Slight and Shadow (Fate's Forsaken: Book Two) (13 page)

The vendor wrapped up their supplies without a word. Kyleigh wagered it would last them about a week — provided she could keep Silas out of it.

When the vendor handed over her barely-seared leg of goat, he watched as she bit into it. She could see his disgust clearly out of the corner of her eye, but paid him no heed. She was enjoying the spices immensely.

“And what about you?” the vendor said, turning to Jake. His accent was not as heavy as some of the others’ had been. “Perhaps you would like yours a little bloody?”

Jake wrinkled his nose. “No, I’d very much like the blood cooked out of it, thank you.” He watched the vendor work for a moment, then he drew out his journal. “How did you come to learn the Kingdom’s tongue, if you don’t mind me asking? Have you lived in Arabath all your life?”

The vendor shook his head. “Many of the tribes speak this language. We have hundreds of our own, and none would give up his native words to learn those of another. Your King’s tongue belonged to no one, and so we agreed to learn it.”

“I see.” Jake’s brows shot up, and he began to scribble furiously. “
And so the tongue that was foreign to them all became the language that united them
. Does that sound about right to you?”

He shrugged. “I do not care — so long as I am paid.”

While the vendor finished roasting Jake’s meal, Kyleigh kept eating. She’d just tore off a particularly juicy hunk of flesh when Jake tapped her frantically on the shoulder.

“Huh?” she grunted.

He bent down to her ear. “Don’t look now, but I think we’re being watched.”

Kyleigh looked anyways.

He was right: a group of four desert men hung near a shop across the street from them. They had scarves wrapped about their heads and swords strapped to their hips. Their dark eyes blinked out unabashedly from their wrappings. They didn’t seem to care that they’d been spotted.

“I think they mean to kill us,” Jake hissed.

Kyleigh could feel their dark intentions even from across the path. It oozed out between their crossed arms, stabbed at her from the danger in their stares. “Yes, I believe they do … eventually.”

“Well, shouldn’t we — I don’t know … confront them?” Jake muttered. He snatched his food from the vendor impatiently and pressed some coin into his hand.

Kyleigh wasn’t too concerned about their followers. Granted, travelers
did
have a nasty habit of disappearing in Whitebone. She imagined it would be fairly easy to hide a body in the sand. But disappearances were bad for business, and Baron Sahar had done much to curb bandit attacks in recent years.

Now Arabath was thick with his guards. There seemed to be a pair of them for nearly every street. They patrolled the city openly, with the gold sun of Whitebone branded across their chests. Everywhere they marched, their eyes were peeled for mischief.

Kyleigh knew the desert men wouldn’t risk attacking them in Arabath. So she told Jake to ignore them, and led her companions on with their chores.

They bought two weeks worth of spice rice from a vendor down the street. Silas made a face when Kyleigh handed him a sack filled with the bright red grains. “This is for prey, dragoness. You can’t expect me to carry what I’m not going to eat.”

“The rice will keep long after the meat’s gone bad. If we run into trouble, you’ll be glad you have it.”

“But —”

She spun him around by the shoulders and stuffed the rice into his pack. “You’ll carry what I give you, and that will be the end of it — or I’ll make an end of
you
,” she added, when he started to protest.

He clamped his mouth shut, though his eyes still glowed with a haughtiness that was every bit as insolent as a sharp retort.

As they moved on towards the edge of town, Kyleigh spotted a date vendor settled under the shade of a tree. She was a middle-aged woman dressed in a beautiful blue frock. The gold threads woven into her garb branched out delicately from the hems; they shimmered in the sunlight while she packed their dates.

She held the sacks out to Kyleigh, but when she reached to take them, the woman grasped her wrist. “You are being followed,” she whispered. Her eyes darted over Kyleigh’s shoulder, where the four desert men were feigning interest in some merchant’s baubles. “I know those men — many travelers have died by their hands. You would do well to hire a guard.”

Kyleigh was taken aback by the woman’s kindness, and smiled at the concern on her face. “Thank you for telling me.”

