by Rin Chupeco
Emperor Shifang was just as adamant about seeing me in action, perhaps inspired by my impromptu match against his soldiers. Inessa was as insistent too.
Khalad, the most prudent noble of the bunch, elected to stay behind with Likh and Shadi. Both Tansoong and Baoyi accompanied the emperor. Zoya was practically purring, here in the open, away from the palace, where we could once more channel runes. As soon as the wards were gone, I had instinctively reached out to find the azi, and the relief when it responded to my thoughts was enormous.
I had taken the opportunity to scan the emperor and his officials with Scrying but could not find anything out of the ordinary. Shifang was oftentimes too concerned with himself for his thoughts to be relevant. Tansoong’s mind thrived on petty details such that most issues of substance were beyond his capacity. Baoyi’s thoughts were calm, his mind sorting through the paperwork still needing work in the palace, though that was overlaid by apprehension concerning the daeva we now hunted. Experience told me this did not exempt them from an alliance with any of the Faceless, but it seemed less likely somehow.
Fox was quiet; we were riding separately for once, with me on Chief and him on a gray Daanorian stallion beside the princess. I understood the emotions thrumming through his head: anger and annoyance that Inessa was along for the ride and the same frustrations I felt about the potential casualties. But riding at the forefront was grim eagerness. We were finally going to face the daeva that killed him. Revenge had been a long, exhausting road, and we were nearing the end.
I rode with Kalen. We had little chance to talk since reports came of the savul being spotted near Lake Kaal. In this vast expanse of fields and small hills, I could feel the azi more keenly in my mind. Free of care, it coasted along the edges of Daanoris far above the clouds, aimless and happy. I envied it.
“Kalen?”
“Hmm?” His eyes were trained ahead, where the lake gleamed back at us.
I toyed with the sword on my hip. “You always said my fighting wasn’t up to par.”
“That’s true.”
I glowered. “I would have appreciated a little more encouragement.”
“There’s no encouragement on the battlefield, Tea. Surviving means you’ve improved, but that doesn’t guarantee living through the next fight.”
We were the first to reach the lake. I dismounted quickly, as did he, and heard the others behind us following suit. I stared out into the waters. It looked no different to me than the lake back home, and I wondered if the savul too had made Lake Kaal its home the way azi had made Lake Strypnyk its residence.
“It’s so peaceful here,” Princess Inessa murmured.
“Be on your guard, Princess,” Zoya told her. “We’re in the daeva’s territory, not the other way around. Fox, don’t let her out of your sight.”
“I’m not planning to.”
The princess frowned. “I’m not going to run around and get myself lost, Zoya. I’m not a child.”
“When you decided to tag along, you became exactly that,” my brother told her.
The girl muttered something under her breath. They had finally stopped avoiding each other outside of training, though being civil was still difficult.
The emperor looked around disdainfully and issued a question.
“What did he say?” I asked Zoya.
“The emperor may look regal, but I’m not sure if he takes his brains out to exercise often enough for my taste. He wants to know why the savul hasn’t shown up yet. Do you sense anything amiss?”
I directed my thoughts toward the blue waters. I felt the azi graze against my mind. “No, there’s nothing here.”
“The savul may have moved on,” Inessa suggested.
“It’s a creature of camouflage,” Zoya said. “It can mask its presence well enough that you would barely know it was there until it was on top of you.”
“But if Tea couldn’t sense anything…”
“No,” Fox broke in quietly. “It’s nearby.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I can sense it.” Fox clutched at his chest. His face was strained, but I could not feel his pain.
“Fox?”
“My scars…hurt.”
Inessa drew in her breath. “Was this the daeva that…?”
“I want most of your soldiers surrounding the king and Princess Inessa at all times,” Kalen instructed Tansoong. “Do not approach the lake until we investigate. I want the rest to spread out and search. If you find it, do not engage the beast in battle. Do not attack and neither should you incite it to attack you. Avoid it at all costs and report to either Lady Tea or me immediately.” He was already on his horse, leaving me to glare at his retreating back as they rode away.
