“Rusk?” I said, opening my eyes and looking up.
His face was just above mine with a crooked smile on it.
“I figured the safest place was right next to you—and preferably behind you.”
“You’ve been sitting behind me the whole time?” I asked.
He stretched, groaning. “I thought I might have to sit here all night.”
Startled, I looked around. It had felt like maybe an hour of hard work, but the sky was black, the moon bright and the air chilly. I slapped at an errant blood-sucking bug and started to stretch my own muscles.
“There were no lightnings or sudden gashes in the earth,” Rusk said. “Should I take that as a sign that things didn’t go well?”
“On the contrary. My gift isn’t making lightning. That’s a side effect.”
“What exactly is your gift then?” he asked, leaning close as if trying to see my face more clearly in the stark moonlight.
“Unmaking things.”
He laughed without humor and even in the poor light I saw a burning in his eyes.
“Of course it is,” he said.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Midnight Moonlight
“How long have we been here?” I asked.
“Hours,” he said. “I’ve been tracking the moon. I’d guess it is close to midnight. Your armsmen must have decided to spend the night in the town. What town is it?”
“Salata,” they said. A tiny town on the edge of the mountain, a day’s ride to Al’Toan.”
“So, we are almost there. And then from there a ship?”
“And the Ribs of Ochrand.”
He huffed into his hands to warm them. “Should we just sleep here? With no fire, there isn’t a better place.”
“We could sleep by the elephants,” I said.
“Too whiffy.” He lay down and shuffled around, getting comfortable on the rock.
“I never thought I’d grow used to sleeping on the ground,” I said.
“I doubt you could without me as a pillow,” he said as I lay down beside him and snuggled close to his warmth. He seemed more relaxed. Maybe working with the sword had done him some good.
His warmth felt very natural. I was already used to having him beside me all day. It felt—companionable. No one had ever chosen to be my friend or caregiver just because they liked me. They’d always had to do it out of duty or for money. He was no different, since he was chained to my wrist, but I was beginning to think that it wasn’t the same. I liked being around him. I would choose to seek him out and be nearby even if I didn’t need to. It felt strange. The only other person I’d ever felt that way about was my mother.
“Could we make a pact with each other?” I asked.
“A pact?” He sounded sleepy. Maybe night wasn’t the best time to bring this up, but it ached inside and I had to say something.
“A pact of forgiveness. I’ll forgive you for being there when my mother died, after all, it wasn’t your fault, and you will forgive me for having a mother who killed your family.”
“I think you’re just scared because you saw how well I can use a sword,” he said, but he sounded troubled.
“Did you miss the part where lightning bursts from my hands?”
“It sounds like you want me to absolve you,” he said.
“Would it be so bad?” I asked.
I thought he wasn’t going to answer me. Goosebumps rose along my arm despite his warmth, and a creepy feeling worked its way up my spine. Between the cold and the uncertainty, I didn’t know what to feel. Wouldn’t it be nice if he liked having me around? Wouldn’t it be nice if he felt lighter when I was around him the way I did when I caught his eye? But it was silly to think that could happen. He probably thought I was a burden—a silly girl he was stuck with, but not someone he would ever have confidence in. He was literally never more than eight feet away from me, but sometimes it felt as if he was in another world.
I was drowsing off to sleep when he spoke.
“I absolve you,” he said.
Something surged inside me. I wanted to reach out to him and wrap him in my arms. Would that scare him? It would be too much. And then he’d take back his words. I wrapped my arms around myself instead.
“I absolve you, too,” I said, and it felt more binding than speaking the oath at Al’Karida did, and more powerful than the lightnings I wielded.
He muttered something that sounded like, “If only...”
Crack! Was that a stick snapping? I shifted to get up, but Rusk laid a hand on me to stop the movement. We froze, both of us straining to listen. A scuffling sound. I tried to triangulate the noise. It was by the elephants. Rusk eased himself slowly to his feet, spatha already in hand. Good. He could go check out the noise. Oh, wait, that meant I had to go, too.
