Unfortunately, I was no match for someone on horseback. In a matter of seconds, I felt someone grab me by my shirt, jerking me back.
I screamed in rage and fear, writhing and kicking as my hands were bound behind my back and I was tossed face down across a horse, basically in someone’s lap.
“Alastor!” I yelled.He can’t be that far away.“Alast—”
I was grabbed by the back of the neck this time, my head yanked up, and I found myself staring right at the cloaked figure. Their face remained hidden beneath their hood, but I could feel their stare all the way down to my bones.
“What did you say?” Their voice was like the wind whistling through the trees on a stormy night.
Maybe shouting the name of a guy who’s supposed to be cursed and banished wasn’t the best idea.I clamped my lips shut and shook my head, for once in my life choosing to shut up rather than trying to talk myself out of trouble.
The hooded figure released me with a grunt of disgust.
“Rictor, Asinia, search the area,” they rasped. “If you see anything, don’t engage. Report back to me immediately. The rest of you, come.” They paused, and I could feel their stare on me once more. “This girl might be a bigger prize than I realized.”
16
The Lion Warrior
OAK
Iknowthosescreams.
I yanked my sword from its sheath as I scanned the plain below. The screams were coming from somewhere down there, perhaps even the forest—
A great burst of pure essence exploded from the edge of the forest, consuming an entire section of the trees. I wasn’t as gifted as some when it came to essence, but I could feelthat, even from this distance.
“Bloody gods, what was that?” Radven appeared beside me, a strap of daggers in his hand. We’d been poking through the rubble along the top of the ridge, trying to find our things as the curse spat them back out, and it looked like he’d located some of his weapons stash.
“Whatever it was, I don’t like it.” An entire section of the forest was gone, and the remnants of the huge amount of essence behind the explosion still shimmered in the air above it, but I couldn’t see anything more than that.
I’d known we’d likely encounter trouble when we came back home, but I’d never expected it to arrive so quickly. We’d been gone a long time, and I’d assumed that most of Therador had forgotten about us, assuming us lost forever. “I’m going to go down and have a look.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Rad had taken off his shirt, and now he fastened the strap of daggers across his bare chest. “I’m thinking we’re better off heading the opposite direction.” He turned away, looking down the rocky slope beside us. “Any sign of Alastor yet?”
“No.” That worried me, too.He should have come through by now.Our three loyal servants were here, already helping sort through the rubble, but our brother was nowhere to be seen.
The unraveling of this curse had not gone exactly to plan. Yes, we had been returned to our homeland, mostly in one piece, and yes, I could use essence again, but I still feltwrong, somehow. Like threads of the curse clung to me still.
I should have been ecstatic. Here I was, back in Therador where I belonged. I’d longed for this place, myhome, for the past decade. I missed the smell of the air, the taste of the wind, the feel of the soil beneath my feet. It was all here, but it didn’t bring me the joy or the relief I’d been expecting.
Something wasn’t right. I just didn’t knowwhat.We’d assumed, all these years, that banishment itself had been the aim of the wicked curse cast upon us, that trapping us in another world had been the sole intent of the Circle. But what if the curse went deeper than that?
My grip tightened on my sword. I didn’t like to worry. I much preferred to act. Which was another reason to get down off this accursed ridge and investigate the disturbance below. Whatever was down there was an immediate threat, and I could focus onthat.
Behind me, Rad had found his old pants, the ones he’d been wearing when the curse originally fell upon us. Despite the fact that they were nearly a decade old and falling apart at the seams, he stripped off the ones he was currently wearing and stepped into his old, familiar pair.
“I don’t know about you,” he said, “but I’ll be happy if I never see a pair of jeans ever again.”
“Hm,” I grunted back, hardly listening. I was looking down at the trees again, wishing I’d been able to find my spyglass. If I squinted, I could now make out a handful of figures moving in the bare patch of forest, but nothing more than that.
And then the screams started again.
This time, recognition struck fast and true.
Marigold.
I’d heard her scream when she collapsed in pain outside our masquerade, and I would never forget the sound.
