Dragonoak (66 page)

“Kouris!” I called, boots thudding heavily against the ground
as I jumped from Charley's back.

She came
crashing towards the ground and Kidira, who'd dismounted her own
horse, ran towards her, spear drawn. I rushed straight past them
both, into the wall of soldiers with their arrows and their orders
to back off. My hands were glowing, eyes burning, both because I
wanted them to and couldn't stop it from happening, power grinding
against every nerve in my body.

The
soldiers encircled me, each one stepping back when I looked at
them.

“Go
,” I barely managed to voice for
all the venom caught in my throat. I stomped a foot against the
ground, imagining that it trembled as the dirt and grass turned
white around my boots. “You know what I am, what I'll do.
R
un!
”

And the
soldiers, with their numbers and their weapons, with an entire army
behind them, listened to me. Some dropped their crossbows and
others clung tightly to them, hands locked around the stock, but
all of them ran, heading after Rylan and Katja, not stopping until
they disappeared over the horizon.

CHAPTER XXIV

Kouris came
crashing down like an avalanche, chest rising as she heaved for
breath. I'd never seen her get so much as a scratch, yet there she
was, three arrows pushed into her chest, piercing her lung, with
thick, orange blood pouring out of the wounds. Death circled above
her, drawing closer and closer and then dispersing when I ran over,
shadows pushed away by the sun.

“Stop that,” Kidira said, knelt by Kouris' side. One hand was
pushed down on Kouris' chest, close to the bolts, and the other
gripped at her jaw, keeping her still and demanding her attention.
“Your other heart is fine. Look at me—
look
at me,
Kouris. Rowan's here.”

My knees
slammed against the ground and I took Kouris' face in my hands,
eyes fixed on hers. Darkness was claiming them, tarnishing the gold
and turning it black, and I murmured her name under my breath,
drawing the pain into myself and healing her heart and lung over
and over again as the bolts continued to tear through
them.

Kouris
wheezed, choked on the blood in her throat, and Kidira said, “I'm
going to remove the arrows. Keep looking at Rowan,” more composed
than I could ever be. My eyes were misting over and I didn't dare
to blink, lest my tears scare Kouris more than she already was. I'd
never healed a pane like this and the echo of her injury settled
strangely within me; my heart and no twin, and the pain saturated
the whole of my chest.

“One...”
Kidira said, wrapping her fingers around the bolt and tugging
sharply on it. Kouris threw her head back, feeling enough to start
seething, and I closed the wound the second the bolt was free.
“Two...”

Kidira
grunted, hands slick with blood. She wiped them on her shirt and
took hold of the last bolt, having to push the bolt deeper before
she could twist it out.

“Three.”

With all
of the wounds closed, I willed Kouris' heart and lung to heal for a
final time, and the darkness that swarmed her eyes disappeared
along with death.

Kouris
tried to speak, but it came out rougher than any curse in Svargan.
Turning onto her side, she choked on the breath she tried to draw
in and spat blood into the dirt, knocking a fist against her chest,
until she could bring herself to sit up.

I threw
my arms around her neck, pressing my cheek against hers.

“Yrval...” she croaked. “You're trembling.”

I was
having a harder time catching my breath than she was.

“You're
okay,” I murmured, plastering a hand against her other cheek and
kissing her face. “You scared me, Kouris.”

Closing
her eyes, she knocked her forehead against mine.

“Reckon
you had the right idea in tagging along,” she said, smiling
shakily. I kept close and she wrapped an arm around me, looking up
at Kidira. “... thanks, Kidira. Don't know how the hell you always
manage to stay so calm.”

Kidira
stood over us, arms folded across her chest. Orange blood stained
her hands and arms, her shirt and throat, but her expression merely
said she'd been mildly inconvenienced, somehow. She didn't shake,
didn't let out a heavy, relieved breath. I was a necromancer and
yet she was the one who was fearless.

