward the mast where they began fiddling with the sails again.
I joined them, picking up the end of a rope.
Estrid took it from me. “Don’t worry, we’ve got it.” She glanced at me, then away, back to her work.
No, she hadn’t looked at me. She’d looked at the star beside my eye.
“What are you talking about?” I took the rope back from her and began working at the knot as she had been. “Just tell me what to do.”
She jerked it from my grasp, harder this time. “It's fine. We don't—” She caught herself.
I put a hand on my hip. “Don't what?”
“Come on, let's move,” Arun shouted from the helm.
Erik huffed and walked away, not looking back at me.
“Don't what?” I repeated.
Her voice was nearly a whisper when she said, “Need you.”
Apparently, the bond we'd reformed over our mutual mistrust of Savarah had been forgotten, and I was back to being the odd one out. But not just out this time. Different. Special.
“I didn't mean it like that,” she added, but not quickly enough.
“I'm not the Suun heir.” I ran a hand through my hair and ignored Arun, who was shouting at us. “You guys think I'm running all over this island because I think I'm destined to save the world?”
She shrugged noncommittally.
“You said it yourself. My mother didn’t have the mark. Father doesn’t either. There’s no way I’m descended from Onen Suun.”
“Then why are we doing this?” She waved her hands around to encompass everything—the ship and the search.
“Because if I go home now, I bring this danger with me. I want to clear my name and keep my family safe.” I couldn’t bring walking corpses and ur’gels with me back to Bor’sur. I didn’t want to save the world, but I did want to save the people I loved. That, at least, I knew I could do. That, I thought, could be my true destiny.
We were distracted by Erik’s shout, and both of us rushed to help him and Arun bring the ship down into a clearing. The mountains around us were the rocky cliffs to which we were accustomed, but the valley itself was a lush, green field cut in two by a small, winding river. It was peaceful, which was definitely not the Bruhier standard.
As soon as the ship touched down, Stiarna leapt from the bow and darted away, the arch of her wings the only thing visible over the tall grass. I followed, scrambling down the hull nets, not waiting for the gangplank. I wasn’t entirely sure it was a good idea to put down the gangplank. It was like Xalph had said: Bruhier could be a tricky place. Safety was often an illusion, so I would be the first to check it out.
I shuffled through the grass all the way to the bank of the river. It was not very wide and did not look very deep. I stooped and dipped my fingers in, letting the cool water rush over my hand.
Arun knelt beside me, scooping a handful of water to his mouth and sipping before I could object. I worried it would be awkward between us, but he made no mention of what had passed between us the night before. He smacked his lips and stood, his hands on his hips. “So, where are the monsters?”
It was exactly what I had been wondering, though I had not been quite so eager to speak the words. But there was also something else. “Where are the horses?”
“They came this way,” he said, looking around as if they were hiding somewhere nearby. There was nowhere for them to hide, though.
“Should we look for them?”
“I think we’re supposed to look for the Sisters of Light.”
“Do you think they’re with the horses?”
I had no idea, but I wouldn’t tell him that. I was the reason we were on this wild goose chase in the first place. It was time to start at least pretending like I knew what was going on. Instead of answering, I stood up and spun around, taking in my surroundings. If I were to put a temple here, where would it be? But my eyes kept drifting to the cliffs, to the plateaus above the veil. I couldn’t imagine trying to live down here, even if there were no obvious threats.
“I guess we should start looking,” I said finally, not able to come up with a better answer. “We might need to go up.”
“We might. Let’s get Erik and—”
“Frida!”
Both of us turned toward the ship where Erik and Estrid had stayed to keep watch. They were standing there now, waving their arms frantically over their heads and shouting something incoherent.
“What?” I shouted back.
Erik started making motions with his hands as if beckoning us toward him.
“I don’t like this,” Arun said slowly.
“Maybe they found something. The temple.”
Arun tapped on my shoulder and pointed past me. “Or the horses.”
I followed his finger. Across the river, a huge horse watched us, its fur-tufted ears pressed back against its neck. It was taller than any horse I’d ever seen, easily towering over both Arun and me. There was more movement further downstream and another horse appeared. There was something different about these horses, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. They were tall and slender, all sleek muscles and angles. Sharp was the word that came to mind. When the second horse bared its teeth at us, I knew why. These were no normal horses, no docile creatures for riding and plowing fields.
The reason there were no monsters in this valley was because the horses were the monsters.
Its teeth were sharp points, like fangs for ripping apart meat. It reared, and I saw its hooves were clawed instead of round. When its feet touched the ground, it snorted, and I could have sworn I saw smoke come out of its nostrils.
What were these things?
Arun shoved my arm, turning me around, pushing me toward the ship. “Run.”
We ran. There was no sound except for the swishing of the grass beneath our feet and our steady breaths. Then came the splashing. I made the mistake of turning around and nearly fell. Dozens of horses were emerging from the tree line on the other side of the river. They were wading through the water and charging up the bank where we’d been standing moments before. I stumbled over my own feet, but Arun’s hand on my upper arm kept me upright.
