“Are you sure this is smart?” Jayell asked.
“If this is the rebellion, then they’re here because I sent word to them.”
“You’re with the rebellion? I thought you had been working for Azithan, which would have made you working for the empire.”
He twisted in the saddle to look at her. “As I’ve tried to say, I work for whoever is willing to pay.”
“And the rebellion has paid you?”
“Reluctantly. But they have paid.”
When they reached the path, Fes continued in the southerly direction, back the way they had come. He didn’t like retracing their steps, but if there were two hundred rebels down here that the warriors had discovered, he wanted to see who might be among them.
It would’ve been better to do this during the daytime. At least then he wouldn’t run the risk of stumbling across the scouts, but at night, there was the possibility that he might be able to surprise them.
“I think I see something,” Jayell said. “Movement, I think.”
Fes closed his eyes and began to focus on the senses all around him. As he did, he searched for anything that might tell him that there were soldiers nearby, but he came up with nothing. Either his connection to that was inadequate or there simply wasn’t anything for him to detect.
As he thought about it, he realized how strange it was that he defaulted to doing that. What did it say about him that he had begun to rely upon his strange ability so readily?
Gradually, he began to see shadowed shapes around him. At first, he thought they were imagined, nothing more than shadows that he happened to glimpse in the darkness, but the longer that he stared, the more certain he became that what he saw was real.
He pulled the horse to a stop. Then he waited. It didn’t take long before soldiers began to appear out of the darkness. For a moment, Fes felt uncertain, not sure whether he had made a mistake in doing this, but that uncertainty lasted only briefly.
“I am Fezarn Varan. If you are with the rebellion, I would ask that Alison come to me.”
Jayell pressed against him and he could practically feel the concern within her.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“What needs to be done,” Fes said.
“By announcing yourself?”
“I think that might be the only way,” Fes said.
He remained seated, and it wasn’t long before a group of riders approached. Fes was not surprised to see Alison at the head of them.
Alison’s gaze darted from Fes to Jayell riding behind him. Her brow furrowed into a deep frown. “What is this, Fes?”
“When I heard there were soldiers, I figured it had to be the rebellion,” Fes said.
“You sent word to us. What is this about? And what are you doing riding a Toulen horse?”
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” Fes said. “But you don’t need to worry. I know that I sent word for the rebellion, a warning that I needed help, but everything is fine.”
Alison glanced at the two others with her. They were rebels that Fes hadn’t met, but that wasn’t entirely surprising. “Fes—”
A dozen riders appeared out of the darkness. They converged on him, surrounding him and Jayell, and Fes decided not to resist. He thought that he might be able to get away, but was that what he wanted? Any attempt to escape would only lead to a confrontation, and these were people he had traveled with, people he had fought alongside, and he wasn’t sure that he wanted to do that.
“What is this about, Alison?”
“I think that you know what it’s about,” she said.
Fes stared at her for a long moment. “The skull?”
Alison took a deep breath. “The fact that you ask about it, and that you know about it, tells me everything that I need to know.”
“The skull belongs in Toulen,” Fes said.
“Not anymore,” Alison said. “The skull was held by Toulen, and it’s time that it be returned to where it belongs.” Alison watched him for a long moment. “Are you going to oppose this?”
Fes breathed out heavily. He glanced back at Jayell, and when he did, he could see the irritation in Alison’s eyes. “Is it your plan to attack the Toulen warriors?”
“Only if we have to.”
“Which means that you intend for me to bring you the skull.”
“It would be a much less violent outcome,” Alison said.
What choice did he have?
If he did this, he would pit himself against the Toulen warriors. Already he had pitted himself against the empire and the Dragon Guards, which would leave him with only the rebellion. It was almost as if Alison intended to force him to join the rebellion.
And Fes did not care for being forced into doing anything.
Yet, he didn’t worry about the rebellion misusing the dragon skull, not the way that he worried about Elizabeth doing so.
“If I do this, you will leave the Toulen warriors alone.”
Alison shrugged. “We have no interest in them. The only thing we want is that skull.”
“How did you know?” Fes asked.
“You told us,” Alison said.
“I didn’t tell you anything.”
“When you said that they were coming after the girl, that was all we needed to know,” she said. “We knew Toulen had a skull. They have been protecting it for hundreds of years, but we never knew quite how to find it. Then when we traveled with Theole, we thought we might finally gain access—until the empire grabbed him again.”
Fes shook his head. It was his fault that Indra had traveled with the rebellion, just as it was his fault that the rebellion was here. And now, he would have to prevent anything worse from happening. Somehow, he would have to ensure that no one else was hurt, but any choice that he made would cause some harm.
“Don’t attack them,” Fes said.
“I trust that you will make the right choice,” Alison said.
“I thought I could trust that you would make the same choice.”
