Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
When the canal met with the river and it became too wild and dangerous to traverse, I propelled me, Kaiser and Ransom out onto the riverbank and dragged the Avanis captives after us.
They crawled through the mud spluttering and gasping in relief as they clung to the damp soil. I’d kept the water away from their faces as best I could while travelling at speed through the canal but it had been damn difficult and I clearly hadn’t done the best job.
I helped one of the women to her feet and she gasped as something pained her. Her red hair was plastered to her body and I realised she was the one Father had attacked as she lifted her eyes to meet mine. The gash on her cheek was shallow at least. It would heal.
“Have you broken something?”
“No,” she said firmly, but her movements were stiff, like each step was agonising as I drew her up the bank. Our fingers remained clasped together as I looked to the other Stonebreakers.
There were nine of them in total and they’d all made it, so at least I’d kept them alive.
The woman’s fingers knotted tighter around mine, her soaked dress now clean of mud and clearly speaking of her wealth.
“Thank you,” she gasped, her green eyes wide and full of uncertainties.
I nodded stiffly, having no answer, unsure what I could possibly say about what I’d done. She’d witnessed firsthand the treasonous act I’d committed against my people. I didn’t know where I’d end up now, only that I had to run and keep running until I could catch my breath enough to think.
“Why did you do that?” she pushed.
“I think… there is war and there is savagery. I won’t stand for the latter,” I explained.
“So you betrayed your own people for your morals?” she asked in confusion. “They’ll never let you live for that.”
“I know,” I said tightly. “But I’d rather be standing here facing death at my people’s hands than to have idly stood by letting my father and his warriors take pleasure in torturing Fae who had surrendered to us after the battle was won.”
She gazed at me with something akin to admiration and I didn’t feel at all deserving of it. I’d let this go on too long. I’d stood at my father’s side. I’d helped him. It was my fault they’d been captured in the first place.
“But you’re the Void,” the woman breathed and I glanced at her people, wondering if they might make some move to seize me even in their desperate state.
“I am,” I agreed, a warning in my tone that dared her or any of the Stonebreakers to try something. They would hardly get far without magic or their Orders though.
“Some Fae can afford to make choices and run away, but you’re the key to ending the war. You’re the most important Fae in The Waning Lands,” she said in disbelief. “You risked everything for a handful of Stonebreakers.”
I said nothing, unsure I had answers to the frantic questions in her eyes. I’d done what I’d done. That was all there was to it.
“You should go,” Kaiser told the woman and her people.
I eyed the Fury with caution, distrust crawling back into my skin. But what choice did I have now other than to stick with him until we were out of this mess?
“They’re coming,” Ransom hissed, tugging on my arm to draw my attention back along the river where we’d come from.
A great wave had risen from the water in the distance, a hulking ship of Cascada riding it and no doubt more followed in its wake.
I could sense their desire for vengeance on the air. I’d killed the great Commander Rake. If I was caught, they’d make me suffer deeply before I was given the mercy of an execution. There was no greater crime in Cascada than treason.
“What’s your name?” I asked the woman as I released her hand and touched the magic blocking cuffs on her wrists.
“Septa,” she answered.
“Well, Septa…” I used the Void to gutter out the power in the cuffs and shattered them with ice so they fell from her wrists, allowing her magic to flow free. “You’d better run and not stop running.”
She opened up a tunnel in the ground with nothing but a wave of her hand and her people rushed into it, calling out their thanks to me while she lingered.
“I won’t forget this,” she vowed then she wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me tight.
I pulled her close, our hearts beating in unison for a moment, like they were one and the same.
She released me and raced down into the tunnel, closing it behind her to disguise their passage and I felt oddly sad at her departure.
“She could have taken us with them if she was that grateful,” Ransom growled. “What the hell are we going to do now?”
“There’s an archway a few weeks’ walk from here. We need to head east,” Kaiser said and my ears pricked up at that.
“An archway? Like the ones at Never Keep?” I asked in suspicion.
“Yes. It can get us far away from the Cascadian army,” he said. “Let’s move.”
“We’re not going anywhere with you, Flamebringer,” Ransom spat. “I don’t know what you mean by an archway, but I’m certainly not fool enough to follow you to my death.”
“It’s the best plan we have, pishalé. Take it or leave it but I’m not staying here to die.
” I stepped closer to Kaiser, touching the magic blocking cuffs on his wrists and cutting off their power before shattering them with ice.
He stared at me with an intensity that made me shiver and I stepped back to put more distance between us.
“Take us there,” I gestured for Kaiser to lead the way on and he ran straight for the trees at the top of the riverbank.
I sprinted after him, leaving Ransom to decide his own fate but not even a second passed before I heard him hounding my footsteps.
“Are you sure about this?” he hissed as he fell into step with me.
“Never been more unsure about anything in my life,” I tossed back. “But do you have a better plan?”
