He shrugged as if it did not matter. I wasn’t sure why, but it made me feel lonely.
“An’alepp?” I called, plunging into Ra’shara for a moment. She’d been silent since the testing.
She appeared out of the strange mists that filled Ra’shara here. Around her were strange rips in the ground. She places her finger to her lips. Did she look younger here, or was I merely becoming used to how she defied the limits of age?
“I need time to rest. They hunt us here. Stay away until I call.” She vanished again, and I slipped out of Ra’shara.
“The other Landers will only be able to come with us as far as the gates of the Empire,” Kjexx said, “So we need to know what we’ll say to them.”
“Then why don’t we ride alone?” I asked.
“It is a great honor to defend the Windbearer. I would not rob them of it.”
Was that really the whole story? Or was there something else he was afraid of? Perhaps he needed them to be sure we would do as we promised.
It was too difficult to talk long without being overheard, and when we stopped briefly to rest the Eaglekin and eat, I was too busy shaking out stiff muscles and trying to warm up to speak to anyone but Rusk.
“I’m sorry,” I said, as we took turns doing what we needed to behind a bush.
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry that I was so angry. I just didn’t like that you called me a bad choice.”
He didn’t answer and his eyes were far away.
“Rusk?” I took his hand in mine.
“What?” It was as if he’d only just noticed me.
“I’m sorry.”
His eyes were away again. I sighed. It was like apologizing to a brick wall. I didn’t try to get his attention again, and all the rest of the day it felt like a dark cloud was hovering over my head.
We set up camp, with large tents and the braziers from the panniers refilled with embers from our cook fires. Kjexx was busy commanding his men and discussing the route. Rusk’s attention was still elsewhere and An’alepp needed to be undisturbed. I sat on my pallet in the tent, chin on my knees feeling very alone. Should I be planning something? But what was there to plan? The only hope right now was that I’d find what I was looking for in Catane’s collection, and until we were nearer, I wouldn’t even know what the Empire was like. I chewed the inside of my lip. Everything seemed a lot bigger than me, like I’d bitten off a bite only to find an entire elephant in my mouth. I supposed the only solution was to keep on chewing.
Rusk prepared for sleep without ever looking my way, and in a huff, I laid down noisily beside him. I would have loved to lie close and feel his warmth — even in a tent crowded with half of Kjexx’s men —but he hadn’t invited me to share it with him. Tears stung my eyes as I slipped off to sleep.
“Tylira?” Rusk whispered as I was drifting off. Had he decided to make peace now? “Something is wrong.”
Chapter Twelve: A Team
“WELL OF COURSE IT is. Until you forgive me, how am I supposed to feel?” I shuffled uncomfortably in the dark. It was freezing cold and without his body against mine I was losing heat far too quickly.
“There’s someone out there near the Eaglekin. Someone who isn’t one of us.”
He stood up so quickly that my blankets and furs were knocked away by the tether. I gasped at the sudden burst of cold, clenching my teeth against it and pulling up my hood. I’d gone to bed dressed in the warm clothing and furs I’d worn all day. Even with the fires it was frost-bite cold after the sun set.
Ow! Why was he tugging so hard? I couldn’t move any faster if I tried! There was a grunt and a snort as I stumbled over someone.
“Shh!” Rusk scooped up his spatha as he hurried past our packs. At least he got to be armed. An’alepp had warned me not to bother her, and I wouldn’t unless it was life or death. Catane would be watching. He’d found and killed all others like me, and he would find me too, if I wasn’t careful. I shivered. Being so helpless was like being naked in this cold. We pushed through the flaps of the low tent and into the frigid night beyond.
Across the hill and silhouettes of trees, the moon rose large and bright. Its single silver glow felt strange, as if something was missing. Would I ever return to Everturn and live under her twin moons again? My heart rang hollow in my chest. Home. If I could have that and Rusk and my freedom, I would ask for nothing else.
Like magic, a long green whip of light sprang across the sky, slowly unfurling and then rippling back again. Just as it faded away a tongue of pink fire fanned out where it had been. My jaw dropped. What magic was this. Rusk leaned in from behind me.