She paid with the last of their coin — silver worth more than three times the price of the dates. And the woman was so stunned that she didn’t think to protest until they’d already disappeared into the market.

*******

Arabath’s back gate was actually only half a gate: one high wall protected the entrance to the Baron’s highway, but the rest of the desert was left unprotected.

The highway was the only safe path through the desert, a natural shelf of rock that followed the path of the Red Spine. It wound from one end of the region to the other, keeping travelers safe from the perils of the burning wilds.

Rolling hills of sand stretched endlessly to the south and east. They shimmered against the rising sun, dancing excitedly as the heat warmed them. There was no wall set against this land, because there was no point in guarding it: only fools wandered out into the open desert.

“You’re certain that you’ve traveled this way before?” Jake whispered, as they made their way purposefully towards the border.

Kyleigh sighed. “Yes, I’m certain.”

“And you know where you’re going, correct?”

“Correct.”

She’d crossed the desert so many times that she thought she might’ve been able to do it blindfolded. Granted, that had been years ago, back when she’d traveled alone hadn’t cared if she was spotted. Now that there were other lives depending on her, she was determined to do things carefully — even if that meant taking the long way around. She wouldn’t take to the skies unless she had no other choice.

But even though Kyleigh could see things better from above, she didn’t think she’d have any trouble leading her companions across the desert. Aside from a few villages scattered here and there, the land was completely empty.

How difficult could it possibly be?

Jake was silent for a moment. She could hear the squeaking of his sweaty palms as they twisted about his staff. “Remind me again why we can’t take the road?”

Kyleigh glared in the direction of the gate. “Baron Sahar’s highway is lined with forts — and each has its own price for passage. Merchants have lost a great deal more than their coin, along the way. Besides, the guards aren’t likely to let me pass through like this,” she said, tugging on her hood. “The minute I’m uncovered, they’ll know who I am … and our welcome will wear out very quickly.”

“Ah, I see,” Jake said, though he still looked rather put-off about it. “So you’re certain you’ll be able to navigate across —?”

“
Yes
,” Kyleigh said, throwing up her hands.

“Well, I only ask because people are starting to stare!” he hissed.

A number of small huts littered the rocky outskirts of Arabath. Desert folk milled around the tiny homes, stoking their fires and going about their chores. And many of them
were
staring.

Their gaping didn’t seem to make Silas uncomfortable at all. In fact, he stared back with interest. “Why do they live out here, when there are far better dens in there?” he said, pointing back to the city.

“These are the un-favored,” Jake mumbled. When Silas looked at him curiously, he brushed the sweat from his nose and tried to explain. “The culture of the desert revolves around the sun — they call it Fate’s Eye, and believe that the sun favors some of them more than others. The favored ones live inside the city, while the un-favored must live on the outskirts.”

“How are they favored?”

“It’s hard to explain,” Jake said, scrubbing his spectacles against his tunic. “But I think it all has to do with their skin. They believe that those born with darker skin are more favored, because it protects them from the sun. It’s all tied into wealth and status — it’s human business,” he said bluntly, when Silas showed no signs of ever understanding.

“Humans,” Silas muttered out the side of his mouth to Kyleigh. “And they call
us
barbaric. I’m glad I wasn’t born here. I certainly would have been among the un-favored.” He touched the back of her hand with his fingertips. “And it’s a wonder they even let
you
inside the city!”

She shoved him away.

At long last, they reached the city’s end. All that stood before them now were miles of fiery, untamed land. Kyleigh looked to the north, making sure that they were even with the Baron’s highway. They would have to keep this path until the very last mile — then they would cut in.

She didn’t know how long they’d have to camp in the Spine. They might have to wait for days, or even weeks. But above all, they needed to keep the Baron’s castle in sight.

It was all Kyleigh’s fault, really. After she’d burned Gilderick’s castle to the ground, and after the incident with Sahar and the trolls, the two rulers had entered into something of an agreement. They blasted the mountains out from between them, forming a pass — and swore that if either of them was ever attacked, the other would come to his aid.

