“Good morning,” Halvor said.
“What brings you to Dimalle?” one asked, pocketing the dice he’d been holding.
“We’re stopping for supplies. My wife and I are traveling to Mercarum.”
The guard looked us over, then jerked his thumb to the man beside him. “Let ’em in.”
“Thank you.” Halvor tipped his head as we passed through the gate.
“See?” Halvor murmured to me as we entered Dimalle. “Nothing to worry about.”
“Yet,” I replied under my breath.
It was still early, but the town was already awake, men and women bustling here and there; some bent over gardens enclosed by whitewashed fences, some talking in small groups, some meandering from house to house on the side paths, and some pulling carts and wagons down the large, main road we walked on. The air was a maelstrom of scents—fresh bread that made my stomach growl, some sort of roasted meat, a waft of spice, a hint of floral perfume, a putrid undertone of waste. A few people looked at us as we walked by, but quickly moved on with their day, hardly taking notice of the dirty, travel-weary couple following the trail of goods and food converging on the town’s market.
Regardless, I inched closer to Halvor, my heartbeat skittish. There were so many people.
“Are you all right?” Halvor glanced down at his forearm where I clutched him so tightly, my knuckles were as white as his shirt.
“Fine,” I said, forcing myself to release him. There were little crescent marks in the fabric from my nails. “Sorry.”
“I didn’t think this would be overwhelming for you after your adventures in Visimperum.”
The square was visible up ahead now. Brightly colored flags snapped in the breeze. Large groups of men and woman flowed around the carts and wagons, like a river made of bodies. The din of voices grew louder and louder as we approached. “That was a different kind of adventure.”
“Follow my lead, then,” he advised quietly, holding out his elbow for me to thread my hand through.
I nodded, all too happy to do just that.
We entered the market, Halvor guiding me through the crowds, our gait unhurried, perusing the wares for sale, but not drawing close to any cart or wagon yet. As we meandered, we caught snippets of conversations, very little of it useful—mostly neighbors and acquaintances chatting about crops, the weather, their children, and other everyday life happenings. I’d begun to lose hope, until we crossed near a trio of men, huddled together, their voices barely audible over the din in the square.
“… completely destroyed, burned to the ground,” one was saying, and Halvor immediately slowed his pace.
“They say there was nothing left,” another man added. “Other than some charred bones. What Paladin can do that?”
I stiffened, causing Halvor to stumble, neatly covering it up by acting like there had been a stone on the ground. Instead of moving past the men, Halvor turned toward them, sending my already-beleaguered heart hammering into my ribcage.
“Pardon the interruption, but did I hear you say there was a Paladin attack somewhere?”
The trio spun to face us, and I shrank back from the force of their combined scrutiny.
When they didn’t respond right away, Halvor continued, “My wife and I are traveling to Mercarum, and I don’t want to risk her safety if those … those monsters are back in Vamala again.”
The initial distrust on the townsmen’s faces transformed into eagerness at Halvor’s words. “You haven’t heard?”
“No—we’ve been on the road. Is it true? Are they … back?” His voice lowered to a shocked—and terrified—hush.
“Yes,” one of them affirmed. “The only survivor of the attack came through here yesterday and told us all about it.”
I shuddered, thinking of so many dead—killed because Barloc had escaped. What was his purpose in killing them? What possible reason could there be to slaughter innocent people?
“What did he say? Where was the attack?”
“He was from Ivra. He said the Paladin came during the night on their gryphons. The attack was unlike anything he’d ever seen before—they incinerated the entire village in a matter of minutes. No one escaped. Barloc only survived because they thought they’d killed him; he had to lay underneath his brother-in-law’s body to protect himself from the fire.” The man sounded equal parts horrified and fascinated.
At the sound of that name, my knees nearly gave out. Halvor jerked as if he’d been slapped.
“Barloc?” he managed to force out. Could they hear the way his voice shook?
“Yes, that was the survivor’s name. Did you know him?”
“I … I don’t think so. It sounded like someone I know, but I’ve never been to Ivra.” Halvor managed to salvage his reaction.
