“You are the one who saved us from the bad man.” The Halve’s voice is less guttural than the others, with a note of femininity. She bows her head to me. “We owe you our lives.”
My face flushes with the undeserved reverence.
“Can you save our friend?” I ask.
“His wounds are deep.” She pads barefoot over to the hammock. “We will see.”
“She likes humans,” Ekil observes as Camike bustles around the hut, piling more animal hides on Jarosh and gathering bunches of dried plants from earthen shelves. There is a note of what sounds like disapproval in his voice.
Camike wafts a smoking bunch of herbs across Jarosh’s face, which makes him go limp in his hammock. Then, she picks up a long bone needle and thread from one of her bowls.
There is a collective intake of breath as we all realize what she is about to do.
“Don’t—” Wokee begins, but I clap a hand over his mouth, stifling whatever else he was going to say.
Jarosh moans and edges away from the needle.
“Hold him,” Camike commands.
I jump, realizing she’s talking to me.
I’m grateful for the distraction of holding Jarosh’s shoulders steady so I don’t have to look at the bright red blood beading up with every prick of the needle. Camike’s hand is steady as she threads the bone in and out of his flesh, closing Jarosh’s gaping wound. She ties off the thread with deft fingers.
“Well done,” Aunt Jadem says, impressed.
“He must sleep now.” Camike says. She waves a hand in the direction of the hammocks. “You too.”
No sooner have I translated Camike’s offer, Wokee is clambering into one of the hammocks. He is snoring before the rest of us can even discuss who will stay awake to watch Jarosh.
✽✽✽
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”
I jolt to my feet at the sound of Jarosh’s voice.
“Where am I?” Jarosh tries to sit up. “What’s going on? Who are you?”
“Relax,” Ry is saying. “You’ll tear out your stitches.”
“Like hell I’ll relax! I’m—” Jarosh’s mouth goes slack as Camike waves a bundle of smoking herbs over his face.
“Hmmm,” Jarosh murmurs. “Smells like waterfalls and rainbows.” His eyes roll upward to regard Camike. “You’re not half bad looking, you know that?” And then, after a pause, he starts to laugh. “Get it? You’re not Halve bad looking?” He cracks himself up again. “But seriously. You’re a regular hottie.”
Ry raises her eyebrow. “What’d she give him?” She points at the bundle Camike is holding far away from her own face as she brings it over to a pot of water.
“Come here, Cutie.” Jarosh crooks a finger at Camike.
Camike turns her head away, but not before I catch a blush darkening her cheeks.
“Camike,” I tell him with an exasperated look. “Her name is Camike.”
“Cutie.” Jarosh insists. “You know something? I feel great.” He opens and closes his mouth a few times, like he’s just realizing he has it. “It’s like that time I drank liquid fire and ate a whole pile of Thutmose’s special mushrooms.”
Wokee giggles. Aunt Jadem, who has been pacing around the hut since I woke up, shakes her head.
“Hey, watch yourself,” Jarosh complains as Camike’s hands sweep over his bare chest. “Normally I like to have dinner with a girl first, if you know what I mean.”
Camike takes the last handful of berries from the largest of the earthen pots and smashes them against a flat stone. As I look at the supplies scattered around her, I notice most of the other bowls are empty, too. Probably whatever herbs they grew for healing dried up with the rest of the plants here. I would feel guiltier if I wasn’t so desperate for Jarosh to live.
If Jarosh died, after everything else that’s happened, I don’t think I could bear it.
Camike dumps the juice from the berries unceremoniously over Jarosh’s wound. “He will live,” she announces.
A lightness floods my insides. “Thank you.” I look from Camike to Ekil. “How long until we can move him?”
“Some weeks,” Camike replies.
“Weeks?” I gasp.
“He is safe here,” Ekil says.
“I saw what was going on in that pen out there,” I point out.
“We take good care of friend of Halve saver,” Camike bows her head toward me. “Do not fear.”
“Ahem.” Ry clears her throat and raises an eyebrow at me.
