“Just trying to do my part.” Inkar attempts to smile, but her breath catches.
I take her place, holding Temujin’s legs awkwardly with my good arm.Inkar will be fine. Everything will be fine, I chant as we run. But my confidence leaks like water from a cracked pot as I look into the mortified faces all around me, as I hear the painful howls.
The only good to come from the fire is that everyone is running in the same direction. We easily fall in with the masses and ride the current out of the square. But the faster we run, the more Inkar lags. Her steps are slow and bungling, her breath is liquid and labored.
“Just a little farther!” Chanar shouts, even though we both know she’ll have to make it much farther than the rendezvous point. Her only hope is Loridium.
We slip down a street with cinder-block apartment buildings and sagging clotheslines. The crowd thins as we go, which should allow us to move quicker, but Inkar can hardly keep her feet. Every time I glance back, she teeters more.
Guilt rakes through my heart like claws. “We’ll get you to the temple,” I grind out, but Inkar topples over with a wail.
“I’ll get him. You get her,” Chanar orders. “Help is only a block away.” He hefts Temujin over his back and I lean down and slip my arm beneath Inkar’s arms, but my bad leg gives out when I try to lift her. My darkness flickers like a lamp, threatening to reveal us.
“I can’t,” I cry.
“Youhaveto!” Chanar bellows.
I glance down at Inkar shuddering on the ground, at Temujin hanging like a limp sack over Chanar’s shoulder, and take off running.
If we can’t make it to Kartok and Oyunna, I will bring them to us.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
KARTOK ANDOYUNNA WAIT IN THE MIDDLE OF THEdarkened street. They squint into the blackness from beneath their cowls, and their horses whinny and sidestep at the sound of my off-kilter gait.
“Who’s there?” Kartok demands.
I loosen my grip on the night so they can see me. “Come quickly,” I say, bracing myself on my knees.
“What happened? Where are the others?” Oyunna looks behind me with panicked eyes, and my tongue refuses to say the rest. That I couldn’t summon my Kalima power, which is the only reason Inkar and Chanar saved me. Then, when I finally could, I set the Sky Palace ablaze, hurting Inkar—and so many others.
It takes all of my strength just to point. “Around the corner. Inkar and Temujin are gravely injured.”
Kartok gallops past me, spitting curse after curse. Oyunna follows, leaving me to limp behind them, even though they brought an extra mount.
By the time I round the corner, they’re already off their horses. Chanar is lashing Temujin to the extra horse while Kartok scoops Inkar up like a child. Within seconds a scarlet stain spreads through his tunic.
“What happened?” Oyunna’s hand flies to her mouth. “She’s losing so much blood.”
Chanar cuts me a glare. “Enebish decided to spare her sister and sacrificed mine in the process.”
Oyunna gapes at me. I bite my lips and focus on wriggling up onto her horse. I can’t change what I’ve done. All I can do is cooperate and get us to the realm of the Eternal Blue as swiftly as possible.
“Don’t be so sour, brother,” Inkar wheezes as Kartok hefts her onto his horse. She lifts a boneless hand and gestures back toward the palace. “Did you see what Enebishdid? This is better … than we could have—” She coughs up a mouthful of bloody phlegm that drenches Kartok’s tunic. It feels like someone is clawing out my heart with blunted fingernails. She’s still defending me, even as she’s dying.
“Save your strength,” Kartok says as he mounts behind her. “You’re going to need it. Our time is clearly up.”
We fly down the streets, churning up the snow-packed dirt. Townhomes and feed shops and vegetable stands blur on either side, but we’re caught in the center, locked in the eye of the storm where every second stretches. Too calm. Too quiet. Inkar isn’t moaning. Is Temujin still conscious? Still breathing?
We dismount in a flurry outside the Ram’s Head. Kartok is off his horse and carrying Inkar through the tavern door before I can wiggle down from my saddle. Chanar, Oyunna, and I maneuver Temujin, and when we reach the dusty bedroom, Kartok has already illuminated the gateway. I stare at his silhouette against the white-hot flames. He has never opened the portal before. He has always waited for me to do it when we transported new recruits. Though of course he would have the capability. Temujin would have given him blue bonfire stones. Perhaps his are reserved for true emergencies?
Despite Inkar’s and Temujin’s injuries, I don’t expect Kartok to join us—henevercrosses into the realm of the Eternal Blue—but he strides through the gateway without a breath of hesitation.
We follow, but the crossing isn’t as seamless as usual. The glowing barrier feels sticky and viscous—almost like honey. It drags at my arms and sucks at my boots, trying to hold me back. I heave forward with all my strength, and when I finally break free, I lose my grip on Temujin and crash into the field of globeflowers.
“Did you feel that?” I gasp as Chanar and Oyunna emerge behind me, jostling Temujin between them. “It felt like the gateway was trying to swallow us.”
“Is that your excuse for dropping Temujin?” Chanar glowers. I lower my head and scramble to retake my position, but he barks, “Don’t bother. We’ll be faster without yourhelp.”
