Rusk settled in closer as we banked in the air over Al’Karida. In the dead of night, the city still glowed golden with candle-light.
“I think we should plan to take her by force.” He wrapped one arm around me like he wanted to know I wasn’t going anywhere.
“So, what? We sneak in, tie her up and throw her over the roc’s back? Did we bring rope?”
“I did.”
Why hadn’t I thought of that? “Do you have a lot of experience kidnapping women?”
“I have a lot of experience being around you. I’ve learned to anticipate the unexpected.”
“I think I might just be flattered,” I said, smiling in the dark.
“You should be, Wild Girl.”
We stopped talking once we could see Azaradi. No one would hear us all the way up in the air, but somehow I felt that Catane could hear every whisper. I knew which window we needed to go to. The High Tazmin’s suite was on the highest floor of the Palace of Doves, with a balcony five times the size of any of the others. It was so large, in fact, that the roc could land on it.
We soared silently over the heads of the guards in the minarets, past the armies still surrounding the city and over the heads of every citizen still living in Azaradi. Anyone looking up at the star-filled sky might see stars appear to blink, but the passing shadow would only last a moment - hopefully not enough for anyone to sound an alarm.The roc banked, circling the Palace of Doves, and then light as a feather, he settled on the balcony, hopping down from the rail to the deck so we could slide off and sneak into the dark room.
I held my breath, slipping in behind Rusk. The room was utterly dark, but the chances of finding Catane there were high. Perhaps I should have checked it in Ra’shara first, but I didn’t want to risk tipping my hand. If Catane had known we were coming for Amandera we wouldn’t have even a sliver of a chance to succeed. His attachment to her was as obvious as the Penspray in spring.
There was a huge bed on a dais in the center of the room and a lump in the bed. I inched forward, my palms sweating. Please don’t be Catane, please don’t be Catane!
The voice in my head was more chaotic but it still was indiscernible. I caught a scrap of what it was saying when I was inches from the bed.
Not your enemy, your other half.
And then it was gone again. I glanced at Rusk. His mouth was tight, sword at the ready. Summoning all my courage, I took a deep breath and pulled the blankets back. A hand snaked forward, sealing my lips with an insistent index finger.
“Be more quiet or you’ll get us all killed,” Amandera whispered, flinging the blankets off and stepping out of the bed fully dressed in a crimson sarette. “What took you so long getting here?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“HURRY,” SHE SAID, SEIZING THE back of my shirt and shoving me in front of her.
“Wha-”
She cut me off with a harsh shushing sound. I stole a glance at Rusk while she frogmarched me back out to the balcony. His expression was a combination of concern and barely concealed humor. I frowned. So it was funny, was it? Seeing our kidnapping victim turn me around like a child and march me out to the very roc we were planning to force her to ride away on?
“I know a place near here where we can go,” she whispered to Rusk. “Here, we’ll ride your bird.”
“It’s not my-”
“Should I just go back to bed and let the two of you try blundering through this again?”
With a huff, I climbed up on the great roc’s back. He shuffled from foot to foot under me. Rusk pulled himself up right behind me, as usual, but a sharp elbow hit my back as Amandera shoved herself between us.
“I can hardly tell him where to fly if I can’t get a word in between you two love birds.” Her whisper was more of a hiss – like the snake she was.
“Where to, princess?” Rusk’s voice was wry.
“This way!” She pointed with a ring-encrusted finger and then the roc leapt from the balcony and the familiar stomach-turned-to-rock feeling left me reeling as we plummeted towards the earth before his wings caught the wind and thrust us heavenward again.
“I could get used to flying,” Amandera said. “It’s the most fun I ever get to have anymore. You have no idea what trouble you’ve caused, girl.”
“What trouble I’ve caused? You must be kidding me! I’ve done nothing but run from torture, desperately seek some kind of freedom from a land that enslaves everyone and only to find out my world was falling apart. I’ve been trying since then to fix it and you’ve been no help at all! And I mean at all! You helped Catane steal Rusk. You helped him kill him. You stood loyally behind him while he wiped out my whole family, your husband, and every weaver on this planet!”
