Arrows rained from the heavens. Someone threw me back. I saw the blurry outline of my cousin Sheeth. He crouched over me as arrows buried into his back. My mouth opened to scream. His body collapsed upon me.
Sheeth.I couldn’t move.Run!My ears rang.
‘Run!’Uma screamed, her face swimming above me.
She pulled me up and carried me toward the red horses, the youngest and elderly already there. Our tribe’s warriors, donning their wooden crane-feathered masks, rode toward the raiders.
Uma’s hands slipped along my waist, slick in my blood. She lifted me on to the horse before swinging on. One hand held me while the other gripped her bow and arrow.
We galloped across the grasslands toward the west of the valley, through the narrow pass.
‘We must go down the mountain then west,’ Uma explained breathlessly in my ear over the pounding of hooves. ‘There is an Azadnian border garrison. The warlordess and her warriors will send aid; they are loyal to our emperor.’
From my left, enemies streamed out of the dark dressed in finer furs than our own, hemmed in red and black raven feathers, and on their faces were tawny animal masks with crimson beads. The raiders captured the youngest and elderly tribesmen who were riding in a group ahead of us before retreating. I couldn’t let my mind dwell on what would be done to them as prisoners. I thought about the knife shoved down my breeches.
Uma’s voice quavered behind me. ‘We’ll circle around.’ But we didn’t make it that far.
A row of horses streamed out from the woodlands, hindering our path. Their riders’ wolf masks, decorated in raven feathers, absorbed the firelight.
‘Uma,’ I breathed heavily. ‘G-grab the reins. Give me your bow.’ Sweat collided with the salt of my tears. I took her bow and arrow. My thighs didn’t possess the strength to grip the horse for the both of us. But my hands still worked. For our tribesmen, wielding the bow was as natural as breathing.
Uma guided the horse in a fast loop until the raiding horsemen were behind us.
‘Now!’ I heard their commander cry. Fiery arrows arced over the valley, plummeting toward us. The horse threatened to buck, head swaying.
Biting my tongue, I forced my feet through the stirrups to stand, putting the weight on my right leg instead of my left. My body was narrow; my balance still steady.It’s like hunting, I reminded myself.
Notching an arrow, I twisted my body back. The string snapped and the arrow went flying behind. A scream seized the air.
‘Again!’ Uma cried and the other children ahead of us fired as well. Our warriors engaged the bulk of the raiders, but hundreds flooded the plains, overwhelming escape paths. Arrow after arrow I sank into the enemy, but it was no use.
A raider leapt from her horse and lunged across our path, sword slicing through the horse’s legs. I went flying, landing hard on the grassland. Another blade shallowly carved down my lower back and, instead of air, I gurgled blood and flipped on to my side, curling up.
A hand seized my ankle, dragging me across pebbled dirt that scraped against my cheeks. Soil filled my mouth. I hacked dirt, and shrieked to throw off the enemy, my fist connecting with a rock-hard jaw.
‘Animals,’ I heard someone above me spit before a clog stomped hard on my wrist. I gasped out, eyes flitting upwards. The enemy climbed on top of me, pinning me in place with a sword to my neck. On the wolfish mask, the raven feathers swung with his momentum; his grey eyes reflected the fires blazing around us – and the terror on my expression.
Uma’s warnings had come true. Nausea roiled through me. I dug my heels into the dirt for momentum but my wounds made it impossible. My soul warbled. My vision darkened. I felt myself float away, watching from afar.
‘A cornered deer,’ the raider murmured, dragging his sword feather-light down my torso, tearing into cloth and skin. ‘Look at you thrash and panic.’
‘No!’ Uma screamed. She crawled through the grass to shield me, but another raider dragged her away.
Her scream disturbed my terror.Her blade.My soul slammed back into my body. With my only good hand, I fumbled for the blade against my waistband just as the raider grabbed my hips. Without thinking, my blade jammed into his belly. The force reverberated up my arms. The blade rebounded off a rib but I slammed it again. And again.
Eventually he slumped against me. His blood ran down my body as I shoved his corpse away and crawled on to all fours, then pulled the arrows out of my left leg.
The other raider, further now, hadn’t noticed her dead comrade. Instead, she dragged Uma by the hair toward a tree stump. She cocked her head, her tawny mask of raven feathers gleaming under the starlight. But her dark stare, as she gazed down at Uma, showed not pity, not empathy. What had we done to make her despise us so?
‘So even beasts are capable of love?’ she simply asked, poising the sword above Uma.
The world slowed. Below the raider, a shadow formed. Something from the empty blackness stared at me. I think I stopped breathing. I wondered if death was supposed to look this frightening, even to a child: a ghoulish shadow. My nails clawed into the dirt. I couldn’t suck in a breath.
The shadow slithered along the grass, twitching before settling on my chest.Take me, I mentally screamed to it. That would be better than to die beneath the enemy’s sword. The shadow dove into my chest, chewing at my heart.
I gasped. My eyes flooded with tears. But my neck craned, grasping for one last look at Uma. She shuddered on the ground beneath her attacker, an arrow protruding from her shoulder. I needed toliveto protect her.
I begged,O, Divine, I am not ready to die, but if I do, do not let it be in vain. Save Uma. Save this tribe.