I translate our conversation for the others.
“We can’t leave him here.” Ry looks horrified by the very thought.
“He seems to be in good hands, and we don’t have any time to spare,” Aunt Jadem says.
I give my aunt a surprised look. I would have expected her to side with Ry. The last time a Solguard was injured, she stayed by his bedside for two full days until he woke up. She never left him, not even to eat or sleep.
But my aunt is right about not having time to spare. We may not know exactly when the Duskers are going to attack the fortress, but there’s no doubt it will be soon. It’s a miracle they haven’t already destroyed the fortress. We have to get back in time to warn the others and give what help we can.
“When your friend gets strong, I will bring him to you,” Camike offers.
Already, the muscles in my legs twitch with the expectation of crossing the land that separates me from Solis.
“What do you think?” Ry asks me. “You’re still our leader.” She gives me a small smile.
I look from Jarosh’s still form to my aunt, Ry, and Wokee. Their eyes are fixed expectantly on me.
“We leave as soon as it’s low day.”
✽✽✽
I wake up some time during the high day. Even though the specere leaves covering the building’s exterior protect it from the sun, my internal clock tells me there are at least a few more hours before the sun is low enough for the rest of my companions to leave the hut. Ry is asleep in the hammock next to me, and I can hear Wokee’s snoring from across the hut.
When my gaze shifts to Aunt Jadem’s hammock, it’s empty. I look around, panicked, until I see my aunt standing by the door.
“What are you doing?” I ask, rising to go stand with her.
“Oh, hello Mer.” Aunt Jadem’s scarred face is lined and has an ashen hue. She looks exhausted. “Just keeping an eye out for low day.”
Guilt washes over me. I should be the one counting down the seconds until we can leave. Dayne is waiting to give me news about my father. For months, I’ve waited for word from him. And now all I can think about are the blue cloaks and bones scattered around Tanguro’s ruined courtyard.
“You’re really worried about them, aren’t you?” I ask.
It’s a stupid question—of course she’s worried. We all are.
“What I don’t understand,” Aunt Jadem says, “is why the Solguards never made it to Tanguro. If the Duskers still haven’t attacked, they should have left like we planned.”
“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” I say. “And there hasn’t been a single word from Wade.”
I try not to think about the jumble of emotions I feel every time I think about him.
“Well, I suppose we’ll find out what’s going on soon enough,” she says a little too brightly.
“I wish my mom was here.” It’s a childish thing to say, and I have no idea what made it come out of my mouth.
Aunt Jadem gives me a sympathetic look. “So do I.” She runs a hand over my dark, wavy hair that is the only trait I inherited from my mother.
“I miss her stories,” I continue when Aunt Jadem doesn’t say anything else. “She used to tell me this story about magical caves with a crystal-clear river flowing through them….” I close my eyes, seeing the place so vividly it’s almost like I can feel the clean water on my bare feet.
“The Crystal Caves,” Aunt Jadem says, her voice far away. She looks like she’s going to say
more but then decides against it. She manages a small laugh. “Your mother was always making up the wildest stories. She had such an imagination.”
I nod. I want to ask Jadem what she isn’t telling me, but my aunt’s face looks so exhausted. I ask instead, “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Oh, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, Mer.”
My aunt smiles, but it seems forced. She turns back to peer through the slit in the door. “Get some rest, dear niece.”
✽✽✽
By the time we’re ready to leave, Jarosh is already sitting up in the hammock. Camike, who has been bustling around him, lifts a steaming bowl to his lips.
“Jarosh!” Wokee runs to the hammock. “You’re alive!”
Jarosh grins down at him. “What’d you expect? I’m a Solguard for sun’s sake.” He gives Camike a dazzling smile. “Turns out these Halves know a thing or two about putting a man back together.”
Even though Camike can’t understand a word he’s saying, she makes a sound that might be a giggle.
“So, what now?” Jarosh looks at us, his gaze taking in the bags slung over our shoulders.