Fox, stay with Inessa.
Tea, where are you going?
I ignored him and clambered up Chief to ride after the Deathseeker. He was deliberately ignoring the other groups of men, making for the thicker parts of the woods surrounding the lake all on his own.
I caught up to him a few minutes later. Trees hid the lake from view, and within the heavy cluster of trees, it was like no one else was around.
“Are you seriously thinking of facing the daeva on your own?” I demanded, sliding off my horse. Kalen was already standing, sketching out runes in the air. I watched as Light flickered dimly, drifting higher up into the trees and bathing our surroundings in a soft, muted glow. Another rune was directed toward the ground, and I felt it spread, stretching out into the distance.
“I can look after myself.”
“What is that?”
“A Tremor rune. If there’s anything large and heavy coming our way for a good thirty miles around us, I’ll know.”
“What if it’s in the lake?”
“Same premise.” He stared at me. “Why are you here?”
“At the fight…” I paused. I’d seen pride for me shining as clear as day in his heartsglass, but there was another, much more profound emotion there too, though I couldn’t describe it.
He hesitated. “It’s natural to feel satisfaction, knowing my training had paid off.”
“Are you still angry at me?”
He didn’t answer.
“My offer still stands. You can do anything you want to me.”
Kalen’s jaw dropped half a heartbeat before I realized why.
“No! I meant that if I promise to do anything you want—no, that’s not right either! I forced you against your will, so now I’m giving you the right to order me to do anything, even if I don’t like it. No, wait!” I clutched at my head. “The words aren’t coming out the way I want them to!”
“I understand what you’re saying, however ineptly you phrase it.” He stalked toward me, and despite my earlier bravado, I found myself pressed up against the trunk of a large tree with Kalen looming over me. “Anything and everything I want?”
I couldn’t tell if he was kidding or if he was riling me up, as was his norm. There was both an earnestness and a reluctance to his face I’d never seen before, contradicting emotions warring for primacy, like he was about to tell me something he was going to regret but that had to be said. I couldn’t glance down to gauge his heartsglass; he was too close, giving me little room to move, little room to look anywhere but up at him.
He looked intimidating, almost menacing, despite his lack of anger. But I wasn’t afraid. If anything, I was…expectant. I could feel his heartsglass flare—with the Heartshare rune I had offered him back in Kion, I realized. I had not dispelled the magic; while diminished by the castle wards, out here in the open, it shone brightly.
“Do you really want to know what I want to do to you, Tea? Would you still be so willing if you did?”
He had never said my name that way before. I could feel his warm breath against my lips. He smelled nice, like pine and musk.
&nb
sp; The sides of his mouth curved up. The rune flickered.
“I want you fighting five soldiers next time,” he said quietly.
“Wh-what?”
He was already drawing back, the smirk still on his face. “Two soldiers is child’s play. You’re going to improve by my standards and not by anyone else’s. I don’t know how long we’re going to stay here or what Inessa has up her sleeve to wheedle herself out of the emperor’s marriage contract, but if you can’t fight five soldiers by the time we leave, then you’re still incompetent. Your heartsglass is palpitating, by the way.”
With a growl, I pushed hard against his chest, but he barely budged. “You bumbass!” I shouted at him, clapping a hand over my heartsglass. I thought…I was so sure that he was going to—“I hate you!”
He chuckled. “Now we’re almost even.”
“Almost?! You—”
“Shh.”
“Don’t you dare shush me, you—”
“No, keep quiet.” Kalen dropped to the ground, pressing his hand against the soil. “Do you feel that?”
I shook my head.
“Something large is moving this way.”
“How can you be sure?”
He stared at me.
“Forget I said anything. Where is it?”
He stilled. “It’s in the lake.”
