A light sparked in Lady Sarnai’s eyes. She regarded me, and for a flicker of a moment I thought she saw me more as an equal than as a servant. “Those who wish to join the army will be trained. We’ll begin after lunch.”
By evening, nearly every able woman in the camp had volunteered for Lady Sarnai’s training, including Ammi, adding dozens more soldiers to her army.
We all knew our chances against the shansen were slim, that it took months, not days, to make a soldier. But hope was a valuable weapon, and we were sharpening its every edge.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The last morning of our march to Jappor, it began to snow.
The flakes fell gently at first, frosting the yellow grass. Within an hour, every tree branch glistened with white, like there were pearls hanging from the boughs. The change in the landscape was so mesmerizing that no one saw the smoke from the dying campfire twist into the shape of a tiger.
No one, except me.
The hairs on the back of my neck bristled. “Gyiu’rak.” I cursed, spinning to warn the others. I didn’t get a chance. She sent an invisible blast of demon wind, rocketing to my lungs.
My throat seized, punctured by a thousand needles, and I lurched forward trying to catch my breath.
“Maia?” Ammi said, running to my side. “Maia, what’s wrong?”
I clutched at my chest, choking and pointing at the fire.
Powerful limbs emerged from the shadows, condensing from smoke to flesh. But by the time Ammi and the others realized what was happening, it was too late.
With an earth-shattering roar, Gyiu’rak burst out of the flames.
Terror descended on the camp, everyone scrambling for weapons and for cover. I pushed Ammi behind a wagon and grabbed the nearest spear, even though I knew it would do little good against a demon.
Gyiu’rak prowled the camp, snarling at the cowering soldiers. Her fur glistened, white as the snow, with burnished stripes like carefully considered strokes of ink.
She was searching for someone. I shouldered my way toward her, but it wasn’t me she wanted; it was Lady Sarnai. The shansen’s daughter appeared, her ash bow raised, with a scarlet arrow nocked in place—aimed at the area between Gyiu’rak’s eyes.
A laugh tumbled out of the demon’s throat. “Your pitiful weapons cannot harm me, little jewel,” she mocked. “But keep them raised if it makes you feel safer.”
She turned to address the rest of the camp, slicing the tension in the air with her every breath. “By request of His Excellency,EmperorMakangis, I bring you warm tidings. As you all are citizens of A’landi, he offers you this one chance—to surrender.”
Lady Sarnai pulled her bowstring back. I tried to catch her attention, to warn her not to attack.
She ignored me.
Her arrow sang, straight and true, piercing the demon neatly in the forehead. Smoke sizzled from Gyiu’rak’s fur, but she plucked the arrow out as if it were a burr in her coat, and flicked it away.
Within seconds, the demon’s wound closed bloodlessly.
Shock rippled across the camp. Soldiers shrank behind their shields, knees trembling violently. Even Lady Sarnai staggered back.
I moved closer to Gyiu’rak. An arrow couldn’t hurt her, butIcould.
“We have ten thousand against your pathetic army,” the demon announced. “Lord Makangis welcomes your surrender now. If not, the battle will commence tomorrow—and we will show no mercy.”
Some of the men wavered, taking tentative steps forward. Then I heard someone cry, “We will not surrender!”
It was Ammi. She and the other women blocked the soldiers. They repeated, “We will not surrender!”
“Your blood price will not be paid.” The words boomed out of me. “Not while I fight by Lady Sarnai’s side.”
“And I,” declared Edan, joining me.
“We fight for Lady Sarnai. We fight for A’landi.”
