Harbinger

by Nicole Conway

  “W-What was that?” One of the scouts stammered as he ducked behind me to hide.

  Before I could make a guess, the jungle rumbled before us like a hungry beast. My body shook. My heartbeat thrilled at the presence of wild, primal power. I could feel them coming, drawing closer by the second. Their eyes winked into view amidst the shadows of the giant tree trunks—bright spots of white and green that shone like stars. Strange noises echoed in the air, the calls of creatures I couldn’t identify.

  Two of them approached, seeming to materialize from the gloom without a single sound. Their sleek, canine bodies were roughly the same size as the shrikes and resembled fox’s or jackal’s. They had tall pointed ears, long bushy tails, and slender legs with small paws. Their jet-black fur caught the ambient moonlight filtering down through the canopy and revealed the tapered feathered wings that were folded against their backs.

  The one nearest to me was covered in swirling markings of bright red and turquoise and many of the feathers on its wings were that same combination of colors. It eyed me, bright eyes twinkling and tapered snout twitching with tall ears perked.

  The one that approached Jaevid, however, was more brightly colored. Its black pelt was mottled with yellow, green, and blue. The shape and color of its wings reminded me of a parrot, and even its tail had some of those long feathers mixed in with the rest of its fur.

  Jaevid smiled at the creature, stretching out his hand so that it could sniff him. “Hello again, Pasci.”

  The spirit yipped in response, slicking its ears back and pushing its snout against his hand.

  “Friends of yours?” I couldn’t keep the flavor of sarcasm out of my voice.

  “More or less.” He chuckled.

  “You do realize the foundling spirits are tricksters, right? They can’t be trusted. I can literally tell you twelve stories of them luring children to their deaths.”

  “Good thing we aren’t children, then.” Jaevid smirked as he rubbed his hand along one of the spirit’s bright-feathered wings. “Sometimes stories are just stories, Reigh. And anyway, they fly much faster than a shrike.”

  Okay, so he’d been right about the fast part.

  I had a difficult time fathoming that anything could fly faster than a shrike. But the foundling spirits didn’t tire like normal animals. They flew hard, fast, and without making a single sound. We made incredible time through the jungle, twisting through the limbs of the trees, bounding and gliding from bough to bough like shadows in the night. We flew all night and into the following day. By evening, we had already reached the midway point. At this rate, we’d reach Maldobar sometime tomorrow afternoon. The only downside was the lack of a saddle or anything to hold on to except fistfuls of their silky fur. Riding like that for so long had my back aching, my hands throbbing, and every muscle in my body howling for a break. Not to mention my stomach was practically turning itself inside out with hunger.

  When we finally stopped for a break, I fought the urge to drop to my knees and kiss the ground.

  We set up camp in a small clearing, even though all my training as a scout told me camping on the ground was a terrible, awful, suicidal idea. Having two ancient, divine earth spirits and one full-fledged demigod made me feel a little better about it, though. Hard to argue with that kind of muscle, and it was good to have my feet on solid ground for a few hours.

  I shuffled stiffly through unpacking my bedroll near the small campfire Jaevid had made from dry twigs, moss, and bits of limbs. Spreading it out on a nice flat spot, I turned around long enough to grab the water skin out of my bag. My sore back was begging me to lie down. It was all I could think about. When I went to sit down and get comfortable, however, I discovered a big, feathery fox creature had taken up residence on my bed.

  “Come on, seriously?” I groaned. “Where am I supposed to sleep?”

  The spirit tilted its head to the side, big ears pricked and listening.“You’re a foundling spirit. Do you even sleep at all?”

  It yipped at me in what I could only assume was defiance, fluffing its feathers and making itself more comfortable—on my bed.

  Great.

  I noticed Jaevid wasn’t having the same issues with his own foundling spirit. He was sitting by the fire, the creature relaxing casually behind him so that he could lean back against its side. I noticed he was biting back a grin as I stomped over to sit down on the other side of the fire. “Having trouble?”

