“Is there somewhere safe we can go? Somewhere close?” Rhyan’s eyes narrowed as he looked around the Korterian hills in the dark, trying to take in the landscape. We were surrounded by the shadows of the hills and dirt mounds. Small woodland clusters lay ahead, and then east of that, the tiny town where Auriel and I had been staying. The collapsed front cave of the Wall of the Prince lay in heaping piles of rubble behind us.
“Yes,” I said urgently. “I have a room at an inn not far from here. Just beyond the hills there’s a town.”
“I know,” he said, “It’s the last town in Korteria before—” He frowned, looking back over his shoulder at the collapsed cave. “I remember. It’s a small inn.” He bit his bottom lip, then looked down at his body. He was still wearing that hateful leather akadim vest—now with a hole where I’d stabbed him. His pants were hanging low on his hips, far too big for him now, and I was pretty sure his feet were swimming in the boots he had on. Akadim tore out of their clothing when they turned as their bodies grew. I hadn’t considered how the reverse would leave a person swimming in their former attire.
I kneeled down again before him, pulling his foot free from each shoe. I hated the idea of him being barefoot, but theredidn’t seem to be much choice. Not if we were going to get out of here quickly.
Rhyan was already undoing the laces of his pants, tightening them at the hip, and rebuckling his belt onto the smallest notch he could manage.
I looked him over, realizing he still wore the silver collar. Another akadim huffed, and one blinked its eyes, the irises still dark in the shadows. Too dark to show any red. We had to hurry. “Come here,” I said, and lifted the hateful thing off his head, tossing it into the trees. “This, too.” I reached for the vest. I didn’t want to see it again. I didn’t want the reminder of the moment I’d had to stab him in the heart—even if it was the exact thing that brought him back to me.
Rhyan lowered his head so I could pull it off. With him now naked from the chest up, his skin pale in the moonlight, I started grabbing the remaining weapons Auriel had been using—the ones he’d left behind. I swallowed roughly, my heart clenching as I touched the hilts—they were still warm, like his touch had lingered behind. I handed them to Rhyan, relieved to see that his fingers tightened instantly and instinctively around them as he tucked them into his belt.
Finally, I picked up the golden armor, unhooked the top clasps and handed it to Rhyan.
“Here. You need to wear this. It’s yours now.”
“By the Gods.” His eyes widened as he pulled it over his head. “This is it, Lyr? This is the green shard?” A faint green light began to glow from inside it, lighting up his face and arms. He took a deep breath. “This is …” he said in wonder. “It’s what we were digging up.”
“Yes. Auriel got it out. Now you can claim your shard,” I said solemnly, sheathing the red shard securely against my back. “And I have mine.”
He smiled tearfully. “You do.”
I took his hand, far too aware that another akadim had turned over and groaned. None had opened their eyes yet—a small miracle. But we needed to leave. Now.
“Follow me,” I hissed, and led him quickly away from the Wall of the Prince, toward the nearest woodlands.
“Lyr,” Rhyan said.
We’d covered a fair amount of distance. I’d been keeping a brisk, but steady pace, not trying to rush him barefoot.
“I know I don’t …” he frowned. “Don’t have my magic anymore, but—we can run. We—we should run.”
I nodded, my hand tightening around his, my heart pounding. Then we took off, our feet moving together over the hills, farther and farther away from the ruins of the cave behind us.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. We were being watched. I looked over my shoulder, expecting to see the akadim awake, or worse, giving chase. And if not the ones Rhyan just fought, then surely the others that had escaped the wreckage of the mines. There had to be close to a hundred hiding out here now. I could feel it. Feel the sensations over every inch of my skin that we weren’t alone. But, yet, nothing was approaching us.
With every glance back made by me or Rhyan, every time our heads swiveled, scouting the area, trying to see through the dark and shadows of Korteria’s hills and trees—there was nothing.
My pulse raced, my stomach turning at every small sound—every gust of wind, every snap of a tree branch. But still there was nothing.
“Where are they?” I asked.
Rhyan’s mouth tightened. “I don’t know. I’d say they’re still under my command,” he flinched at his own words. “I mean, that they knew not to come near you. And they would have never—never attacked me. Not before. But that’s clearly,” he sighed, one hand on his heart. On the spot where I’d stabbed him.“That’s not true anymore.” He squeezed my hand a little tighter. “I see the town. Come on.”
He sped up—nothing as fast he’d been as when he had his power. But the speed was still incredible, a pace built from years of patience, practice, and determination.
A few torches lit the tiny street at the base of the hill we raced down. My blood pumped, my calves burning. The stressors of the night, the fight, the battles—the way I’d had to call onRakashonim—it was all catching up to me. But at last, our feet touched down on the road, and we sprinted down, moving through the tiny buildings all tucked neatly together.
“This way,” I told Rhyan. I pointed ahead to the inn nestled in-between two other buildings at the end of the road. A small mountain cast its silhouette in the dark behind it.
But he pulled us into a small alleyway, tucking me against the wall.
“Did you sense something?” I hissed.
Rhyan nodded slowly. “Do you still feel it?” he asked. “Like we’re being watched?”
I did. I tried to open my senses wider. The feeling I had when I was near akadim had completely dissipated. I was sure that feeling had vanished the moment Rhyan’s eyes turned green. But—that could be wrong. Maybe I was just confused by his change, and it was making it hard to sense the others.
