Not everyone.
No, not everyone. Not Ellina. She was always doing exactly the opposite of what he wanted, and now, as he waited in the trees, worry gnawing at his chest like a flesh-eating mite, he wondered if he’d been mistaken to trust her, if his trust was wrongheaded and softhearted, and it would have been better to lock her up for her own good.
Don’t be a fool.
But he wasa fool. Who was he, if not the person who felt too much, who worried about the wrong things, or the right things at the wrong time?
Venick flung this question into the void, but the voice that always seemed to inhabit his head—the one, he was beginning to realize, that sounded suspiciously unlike his own, yet still familiar—went silent. He strained to listen, and when still he heard nothing, Venick took this as permission to turn his eyes skyward and speak for himself.Please,Venick prayed,keep her safe.
The gods laughed and laughed.
???
Ellina sped between sandstone arches. She could hear the band of horses racing in pursuit, the clatter of tack, the explosive sounds of the steeds’ breaths. She could hear her own gasps tearing up her throat.
Thin, towering boulders blew past on either side. Though Ellina had not dipped below ground level, it felt as if she had entered a deep canyon. Some of the rocks were huge, their sheer faces a dazzling mix of purple and red. Others were craggy, twisted, like the hands of crones.
Ellina raced between them, keeping her knees in tight, her head low. She tossed a glance backward, but she could no longer see the conjurors. Could no longer tell, either, which direction they were heading, if she had lost them or if they were in close pursuit; Eywen’s thundering hooves echoed between the rocks, making it impossible to discern their own noises from those beyond them. It sounded as if Ellina was surrounded on all sides.
She tugged Eywen to a halt. This was not going to work. If before speed had been of the essence, now stealth was. And yet, as long as Ellina was on horseback, stealth would be impossible.
She was grateful, then, that Venick was absent. He would hate what she was about to do.
She swung her leg over the horse’s side and dropped to the ground.
Go home,Ellina thought, giving Eywen a slap on the rump. She did not know if the command would work. Venick was notgeleeshi,and Dourin was…gone. That meant Eywen was a homing horse without an anchor. Like a dingy far out at sea, the mare would have no sense of the horizon. And yet:go home.
Though her milky eyes were unseeing, Eywen turned her head as if to look at Ellina. There was a tense moment when Ellina thought maybe the mare would refuse, that Ellina’s mind link had failed to reach the animal, but then, mercifully, Eywen flicked her ears and galloped away.
Ellina tried to ignore the sense of vulnerability that fell over her in the mare’s absence. She tried not to think about how she had just inadvertently created a diversion, or what the enemy would do to Eywen if they discovered her without her rider. Rather, Ellina moved to the balls of her feet, sliding quietly between boulders in the opposite direction.
She paused to listen.
Nothing.
Inch along, pause, listen, inch.
Though she was not lost, exactly, the overlapping layers of rock felt like a maze, some of the crevices so thin that Ellina had to turn sideways in order to squeeze between them. She considered climbing up one of the nearby peaks to catch her bearings, but thought better of it. Ellina did not know if she had shaken her pursuers, or if they, too, had stopped to listen. Likely, they were still nearby. Hunting her.
She continued forward. The day was bright enough to hurt her eyes. She closed them. Listened again.
And heard something.
A shift of feet. The whisper of an inhale.
Ellina froze. Her eyes came open.
She turned her head slightly and saw him through the slit between two rocks: a lone figure standing under one of the sandstone arches. Ellina’s vision tightened to a point.
His back was to her. His face was concealed. Yet she would know that form anywhere.
Balid.
???
Venick felt it before he saw it: a shuddering through the trees.
Trunks began to shake. Clumps of snow fell from branches overhead, mulch clattering around Venick’s feet. The soldiers tensed, yet held their positions.