My fingers dug into his arm to try to keep from collapsing. How was he still able to speak clearly—to not turn and sprint for the gate? “Is … is he still here? The survivor?” Halvor asked faintly, his arm beneath my hand trembling.
“No, he left last night. Said he was heading to Retrarum, to warn other towns along the way and try to reach the High Judges before those monsters do.”
If only they’d known the true monster had been in their midst, had announced his plans directly to their faces. But … why?
“How he thinks he’ll beat a horde of Paladin on their gryphons is beyond me,” one of the other men piped up. “Crazy old man.”
“Well, he did lose his whole family and village,” the third one pointed out. “I’d probably be out of my mind too, if I’d just been through that.”
The first man who had done most of the speaking rolled his eyes. His compassion was astounding. “Anyway, if what he said is true, the Paladin are headed for the capital, so you should be safe going to Mercarum.”
Halvor put his hand over mine, covering the whiteness of my knuckles where I gripped him too tightly again. “Crazy or not, I hope the warning reaches the judges in time.”
The second man shrugged. “The garrison stationed here sent out emissaries to warn surrounding towns and runners on horseback to the capital. Perhaps they will have a chance of beating the gryphons—especially if a garrison succeeds in capturing and stopping them first. Soon all of Vamala will be on alert for their presence.”
“Good,” Halvor said, even though his skin flashed cold beneath his shirt. “Well, we won’t take up any more of your morning.”
“Good luck out there.” The third man tipped his head at us as the trio turned away and moved on into market.
Halvor and I stood there, watching them merge into the flow of people, frozen with shock.
“We need to get the food and get back,” he finally said, tugging me forward to the nearest cart. I hardly noticed what he purchased, my mind whirling over what they’d told us. None of it made sense. Why would Barloc murder an entire village, then come to the next town and announce his plans to travel to the capital? We were supposed to be trying to figure out how to set up a trap for him—but I had the sinking feeling he was doing the same thing for us. Now we not only had to track him down before he killed again and somehow make sure he found out I was an enhancer—we also had to avoid the garrisons that would all be looking for a supposedly murderous group of Paladin on their gryphons.
A fist of ice clenched my lungs, threatening to pull me under, drowning me in the rising tide of panic. We had to get back to my family—to warn them. I needed to get out of here … I needed to get back to Raidyn.
Halvor glanced over at me, a clear warning on his face. I was breathing too quickly, struggling to get enough air. How was he so calm? After what we had just learned—what we now faced?
“Is she—”
“She’s fine; crowds make her nervous,” Halvor answered for me, gathering up the rest of the food he’d purchased, shoving it in his knapsack and quickly guiding me away from the concerned merchant.
We weaved through the surging mass of men and women and children; most of the conversations
we passed turned to the rumor of the Paladin returning to Vamala, and the village they’d destroyed. Crossing that square full of strangers was almost more than I could handle. But finally, we broke free of the current of people onto the less crowded main road we’d initially walked down, heading back to the gate.
It was already growing hot, and yet I still shivered, panic’s cold grip growing stronger and stronger. By the time we reached the gateway and the guards who had nodded us through earlier, I was so light-headed I had to hold on to Halvor to keep forcing my legs to move forward.
“Going so soon?” one of them asked as we walked past, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
“We just needed supplies,” Halvor said. “After hearing about the attack, we decided we’d better hurry on our way to warn our families.”
The guard’s knuckles whitened on the hilt of his sword, his eyes moving over our heads to the forest and sky—mercifully empty of gryphons—beyond. “Good luck out there. Hope you make it home.”
“Thanks.” Halvor pulled me forward as quickly as he could without breaking into a run. It was difficult to know if my lungs burned from the quick pace or from the fist of terror squeezing my oxygen away.
The moment we crested the hill and were out of sight of the guards on the other side, Halvor veered off the road, plunging us into the leaf-dappled shade of the forest. I gasped for air, my blood a rush of heat and fear in my veins, as he dragged me deeper and deeper into the woods, away from the road and Dimalle. Minutes, a lifetime, or seconds passed before he finally slowed and then stopped.