“Has anyone ever told you that you sound shrill when you’re upset? Over that way, Prince of Hawks – towards the river and then downstream to the mouth of the waterfall.”
“The roc can’t go far with three people,” Rusk said. Something about his tone suggested he was hiding emotion from us. Probably humor again. Was our argument that funny to him?
“It’s not far,” Amandera said. “And as for you, Tylira Nyota, let’s get one thing straight. I didn’t want to marry your pathetic excuse of a father, but unlike you, I had an ancestor who could predict the future and she knew that I was needed to fix the cataclysm that was coming. The only way to be sure I could ascend to a place powerful enough to access the resources I needed was to marry a cruel man - older than me by twenty years - even though I was in love with someone else. You think you’re a slave? I’m twice the slave you ever were!”
“Are you talking about Catane?” I made my voice cold on purpose. She thought she was the victim here? Was she kidding? “Because if he’s the one you are in love with, then no wonder you don’t have freedom. You can’t be trusted with it. He’s terrible!”
“You don’t understand.” Her tone was poisonous, like she was trying to keep from tossing me off the roc. She’d better not try!
“We’re at the waterfall,” Rusk interrupted.
“There, on the cliffs. Do you see that white structure?”
“Almost at the top of the cliffs with the water falling all around it?”
“Yes. Can the roc land on the window ledge?”
Rusk whistled a low tone, like he thought she was crazy, but the roc banked, sweeping over the falls. The dawn broke in that moment, blinding me temporarily, and when my vision cleared it was filled with bright rainbows and the diamond flash of water sailing over the edge of the cliffs and freefalling to the river below. It was just like Amandera and I, freefalling over the cliff of all we were meant to be. So, maybe she had a point. Maybe we were the same in some ways. It didn’t mean she was right about anything else.
The roc snagged the window ledge, ducking low into the huge recto-window that filled the narrow wall of the little white shrine.
“What is this place?” I gasped as Rusk carefully maneuvered himself off the bird and helped us down. The rock squeezed back through the window and kicked off again.
“The Rainbow Shrine,” Amandera said, looking around. “This is the first time I’ve seen it since before my wedding. It’s the personal property of the High Tazmin – your father.”
“Your lover, you mean,” I said acidly. “My father is dead, and while none of us miss him particularly, I wish we had him instead of Catane.”
Amandera spun, her gaze studying me intently. “Would you?”
“Obviously.”
“Would you really? You know it was your father, not Catane, who took the land and life of the Prince of Hawk’s family? You know it was he who banished Catane to Axum where the meditation world was corrupt and twisted his mind? You know it was he who ordered your mother to a mission she was sure to die on? I was there the day he did that. I saw her face when she heard his request – and the threat on your life were she to fail. It was he who chained this man to you, telling me as he did so that he fully expected the boy to try to kill you when
he realized who you were. You think he was a better choice? You’re blind.”
I stared at her. I wanted to say something clever, but I didn’t have words. Her revelations were too powerful. I tried to swallow, but my throat was too dry. I settled for licking my lips.
Amandera leaned in close so that it was almost as if she were trying to intimidate me despite being six inches shorter than I was. I took a step back. Okay, maybe it was intimidating.
“It will take the work of a weaver and an unweaver to fix this world. Drusica figured that out years ago. If it isn’t Catane and me, it will need to be you and me.”
“And did you know that when you were training me, when all this began?”
“I knew it. Why do you think I pushed you so hard? Chased you down so intently? This world is more important than the life of one woman…” her eyes looked glassy for a moment and a look of regret passed over her face, “…yours or mine.”
My mouth fell open as I realized what she was saying. She’d known all along. She’d been trying to do the same thing as me the entire time, she’d just been trying to do it a different way. The wrong way, obviously, but still… The voice in my head was right. She was my mirror image, stuck in the same trap, trying to get out and fix everything, just doing it all backward.
