He had no idea that anything had been wrong. He’d fallen asleep, and then awoken, and that was all he knew. If he’d died, he would have died in his sleep, unaware that anything was awry. She wasn’t sure if that comforted or terrified her.
She looked up at him, tears brimming in her eyes. “I couldn’t wake you. The death has reached the city. I was afraid that the same thing that happened to those animals in the woods had happened to you.”
“I don’t understand,” he said. “I’m awake.”
“Yes,” she sighed. “We need to go. I’ll tell you everything while you get ready.”
She stepped away as he moved to get up. When her hand disconnected from him, his eyelids fluttered and his head began to tip downward. Novikke rushed to grab him again, and his eyes shot wide again. He gaped at her.
His fingers dragged lightly over hers, searching for something. Novikke could feel the slight tingling of magic flowing from her into him. He could feel it now, too. He watched her curiously.
“Don’t let go of me,” he said.
“I won’t.”
He was in disbelief when she’d explained everything that had happened. He went out to the balcony over the bar to see it for himself. Novikke went with him, holding onto his hand. He stared at the limp bodies on the floor and in chairs.
He stepped back, his expression tight. “The entire city is like this?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He looked at her like he no longer knew her. He looked down at her hand, now interwoven with strange threads of magic and darkness. “Avan said Ravi gave you a part of herself?”
It was hard to tell if he was upset. A human taking a piece of the goddess of the Varai—it must have been blasphemous. Avan had seen the tree give Novikke her power, and even she had been conflicted about it. The only reason it had happened was that Novikke was the only one left in Vondh Rav capable of doing what needed to be done.
The Varai were all connected to the tree’s magic—the magic that was dying. Novikke did not think they would have the strength left to carry a piece of the heart, or the tree would have given it to Avan, instead.
“I didn’t ask for it,” she said apologetically. “It just… happened.”
“Because she deemed you worthy,” he said with a note of satisfaction. He approved.
“She only entrusted me with this because she had no other choice.”
“If anyone could be trusted with it, it’s you.” He considered her for a long moment. “Maybe she is like us. She knows that your people and mine should not be working against each other. Maybe she realized that long before the rest of us. Maybe there was a reason we were both on the road that night. Maybe we were meant to meet.”
She had a hard time imagining the gods had ever had such a hand in the life of someone as insignificant as herself. “I’m glad we were both there, even if it wasn’t orchestrated by the gods.” She smiled, then looked down at her hand. “Kadaki said that we might be able to reverse this if we had a large enough source of magic to give back to the axis. Do you think a piece of a god would do the trick?”
“I think it might.”
“Then let’s get back to the ruins and figure out a way to get this thing out of me and into the axis.”
He nodded, blinking slowly. Suddenly she noticed the subtle sluggishness of his movements, as if he was about to fall asleep again. She squeezed his hand.
“Don’t let go,” he said again.
“I’m not going to.”
He nodded. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Novikke began to reach into her pocket for Kadaki’s device, then stopped. “Wait.” She took off the translator, offered it to him, then waited while he put it on. He’d need it when they got back to Kadaki. “Give me your knife.”
He handed it to her, and she slid the blade beneath the collar on her neck. With a few saws, the sharp blade severed the leather. She let it drop to the floor. “Now we’re ready.”
She eyed the enchanted transportation device in her hand. “Say a prayer to Ravi that this thing doesn’t turn us inside out on the way back, will you?”
“Already done.”
Chapter 9
She’d thought the last time they’d traveled by magic had been bad. Apparently it could get much worse if you didn’t have a skilled mage guiding you.
As she activated the device, the air and land twisted around them. The world turned on itself, thrusting them back and forth. Novikke’s hair whipped in her face. Colors and shapes flashed past in a blur, like unformed dreams. Aruna pulled her closer and held on, as if afraid she might lose him otherwise.
And then her back hit something hard and lumpy, knocking the wind out of her. She grunted as a weight slammed on top of her.
The world stopped spinning. It was dark, and a lantern flickered nearby. Familiar canvas hung overhead. They were in a large tent. Aruna had landed on top of her. He gingerly pulled back to look at her.
“What in all the hells?” said a female voice.
Novikke groaned, struggling to catch her breath. Thala, Vissarion, and Kadaki stood in front of them, gaping.
There was a tense, shocked pause in which no one moved. Then Vissarion drew his sword.
Aruna scrambled off Novikke and pulled her to her feet. She’d landed on top of another soldier, who was clutching his head in pain. She started to draw her sword, and then a blade pressed against her back.
“Don’t move,” the soldier behind her said. Novikke stopped moving. Aruna glared at the man behind Novikke. He had a hand on the knife on his belt, but he didn’t draw it.
