Gates of Thread and Stone

by Lori M. Lee

  A jerk of our Gray to the right. A burst of speed. My stomach dropped.

  The Watchmen didn’t expect us. They shouted, diving out of the way, hands slapping for the metal grate. Too late. We blew through the gate into the barren darkness of the Outlands.

  We’d done it. We were fugitives of Ninurta.

  CHAPTER 10

  IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE to see beyond the flat, dry earth illuminated by the energy stone. Avan checked the map every once in a while to make sure we hadn’t gone off course, but we could have been anywhere and nowhere. So far, there was no sign of gargoyles, but anything could be lurking beyond the wall of darkness. It was like riding through empty space, only the sound of metal hooves striking dirt and the wind tugging at my clothes to remind me we were moving at all.

  With nothing to focus on but the red glow of the Gray’s chest and the windblown smell of Avan’s shirt, I slept in intervals. Lucidity was never far out of reach, though. Falling off the saddle and breaking my neck wouldn’t help Reev.

  Being this close to Avan was a practice in contradictions. His body heat and the solid comfort of his back soothed me. I could relax against him and feel secure enough to sleep, even if only lightly. It was almost like being with Reev.

  But Reev didn’t also make me hyperaware of every point of contact between us. The shift of his muscles beneath my cheek. The backs of his thighs. The way our hips aligned on the seat. For the first hour, my heart pounded so hard, it was like a battering ram against my ribs.

  It didn’t help that, surrounded by nothing but the pressing dark, it was as if we were the only two souls in the world.

  Stupid. The dark could also be hiding a pack of gargoyles closing in. I glanced over my shoulder, but I couldn’t see anything except the vague line of the horizon in the blackness.

  I pushed down the paranoia and rested my head against his shoulder blade. I closed my eyes.

  The next time I opened them, daylight had begun to filter in through the clouds, giving my first clear view of the Outlands. Flames of light licked across a flat brown landscape. Low, craggy rock formations rose haphazardly to our left, interspersed with yellow-green cacti.

  My instructors at school said most of the Outlands was desert, and I could see now that this was true. All around, patches of dead grass and copses of skeletal trees marked miles and miles of dry earth with no recognizable roads. Without the map, we would’ve had no idea where to go.

  The wall of darkness was gone, but the world didn’t feel any less empty.

  I leaned a bit in the saddle to try and see Avan’s face. “You should rest,” I said.

  “I’m okay,” he shouted over the wind.

  “I could take over while you sleep. Can’t be that hard. I’m a quick learner.” It was too bad I couldn’t speed up the threads to make the hours go by more quickly. I watched the terrain pass in silence for a few minutes before saying, “Hey, do you think it’s true that there’s nothing out here but dust and gargoyles?”

  “Looks like it.”

  “But seriously. You’ve seen the archived maps. We can’t be the only ones left. It’s just not possible.” Not to mention it’d be incredibly lonely. The maps in the records hall showed whole countries spread across vast lands, filled with cities.

  “If enough people around here survived to rebuild, then it’s likely the same thing happened somewhere else,” he said.

  I had to agree. The alternative was too depressing. But if there were other cities hidden within the expanse of the Outlands, then the people had never tried to make contact. Maybe they believed they were alone as well. Maybe there were even other mahjo out there.

  It made me wonder about those scouts leaving and entering the city. What exactly were they doing? Scouting for habitable land? Harvesting natural resources?

  Either way, it was possible to survive out there if the Black Rider had set up a base somewhere in the Void. Especially if he was sustaining an army of kidnapped Ninurtans.

  When we found Reev, would he still be himself? Or would the Rider have already … I chased away the thought.

  “If there’s anyone else out there,” Avan continued, “they’re too far away to get in contact with. I doubt we’ll run across anyone. Look.” He pointed ahead.

  The terrain was so flat that I could make out a strip of brown and green far in the distance. The border of the forest. It looked like moss growing against the horizon. I couldn’t be seeing that right.