“Solis.” Aunt Jadem says. “You’re going to stay here and rest,” she fixes him with her eye.
We’re all poised for Jarosh to argue, but he doesn’t.
“You all go along.” He waves a hand at us before turning back to Camike, who is hovering beside his hammock. “As long as they don’t go bleeding on me, we’ll get along just fine.”
Ry, Aunt Jadem, and I exchange a look.
“Alright then,” Ry blows a drooping curl off her face. She goes over to the hammock and wraps her arms around Jarosh.
Jarosh winces. “You take care of yourselves,” he says when Ry stands back up.
“Just get better so you can hurry back to us,” Ry replies.
Aunt Jadem and I have time for only a quick goodbye before Camike is ushering us toward the door.
“Hemera,” Jarosh calls just before I step outside. All of the humor has faded from his face. “Make those Duskers pay for what they did.”
CHAPTER 7
What’s he doing here?” I demand.
The enormous, hulking brute we watched slaughter another Halve in the ring is glowering up at Vlaz, threatening him with his black eyes. Vlaz, who is still dripping wet from whichever river Wokee called him out of, is crunching happily on some poor forest creature and oblivious to the Halve’s glares.
“Brogut is my second,” Ekil says.
Brogut’s knuckles are crusted in brown blood. The animal hide covering the lower part of his body is filthy and bloodstained. He has no supplies aside from a tree trunk the width of my torso, which is sharpened to a point at one end. It’s the length of my entire body, but the Halve carries it with no more effort than it would take Ry to lift one of her arrows.
“You want to bring him to a meeting?” I ask Ekil. “With humans?”
Ekil looks at the other Halve, who is picking at his yellow teeth with a pointed claw.
“Don’t tell me that Halve is coming with us,” Ry groans.
“Look at the size of his arm.” Wokee’s eyes are wide with a combination of fear and fascination. “I bet just one of them weighs as much as I do.”
“Brogut will protect,” Ekil nods. “You saved him from Tanguro.”
I shrug helplessly at my friends. To Ekil, I say, “He better behave himself.”
Brogut lets out a low rumble, which doesn’t make me more confident.
Vlaz, with Wokee, Ry, and Aunt Jadem on his back, paws the ground. The Halves and I, with our superior strength and speed, will follow on foot. More than a small part of me is relieved I don’t need to make my sore backside any worse. Ry, to her credit, gets back on Vlaz with only a small amount of grumbling and wincing.
Ekil convinced a fair number of his Halves to come with us, and they are waiting on either side of the footpath for us to go first. When I pass by them, they lower their heads in reverence.
They think I can save them. A vague sense of dread descends on me as we make our way down the path to the edge of the Halves’ lands.
Wokee keeps Vlaz on the ground, both to stay near to me and to conserve Vlaz’s strength. Even with fewer people on his back, the sun beating down on Vlaz’s black fur is making a frothy sweat appear on his sides.
I have to jog to keep pace with Vlaz, taking ten steps for every one of his. Jarosh’s words echo in my head as I go. Make those Duskers pay for what they did.
✽✽✽
When Ekil and Brogut stop short, I almost run into them. They both cock their heads at something. Ekil turns his bulbous nose to the wind and sniffs deeply. Brogut growls.
“Bad humans,” Ekil says.
At first, I think he’s talking about my father, but then I realize he’s referring to the Banished.
“A lot of them?” I ask.
“Not many,” Ekil says.
“Humans smell very bad,” Brogut adds.
I bite back a retort. Something tells me irony isn’t something the Halves can appreciate.
I signal to Wokee to stop Vlaz. “The Halves say there are Banished ahead.”
“Any Duskers?” Aunt Jadem asks, already sliding off Vlaz’s back.
“Not sure,” I shake my head.
“Stay with Vlaz,” I tell Wokee as he pulls his small knife from his belt.
“But Hemera—”
“Stay here!”
“Draw weapons,” Aunt Jadem says. “The Banished aren’t usually fighters, but with all these Halves….”
