“We didn’t even find the mesa,” Lalyne, the most experienced tracker among the shepherds, says.
“Nothing?” My last shred of hope rushes away with my breath. “But I gave you detailed directions….”
“To a place you’ve never been!” calls a shepherd from behind me.
I shoot the man an irritated glance and step closer to the scouts. “Did you cross the dry river basin? Are you sure you counted the dunes accurately, from straight beneath the guiding star?”
They stare at me without a spark of frustration or conviction. And now that I’m looking closely, their faces hardly look sunburned. Their boots aren’t encrusted with a week’s worth of snow and sand.
Did you even try?That’s what I want to ask. But I tighten my fists, smothering the starfire flaring in my hands. I must be a calm, confident leader. “This obviously isn’t what we hoped for, but we’ll organize another expedition—”
The cavern explodes with complaints.
“We’ll never find this hidden mesa, because it doesn’t exist!”
“And neither does your missing king! He’s obviously dead.”
“Otherwise, he’d be raising a rebellion and retaking Verdenet himself!”
“No. He wouldn’t,” I answer resolutely. “He knows better than to charge into a fortified city unprepared. He’s waiting for the opportune moment. And reinforcements.” I gesture to the gathered group, and the burst of derisive laughter almost knocks me off my feet. I feel like a cat, dangling from a wobbly branch by a single claw.
“You can’t honestly thinkwe’rereinforcements. Look at us!” an elderly woman calls.
“We are just the beginning,” I say. “Enough to get Minoak through the gates of Lutaar City. All of the Verdenese inside will rise with us once they see their king is alive.”
“And what if he isn’t?” Iree shouts. “I say we enter now!” His family loudly agrees, no matter that they’re more prepared than anyone to wait a few additional days, thanks to the rations I sacrificed.
“We can’t just stroll into Lutaar City!” I don’t mean to get emotional, but my voice rakes and rattles like a Bone Reader’s poker.
Serik catches my elbow and tugs me a few steps away from the group. “Breathe, En. I know you think finding King Minoak is the only way. And it’s a noble plan, it is. But sometimes the necessary pieces just don’t come together. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It just means we have to keep an open mind.”
My eyes are hot and itchy and my voice scrapes against my tingling throat. “You’re giving up on me too?”
“I haven’t given up on you. Don’t be absurd. It just might be a good idea to listen to the majority in this case and find a way to defend against the Zemyans frominsideLutaar City, where we’ll have food and shelter.”
I break free from Serik’s hold, twisting my bad arm in the process. Pain explodes along the thick purple scars above my elbow. The algae’s florescent colors spin as I stumble into the winding tunnels, half blind and gasping. Serik calls after me. I can feel the shepherds’ judgmental eyes on my back. And I can’t stand any of it for another skies-forsaken second.
Throwing a cloak of blackness over myself, I wind farther and farther. Deeper and darker. Into the protective arms of the night, where no one else can reach me.
CHAPTER TWO
ENEBISH
THE TUNNEL ENDS IN AN INKY BLUE-BLACK CAVERN THAT’Snever seen a speck of light. I flop down onto a stone slab that juts over a spring filled with little translucent racer fish, and close my eyes. Serik and the shepherds may be ready to give up and enter Lutaar City, but wecan’t.The shepherds won’t cooperate unless they need us, and they won’t need us in there. Not until Kartok and Temujin arrive. But then it will be too late. We’ll be trapped. Enslaved. Obliterated by the starfire Kartok siphoned from me in his false Eternal Blue.
“How do I make them understand?” I tilt my head back and look up at the Lady of the Sky. I can’t actually see Her down here, buried beneath a league of limestone and sand, but it feels right to lift my face in reverence. I stare at the craggy ceiling, where yellow goblin spiders dangle from silver-spun webs. As I pray, I swirl the tendrils of night like a painter, brushing them gently over the gloom until the spiders and mold and stalactites are covered with glimmering wet darkness. Then I spatter it with an array of gemstone stars. Last, I sculpt Orbai and send her slashing through the blackness.
My breath catches as she soars above me. My hand trembles as I trace her shadowed wings. “Where are you?” I whisper, even though I know: she either perished in the burningxanavor lives eternally bound to Kartok through his Loridium healing magic. But my question is also for the Lady of the Sky, who led me to the shepherds and showed me the way to these caves, but then failed to guide me to King Minoak, the most important piece of this puzzle. “Come back. Help me.Please!”
My sobs fill the cavern—shrill, agonized wails that cover the sound of Serik’s footsteps. I don’t realize he’s behind me until he says my name.
“What are you doing here?” I nearly tumble into the pool as I whip around. “How did you find me?”
“I was worried about you.” Serik ducks into the cavern. A tiny ball of yellow light flickers in his palm, no bigger than a globeflower. I could loosen my hold on the blackness so he doesn’t have to expend his fledgling power, but I don’t. “As for finding you, I stumbled along, always choosing the darkest tunnel, until I ended up here.” Serik’s smile is so proud and adorable, Ialmostlet myself smile back. He’s much better at summoning heat than light out of necessity, so the tiny matchstick flame hovering above his hand is a big accomplishment. “Seriously, En, are you all right? You were screaming like you were being tortured.”
Iambeing tortured.
“I’m fine.” I turn back to the pool, watching the strange fish. It’s unsettling, how you can see straight through their scales and bones to their rapidly beating hearts. I feel like my skin is just as thin. Like my sputtering heart is on display, despite my efforts to shield myself.
