by Shae Ford
Why hadn’t she just taken a moment to think before she shot?
Slowly, Aerilyn pulled herself from the brush and stumbled into the clearing. There was little more than a blackened smudge where the archer had stood. She tried not to look at it too closely, tried not to wonder about all the charred bits scattered around its edges. Instead, she kept her eyes fixed upon Elena.
The forest woman had managed to prop herself up on one elbow. Her other hand was wrapped absently around the shaft that hung from her chest, just below her shoulder. Aerilyn knew by the way her dark brows rose above her mask that she must be in pain.
“Elena! Oh, does it hurt terribly? Are you all r —?”
“What in the bloody under-realm was that?” Elena howled. There were charred bits of archer stuck to her face and in the loose strands of her hair. When she twisted to look at Aerilyn, shock ringed the darks of her eyes.
“Well, I did warn you — I told you those arrows were for dealing trouble.”
“Dealing with it? Is this what dealing means to you?” Elena flopped onto her back, turning her shock upon the high arches of the trees. “You could’ve missed. I could’ve been blown into a thousand pieces.”
Aerilyn thought she was being slightly ridiculous. “He shot you! What was I supposed to do? Just stand back and let him skin you? And my aim is excellent, I’ll have you know. I make it a point to practice at least once a week.”
Elena groaned.
Aerilyn frowned at her before she turned to the wound. Blood welled at the arrow’s base, but she didn’t think there was too much blood — not enough to cost Elena her life, surely. Still, the skin above her mask had gone frightfully pale, and she seemed to be breathing quite a bit more heavily than usual.
“Are you …? Will you live, do you think?”
Elena looked at her as if that was the stupidest question she’d ever heard — which assured her more than anything. “Yes. I’m going to live. That idiot missed my heart.”
“I should hope he did. Why didn’t you move?”
Elena didn’t answer. Her scowl turned dark. “Just be careful when you pull it out, all right? I don’t want the head to get loose —”
“You want me to pull it out?” Aerilyn’s stomach lurched when she nodded. The tips of her fingers went numb.
“There was poison on the arrow — no, it’s not that kind of poison,” Elena snapped in the middle of her gasp. “This poison only affects whisperers. It takes my strength away, for a while. I don’t trust myself to pull it out cleanly. So … you’ll have to do it.”
*******
Elena was surprised at how quickly she agreed. She was surprised about a lot of things, actually: the confidence with which Aerilyn had drawn her bow, the straight flight of her arrow — the bone-rattling blast that’d followed. But what surprised her most was the fact that she seemed completely unbothered by it all.
The look in Aerilyn’s eyes as she gripped the arrow was so calm that it was almost … unsettling.
A blinding pain, a jolt that made her cry out and brimmed her eyes with tears, and the arrow was gone. Elena lay very still as the ferocity of her wound clogged her ears. She heard the sound of ripping fabric, then felt such a burst of agony inside her wound that she had to shut her eyes just to stay conscious.
Slowly, her flesh stopped screaming. The pressure of Aerilyn’s hands dulled the pain to a steady thud. “I wish Kael were here. He’d have this sealed up in no time.”
“Well, he isn’t. So we’re going to have to wrap it in something else.”
She heard the sound of more ripping fabric beneath Aerilyn’s muttering. “I told you we should’ve packed some binding.”
“If it’d been left up to you, we would’ve packed half the mansion. Why did you come back?” Elena said, cutting off whatever indignant reply Aerilyn had at the ready. “I thought you were off playing hunter.”
“Well, I … all that ended rather quickly when I heard the yelling and clanging coming from over here. And I wasn’t playing — I really do know how to hunt. Turn over.”
Elena sat up and tried to be still while Aerilyn fumbled her way through the wrapping. “You’re going to have to bind my arm to my chest.”
“Is it broken?”
“No,” Elena tried to speak slowly, “but if you don’t brace it, the wound’s likely to tear. Wrap it beneath my elbow. You’re going to have to make it tight —”
“You need stitching,” Aerilyn growled, pressing the fabric against the wound. “Pinewatch isn’t too far from here, and we have an excellent healer.”