Alison stared at him. “After what happened, with what you did with the dragon heart, I thought you understood what we needed. I thought you recognized the purpose of the rebellion. I thought that you, as one of the Deshazl, would want this.”
Fes shook his head. “You thought wrong.”
He turned his horse and headed back up the slope.
As they climbed, Jayell leaned toward him. “Are you going to do that? Are you going to get the dragon skull for them?”
“I intend to make certain that Indra gets back to her homeland without any further incident.”
“Fes—”
“No,” he said. “Nothing more. She’s already been through enough.”
And he wasn’t going to be responsible for anything more happening to her.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Fes reached the Toulen warrior camp, having circled around. His mind raged with difficult decisions. What was he going to do? Was he willing to betray Indra and the Toulen warriors?
And if he didn’t, would they be harmed?
Jayell had been quiet during the ride back to the campsite, having sensed Fes’s mood. He appreciated that she didn’t push.
“What did you find?” Adoran asked as they returned. He took the reins to the horse and looked behind Fes, almost as if expecting the rebellion to attack.
“You need to get going,” Fes said.
“I need to what?”
“They’re here because of the dragon skull. They intend to claim it. It’s my fault. When I learned Indra had been captured, I sent word for help.”
“They shouldn’t have known—”
“They shouldn’t have, but I think they discovered its existence from Theole. If not from him, then from Indra.”
Fes headed over to Indra. She was resting, far enough away from Elizabeth that she didn’t have to fear her but close enough that she could keep an eye on her. Three totems were resting on the ground around her, and Fes still marveled at her strength
and the willingness that she had to remain here.
When he touched her shoulder, she awoke with a start. When she did, the totems began to rise, coming to life. One of them started toward Fes, animated enough that it would crash into his legs. Given what he had seen the totems do against the golem, Fes had no interest in experiencing the pain of a totem attack.
“Indra?”
She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and whispered a soft word. All of a sudden, the totems stopped moving.
Fes breathed out a sigh of relief when the totems stopped only a pace away from him. Maybe he didn’t need to worry about the rebellion, not when Indra had magic like this.
But then, if the Toulen warriors attacked the rebellion, someone who he didn’t want to be hurt would suffer. Either Alison could be hurt or Indra. Neither idea appealed to Fes.
“What is it?”
He took a seat in the middle of the totems, settling onto the ground next to her. Adoran watched and Jayell remained outside the triangle of totems. He didn’t blame her reluctance. “What does the rebellion know about Toulen?”
“They shouldn’t know anything,” she said.
“Is possible that they do?”
She glanced over at Adoran.
“Pretend that he’s not here,” Fes said. He still wasn’t certain what role Adoran had with Indra, other than the fact that he suspected they were in the same clan. What she knew was what mattered. “Just tell me what they might know.”
“When we were traveling, Father would talk about a mistake that he made.”
“Bringing you to the Great Market.”
“I don’t think he knew what he was getting into. He heard there was a buyer for the kind of figurines that he could make. He intended to sell a few figurines, and then he wanted to return. He didn’t want anything else. He didn’t intend to betray Toulen.”
Fes glanced up at Adoran. “I’m sure that he didn’t intend to betray Toulen. Sometimes, greed can be difficult.”
Indra looked at him, her gaze beseeching. “I… I didn’t know what he was asking me to make. When I understood, it was too late.”
“What are you talking about…” His breath caught as his gaze drifted around the clearing at the totems. There was power within them. The same kind of power he’d seen from the golem. “The golem? Is that what you are getting at?”
Indra looked down at her hands. “It’s my fault. I’m the one who made the golem. I’m the reason that she managed to acquire it. If not for me, there would have been no golem attack.”
Fes closed his eyes. He had believed that Theole had been responsible for creating the golem, but it had been Indra. Fes should have known better. Indra was the one who had the dragon blessing, the gift of animating totems. Theole had skill, but nothing like his daughter.
“How did you make the golem?”
“It should have been forbidden,” Adoran said, stepping inside the triangle.
“I didn’t know. Father instructed me. It was different than my usual carvings, something that was to be a challenge. I didn’t know what it was, not until I held the token. Only then did I know it was mine.”
Adoran took a seat. He reached for Indra’s hands and she resisted for a moment before acquiescing, still looking down at the ground. “His responsibility was to train you. It is not your failing, but his.”
“It’s my fault,” Indra said. “I asked him what we could do, how we could be better off. With what happened to Mother…”
“What happened to your mother?” Fes asked.
Indra shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. What happened to her?”
Indra remained silent, saying nothing.
“Why did she want you to come along?” Fes asked, nodding toward Elizabeth. “Did she know that you were responsible for the golem?”
Indra shook her head. “I didn’t even know I was responsible. That was kept from me.”
Indra had been betrayed, and now that she knew, what would she do?