Kyleigh didn’t know when Kael planned to launch his attack on the plains. But the moment Gilderick sniffed trouble, he would summon Sahar. Her friends couldn’t possibly fight off two armies at once. So when Sahar’s men left the palace, she would have to make sure they never reached the plains.

Their battle would seem small in the end, but if they could cause a little mischief, it might give their friends a chance to escape. And in Kyleigh’s opinion, that would be worth every burning step.

“Those men are still following us,” Jake said, with a glance over his boney shoulder. “What are we going to do about them?”

“We’re going to lead them out into the desert,” Kyleigh said simply, “where the sand will muffle their screams.”

Chapter 12

Minceworms

They walked for hours, until Arabath and all of its lively comforts disappeared behind them. The sun climbed steadily higher, its light seemed to grow more powerful with every step.

The heat didn’t bother Kyleigh: the scales of her armor reflected most of it, and the shadow of her hood protected her eyes. What she found to be more trouble than anything was the sand.

She’d had every intention of keeping them on a straight path. If they tried to weave around the dunes, the constant change in direction might force them to wander off-course. The smaller dunes were no trouble to cross — they took little longer than the average hill. It was when they came to the first reasonably-monstrous dune that her plan fell apart.

It rose like a mountain out of the desert; the gashes the wind had left in it were so deep that they came almost to Kyleigh’s knees. But that didn’t stop her from trying to lead her companions across it.

The sand slid out from under their feet, dragging them a half-step backwards every time they tried to lunge forward. More than once, Kyleigh lost her footing so suddenly that she had to catch herself on her elbows. But she kept her eyes on the crest, determined to reach it. Her muscles tensed at every slight shift in the grain, she wedged her feet deep into its slippery side.

“It’s useless, dragoness!”

Silas was standing at the base of the dune. He must have lost his footing: she could see very clearly where he’d dug in all four limbs to try to slow his fall.

Jake had been less fortunate. He lay in a crumpled heap at the bottom, and the trail he’d left behind was more like a flopping fish’s: choppy and wild, with the hard imprints of his body pounded into the dune at every few feet.

When Silas helped him up, an impressive amount of sand poured out the bottom of his robes. “I’m sorry — I can’t make the climb,” Jake panted. “We’ll have to go around.”

Kyleigh knew he was right. Even if they
could
manage to climb every dune in their path, they’d be moving so slowly that it wouldn’t do them any good. They’d never reach the Baron’s castle in time. She’d just have to keep an eye on the sun, then — and be careful not to get them turned around.

She sat down and was preparing to slide her way to the bottom when she spotted four figures atop a crest behind them. It looked as if they might be running, but the earth waved and shook so badly under the heat that she couldn’t be sure.

In any case, it was obvious that they were gaining.

She rode the shifting sands to the base of the dune, using the weight of her pack for balance. “We can’t stop here,” she said, when she saw Jake settling down for a rest.

“Why not? This is as good a spot as any.”

“Not quite.” Silas watched the four bandits from over his shoulder. His eyes stayed focused on them as he spoke. “It would be best to meet our stalkers on even ground. If they attack us from a high point, it will give them an unfair advantage. I should know,” he added with a wicked smile. “I’ve broken many necks that way.”

Jake leaned away from him.

Kyleigh was surprised: she’d actually been about to suggest the same thing. Silas was might’ve been a smelly cat, and she didn’t trust him any further than the length of his tail, but perhaps he wasn’t as worthless an ally as she’d thought him to be.

After they’d dusted most of the sand from Jake, Kyleigh led them through a gentler stretch around the dunes. They were able to follow along the ridged back of a drift for about a mile before it sloped down into a shallow basin.

The ground was hardened and cracked at the bottom — it stood out like a bald spot in the middle of the sand. Dunes ringed it on all sides, forming a nearly perfect circle. Kyleigh thought it’d be a grand place for a fight.

“Thank Fate,” Jake said, when she ordered them to a halt. He sat down heavily — and then immediately sprang back up. “It’s hot!”

Kyleigh laughed. “What did you expect, you silly mage?”