I stood carefully, easing my weight up slowly so I wouldn’t make a sound.
Three shadows crept by the elephants. One was closer to us, and the other two lagged behind. Their heads were close together like they were whispering. Or were they kissing? It seemed like a strange thing for intruders to do. The figure in the lead slowed when he reached Alsoon.
“Calmly there fellow, it’s only me,” he said in Sesay’s voice and I sagged in relief. It was only my guards.
Beside me Rusk’s sword arm lowered and we scrambled down the rocks together to join them.
“I thought you’d sleep in the town,” I said, pitching my voice low. I felt, somehow, as if I needed to be quiet.
“Inn was terrible. Wouldn’t ask my elephant to sleep there,” Sesay said. “But we found supplies and we stocked up and then had a few drinks at the tavern before coming home.”
Well that explained the jolly tone in his voice and the way he called the ravine ‘home.’
There was a flicker of something in the corner of my vision. I turned and tried to pick it out in the moonlight but there was nothing there. I must have been tired to be jumping at shadows, or maybe it was a bug.
“We should get some rest,” Rusk said with a yawn and I followed him to settle down against Alsoon and our packs. He must have decided that warmth was more important than smell.
Sesay leaned up against the second elephant, but Jakinda and Buhari didn’t join him. I was too tired to care. There would be plenty of time to think of that in the morning. I closed my eyes, sank into Alsoon’s leathery skin and breathed deeply. Sleep. Nothing ever felt as good as sleep when you were exhausted. It was better than the best of food or nicest clothes.
I was drifting into sweet oblivion when someone yelled. I jumped, startled into wakefulness when I was just on the edge of sleep and cranky enough that I just wanted to be left alone. Someone else needed to handle this problem.
Rusk took my arm and hauled me to my feet. His sword was in one hand and the tethered hand was wrapped protectively around my upper arm, as if he planned to shove me behind him at a moment’s notice. Instinctively, I reached for our bags.
Lights flickered in a ring around us, slowly closing in. I counted. A dozen. So, a dozen people with torches, and who knew how many behind them.
“Tazminera Tylira Nyota?” a silken voice called.
“Who’s asking?” I replied.
There was laughter before the response, “Traxan of the East Tribes. And I mean no offense, but I plan to find the Teeth of the Gods and to kill any who look like they might keep up with me.”
Well, that wasn’t good.
“Since you’re here, it means you plan to take a ship from Al’Toan same as I do, but here’s the problem. I’ve been planning for this race for seven years. I have spoken to every racer from the past who still lives and I have a theory about where to find the Teeth. I don’t want anyone else going where I’m going.”
“And where is that?” I asked.
“The Ribs of Ochrand,” he said.
I bit my tongue to keep from cursing. Really? “I have other plans.”
“I bet you have plans, lady. I bet your plans are the same as mine. I thought to mysel
f, why would a Tazminera chase after the Teeth? Only if she knew, same as I did, where to look.”
“It’s just a game for me,” I said. Maybe he’d leave me alone if he thought that. We couldn’t fight and win against the twelve men surrounding us—or more if they didn’t all have lights.
“I don’t plan to hurt you,” he wheedled. The lights were closing in, one step at a time. I couldn’t see faces, but that would change soon. Traxan’s voice was right in front of me. “I wouldn’t want to get in trouble with the great High Tazmin. But your guards are a different matter. I bet that without them or your mounts you’d be weeks getting home. You certainly couldn’t keep racing. And I heard that the High Tazmin wants you back home. Maybe he’d be pleased that I put a little crimp in your plans.”
“The magic prevents you from hindering me,” I said, “so why bother trying when I could just agree to go a different direction?”
“Well, it won’t be you I’m hindering,” Traxan said and then his face was close enough to see in the torchlight. Thick lines of scars crossed his face, and his features were large and disproportionate. I took a step back, unintentionally walking into Alsoon’s leg. “Nowhere to go, little princess. Nowhere to hide.”
