He didn’t answer, and the silence stretched uncomfortably between us.
“What was her name?”
“Lira.”
“I’m sorry about Lira.”
“You didn’t know her.”
I wish I had. Would she have had Rusk’s kind heart?
“I wish-”
“Not now, Tylira.”
Ouch. That stung. He needed space away from me. If only we weren’t bound together. Wait…
“Amandera,” I called. “Come here and remove this tether.”
Amandera’s expression turned to a knowing one like she had a secret.
“Stop staring and get over here! Take it off.”
Rusk’s hand whipped out, snake-quick and grabbed my arm. His face was tear-streaked, but determined when he said, “No.”
“You need your space,” I said, voice gentle.
“No.”
“You don’t understand. I’ll suck your life out with this tether.”
“It’s not for you alone to say.”
I swallowed. What should I do? Indulge him in his grief? Do what was best for him, even if he didn’t want it? I dropped my gaze and nodded. It was his sorrow, and therefore his decision. Amandera laughed.
“You can stop laughing, stepmother,” I said. “Exactly how warm was the High Tazmin’s greeting when you returned to his lands with your lover?”
“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t been there yet,” she said, cool as a night evening as if her betrayal of my father meant nothing.
“You didn’t fly there in this Tooth, you flew in the other direction?” I wanted to pour my frustration over her head like cold water from Astrex’s jug.
“I flew to find hope for our world. You’ll blame me for that?”
How could I? Hadn’t I just been trying to push her into that very thing? But did I really believe her? Amandera had been nothing but a snake all the time I’d known her. It wasn’t safe to let my guard down with her.
“Will it still fly?” I asked.
“No. It crashed, didn’t it?”
“Why did it crash?” I had a bad feeling that the crash had something to do with the hot cylinder with the mysterious writing engraved on it.
“There was thunder. The sky split a little and something hit the Tooth. Everything inside stopped working and it just started to fall.”
“Well, you look fine, despite it all.”
She grimaced, her hand moving unconsciously to her side. She was definitely injured there.
“Are you hurt?”
She looked away. Well, if she didn’t want to admit it, then I wouldn’t push her, but I needed to decide whether to trust her.
“So, we can’t use this Tooth. I could make another hole in the world and enter the High Tazmin’s palace.”
“Can you do that?” Rusk asked, he’d composed himself, though his eyes looked watery.
“Likely.”
“I have a better plan,” he said. “We could use a Tooth, both to rescue Evanessa and to seal that rift across the sky. You’ll need your power for that, and wasting it jumping from one place to another won’t fix this world. We’ll probably need to get closer to it when you work whatever solution you find. I think you should drill a hole to the Event Alura and we should take one of the surviving Teeth from there. We can fly it to Azaradi and use it to steal back my sister. It will make a great asset in coming battles.”
“So, we rescue your sister first?” I asked, trying to make my tone neutral.
He clenched his jaw, “Are you suggesting something else should take priority?”
No. I couldn’t do that. Not now, with the news he just heard. Reluctantly, I shook my head.
He ran a hand through his hair, his body language looked tired and sad. I would have agreed to anything just to see him smile again.
But what should I do with Amandera? I didn’t dare let her out of my sight. She was far too dangerous. Could I afford to trust her enough to work with her? I’d just have to hope she wouldn’t betray us.
“And you will come with us, Amandera,” I said.
“We should work together to fix this catalysm,” she agreed. “Catane would like that. This world is no use to him if it splinters apart.”
I clenched my teeth. “If you mention Catane again, you’ll wish that you’d died when the Tooth crashed.”
I didn’t wait for a response. I focused inward and entered Ra’shara, punching a physical hole through reality into Ra’shara and then back to our own world – on the island where the ruined spaceship, the Event Alura, was stashed. I half expected a furious An’alepp to yell in my ear about how dangerous this was and how I shouldn’t do it. Instead, there was only Kjexx.
“Interesting. I can almost see how you managed that.”
“I thought you needed space,” I said.
“I do. I just came back to tell you that the ancestor didn’t know anything helpful. You should rip these holes every time you travel. It would save so much time.”
“An’alepp seemed to think that it contributed to the destruction of reality.”
In the real world, I was walking through the hole, Rusk and Amandera following me, while in the spirit world I spoke to Kjexx.
“Well, I don’t see her here complaining.”
I had a sudden vision of her two feet, left fixed in the ground in Axum. A wave of nausea washed over me, and I quickly dropped back into my own body.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” Rusk said, surveying the lush island as he spoke.
“You left Graxx behind?” I said. Had I been so distracted talking with Kjexx that I’d failed to notice that? I needed to be careful not to let the spirit world suck away my focus in the real world.
“He has his own journey to take.” Rusk shot a glance towards Amandera. Whatever he’d planned with Graxx wasn’t for her ears.
“Then we’d better find a functional Tooth and get moving,” I said, setting out towards where we’d left them, such a short time ago. “You failed the High Tazmin when you left them here, Amandera.”
“I have failed him in many ways, Tylira, and surpassed him in so many more.”
I blinked. Of all people, I never would have expected Amandera to say that.
