Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
“You don’t think anyone has noticed that you’ve instructed my tent be set up closer and closer to yours each night?
” I ask Killian in a low voice as we ride a few days later.
I still have my own tent, of course, as things with us are still a quietly kept secret—except for Odessa.
She knows all and keeps assuring me that everything will turn out alright, that I need to just keep hope, like the stubborn flower we’ve both been called.
But my tent has gotten suspiciously close in proximity to the Commander’s each night when we stop.
It does make sneaking back to my own each morning easier, it’s true, but we practically share a wall now they’re so near.
“I don’t give a flying fuck if they’ve noticed,” he says easily as he sits astride his giant Northland as if the two were made for each other.
Both proud and strong, with a quiet ferocity that no one can deny.
I shake my head and laugh, and he winks, flashing me that crooked smile.
There are flakes of snow caught in his dark beard from the short fall we had this morning, but it thankfully didn’t last long enough to hinder our journey.
I can feel a bigger storm on the horizon though, and I honestly don’t know what it will mean for the army to be caught out in it. So, I ask.
“What happens when this storm hits us true? Your army is strong, but they’re only human. They can’t survive being buried in ten feet of snow.”
He eyes the sky. “It may hold until we reach Duskthorne’s gates. We only have another two weeks, possibly less.”
My stomach dips a bit at that. Two weeks.
Two weeks until I meet the monster and my fate is decided.
Killian seems to think he can sway his king, that I won’t be ransomed if I don’t wish to be and that I could join their cause.
But what about Helios? What about Cece and Math?
I need to get back to them somehow. But maybe joining Duskthorne is the way to do that.
As horrible as that kingdom is, it has the might of Killian’s army and Tithmoore’s as well.
That may be my way to get to Helios—maybe I can make it a condition of my cooperation.
I’ll fight with them if they get my friends to safety first.
Of course, that’s assuming that my revelation that I’m not actually my sister is met with…
open-mindedness. Though I’m bonded now and know my power is far stronger than ever before, I’ve never really used it for much.
I’ve sure as hells never wielded it in battle.
So who’s to say I could even be helpful in this war at all?
Regardless, I need to be sure of Dorian’s intentions first. If he is determined to ransom Tesni, I can’t reveal the truth.
Which means I must continue to lie to Killian.
I groan inwardly, all of the questions and possibilities and secrets making my head ache.
“It won’t,” I tell him. “The storm will only hold a few more days.”
“A weather expert now, are we?”
“It is one of my many stunning attributes.” He chuckles at that.
“We are an army bred in the depths of the frozen Northlands, Tess. We will be alright, I assure you.”
“But—”
-Something is wrong,- Soren rumbles in my head.
I tense and Killian, ever vigilant, marks the change immediately.
“What’s wrong?” He scans the trees around us, waiting for a threat. His hand flies to the sword at his back, ready to pull it free in a heartbeat if needed.
-To the west. I can smell it on the air.-
-What? What’s going on? What can you smell??-
-…death.- His voice is tight and I can feel the strain within him as he speeds back towards us through the trees. I blink and whip my head to the west, having no idea what to expect…and then I see the smoke.
“Look,” I tell Killian, nodding in the distance. It’s difficult to see with the heavy clouds, but I was sure…yes, there. Smoke curling upward in the distance. “What’s there?”
“A small village,” he answers, frowning.
“There are a handful of them out here. A few hundred people at most. They’re part of Duskthorne, technically, but we call them Outskirtters.
They prefer life outside the walls of the kingdom proper, the wilds running deep in their veins from years long past, before Duskthorne even existed. ”
“Soren says that he smells…death.”
Killian stiffens. “Hold,” he says shortly and rides off down the line of soldiers, calling for his lieutenants and captains.
I pull Zaro to a halt and wait. A few moments later Soren joins us, leaping to my side, hackles raised and claws and teeth bared.
Zaro snorts at the cat but remains mostly aloof, as usual.
I swear nothing could truly worry the horse.
“Do you know what happened?”