  “We’re almost at the forest already? But it’s only dawn. We can’t have been riding for more than eight hours. How fast are we going?” I looked down, watching the Gray’s hooves practically fly over the ground.

  I could hear the pride in Avan’s voice when he said, “Pretty sweet, right?”

  “But Grays can’t go this fast in Ninurta.”

  “We’re not exactly in Ninurta anymore.”

  “But I didn’t think they were even built to reach this speed.”

  He turned enough for me to glimpse the dimple in his cheek. “I made some modifications to this guy.”

  “Illegal ones.”

  “Says the fugitive.”

  I preferred not to think about that. Anyway, I was grateful for the “modifications.” Not only would we get to Reev sooner, but I’d have to spend less time plastered to Avan’s back. I wasn’t used to being physically close to anyone for so long, not even Reev.

  “How much farther until we reach the forest?” I asked.

  “About an hour.”

  “We can rest then,” I said. “You need sleep.”

  “I’ll be okay. I’ve stayed up longer than this.”

  I didn’t want to know why. But the curiosity remained at the back of my mind.

  “Nervous?” he asked.

  I was. Our knowledge of forests came strictly from school. The trees in Ninurta bloomed for one week a year, but they were sickly and yellow, nothing like the green leaves in the history books.

  White Court experts theorized that there was either a vast source of water hidden inside the forest or an underground reservoir that fed it and kept it alive. But their theories had never been confirmed because they couldn’t get a team of researchers past the gargoyles.

  “I’ve read about the forests. They’re dangerous. Lots of places for wild animals to hide,” I said.

  “What do you really think, though?”

  “I can’t wait to see it,” I admitted. Had the Rider given Reev the chance to appreciate the forest?

  The air became steadily hotter as the hour passed. Moisture gathered where our bodies touched, and although the feeling wasn’t exactly unpleasant, I tried inching back to give us some space. When it grew difficult to swallow, I twisted around to rummage in Avan’s bag for one of the canteens I’d seen him pack. I had forgotten to pack water myself. If Avan had let me go alone, I would’ve died of dehydration before ever finding Reev.

  I hated feeling so incompetent. With a sigh, I maneuvered the open canteen between his arms so he’d see it.

  “Drink?”

  “Thanks,” he said, taking it from me.

  I relished the wind against my face. I drank from a second canteen, taking even more sparing sips than I would have in Ninurta. We didn’t have a pump out here. I took another deep breath of hot, dry air before putting away the water. Something dark flickered at the corner of my eye.

  I jerked my head to the side and scanned the line of rocky outcroppings. Maybe it had been a trick of the li— There it was again!

  A figure darted between the rocks, keeping pace with the Gray despite our speed. I squinted. The figure ran on all fours, with a long tail whipping behind it.

  “Avan,” I rasped, my hands flattening against his stomach.

  A gargoyle.

  CHAPTER 11

  GARGOYLES HAD BEEN native reptiles once, before Rebirth happened more than two centuries ago. But the mass collision of magic and technology during the war had changed them and killed off their major predators. Then, Kahl Ninu
rta I had taken their evolution a step further by combining them with other lizards to create monstrous chimera. But something had gone wrong—I didn’t know what; I assumed the Kahl lost control of them—and he’d abandoned the project, killing those he could and unleashing the rest into the Outlands.

  “They’ve been following us for a while,” Avan said evenly. “I didn’t want to alarm you.”

  Several more figures darted into view. Their powerful legs carried them over the jagged rocks with little trouble. My heart jumped. Of course—they traveled in packs. They must’ve been aware I’d seen them because the one on the rocks jumped off and continued along the flat earth, less than twenty feet away and in full view.

  “Well, I’m alarmed,” I snapped, and then felt immediately guilty. “Sorry. I didn’t mean—”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  I’d heard plenty about the gargoyles but not much about how they looked. The creature following us had a broad head with frills extending over a thick neck and a spiny back. It was lean and long, with sinewy muscles stretching beneath brown skin that looked as hard and dry as the earth.

