“Raz?” I whisper. “It’s Sura.”
One eye cracks open and it’s covered in a dark purple film. I shift toward him and the manticore growls, nudging me back in warning, his tail flicking back and forth in aggravation.
“It’s all right. He won’t hurt me. I have to touch him for this to work. Can you shift back? It might be easier for both of us.”
He shakes his head, his paralysis barb at the ready. I don’t have time to argue. Perhaps he thinks he can protect us better in this form.
The azdaha doesn’t even move as I get close enough to touch his unnaturally clammy snout. I can sense Dare’s displeasure from his constant grumbling, but I can’t let him distract me. Normally Raz is warm to the touch, but now his hide is dry, with patchy, flaking scales.
“I’m going to try to heal you, old friend. Just don’t roast or bite me, please.”
Although I’m perilously close to his teeth, I press a hand gently to his snout and reach for my magic, pushing into the mystical connection I have with him. His akasha is dull, making me think that he’s close to the end.No, no, no.I send my healing magic into him, and he rears backward, crashing into the top of the cave and causing a small rockfall. He screams in pain, and I clap my hand over my ears.
“Stay,” I shout to the manticore, who is in an aggressive lunge position, talons out and barbed tail ready to strike. “Stop, Dare! Darrius, if you’re in there,trustme.” He doesn’t stop snarling, but at least he doesn’t come any closer. “Thank you.”
I turn my attention to the azdaha and use my magic, ribbons of light spooling out of me to band around Razulek’s mouth and more to keep his limbs, wings, and tail in place. He thrashes, looking at me with baleful, glassy eyes that don’t recognize me. It might seem inhumane, but he’ll only hurt himself... and me.
“I’m sorry, Raz. It’s going to hurt before you can heal. We have to burn the rot out.”
I begin. He screams and screams, struggling against my magical hold as I weep, my corpus magic roaring through him and eradicating the rot with its light. As I study the spidery purple veins in my mind’s eye, I frown.
I am even more convinced that the rotisFero, latching on to the living like a leech. Then when the host eventually dies, would it take over and be reanimated by a corpus magi? Sands, what if he is building an army of revenants? It makes sense that he would target the magical creatures first, then—they are the most powerful. Next would be people...
Dear gods...
My heart drops as I now consider if the Scavs were part of the army stationed near the border of Oryndhr that Razulek had mentioned. They had to be. Because with an innumerable brigade of Scavs at his beck and call, Fero would have an inexhaustible supply of soldiers to invade Everlea. He’d need only one death magi to turn them... one proficient in necromancy.
The so-calledoracle.
I blink, my mind racing. When I’d been in Kaldari, the oracle had been linked to the Scavs, too, as well as the mercenaries in Coban. What if it was a disgruntled Everlean magi who wanted to overthrow Darrius? A shiver runs through me as the dots start to connect.Nuadaris a dominant corpus magiandhe has a particularly strong numen for toxins, which explains the serum he made to weaken the manticore. He could have just as easily made a contaminant from the rot.
If I’m right... so many people in the palace could be in danger! The king, Ani, Ziba, Maxur, all the guards, my handmaidens... Gods, does Darrius know of the snake in his house?
I exhale a breath, and the sudden silence of the cave is deafening.
“Dare?” I whirl in a panic, looking for my manticore, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
Maybe he needed some air, or maybe the screaming was setting off his protective instincts. It could be anything. He’ll be back.
Checking that Razulek’s body is out of immediate danger and on the mend, his own natural healing magic kicking in after a significant boost from mine, I crawl my way to the front of the cave, weak from the expenditure of magic. I’ve never felt the drain this badly before, but I’ve brought Raz back from the brink of death. Not quite necromancy, but certainly a hefty level of healing. My eyelids are so heavy, fatigue setting in.
Stars, I want to sleep for a week.
But first, I have to find the king.
I make it outside, blinking in the bright sunlight as my eyes adjust from the gloom of the cave, and to my intense relief, I spot my manticore’s tail. But then I realize he’s panting uncontrollably. He turns his giant head, only to whine and collapse. What’s wrong with him? Panic lodges in my stomach. I don’t know if I have any more akasha left in me to heal him.
“Dare, are you well? Dare!Darrius!”
My own senses whirl, breaths coming in short bursts much like his, and then my legs give out. I’m so depleted, I can barely keep my eyes open. Even my simurgh has gone quiet. I know I shouldn’t, but maybe just for a short while, I can rest.
Then I’ll fix him... and myself.
***
YAWNING,ISTRETCHmy arms upward, and then frown at the sharp rocks cutting into my back. Where am I? Did I fall asleep on the floor of the forge? But when I crack open my eyelids, I see a twilight sky and the tops of thick evergreens. The sun is just finishing its descent, spearing red-gold fingers over the steep rises of the mountain. The last thing I remember is healing Razulek and falling asleep from sheer exhaustion. I blink and attempt to roll the cricks out of my neck with a wince.
Then I remember Dare, in manticore form, collapsing, and terror blasts through me as I come awake fully.
