Tala glanced up at me, a gleam in her eye. “I do love a good challenge.”
We fell back onto the sand, laughing and panting and slick with sweat.
“You think . . .” Tala gasped through lungfuls of air. “You think Kulnethar meant resting . . . or resting?”
I chuckled, wiggling the fingers of my injured hand. “It doesn’t hurt anymore—then again, he did say he gave me some kind of medicine . . .”
“Well, that explains it. We might have to send you on regular trips to the Temple.”
I rolled onto my side and watched the last light of the sun tickle her bare chest and glide across the roundness of her belly. I decided to follow it with my fingers.
She giggled and pushed my hand away. “Don’t. I’m ticklish.”
“I know.”
She gave me a sidelong glance, warning me not to try it again.
I couldn’t help it.
The moment I brushed her ribs, she pounced on me, tackling me with her pointy nails.
“Ow, ow, ow, I give!” I laughed. “It’s not tickling when it hurts.”
“You started it!” She kissed me on the nose.
I caught and spun her onto her back. “Well, in that case . . .”
She raised a brow. “Again?”
“Unless you’ve had enough.”
“Mmm.” She nestled against me. “This is a competition, is it?”
“Always.”
“You can’t win.”
“But I can try.”
Tala eagerly accepted. I tried. The sun sank, and the shadows lengthened over us, brushing away the sweat from our bodies. By the time the stars winked overhead, it was time to accept defeat.
I pulled my robe over us both and we hunkered down, shivering with the retreat of the sun.
“I love you,” I whispered.
Tala was half asleep, curled tight in my arms. She mumbled her agreement.
And then the screaming began.
Chapter Forty
Ishvandu ab’Admundi
Tala bolted up, keshu in hand. For a moment she stood naked against the dawning moon, sword drawn, somehow more terrifying unrobed—a mythic figure from the days of the Undying. Then she snatched her clothes out of the sand.
“Get up!”
I shook myself, mind dancing towards the Unseen. There. A cloying stench, a hissing murmur, needling through my thoughts. How had I missed them?
“Sumadi,” I said, confused. “They’re here.”
“Then get up!”
“But . . .” I scrambled to get dressed. “But what are they doing here?”
“What do you mean? It’s the desert. They’ll come when they please.”
“But E’tuah . . .”
I trailed off. The look she gave me could have scorched skin.
“Excuse me?”
I swallowed. “E’tuah. He’s been keeping them away. That’s why they’ve never attacked. Not this close to Gitaia.”
“You mean Shatayeth?” She spat the name. “And you trusted him? Ishvandu ab’Admundi, if you’ve grown lax because of—”
“I was distracted!” I cried as I belted my keshu. “And possibly a little drugged. Can we argue about this later?”
“Light and all, if someone is killed—”
“They won’t be.”
We were already running across the sand. I heard the shouts of Koryn and ab’Tanadu, forming up the Guardians.
Tala and I dove through the back of the nearest tent just as a shadow swept screeching at one of the Labourers, materializing into shimmering, silver lines.
Tala severed its head with a cry. Not a monster—a Chosen. One of our own.
I spun to face another. “Wait!” I shouted at the creature. “I see you! I know you! Speak to me!”
The shadow twisted to face me, leering and hungry and dripping with light.
“I see you! I see you!”
It slammed into me, knocking me over. Pain stabbed through my arm, even as it clawed my skin, tearing, pulling.
Tala hacked it from behind.
“Everyone out!” she shouted. “To the Guardians. Hurry. And stay together!”
I pushed the stinking corpse away from me, wincing at the new claw marks below my ribs. Tala led the way, I waited until everyone was out. I could hear the shadows—dozens of them, circling and laughing, the chill sound grating through my mind.
Lidyana was the last to leave. A shadow speared towards her, knocking her over, crystallizing into shape. She gasped as it touched her face—the stinging cold. I stabbed hard, wrenching the creature back. Two more dove at me.
“Run!” I shouted.
