Hannah's Hero (Icehome Book 6)

by Ruby Dixon

  If she does not snatch me out of midair first.

  I must remain calm, I remind myself. Think before I act.

  She snaps at me again, her jaws clamping on the air so swift and so hard that I feel the breeze of it against my face. I would fit inside that massive gullet and she would swallow me without a second thought.

  I must be faster than her…or smarter.

  I glance around at the nest. Surrounding me are piles of filth and corpses. Biting back my disgust, I grab the leg of the nearest dvisti and wrench it, keeping one hand on the egg itself as my shield. The dvisti is so dead that it makes a dry sound when I rip its leg free. I glance at the sky-claw to see her watching me, and carefully toss the leg into the air.

  She snatches it from mid-air with a strong snap of her jaws. Old Grandfather is impossibly fast, I realize. There’s a crunch, and then she returns to watching me, glaring from above.

  All right, then being faster than her is out. I must be more clever.

  I wrench another limb free from the nest around me. She shrieks in anger, rattling her leathery wings in my direction, and when I fling the new torn limb into the air, she snatches at me instead, nearly grabbing my outstretched arm. I manage to roll away, hiding behind the egg once more as she bellows her rage.

  She has already learned this trick, I see. If I do it again, she will snatch my arm for certain.

  I rub my mouth, considering the pack I clutch against my chest. If I toss it into the air, will she snatch at it, or will she snatch at me?

  There is only one way to be certain, I realize with a sinking feeling, and I know what I must do.

  I grip the bag in my hands, considering the creature that hovers above, just waiting for me to move again. She does not watch what I grab this time, but watches me instead, and I know she is simply waiting for my arm to extend.

  So I give her what she wants.

  I will only have one chance, and I must take it. With H’nah’s name on my lips, I grip the bag tightly in my hand, then hold it up high over my head, pretending to throw it.

  Old Grandmother lowers her terrible beak and clamps down on my arm, swallowing the pack.

  I bellow in pain as the teeth clamp down on my forearm. It is like no agony I have ever felt before, but I expected this. I knew she would bite down on me. I knew she would snatch my arm on the side of her mouth that is weaker, which is the chance I need. With a free hand, I slam a fist against the old break in her beak. It lets out a loud crack, and then I fling myself over the edge of the nest.

  Gravity does the rest. Her sharp, terrible teeth scrape all down my arm, and I can feel the furrows as they dig through muscle and over bone. I nearly black out at the pain, and then I’m falling free. She’s let go of me.

  After what feels like forever, I thump to the ground, the breath knocking out of my body. I stare up at Old Grandfather, flicking her beak side to side in obvious pain. I remember to change my camouflage again, and lift my good hand to see it bleed to white, just like the snow around me. My wounded arm looks…terrible. Deep gouges line all the way down my arm, from elbow to fingertip. I cannot pay attention to that right now, though.

  I must get back to H’nah.

  Old Grandfather leaps into the air, and I remember that I cannot race straight for the cave. Biting back a curse, I tuck my wounded arm against my chest and haul my battered body against the cliff wall, camouflaging once more.

  Now to wait.

  Pain throbs through my arm, so intense and awful that I want to scream. I must remain silent, though, as Old Grandfather flies over the valley, circling and shrieking her displeasure. I bend low and pack snow against the wound, hoping that the ice will help ease the burning agony of it.

  22

  HANNAH

  I purse my lips, tense, as the damn sky-claw circles the valley again. “How long does this shit take to work?” I ask for what must be the dozenth time. “Because I’m not seeing a sleepy, doped-up bird. I’m seeing an angry bird and no J’shel.”

  “It’s going to be fine, Hannah, I promise.” Brooke pats my shoulder. “I know you’re worried.”

  Of course I’m fucking worried. It’s my mate out there. It feels like it’s been hours since he disappeared, and a short time ago, the sky-claw flipped out and started flying around like a crazy beast, and my heart’s been hammering ever since. Something happened, but there’s been no sign of J’shel and I don’t know what to do. I’m trying not to panic, but I fully admit to myself that I am absolutely panicking.

