Chapter 49
Durvla
We ride like mad until we can’t any longer. I’m hardly able to wrap my mind around the devastating shift that the night has taken. How many villagers of Dubh Carrig are without a roof over their heads tonight? How many have been left to tend to their injured or mourn their dead?
Because of us.
My chest aches from holding back tears as we ride. My returning headache and sore body are nothing compared to the sinking guilt. I hope Haruka is alright. Gods, after her hospitality and her wealth of information—I can’t imagine how worried Kilkenny and Chiyoko must be.
Hours later, we finally dismount in a desolate valley beside a small river. We’re on the ground for all of five seconds before Kilkenny reels on Chiyoko as she approaches.
“What in Lugda’s hells were you thinking?” he asks.
She frowns up at him, arms akimbo. Kilkenny is a man of average height, but Chiyoko’s petite stature makes him appear much taller. “Oh, come off it,” she says.
I squint, hardly able to make out the movements of their lips in the sparse light from the waxing crescent moon. Alys and Osheen lead the horses away, leaving me with a free escape route, but I find myself unable to move.
“I’m not going to … little mission,” Chiyoko says to Kilkenny. “… can use the extra help.”
“Little mission?” Kilkenny holds up his palm, a small ball of light forming there, illuminating the small space between him and Chiyoko.
It’s incredible. Startling, but incredible. Yet, Chiyoko doesn’t even blink.
“You think this is a game?” Kilkenny continues. “Those Forayers back there are seeking to execute us. They burned down our village to find us. Do you understand that? Why on earth would you intentionally put yourself in danger? You’re smarter than that!”
“How would you know how smart I am? You’ve been gone for ten years!”
“Chiyoko, lower your voice.”
She certainly does not—the muscles in her neck strain as she continues, as though she’s shouting now. “You never so much as sent one letter until you left the Royal Brigade. We thought you were dead, Tiernan!” Her face is red, and Kilkenny’s body is rigid.
Osheen and Alys keep their distance.
“When you were knighted and sent us your first letter, we thought you’d visit. Or that you’d at least have the decency to send another letter after that. Now you just show up after all this time and expect … what? What did you expect from me, Sir Tiernan?”
The title makes him flinch. For a while, there’s nothing but visible tension buzzing between the siblings. Then Kilkenny says, “I can’t explain … Not right now.”
Chiyoko’s shoulders droop, her body deflating. She stares at Kilkenny for a while before storming off. Kilkenny clenches his fist, and the magical light goes out. He doesn’t move from where he stands for some time. Neither do I.
Eventually, we all take care of any immediate needs in the bushes and change out of our festival outfits.
We even risk sitting down for a moment. With a heavy, achy head, I move toward the riverbank to refill my waterskin.
My body is unsteady, exhaustion seeping into my muscles and numbing my emotions.
The world wavers before me as I stand by the river, and I fear for a moment that an episode is looming near.
Alys appears at my side. “How are you feeling, sweetling?” she signs, gently placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Fine.” The practiced lie slips out and Alys purses her lips and raises her brows with incredulity. “And … you can feel exactly how I’m feeling right now, can’t you?” I ask with a sheepish grin.
Alys smiles and nods. “Indeed.” She pulls a vial from the pocket of her trousers and slips it into my hand. “At least this will help the headache.”
“Thank you, Alys.” I uncork the bottle and swallow down the tincture before handing the vial back to her.
She pockets the empty bottle again and faces Kilkenny where he’s seated a small distance away, tossing pebbles absentmindedly into the river. She calls to him. “How much longer before we should leave?”
Kilkenny rubs his face and then gestures, “Less than half an hour. Then we need to find someplace with more coverage.”
Easier said than done.
Rolling his shoulders a few times as if he needs to shake the tension off, he approaches me. “If you’re to learn how to use your powers, we need a baseline. Would you be open to sleeping without your dampener at night? That way we can get a better idea of how your dreamwalking works.”
The idea makes my chest tighten, but I say, “Alright …”
“Alright? Do you understand the weight of this situation?”
I frown at him, the sudden switch startling me. “Of course, I do but—”
“I don’t think you do.”
Don’t take your anger toward Chiyoko out on me, I want to say to him. But I swallow the words and scowl at him. As he inhales to speak again, Alys’s hand appears on his shoulder.
“Tiernan,” she says. She releases her grip as his face hardens.
“Coddling Garrick isn’t going to help her, Alys. She’s going to be in danger if—”
“You need to cool down,” she says, holding his gaze. “Now.” There’s no anger on her face at all, and she signs with such gentleness, despite the heaviness behind her words, that I bet her tone is soothing as well.
Kilkenny huffs and laces his fingers atop his head as he walks off.