Chapter 19
THINGS YOU CAN’T UNSEE
ASTROPHEL
HOW LONG DOES it take to harvest a few starfruit?
I scan the glade again. I should never have let Leilani go, should never have trusted her with that healer.
If anything happens to the Princess, Hyperion will have my head.
I adjust the last of the tent pegs, stop to brush the dirt from my hands.
Damn that girl, we ought to have stayed on the ship.
The crunch of boots sends my stomach swooping, but it’s just the Clanschief and his doxy.
Blayze hefts a bundle of kindling from his shoulder. His brow furrows as he scans the glade.
‘Sparkles not back yet? Couldn’t wait to get away from you, eh, Peacock?’ He smirks. ‘Better work on that kissing technique.’
Ribs tightening, I turn my attention back to the tent pegs.
The hazy memory of soft lips beneath my own, the close press of Leilani’s body, the lingering scent of crushed violets…
cold, consuming rage giving way to something warmer but just as heady.
Then, blinding light striking my chest, forcing me back.
I was sunk in my cups, riled by the sorry excuse for a man now standing before me.
But it’s no defence. I’ll regret my actions at Thawtide till my last breath.
It’s not how our first kiss ought to have been.
A sickly scent stirs on the breeze. I whirl towards it. Peak’s sake! We’re not supposed to meet the cielsylph till dawnrise. Opal flames flicker, shaping into the approximation of a human figure, though the illusion is oddly hazy. Orthriel searches the campsite, eyes flashing.
‘Where is she?’
‘She insisted on going to the fields to forage. I tried to stop her.’
Blayze turns on me. ‘Why didn’t you go with her?’
Orthriel’s withering stare resembles Leilani’s with unnerving exactitude. ‘And to think I defended you. What use are you if you can’t keep her safe?’
I widen my stance, facing them both down.
‘The healer accompanied her. I didn’t let her venture out alone.
’ I’m about to add that Leilani can look after herself, surely Thawtide was evidence of that.
But before I can form the words, Orthriel’s gaze flits over my shoulder.
They go very still. I turn too, but see nothing.
Not at first. My mortal eyes not as sharp as the cielsylph’s. Then a figure appears.
Only one. The wrong one.
Tansy spreads her hands once she’s within shouting distance. She bears a heaving bag of starfruit, but not the Princess. ‘She would not be convinced to return to camp. She needed a moment to clear her head.’
Orthriel flares. It lasts barely a second, but I start back from the opal sheen. Tansy and Blayze nudge each other, and laugh. Laugh at me. I clench a fist. Never trust an Outrealmer.
‘I’ll find the Princess,’ Orthriel says, levelling me with another cold stare. ‘The horses will be arriving soon, along with supplies. The plantation master readied things ahead of time. Perhaps you ought to receive them.’
Blayze reaches for the axe at his waist. ‘I’m coming with you.’
But I’m already turning on my heel. ‘She’s my responsibility.’
Orthriel darts to my side. ‘You forget, I’m sworn to protect her too.’
I brace, to prevent myself quaking in the cielsyph’s presence. ‘Leilani is my betrothed. Her welfare is the only reason I’m on this Sister-blooded quest. You wait for the horses. I don’t need either of you.’ I’m already stalking in the direction Tansy returned from before they can argue.
I wait for Orthriel to swoop to my side in that irritating inhuman way of theirs. For Blayze to chase after me.
One breath. Two. Ten.
It seems they’ve left me to it.
Once out of eyeshot, I kick at the frosted earth.
Why must she be so reckless? Why can’t she do as she’s told?
Embarrassing me even when she’s nowhere to be seen.
Blayze’s smirking face rises in my memory as I follow the river through the woods.
Throne knows, I’d love to get him in the lists.
Drive him from a pacing steed into the dirt.
Wipe that smirk clean off with a flick of my Crescent Sword.
I’m dragged from my thoughts by a choking stink rising on the breeze. I’m standing in a starfruit field, a thick hedge towering before me. No sign of the Princess. I pass through a small opening in the border, only to be greeted by another field.
A battlefield littered with carrion vine-corpses. Acres of them.
I’ve heard court whispers of blight, but this… I cover my nose and mouth, have to look away. It’s as bad as the Gaspings. Hyperion must know of it. I think back to the fearful look that flitted across his face when he presented me with my Crescent Sword. How much is the King shouldering alone?
