Tempest (4 page)

Chapter 5

We did not talk much the first day, traveling solemnly, each of our thoughts preoccupied by the journey ahead. Only Lochlen was cheerful, his low melodious whistling both annoying, and weirdly bolstering. And then the sun set on the first day, and we ate, keeping our rations small, our conversation minimal.

The fire Kye built and Lochlen lit was warm, and we all sat huddled inside our cloaks, our weapons near us around the small pyre. Fires still haunted me, even as they gave me comfort, and I stared into the flames, my heart heavy. I missed Aigneis. I missed having someone with me who understood me better than anyone else. I missed her affection. I missed her.

“We enter the Ardus on the morrow,” Brennus grumbled, throwing a small bone into the blaze, his eyes heavy. Sparks flew up into the air.

“Aye,” Daegan replied.

No one else spoke.

“We’ll sleep near the fire tonight,” Kye said.

We pulled out our packs, drawing our bedrolls free before unrolling them close enough to the pyre for warmth but far enough we wouldn’t risk catching anything ablaze.

Lochlen moved toward the trees. He didn’t need the warmth the same way we did, and he didn’t sleep well with others. I’d learned that in the past when Kye had asked him to sleep at my back before our trek into Aireesi.

The trees welcomed Lochlen, and I lay carefully on my bedroll, pulling my cloak up to my chin. Oran materialized out of the woods and flopped onto the ground against my back. We slept head to foot. All of us except Kye. The prince sat near my head before the fire, his eyes on the woods.

“I’ll take first watch,” he offered.

There was no real need for anyone to sit up. The trees, the wolves, and Lochlen were guard enough, but Kye knew, as well as I, that people generally felt more comfortable depending on each other, on their own species. No one argued.

Exhaustion was strong, but I fought it as everyone else drifted off to sleep. Brennus snored and Daegan mumbled softly. Maeve was a mostly quiet sleeper, a tiny whistle escaping every time she exhaled. Oran shifted behind me, one of his legs kicking irritably in slumber. His fur was warm against my back, and it lulled me into a drowsy state, my eyes growing heavy.

“Sleep,”
the trees whispered.

My gaze drifted to Kye. He leaned forward, one arm resting on his knee, his gaze on the flames. Plucking a twig from the ground, he drew circles in the dirt before throwing it onto the blaze. Sparks rose, drifting upward toward a navy sky dotted with stars. The scar on his temple glowed. It made my cheeks heat, and my body warm.

“Sleep,”
the trees whispered again.
“Sleep.”

I knew they were right. I should rest, but I stared at the prince instead. I had lost a part of myself when Aigneis was killed. I’d lost yet another part of myself when I’d had to kill to protect the rebels. A new Drastona had been born then. I didn’t know this new girl yet. I was still learning who she was, but I knew one thing. I’d already lost part of my new self. I’d lost her the night before. I’d given her to Kye.

Kye’s gaze moved from the fire to me, and our eyes caught. There were so many words in a stare, silent moments no one else would know.

 
I exhaled, the breath misting in the cold.

“Sleep, Stone,” Kye said, his words gentle.

I looked away from him as Oran shifted again. The wolf was a restless sleeper, and I brought my arm up, my head going to the crook of my elbow. I wanted to say something, something poetic or memorable, but sometimes silence speaks volumes. Sometimes silence says what words never can.

So, I lay beneath the sky, my eyes on the stars.

A hand suddenly covered mine, and my gaze met Kye’s again. He wasn’t sitting anymore. He’d reclined on his bedroll, his head toward mine. His fingers tangled with my fingers, dancing a dance with no music. There were no words, just the feather light feel of his palm against my palm, his skin against my skin.

The only sounds came from the forest, from the fire. The
snap
and
pop
as the kindling fell, the sound of the breeze as bare limbs were brushed together.

“Sleep,”
the trees whispered.

Something scurried beneath the undergrowth, and an owl
hooted
.

Kye’s fingers tightened around mine, his cool lips coming down to brush against my forehead. It made me shiver.

“Sleep,” Kye said.

“Sleep,”
the trees agreed.

I slept.

***

“Wake!”
the trees cried.

I sat bolt upright. It was still dark in the forest, but the fire was high. Brennus stood beside it, his back to me.

“Wake!”
the trees cried again.

Oran climbed to his feet, his fur standing up straight, a low growl rumbling from his chest. It captured Brennus’ attention, and he turned to face us, his fist on the sword at his side. I held up a hand.

“What is it?” I asked the trees.

Brennus’ gaze was suddenly alert, and he pulled his sword, leaning down to shake Kye and then Daegan. I shook Maeve.

“King’s soldiers in the forest. They are not far. Douse the fire,”
the trees ordered.

I jumped up and kicked dirt on the flames.

“Soldiers,” I hissed. “There are soldiers near.”