“And
that
,
Kouris, is why you don't wave your arms around in front of people
half your size wielding crossbows,” Kidira said sternly, holding
out a hand.

Tentatively, Kouris took it, doing all the work to get back
to her feet.

Fearing
retaliation, Rylan's soldiers had left in a hurry. There was
nothing for us to do but take the news back to Kyrindval, and
though Kouris insisted that she didn't need time to rest, she ran
more slowly back to the mountains than I'd known her to run before.
Neither Kidira nor I said anything, but kept our eyes fixed on
Kouris, no matter how recovered we knew her to be.

Charley
was more than a little jittery after what had happened with Rylan
and the crossbows, far from eager to head back up the mountain. I
issued every bribe I knew, leading him up the path what felt like a
step at a time, and could've wept when I set eyes on Kyrindval once
more. I scrubbed at my eyes, letting out a breath I'd been holding
all the way up the mountain, and strongly considered collapsing
there and then.

I'd no
intention of leaving Kouris alone, but didn't have to.

Kidira
had come to a stop by her side, holding her horse's reins out to
me.

I took
them, about to head into Kyrindval, but spoke before I could think
better of opening my mouth.

“I'm
sorry,” I said. “About Katja.”

Kidira
placed a hand on my shoulder, but all she said was, “Go. Report our
findings to Claire.”

I led
the horses to the stables, only daring to turn back once the edge
of the tribe was almost out of sight. Kidira had sat in the grass,
so far from Kouris' side that she may as well have not been there
at all.

A kindly
pane working in the stables promised to take extra care of Charley
until he calmed down, and the two of them seemed to already be
acquainted well enough. The strip of sky along the horizon had
turned a pale red while the rest was just dark enough to make the
clouds and sky itself indistinguishable. I walked through Kyrindval
with my arms wrapped around myself, hiding the blood that had spilt
onto me.

The last
thing any pane wanted to see was a human covered in orange
blood.

Claire
was in her cabin, sat in the living area. I heard voices from the
street, Akela's and then Sen's, seeping out in equal measures, and
paused, gathering myself. I wished I could've taken her nothing but
good news, but the incident with the crossbow and Katja's presence
put an end to all that.

Kouris
was fine, I reminded myself, closing my eyes until images of the
bolts dug deep in her chest faded.

An
attempt at playing cards had been made. They laid forgotten across
the table in the centre of the room, while Claire sunk into an
armchair, not distracted in the least by the way Akela and Sen sat
chatting on the sofa opposite her, chick perched happily on Akela's
knee.

Sen's
ears didn't fail her. She heard me dragging my feet through the
corridor and shot to her feet at the sight the pane blood
splattered across my golden shirt.

“It's
okay, it's okay,” I said, holding my hands out. “It's Kouris', but
she's okay. I healed her.”

“Northwood,” Akela said, wrapping her fingers around Sen's
wrist when she couldn't find her own way back to the sofa. “What is
happening? Where is Kidira?”

“She's
just outside of Kyrindval, with Kouris,” I explained. “She's
fine.”

Akela
furrowed her brow at the thought of Kidira willingly spending more
time than she had to with Kouris, but was content enough to stay
where she was once she knew Kidira was safe.

“What
happened, Rowan?” Claire asked, closing her book and quietly
slipping it onto the floor.

I shook
my head, wandering aimlessly around the room, all eyes on me. All
three of them were being more patient than I was, and at the sound
of Akela's chick chirping, I took a seat on the arm of Claire's
chair and let it all rush out of me.

"Rylan says you have a month. He wants you to surrender, to
go work with him. He says he's willing to excuse all of
this
, and that together,
you can help repair Kastelir. But there was something about the way
he said it. I think it was... his last option, maybe. He said there
was something he had to attend to in the west, and what's west,
other than Agados? He
needs
your help,” I said, certain of it. “He said that
he's willing to give us people back as a sign of good faith. Atthis
and Galal. And he won't march on Kyrindval, if...”