Elena’s pain numbed with her dread. “No. Not there. I told you I didn’t want to stop in and spend days sitting around while you chat with your people,” she said when Aerilyn frowned.
“We haven’t exactly got a choice, have we? Pinewatch is the closest village … and I don’t think you want to stop in at Lakeshore for a healer.”
She stood and wiped her hands across her trousers. There was so much material missing from the hem of her tunic that an arch of her skin showed out its bottom. “Why wouldn’t I want to go to Lakeshore?”
“I know who you are, Elena. She doesn’t bring you out often, but I’ve seen you in the Countess’s court. It would take more than a mask to fool me,” Aerilyn added wryly. “When you first showed up in the plains, I thought D’Mere might’ve … sent you to look after me. Even when you went away, I always assumed you were somewhere close by. I planned to confront her about it when we reached Lakeshore. I planned to tell her that all of her games were at an end — that you’d already told me everything and were willing to speak about it before the King.
“I know the sort of work you must’ve done for her,” Aerilyn went on, careful to keep her eyes from Elena. “After seeing the way you handle those blades, it isn’t difficult to imagine. And I thought the Countess would be so desperate to keep you that she’d listen to whatever I had to say. But you don’t work for her anymore, do you?”
There was a flash of cold behind her smirk. Though the ice wasn’t meant for Elena, she still felt its bite.
Aerilyn gazed over her shoulder at the bodies scattered around them; her grim smile never wavered. “D’Mere might’ve sent you after me in the beginning — to watch me or bring me back to the Grandforest, I’ll never know. But whatever she sent you to do, it looks as if you’ve had a change of heart.”
She wound her fingers tightly in what remained of her tunic and bit down on her lip.
Elena knew what was about to happen. “Don’t. Please don’t —”
“And even though you knew she would kill you, you were still willing to take me!” Aerilyn cried. “You’ve been so brave while I’ve done nothing but hurt you. I’m the horrible one. I’ve been so busy turning my nose up at you that I couldn’t see what all you’ve done — for my friends, for the Kingdom … for me.” Tears streamed from her eyes and left wet trails down her cheeks. “I know she must have forced you to do some terrible things, but I want you to know that I don’t care anymore. Whatever you were before, it doesn’t matter. It’s obvious now that you love us. And I’m … I’m going to try harder to deserve it.”
Elena managed to keep her face calm — but inwardly, she sighed in relief. Aerilyn had been so close to guessing the truth. She’d come right to the doorway and stopped just before she reached it. While she was a bit surprised that the merchant’s daughter had been hoping to use her against the Countess, it didn’t change anything.
Elena would keep to her plan.
“There’s no point in sobbing over it. Let’s just get to Lakeshore — I know another way in,” she said when she saw the argument on Aerilyn’s face. “The Countess won’t know we’re there until it’s too late.”
“But what about your wound? I don’t want you suffering the whole —”
“I’ve suffered worse.” Slowly, she dragged herself to her feet, wincing against the way her skin pulled on her wound. “Help me find the rest of my throwing knives, will you? Two are
stuck in those corpses over there.”
Aerilyn wrinkled her nose, but did as she was told — with a great deal of squealing.
CHAPTER 12
New Thanehold
Even after nightfall, Kael’s blood didn’t cool. He listened to the rhythm of Kyleigh’s wings as they rose and fell, as she carried them towards the mountains. But his eyes stayed fixed on the clouds below.
There were breaks every now and then, darkened gaps between the rifts that the stars couldn’t touch. Kael wasn’t quite sure what he searched for: a glimpse of torchlight, the flash of a spell — any sign that Midlan was following them. He hoped it was. He hoped Crevan sent the full force of his army into the Valley.
If they passed through the Cleft, they weren’t likely to return.
