Eight #2
the queen created the labyrinth and pulled the few remaining iylvahn into hiding using the last of her power. Irrikah was
built to shelter and protect us from the Deathless, so we didn’t go extinct.”
I shared a glance with Halek. The more I heard about the queen from Raithe, the more I understood why the iylvahn revered
her. Maybe I had been too harsh in my initial judgment. I’d seen a Deathless and had immediately jumped to conclusions. I regretted not hearing
Raithe out when I had the chance. Maybe things would have been different between us.
No, whispered the voice inside me. It’s too late for regrets.
You know you can’t trust him, not completely.
Raithe will always be loyal to the queen.
Even if she is on our side now, what happens if he has to choose between us?
You already saw what happened with Vahn.
How much more betrayal can you take before it sinks in?
Apparently, Kysa was not swayed, either. “That tells us nothing about the Dead Lands,” she said flatly. “Or what we will find
there now.”
“When the cataclysm hit,” Raithe continued, ignoring the insect rider’s statement, “it was unlike anything the ancient iylvahn
had ever seen. According to the scholars, we didn’t die in a fire or flood or buried under the earth. When this Deathless
unleashed their power on the land, it turned everything in the valley to stone. All life was snuffed out. When you venture
into the Dead Lands now, you’ll see hundreds of statues that were once living people. An entire society, trying to exist in
a world that had gone mad.
“The valley is called the Dead Lands now,” Raithe went on, “not because of the statues, but because the spirits of the iylvahn
who died on that day still wander the land. Whether it’s because the valley is cursed and they’re unable to return to the
Weave, or because there were just so many souls who died in one place and can’t move on, the Dead Lands are full of restless
spirits.”
A chill settled in my stomach, making me shiver. “Will they hurt us?” I asked.
Raithe didn’t answer right away. His brow furrowed, as if he were weighing his next words carefully. “None of my people go
into the Dead Lands,” he said. “It’s a place we avoid at all costs. I’ve never been there myself. All I know of the Dead Lands
is what is written in the history scrolls, what I’ve just told you now. But there are stories. Accounts of travelers who venture
into the Dead Lands not coming out again.”
“Spirits aren’t normally physically violent,” Halek said, surprising us.
“At least, none of the ones I’ve encountered were.
They can’t harm you unless they’re possessing something.
The danger is more what they can do to your mind.
I’ve heard of people walking off cliffs, driving a blade into their own eyes, or setting themselves on fire because of a spirit’s influence.
Of course,” he added, holding up his hands, “I’m not a Ragnian fortune-teller—I don’t commune with the spirits on a daily basis, so I’m not an expert by any means. ”
Once more, we traversed the labyrinth, me riding Ratuk, and Kysa and Halek following on Rhyne. Raithe and his sand dragon
stayed several paces ahead of us, silently gliding down the narrow corridors of the Maze without looking back. I had forgotten
how claustrophobic the labyrinth was, the walls looming oppressively on either side. Now that I knew what horrors wandered
the Maze, I was even more uneasy. Every noise made me tense; even the breeze hissing through the canyons and rattling the
branches growing out of the rocks made my skin crawl. It sounded too much like the skittering legs of the Bone Horror that
had nearly killed us. Each time Raithe slipped around a tight corner and out of sight, my stomach would clench with fear that,
when we reached the same place, he would be gone. That didn’t happen; he was always there, just ahead of us, but the thought
of being lost and alone in this desolate place still made my skin crawl.
Fortunately, the labyrinth remained quiet as we passed through.
There were no monsters, no encounters with demon hounds or skeletal horrors, nothing except the empty walls of the canyon and the clicking footsteps of the rock beetles.
The temperatures steadily rose, announcing the arrival of Namaia, her climb to join her sister overhead, and the approach of Demon Hour.
The air in the labyrinth had started to shimmer with heat, and sweat was pouring down my face and neck when Raithe suddenly
turned his dragon from the path and vanished into a side canyon. By the time I had followed with Ratuk, the iylvahn had disappeared
again, but a large cave entrance marked the end of the gully, large enough for even the two rock beetles to fit through. Inside,
the cavern was little more than a hole in the stones, but it was dark and spacious and, most important, shaded from the twins
through Demon Hour.