With the stench of rot heady in the bitter air, I turn once more for the river path. Where is she?
Beneath the anger, terror is fisting my gut. I don’t want any harm to have befallen her. And not only for fear of Hyperion’s retribution.
A faint keening carries on the breeze. The sounds are raw, wounded.
An animal caught in a trap? I search for the source, then stop in my tracks.
I know this cry. It’s been long sunrings, but I could never forget it.
Not after all those nights forced to listen to its desperate pitch through the ceiling.
I keep walking, following the swells and ebbs of those too-familiar cries.
I call Leilani’s name as I stride the woods, but she doesn’t respond. Frostfangs roam these hills – has one attacked her? Perhaps one of those peasants from the hamlet we passed earlier?
Eventually, I spot the grey of her travelling cloak amid the trees.
She’s lying on the forest floor. Her back is to me, but she’s shaking.
A strange huffing noise now mingles with her muted cries.
I lift my gaze, and curse under my breath.
A hoarclaw stands on the opposite side of the glade; it’s looking directly at her, preparing to charge.
I don’t think. Unsheathing the blade at my hip, I run towards Leilani, towards the bear. I start to shout, to brandish my sword – anything I can think of to draw its attention.
Leilani lifts her head in unison with the hoarclaw. Cries out my name.
‘Stay down,’ I call over my shoulder, positioning myself in front of her. ‘I’ll lead it away from you. While it’s distracted, run. As fast as you can back to camp.’
‘Astrophel, no—’
But I don’t stop to listen. I pick up a fallen branch, veer left, and hurl the switch at the hoarclaw.
Its ears flatten back. Pounding its front paws on the earth, the bear lets out a terrible bellow, turns away from Leilani and bounds towards me.
It worked.
But the relief flooding through me, loosening overwound muscles, soon spoils to icy dread.
On foot, with only a sword to defend myself, I’m no match for this beast. I think back to Blayze, to those frenzied attacks he demonstrated in the Armoury.
I should have accepted his help, not let pride stand in my way.
Too late now. I hold my ground as the hoarclaw rears on its hind legs.
There’s a patch of white fur behind its right shoulder.
I’ve seen the marking before. It’s the beast from the hunt; the one I spared.
I grip my sword tighter, bare my teeth. This time, I won’t go down without a fight.
This time, it’s kill or be killed. As the bear growls and draws back an enormous paw to strike me, a strange peace descends.
If I’m to die, impaled on those bowed claws, at least I’ll do so while fulfilling my duty to the Throne, atoning for my shameful actions at Thawtide.
A noble death, like my father’s before me.
I snarl, blade raised high above my head, and prepare to charge. A last stand. But something shunts me in the ribs, pushing me aside.
Light flashes, blinding me.
The hoarclaw bellows again, drops on all fours, lumbers back several paces, dazzled by the glare. I lift my free arm to shield my face. I know this light, this unworldly opalescent lustre.
No! I told her to run.
But Leilani stands with her back to me, hands raised, starshine streaming from her palms.
I remember the force with which it struck me in the palace ballroom, and shudder. Yet I can’t deny she’s awe-inspiring in this moment: incandescent, a beacon in the twilight. Shining like the very stars whose power she’s channelling.
‘Astrophel, quick! I can’t hold this for long.’ Leilani’s light is already wavering, her arms shaking; she’s turning grey.
I press forwards, intending to strike while the bear’s dipping its head, still dazed.
I aim my blade at the white diamond behind its shoulder, beneath which lie most of its vital organs.
I hesitate, but only for a moment. I spared the hoarclaw once, I can’t afford to show mercy again.
I’ll only get one chance at this, and I need a killing blow.
I summon all the strength left in me and plunge my sword into its side.
The bear roars as blood gushes warm over my arm.
It thrashes as I draw back my blade, swipes at me with its front paw, but I duck, and its desperate blow lands wide.
I don’t give it a chance to try again. I thrust and thrust with my blade.
I keep raining down blows until the life drains from its eyes, until the howls turn to huffs, and the huffs to silence.
Posturing? Not tonight, Clanschief.
Only once the hoarclaw slackens beneath me do I fall to my knees. Pulse thudding in my throat, I wipe my blade clean on the icy forest floor, sheathe it at my side, then search for Leilani.
She’s curled in a ball behind me, clutching her cloaked head.