  What if that bird ate him? What if he’s dead and I’m sitting here in the tunnel completely unaware that I’m going to have to live without him? A knot forms in my throat and I try to concentrate, to watch the snow. He’d be camouflaged and hard to see.

  “We must be ready to go the moment the sky-claw looks as if the chakk leaf has affected him,” Taushen says, and I want to grab his shoulders and shake him because I know that. I know the plan. He’s only repeated it a bajillion times as we’ve stood here in the tunnel, waiting. Thing is, the bird isn’t slowing, and there isn’t any J’shel, and I’m losing my flipping mind waiting.

  “Perhaps we should wait a little farther inside,” Brooke suggests. “Back where it’s warm?”

  I shake my head. The tunnel entrance is cold, but I want to stay here because I need to see J’shel when he comes back.

  Because he’s totally coming back. I refuse to accept any other possibility.

  “Hannah,” Brooke murmurs, her voice kind. She gives my arm a supportive squeeze. “I just want you to know that no matter what happens—”

  “—J’shel is coming back,” I finish for her. “That’s all there is to it.”

  “Wait,” Taushen says, lifting a hand and indicating for us to be silent. His gaze is locked on the sky-claw drifting through the air outside.

  “What is it?” I ask. “What did you see?”

  He shoots me an irritated look and indicates silence once more. I bite back my angry words, trembling with nerves, and wait for him to speak again.

  Then, I see it, too. The sky-claw—Old Grandfather—heads toward its favorite cliff. It wobbles slightly as it lands atop its perch, and then wobbles again as it folds its wings in.

  “The chakk leaf,” Taushen murmurs. “It is working.”

  “But where is J’shel?” I babble, pushing up to the entrance and staring out at the snow. “I don’t see him. Maybe we should wait a while and see if he comes back.”

  “No,” Taushen says. “He was very clear. We go when the sky-claw is drugged and the moons are high.” He points at the sky, where both moons shine brightly almost directly overhead. “It is time.”

  “But J’shel,” I protest, stepping back.

  “He wants you to leave with us,” Brooke says fiercely, grabbing my arm. Taushen grabs my other one, and then they’re both half-dragging me out of the cave with them. “If he’s out there, he’ll rejoin us. But we don’t know how long the chakk leaf will last so we really have to go.”

  I know she’s right. I just…I scan the valley again, choking back the sob that threatens. I just need a sign that he’s all right. A sign that he’s alive, not a sky-claw appetizer.

  I see nothing, though. All is still around us.

  “Let us go,” Taushen says, voice low. “Follow me and stick to the valley walls. Walk as quietly as you can and as swiftly as you can. No speaking. I will say the word when it is safe.”

  I force myself to nod, even though I don’t want to leave.

  He’ll catch up, Brooke said. I have to believe that. I know we can’t stay here. I know that. But…I don’t want to go anywhere without him. I don’t want to live here without him, even if he wants me to.

  I manage to fight down my panic as we move along the tiny, icy path down the side of the cliff. When my feet crunch on the snow, I look around, but the valley itself is still. It’s quiet—almost too quiet—and it doesn’t help my mangled nerves.

  “There’s a lot of dead stuff out he
re,” Brooke whispers. “Do you smell it?”

  Taushen puts a finger to his lips again, indicating we should be silent, and his mate goes quiet. He points at the valley wall, then gestures that we should go forward. Brooke moves into the lead and Taushen moves behind me, to take up the rear—and probably to make sure that I go with them instead of bolting. Even I’m not that stubborn. I know that big-ass bird might only be drugged for a short time and we have to make this count. So I follow Brooke’s lead as she creeps along the wall.

  We move through the silent valley, and I try not to breathe the charnel smell too deeply. It stinks of rot and old dead things and makes me gag. It’s bitterly cold, and I’m trembling, but I don’t know if that’s from the very real fear of Old Grandfather finding us, or because my sweet J’shel is missing. I think of him, his wide smile, the way he flicks his long braid over his shoulder with irritation, the look on his face when he sinks deep inside me…and I ache so badly.

  He wanted to be my hero tonight. I just want him, period.