Lidyana scrambled to her feet, panting and weeping.
I slashed as best I could one-handed, trying to engage both shadows at once. They flew around me faster than I could spin.
Traveller-Between brings us life to devour.
To end!
So much life for us.
They struck together. I swung, and one hissed in pain. The other wrapped itself around my neck from behind, dragging me back, seeping its cold into my flesh.
Teeth chomped into my shoulder, straight down into bone.
I screamed. The other came at me again, driving me back, knocking the keshu from my hand.
I roared, tossing my weight back and forth, jerking like a rope doll, trying to dislodge one or both of the creatures, especially the one with its teeth still grinding against my shoulder blade. The one in front shoved hard, and I let the momentum knock me back. I threw my weight into the Sumadi behind, falling on top of it.
The jolt of us hitting the ground finally tore it loose, though I felt a chunk of skin go with it. I scrabbled like a mad thing, paying no mind to my injuries, the blood spurting from my shoulder, only desperate to get free. I finally wrapped my fingers around my keshu and spun onto my back, just as the first Sumadi dove at me.
It impaled itself on my blade, and I twisted to throw it off, yanking the keshu back out.
The second one had recovered. It crouched on the sand, licking the blood off its lips, gazing at me with hollow eyes. I settled into back stance.
“Who are you?” I growled. “Which Chosen are you? A Labourer, a Guardian? Did you work in the Temple, singing prayer songs to Yl’avah before his Tree stole you away for this torment?”
The creature shivered, mouth parted in a bloody grimace. You know nothing, Traveller-Between. If you won’t wield the emptiness, you and all your people will die!
It sprang at me, leaping over my keshu as I swung, swirling first into shadow, then back into light. It struck me in the side, raking its talons through robes and skin, then vanished into smoke before I could strike.
I whirled and stumbled. It was gone. I couldn’t see it.
Then a brush of wind, and something slashed my cheek. I stabbed. Nothing. I swung. Nothing.
“Ishvandu, form up!” Koryn shouted.
They were close. I bolted toward the sound and slipped through the ring of keshu. I found myself with a clutch of Labourers, huddled in the centre of a crude defensive ring, while five Guardians held the perimeter: Koryn and Nolaan and Mani and ab’Tanadu—and yes, there was Jil. Benji and Arkaya, keshuless, were keeping the Labourers together.
“Tala?” I shouted. “Where is Tala?”
They just continued to spin, moving slowly against the threat, eyes peeled into the dark. They would protect the Labourers, even if it meant Tala’s death.
I glanced into the Unseen. The shadows were hovering, still close, still waiting for their chance. Except there. There were five of them following the cliffs, heading towards—
Tala!
Five of them! I broke through the ring and dashed towards the cliffs, nearly a hundred paces away. I saw them. Tala and Breta, back to back, slashing, ducking, whirling, and moving like one.
The creatures noticed me. Two peeled off to face me. They came half at a run, half flying with the shadows, then struck with frightening speed. I dropped to the gr
ound, letting their momentum carry them straight over me. They swirled into the night, then jerked back, unnaturally quick.
I sprang to my feet, stabbing at the nearest. The force of our impact sent me flying. I skidded to the ground, wincing as my injured arm jolted painfully and the creature slammed on top, screaming and writhing.
Breta leapt over me, stabbing the second. Tala whirled and slashed at two more.
Flash, flash, flashflash. The corpses burst into light.
Then silence.
I scanned the Unseen for Sumadi, listening carefully, while the stench slowly overpowered me. I finally shoved off the corpse and rose.
“Ishvandu,” Tala said. “Are they gone?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. Let’s form up.”
We sprang back along the rocks, side by side. I was fighting next to Tala. Side by side, with Tala. My heart swelled. I wanted to stop and kiss her, no matter how ridiculous it would appear.
I resisted the impulse.
“What in the blasted sands happened?” Koryn hissed as we drew near. “Where were you? You were supposed to warn us! You have us sweating in some hole in the dead of night, and you’re not even on watch!”