“Take it easy,” Novikke said carefully. “We meant no harm. Sorry for the interruption.”
“Where the hells did you come from?” Vissarion said, waving his sword. “How did you get here?”
Kadaki had taken a step backward, out of Vissarion and Thala’s line of sight, and was chanting something under her breath.
“Magic,” Novikke said.
Kadaki shot her spell at the man behind Novikke. Novikke jumped out of the way to avoid impaling herself on his blade as the man slumped to the ground, asleep.
Vissarion’s eyes bulged. He whirled and grabbed Kadaki by the arm. She tried and failed to jerk away from him.
“Stop! Vissarion!” Thala shouted, and a scuffle broke out between all three of them.
As Thala tried to peel Vissarion off Kadaki, Novikke sliced through the canvas behind them and ducked through, pulling Aruna after her.
They ran blindly into the night—at least, Novikke was blind. She let Aruna guide her as the sounds of shouting and fighting faded behind them.
“Where are we?” She looked over her shoulder and was surprised to see an entire camp—several dozen tents were lined up around them.
What was Kadaki doing here?
“Don’t know,” Aruna said. He sounded out of breath even though they hadn’t run far.
Novikke saw Vissarion leaving the tent and sounding an alarm as they passed the edge of the clearing. She pulled Aruna to a stop behind a clump of brush.
“Hide us?” she whispered.
He nodded. There was the familiar tingle-rush of a spell falling over her. Her body began to fade to shadow.
Then Aruna jerked as if he’d been shocked. His hand went limp in hers. They both became solid again as the spell failed.
“Aruna?”
He slumped. Novikke caught him, and he leaned heavily on her. “Aruna?” she hissed.
Bright eyes looked up at her, heavy-lidded. “Can’t,” he said breathlessly. “Sorry.”
“It’s all right.” She swallowed tightly, ignoring the Panic creeping at the edges of her mind. She pushed him behind a tree, trying not to notice the way he sagged weakly against it.
Figures scattered around the camp as a search began. Someone from the camp was wandering toward them, but they were alone. Novikke ducked low in the darkness and held her sword ready. Aruna tipped his head back against the tree, closing his eyes. In the h
and that wasn’t clutching hers, he held his dagger. They were silent as footsteps came closer.
When the figure was about to pass by them, Novikke leapt toward them, raising her sword.
“Hey!” The figure raised their hands, jumping back. In the scant light, Novikke could see it was Thala. Her sword was still sheathed.
Novikke lowered her own sword a fraction.
Thala gave her a measuring stare. She looked over her shoulder at the scrambling soldiers at the camp, then jerked her head toward the brush Aruna was hidden behind.
Reluctantly, Novikke put her sword down and went to kneel in the dirt beside Aruna. Thala put her hands down, then crept behind the brush with them.
“What a time you chose to get here,” Thala said.
“Where are we?” Novikke asked. “What’s going on?”
“You’re just south of the ruins. How did you—?”
“Kadaki.”
She gave a tip of her head in silent understanding. “You’re lucky you got out of there. The entire company is here.”
“All of them?”
Thala nodded solemnly. “After the four of you left the ruins, Vissarion and Aleka and I retreated into the forest. We thought we were doomed without a guide. But we kept walking toward where we thought the edge of the forest might be, and we ran into the rest of the company. When Theros’s expedition didn’t return on time, they set out to find us.”
“I don’t understand. They came into the forest and made it all the way here? Without a guide?”
Thala gave Aruna a guilty look. “The forest is dying,” she said.
He opened his eyes long enough to peer over at her. “We know.”
“I’ve seen animals dropping dead all around the forest,” she said. “How are you faring?”
He gave her another tired, wary look.
“Not well,” Novikke said. “Thanks to Theros.”
Thala nodded. “That’s why we’re able to move freely now. The forest’s defenses are weakening. We don’t get lost like we usually do. We can navigate with the sun and stars without them leading us astray, and without things changing around us while we’re not looking, and no monsters or weird mists have assaulted us the entire time we’ve been here.”
Novikke glanced up at Aruna. He looked nauseated.
“With Theros gone, Vissarion is acting captain. He refused to leave, now that we can navigate on our own. He said we’ve never had a chance like this and we need to take advantage of it. He’s leading the group into the forest to finish what Theros started.”
“No,” Novikke hissed. “Didn’t you tell him that we can’t do that?”
“I tried,” she said, looking pained. “I tried to tell them. Kadaki tried to tell them. They don’t understand, or they don’t care. They’re angry. They know the night elves killed a dozen and a half of their own, including their captain. That’s all they care about. They’re out for blood.”