“How far is it to the World Scar?” Kysa asked once the two beetles were settled. The cave did not have any stools or chairs
to sit on, so the rest of us perched on various rocks and ledges around the wall. I sat on a low, rounded stone with my canteen
and leaned against the wall, letting it cool my heated back.
“Several weeks on foot,” Raithe answered. He had taken a corner for himself and was sitting with his back against a stone,
one arm resting on his knee. While not actively ignoring the rest of us, he did not look up when Kysa asked her question.
“I’ve never been there, understand, but I know it lies beyond the Dead Lands and across the Shifting Dunes. Both will be dangerous
to cross, especially now that we’re limited to walking.”
I shot a glance at Ratuk, huddled nearby with Rhyne and stoically chewing on a root poking through the wall.
The rock beetle seemed fine; even being weighted down with twice as many supplies as normal barely seemed to bother him at all.
But his wing, hidden beneath his carapace, was still injured.
And Kysa’s warning about the rock beetle’s spirit being broken if he couldn’t fly continued to haunt me.
We dozed through Demon Hour, leaning against the cool stone and saying very little to each other. When Solasti had moved on,
we ventured back into the Maze, following Raithe once more. This time, Halek rode with me on Ratuk, which was a welcome distraction.
The Fatechaser was rarely silent; he was full of stories about his previous adventures that often ended in terrible, hilarious
ways for someone. Whether he was just being himself or was determined to cheer me up, it took my mind off Raithe and the Deathless
queen, at least for a little while, and I found myself smiling at some of the ridiculous situations he’d found himself in.
“And that’s why you should never accept a dust monkey from a shady-looking merchant in Versulia,” Halek finished, making me
snort with laughter. “Or if you do, make sure your valuables are tied securely to your person. Those little bastards are quick.”
“Too bad there were no dust monkeys in Kovass,” I mused, when, without prompting, Ratuk came to a sudden stop in the middle
of the path. Glancing up, I saw Raithe had stopped as well.
With a ripple of movement, a lizard and rider materialized along the wall, crawling down to where the iylvahn waited. I tensed,
and Halek stiffened behind me as the creature slithered its way down the sheer incline until it hovered a few feet above Raithe.
“You are leaving the labyrinth, kahjai,” the Ellel Dorei said, with a quick glance at the rest of us. “This road will take you and your companions directly into the Dead Lands. Is this your intent?”
“Yes,” Raithe answered. “We are on a mission from the queen herself, and our path takes us through the valley. It is not a
mistake.”
The lizard rider nodded gravely. “As you say, kahjai. A word of warning, though.” He pointed toward the gap between the stones.
“Our scouts have reported shadows and strange lights flickering beyond the border. They hear cries in the night, closer than
they have ever been. The Dead Lands are restless. I would tread very softly, were I you.”
Raithe bowed his head, and the Ellel Dorei turned his mount and scuttled up the cliff again, vanishing over the top. Raithe
watched them disappear, then glanced back at us.
“We’re leaving the labyrinth now,” he told us, gesturing at the narrow gap between cliff faces. “The Dead Lands are beyond
that pass, so stay close.”
He urged his dragon forward, and we followed. The walls of the canyon pressed down on either side of the rock beetle; so close
they sometimes scraped Ratuk’s carapace as he passed, making me grit my teeth. I worried he would get stuck, and then we would
have a huge problem. But, although it was tight, Ratuk made it through the narrow gaps without getting snagged. I gave a sigh
of relief as we emerged from the crevice, the stone walls falling away, and the suns blazed down on us.
Raising a hand, I squinted in the sudden light. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness, I gazed down the rise into a
sloping valley that seemed to stretch on forever.
A chill ran through me. It seemed as if all color had been leached from the valley, leaving behind a palette of grays and whites.
Petrified trees stood rigidly against the wind, branches snapped and lying in the dirt.
Huge spears of rock jutted toward the sky, splitting the ground as they loomed to enormous heights, as if something had pulled them from the earth.
A fine coating of dust, or maybe ash, covered everything, the air choked with a haze that scratched my throat and made me cough.
A stale wind hissed across the plains, smelling of stone and dust, and I shivered. Behind me, Halek blew out a quiet breath.
“Not the cheeriest of places, is it?” he murmured in my ear. “I can see why the iylvahn avoid coming here.”
I glanced at Raithe. He sat atop his sand dragon, gazing out at the bleak landscape, his features expressionless. Turning