  “It’s personal, isn’t it? Because I’m the Harbinger?”

  He laughed.

  “I knew it,” I grumbled.

  Jaevid went back to poking the fire with a stick, making sparks dance up into the night. “Not much of an animal lover, are you?”

  “Considering most of the ones I’ve met have tried to kill, eat, or otherwise maim me … No, not exactly.” I shot the foundling spirit curled up on my bedroll one last spiteful glare. “Now they’re stealing my bed and getting fleas on my pillow.”

  “Perhaps it’s for the best. We can’t stop for long.” His mouth stiffened into a tense, firm line. “And … we should talk about what happened at the clinic.”

  I swallowed and immediately locked my gaze on to the toes of my boots. Anything to avoid having to meet that intense, peer-into-your-soul look on his face. I didn’t like the idea that he might be able to read my expressions better than I could read his.

  “What did you see in the Vale?”

  My body cringed involuntarily at the word. How did he even know about that? Creepy. “What does it matter?”

  “A lot, considering our next order of business after rescuing Aubren and Jenna will be finding a way to complete your ritual,” he said. “We won’t be any help to Maldobar unless we are both working at our fullest capacity. Right now, your power is too unstable. I doubt anyone needs to remind you that in this state, you’d do more harm than good.”

  I shot him a glare. “And yet you just did it anyway.”

  “Talk to me, Reigh.” His demeanor softened into something like sympathy. “You don’t have to walk through this alone. I could feel your soul leave your body when he took you. It was like you had died. And yet your heart never stopped beating. I couldn’t bring you back.”

  The memories swept back over me, making my pulse race and my skin feel flushed. “That was the first time I’d ever been there. To the Vale, I mean.” I leaned forward, letting my elbows rest on my knees. “I saw Noh. I mean—really saw him. He showed me the Vale, the Well of Souls where people cross over from the mortal world. There were hundreds of them there, the spirits of people who had passed away.”

  “And?”

  I shook my head slowly, too ashamed to meet his gaze again. “And then he showed me what I am. Where we came from. He took me back to the moment when it happened.” My jaw clenched. “He’s not a demon. He’s not a dark spirit, either. All my life that’s what I believed he was. Kiran never told me any different. But Noh … he was a person. He was my brother.”

  Jaevid didn’t push me to continue. It was hard enough to think about this, and someone hounding my heels for every tiny detail wasn’t something I was prepared to tolerate. Even so—the words boiled in my throat like a poison. I had to get them out.

  “King Felix is my father. I am a prince of Maldobar. Aubren and Jenna are my brother and sister, just like I thought. But that mummified baby Aubren saw when they buried our mother wasn’t just a decoy or substitution. That’s all that was left of him, of Noh, after I … ” My voice caught. I hated seeing those images in my head. It was like a nightmare that repeated over and over, driving me to the edge of my sanity. It made rage and disgust blaze through every part of my body. “Noh said that was the price we had to pay—the cost of being the Harbinger of Clysiros. We were twins, and my first act in this life was taking his so that his soul joined with mine. Two souls, two minds, in one body—one to stand in this world and the other to guard the Vale. That’s the birthright of the Harbinger.”

&n
bsp; Jaevid’s expression had become grim. “Did Kiran know this when he took you in?”

  I shuddered at the thought. “I don’t see how he couldn’t have. Kiran was there. He saw everything. Noh showed me how it happened—our birth. King Felix wouldn’t even touch me. Kiran took me out of Maldobar after that. It wasn’t clear if he did it because King Felix ordered him to, or if he just felt sorry for me being tossed out into the street like a piece of trash.” Anger made my eyes sting and blurred my vision. “And it doesn’t matter. I don’t blame Felix for throwing me away. Look at what I’ve done. I killed my mother and my twin brother before I ever took my first breath in this world. I murdered Kiran. I butchered hundreds of Maldobarian soldiers who were looking to me for salvation.”

