They stared at each other long enough that Fiera lifted her head off Deneya’s shoulder. Softly, she said, “We should go now. They’ll be searching for me soon, and we have important work to do.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
With the sunrising at their left, they rode hard through the blood-red sands of the Waste.
Fiera was situated in front of Deneya on Prism. The saddle the horse had been initially strapped with was now attached to Vi’s mount. Apparently, it was easier to ride double on a horse without a saddle—things Vi had never learned growing up in the North with noru and stable masters always attending her.
The Empress was mostly limp, her head tilted back against Deneya’s shoulder. Luckily, the elfin woman was significantly bigger, so she seemed to be having no trouble holding Fiera astride as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Around both of Deneya’s forearms near the elbow were brightly shining glyphs that mirrored the one around Vi’s wrist.
Halleth maph. Stint pain. Vi focused on Fiera’s body overall. Deneya focused one spell on her body as a whole as well. And then one specifically on her nether-regions. Layered as such, Fiera should feel nothing. If she did, she was doing an excellent job hiding it. Not even the bounding of the horse seemed to bother her.
Vi twisted in her saddle, looking behind them. Norin was already a dot far on the horizon. She lifted her free hand and uttered, “Kot Sorre.”
Kotwas a new word Vi was learning on the go, thanks to Deneya’s instruction. She remembered it mentioned in Sehra’s book long ago, but there wasn’t much on it other than it was a word that covered movement.Sorrewas to push andsideewas pull.
The words burst from her with a surprising amount of force, enough that it had nearly startled her out of her saddle the first time she’d used them. A glyph shone in the distance where Vi directed it, pushing across the dunes. The sand slid over their tracks, covering them.
They continued throughout most of the day. In her time, the Crystal Caverns had long been struck from the maps. But it hadn’t been hard for her as a child to suss out where they had been based on various stories, accounts, and poorly modified cartographer’s notes. Due south-southeast of Norin was a long stretch of Waste, small, nameless villages dotting the vast sands until they reached the pine forests of the South. Then there would be the town of Mossant. Further south from there were the Caverns.
It was a general idea, but if Vi’s instincts proved correct they would be on a more direct path than the Knights of Jadar. They would get to the Caverns first. They had to.
“We need to stop,” Deneya said, calling over wind and sand. “The sun is getting high, and we need to give ourselves and the horses a break.”
Vi knew that the only person among them who truly needed to rest was Fiera. Deneya’s phrasing was merely kindness.
“You’re right,” Vi reluctantly agreed. She wanted to push onward until the horses’ legs gave out and collapsed at the opening of the Caverns. But the journey was going to take at least two days, likely three, even at their aggressive pace. They had to rest eventually. But so would the Knights. No one could make the trek in one burst.
There was nowhere to seek shelter from the sun, so they arbitrarily came to a stop. Vi dismounted first and helped Fiera down; Deneya followed. Fiera had about as much life in her as a limp rag. While Deneya set up a desert tent she’d brilliantly thought to bring, Vi gave Fiera some water from one of the two bladders she’d packed.
“So much blood,” Vi murmured.
“You’d be surprised how much blood a woman’s body can hold,” Fiera said between sips. “Though this is natural for after birth—so the clerics would have me believe.”
“How do you feel?” That was the most important thing in Vi’s mind.
“I don’t feel much of anything,” Fiera said lightly, resting her fingertips on the back of Vi’s hand and drawing their attention to the glyph around her wrist. “Likely because of these. Are they difficult to make and maintain?”
“Not really, not when you get used to them. I imagine it’s much like the wall of flame you kept to protect the sword.” The mere mention of the sword soured and silenced her. If only she’d done something more. She should’ve taken it herself and left Fiera to fate. Her staying had done no one good.
As Vi silently admonished herself, the tent went up and the three huddled in the shade.
“You should rest,” Deneya said to Fiera.
“We all should.” Fiera laid back, trying to make room. Neither Vi nor Deneya moved to take it. Within moments, she was out.
“Relax yourhalleth,” Deneya instructed Vi. “You should recover some of your magic as well.”
“So should you.”
“Once I know she’s deeply asleep, I will.”
Vi did as she was told and they both watched Fiera. The woman didn’t even stir. Deneya relaxed one of her glyphs as well. Fiera groaned slightly in her sleep, but otherwise, no change.
“I can keep this one.” Deneya held up her arm. “Let her get some good rest. I healed most of her tissue… so what’s taxing her should only be the physical and mental exhaustion.”
Vi looked at Fiera for a long moment and then turned back to Deneya. She didn’t want to see the once strong woman so frail. “Thanks for healing her. I’m apparently shite with mending skin.”
Deneya chuckled. “It’s more of an art, that’s for sure.”
