Chapter 33 Karinna
Karinna
Karinna had thought much about the gratification she would feel when she finally revealed her knowledge of Cero’s secret. How satisfying it would be to get the best of the pilot.
Now, as she looked down at him, still pinned beneath her, she felt ashamed. She’d anticipated his anger. Wanted it.
But he hadn’t reacted in anger. More than anything, he appeared afraid.
And Karinna didn’t understand. The sky-dog had faced down Ghaz, flown through storms and mist and mountains, all without an ounce of fear. Being the chosen of his people shouldn’t be so terrifying.
“Let me up, please.” He didn’t meet her gaze, and she jumped off him, her face flushing in embarrassment.
“We need to get out of here,” he said. “They’re onto us.” He tucked the map roll into his pack, then began pulling on his leathers.
Karinna hurried to don her own armor. Focus on the mission! She needed to send Musa a message, confirming that his suspicions about Cero were correct. But she couldn’t do that until she got out of Kotama.
“Hurry,” Cero said, and she haphazardly buckled her armor. When it was on, Cero opened the door.
Idiot! Karinna grabbed his arm. “We don’t know where your Sail is!”
He jerked away from her and nodded at Abzi, whose green eyes glinted from the forest beyond the guesthouse.
“Ask her.”
Karinna bristled at the directive. Then she thought of that look on his face again and bit her tongue.
It is through the portals, and not far, Abzi said when Karinna asked. But it is guarded.
“Keep that scim ready,” Cero said when Karinna translated, and his tone was as icy as a grave.
They moved swiftly to the tree line, hurrying after Abzi in the darkness. Karinna cursed as she navigated the steep pathway down from the guesthouses. Cero’s strides were long and Abzi was a cat and Karinna hated having to sprint to keep up with them both.
At the bottom of the hill, the cat led them to the shadows between the well-lit paths, and they’d only been in the trees a few minutes when a portal rose up ahead of them suddenly.
Cero rushed in before Karinna could take his arm. When she followed, he was standing still, confused, as if surrounded by darkness, instead of the shimmering blue light that Karinna saw. She took his hand. He shook her off.
“You’ll get lost in here, you fool!” She grabbed him again and he allowed himself to be dragged through. When they emerged on the other side, she dropped his arm swiftly and hurried after Abzi’s fleet form.
Your— Abzi said something Karinna didn’t understand.
Again, please! Karinna tried not to sound impatient, for she was only frustrated with herself. She’d been conversing with Abzi for weeks, and still, in the darkness, she struggled to understand her.
Your Sail. Ahead. Abzi simplified her speech. Then her ears swiveled backward and she hissed. Others approach.
Cero’s hands flexed when Karinna translated, and the wind rose, cocooning them. They followed Abzi for long, tense minutes until they could make out lanterns, a clearing, and the sand-colored canvas of the Sail. Cero slowed, peering through the trees.
“I can’t bleeding see—”
“Wait here,” Karinna said, because she couldn’t see either, but she’d learned to be comfortable in the dark. “I’ll scout.” She slipped silently ahead, crouching close enough to case the clearing and returning a few moments later.
“Six Jaduna,” she whispered. “One at north, one at south, and two on either side of the Sail. And I counted three behind us, gaining quickly.”
“Stay close,” Cero said. “Or you’ll get caught in the wind.”
Karinna nodded, gripping her scim, and they stepped into the clearing. A moment later, she was fighting to hold on to her blade. Cero brought up the wind so suddenly that it hit the Jaduna like a shock wave, flattening them to the ground.
Karinna dropped too, the violence of the wind stealing her breath. A second later, Cero was pulling her up, wrapping her hands around the strap of his pack.
“I said stay close, damn you,” he snapped at her. He raced across the clearing, dragging Karinna after him, wind blasting out from every direction.
When they reached the Sail, it was nothing but a pile of canvas. Cero patted his leathers with increasing panic.
“They took my Loha—” he said, looking around. “Perhaps one of them has it.”
“Here.” Karinna pulled out the lump of Loha she’d found in U’qaya’s office. “I found this with the map.” At his surprise, she went on in a rush. “I was going to tell you, but then—ah—”
“You baited me into kissing you.” His green eyes flashed at her in wrath. “I remember.”
A Jaduna rushed Cero, scim out but no magic in sight. Karinna got between them, her own blades flying.
“Get in,” Karinna shouted. “I’ll cover!”
She disarmed the man with a few quick parries before dropping him with a kick to the stomach.
As she did, Cero fell into his seat, and a second later, the Sail exploded outward, the wings lifting, the tail rising.
Karinna barely had time to secure her waist strap before the engine hummed to life and the Sail began to lift.
Distantly, she saw a flash of gray fur. “Abzi!” she shrieked, a most undignified sound. “We can’t leave her.”
“Tell her to jump,” Cero called. But Karinna couldn’t see the cat now, and she didn’t know how to communicate without eye contact.