“Is anyone hurt? Is everyone here?”
“Guardians accounted for!” Mani said. “Labourers, number off.”
“And the mason,” growled Baraaba.
“Adar, one,” said Adar.
“Lidyana, two.”
“Marika, three.”
They rattled off their names, some forcing bravado into their words, others trembling, fighting to stay strong—but no one had collapsed in terror. Not yet.
Lidyana had chosen well.
“Lar, seven,” came the last gruff voice.
And then silence. Who was missing? There were supposed to be eight Labourers. Eight.
And a white robe.
“Kulnethar!” Tala and I cried as we realized it together.
Tala and I both sprang towards the far tent where Kulnethar had set up his medicine and supplies.
“Wait!” Koryn shouted. “Form up! He’s probably already—”
“Stay with the Labourers!” I shouted, ignoring him. “Kylan! Kylan!”
Oh, Yl’avah’s might, no!
We burst through the flap.
Kulnethar was crouched over one of the Labourers, groaning as he worked.
“Light!” he croaked as soon as I entered. “Someone get me a light. Oh no, no, no . . .”
Tala grabbed a torch from outside and hurried to light it, striking flint with a quick hand.
It flared to life.
The boy was struggling to breathe, covered in thick blood, eyes wide in horror. Karta.
“Shit,” I said.
“It looks worse than it is,” Kulnethar snapped. “Get me water and rags. And my things over there, by the—”
“Kylan . . .”
“Now!” he hollered. He was pressing on something, trying to staunch the flow of blood.
I could still feel them, the whispers, drawing nearer, as if they could smell the blood.
“Tala, they’re here.”
She nodded and slammed the torch into the sand where it could flicker over Karta, then she drew her keshu. It gleamed into back stance, and she crouched near us, a wall of defence.
“Here,” I told Kulnethar. “Tell me what to do, and you get what you need.”
“Fine. Right here. Press here. Hard.”
“Got it.”
I knelt and leaned on the boy’s side, feeling the cruel slash, the pulsing blood. This wasn’t his only injury. His face had been scarred, his shirt torn and bloodied.
“I s-saw . . .” he panted. “I saw . . .”
“I know.”
“C-c-cold.”
“I know, kid. Just stay with me.” I noticed the white burn along his neck where the Sumadi had grabbed him, but was his mind intact?
“Did it get inside?”
He just stared at me, trembling.
“Inside your mind? Your lungs?”
He shut his eyes, twisting in pain. “I . . . I . . . I don’t know . . .”
“I don’t think so,” Kulnethar said as he dashed back. “I think I caught it in time.”
“You caught it?”
He nodded, hands already busy threading sinew onto a needle.
“Hold on, how did you stop it?”
“I don’t know. I just ran at it screaming, and it took off.”
“You ran at it screaming? Light and all, Tala, we’ve been dealing with Sumadi wrong all these months. We just needed Kylan here.”
She grunted, following the shadows with her eyes.
“There,” I said. “By the back corner. It’s hovering.”
“I see it.”
“Keep pressing,” Kulnethar said.
I pressed harder.
“No, here. We’ve got to slow this bleeding. Here, right here. Harder, Vanya.”
I grunted and dug my knee into the wound, leaning with all my weight. Karta moaned. His fingers twisted into the sand. He was in pain, but not nearly as much as he would be if the Sumadi had ripped open his mind.
Then I noticed a second shadow, and a third.
“Tala . . .”
“I see them, Vanya.”
I shut my eyes, trying to slip sideways into the Unseen. Talk to me! I see you! Let me help you!
But there was an eerie silence.
I felt a fourth shadow crawl into the tent. A fifth.
Oh, Yl’avah’s might, we were going to die!
And then a sixth. But this one walked upright, standing across from me, shifting into starlight.
Traveller-Between. Do you see us?
“Yes,” I groaned. “Let me help you!”
Time is wasting. All is ending. He stepped closer, snarling at me with sunken eyes, light dripping from an outstretched finger. End what is Broken.