-No, only that…- He hesitates and cold dread pools in my belly. I meet his gaze, icy blue and gold grounding me despite the knowledge that what he’s about to say is something terrible. He sighs. -Only that the bodies were burned-
I rear back.
“What??”
Before Soren can answer, Killian rides back to me.
“Stay here. I’m taking a group to see what’s happened.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No, you’re not. We don’t know what we’re going to find, Tess, you need to stay—”
“I’m coming,” I tell him again, voice hard and unyielding, and Soren peels his lips back from his fangs, growling low and making it perfectly clear that he will fight any that try to keep me from what I want.
I don’t even know why I want to go so badly, but something is telling me that I need to, that I need to see.
Killian glances from me to Soren and rolls his eyes.
“You can put those away,” he tells Soren.
Turning back to me, he continues. “You stay behind me at all times and you do as I say, when I say it, do you understand?” He pins me with that stormy stare and I feel the command in his voice, but below that, the worry.
He wants me safe. I nod and he looks back to Soren.
“You will get her out if there is danger.” It isn’t a question, and though Soren is not one to appreciate being given orders, he doesn’t object.
He inclines his head to Killian. The two are in agreement about my safety, it seems.
He barks out a few more orders and the group going to investigate the village set out.
Odessa rides ahead of me, her silver bow at the ready.
My heart remains in my throat, a completely different energy around me now than ever before.
This isn’t a trek through the country. This isn’t a leisurely journey from one camping spot to the next.
This is a group of trained warriors on the way to possible battle, going to meet danger head on.
And while I know I should be afraid, a part of me I never knew existed rises up inside my chest. It stands at attention, a sense of duty and honor and the need to help shining like a beacon and warming me to the core as my Gift cools my blood and fills my veins.
It wants to help too. I blink at that and glance to the white and gray streak beside me that is Soren.
-You couldn’t have thought I would be given any but a true warrior as my bonded- he scoffs.
A warrior? No, I’m not that. I ran away.
I hid. All these years, I’ve hidden away in Helios, forgetting everything and everyone else in Hypathia.
I kept my Gifts locked away…but now, I feel how badly I want to use them to fight.
Against whom or what, exactly, I don’t know, but I know deep in my bones that I’m meant to do it.
I’m meant to come out of the shadows and use this Gift the Makers gave me to do something more than keep the tavern cool in the sweltering southern heat.
I’m meant for more.
-More than you could ever know, daska...-
I wish he’d be less cryptic, but he’s firmly refused to answer my questions about what he knows, the knowledge given to him by the Makers when he was called to be my bonded.
We finally make it to the village and the first of our group stop dead, horses rearing back and stomping their giant hooves. A cold finger of dread whispers down my spine. Why are they stopping? Why aren’t they riding in, swords drawn ready and ready to fight? Or rushing to help at least?
-Because there’s nothing left to fight. There’s no one left to help,- Soren says solemnly, bowing his head.
“What?” I whisper. “I don’t understand…”
But then I do.
The smell hits me when the wind shifts, blowing the scent of charred flesh and ash into my face. I cough and gag and tears burn my eyes.
“No,” I whisper. I slide from Zaro’s back and rush forward, despite Killian’s orders to stay behind him. There’s no danger now though, apparently. Soren is at my side, his strength keeping me afloat in what I know will be an ocean of despair in a matter of heartbeats.
“Tess,” Killian says urgently, a warning in his voice as I break past the front line and see the absolute horror before me.
I slow, barely able to remain upright, and Soren presses against my side to help.
I settle my hand on his back, fingers knotting in his fur as the air rushes from my lungs and my heart shatters.
The village was indeed small, just as Killian said it would be.
It’s built in a wide circle, spokes of small buildings fanning outward into the woods and a packed earth path running through the center.
Every single building had been burned. Charred stone and smoldering piles of wood and ash are all that remain, smoke still rising like gray fingers reaching for the heavens and orange embers glimmering through the haze.
And there, in the center, is a pile of bodies, white bone shining through the dark ash and burned flesh, tongues of fire still licking at the edges. I open my mouth, to scream or to cry, I’m not sure, but no sound comes out.
-Breath, Thea.-