He fell silent and that was the only answer I needed.
“Good. So just keep moving and cast some concealment spells while you’re at it.”
Ransom obeyed me – perhaps for the first time in his life.
I felt Calcifiend crawl out from the damp curls of my hair, having lost track of him amidst the chaos.
I was relieved to feel his little feet creeping along my shoulder despite what a traitor he’d turned out to be.
Twice. I really had to stop trusting the sneaky little lizard.
Kaiser cast a silencing shield around us as Ransom and I moved close at his back and I tried not to consider the possibility that he was leading us into a trap.
Even if he was telling the truth about the archway, what was to say a hoard of Flamebringers weren’t waiting to capture us the moment we walked through it?
I just had to keep moving for now and deal with that when it was time to face it. The most urgent task was to get as far away from the Cascadian fleet as possible.
As the cold began to grip my bones, I wielded the water soaking our clothes and dragged it from the material, casting it the ground and leaving the three of us dry.
Ransom grunted a thanks but Kaiser said nothing, running tirelessly on through the trees like he’d been gifted the energy of the stars.
I had to be grateful for all those years Ransom had hunted me around Castelorain because this rocky terrain and steep incline would have slowed me down if not for all the practise I’d had in the past. Ransom lost pace with me but he didn’t stop running, the heavy padding of his footfalls falling into rhythm with our breaths.
None of us spoke again.
Ransom and I ran and ran, following our enemy into the dark and I prayed the moon remained hidden within the clouds to aid our cover.
There wasn’t time to conceal our tracks beyond the odd blast of water Ransom shot behind us to try and turn the soil to mud.
All we could do was hope we made it to the archway before the Cascadian warriors caught up.
But a few weeks was a long time to remain hidden and I knew the army wouldn’t stop hunting me. I would be the priority above all else.
A rumble of thunder behind us made the hairs rise on my arms, but the sound didn’t dissipate. It grew louder, making the earth tremble beneath our feet and I realised my mistake in believing it was thunder.
“Hooves,” I gasped, glancing over my shoulder but not seeing anything between the trees behind us.
“The cavalry’s coming,” Ransom said in fear, running faster to keep beside me once more.
“Don’t stop,” Kaiser commanded.
“I wasn’t planning on it, asshole,” Ransom barked.
We pushed on as the pounding hooves grew ever closer and I could feel the rumbling of their movements shaking the foundations of my soul.
“How close are they, fiend?” Kaiser called and Calcifiend took off from my shoulder, darting away up into the sky.
A beat of silence passed where I knew Kaiser was connecting to the Sayer Dragon to see through his eyes, then he yelled, “Faster!” just as an arrow of pure white ice sliced through the air and slammed into a tree to our right.
I glanced back in alarm, sending my Void out into the darkness between the trees, catching sight of glinting armour and the bright whites of horses’ eyes. A cry went up among the warriors on our tail as I shut off their magic but that didn’t stop them from gaining on us.
The trees ahead of us thinned and harsh brush scratched against my arms as we shoved our way through it. We’d made it to the top of a hill where a village clung to its side with a large belltower at its peak, but it was too exposed. There was nowhere to hide.
Kaiser turned and cast a wall of fire at our backs, the sheer height of it making my lips part. The heat washed over me and a series of startled neighs sounded as the Cascadians were forced to a halt beyond it.
Kaiser caught my wrist even though I never slowed, dragging me toward the village with Ransom on our heels. One look down into the valley beyond made my gut knot in horror.
Cascada had flooded it and the ships were dotted all between the hills toward the horizon, hunting for us.
There was no way forward. No way back. And I could only blindly follow Kaiser as he tugged me past the belltower toward a ramshackle building that didn’t look as though it had been lived in for over a century.
We hurried through a doorway that had no door to stop us and we all looked around in frantic dismay at the cold stone room beyond.
“Why would you lead us in here?” Ransom snarled, lunging at Kaiser like he might swing for him.
“There!” I cried as I spotted a hatch in the roof, barely visible in the darkness of the dank ruin. Kaiser leapt up, catching hold of it and tugging it open to reveal a small crawl space beyond.
“It’s the best we’ve got,” I hissed and Kaiser grabbed hold of my waist, lifting me up and half shoving me through the hatch with hardly any effort at all.
I scrambled around on the dank boards beyond, casting an ice ladder from the hatch down to the floor and Ransom shouldered past Kaiser to climb up it first.
He barged his way into the small space and Kaiser entered last, his bulk barely fitting as he forced his way in beside me and we all laid down in tense silence. I melted the ice ladder and Kaiser swung the hatch shut just as the horses made it to the village.
With a shaky breath, I kept my Void power in check, not wanting it to pinpoint me here in this building. And in the dark, with Kaiser’s silencing shield spreading out to encase the loft, I wondered how we would ever escape.