“Get ready,” Arun shouted at my siblings, who were still standing there waving and shouting at us. “Get ready to fly!”
Both of them scrambled out of view, presumably to prepare the ship for takeoff.
The small distance between us and the ship seemed to grow as we ran, and I wondered if this was another one of Bruhier’s tricks. The lead horse was right behind me, so close I could hear it snorting as it ran. Its teeth grazed my shoulder and I braced myself, ready to be mauled, trampled, or a combination of both.
But just then, a dark shape bounded out of the grass, running sideways at me, and ran headlong into the beast. They collided with a snarl and a grunt. I glanced over my shoulder to see Stiarna scrabbling with the horse, stamping down the grass as they rolled. The horse had the advantage of its size, but Stiarna was agile. The horse was on his back, snapping its teeth wildly, but Stiarna seemed to be avoiding the fangs.
I hesitated, my hand on my ax, debating whether or not to help her.
“Come on,” Arun said breathlessly, passing me, dragging me behind him.
The gangplank came into view finally. Erik and Estrid waved us on from the top, where they stood ready to pull it in. We hit the ramp at a run. I stopped to help them bring in the gangplank, forgetting our earlier argument about them not needing my help anymore. They certainly didn’t send me away, not with the herd bearing down on us. When it was in, I searched the grass for Stiarna, but she was nowhere to be seen beneath the sea of horses charging toward the ship.
/> Arun was at the helm, chanting, “Up, up, up,” but we weren’t moving.
“Um, Arun?” I said.
He didn’t respond but kept muttering to himself as he rushed around tugging on ropes and sails.
The first horse reached the ship, but it didn’t stop. It crashed into the wood, making the deck tremble. I grabbed the railing to stay on my feet as more and more horses reached us. The force of their impact rocked the ship, carving a deep groove in the dirt beneath us as the ship shifted.
“Now, Arun!” I shouted, all semblance of calm gone.
Still not acknowledging me, he pulled the lever beside the wheel up gradually, not in a panic as I had done the day before.
Erik, who stood beside me, grimaced as the ship shook and shifted again. “I think they want us out of their valley.”
I nodded, but my attention had been drawn back to the grass and the river beyond, and a dark wing rising from the grass.
“Stiarna,” I said to no one in particular.
The ship rose a few feet off the ground only to be shoved by the horses. I went to my knees as the ship rocked and touched down again. Through the bars of the railing, I watched the same thing happen to Stiarna—she got a few feet off the ground, only to be dragged back down by a horse pulling on her wing.
I shouted for her. Erik shouted for Arun. Arun shouted for us all to shut up.
And finally, the Iron Duchess got out of reach of the stampeding horses and began to rise steadily. Stiarna gave a mighty flap, kicked the horse that had ahold of her in the muzzle, and soared into the sky.
I gave a sigh of relief and collapsed against the railing. We were safe, all of us, even if we were no closer to the Sisters of Light.
Chapter 13
We were safe, but only as long as we stayed in the air. On the ground, the horses were trailing us, screaming at us as they kicked up dirt and dust. It was like being followed by a storm, if storms had teeth. Stiarna flew beside us, and I was pretty sure she stayed visible just to taunt them. Her only wounds from the fight were some superficial scratches. For that, and for her safety, I was grateful.
As we circled this part of the island, it became clear the horses wouldn’t follow us into the trees that crept up the foothills. They seemed to keep to the confines of the field.
“What are we going to do?” I asked finally.
Arun peered over the ship’s edge, keeping his hands on the wheel. “I can’t land in the jungle.”
He looked worse after our encounter with the horses. His eyes were sunken into his face and he couldn’t seem to catch his breath. The amulet around his neck was almost completely black now, and it pulsed slower than it seemed it should. Slower than a heart should beat, if that was, in fact, what it was keeping time with. He was changing, dying, and I didn’t know how to stop it. I didn’t know how to save him, not without the Sisters of Light. And it was quickly becoming evident we wouldn’t find the Sisters of Light from up here.
“Well, we have to land somewhere,” I said.
Estrid looked at me like she wanted to make some smart remark about me giving orders, but she didn’t. Just another example of how she’d changed around me. Before she thought I was the Suun heir, she never would have held back.
Arun either didn’t notice the tension between me and my sister, or he ignored it. “There is something I could try. I could bring her down in the trees.”
Erik narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean, ‘in the trees’?”
“In the branches,” Arun explained. “So that we’re not on the ground, and I don’t have to find a field large enough to hold the Duchess.”
“Have you done that before?” I asked. I had just gotten used to the idea of flying ships, and now he wanted to put one in a tree.
“No, but I’ve been thinking about it. See that tree over there?” He pointed, and we all followed his finger to one of the taller trees at the base of a nearby mountain. Its branches were thick and likely sturdy, and widespread, like arms pushing its neighbors away, creating a lot of space around it. Enough space for a ship.