“Zuhra. Look at me. Zuhra!”
Instead, I stumbled to the nearest tree. The bark bit into the tender skin of my palms; strangely the pricks of pain forced the panic back enough for the roar in my ears to abate and my panting to slow.
Just in time to hear the sound of wings flapping overhead and a surge of terror that was separate from mine—one that I immediately recognized.
“No. What is he doing?” Halvor stared at the trees above us.
I followed his gaze and my legs nearly gave out. A familiar gryphon hovered low over the treetops, Raidyn scanning the area intently, the terror I felt—his terror—nearly choking me. Something was horribly wrong. The trees we stood beneath had branches heavy with thick, dark leaves, so that his gaze ran right over where we stood. Naiki continued on without stopping.
“Raidyn!” I shouted, heedless of the guards close enough to possibly hear. “Raidyn!”
Whether it was the flapping of Naiki’s wings or the wind in his ears, he didn’t pull back on the reins, didn’t turn her toward us—flying straight for the road and the town beyond that would think he’d come to murder them all. The horror of the war stories I’d been told churned through my mind like flashes normally contained to nightmares—images of Paladin and their gryphons being killed by the humans, despite the Paladin’s superior power, because of their sheer numbers.
There was only one of Raidyn and an entire town full of hundreds if not thousands of angry, upset, frightened humans.
“Raidyn!” I raced back through the trees. I had to stop him.
Halvor grabbed my arm, yanking me to a halt. “Zuhra, what do you think—”
I ripped free of his grip without a word and bolted, leaping over fallen tree trunks, crashing through undergrowth and bushes that tore at my pants and exposed skin with sharp thorns and tangled branches, my gaze on the sky above the entire time—tracking the progress of the gryphon that was easily outdistancing me even at such a slow speed for her.
I burst out onto the empty road, just in time to see Naiki swooping over the crest of the hill, toward Dimalle and the guards who had no doubt spotted them by now.
“No! Raidyn!”
The hard earth hurt the soles of my feet, even through the supple leather of the boots I wore, as I sprinted up that hill, desperation burning like acid in my lungs—his and mine. A low shout was followed by more yells and a shriek that had to come from Naiki. I pushed myself harder, but it wasn’t enough—I wasn’t fast enough and I knew it. Horror blossomed in my chest, spreading through my body like blood pouring from a wound—the exact scene I was terrified I would find when I finally made it to that wall where Raidyn had probably flown straight into his doom.
Why? Why had he done it?
I’d almost reached the top of the hill when I heard wingbeats—from behind me. I spun, praying it was somehow, miraculously, Raidyn and Naiki, but knowing it couldn’t be when the ground trembled beneath my feet at the same moment the boom of an explosion detonated through the air on the other side of the hill.
“Zuhra! Where is he?” my father yelled from the back of Taavi, but his gryphon suddenly keened, pulling at his reins, his dark eyes wide and his beak lifted to the air.
I pointed at the hill, and he urged Taavi forward even faster. The gryphon needed no encouragement; he lowered his head and put on a burst of speed that lifted dirt from the packed earth as they passed me, driving it into my face. I followed as quickly as possible, but every painful step felt like I was moving backward not forward—the top of that cursed hill somehow getting farther and farther away.
Suddenly, Halvor was at my side. He grabbed my arm again, but before I could try to pull free, I realized he was dragging me up this time, not to a stop. He was trying to help me.
Finally, we reached the crest, only to stumble to a halt, my hands going to my mouth. My trembling legs collapsed, forcing me to my knees at the scene below us.
“Raidyn!” My throat was so raw, his name cracked halfway through my scream.
Taavi and my father were flying straight up into the air, out of range of the archers—archers that had shot Naiki down. She lay on her side, an arrow protruding from her left wing, blood pooling around her beautiful golden feathers, staining them garish red. Raidyn stood in front of her, but he faced at least twenty men wielding swords and spears. Every vein in his body glowed with his power—power that he had already expended to blast the gateway apart. It lay in a pile of melted iron and rubble, with more armed men clambering over it.