“Well, I expected it to be hot — but not
that
hot. It’s like a bed of coals.” He rubbed his rump for a moment, glaring at the baking earth. Then his brows began to slip upwards. “I wonder
why
it’s so hot …?” he murmured, crouching for a better look.

Kyleigh didn’t want her rump to wind up like Jake’s, so she sat on her pack. It was a bit lumpy in places, but there were certainly worse spots to rest and have a drink. They were stopped in the middle of the bald spot — where she could see all around them. She didn’t want to give the bandits a chance to take them by surprise.

Silas paced restlessly in front of her, his eyes on the dunes. He kept his tension bunched up in the lithe muscle of his shoulders. His back was stiffened, his chest puffed out. His arms swung dangerously loose at his sides. Kyleigh swore she could see his every hair standing tall — even the fine, pale hairs on the back of his neck.

Excitement rose from him as thickly as the hot breath of the earth, and she began to catch it.

Her muscles tensed, her eyes sharpened. She could smell the sweat of the four bandits, drifting down from the other side of the dunes. Fatigue hovered over them like a cloud. Thirst pushed down on their shoulders. She could hear the hollow thud of desperation in their every step.

Kyleigh inhaled deeply. She caught the stench of their weakness, and her blood began to thrum through her veins —

“No,” she said firmly. She pinched her nose shut and took a long drag from her canteen. Her animal half hissed and moaned when the water struck her innards, but soon fell quiet.

“No, what?” Silas said. He’d stopped his pacing and was watching her curiously. He smirked when he read the struggle in her eyes. “Why do you fight it, dragoness? Your senses are a gift.”

“Only if they’re used properly,” she said with a glare.

Kyleigh couldn’t remember who she’d been before the change — that memory was lost to her, trapped in a darkness so deep that she didn’t think she would ever be able to find it again. But she’d learned much about being a shapechanger from the halfwolves who had taken her in.

The dragon she’d bonded with was a part of her soul, now — it would never leave. Even though her human half controlled it, that animal spirit was still inside of her. Sharpfang had warned her long ago that a shapechanger’s war was never finished: if Kyleigh wanted to live as a human, then she must hold reason above bloodlust … or risk letting the animal consume her.

Silas came closer, and she had to hold her nose again as his thick scent drenched the air. “Properly?” he said, half-growling. “Oh, you won’t get far if you turn your nose up at yourself.”

“I’m not turning up my nose,” Kyleigh growled back. “But this isn’t a hunt. And these aren’t deer — they’re men. If we must kill them, then I’d like to do it with honor.”

Silas laughed in her face. “If we must …?
Honor
?” He planted his hands on his knees and looked up at her through the crop of his hair. “Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but they’ve been hunting
us
like deer.”

“Yes, I know —”

“And the only reason they haven’t killed us yet is that we’ve been outrunning them. Do you think they plan to kill us with honor?” he said, thrusting his hand back at the dunes. “If they mean to show us no mercy, then I don’t see why —”

“It may be a lion’s way to kill in cold blood,” Kyleigh said, rising to her feet. Her anger must’ve been burning at the front of her glare: Silas stumbled backwards. “It may be a lion’s way to stoop to his enemy’s level, but that isn’t my way. And as long as you follow me, you’ll do things
my
way. Understood?”

Silas didn’t nod. But he also didn’t argue.

Her words would’ve never worked on a human. Humans were far too proud, and their instincts were muddled by their politics. But to control another shapechanger, Kyleigh had to be dominant. She’d seen Bloodfang do it loads of times with the other wolves. She knew that she had to stand up to Silas now and declare that hers was the only way.

If he didn’t like it, then he was welcome to fight her for it. But it was obvious by how he kept his chin lowered that he wasn’t keen to attack her.

So she watched over his shoulder as the first of the bandits made his way to the basin. When the bandit spotted them, he bellowed something to his companions. “We’ll at least offer them the chance to turn back and live,” Kyleigh said, as three more heads popped up over the dunes.

“Fine,” Silas hissed.

Kyleigh stepped forward, and he crowded her heels. “Hello, there!” she called to the bandits.