“And we would what? Climb down?”
“Yes.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” Estrid asked, always the one to look at all the possibilities. “What if the ship falls?”
Arun looked at me finally, as if I had been the one to ask the question. “Then we fall. And we’ll have no way out of the valley except to climb.”
“Have you seen a town or anywhere we can go in case that happens?” I didn’t like the idea of finding another Barepost, but I liked the idea of wandering around Bruhier without a plan and help even less.
But Arun shook his head. “The only other thing would be to go back to the temple.”
Go back to the temple and admit defeat. Go back to the temple and let Arun die. And let others suffer because I couldn’t prove the truth of who I was. “No. That’s not an option.”
“I didn’t think so.”
We left the horses in the field and made our way over to the tree, watching for any sign of being followed and seeing none. Arun brought the ship down slowly, guided by Erik who ran back and forth to make sure we were positioned just right, while Estrid and I held our breath and manned the sails just in case. The tree groaned as the Duchess settled in, but it held. When Arun announced the flying mechanism was off and we’d docked, we all cheered.
The climb down the tree was slow and tedious without our climbing gear, which we’d left back at the temple, thinking we’d have no need for it. Who needed to climb trees or mountains when they had a flying ship, right? The Svands, that’s who. I was relieved but immediately on guard when my feet touched the ground. The four of us stood in a silent crowd, standing close together as if that alone might ward off any threat.
Estrid was beside me, also alert. “What is it?” she asked.
“I don’t know. It’s so … quiet.” Stiarna had stayed behind on the ship, sleeping and recovering from her recent fight, so we didn’t have her innate sense of danger to guide us. Still, even I could tell something was wrong. I didn’t hear any birds or the rustle of small creatures in the brush. Not even the wind swept through the branches.
That was why the crack of a branch behind us was loud enough to be nearly deafening. We whirled as one and came face to face with a shadebig. Movement in the shadows revealed more of them, staring at us with pale, blank eyes from the cover of the surrounding trees.
“Hm.” I nodded once and drew my ax, unable to take my eyes from its fearful form. “This must be why the horses stay out of the forest.”
We’d encountered these monsters before in the area around Barepost, and it had never been a fun experience. We still weren’t sure entirely what they were. They looked like a human who had taken body parts from other animals and sewn them together, wearing them like a suit. Deer heads with sharpened antlers, human torsos with exposed bone, and hind legs of a goat. It was gruesome and terrifying. And to make matters worse, we still didn’t know how to kill them.
One of them lunged at Estrid. She took a swing at its outstretched arm and sliced it off at the elbow. The arm fell twitching to the ground, and from the stump, another limb sprouted.
“I remember this,” Estrid said drily.
Arun cursed. He had his bow and arrow, but I didn’t know what good they would be against these monsters. Then again, my ax apparently wasn’t going to be of much use either, not if they just grew back whatever I managed to slice off.
When one charged at me, I didn’t have time to think about it anymore. It ran on two feet in a strange, loping gallop, its too-long arms flopping beside it. It would have been almost comical if not for the fact its torso was torn open and I could see its heart beating, blood oozing from the gaping hole that didn’t slow it down at all. My ax glanced off its armored skull and one of its bone-white antlers shoved against my shoulders, pushing me back into Arun. He caught me with one hand, and reached around me with the other, driving an arrow into the monster’s eye. The
thing shrieked, a sound terrible enough I nearly covered my ears. Instead, I swung my ax at its neck, severing its head and silencing it.
But not for good. Arun and I watched in horror as a new head, just as hideous, popped out of the creature’s neck stump. I looked down to make sure the other head was still there. It was, complete with Arun’s arrow sticking out of the eye socket.
Grunting, I shoved the shadebig back. It stumbled, arms flailing. I hooked my ax around its knee and it fell to the ground. I hacked at its face, its neck, its shoulder, blood splattering me and the ground around us. It was gruesome, and maybe unnecessary, but I was so done with this place. Done with Bruhier and its monsters that wouldn’t die. I just wanted to be left alone to find the Sisters of Light, to save my friend, to save my family. I didn’t need this shit.
When it was sufficiently hacked up to the point where it would take it at least a few minutes to regenerate, I stood up, panting, and looked for the others. Estrid and Erik were holding their own, fighting back-to-back and holding off the pack. Arun, though, was not faring so well. He was pressed against the tree, struggling with a shadebig who had its claws around his neck.
I grabbed the creature’s shoulders and jerked it back. It released Arun and turned on me instead, which was just fine. Arun looked awful, like he could just fall down dead at any moment. The amulet around his neck was almost solid black, the pulsing barely visible.
The shadebig fell backward on top of me, plastering me to the ground. I thrashed and struggled beneath its substantial weight as it tried to roll over and get its hands around my neck instead. It had very nearly succeeded when a blade flashed in front of my face and severed its head. Hot blood poured over my chest and neck. I gagged and pulled myself out from beneath the creature before it could get itself together.
Breaking the Suun Page 8