CHAPTER NINE
“I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW QUICKLY we can go. We’ve crossed half the kingdom,” I said, staring out the window of the Tooth.
I’d thought we could take Amandera to task on the long journey, but we’d uncovered the Tooth quickly, settled ourselves within and begun to fly immediately. Now, only half an hour later, we were most of the way to our destination.
Rusk moved his hands with care in the hologram, his full attention absorbed in the work. Should I worry about him? Maybe working to free the sister that lived would help with his grief for the sister who had not lived.
Amandera sat silently in her seat. What should I do with her? I wished An’alepp was still here, so I could ask her. She would have wanted me to forgive Amandera and turn her to our side. But how would I do that? And did I even want to? I didn’t want revenge anymore, but I didn’t really want her around, either. I just wanted her gone.
“When we get there, Rusk will land in the tiered gardens and then you will take us directly to Evanessa.”
“Yes,” Amandera agreed, her eyes on the landscape below.
“You won’t betray us. You’ll make sure no one suspects.”
“Yes.”
I watched the clouds out the window, so close, but so far away. That’s what Amandera felt like. I didn’t trust her, not at all.
“I don’t understand why you’d agree.”
“You think you’re the only one who cares about this world? Who wants to save it? You’re the most unlikely hero, Tylira. If anyone should be suspicious, it should be me.”
“I’m not the one in league with Catane! I’m not the one who betrayed everyone!”
“You don’t know him,” she whispered. “What he’s been through…”
>
“What? What has the precious tyrant been through?” This was ridiculous! As if I’d feel sympathy for a villain like Catane!
“Enough.” Rusk’s voice was a shock. I hadn’t thought he was listening to us. “I don’t want to hear her speak again until we get to the palace. We retrieve Evanessa and then we’re done with her.”
His tone puzzled me. It was like a flinch, a pulling away from something painful. What had they done to him while he was their captive? My eyes narrowed and I bit my lip. I needed to consider carefully what to do with Amandera. I didn’t have only myself to think about – not anymore.
“We might need her to mend the cataclysm,” I said.
“Evanessa can do that. She said so.” His tone sounded bitter.
I wasn’t so sure - She’d be young, wouldn’t she? How much could she know? I didn’t want to argue, so I looked out at the rolling landscape. There was a city, glorious and sprawling with golden lacey bridges decking it like spider webs – wait! – it was Al’Karida! It looked so different from above that I barely recognized it!
And there, over across the rolling hills was Azaradi. How high up were we? It was growing closer.
Just outside the city walls, the air seemed to slice apart and peel back. Was that figure in front of the rip Catane? He gleamed in the sunlight, his shadow stretched behind him, and in front of him, armed men poured through the rip, spilling out onto the landscape before them like the water when a dam is opened.
“Rusk!” I cried.
“I see them.”
“It’s an army.”
Amandera was suspiciously quiet. I glanced at her, but her hands were in her lap. Was she in Ra’shara? Hopefully, she wasn’t up to trouble.
“We’ll have to hurry,” Rusk said, his face tightening with concentration as he banked towards the sprawling city.
Azaradi was built over ragged hills along the banks of the Penspray River. My mouth hung open as we dipped to one side, spiraling around the city. I’d never been to Azaradi and to think that I’d be arriving from the air!
The streets looked like narrow white ribbons, with mushroom-like growths on either side, which were inns and shops and temples. Streets wound round the jutting hills, like the shells of snails, and tiered levels left one set of buildings almost sitting on top of the ones beneath.
In the streets, people danced and flung flowers in the air while troops of drummers marched up and down the streets. They looked smaller than insects from this height. Dancers shook the coin belts on their hips in undulating line dances and star-dancers were flung far into the air by their dance-mates and then caught as they fell back to the ground.
I studied them hungrily. I’d always wanted to see the capitol on the Day of the Orange Lily – and that must be what this was. Orange water lilies hung in chains around every neck and were woven into their hair or tossed at passersby.
At the top of the highest hill, the Palace of Doves sprawled, its foundations reaching far like the roots of an oak tree. On the thousand wide steps leading up to the doors, a mass of people flowed. Did the palace always see so much traffic throughout the day, or was it just because of the festival?
“I’ve always wanted to see Azaradi during the Day of the Orange Lily,”I glanced at Amandera, but her face was expressionless. “Won’t it make it harder to find Evanessa if she isn’t in her rooms?”
We were close to the top spires of the palace, close enough to see curtains fluttering in the wide windows of the upper floors, and beneath us the emerald gem of the fabled tiered gardens sat like a fruit waiting to be plucked. Rusk circled it, his movements careful and measured as he lowered us silently, closer and closer, into the densely treed park. The waterfall on the north end nearly brushed the belly of the Tooth as she descended lower and lower between the fronds of the trees and then down onto the flowers beds below.
“She’ll be preparing in her room. The true celebrations won’t take place until nightfall, when all the High Tazmin’s consorts will be expected to look their best as they pass out gifts to the people.”
Her lips twisted as she spoke. She’d always seemed proud to be a consort of the High Tazmin. Had I misunderstood, or had she been lying all this time?
