Finally, Kasik’s arms fell, his body going limp behind hers.
She whirled around and steadied him with two hands on his shoulders. “Are you hurt?”
“My back” was all he said. Nina nudged him forward and supported his body against her chest. It was almost impossible to see, but she could smell the sharp tang of blood. Carefully, she prodded the skin, shivering when his hiss of breath caressed her neck.
When she held her fingers up, she found them glistening in the dim light.
Kasik pushed away from her with a groan. “I’ll be fine,” he said unconvincingly. “I just need to rest a moment. We’ll stay here until it’s light.”
Nina nodded, but his eyes had already closed, and she stared at his face hidden in shadow, the way the lines of him were once again sharp and unknowable.
Except, she knew now that, regardless ofwhy, his convictions were strong enough to compel him to risk his life to save hers, and she was afraid that it would change everything.
12
The sun rose and shone with all the breadth and width of a fire scorching the land, and the forest transformed from a nightmarish landscape to a whimsical dream. Winged insects flew through shafts of sunlight in lazy circles. Small creatures jumped from branch to branch, leaves and feathers falling and twirling softly to the ground.
A leaf fell into Nina’s hair, and she plucked it out while carefully climbing over the tangle of foliage covering the ground. Kasik walked beside her, his breathing labored, face pale with pain. She peeked at the three large gashes in his tunic. Dried blood covered most of the wound, but she could see bits of white fat and tendons underneath the red.
Nina swallowed her worry and followed Kasik closely. Even as near to death as he looked, he helped her climb over trees covered in slippery moss, and his eyes never stopped roving over their surroundings. They were far from the road, and Capac was nowhere to be seen.
“Are we lost?” Nina asked after a few hours had passed.
The muscles in Kasik’s jaw clenched. He refused to meet her eyes. “I’ve never been this deep into the Tuta Kulla. We just have to find the road.”
It wasn’t straightforward, but it was answer enough, and it was the last they spoke for a long while. Sweat trickled down Nina’s spine. The air was humid and heavy, as if she were buried beneath layers of cloth, and the heft of her robe clung to her. How she longed to rip it off, to dive into the briny sea and cool her burning, blistered feet.
Still, they pushed on, Nina’s every step plagued with visions of that unnatural bird.
“That thing.” She braced herself against a tree and stepped over alarge hole, refusing to consider what was living in it. “What was it?”
“It’s called an achiyanga,godbird. It’s said to have been a messenger for the gods, but when they were separated from the mortal realm, the birds went mad and became vengeful. They hunt at night by capturing their prey in thrall and then devouring them piece by piece.”
Nina shivered at the memory of being under its control, a dreamlike blur until Kasik’s body had collided with hers. “There are no stories of it in Limac.”
Their myths involved monsters that lived deep in the sea. Snakelike creatures that lured men to watery deaths. Demon-like beings that stole crops and children. But as terrifying as the stories were, she had never seen them in real life, nor had anyone she knew.
“They’re confined to the Tuta Kulla.” His hand cupped her elbow, and she noticed how cold it was. “People believe the emperor’s road is blessed and therefore they are unable to go near it.”
“And what do you think?” she asked.
“I think we need to find the road before it gets dark,” he said, pausing to tilt his head to the sky, where the sun hung high overhead. “And water.”
“And Capac?”
Kasik glanced behind them. Nina followed his gaze, wondering what he was thinking. “Capac will find us. He always knows the way.”
But the line between his brows matched hers, and she couldn’t help but think he was just as worried as she was. He walked an arm’s length in front of her, the muscles in his back bunching as he parted the giant leaves at head level. If he was in pain, he didn’t show it.
His wound had stopped bleeding, but it was caked with dirt and debris around the edges, and she knew from life on a farm that dirty wounds were the most dangerous.
They needed water, and the medicinal paste her mamay made.
The idea struck her like a fist. She was familiar with the shape of theleaves, and the smell of the plant, having traded for them many times in the market. And though it was always Sacha who helped their mamay make the paste, Nina had watched enough times to hopefully be able to recreate it.
The band around Kasik’s upper arm caught the light of the sun and shone right into her eye. She blinked and looked away, but still it was there in her periphery. A small glint of gold that tickled her memory.
Nina stopped walking. Stopped breathing.