  Seeing a gargoyle for real made me think about the demons they were whispered to be. The creature looked like something that might have crawled out of fire and brimstone, breathing shadow and smoke.

  “What are they waiting for?” I asked.

  “Not sure.”

  The Gray’s hooves stumbled. I tore my gaze from the gargoyles and held on tight as Avan maneuvered the Gray into a steady gallop. I peered over Avan’s shoulder at the controls. I didn’t know much about Grays, but I could figure out what a frantically flashing light meant. Even in full daylight, I could tell the energy stone was considerably dimmer.

  “Hmm,” Avan said, sounding a lot calmer than I felt. “Definitely smarter than I expected.”

  I connected the dots. The gargoyles had been biding their time, waiting for our energy stone to die out. I tried not to panic but didn’t do a very good job.

  “I thought you said the stone would last us to the Void,” I said.

  “That was my optimism talking.”

  I dug my fingers into his stomach and felt his muscles contract. I slid my hand higher, my palm pressed to his chest, and was somewhat relieved to discover that his heartbeat wasn’t nearly as steady as his voice.

  “Hold on,” he said.

  He bent lower over the Gray’s neck, and I followed suit. I turned slightly to keep an eye on the gargoyles as the Gray burst forward. My arms tightened around Avan. The wind stung my face and tugged at our clothes.

  Every sense sharpened as we raced closer to the tree line. The gargoyles picked up speed along with us. But we were faster. They slowly fell behind.

  The forest was less than a mile ahead. We could make it.

  The gargoyles must have realized this as well because they abandoned their strategy to bide their time and began aiming their claws for the Gray’s legs and flanks. I could hear their snarls and guttural snorts. Clicks and grunts.

  “I think they’re talking to each other,” I said. Maybe the Kahl had combined them with other creatures we didn’t know about.

  Up ahead, the trees were a blockade of brown bark and dry branches, rushing to meet us. I didn’t see enough space for the Gray.

  “Drek,” I whispered, and clenched my eyes shut.

  We crashed through the forest. I held on as the Gray galloped along, jarring us back and forth. Bark scraped my arms. Branches raked across my skin and ripped through my hair. I tucked my face between Avan’s shoulder blades as he forced the Gray through. I dared a glance behind us but couldn’t see the gargoyles. I heard them, though. They mowed through the underbrush with the coarse sound of claws tearing through roots and dirt and scoring the trees.

  The Gray stumbled again.

  I gasped as its front legs rammed into a raised root, the noise screaming in my ears. Or maybe that was me. I lost my grip on Avan, and we flew off the saddle, sailing into the branches. Brown and green whirled in dizzying and painful confusion. I brought up my arms to shield my head as something smashed into my back and shoulder. The air rushed from my lungs. For several excruciating seconds, I couldn’t move or breathe.

  Then I groaned, prayed nothing was broken, and pushed up onto my hands and knees. A few yards away, the Gray lay on its side, metal warped and chest smoking. I blinked through my burning eyes and found Avan also lying nearby. His arm didn’t look right.

  My ears were ringing. I tried to say his name.

  A huge gargoyle burst through the trees and landed on top of the Gray. The metal groaned beneath the gargoyle’s weight. The creature looked at me and then at Avan. It pounced.

  Time crept to a near stop. I heaved forward, fighting against the threads that tied me to its flow. For the first time, I felt them snap around me. My limbs moved quicker, more easily. I focused on Avan’s prone form and the gargoyle—its body extended midleap, its open mouth exposing two sets of serrated teeth, and its curved claws aimed at Avan. The threads brushed against me but didn’t drag. I was free of them.

  I scrambled for the rear of the Gray, reaching for the prostitute’s knife that had fallen from my strewn bag. Then I threw myself in front of Avan and brought up the knife, slashing at the gargoyle’s chest just as my grip on time slipped. Time sprang forward.

  All the air left me again when the gargoyle crashed into me. My back hit the ground, the creature crushing me. I couldn’t even shout.

  My hands came up as I braced for the pain of claws and teeth—but the gargoyle slid off me, slumping to the forest floor. Blood from the knife wound pooled around its chest.