Our competitors dropped their torches and stepped forward. Their faces were grim in the flickering light, and their blades bright. I drew in a deep breath, entering Ra’shara to try to unweave and then the sound of a horn blasted through the camp. Traxan froze, his face a mask of surprise. Around him, his people did the same.
The sound of running feet seemed too loud, like it was coming from too close. The horn sounded again, and then they were among us. Warriors with the small flags of High Tazminera Amandera’s red and black ran through the camp like hot honey. Their bright blades slashing and cutting at everything in sight. I saw one thrust his blade at Sesay as Rusk shoved me behind him and engaged an attacker. Beside us, Traxan screamed curses as he battled shadowy figures.
Alsoon, kneel!
I threw our bag onto Alsoon and then scrambled up his back, pulling Rusk by the tether.
“Get on, quick!”
He disarmed the man he was fighting and then flipped onto Alsoon, batting away a second attacker in the process. Alsoon had no saddle, but I sat high on his shoulders, speaking instructions.
Get Sesay.
We rode towards him, Rusk slashing and hacking at anyone nearby. Sesay fought dual-handed, his corded muscles standing out in the moonlight as he completed a scissor-like maneuver with his two swords, and bounded up to a high rock, kicking out at a pursuer. I urged Alsoon to the rock and Sesay leapt towards us. Rusk caught his forearm as he flew through the air. With a massive yank, he pulled Sesay up on Alsoon’s back, and the two of them battled on, their fighting hampered by Alsoon’s great height.
How had Amandera brought such a great force down through the ravine?
“Tylira!” I heard Jakinda yell. Never had she sounded so panicked before.
I scanned the ravine. Jakinda and Buhari were stranded on the top of another large rock, while around them foes tried to scale the sides. Jakinda kicked and stomped and jabbed, but Buhari was slumped against her, clutching his belly.
I urged Alsoon towards them.
“We need the other elephant,” Rusk said as he saw where I was taking us. “Alsoon can’t carry five and make any progress.”
“Where?” I asked and he pointed down the ravine where two of Amandera’s men had taken the elephant and saddled him. They were mounting him.
Alsoon, we must go get the other elephant.
Sharp sticks. Fear.
We must go!
Alsoon trumpeted loudly and hurdled into the fray, trampling men as he ran. The men on the other elephant squared up, livery flags flowing in the light breeze and weapons drawn. We would have to fight them to take the elephant, and I didn’t dare risk trying to unweave or I might kill my own people.
“Tylira!” Jakinda called again, and I glanced back. Her situation was growing more dire. One of her foes had crested the rock and was fighting her. Her attention diverted, more and more soldiers started to climb up to her. In moments, she would be overwhelmed. What was I to do? We needed that other elephant.
We were so close now that I saw moonlight glint off the enemy’s teeth as they rode towards us. Rusk climbed, suddenly, in front of me, hands and feet trampling me and shoving me backwards as he scrambled forward.
“A little over eager, are we?” I said, my voice muffled by his cloak as I fought to untangle it from my face.
“You’ll thank me,” he said, seconds before I heard the crashing sound of swords meeting in anger.
By the time my face was free of the cloth, he was locked in combat with one of Amandera’s soldiers on the other elephant.
Sesay jumped the gap with a roar, hurtling into his opponent on the elephant, grabbing him by the hair and yanking his head back. He drew a dagger and slid it across the man’s exposed throat and then threw him to the ground. The elephant reared and trumpeted, leaving Sesay dangling by his grip on the saddle and his enemies flying through the air.
A hand seized my foot. Panicked, I kicked, trying to loosen the hand. The grip was iron firm.
“Stop thrashing, I’m trying to fight here!” Rusk said, as the ring of metal on metal continued, but I was losing my grip on Alsoon.
The hand was dragging me further down. I kicked out harder, grunting in effort, and then shrieked as I felt my balance start to shift and I slid almost completely off Alsoon.
Alsoon! Lunge to the side, quick!