“Gods’ Lights. They get them far to the south of Kosad.”
“You’ve seen these before?” I whispered in awe. Threat, or no threat, I could have stayed here and endured the terrible cold for hours just to catch one more glimpse of them. There! A green one, almost impossibly vibrant, washed across the black sky.
“Come on. This way,” Rusk drew me away from the wonder, creeping over the snow. He kept low, but the snow was loud under our feet, squeaking in the too-calm, too-clear cold.
Was I low enough to the ground? What was I even hiding from? Along the ridge the massive Eaglekin were picketed. The nearest one, a snowy white-feathered beast with black flecks along the tips of his wings and neck, was preening himself with his beak, his stunted wings held out wide for the grooming. Their warmth could be felt even at a distance, although it may also have been the relit braziers set along their line.
Rusk scanned the horizon in every direction, coming up abreast of the snowy Eaglekin and laying a hand gently on its chest. The bird-like creature tossed its head and hissed. What should I be doing? I gathered up the slack in the tether, holding it in a loose grip. Maybe I could at least keep Rusk from tripping over it. That was something at least. Down along the line Eaglekin snorted and tossed their heads, flicking wings or hissing into the darkness. Where was the watch Kjexx had set? He had set one, hadn’t he? Jakinda would have died before setting up camp with no watch posted. Maybe I was just spoiled by her professionalism.
I felt the familiar mental ache at the memory of her. No point dwelling on that now. There would be time enough to mourn the dead when we were done saving the living. Wasn’t that the ridiculous thing every warrior told themselves? But what else was there to say? Nothing I ever did could bring her back.
Rusk led me down the line, his footsteps and movements careful. Could I match them? I moved with careful control, desperately trying to match his grace. He must have been born for this.
Beside the third Eaglekin he stumbled, biting off a curse as soon as it began. He reeled back, almost stepping into me. I crouched down, leaning against him. The snow was blotched and discolored. In the middle of a shadowed puddle, the inky dark figure lay. He lay, curled up in the snow, his face standing out in sharp relief in the too-bright moonlight. When I died would my face make a rictus of pain like that? If it did, I would go back and haunt the one who took my life. Haunt them forever.
“The watch-stander,” Rusk whispered. “The one who did this could be anywhere.”
His eyes traced the treeline. The way the landscape wrinkled and rolled, it would be hard to see anyone if they didn’t want to be noticed, particularly at this angle. I nudged him, pointing upwards, to the back of the Eaglekin beside us.
Rusk nodded, but he pulled me on to the next one, before placing his hand on the great feathered chest. The glowing yellow eye of Graxx lowered until he was staring me directly in both my eyes with his one huge orb.
“I’ll help you up,” Rusk whispered, gripping my foot with his hands. I barely had the chance to try to leap upwards when he caught my foot and thrust me forward. I scrambled up Graxx’s back, my hands digging deep into his feathers. He shifted and stomped, rolling his massive shoulders. I settled in just behind the shoulder blades, gripping a feather in each hand with all my strength. Rusk’s breath was hot behind my neck.
“Brace yourself.�
�� His weight shifted backwards as if he were anticipating Graxx’s next move. Maybe he was.
“Aren’t they tied?” I asked.
“Only because they allow it. Any of them could escape if they wished.”
Graxx leapt up suddenly, his motion rocking us forward then backwards. I was knocked right into Rusk, and one of his arms swung around my waist, gripping me. I held Graxx as tightly as I could between my thighs, both hands gripping his feathers with all my strength. Did Eaglekin drop feathers like regular birds did? I certainly hoped not, but where else had Kjexx and his friends acquired the feathers they wore on their backs?
“The ground is crawling with them!” Rusk hacked the leather cord that tied Graxx to the picket. I risked a glance behind me. He looked like he belonged exactly where he was — riding a massive, beaked, two-legged beast with no saddle and a sword in his hand. He was almost smiling. “Look! The armor of the men who attacked us when we arrived. Veen.”