And then he snapped into shadow, and in the same moment, the Sumadi struck. Five of them. Two going for Kulnethar, two for Tala, another for Karta.
I drew my keshu, slashing towards one. Tala leapt and ran one through. Kulnethar shouted and ducked. A shadow grabbed his leg, yanking him back.
Tala flew to his help, keshu whirring.
Three converged on them, completely ignoring me. Two more ripped through the tent, screeching in hunger. No three more. It seemed almost intentional. As if we’d been drawn here for this reason.
To kill Tala and Kulnethar.
The thought sent a shiver through me. Directed. Deliberate. Like a weapon. The two who knew about Shatayeth—and opposed him.
But Karta was bleeding on the floor, alone and defenceless, and if I left his side, even for an instant, he would be vulnerable.
Like Bray.
An instant was all it took.
The boy sensed my thoughts. His fingers dug into my robes, pleading, eyes wide with terror.
Tala spun and slashed, screaming her defiance. I’d never seen her move like that. The blade was a gleaming arc around her.
Another shadow joined, and another.
“No!”
They were going to die. The Sumadi were as thick as air in the tent. Shadow and light, flickering, screeching, driving at Tala, overwhelming her. She couldn’t spin fast enough. Back and forth, leaping, ducking, shouting.
I had to do something. I had to do something.
But how could I be in two places at once? How could I—?
I threw my keshu towards Tala, not daring to think. I seized the Sending stone from my hidden pocket, woke it to life, and shouted Tala’s name.
I ripped through the Unseen.
The dark burst into a thousand colours, peopled with Sumadi, hungry and gaunt. They stared at me, men and women, young and old, ogling me with empty eyes.
Then I snapped back into the Seen Realm. I was behind Tala, and a Sumadi was throwing itself at her. I could see it, see it fully. I reached out. I felt it, and even as it tried to dissolve into shadow, I close
d my fist over it, somehow hammering it back into place.
Tala didn’t even break stride. She spun, hacking it in two.
I heard the screeching wail, not just from one creature, but from all, disoriented by my sudden dual existence. They paused in their attack, long enough for me to grab the fallen keshu and slide back to back with Tala, still hovering over Kulnethar.
I had an instant to glance towards Karta.
I wished I hadn’t. I saw myself. For the first time in my life, I saw myself. I was ragged and wild, my Guardian’s braids were an untamed mass, my robes dirty from scaling cliffs, now torn and bloodied as well, one arm cradled in a sling.
My arm.
I stopped. I was gripping my keshu with both hands, without a trace of pain. And Kulnethar was staring at me, eyes wide in horror.
I felt a burst of euphoria. My body was strong again! My injuries had been left behind!
“You will not have them!” I cried to the Sumadi.
The creatures pulsed and hissed, swirling around us, but not daring to approach either of my forms. They sensed something was wrong, but what?
I laughed. I leapt at them, and Tala followed. We cried out, whirling around each other, killing one shadow, and another. They screamed. They tried to launch themselves into the Unseen, but I caught two and ended them, and Tala slew another before it could escape.
The rest fled into the night, and in a heartbeat, they were gone.
Tala and I remained alert, breathing hard. No one dared speak. I glanced over my shoulder and realized Koryn had actually come to our defence, but he stood immobilized in the entrance.
He was staring at me, then back at . . . me.
I glanced back at the original. I was slumped over Karta, though I looked dead myself, one shoulder caked with blood, pale and weak. No need to revert to that just yet. I could help in this form. I could be useful.
“Are they gone?” Tala asked.
I hesitated. Everyone was staring at me, though I noticed Karta had finally passed out—probably from pain and terror.
Or loss of blood.
I hurried over, shoving the other me off. “Kylan, see to your patient!” I snapped.
Kulnethar couldn’t tear his eyes away from me. “Vanya . . . ?”
“Hurry! He’s unconscious!”
He looked like he wanted to say something, but then scrambled over.
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