“That’s impossible! I would have sensed it when I was—”
And then it was my turn to drop, the pain unbearable. I had dizzying visions, all juxtaposed on top of one another: an image of Kalen in front of me; an image of the azi in the air, roaring and veering off course; an image of Fox on his knees like I was, clutching at the scars on his chest and howling in pain; and an image of swamp water and marsh and of scale-tipped claws.
“Fox!” I gasped out. “Take me back to Fox!”
Kalen needed no explanation. He was already on his horse with me in his arms before I’d finished my sentence, Chief cantering behind us.
Zoya and Inessa were administering to Fox. My brother was breathing hard, his heartsglass wavering between silver and green. It was the first time I had ever seen it change color. His shirt was stained red.
“What’s wrong with him?” Baoyi asked in alarm, riding up to us. “Who attacked?”
“No one.” Inessa had a death grip on Fox’s hand and was on the verge of tears. “He just collapsed.”
I tore Fox’s shirt open. His wounds had opened up and were bleeding profusely.
I traced the Bloodletting rune in the air, to no effect. Desperate, I dove into his mind and staggered back from the overwhelming pain there.
“What’s happened to him?” Zoya asked grimly.
“He has some connection to the savul.” I turned back toward the lake, allowing the new, strange mind into my own. The savul might have been good at camouflage, but Fox’s unexpected link to the daeva was my only chance at detecting it.
It was there; basic, primal thoughts I could sense but could neither touch nor influence and a vision of something dark and foreboding rising to the surface of the lake.
The savul broke through the surface, screaming. While it was the color of the blue waters it had jumped out of, it shifted to a spectrum of olive greens when it landed among the grass. It was corpulent as wide as a barn, its massive fishlike scales shining.
Lightning shot out of Kalen’s hands, peppering the creature’s hide. It hissed in anger, turning to face him.
“Get the princess and the emperor out of here!” Zoya yelled to the army, most of whom were staring at the savul in horror. Tansoong was the first to act, grabbing Emperor Shifang’s hand and leading him away, shouting at the guards around them to follow, though he was quaking so hard, it was a wonder he managed to remain upright.
“No!” Inessa refused to relinquish her hold on Fox. “I’m not going!”
“Princess!” Zoya shouted. “Stop being a twit and go with the soldiers!”
But the girl shook her head doggedly, lifting my brother to his feet and staggering under his weight.
I put myself between her and the savul; I could touch its mind, but try as I might, I could do nothing to commandeer its thoughts, which stood heavy and putrid against my own. I could feel Fox’s pain through our bond, but I gritted my teeth and forced my way through it. My best chance at helping him was to attack the savul first.
Zoya had taken up defenses beside Kalen, fire shooting out from her fingertips as she spun runes as large as she was, sending torrents of flames upward. But despite all their efforts, the savul simply shook off the excesses and cawed mournfully at the sky. It leaped into the air, its six limbs extending like a twisted, grotesque toad’s, and landed on one of the soldiers unfortunate enough to be in its way. There was a sickening crunch, and the creature’s head lowered, prepared to enjoy its feast.
“It’s not working!” Zoya hollered.
I turned toward the sky. I could feel the thrum of the wind underneath the azi’s spread wings as it closed the distance.
The savul turned to look, almost quizzically, at my brother on the ground and at the princess still clinging to him. It took a step toward us and then another.
“Zoya, take them away,” I said through gritted teeth, trying to sort out all the different contrary perspectives running through my head as I wove more Compulsion. But the runes did nothing, and the savul continued its inexorable trek toward us, yellow eyes filled with malice.
One of the soldiers beside Inessa turned, his eyes suddenly blank. He lifted his sword, and both the princess and Zoya were too busy watching the daeva to realize the danger.
“Look out!” I screamed, tearing myself away from the savul and redirecting the Compulsion swiftly into the man’s mind. I found the exact same barrier that had stymied me back in Kion when the Odalian soldiers had attacked the city.
