Chapter 25
PRETTY WORDS
ASTROPHEL
LEILANI LOOSENS HER grip on my waist. ‘We should make camp for the night.’
I turn to look at her. She’s scanning the mountainside, eyes flitting left and right.
I search along with her, watching the rock face rush past us, patches of purple heather blooming here and there like welts, as the cragstalkers plough through the swirling snow, driving us higher into the Desolate Peaks.
The faint whine of horns carries on the breeze. We’ve been travelling almost a full moonsrising but the guards are still in pursuit. We can’t stop yet. We’ll lose what scant lead we have.
‘We can hide in there,’ she says, pointing out the mouth of a cavern barely visible in the overhang.
Her teeth are chattering, her lips starting to pale.
There’s a desperate edge to her plea. Searching behind the exhilaration still thrumming my body after our escape, I can’t ignore the drag in my own lungs, the vicious bite of the wind whipping past us.
‘Tell me you saved it?’
Knowing Leilani means the tincture, I nod. ‘I took everything I could, everything that looked important.’
Her trembling lips edge into a weak smile. ‘Good. It’s time.’
I smile back at her. But her lips droop. Her eyes harden.
Too soon, you fool.
‘We still need to talk,’ she says. ‘But…’ Her eyes lift to the cave again. ‘Shelter first.’
I point out the cavern to the cragstalker. It pauses mid-stride, then veers upwards through the pine trees, following the direction of my finger. They, like the sylvanmares, seem to have retained an ability to understand the Mystic Tongue.
The cave is a decent size and dry, though not deep enough for my liking.
Still, mustn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
We’re semi-concealed by its gloom and night will fast steal over the mountains.
Boulders of various sizes litter the floor.
Should the guards stop to check these caves, we can hide behind them. We might just evade capture.
We huddle together in silence, Briar and the cragstalkers guarding the entrance. Leilani’s decision to remain next to me warms me more than her actual body heat. Her gaze is fixed on the mouth of the cave, her breaths coming too fast. I consider taking her hand, but then remember her wilting smile.
Too soon.
I need to explain first, make her understand that I’ve changed. That everything has changed.
My ears strain, trying to catch the blare of the horns.
They’re louder now – closer. Seconds stretch as we wait.
Every shuffle as Briar, Serafine, and the cragstalkers reposition themselves, every hack of a throat burning from the tainted mountain air, is magnified, echoing off the roof of the cave.
Blayze starts to hum. I glare at him. Doesn’t he know we need to stay quiet?
But then remember how I found him in that dungeon – a broken man, bent and shaking.
He’d been humming then too, rocking back and forth.
He’s lived a lifetime underground, but the Arx Magnum inflicted horrors on all the Outrealmers in those filthy cells.
Whatever was done to the Clanschief has clearly left scars. Deeper than just the physical ones.
A horn sounds. Very close this time. And there, if I prick my ears… yes, the clip of hooves.
Without thinking, I do take Leilani’s hand. I expect her to resist, to move away. But slender fingers clutch mine. And though it’s my hand she’s squeezing, something in my chest seems to bruise.
Maybe convincing her to trust me will be easier than I thought.
We all go very still. I start to count. One… Two… Twenty… A hundred. The horns sound again, but quieter this time. They’ve passed us. I release a breath – level, slow. Leilani drops my hand, scuttles away.
Not that easy then.
She crosses to the cragstalkers, starts scrabbling in the saddlebags. ‘Where is it?’
I come beside her, searching for the smaller pack where I stored the tincture. ‘It’s here, along with that box you’ve been carrying since the palace.’
Her hands still.
I’ve seen her palm the silver box at night when she thought no one was watching.
Just as she tugs at that piece of ribbon in her hair.
I assume it’s something she’s carrying for good luck, as I carry my mother’s ring.
Hoped my saving it would go some way to earning back her forgiveness.
My fingers close around said box, and I inch them deeper inside the pack.
There, wrapped in a thick fur to keep it safe, the crystal vial containing the tincture. I draw it out, hand it to Leilani.
She returns to the circle. ‘It’s time we take this,’ she says, tapping a nail against the vial. ‘One swallow each. It should be enough.’ There’s an undeniable quaver in her voice.
Izarius better have got his calculations right.