It was the shadowy blue gleam of the ko that drew my eyes to our enemies. Could I see their armor in the dark? Yes. Veen. At least fifty of them running through the camp like a wave on the beach.
“We need to warn them!” Rusk galloped down the line, hacking at every leather cord, setting the Eaglekin free. They ran together as if they were all mounted and were being directed in a precise movement by well-trained riders. “Up! Up, Landers! Kjexx, raise your bones!”
“How do they know to run like that?” I asked, as we bore down on the Veen.
“They listen to me,” Rusk said.
“More than they listen to Kjexx?” Could it be true? Could they understand him more? After all, he cared about them and he spoke to them directly. I felt my blood pounding in my skull, excitement brimming under the surface.
The front line of the Eaglekin tore into the rear of the swarming Veen, picking off individuals that lagged behind the main force, slashing with their sharp beaks, lifting men up and tossing them through the crystal-cold air to land broken and bent on the hard rocks and snow. Rusk roared as we charged forward, his spatha brandished, but unnecessary as the Eaglekin did their work. I leaned into the feathers, keeping low and clinging on for dear life.
From the tents, Kjexx and his men surged forward, their ko easily identifiable as they slammed into the Veen attackers moments before the tents would have been over run. Had Rusk said nothing, they would have been slain in their sleep — and I along with them. I felt a pulling sensation in my chest. They were nothing compared to Jakinda, my former guard Captain.
Graxx threw a last soldier through the air, his momentum taking him straight through the battle. We narrowly missed trampling Kjexx as he battled back to back with another Lander, their shirts off and their bare skin bright in the moonlight. They scattered at his charge, but the Veen scattered, too. Graxx dodged past the tents, the other Eaglekin keeping pace, and then together they wheeled in a wide circle, intent on returning to the flank of their foes.
“Rusk, wait!” Why hadn’t I grabbed my pack? I’d been foolish not to think that there might be an opportunity in this. “Look, Kjexx has his men fighting. The Veen attack will break.”
“It will when I’m finished with them.” He sounded exhilarated, and Graxx seemed to agree. His long legs tore up the snow in his eagerness to finish his arc and be back on their heels.
“When we attack next, and Graxx runs through the line, just keep going.”
“What?” Rusk sounded distracted. Couldn’t he see? We had a chance to get away from all this without anyone dying or having their blood spilled on the snow.
“Would Graxx go with you?”
“You don’t actually mean that you’d abandon your commitment to the Landers? You’d break your word? Your honor?”
We were at their flanks again, the Eaglekin tearing at any who turned and fled from their flight with the men and women who fought on the Lander side. I hunched in closer, fighting for balance against the sudden lunges of Graxx. He seemed just a bit too gleeful for a creature who was shredding humans.
“They had us under duress! It doesn’t count. It would be easier to save Everturn if we didn’t have to worry about saving all of them, too! You’re with me, aren’t you?”
Rusk leaned out from Graxx, swinging his spatha towards a huge Veen warrior who had one of the Lander women by her hair, dragging her across the snow. I gritted my teeth, not able to look away as he sliced the man’s head from his muscled body.
And then we were thundering through their ranks again. As I predicted, they had broken and were scattering in retreat across the snow, like black ants on a sandy beach. Keep going! Keep going, Graxx!
I listen to War Leader.
So, even the Eaglekin called him that. He’d found his own here. Strange, that he’d be so at home in another world. Was that it? Was that why he was reluctant to go?
Graxx spun and stopped while the other Eaglekin wheeled to run a large arc and dispose of the survivors. He and Rusk were both breathing hard, and Rusk sheathed his spatha.
“Come on, Rusk! We need to go now. Forget the supplies. We’ll figure out something else. It’s just you and me. We need to go, now!”
His honey eyes glowed in the moonlight. Why had I never realized how close in color their brown was to the gold of an eagle’s?
“Take my hand,” he said, voice serious.
I hesitated. This didn’t sound like a yes. But I couldn’t very well go without him. I took his hand and he pulled me down off Graxx’s back. I shivered as my feet hit the cold, dead ground, but he took my elbows in his hands and drew me close so he could look into my eyes. What was he searching for there? Why weren’t we leaving?
