“If they let you?” I asked, raising a brow.
“They’re forcing me into retirement after this year, they are. I tried to appeal my case but CaptainValinand this one here were no help.”
He jerked his thumb in Castor’s direction and the lieutenant sat up straighter, a frown on his lips.
“Now, Kano, don’t be like that,” he chided. “You’ve served through more campaigns than nearly every mortal man before you. You’ve earned your rest. Spend some time withIrenaand your grandchildren. You’ve done enough.”
“It’s never enough for a man to defend his home, Castor. You can’t ask me to stop fighting when it’s who I am. It’s all I’ve ever known.”
“And you’ve got the scars to show for it, old man. Rest now, before you earn yourself one that doesn’t heal.”
Castor’s words chilled me to the bone as he took another sip of his ale. I couldn’t help but picture a boy in the desert, arrow shot straight through his neck, blood staining the sand where he lay. I shook my head to clear the image and turned back to Kano.
“Where'd you get the one right below your eye?” I asked. It wasn’t a kind question, nor was it delivered in a tactful way, but it pushed the memories aside nearly as well as the ale did and that was all I needed in the moment.
“One of my first scouting expeditions,” he explained. I must have frowned at that because he laughed, a big booming laugh that shook his round belly and the table beside him. “Oh, it wasn’t as adventurous as yours, boy. Don’t worry about that. But it left me with this scar all the same. We'd come upon a lone rider wandering through the desert. HisZverwas nowhere to be seen. We figured he'd gotten lost from his group somehow, separatedin a sandstorm that had occurred only the night before. Or maybe he’d been exiled. That’s the riders’ preferred method of punishment, you know. We had no way to tell. We approached him, meaning to drag him back here for questioning, but we didn’t know about the knife he'd concealed in his boots. He got in one good slash before we were able to subdue him. Unfortunately, he’d aimed it right at my handsome mug. We dragged him back toPavosand took him to the Commander for questioning.Valinsaid I was lucky to have not lost an eye and I should learn from my mistake never to underestimate a rider, no matter how unprepared they seemed.”
“He was right,” Castor nodded grimly. “They’re cagey ones, riders. You never know what they’ve got up their sleeves. More often than not, it’s a blade at your throat.”
“Covered in that vicious poison their monstrous mounts produce,” Kano agreed with a frown.
Castor nodded again and both men drank deeply from their cups, both sets of eyes set firmly on the jeering youths in the corner now.
“How many will make it forty years?” Kano asked with a sigh as the young recruits let out a cry, hoisting their mugs into the air so the ale sloshed out the sides and onto the floor of the tavern. “How many of them will be forced to retire?”
“Not enough,” Castor answered quietly. “Not enough.”
I turned my attention to the rowdy recruits and frowned as well but not for bemoaning the lack of a life well served. Rather, I mourned the fact that they'd offered any service at all. Protecting one’s home, that’s what Kano had called it, and that was likely what most men believed they were doing when they joined up with theGeist’sancient army. But how could a place that treated them hardly any better than slaves be called home?
Then again, hadn’t that been what Adrian had always tried to get me to understand? That Sanctuary was an entirely differentplace for those in the Third Ring than it was for us up in the First. Was this how she'd always felt? Being relegated to the lower rungs of society, never really knowing the truth about your home, never really being allowed to have anything for yourself, being simply used by those above you and forced to find a way to cope.
I took a breath and turned away from the recruits, drinking deeply from my cup. Suddenly, the ale didn’t taste so bad anymore.
“How do they tame them?” I asked, though I didn’t really expect an answer. I imagined if either of these men had an answer to that question, theGeistthemselves would have an army of theZverof their own with their own riders ready to fly into battle. Or they would have disposed of the creatures long ago and the threat we faced would be nothing more than a distant legend.
“No one knows,” Castor answered, much to my surprise. His tone was grim, his voice low and flat, as he replied. “As far as I know, rider andZverhave always been a package deal. I don’t know that there’s anyone alive who remembers a time in which one existed without the other. All I know is that they share a connection unlike anything else. They seem to…sense each other’s needs. They always know where their partner is and seem to suffer along with them. If you stab a rider, hisZverwails. If you slash at aZver, his rider stumbles. It’s the strangest thing and something we used to think was a weakness but, the more we face them, the more I wonder if it isn’t their greatest strength.”
“It’s as if they can read each other’s minds,” Kano muttered into his cup and my gaze snapped to his.
Read each other’s minds.
Of course. It had been some time since I’d last tried but I was getting stronger in my magic lately thanks to my trainingwithKleio. Deimos had claimed my connection with Adrian had been severed but I couldn’t imagine how something that had become such a part of me, something I’d hardly had to think more of than taking my next breath, could be stolen away so easily. And ifKleiowas right and she was still out there, still alive…
Adrian.
I waited, barely daring to breathe as I did. But I was hardly surprised when nothing happened, when no one answered.
I sighed, taking another sip of ale. I couldn’t help but wonder at what Kano had said. It was as if rider andZvercould read oneanother’sminds. Adrian and I had only been capable of doing that when theGeisthad bestowed that Blessing upon us and made us to. So the question begged to be asked. If what had existed between Adrian and I could be unmade, could that which existed between rider andZverbe broken as well?
“Viper,” a gruff voice broke in from behind me, interrupting my thoughts. I turned to see a frowningValin. “I’m surprised to see you here.”
“You as well, Captain,” I replied somberly, raising my mug in his direction. “Thought you would be above all this drunken revelry.”
The corners ofValin’slips ticked in displeasure.
“The men work hard,” he muttered. “They deserve to let off some steam at the end of the day. Should they choose to turn to drunken revelry to do so, who am I to deny them?”
“And you, Captain? How do you let off steam?”