  Jaevid didn’t speak. He sat perfectly still, watching me with the reflection of the flames dancing in his piercing eyes.

  Maybe it was stupid to tell him this. But hey, if he was about to go marching off to save Maldobar with me, he deserved to know exactly what he was getting himself into, if he didn’t already. I let my head sag toward my chest as I clenched my fists. Not even Enyo knew this stuff about me, and I hoped she would never find out. “I hate it—this thing I am. How could anyone ever look past it? What I am is … disgusting.”

  “You’re not disgusting.”

  I clenched my teeth as I looked up to meet Jaevid’s gaze. “How can you say that?”

  “We are what we were made to be, Reigh. And I don’t believe anyone was made to be disgusting.” He offered a faint, almost sad smile as he began fiddling with that stick again, poking it into the fire. It sent more showers of glowing embers floating skyward like fireflies. “I still don’t have many memories of my life before. But there are a few moments that have resurfaced. One that is most clear was something your father, Felix, said to me. We don’t get to know where our purpose will take us or how our story will end. He said that ‘we just have to go on faith. Faith in the cause. Faith in the people we love. Faith that however this ends, we’ll have done everything we possibly could to make things right.’”

  I snorted. “Jaevid, how can I possibly make any of that right?”

  “One step at a time. Although if you’re open to suggestions, I’d recommend starting with not letting your other siblings die at the hands of Argonox.” He gave a small shrug, as though that should have been obvious. “By the way, you can call me ‘Jae,’ you know.”

  “Like we’re friends or something?”

  He smirked but didn’t reply. I took that as a yes.

  I stole a glance back over my shoulder to where a certain fox-mutant was snoozing away. “So, friend, how about using some of that demigod influence to get the foundling spirit off my bed?”

  “Nice try. Being friends doesn’t mean I’ll solve all your problems.”

  “Right, just the ones involving deities, foreign armies ravaging the countryside, and the end of the world.”

  Jae laughed. “Exactly.”

  SEVENTEEN

  We took a couple of hours to rest, eat from our rations, and discuss our plan once we reached the border where the tangled jungle of Luntharda met the sweeping mountain valleys of Maldobar. With any luck, the gray elven outpost just inside the jungle boundary would have a few rations to spare for us. They might even have some valuable information on the situation in Northwatch, or an idea of how we could get inside. We could regroup there long enough to get our final preparations together … then it was time.

  My stomach was already in knots when we mounted up and took off again. The idea that we might be too late, that Jenna and Aubren would already be dead, was enough to make me want to vomit. My mind raced as we blitzed through the trees as quick as ghosts in the damp, flowering foliage.

  It was nearly sunset when I caught the scent of the frosty, Maldobarian air leaking in through the canopy. We were close. Just that scent took me back to my first encounter with the Tibrans—being shot down on our way to Barrowton and nearly butchered by Argonox’s beastly right hand, Hilleddi. I clenched my teeth. If she came for me this time, I wouldn’t hold back. I’d happily deliver her to the Fates myself.

  The expressions on the faces of the scouts manning the small outpost were priceless when they saw us. I wasn’t sure what freaked them out more—that I was riding on a foundling spirit, or that the Lapiloque was riding on the one next to me. Several of them fell onto their faces, prostrating themselves before Jaevid as we dismounted. It took a few minutes to talk them back to their feet.

  I had to give him some credit; Jae didn’t use his prestigious past or title to take advantage of anyone. Money, jewels, all the prettiest women in Luntharda rubbing his feet—he probably could have gotten anything he asked for. But as he spoke to the scouts gathering around us in awe, all he requested from anyone was to speak to whomever was in charge of running the outpost.

  Our foundling spirit friends didn’t stick around once we started into the outpost. They didn’t give us much of a farewell, either. One second, they were there, sniffing at the gray elves who gawked at them from a safe distance—and then they were gone. Fast, silent, and without a trace.