  More gargoyles broke through the trees, pausing near the Gray to take in the scene. They growled, coming closer. I forced myself to my feet, standing between them and Avan. I gripped the knife so hard that my hands hurt.

  Don’t think. Don’t think. I could move free of time now. I could do this.

  I reached again for the threads.

  CHAPTER 12

  THE GARGOYLES STOPPED.

  It wasn’t me—I hadn’t touched time yet. Since I couldn’t hold on to the threads for long, I had to plan it just right.

  One of the gargoyles lowered its head, luminous yellow eyes flicking between me and the dead gargoyle at my feet. A tremor went through its frills, and the other gargoyles backed away. The rest of them lowered their heads as one.

  I licked my dry lips, my bravado ebbing. They didn’t look as if they were determining how best to eat me. If anything, they looked wary, but what did I know about reptiles?

  Maybe they hadn’t expected to lose one of their own. Honestly, I had no idea how I’d even killed the other one, because I was pretty sure I hadn’t cut it deep enough. Their tawny gazes were unflinching. I held their stares. I couldn’t show them weakness, even while my heart pounded in my ears and my breath came in frantic pants.

  “Come on,” I breathed, lifting the knife higher. The threads glittered around me. “If we’re going to do this, then let’s do this.”

  After a moment, it dawned on me that they weren’t looking at me at all. They were looking at the knife in my hands.

  Avan groaned behind me. I heard the rustling of underbrush.

  “Stay still!” I shouted without checking to see if he listened. “You’re—”

  “Fine,” he said.

  He appeared beside me, brushing off his torn tunic. I didn’t dare look away from the gargoyles to inspect his injury.

  “What are they waiting for now?” Avan asked, raising a broken branch that I doubted would be much of an obstacle for their claws.

  The gargoyles looked at Avan, then back at the knife. Suddenly, in unison, they slunk away. They kept their heads down and their bodies low, sliding over root and bush until they had melted into the forest.

  I waited, fear and adrenaline still pumping beneath my skin. Why would they just leave? Was this a trick? Maybe they were circling to attack from behind.

  “I think t
hey’re gone,” Avan said. “That was pretty strange.”

  He lowered his makeshift weapon. I barely heard him.

  “Kai.” His fingertips brushed over my knuckles, coaxing the knife from my rigid hands. I had to remember how to uncurl my fingers.

  Once Avan had the knife, all the energy drained from my limbs. My body folded. Avan caught me around the waist before my knees hit the dirt.

  “They left,” I said, sagging against him in disbelief. I didn’t think I could have fought off a whole pack.

  “You okay?” he asked, setting me down. “Hurt anywhere?”

  Everything hurt. But I shook my head because I could still move, which probably meant nothing was broken. And we were alive. Amazingly.

  “What about you? How’s your arm?”

  His hair was mussed, and bits of leaves tangled in the dark strands, but his expression was composed. I touched his shoulder tentatively. My hands passed down his arm, at the spot where I was certain it had been broken, but I felt nothing.

  “What? I thought …” I ran my hand back up to his shoulder and then trailed my fingers down his chest, searching for injuries. I must have seen wrong—I had been reeling from the crash and panicking about the gargoyles.

  He cleared his throat. My fingers stilled over his stomach. He gently pushed my hands away and stood. “I’m not hurt.”

  I gripped my shirt. My knuckles stung in protest. “Sorry, I didn’t—” I’d practically groped him. “I was worried. I could have sworn I— I’m sorry.”

  He flicked hair off his face, leaving a streak of dirt on his forehead. “I’m glad you’re not hurt.”

  I gathered my wits, which currently lay scattered with the debris from our crash landing. We’d have to leave the Gray behind. It was useless now. Same with the energy stone, which was all but spent. Avan kept the branch; a crude weapon was better than none. Then we gathered up our bags, and I took out the map to determine our location. But after our blind charge into the trees, I couldn’t be sure which direction we needed to take without a compass.