A group of the Banished appears through the haze of sun and dust. Brogut snarls, lifting his tree trunk-sharpened-into-a-spear.
“Keep the Halves back behind Vlaz,” I tell Ekil. “I’ll signal you once we’ve explained things to the Banished.” All we need right now is a battle.
Ry, Aunt Jadem, and I slink forward, as if we’re approaching wild animals.
There are more than a dozen Banished. They’re haggard, filthy, and have a desperate look in their eyes. They look like human versions of the Halves.
They carry no weapons, but the ones in front hold up their fists like they’re ready to use them against us. Behind the adults is a small group of children, looking every bit as starved and desperate.
“Friends,” Aunt Jadem holds up an appeasing hand. “We mean you no harm. If we can be of any assistance—”
“Get outta the way,” the one in front shakes his fist. He’s tall and bone-thin, and is holding the frayed end of a rope. At the other end of the rope is another person, a girl who is so emaciated she’s more wraith than human. Her wrists and legs are bound. She seems to be the only one who is tied, though.
“You’re hungry,” Jadem says. “I am the Banished leader of the South. If you come with us, you will find—”
“Malarusk,” the one in front barks. “We’re going to Malarusk.”
Ry, Aunt Jadem, and I exchange puzzled looks.
“Malarusk?” Aunt Jadem repeats.
“Aye.” The others are nodding, like their leader hasn’t gone out of his mind.
Maybe the sun is making them delirious….
“We got waylaid by some Halves, and now we’re turned around.”
“Why are you trying to get to Malarusk?” Ry asks. There’s none of my aunt’s gentleness in her tone.
“For protection from the Halves.”
“But—” Ry and I exchange a horrified look. “The Duskers aren’t going to protect you.”
“If you recall,” Ry says, her voice dripping with sarcasm, “the Duskers are the ones who banished you in the first place.”
“They changed their minds, didn’t they?” The man, clearly these people’s leader, gives the woman on the end of the rope a savage tug. “Promised us protection in exchange for labor.”
“There are only two types of people granted access into Malarusk,” Aunt Jadem says. Her voice is calm, but when she moves her hand, it wavers. “Duskers and prisoners. The Dusk
ers don’t change their minds.”
“Ack, we don’t have time for you. I know what I know, and that’s enough. Come on!” With that, the other Banished behind him begin to shuffle forward.
“How are you planning to get there if you don’t know where the citadel is?” Ry asks.
“Got it all figured out,” the man replies. “We’ll go to Darkness Peak. The new initiates will be headed up the mountain at some point. We can do the ritual and return to Malarusk with them.”
“That ritual is no small thing,” my aunt says, turning to look at the towering mountain behind us.
I’m not even sure she notices how she reaches up to touch her scarred face as she speaks.
“You can’t really be going to Darkness Peak,” I say.
Darkness Peak, the highest mountain outside of the Wild Lands, is the place that’s supposed to contain the Dark God’s spirit. It’s the mountain to which all Duskers and Subterrane Dwellers direct their prayers, and is the place where new Dusker recruits complete their initiation ritual. Those of pure Dusker blood are brought there when they die. They’re set atop great pyres so their spirit will mingle with the Dark God’s. My own grandfather’s body was cremated atop Darkness Peak.
“Aye,” the man replies. “We go to join with them and offer our service to the Dark God.”
“But the Duskers are the ones who made the Banished River go dry,” I say. “They’re the reason for your suffering, not the Halves.”
As if on cue, Ekil and Brogut appear out of the dust.
A chorus of bloodcurdling shrieks rise as the skeletal Banished clamber forward, their hands grasping like claws.
Brogut and Ekil answer with growls of their own. They raise their weapons.
“No!” Ry and I cry.
“There is no need for violence,” my aunt is saying in a soothing voice.
No one listens. Both humans and Halves are crying out for the other’s blood. If I thought the Banished seemed insane before, it’s nothing compared to when they catch sight of the Halves.
Halve Human Page 5