None of it changed what he needed to do, which was to ensure that Indra got to safety. It was odd for him, the feeling that perhaps no one was quite as innocent as he wanted to believe. All of the destruction carried out by the golem had been because of Indra. Had she not created it, it would have never been an issue. There would have been no danger to Toulen.
“Can you destroy it?”
“Once something like that has been created, there is very little that can be done to destroy it,” Adoran said. “The process of bringing a golem to life is complicated, and while it certainly shows the strength Indra possesses, it cannot be easily destroyed.”
“But as long as she holds the token, she controls it,” Fes said.
“As far as I know,” Adoran said. “But with Indra and her abilities, it is difficult to know whether that will be the same.”
“What do you mean?”
“Indra is more talented than many who have claimed the dragon blessing. It’s possible that her connection to her power is unique enough that the golem she has created will be unique as well.”
“You need to take the golem and the dragon skull, and you need to get moving.”
“We will continue on in the morning,” Adoran said.
“Morning won’t be good enough. The rebellion expects that I will bring them a dragon skull.”
“Why would they expect that?” Adoran asked.
“Because they threatened to attack if I did not.”
Adoran stared at Fes for a long moment. “You would allow them to attack?”
“I don’t have control over whether they attack or not. Enough have suffered because of this. But I intend to make certain that Indra returns to Toulen safely, as I promised.”
“How do you intend to do that?” Adoran asked.
“I don’t intend to force you to give up the dragon skull if that’s what you fear.”
“I’m not sure that you could—”
Fes smiled at him. “We don’t need to debate what I am or am not capable of doing,” Fes said. “We both know what I have done.”
Adoran took a deep breath. “If you don’t intend to take the dragon skull, then what is it that you intend?”
“I intend to delay the rebellion and give you time to return to Toulen. I assume you have some way of protecting it once you are there?”
“We will be able to protect it,” Adoran said.
“Good. Now, what I need for you to do is to gather your people and begin moving. I will delay them, but there is only so much that I can do.” He turned to Indra. “And I will need something from you.”
“From me?”
Fes nodded. “How skilled are you at carving something a little… larger?”
Indra met his gaze, and she started to smile. “I think that I could manage that well enough.”
“How long do you think it will take?”
“I just need something to work with,” Indra said.
It had been barely more than two hours before Indra came over to him and set a tiny sculpture into his hand. It looked similar to the dragon skull but was no more than a tenth of the size.
“I’m not sure this will convince them,” Fes said.
“It won’t,” Indra said. “But you forget I have the dragon blessing.”
She leaned toward the sculpture and whispered something softly. As she did, the sculpture began to wriggle, much the same way that the totems had within his pocket. Fes almost jerked his hand away, but the sculpture began to elongate, stretching out and growing increasingly larger. Gradually it began to take on the same shape and size as the dragon skull they transported back to Toulen.
Fes lifted it. It was heavy, almost as if Indra had managed to increase its weight along with the size, but that didn’t make any sense.
“How long can you hold it?” He thought about the totems and the limitations that she had with them. There had been a limit to how long she could maintain the animation to them, so Fes suspected there would
be a similar limitation with the sculpture.
“I haven’t used the blessing in several days,” she said. “I should be able to hold it for a few hours, at least.”
Fes looked up at Adoran, who had joined them when Indra came over with the sculpture. His eyes widened when he saw the dragon skull.
“It looks just like it,” Adoran said.
“It might pass for it, at least long enough to convince them,” Fes said. “Somehow, we will have to find a way to add warmth to it.”
Indra leaned toward the sculpture and whispered something else. The sculpture began to heat up, taking on an increased warmth.
What was she saying? What managed to cause the sculpture to do that? Did the words matter, or was it simply her dragon blessing, as she claimed?
“That should do,” Fes said. It might be enough to convince even the priest, though he wasn’t certain whether Talmund still traveled with the rebellion.
“Are you certain you want to do this?” Indra asked. “I know what they mean to you. I know you traveled with them for a time, and that—”
Fes shook his head. “I’m not taking a side. I’m simply allowing you to return with what your people should have. I’m sorry that I won’t be there to help make sure you get back to your homeland safely.”
“Thank you,” Indra said.
“I haven’t done anything worthy of thanks,” he said.
“You have done far more than you ever needed to. You are a friend, Fezarn Varan.”
Fes swallowed and turned to Adoran. “Just make sure that you get her back safely. Watch over Elizabeth. I intend to come for her eventually and get answers.”
Adoran nodded. “We will keep her secured. She will not harm us again.”
Fes hoped that were the case, but this time, without the golem, he thought the Toulen warriors had a better chance of withstanding an attack from her.
When he stood, he hefted the sculpture and turned to Indra. He looked at her for a long moment. With her dark hair and sun-kissed skin, she did not belong in the empire. She deserved safety, and he hated that he wasn’t going to be able to see her through this, but if nothing else, he would ensure that the warriors got her back home. “Hold on to this blessing as long as you can.”
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