‘I saved the starfruit too. The whole stash from Lulana,’ I say, trying to add a note of brightness to my voice. ‘Let’s each have a bit. It’ll see us through to tomorrow.’
I fish a parcel from one of the larger packs, passing a piece to Briar first, then Delphine. All of us are struggling, but they’re the worst affected. They took the brunt of the Arx Magnum’s fury. The snap of my whip bloodying Briar’s flesh echoes my mind. I shudder. Force the memories down.
‘Thank you,’ Blayze says, as I pass him his portion.
I’m about to give out the next piece, when he places his free hand atop mine.
The scars flecking it flash silver in the dim glow Serafine’s feathers radiate.
As usual, the emberwing is perched on his shoulder.
‘I mean it, Peacock,’ he whispers, low enough that only I can hear. ‘I owe you a debt.’
His skin burns hot. There’s a strange weight behind his words. But before I can think of a response, there’s a pop as Leilani unstoppers the vial and Blayze releases my hand.
The air shimmers – Orthriel materialising for this.
Leilani holds the bottle close to her Guardian.
Orthriel’s assumed form flickers, wispier than ever, as they incline their head, murmuring over it.
I can’t make out the whistling words, but as Orthriel chants in Airsong, a lustre rises from the bottle, coiling like iridescent smoke, pluming towards their chest. Orthriel gasps as the shimmering miasma curls around their heartcrystal.
Leilani hurriedly spills a measure of the precious liquid into her mouth.
She swallows, shudders slightly, passes the bottle to me.
I raise the vial to my lips, suppressing the thought that they’re pressed to where hers have been.
Memories spark unbidden of our kiss at Thawtide – that brief, bright moment of pleasure, of rightness, of stillness, before starshine shunted me across the ballroom, and a wave of crushing shame crashed over me.
I tip the vial, swallowing those memories along with the tincture.
It’s ice-cold and strangely thick on my tongue.
As I hand the vial to Maris, I notice Leilani’s hands are shimmering.
At first, I think it’s starshine and recoil, remembering the force, the chill, as that strange light struck me.
As it stunned the hoarclaw. But, looking closer, I realise it’s not starshine, just the natural lustre of Leilani’s skin.
Till now, it’s always been dimmed, but she’s sparkling now, thanks to the tincture.
Orthriel’s burning brighter too; their simulation of a body coagulated once more.
The tincture is working.
I take a breath, realise I can breathe freely. My lungs no longer ache. For the first time since we left Galtair, my muscles loosen.
There’s a chance we might make it out of this alive.
*
IT’S STILL INSIDE the cavern. Only the occasional rustle as someone turns on the furs we’re using as bedrolls, the odd soft snore.
The Clanschief is beside me. I’m glad he’s finally asleep, his confounded humming stilled.
But hard as I try, I remain alert, ears pricked.
Even though I know Orthriel is standing guard outside the cavern, returned to their true form so they’re invisible to mortal eyes.
Every so often, I hear a horn on the breeze.
But they’re imagined sounds, only the wind keening through the cave.
I roll onto my side, careful not to disturb Blayze, and shut my eyes. We’ll need to ride out before dawnrise, while we’re still under cover of darkness. I must sleep.
‘Astrophel.’
The warm tickle of breath at my ear drags me back to full consciousness. Leilani has left her side of the cave, where she ought to be sleeping beside the other women. Maris glowered when I insisted on the split, but someone needs to maintain decency and it’s not going to be the Clanschief.
‘We need to talk,’ she says.
My stomach lurches. ‘Now?’
‘Now.’
She slips behind a lofty boulder in the furthest corner of the cavern. I follow her, guided by the soft glimmer of her skin.
‘So, talk,’ she says, folding her arms. ‘I thought you’d betrayed us.’
I sigh and lean heavily against the boulder. ‘You were supposed to. Orthriel and I couldn’t make you complicit, in case our plans failed, and they sentenced you alongside me as a traitor.’
‘Orthriel?’ The word comes sharp as the blade of my Crescent Sword.
I nod. ‘We spoke in my chamber soon after the sleeping draught wore off. Orthriel confided in me they were weak – that they couldn’t free us. That they could no longer protect you. Not on their own. But they had a plan.’
I take a breath. It’s important Leilani understands all that happened while she was held captive. She saw me with Briar – I heard her call out to me. Night after night. She saw what I did. If I want to earn back her trust, I mustn’t rush this.