6. Chapter 6
Chapter six
Keera
“Could you teach me how to use those?” I asked across the fire, nodding at the throwing knife Dhara was cleaning and sharpening after its use yesterday.
Her skill with the weapon had saved my life.
While today’s travel had been uneventful, I knew we would need every possible advantage in our arsenal before this journey was complete.
Dhara held it up, and the flickering fire light glimmered off the lethal blade. While there was a small flat portion in the middle to use as a grip, the weapon was double ended, so it would pierce the target no matter which way it struck.
“They have certainly proved useful,” Dhara stated before standing. I pushed to my feet as well and joined her on the far side of the fire.
Dhara held up the weapon and showed me how she held it, pinched in the middle.
“Then, keep your elbow pointed forward, and snap your forearm down. Let go of the knife when your arm is parallel to the ground,” she explained.
A dull thud marked the blade embedding in a date palm tree several meters away as Dhara demonstrated. Her movement had been fast and sure. Then, she pulled another from the band across her chest and handed it to me.
“You try.”
As I arranged my grip, Dhara nudged my elbow and wrist in the proper position. Then, I did my best to copy her throw. The flat of the knife smacked uselessly against the tree and the weapon fell impotently to the ground. Frustration flared in my chest, and I wrinkled my nose in irritation.
An odd bolt of amusement tinged with affection shot down the tether and warmed my belly. I shot a glance at Erix, who still sat by the fire, to find him ducking his head to hide a tiny smile.
He had been amused by my impatience with learning when we traveled together, what seemed shockingly long ago. Things had been simpler then, even if they didn’t seem it at the time.
I huffed, and Dhara chuckled
“You’re so competent with a saber, I’m surprised you aren’t already capable with them,” Dhara observed. “Knife throwing competitions are common in Clan Otush, and I assumed they were in the other clans as well.”
I swallowed in discomfort. “Most of my training did not occur in a clan.”
The words shouldn’t have tasted bitter. After being a queen, admitting to being exiled should not sting so much. Instead, the hurt felt oddly raw—like a wound that appeared to have healed but festered beneath barely closed skin, only to burst open at another slight.
I had been cast out of Kelvadan—the place I had gone against every instinct and demand of my heart to serve—in the most violent way possible.
I had friendship and family now that I had not when I was left at the oasis that had been my prison, but the voice that mocked me derisively in my exile had been awoken by my most recent fall from power.
Maybe I should be alone.
“You were not born in Kelvadan, though,” Dhara clarified, drawing me from my thoughts. It wasn’t exactly a question.
“I rode with Clan Padra during my youth,” I admitted. “But I was cast out when I had difficulty controlling my magic, so I did not train with a saber until I reached Kelvadan in the much more recent past.”
Lord Dhara’s face spasmed in distaste, and for a horrifying second, I thought she would sneer at me for being exiled—something I was sure she had guessed at even when Erix and I had come to save her clan from the lava wyrm.
Instead, she spat in the dirt and swore.
“Lord Nathaira would, that cowardly snake.”
A huff of annoyance came from across the fire. “As somebody who named themselves after a snake, I’m nearly offended by your comparison.”
My chest warmed at their defense, even as my former lord’s name made me shiver with anger.
“Lord Nathaira fears true magic, because she knows it might cost her her own power,” Lord Dhara observed dispassionately.
“I tried to befriend her once. We had been the only women to serve as clan lords in recent years, after all. The moment she saw me use my fire, though, she ordered Clan Padra to pack up and leave the oasis we were sharing.”
“Why would she fear your fire? You already lead your own clan,” I pointed out.
Lord Dhara shrugged. “I’ve always suspected that she only pretends to be touched by the desert.
If magic in one who had no use for her clan was so intimidating, then you must have terrified her.
I have no doubt that she would have jumped at an opportunity to rid herself of one who might one day rise to challenge her leadership. ”
I clenched my fists and ground my teeth. “I was a child.”
Dhara folded her arms over her chest. “Lord Nathaira has stayed in power for many years, but it is not by virtue of being a good lord to her clan. I can only hope that her relentless pursuit of self-interest does not interfere with our plans for freeing Kelvadan.”