It didn’t matter which side. Anything to distract my foe. We lurched towards the hand, and as soon as I felt the grip on my leg slip I pulled with all my might to regain my place on Alsoon’s back. Rusk grabbed a hold of my sarette and hauled upwards, giving me that last bit of help I needed.
“You good?” he asked.
I panted and nodded, trying to regain my cool. We had both elephants. Sesay on one, and Rusk and I on Alsoon. Jakinda...where was Jakinda...?
Alsoon! Jakinda! I said, as I saw her on the edge of her rock, fighting off three swordsmen with one hand while she supported Buhari with the other. Her feet were inches from the edge of the rock.
Alsoon barreled towards her, zig zagging to avoid obstacles. There was no way she could hold on. One of the swordsmen barely missed her as she contorted herself around Buhari to avoid the wicked blade. A second man stepped closer, and then Buhari lost his footing, and fell from the rock, barely catching the edge of it at the last minute.
Run, Alsoon, run!
In seconds we reached them and Rusk reached out and dragged Buhari onto Alsoon, draping him over my lap. I grabbed him in both arms, but he was shuddering and moaning, with bubbles coming from the corner of his mouth.
Sesay’s elephant swept in beside us and Jakinda leapt through the air towards it, her arms pinwheeling to gain more length to her jump. My heart stopped for a moment. She was going to fall short. And then she was on the elephant and at Rusk’s order both elephants were wheeling from the battle and thundering towards the hills beyond.
Could we escape? Arms and weapons swung towards the elephants’ feet and it was all Rusk and Sesay could do to ward off the attackers. I held Buhari on my lap, but with every step Alsoon jarred him and his face grew paler, the blood bubbles smaller and smaller. Would he even live to escape the battle?
The incline was greater, and Alsoon was weaving and moving like he was climbing, but my concentration was on Buhari, trying to keep his head supported and his body as still as I could manage on the back of a rocking elephant. Our pace slowed, and I felt Alsoon’s tiredness. My nerves were raw. I kept studying Buhari’s face for any change, but all I saw was pain. What could you even do for a man who had a slash across his belly? I tried not to look at it for fear that I would grow woozy at the sight.
Eventually, we halted and I looked up. We were ascending into the foothill, headed away from Al’Toan or any road, into the heart of the mountains.<
br />
“Are they pursuing us?” I asked.
“Definitely,” Rusk said, his voice tense. “But we have a lead on them. They know where we have gone, but they need to regroup and see to their losses before they continue the chase.”
“Elephants are not at their best in the mountains.”
He grunted. “We could have used some lightnings back there.”
“I was afraid of killing or hurting my own people.” An image of Toure flashed across my vision.
His honey eyes met my black ones. “Be less afraid.”
Jakinda scrambled up the side of Alsoon, pushing me aside and taking Buhari gently from my arms.
“Help me lower him to the ground,” she ordered Rusk. Together they brought him down amid his grunts and moans and Jakinda began to look over his wounds.
“How bad is it?” I asked. Buhari’s head lolled to the side. Had he passed out?
Jakinda’s hands ran over the wound, and then frantically over his face. Her breathing was fast. I fished into the bag I’d brought and found a waterskin. Wordlessly, I handed it to her. I’d lost the bag with my clothing and most of the money, but I had the other one. It should have three waterskins, most of the food and whatever they had brought back from their trip to town.
Jakinda took the skin, pouring water over the wound and trying to clean it out with a handkerchief. I looked further within the bag. They’d brought several blankets. I handed one to Jakinda and she cut it with her knife, bandaging Buhari’s wound and then gently cleaned his face with another strip.
I had suspected that they were secretly lovers and now this care seemed to go beyond what you would do merely for a comrade. Drops of water coated the bandage on his belly—Jakinda was crying.
“He can’t be moved. Not until he’s had time to rest,” she said eventually, her voice cracking under the strain.
She was in love with him and he was likely dying. I wrapped my arms around my chest. What could I do? “Could you take him to the town to be cared for?”
Teeth of the Gods Page 17