“We have to get to the ruins. Can you help us?”
“I think so. Can you fix this?”
“Gods, I hope so. Where’s Kadaki?”
She motioned over her shoulder. “Back there. Arrested. She’ll be court-martialed. Same as you.”
“And you?”
She bit her lip. “I’m still trying to avoid that.”
“Where’s Neiryn?” Novikke said, suddenly noticing his absence.
“The sun elf? Kadaki said that they parted ways. I assume that means that he ran when they saw us coming. I don’t blame him.”
Then it was the three of them against the rest of the company. Two and a half, really.
“Which direction are the ruins?” Novikke asked.
“The other side of the camp. That way.” She pointed.
Novikke scowled at the camp. They’d have to go all the way around. The soldiers had all started searching the woods around the tents. It would be difficult to avoid all of them without Aruna’s magic. And judging by how quickly he was weakening, he would probably slow her down. But she didn’t dare let go of him. For all she knew, she was the only thing keeping him alive.
“There’s a patch of thick brush over there. If you go around behind it, you might be able to avoid them,” Thala said, gesturing to the left of the camp. “I’ll try to slow down the others.”
“Thank you, Thala.”
She nodded and started to leave, then stopped and looked back at Aruna. “I’m sorry about this. Before this, I’d been told all kinds of awful things about Varai, but you’re none of those things. I wish things could have been different between us.”
“So do I,” Aruna said.
Thala gave a hopeful smile. “Astra’s luck to you.” She ducked into the bushes and hurried toward the camp.
Novikke pulled Aruna’s hand, and he followed her through the forest.
They crept through the darkness. The moons were high in the sky, casting soft blue light over the forest. Novikke kept to the shadows of trees, carefully avoiding twigs and patches of crunchy leaves. Only a few of the trees were still alive. They’d gone bare and gray, and the grass and brush beneath them was thin and wilted.
They passed by the camp at a distance. Figures moved among the trees, holding mage torches and lanterns. Novikke wove between them, giving each figure a wide berth. Thala had been right—the brush mostly covered them.
“Novikke…” Aruna whispered.
She glanced up at him to let him know she’d heard, but didn’t stop moving.
“It is imperative that we save the forest,” he said.
“I know.”
“I mean that the entire forest comes before any one individual.”
Her steps faltered. “Stop,” she said.
“Novikke,” he said again. “Look at me.”
She stopped and reluctantly looked over at him. Was it her imagination, or did the faint glow of his eyes seem dimmer than usual?
“I want to make sure you understand that you have to get to the ruins and heal the forest at all costs. No matter what happens to me.”
“Don’t talk like that.”
“That means you must leave me behind if you have to. Do you understand?”
She glared at him. Panic was pushing into her head and body, threatening to take over. Her jaw was tight and tears were springing to her eyes. “Yes.”
His eyes were wide, afraid. “Promise me you’ll follow through until it’s done, if I can’t.”
She laced her fingers through his. “I will. I promise. But you have to stop talking like that, I mean it, or I’m going to—”
He nodded. “Thank you.”
She shook her head. She couldn’t think about that. She focused on moving. She could see the white stone of the ruins now, far ahead.
They ducked low and went quiet as a soldier passed by them, his lantern burning Novikke’s eyes. She held her breath as the man walked right on the other side of the vines they knelt behind. He was close enough that she could have touched him.
To her alarm, he came to a stop, right in front of them. Then he startled, and the lantern swung toward them.
“Hells,” the man said, jumping back and swinging his sword in front of him.
Novikke ran, all attempts at stealth abandoned. Aruna stumbled after her, gripping her hand.
“Here!” the soldier shouted behind them. Novikke didn’t look back. Her eyes were on the ruins. White spires loomed ahead as they got closer. She was vaguely aware of others joining the chase. More figures appeared in the trees in her peripheral vision.
“Watch out,” Aruna said, and pulled her back just in time to keep her from falling down a steep slope. He pointed along the slope where something resembling a path led down. “That way.”
There was no tree cover along the side of the hill, and the moons bathed the path in pale light.
“Archers—” Novikke began.
“Won’t catch us if we go quickly,” Aruna said, urging her down the slope.
Halfway down, an arrow flew past Novikke’s head. A
line of figures was at the top of the ridge, drawing bows. She and Aruna were still far from the cover of the trees at the bottom of the path. She looked down into the valley below. They could jump and slide down the side. There was about a fifty-fifty chance that they’d break a leg, she guessed.
It was not a great option, but it was better than getting shot in the back with an arrow, which was what was about to happen.
Night Elves of Ardani: Book Three: Invocation Page 11