I bowed, not too much but enough to acknowledge her words. I didn’t approve, but I did respect her efforts. After all, wouldn’t I have done the exact same thing? Hadn’t I tried to do the same thing? Maybe there was no pure and right way to do it. After all, neither of us had managed to get it right without destroying the people around us. Maybe saving the world always involved breaking it first. Maybe making anything new always meant breaking something else.
I stuck out my hand and she took it, her face hard and sober. There would never be a friendship here, but I finally understood, and it made a difference. I glanced at Rusk. He nodded encouragement, his arms crossed over his chest.
With a sigh, I took the scintellex out of my pocket.
“Then we’d better do the one thing we both agree needs to be done. The time has come to unmake the world…”
“…and remake it.” Amandera’s voice was firm and certain as she reached for the other end of the scintellex.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
WE BOTH GRIPPED OUR ENDS of the scintellex, while Rusk positioned himself next to the window, looking out at the falls. Was he watching for enemies? Exactly what did he expect their attack to look like?
I focused on the scintellex, letting the Common flow through me to it, and opening myself up to it.
“What is this device meant to be?” Amandera asked.
“I think it’s like a lens,” I said, trying to focus. “I think it magnifies our efforts, corrects the imperfections. Just try to let it into your mind.”
“No one goes in my mind but me.”
I sighed. “Are you here to save the world, or fail while trying?”
Her jaw clenched, but after a moment the scintellex began to spin in our grip, just as it had with Evanessa and I. A teal and gold pattern flowed from it, laying itself across the rainbow shrine and out towards the falls.
“If we begin this, promise me that we’ll go to the end. No matter what.” Amandera looked grim.
“Haven’t I proved my dedication? I’ve been fighting for this for weeks. I’ve done unimaginable things.”
We both glanced at Rusk, who wasn’t looking at us.
“So have I,” she whispered.
“Fine,” I said. “I promise.”
“And I promise, too,” Amandera said. “Whatever it takes, this will be done.”
The scintellex spun, its pattern shifting slightly. The voice in my head clamored louder. I fought to hear it, but it was just out of the range of being audible.
Surrender… was the only word I heard.
The scintellex spun faster, the ring in my hand went cold and then power rushed through me, spiraling through my arms and into the scintellex and then swirling around us, whipping like a whirlwind. Our hair and clothes flapped and swirled around us. Our hands lifted, as if of their own accord, and my ears filled with the sound of rushing wind.
This was nothing like it had been with Evanessa. It was as if we were being fully tapped by the scintellex so that it could access every scrap of power - and between us, Amandera and I had a lot of power. The teal and gold pattern pulsed and rippled. I peered out the window, straining my eyes to see where the pattern flowed far off towards the horizon. Everywhere it touched the edge of the pattern unraveled and then recreated the world.
My mouth hung open, and Amandera’s eyes were so wide that they looked like twin bowls. Drusica and Kjexx emerged from Ra’shara, their hands resting on our shoulders.
“Yes!” Kjexx wore a bright grin. “It’s working! This is what we needed. Can you feel it?”
“What about last time?” I asked, eyeing Drusica. Could she last where Evanessa’s ancestor had vanished?
“The four of us are stronger. We can do this!”
I hoped he was right. I could already feel the very edges of my soul feel… irritated, as if the unraveling was touching me.
Amandera narrowed her eyes, pressing her lips together tightly. We were being strained and pulled within. Time had no meaning. I couldn’t tell if it was minutes slipping away or hours.
Twice, Rusk came over to where we were and spoke, but his words couldn’t penetrate the swirling power. My body was immobile as my mind and spirit did the work of unweaving the cataclysm. He laid a hand on my forehead, shaking his head and looking concerned, but eventually he walked away, peering out the window, sword in hand.