They halted in surprise.

“I’m afraid it’ll do you no good to rob us — we haven’t got any coin.”

“If you value your lives, you’ll turn back now!” Silas added.

The bandits paused for only a moment. Then they advanced. The lead bandit shouted something in a foreign tongue, and the others laughed.

“What are they saying?” Silas pressed his chest impatiently against Kyleigh’s shoulder, as if she was the only thing holding him back.

“I don’t know, but it probably wasn’t very nice,” she mused. One of the bandits shot her a gesture. “And that
certainly
wasn’t very nice.”

“Can we kill them, now?”

When the bandits made the very serious mistake of drawing their swords, Kyleigh sighed. “I suppose we ought to. Let’s get on with it.”

Silas growled in delight and stepped out from behind her, his eyes locked on the bandits. Kyleigh turned to tell Jake to get ready, and saw that he was still crouched over the ground.

“Jake, we’re about t — what in blazes are you doing?”

He had a vial in one hand and a long pair of tweezers in the other. With his tongue stuck out in concentration, he seemed to be trying to coax a small chunk of dirt into the vial. When he looked up at her, his spectacles nearly slid off.

“Sorry, I was just — there are some flakey bits sitting on top of the dirt, you see, and I thought they might be worth examining. I’ve never seen anything like it. They keep breaking, though. I’m having to be very careful —”

A roar cut over the top of him. The first bandit screamed as Silas burst into his lion form: “A’calla!”

“You go ahead,” Jake said, waving Kyleigh forward. “I’m just going to finish up, here.”

While Silas pounced on one bandit, two more charged around him — their eyes set on Kyleigh. She left Jake and went to meet them at a sprint.

Harbinger shrilled when she pulled him free; his voice trembled across her ears and set her heart to racing. The bandits slowed their charge when they heard him, leaning back in fright. And Kyleigh attacked.

She crossed swords with one bandit and sent the second flying with a boot to the gut. In two quick blows, Harbinger bit through the first bandit’s blade. Its severed half clattered to the ground. He took a few more swipes at her before he realized that he wielded nothing more than the hilt.

Then she ran him through.

By that point, the second bandit had recovered from his fall and tried to attack her from behind. She spun out of his reach and cut Harbinger across his back, but his sword sprang up to block her.

Kyleigh knew then that she was dealing with an experienced swordsman. He glanced at the chip in his blade before his eyes shot back to her, and she knew he was trying to figure her out. He swung at her again, but his shoulder wasn’t into it — he was holding back.

She ignored his feint and met him where he planned to strike: at her head.

Their blades locked tightly. Harbinger bit into his sword, peeling thin, curling strips of iron from its edge. The bandit’s eyes tightened above his scarf, his arms shook against Kyleigh’s strength, and she had no desire to make him suffer any longer. With one hard shove, she sent him stumbling backwards — and while he was off balance, Harbinger bit straight through his chest.

“Do we have them all?” Silas called to her. His head swiveled about as he counted the dead. Red stained the front of his tunic. “Where’s the fourth one?”

Kyleigh spotted the fourth bandit quickly — sprinting his way over the dunes and back towards Arabath. She let out a frustrated growl. “That one was supposed to be yours!”

“How was I to know? You never said we were splitting them.”

“When there’s an even number, that goes without saying,” she snapped as she joined him.

They watched the bandit cross over one dune and start climbing the hill of another. He had his back turned to them; Kyleigh could smell the panic on his breath. When he glanced over his shoulder and she saw his fear, she could no longer resist. She began walking towards him.

Silas followed along beside her, so close that their shoulders pressed together. His raw excitement spilled into hers, fueling it. “I’ll race you for him,” he said, baring his teeth in a snarling grin.

She grinned back. “Just try to keep up, cat —”

An explosion rattled the earth, cutting her sentence short. They watched as the whole top of the dune blew skywards, swallowing the bandit’s body in a burst of orange flame. The dune showered back to earth in a stinging wave of sand, and Kyleigh thought she could see bits of the bandit’s scimitar glinting among the debris.