I nodded. I had made the right decision in coming with Erix to restore the Heart, for I did not trust myself to negotiate with Lord Nathaira without relieving her of leadership—and possibly her head as well.
It was impossible to tell if we were making progress.
The sun rose before us and set behind us for several days with no indication that our location had changed at all.
Only slight variations in our surroundings and the stiffness in my body from long, repetitive days on horseback marked the length of our journey.
Today, the terrain was rocky. Boulders the color of rust dotted the ground, and the horses picked a path between them.
Some of them were piled into stacks taller than Daiti, while others had been carved into odd shapes by persistent winds and the passage of time.
I stared curiously at one formation we passed, which had a large stone balanced atop a narrow spire in a way that seemed to defy logic.
Sometimes, it felt like each sandy vista in the Ballan Desert was the same as the last, and there was nothing new to see no matter how far you rode.
Other times, her strange beauty nearly slapped you in the face with surprising sights, rewarding you for venturing so far into her wildness—for persisting past her initial harshness. Today was one of those days.
Three sets of hoof falls on the rocky ground were nearly loud enough that we didn’t hear it right away. The horses noticed first, and Daiti’s ears pulled back flat against his head. I was reaching out my hand to soothe him when the rumbling met my own ears.
My gaze snapped up and I found Erix and Dhara looking around for the source of the disturbance. It started as a fine tremor. The horses began snorting and stamping as the ground shook more insistently.
Quickly, we dismounted, and I staggered as the earth heaved underfoot.
Even as I struggled to keep my balance in the earthquake and worried about what it meant for the health of the desert, I couldn’t help but be glad that we were out in the open.
Here, the lurching of the ground couldn’t cause a rockslide like it did in the mountains.
A deafening crack split the air. I fell to my knees so hard I bit my tongue, and copper filled my mouth as the earth lurched. Off to one side, the ground fell away, like the maw of some massive creature opening in the earth.
It wasn’t close enough to threaten any of us, but a piercing scream split the air.
“Who—” Erix started shouting in question, as he, Dhara, and I all looked at each other in confusion. His question was cut off by the deafening clatter of falling rocks.
I struggled to my feet, half running and half stumbling toward the deep chasm formed by the collapsing earth.
An arm around my waist stopped me and yanked me back.
Before I could object, the precariously perched boulder I had admired earlier toppled from its spire and cracked in two on the ground in front of me with a thunderous bang.
My heart leapt into my throat as I realized Erix had hauled me out of the way before I could be crushed. Dhara, though, darted past us in a dark blur as she ran toward the widening canyon. The scream came again, followed by indiscernible shouting from another voice.
Erix and I ran. The earth shuddered underfoot, but the shaking slowed as we followed hot on Dhara’s heels toward the noise.
We rounded another patch of bounders to find a figure struggling at the edge of the fissure, where the ground sloped steeply before suddenly disappearing in a perilous drop. I recognized thick lines, inked into the bare arm that struggled to keep them from sliding down toward the edge.
“Aderyn!” A mix of terror and confusion shot through me.
The heaving of the earth was slowing into a fine tremor, but still she struggled, as if something were dragging her down.
“Elion!” Dhara was the one who shouted now as we reached where Aderyn lay on the sloping edge.
“Can’t… hold… much longer,” Aderyn grit out.
Indeed, while one hand had the edge of the rock in a white knuckled grip, her other reached down. Her fingers circled the wrist of a dark hand. Elion dangled over the edge of the cliff behind her. Even as the earthquake calmed completely, she seemed to slide back a few more inches.
I reached out toward Aderyn, grabbing her arm and trying to haul her up, to little avail. She shook her head and panted.
“Elion… hit on the head. I think he’s unconscious.”
“I’m climbing down,” Dhara declared instantly, unstrapping her weapons so they wouldn’t weigh her down.
Hooves sounded behind me, the horses having followed now that the ground was still.
Erix took over helping Aderyn and I jumped to my feet, quickly grabbing a rope from my pack.
Dhara had already begun sliding down the sloped ground toward the edge of the cliff, as if prepared to dive into the abyss with no aid.
I stopped her just in time with a hand on her shoulder as I fell to my knees at the edge once more. She glared at me as if to scold me for stopping her, apparently having been planning on relying on the strength of her grip alone, but I handed her the end of the rope.