Before the blow could fall, a hand reached up, gripping the blade of the sword. Blood flowed down his arm, but Fox was relentless, ripping the blade away. The soldier staggered back, and Fox punched him, hard enough that he was out in an instant.
Don’t worry about me, Tea! Focus on the savul!
Zoya dragged both Princess Inessa and Fox away, leaving me to face the approaching daeva. “Some of the soldiers are being controlled!” I yelled behind me, and she understood. A few more soldiers, eyes glazed over and swords raised, were already ambling toward Inessa and Fox but were thrown back several feet by a surge of Hurricane and a quick weave of Zoya’s fingers.
“Tea!” I could hear Kalen yelling, but I refused to budge, concentrating on the solitary speck in the sky flying above us, growing closer and closer until—
The savul lunged forward with its serpentlike tongue extended and jaws open to reveal several rows of brown teeth. And then Kalen was there, grabbing me and angling his body so his back was exposed to the savul, Shield runes popping up around us.
Master.
With a loud wail, the azi landed, one of its heads biting savagely into the savul’s neck before it could strike us, sending deep-ocher-colored blood spurting up from the wound. With a horrible cry, the beast fell back, righting itself before turning to face the new threat.
“Are you OK?” Kalen whispered against my hair.
I nodded, fighting off my dizziness. The confusing perspectives were now down to only two—my own and that of the three-headed dragon before us. “You idiot. Why did you…?” He couldn’t have known that the azi was on its way. And yet he…
“Because you make me careless, Tea.” He punched out more Shield runes that glowed in the air as more of the blank-eyed soldiers turned. “What’s happening to them?”
“Same as in Kion. There are seeking stones here.” I wove Strangle this time, still keeping my eyes on the azi and savul, who continued to watch each other. I’ve never seen daeva fight each other before, and I didn’t know what to expect.
<
br /> The runes took hold, and I found a glow inside one of the soldiers approaching Inessa and Fox. With all the strength I could summon, I poured everything I had into shattering that light. It broke, dissipating from view, but the soldier gasped. He stumbled forward, blood pouring out of his mouth, and collapsed.
I watched him fall, stunned, and tried to move forward. Kalen pulled me back. “Focus on your pet, Tea!”
“But…”
The azi hissed. Its three heads threaded through the air and its wings extended, drawing to its full height and span. Not to be outdone, the savul squatted and let out a hoarse croaking sound, blowing up its body like a bullfrog’s. Its outline shimmered in the air, green scales becoming more and more translucent until, before our eyes, it faded from view.
“Camouflage!” I saw nothing, but the grass bent, web-shaped footprints stamping onto the ground, toward the azi. And then they stopped.
“It’s jumping!” I barreled into the azi’s mind. We swiveled to face the savul just as it reappeared, its scaly body slamming into us. I felt its talons rake into our body, and we cried out, both in pain and with rage.
We opened all three of our mouths and breathed firestorm onto the savul. It shrieked, the heat from the flames intense enough to burn its limbs and a goodly portion of its body. Runes didn’t work, I realized, but daeva could kill its own.
The air reeked of charred flesh and smoke, the stench burning our eyes. Our chest hurt, the wounds from where the savul had raked its talons pulsating with every heartbeat. I could still feel Fox’s pain as he struggled to defend himself and Inessa from the soldiers going after them. Inessa had yanked out a sword from one of the fallen and was training it on the approaching mob, trembling. “Get out of here!” Fox rasped.
“I’m not leaving you!”
Zoya successfully kept most of the Daanorians at bay, but I knew she was tiring quickly. Of the elemental runes, Wind required the most strength, and she’d been slamming dozens of soldiers into the ground with it.
I was conscious enough of my own body to know that Kalen still held on to my limp form. I could feel the power of the runes he was hammering in the air, following Zoya’s lead and pushing the soldiers away with more Wind. But he was tiring too.