“I can’t see her. I don’t know how—”
The pilot turned and met her stare, furious. “Figure it out, rebel.”
Karinna couldn’t explain what happened next. She pushed out with her magic. Words came to her mind in an order she would never speak. Fly—fine stripes—wind—catch—Two-legs—bird—shadow.
A streak of gray-brown leapt up from the ground, but with the Sail already lifting up, she was too far away.
Light flashed out of the dark, and Abzi yowled, a terrible sound that froze Karinna down to her marrow. Then one edge of the Sail dipped—and Abzi, eyes closed, furry head flopping forward, was floating, held up by Cero’s wind a foot or so beneath his seat.
“Grab her!” Cero shouted. “I can’t hold her and the Sail!”
Karinna was already unstrapping herself.
She dropped onto the bar that ran beneath their seats, wrapping her legs around it and swinging upside down toward Abzi.
She sobbed when she had the cat in her arms, holding her tight, even as she wondered how the hells she was going to get upright again.
Cero lifted the Sail higher, but another current sizzled through the air.
It hit the edge of the Sail’s wing, sending it spinning. If not for Cero’s control, the Sail would have crashed into the trees.
Karinna held on for all she was worth, but she’d been upside down for too long. Dizziness swept over her; her legs felt weak.
“Pilot,” she tried to say, but it was just a gasp of breath. “Help.”
“Hold on, rebel.” His voice sounded as if it came through a tunnel. Her arms burned, but she couldn’t let Abzi fall.
A rope of wind wrapped around her waist, lifting her upright enough that she was able to scramble back to her seat. She tucked Abzi into her shirt and strapped herself in.
Cero’s magic surrounded her, and while she’d seen him use it many times, she’d never felt it like this, a hum that rattled her bones. It emanated from him like a whirlwind, flattening the Jaduna below, as well as the ones approaching.
But as Cero got the Sail under control, a Jaduna hidden in the forest sent a bolt of light directly at the delicate engine.
Cero didn’t see it. But Karinna did. She whipped out her dagger almost before she saw the woman lifting her hands.
The bolt hit the blade and Karinna dropped it, crying out as the current sent a frisson of pain up her arm.
Cero lifted the Sail into a spiral so swiftly that Karinna’s ears popped. Then they were flying over Kotama. The coast stretched in a jagged, dim white line south of them and relief at their escape swept over Karinna, followed almost immediately by grief.
Abzi! She looked down at her friend, limp against Karinna’s body.
“Is Abzi all right?” Cero called through the comms. Karinna cradled the cat close. Abzi seemed large and fluffy when she sauntered here and there, but now, silent and still, she was so small.
“She’s—she’s not breathing,” Karinna said. “She’s not moving.”
Cero didn’t respond. They hurtled over the dark void of the sea, the lights of Kotama fading behind them.
Karinna had gotten her goggles on but could hardly see through them.
Her chest hurt from her sobs as she held on to Abzi.
They could not stop; Karinna knew that. They couldn’t risk being caught.
She also knew that there wasn’t anything they could do for Abzi even if they did stop. Already, she grew cold.
Oh, why hadn’t Karinna moved faster? Why hadn’t she worked harder to understand Abzi and communicate with her?
Abzi had been the only real friend Karinna had had since Ruh.
Maybe you’ll meet him, Abzi, she thought.
In the after. He will love you so much. Only, you’ll have to tell him I didn’t protect you, either.
Two hours and more than two hundred miles to the south, the lights of a small Imaani city came into view.
Cero spiraled down to a thin, pale stretch of beach abutting a rocky coastline a few miles from the lights.
He stumbled out of the Sail, white as a sheet, a clammy sheen on his face.
Karinna tried to offer him an arm, but he waved her off and gestured to Abzi.
“Give her to me,” he said quietly.
For once, Karinna did not fight him. She was too heartsick.
She handed Abzi’s still body over and Cero fell to his knees amid the canvas of his Sail, holding the cat close.
His hair, loose from its knot, fell around his face; Karinna couldn’t make out his expression.
He’d bent his head down, as if in supplication.
It looked as if he was simply mourning Abzi. Karinna almost spoke out, almost called on her practicality and hardness in the face of her grief. It was easier. She almost told him that Abzi was gone and there was nothing to be done. They’d best stop wasting time.
But a charge lit the air around Cero. The ocean thundered behind them both, the wind tangling their hair as badly as the beach grasses at their feet. Karinna stood in the darkness and watched, heart in her throat.
The faintest thread of light stretched on the eastern horizon when Cero finally looked up. He laid Abzi on the sand, as gently as if he were tucking in a sleeping child.
And she breathed.
“What—” Karinna knelt next to the cat, her hand shaking as she stroked Abzi’s silky fur.
Her body was warm. She opened her eyes and yawned a magnificent yawn before standing on shaky legs, tottering to the center of the Sail, and settling down for a nap in its folds.
“How—how did you—” Karinna whispered. “She was d-dead.”
“Not anymore,” Cero said, before falling to the sands in a dead faint.