The warrior in him began to stir with this thought. It cleaved to the memories of what they’d done at Midlan and howled for more. Kael’s muscles tensed at the faded bursts of the mages’ spells, the echoes of the soldiers’ worried cries. The night air glanced across his teeth as he broke into an involuntary grin at the memory of Kyleigh’s fire — the ferocity of its heat, the danger wrought in each bright yellow line of flame …
A low, rumbling growl cut through his thoughts. The scales across Kyleigh’s back bunched together as her muscles coiled.
Kael realized that she must’ve been able to see the things he saw, to feel the wonder radiating through his grip. He knew he shouldn’t spur her on, but the wildness of his heart won out over the warning of his mind. So he placed his hands very firmly against her back and let one thought rise to the front of his mind — words that gave a name to all the fiery, prideful things that burst within him:
You were magnificent.
She growled again, and this time a longing note trembled at the end of her voice.
Somehow, he managed to be reasonable. “We can’t land now — we have to at least make it past the Cleft. I’m not going to be responsible for you getting hexed.”
She rumbled her reluctant agreement and flew on, heading towards the mountains.
A few moments later, they arrived in the Valley. The clouds were so dense and gray that Kael couldn’t see beneath them, but he knew by the change in the wind that they’d crossed into the shadow of the mountains.
The air had grown colder — stiff with the long winter held pinned inside the mountains’ peaks. Jagged spires rose to pierce the clouds ahead of them, and Kael’s heart thudded unexpectedly at the sight.
The King’s Cleft — the narrow mountain pass between Midlan and the Valley — was packed with snow. White filled the long vein from its back to its end. Though the end nearest to Midlan had begun to melt, the snow still climbed nearly to its lip.
As Kyleigh flew them beneath the clouds, little white flakes drifted across Kael’s face — leaving cold, wet trails behind them. Winter still clung to the Valley. With any luck, it would hold a little while longer.
A small castle sat at the Valley’s start, just inside the mouth of the Cleft. It was perched atop a slight hill of jagged rock. Kael couldn’t help but marvel at how stout its walls had become, and how high its towers had grown. An outer wall ringed the castle and its hill. He smiled when he saw faint lights winking from the windows of the many stone houses settled within it.
It seemed the wildmen had been hard at work rebuilding the fortress of Thanehold from the ruins of the Earl’s old castle.
Kael was so busy marveling at the thickness of the outer wall that he didn’t notice Kyleigh coming in for a landing. She struck the ground on all fours — and the sudden halt sent him sailing over her left wing.
He saw the ground hurtling towards him and managed to catch himself on his shoulder. He rolled across the snow-covered earth, ears burning with a mix of slush and Kyleigh’s rumbling laughter. “Well, maybe next time you won’t drop out of the sky like a blasted rock!”
By the time he’d pulled himself to his feet, she was already human. “That was a perfectly good landing, I’ll have you know,” she said, rolling her shoulders back. “Had I dropped out of the sky, you would’ve felt it. Now … wasn’t there something you wanted to tell me?”
“Not that I recall,” he said as he began marching for Thanehold’s front. He looked for a gate, but didn’t see one. From end to end, the whole thing seemed to be nothing more than a line of solid rock.
Kyleigh jogged to catch up. “I believe you were in the middle of telling me something … something about my being magnificent.”
“That doesn’t sound like something I’d say.”
“You very clearly thought it.”
“It was a fleeting thought,” he said off-handedly, gazing down the wall. He wondered if the entrance might be further down. Perhaps more towards the Valley. “And if I’ve already said it, why should I have to say it again?”
“Perhaps I’d like to hear you say it aloud.” Her hand clamped around his arm; she pulled him against her. “Go on, then … tell me I’m magnificent.”
Mercy’s sake, the way her voice growled across his ears sent warmth rushing down his spine — where it pooled in the soles of his boots. It would’ve started to melt the snow straight out from beneath him, had a strange noise not broken them apart.
It was a chalky, grating sort of noise — the sound of two rocks being scraped together. Kael spun back to the wall and watched with a grin as a small section of it began to ripple before his eyes. Several sets of hands appeared beneath it. They bent and peeled the wall aside like a curtain, forming a perfect arch.