“You made a promise.” His face was impossible to read.
“They forced my hand, that’s not a real promise.”
“Honor is honor, no matter the circumstances.”
“This is our one chance, Rusk. Don’t you see?” I could feel it slipping away. He wasn’t going to agree and then we would be trapped. Trapped with people who expected me to free them when I couldn’t even free myself. “There might not be another.”
“You made a promise, Tylira. I will kill them all if they try to kill you for failing them. I’ll defend your life until I lose my own.” He paused, then coughed, as if he was dealing with some great emotion. His face went cold, but his eyes, oh his eyes were hot. “And I’ll defend your honor by refusing to let you compromise it.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell him that honor was useless. What had it brought him? Nothing but a life chained to me. My tears of frustration spilled down, the only hot thing in this frozen world. I should hit something, tear something, scream into the air. He wouldn’t forgive me for doubting him? Well I wouldn’t forgive him for forcing his standards on me in this self-righteousness of his.
I turned my back on him, arms crossed. I wanted him to come and gather me in his arms and tell me he was sorry and that I knew best. Instead the seconds ticked into long minutes. My toes stung with the pain of standing on the snow, even with borrowed boots on my feet. And my eyes stung with betrayal.
So, he chose his standards over me? I’d show him what he was missing, because he sure didn’t have me anymore. His precious honor could keep him warm at night. With every moment that he stood there, useless, intractable, my fury grew hotter, until eventually it grew so hot that I could bear it no longer. I stalked back to camp. Rusk and Graxx must have followed because I could hear them, but I did not turn. The Gods’ Lights dancing across the sky no longer seemed all that spectacular.
The Landers were cleaning up the ruined camp, dragging the dead to the side, rebuilding the fires. Remarkably, the tent we had slept in was still intact. Kjexx stood at the door to it, calling orders to his people as they worked. He was staring at a paper in his hands with an air of distraction that cleared when he saw me.
“Tylira! Thank you—”
I cut him off. “Your watch was pathetic. Are you all so blind?”
/> I pushed past him in the tent. Did he deserve that? Did I care? I wanted someone to suffer the frustration and anger I was feeling now. If not Rusk, then Kjexx would do just fine. I stormed over to my pallet, threw myself down and rolled the furs over me before dissolving into silent sobs.
Didn’t he realize he was supposed to be on my side? We were supposed to be a team.
Rusk’s sigh was like a second knife in the back.
Chapter Thirteen: Breaking Camp
MORNING IN THE FREEZING camp was hard enough without being chained to someone. I sipped on the hot tea made of a local tree needle and glared at everyone. Around me, Kjexx’s people packed for the next leg of our journey while Rusk stood, ramrod straight, arms crossed over his chest. He hadn’t looked at me since last night. I was doing my best not to look at him, but it was hard with an eight-foot chain linking us. Was I playing with the bracelet part of it again? I dropped it like I had been stung.
Kjexx sat down beside me holding his own mug of steaming tea. “It will put grit in your bones, drinking ta in the morning.”
The name for their drink sounded like a child’s word. “I have plenty of grit.”
He laughed, sloshing some of the ta out of his mug. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that last night! Out riding a Saur and fighting on your own in the middle of the night! You’re crazy.”
I glanced at Rusk who still wasn’t looking at me. Would it be wrong to acknowledge Kjexx’s words? Or should I explain that it hadn’t just been me?
“I mean brave, of course.” Kjexx’s grin was charming. He eased himself back on the log we were sitting on, looking for all the world like an emperor despite his matted fur and leather armor and his tired eyes. His ko seemed brighter today. “We value bravery in the Black Talon.”
“I know you do. The kind of bravery that can’t guard a camp.”
Rusk hissed a warning at me, but Kjexx threw up a hand to stop him.
“I heard you last night, Windbearer. Our guards were not vigilant, and now we are discovered by Catane.”
Lightning Strikes Twice (Unweaving Chronicles Book 2) Page 8