  I look up at the enormous bird-creature above. We’re passing almost directly in front of him now and I can hear a deep, heavy panting that I’m pretty sure is coming from the sky-claw. I hope it’s tripping serious balls. It sways back and forth in its spot, but doesn’t even glance in our direction as we pick our way forward.

  If you’re out there, J’shel, now’s the time to show up and reassure me.

  There’s still no sign of my mate, though. There’s no sign of him even as we continue along the far end of the valley and then the cliffs open up ahead to an expanse of wide snow that means we’ll have no shelter whatsoever. I swallow hard at the sight of that, and Brooke turns back to look at Taushen, a question in her eyes. “Should we wait?” she whispers.

  He hesitates. I can tell he’s torn, but he shakes his head. “We need to leave before the chakk leaf wears off. Once we leave this valley we have an open stretch to cross, and we must go swiftly.” He looks at us. “How are your snowshoes?”

  “Fine,” I say listlessly. I don’t care if mine are blocks of concrete. I stare at the valley walls, hoping against hope that J’shel will show up. He can’t be dead.

  He isn’t dead.

  He isn’t. He just isn’t.

  Brooke points at one of her snowshoes. “I think I have a strap loose.”

  Taushen moves to her side, and as he does, I scan the valley one last time, hoping to see my mate. This can’t be it? We can’t just…leave? I swallow hard, fighting back tears as I stare at the frozen carcasses. There’s blood, old and black, splashed on the snow and frozen where it landed. Against the cliff along the opposite wall, I see even more blood. It follows along the edge of the rock and almost looks like a trail.

  In the moonlight, it’s hard to tell, but it looks…brighter than the rest. Fresher?

  A sinking feeling churns in my gut and I race forward, not caring that I’m darting into the open. Either the bird will eat me or he won’t, but I have to see what that is.

  Taushen tries to grab at me, but he only snags my clothing, and I wriggle out of his grip. I crouch low, moving toward the opposite valley wall. I’m staring so hard at that blood that I start to doubt my own eyes. Maybe it’s not what I think it is. But then I make it to the other side, and I see fresh splashes in the snow, still wet, and the knot forms in my throat again.

  This blood is new.

  This is from J’shel.

  A split second later, Taushen is at my side, grabbing my arm. “Ha-nah, this is bad! You must stay with me—”

  “Look,” I hiss at him, pointing at the blood trail. “This leads to J’shel. I know it does!”

  He gazes at the trail, then looks at me, his mouth thinning. “Go and return to Brooke.”

  “But—”

  He points at his mate again, where she waits, alone, a short distance away. “Go and join her. I will find J’shel.” I hesitate, and he leans in. “We do not have time to waste, Ha-nah. Go with Brooke and walk as far and fast as you can. We will catch up. If he needs to be carried, you will not be able to do it.”

  Fear shivers down my spine. “Do you think he’s that badly wounded?”

  “I do not know, but we are wasting time. Go.”

  The look on his face tells me not to argue, and I hesitate for a moment, then bolt back toward Brooke. I crouch as I run, as if that would do anything, but I make it back to her side, and then hand in hand, we waddle out of the valley and into the open.

  “This is fucking terrifying,” she hisses, even as we stride forward, alone.

  “I think it’s too drugged to come after us,” I tell her. “I hope.” There’s a copse of distant, flippy pink trees that sway in the breeze. They’re not much of a shelter, but they’re something, and so I point at them. “Let’s head in that direction.”

  We do, and each step feels like more of a slog. I’m exhausted and panting by the time we reach the trees, and I cling to one for support, not caring that it’s getting sticky sap all over my gloves. I just need something to hold onto, and I know it can’t be Brooke—she’s just as tired as I am. I scan the moonlit snow, my heart hammering. “Where are they?”

  “They’ll be here soon. Maybe we should keep going.”

  “Not yet,” I tell her. “Please.”

  She hesitates, and then nods. “All right. Five minutes. But then we really need to move on.”

  “Five minutes,” I echo gratefully. “Gotcha.”

  The minutes tick past almost unfairly fast, and when Brooke glances over at me, a silent question in her eyes, I know the time has passed already. I swallow hard and glance back one more time…and see a dark figure moving. “Wait.”