“I don’t want to hurt you—but I will if you don’t tell me where she is!” His words carried on the wind that blew my hair back from my wet cheeks.
Was he looking for me?
I scrambled back to my feet.
“Zuhra—what are you doing?” Halvor turned to me, his face pale and hazel eyes wide.
“We have to stop them!”
Halvor shook his head, his eyes widening further. “There’s nothing we can do!”
There was no time to convince him. Instead, I sent a desperate prayer to the Great God and ran for the carnage below.
TWENTY
INARA
Mother stood next to me, gripping my hand tightly in hers. Sharmaine paced back and forth in front of her gryphon, Keko, while Loukas leaned against a tree, his arms crossed, eyebrows pulled down into a scowl, Maddok a short distance away, his feathers fluffed in agitation.
Father had left only a minute or two after Raidyn, despite Mother begging him not to leave her. Father and Taavi were still visible in the distance, but soon would disappear as Raidyn and Naiki had.
I wanted to pace like Sharmaine, or scowl like Loukas, or even climb onto one of those gryphons and take off after them. Instead, I remained motionless, while Raidyn’s words echoed through my mind over and over. Something’s wrong. Something’s very wrong. I can feel it. I can feel her.
Father had argued with him, though he’d paled at Raidyn’s words. It’s too dangerous. You can’t go after her in full daylight. She’s still alive—you can feel that, right? If you go after her, they will kill you.
Raidyn had ignored him, climbing onto Naiki’s back. She’s completely panicked—she’s terrified. I can’t just sit here and hope she’s fine. I’m going to find her. I have to.
“I can’t believe he left me. I can’t believe he’s gone.” Mother’s hand was a vise on mine; my fingers tingled from the lack of blood.
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br /> “He didn’t leave you,” I assured her, though he had in fact done exactly that. “He’s gone after Zuhra. There’s a difference.”
“I know … but … I’m scared.” She stared at the speck that was all we could see of him in the distance with an intensity that frightened me. But not as much as the fear of what had happened to Zuhra. What if they’d run into Barloc? “I’m afraid none of them will come back.”
I had felt it too. Not as strongly as Raidyn, but I’d felt it. The distant echo of terror that wasn’t my own and panic that slicked my hands with cold sweat, making my heart flutter like a frightened bird’s wings, rapid and quickly weakening.
“I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t come back again.”
“Stop making everything about you.” I yanked my hand free and stormed away—straight past Sharmaine, who had paused her pacing at my outburst, auburn eyebrows lifted. Disbelief? Dismay? It was hard to tell, and I wasn’t sure I cared. I didn’t know her, I didn’t know Loukas, I didn’t want to know them. I didn’t want to be out here, lost in some forest deep in Vamala, with only my mother and two Paladin who were little more than strangers. I didn’t want to have a connection with Barloc, or need to track him down and do what Sachiel had told me was required to regain my power.
But here we were, and there was nothing any of us could do to go back to how things once were. We could only go forward.
I was done waiting, always waiting. Stuck in cages all my life: cages made of poisonous green vines, of power that roared and drowned and saved all at once, of fear that bared bloody teeth, pressing me into the ground, shoving me into a corner, paralyzed. My sister was out there, and something was wrong. She was suffering; she needed help.
I would not stay in that clearing, holding Mother’s hand, thinking I’d been left behind again when I could go and do.
What? I had no idea. But I would figure it out.
Twigs and branches cracked behind me from heavy footsteps; it had to be Loukas. Would he try to force me to change my mind? My face flushed hot at the immediate assumption. He’d never done anything to lead me to believe he’d used his ability on any of us yet … why would he start now? He would have been better to force Raidyn to stay if he were going to make anyone do anything. Though he’d been visibly angry at his friend’s insistence on going in search of Zuhra despite the danger, he’d let him go.
Warriors of Wing and Flame Page 15