No guards rushed forward as the Tooth settled. No cry was sounded and fortunately the engines were to silent to be heard. It was as if we had crept into a sleeping house.
“And now we hurry,” Rusk said, leaping out of his chair and rushing towards the door.
I scrambled to follow him, grabbing Amandera by her upper arm and shoving her ahead of me. I shouldn’t be trusting her. I should be tying her with cords and stashing her in an empty room. “Lead the way, High Tazminera. This is your world.”
“You don’t need to act like a common barmaid, Tylira. I will do as I promised.”
Rusk shoved the door of the Tooth open and then drew his spatha. If trouble came, he’d be ready. Amandera and I followed awkwardly behind. I refused to believe that she wouldn’t betray us at the first opportunity.
“You look suspicious when you drag a High Tazminera around against her will. If you wish to avoid suspicion, you will need to trust me not to run.” Amandera looked far too confident as she strode through the garden. I didn’t like seeing her so sure of herself.
“Why wouldn’t you? Don’t you have a beloved husband here somewhere?”
Her mouth drew into a firm line. “Don’t you have a father? Or have you forgotten your loyalties?”
“I’m as loyal to this place as it ever was to me.”
“It marked you as heir. That should be enough for anyone. I could live a thousand years here and I will never see such power.” She had so much bitterness in her voice!
Then again, it was something I hadn’t considered.
“Which way?” Rusk asked as we came to a wide arch. Hallways carved with arches and scrollwork spread out in three directions.
“Follow me,” Amandera said, taking the lead.
I stiffened as we turned the first corner, passing a knot of servants carrying baskets of linens. They bowed low, hands clenched over their hearts. I shouldn’t have been worried. Servants never look at their betters. But what if we met another Tazmin or Tazminera? We had to be quicker.
“Why is it so empty here?” I asked as we turned another corner. The Silken Gardens would have been bustling with people at this time of day, but we had seen only servants. Where were the other people?
“The Palace of Doves is a more peaceful place than the low places you’ve been frequenting,” Amandera said, sniffing as she spoke. “Here. This is her door.”
Rusk’s adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. Was he nervous to see his sister again?
“Wait,” I said, catching his arm. “What if it’s a trap?”
Amandera cleared her throat. “You should know before you go in, that the High Tazmin has taken her as one of his consorts.”
I gasped.
“Don’t be silly,” Rusk said and opened the door.
CHAPTER TEN
THE CHAMBER WE ENTERED WAS as large and opulent as Catane’s had been in the Heart of Veen. I would have liked to study the carvings that decorated the pillars in the corners – they looked like snakes and doves – or the books on the golden-lattice shelf to one side, but Rusk strode forward like he was laying siege to his sister’s bedroom, and with the eight foot tether linking us, I had no other option than to be dragged along behind him.
I tried to keep an eye on Amandera. I did not believe that she could be trusted, even if she had brought us here exactly as she promised. Could she really be telling the truth when she said Evanessa was married to the High Tazmin? Rusk clearly did not believe it, but I suspected that it was true. Was that the reason that Amandera’s loyalty to him seemed to have shattered? Had she taken up with Catane as revenge on the High Tazmin?
We passed through the anteroom into an open courtyard with a tinkling fountain and a koi pond. She certainly had lavish rooms here. Stone benches and well-
tended orchids decorated the open courtyard, but no one was here.
“Evanessa?” Rusk called.
I couldn’t shake the memory of those people running through the rift Catane had ripped into space just outside Azaradi. How long would it take for them to reach the Palace of Doves? Should we be running to warn someone? I was no friend of the High Tazmin’s but these were my people. This was my nation. I had a terrible sinking feeling that disaster was just over the next hill. I felt, suddenly, that my first visit to Azaradi was far too late coming.
“Evanessa?”
The next room was a bed-chamber, and as we plunged through the white, filmy curtains, all I could see was the unmade bed, lavish and soft. It was far too large for just one person. Rusk’s breath caught, and he was so still I almost thought he might shatter if I were to touch him.
Seated before a tall mirror, poised with brush in hand, sat a young woman in a white sarette. Her eyes widened at the sight of us in her mirror. On her head, a pink heartstone glowed gently, and orange waterlilies were threaded into her hair.
I heard Amandera’s snort of derision from behind me. There was certainly no love lost there.
“Rusk!” the girl dropped her brush, tears flooding her eyes as she ran to him.
He caught her in his embrace and, for a minute, I thought she might break in his tight hug. I blinked back tears of my own, happy for him. It wasn’t my place to be a part of this, but it wasn’t like I could give them their space. I stood awkwardly beside him, watching.
Amandera shifted and I glanced at her. She was smirking at me as if she’d scored some kind of point.
“Can we get on with saving the world, then?” Amandera asked.
“Saving the world?” Evanessa asked. Her accent was more pronounced than Rusk’s, and her expression careful, despite the joy in it.
“Don’t worry about that. I’m just so happy to see you,” Rusk said. “I thought I’d arranged your freedom, but they lied to me.”
“Freedom?” she asked, surprised. “I’m not the one chained.”
The look she sent my way was spiteful.
Thunder Rattles High (Unweaving Chronicles Book 3) Page 4