  She makes a sound in her throat, her voice full of relief. “That’s Taushen.”

  My heart plummets as he staggers toward us, his walking uneven. It takes me a moment to realize that he’s walking strangely, and something large and white is slung against his shoulders.

  Then…the color ripples and I realize he’s half-carrying my J’shel.

  I bite back the cry that rises in my throat and rush out to meet them—or I try to. I stumble over my snowshoes, then stagger forward. It is J’shel, I realize, his color bone white except for the arm that hangs limp at his side, covered in dark, half-frozen blood. He looks up at the sight of me, and a smile curves his mouth. He lifts his weight off of Taushen’s shoulders and steps forward to meet me, then stumbles to his knees.

  “Babe!” I keep my voice to a low whisper even as I move forward and press kisses to his face. “Oh my god, you had me so worried. I love you so much.” I pepper his brow with kiss after kiss. “Why are you bleeding? What’s wrong?”

  “It is done,” he murmurs, sounding dazed. “Old Grandfather…there is an egg… I was going to push it out but there was no time…”

  “That egg is someone else’s problem,” I tell him authoritatively, then touch his wounded arm. “Let me see this.”

  “Quickly,” Taushen says, looking around. “We must get going.”

  “And we will in just a moment,” I tell him. I don’t like that J’shel is shivering. “Are you hurt anywhere other than your arm?”

  “That is enough,” he says, a half-hearted chuckle escaping him.

  “He has lost a lot of blood,” Taushen says. “It has made him light-headed.”

  I nod, sucking in a breath as I dab at his wound with the edge of my tunic and see the extent of the destruction. It looks…bad. Finger-deep gashes have been torn down one arm and it’s swollen near the elbow. I take one of the layers off of my clothing - the one around my hips and gently bind his arm. “We’ll clean this when we stop,” I reassure him. “And what we can’t handle, your cootie will. And Veronica will check this out when we get home. Can you walk?”

  J’shel just gives me a glassy-eyed look. “I wanted to come home to you,” he says softly. “You are my everything, H’nah.”

  “And you did,” I tell him in a firm voice. Later I can gush over how brave he was and te
ll him how frightened I was about losing him. For now, bossy Hannah takes over. “Let’s make a sling for this arm and Taushen will help you walk if you need it, all right? Where’s your spear?”

  “Gone.”

  “That’s fine,” I say crisply. “We can make more. Let’s get you patched up and get back to the beach, all right?”

  I bind his arm and make a sling out of strips of an under-tunic, then take off his cloak that I’m wearing and toss it over his shoulders. I make him sip some water, and I’m grateful when Brooke pulls out a pouch of chakk leaves and offers it to me.

  “You took some?” I ask her, amused.

  “I figured if shit went south, it’d be a good time to get really, really high.” She nudges them toward me. “But he can probably use them right about now.”

  I nod and offer them to J’shel, caressing his face and insisting when he tries to say that he’s fine.

  “We are going back to the beach?” he asks, chewing a leaf slowly as he gets to his feet. Taushen is there immediately, taking one of J’shel’s good arms over his broad shoulders.

  “We sure are.”

  “And you will move into my hut with me, H’nah?” he asks, waiting for my answer.

  “You won’t be able to get rid of my ass,” I reassure him.

  He laughs, and somehow the world feels a little better already.

  We walk through the night, and nothing follows us.

  It’s a hard trip for all of us to make. Brooke and I are carrying extra bags because Taushen’s more or less supporting J’shel. My poor alien tries to walk every now and then, but he’s so drunk on the chakk leaf we keep giving him for the pain that he stumbles.

  At least, I hope it’s just the chakk leaf.

  I keep up, though. I don’t have time to be lazy or slow. I stay right on Brooke’s ass, and I never ask for a break unless I think J’shel needs to stop. It’s crazy to think that it’s been less than two weeks since we were last out here, but it feels like everything has changed. Two weeks ago, I wanted to go home. Two weeks ago I gave a shit about who they were casting in the In Search of a Hero movie.