  The gray elves brought us into the compound without delay. Night was closing in, so they were anxious to get back to their patrols. Walking along the lofty rope bridges that were strung between the trees, we made our way to where the lead scout had set up his command center. Unfortunately, I recognized him right away.

  Lurin was one of the apprentices Kiran had trained to become an official scout. He was older, although no taller than I was, and had always been one of the first to mouth off about how I—a human—had no sense in trying to be a scout. I got the impression he didn’t think I should be living in Luntharda at all.

  Lurin’s color-changing eyes narrowed and his lip curled when we entered. He didn’t seem to register that Jae was there at all. “What are you doing here, human?”

  I crossed my arms and nodded in Jae’s direction. “I’m with him.”

  It was satisfying to watch Lurin’s face go pale when he realized who was standing beside me. His face went nearly as white as his hair and he immediately gave a formal bow and salute. “Lapiloque, I-I was not aware you would be coming here.”

  Jae raised a hand, dismissing the formality. “We won’t be staying, I’m afraid. Our mission is urgent. I understand that the Prince and Princess of Maldobar are being held captive in Northwatch. We’re going to need every bit of information you have about the Tibrans’ occupation there.”

  Lurin’s brow creased with concern. “Surely, you don’t intend to try to rescue them.”

  “No,” Jae replied. “I intend to succeed.”

  Lurin flushed all the way to the tips of his pointed ears. “My lord, that city is overrun. The Tibrans have been mounting a force there in numbers we cannot even count. To go there would be madness.”

  “I don’t intend to lay siege to it,” he clarified. “All I need is a quick way in and out. The more discreet, the better.”

  Rubbing his pointed chin, Lurin paced back and forth. “Most of the Tibran forces are in and around the city. They ran out of room to house them within the city walls, so they had to resort to building temporary camps outside. These camps are well-guarded, though. I haven’t been able to get my scouts within two miles of them.” He stopped, turning to face us. “Their tunnels are the best way into the fortress. The Tibrans use them to move soldiers and war machines in secret, but the network also delves under the walls. I have good intelligence that one such tunnel leads nearly to the front gate of the tower.”

  “The tunnels are suicide,” I said firmly. “I’ve been in them before. They’re crawling with more Tibrans than an angry anthill. Not to mention it’s impossible to navigate them unless you have a map or know their layout.”

  The planets must have aligned at that exact moment because Lurin gave me a nod of agreement. “I’ve already lost several scouts in an effort to map them. It’s impossible.”

>   “Maybe not,” Jae countered. “Do you have anyone on the inside now who can help us get into the tower itself once we make it there?”

  Lurin scratched at his brow. “There was someone sneaking us messages, but we’ve since lost contact. It’s been weeks since we heard anything.”

  “How were you getting word from them?” he pressed.

  “One of the resident nobles in the city kept messenger birds. He had a lover in Aular and would send her notes that way. We intercepted one of them by accident before the city was under siege,” Lurin explained. “Afterward, we got more messages from someone calling themselves ‘Your Lamb.’ They were strange—phrased to sound like nothing but love letters. But we were able to identify a hidden code. They used elven words for some things, and the first letters of each one would spell out information. That’s how we learned about the timing of the Tibran patrols around the city, where they have their war machines positioned, and even when they were mobilizing to mount another attack.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “And you have no idea who this Lamb person might be?”

  “No.” Lurin shook his head. “It might have been the noble, one of his servants, or even a sympathetic Tibran soldier. They use mostly slaves captured from other kingdoms to do their fighting for them. It’s not too farfetched to think one of them might know our language.”

  “Do you still have any of the messenger birds you used to send these messages?” Jae’s expression had become dark and pensive.

  “Well, yes, but how does that—?”

  “Bring it to me,” he commanded.

  Lurin tripped all over himself to pass the order on. It was refreshing to see him humble for once, and a little satisfying that I’d gotten a front row seat to watch it.