My ears had grown numb. I didn’t hear the wind any more, though our hair and garments continued to blow and snap in the force of the gale. My sight was dulling, colors fading, the image in my eye growing blurry and dull. My hands dropped, inch by inch until they hung at my side, lifeless. Only the scintellex still joined one of my hands to Amandera’s.
I was unweaving the cataclysm and Amandera re-weaving reality back behind it. Why had we thought we could do this alone, scintellex or no scintellex?
Drusica swayed, tumbling to the floor, where she lay insensate at Amandera’s feet. Kjexx was a great deal more graceful as he sank to his knees.
I felt the power of exhaustion pulling at me as I fell to join him. Amandera was only seconds behind me.
The sun shone bright and golden into the white shrine and the tiled mosaic under us bore the sign of an heir of Canderabai – or the sign of the Windbearer if Kjexx’s people were right. It seemed fitting. I was, after all, saving them and the world.
Rusk brought a water skin over, wetting our lips as the sun reached its zenith. He did it again in what felt like only minutes later, despite the fact that my lips were dry and cracking. I had fallen to all fours now, barely able to keep myself from lying on the mosaic floor. I feared that if I fell, I would never get up again.
Kjexx lay with his arms wrapped around his head, and Drusica’s face was frozen in a silent scream rictus. What more did we have to give?
The sky shifted from white and blue to red and black and Rusk spun, suddenly, from the window, seizing my shoulders and yelling something in my face. His words were lost to my deaf ears. Amandera’s eyes were closed, her chest heaving with every breath. I felt – light as if there was less of me somehow. I couldn’t summon enough emotion to be worried about it.
Drusica started to spasm, her whole body shuddering violently from one end to the other. Amandera’s grip on the scintellex grew white-knuckled and then her mouth opened in a silent scream, her eyes still screwed shut. Pain hit me like a thousand tiny daggers. I gritted my teeth, watching Kjexx shudder in front of me. I had to stop. We couldn’t’ go on. We didn’t even know how much was left to do.
It felt as if the whole world was pulsing and shuddering with us – and maybe it was because Rusk stumbled in his place near the window. It was as if all the world was a pottery bowl with cracks and fis
sures across it, and within the bowl was hot lava. With every pulse and quiver, the lava pushed outward and split the bowl along its cracks, only to pull back just before it splintered completely.
Rusk threw himself on the floor in front of me. Concern was etched across his face and his lips moved, his eyes frantically looking at me and then the window and then back to me. He jumped up, running to the window, and then the giant roc landed on the ledge. He wanted us to go. Why? We weren’t done yet!
Amandera’s eyes opened to double their normal size, her mouth still stuck in a scream. I could feel my heart racing, my thoughts scattering. It felt like all my edges were gone, unravelled in the process of unweaving the cataclysm. What was I losing in this process? Would I forget parts of myself entirely?
With jerky, strained movements, Amandera wrenched her heartstone from her head, thrusting it to me. I clasped it, so we were both holding it in one hand, the scintellex in the other, our arms crossed over each other as if we were swearing to marriage rites.
Behind Amandera, the air split open and Catane stepped through, his gaze sweeping the room. His hands flew up and Rusk ducked at the exact same moment. Lightning flashed around him and hit the giant roc. It froze, stiff and unresponsive, and then fell from the window. Drusica vanished, suddenly, and then Amandera’s eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground. Catane dove to her side, cradling her head on his lap, but she heaved and shook as the scintellex sucked the last of the life out of her, siphoning off the last of her soul to remake the world.
With her last shudder, the pattern flowed backward, sucking itself back into the scintellex and leaving the world dull with its sudden absence. I fell forwards, gasping for breath, clutching the scintellex and her heartstone to my chest. I could see clearly again, although bright spots danced across my vision. My hearing returned in a rush of sound. Catane keened loudly over Amandera’s still body. The sudden sound hurt my head.
“Run,” Kjexx whispered from where his ghostly figure lay on the ground, faded out so much it was hard to distinguish him from the background.
Thunder Rattles High (Unweaving Chronicles Book 3) Page 12