He’d barely had a chance to wave at the craftsmen who grinned in the doorway when a red-striped bolt erupted from between them.
“Kael!”
A boy dressed head to toe in furs crashed into him, knocking him onto his back with surprising force. “Hello, Griffith,” Kael said.
Had it not been for the thin stripe of hair that grew down his scalp, Kael didn’t think he would’ve recognized him: the wildmen’s black, swirling paint was gone from Griffith’s face. The boy who grinned down at him now had pale skin and a band of freckles so rowdy that they seemed to dance across his nose.
“I knew you’d come back — I knew it,” Griffith said excitedly. He sprang to his feet and plucked Kael up by the wrist. Then he went to Kyleigh. “Gwen says she’d rather have to sit on ice for a thousand winters than ever have to speak to you again, but I know that just means she’s missed you.” He punched her playfully in the arm.
Kyleigh laughed.
Kael groaned inwardly. Somehow, he’d forgotten about how difficult Gwen could be. But he imagined it would all come back to him quickly.
Griffith led them through the arch in the wall and into the little stone village beyond. The craftsmen grinned and slapped Kael hard in the back as he passed through. A chorus of howls sounded above him, and he saw a group of warriors gathered along the ramparts.
They brandished their swords and cried, “Wolfstomp!” through their grins.
Kael gave them a quick wave before he ducked his head. He didn’t like the pressure of having all of their eyes upon him.
Kyleigh watched with interest as the craftsmen molded the wall back into place, dragging the arch downwards until it was smooth and solid once again. “Sorry for all of the trouble. We would’ve come in through the gate —”
“Gate?” Griffith scoffed. “There’s no gate. Why put in a gate when our craftsmen can lift the walls? It would only weaken our fortress.”
Kyleigh’s brows arced high. “That’s actually rather brilliant.”
“Thanks … it was my idea,” Griffith said with a slight smile. “Now come on — Gwen will be furious with me if I don’t take you to her straight away.”
As they followed Griffith through the new Thanehold, Kael couldn’t help but be impressed. The wildmen’s houses were squat and rounded, their walls made of solid stone. The thatching along their roofs bunched up at the middle to make way for thin tendrils of smoke. He was surprised to smell the heavy perfume of meats
and spices wafting through the air.
“Are the wildmen not having dinner at the castle?” he said.
Griffith’s freckles bunched with his grimace. “No … we’ve stopped.”
“What about your caddocs?” Kyleigh pressed.
“That’s stopped, too. Gwen says there’s no point in it anymore.” He sighed heavily, and his hand slipped into his pocket. A moment later, Kael saw the glint of a rounded blue stone rolling between his fingers. “She’s been moping all winter. I don’t think she’s lifted her axe in weeks.”
Kyleigh looked more than a little concerned. “Weeks?”
“I know — it’s bad,” Griffith muttered. His eyes wandered up to her hopefully. “Maybe you could pester her a bit? Get her stomping again?”
“Well, it’ll be quite a task … but I suppose someone ought to do it,” Kyleigh said with a sigh.
Kael had only to see the way the fires danced in her eyes to know that she was planning mischief. “You shouldn’t fight her. She might hurt you.”
“Nonsense,” Kyleigh said lightly. “It’s all in good fun.”
She slapped him hard in the rump before he could protest — much to the amusement of several nearby warriors.
“Get her back!” one of them cried over her companions’ howling laughter. She swung her hand through the air in front of her. “Go on, then — give her a smack!”
Kael was most certainly not going to do that — or any of the other things the warriors bellowed after him. Instead he set a very brisk pace for the castle, hoping the chill air might somehow soothe the burn in his face.
There were more craftsmen waiting for him at the keep’s walls. They lifted an arch and pounded him heartily on the back as he ducked through. Beyond the wall was a small courtyard. Several images had been molded onto the cobblestones at their feet.
