“Knock them off their horses!” I scream. “End them for killing Ardruna! Grind them to dust.”
With a curse, Roane lets his knives fly. One man cries out and drops off his horse, then another. Roane runs to grab the reins of the nearest mount and vaults onto its back. The queen and her men turn and race down the gorge. Roane gallops after them while I stand there, panting, hardly able to believe what I’ve done.
After a while, he returns, guiding his horse toward me, his expression dark. By then, I’ve gone to Ardruna’s side and dropped to my knees.
What does victory matter now?
“How?” Roane demands, dismounting.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific,” I croak, my hands in the dirt, my stomach heaving.
“How did you change the centaurs into riders?”
I swallow, my throat dry. “The name of the queen. I know that story. I knew she wasn’t a centaur and neither were her men.”
“That doesn’t explain it.”
A scream tears from my throat. “Ardruna is dead, Roane!”
He’s silent. Then he says, “Is she?”
“What the hells do you mean? She’s been cut in two, she…” A sob escapes me. I place a hand on her matted, bloodied fur. “Ardruna. She was kind to me.”
He slides to his knees beside me. “For what it’s worth, about what you told Bellera… I don’t think you’re weak because you’re human.”
I shake my head, not sure I want to hear this now.
“I don’t think you’re weak at all.” He puts his hands on Ardruna’s leg. “Come back to us, Druna.”
“Stop acting as if you’re a god,” I scoff, anger threading through my sorrow. “You can’t bring creatures back to life.”
“Druna,” he says, ignoring me. “Answer my call. Follow my voice. Come back, now!”
Ardruna’s body jerks, and the air leaves my lungs in a hiss. Her pieces are coming back together, the guts slithering back into her torn belly, the edges of her flesh knitting themselves together. The cut in her tongue closes. Her eyes start regaining color, the film covering them fading, the blue returning.
“What’s happening?” I’m shaking so hard I almost fall over. I realize tears are sliding down my cheeks. “What is this? How are you doing this?”
He shoots me a sideways glance. His face is haggard, but his gray eyes gleam. “The same way you’re changing rivers and creatures into something else, by my guess.”
“It’s not the same! Once I knew what the centaurs really were and what their story was, I only had to say it. Call out the story name. Call out their true nature.”
“I didn’t know you could do that.” He keeps his hand on the lioness’ leg. “Is this the magic Ardruna mentioned?”
“Yeah. It’s a recent development.” I wipe impatiently at my cheeks because I don’t know what I’m weeping for anymore. “Is she alive?”
“She is.”
“Tell me how you did it.”
He shrugs his broad shoulders and slowly gets up, a wince crossing his features. “Nothing to tell. I’m this world’s guardian. I have certain powers.”
“Your powers are failing you. And this shouldn’t be one of them. Just tell me the truth.”
“The truth,” he says, his voice growing cold, “is that you think I’ve failed this world, that I’m not up to the task of protecting it. And you’re probably right, as I’ve said before. So rest assured; you’re right about my failures and shortcomings. I’m lazy and incompetent, like you surmised.”
“I never said you’re lazy,” I start, “I just…”
He’s right. At some point, I made up my mind that his failure to use his magic properly is his fault. That he isn’t working hard enough at it, that he didn’t care enough to study the books, that he broke this world.