“If?”

“If you
give me to him,” I said, laughing flatly. “I-I just wanted to be a
healer, that's all, I don't know how I got involved in all of this,
and now Kouris, she was—it was an accident but they hurt her,
a-and...”

Claire
placed a hand on my arm, keeping me steady.

“Breathe, Rowan,” she said gently. “Take your time. We're all
here for you.”

“That's
not all. Katja's working with him, too,” I said, cracking the
knuckles of one hand, and then the other.

No one
said anything. No one looked at each other. Claire's hand moved
from my arm to my wrist, fingers edging down to entangle with my
own. With a burst of movement, Akela rushed to her feet, holding
her chick out in cupped hands.

“Northwood! You are not yet meeting Milly, and I am thinking
you will feel better if this is changing, yes?” she said, and I
didn't have the heart to tell her we'd been introduced
yesterday.

I let go
of Claire's hand to take the chick in my palms, using a thumb to
gently stroke the top of her head.

“We need to discuss our next move.
All
of us. That means going to
Kouris and taking Michael with us,” Claire said. “We can't afford
to waste time.”

We came
across Michael on the way out of Kyrindval, and he managed to bite
his tongue long enough for us to make it to Kouris and Kidira. They
were still a distance from one another, and Kidira had been in the
process of rising to her feet when she spotted us. She remained
where she was, and Akela jogged over to Kouris, placing her free
hand on her shoulder.

“You are
okay, yes? I am hearing that something is happening, and Northwood,
the orange, it is ruining her clothing,” Akela said, “I am not
knowing your blood is that colour!”

“Never
been better,” Kouris said, knocking a fist against the holes
punched into her leathers.

“... why
are you holding a bird, Akela?” Kidira asked as the rest of us
settled down.

Beaming,
Akela sat down next to Kidira, holding out her hand and introducing
them to one another. Kidira raised her brow but couldn't quite
bring herself to frown and said that if nothing else, at least
Sen's gifts were unique. We watched them speak, grasping for
seconds throughout which we didn't have to think to the future, and
when Kidira noticed us staring, she said, “Well. I suppose we're
leaving Kyrindval behind.”

“What
?” Michael demanded. “What did
I miss?”

“Prince
Rylan plans to march on Kyrindval if Claire doesn't surrender and
we don't hand them your sister,” Kidira said bluntly. “We've a
month to draw their attention elsewhere.”

Michael
turned sharply to look at me, and he didn't need to say anything. I
already understood what was on his mind, what was on everyone's
mind; sooner or later, I was always forced out of whatever home I'd
made, ruining things for those closest to me. I was almost relieved
that Rylan had set his sights on Claire, as well.

“Are we
going to Thule?” I asked.

“I don't
see that there are many other options,” Claire said. “Sen, you're
more than welcome to stay here. So long as the humans leave,
Kyrindval ought to stand a chance, and Thule will pose more danger
than I can rightly ask you to face.”

Sen sat
with her arms wrapped around her knees, trying to make herself
small, and had been intent on keeping quiet with so many people
surrounding her. For a moment, the words didn't come to her. She
ran her forked tongue across dry lips, fangs chattering together,
and with her eyes closed, managed to speak.

“I c-can't—
won't
leave you now, Mar... Claire,” she said, nodding decisively,
“I'm with you, for as long as you need me.”

Claire
smiled softly and Akela beamed brightly enough for all of us, hand
subconsciously moving to the axe at her hip at the thought of harm
coming to Sen.

“Alright. Looks like we'll all be heading off together,”
Kouris said, and Michael scowled at the sky. “Best not to be
rushing into anything, though. We're safe, for a few days. There'll
be plenty of planning to do, and I'm not about to be leaving the
pane like this. Everything we're trying to fix, the territories and
Felheim and gods know what's happening in Agados, none of that
means a damn thing if we aren't looking out for the pane, too.
We've gotta get 'em their land back.”