Kye helped me extinguish the blaze as Lochlen emerged from the trees, his reptilian eyes glowing. Maeve, Daegan, and Brennus had rolled up their bedrolls and already had their packs on their shoulders, their weapons out. I did the same.

“It is a small contingent,” Lochlen said as he approached us. “They’ve been assigned by the king to watch the Ardus border. It seems the desert has become a popular escape since Raemon began killing the marked outright.”

Lochlen faded back into the trees, and we followed, our eyes wide, alert.

“The desert would kill the marked before the king ever could. Why does Raemon care if they escape there?” Maeve mumbled.

Pulling his sword, Kye put his back to one of the trees. “Because the king won’t risk any of the marked making it to Sadeemia. He’d rather stop them at the border.”

I pulled an arrow from the sheath at my back and strung it, keeping it low. I was much better with the bow than I was with a sword.

Kye pushed away from the tree. “Come,” he said.

We followed, our eyes on the trees.

“Close,”
the trees said,
“twelve of them.”

I moved near Kye. “There are twelve soldiers.”

He nodded, his free hand coming to rest on my shoulder before his gaze met Lochlen’s. The dragon nodded.

Kye gestured at Maeve and Daegan. “Go with Lochlen. We’ll close the soldiers in, and attack from both sides.”

My heart beat wildly, my eyes wide in the dark. We were going to kill the king’s soldiers. It didn’t seem right, killing men who were only doing as they were ordered, but it made sense, too. If we took them out now, it gave other marked folk a chance. The king would send more soldiers, true, but it would give us all time.

Lochlen paused in front of me, Maeve and Daegan at his back. The dragon bent down, his strange eyes on mine.

“Morality doesn’t belong in war, little one,” he whispered into my ear before he slunk into the undergrowth.

Lochlen’s departure left me facing Kye. The prince’s eyes were cold. He’d found his killing place. All of them had. I saw it in Brennus’ gaze, too.

Oran pushed up against my hand. “We hunt, Phoenix. It is a part of nature. The predator and the prey.”

I’d killed before, but it had not been planned or calculated. It had been out of desperation, and the guilt still ate at me.

“They approach,”
the trees announced.

Lifting my bow, I nodded at Kye. He held up two fingers and pointed at the trees. Brennus and I nodded, and I scrambled up the trunk of a nearby oak. Its branches were bare, but it was hugged up to an old pine, and the tree helped cloak me. I would need the higher perch using a bow.

Brennus put his back against a thick tree some feet away. Kye did the same. I knew without being told that Daegan and I were depended on to do most of the killing. It’s why Kye had separated us the way he had. Daegan and I were bowmen while Lochlen and I could hear the trees. Daegan and I would take out as many as we could from our higher perches before the king’s men were close enough for hand to hand fighting. Bile rose up in my throat.

“They would kill you if they saw you. Remember that, Phoenix. It is their life or yours.”

I gripped my bow. “Because of Raemon. They do it because of Raemon. Would they truly kill us if our king had not ordered them to?” I asked the trees.

The branch I sat on shook slightly, and I glared at it.

“Maybe not, but it still remains. The dragon is right. Morality does not belong in war.”

It was a harsh reality, and one I wasn’t sure I believed in, but I did believe in the rebels. I believed we had as much a right to live as the others in Medeisia, despite our marks. I lifted my bow higher, the arrow pulled back.

Dawn was breaking, the light faint but good enough. The king’s men wore red. It was a bold color, too bold for the forest.

The wind was strong. It rushed through the trees, lifting dead leaves and biting into my cheeks. It kept me alert. My fingers were numb on the bow.

“They are here,”
the trees warned.

Rustling in the underbrush proceeded the soldiers’ arrival in our part of the forest. The men were laughing, making gaudy jokes they’d never make in polite company. I counted them. Twelve.

I pulled my arrow back, a sob rising in my chest. Daegan released his first arrow before I released mine. I watched as it felled a brown-haired man with a long nose, the arrow protruding from his back. It was a lucky shot. Some of the soldiers wore chain mail, and others didn’t.

I aimed, swallowing over the lump in my throat, and let go. It was a true hit, but I looked away so I wouldn’t see the arrow jutting from the man’s neck.

The king’s soldiers were on the defensive now, their yells loud as they moved to the forest floor, their eyes on the trees. I didn’t move, my gaze going to a bowman targeting Daegan. There were only two bowmen among the soldiers. For Daegan and I, they were our biggest threat as long as we were in the trees.

I sent an arrow flying into the back of the bowman’s neck. He went down, and I released another. It missed the man I was aiming at, but Daegan was shooting opposite me, and his next arrow hit its mark. That was four men down out of twelve. The remaining soldiers had gotten wiser, melding into the trees, their eyes wide and alert. The trees made them impossible targets.

Metal struck metal, and I knew some of the soldiers had met up with Lochlen and his group. There was a flash of red below, and I strung an arrow, shooting it at Kye’s feet to warn him. The prince’s sword came up just as the soldier appeared, a growl escaping his throat.