Kiki beat her wings gratefully, but when she spoke, her voice wobbled.I worried that boor of a sentinel might have killed you.
He didn’t, thank the Eternal Courts. But you’ll never guess where he brought us.
She rotated her neck and wrinkled the tip of her beak.To the fishmonger’s?
I laughed silently.Welcome to my belated birthday banquet,I thought in my most festive voice,hosted this year in Castle Bushian’s most luxurious fish cellar.
This is Castle Bushian?she exclaimed.
Ironic, isn’t it?I thought wryly.But I thank Emuri’en that you’re here. I could use some help getting out of this place.
Getting out? The cold will kill you, Shiori. You should stay here until winter is over. Stay and finish the net, then reunite with your brothers in the spring.
There’s still time,I insisted.The Zhensa is right outside Iro. They can’t be too far.
There’s a reason the Zhensa is called the never-ending forest.Kiki burrowed herself into my hair, her voice close to my ear.Think, Shiori. What good is reuniting with your brothers without the net?
They’ll be looking for me—
I’ll spread word among the creatures of the forest that you’re well,she interrupted.Your brothers should be searching for Raikama’s name, not worrying about keeping you safe. You’re a distraction to them, just as they are to you.
How are they a distraction to me?
Look at your hands.Kiki brushed a wing against the scars on my palm. Even that made me wince.Will you be able to finish the starstroke net without making a sound?
Yes.I nodded staunchly.I will.
That is because you have a strong will. But you’ll need more than that to beat this curse. You’ll need a strong heart, too.For all the joy your brothers bring you, you wouldn’t be able to laugh with them or joke with them or talk to them at night, and in the day, you’d torture yourself with guilt when they became cranes. You’d be miserable, and the last thing you’d want is to work on the starstroke.She threw up her wings, her way of showing disbelief.Besides, do you really want to spend all winter cooped up in that cave?
Deep down, I knew she had a point. Now that winter was here, the cave would be even colder than my cellar. But my heart was set on finding my brothers again and breaking our curse together. Nothing could sway me.
You think this fortress isn’t a cage? That my tasks here aren’t a distraction?I retorted.Everyone treats me like a monster, Kiki. I can’t even go to the river to look for Seryu. I won’t stay, not while there’s still a chance.
Kiki sniffed.Stubborn girl. It’s a bad idea, I’m telling you so. If you attempt to escape, the best possible outcome is to end up back in the dungeon again. Don’t say I didn’t warnyou.
I won’t,I replied silently, pulling the blanket up to my shoulders.
I was seventeen now. Wise enough to know that the only one to blame for my decisions was me.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The luck of the dragons was not on my side. The next day andthe next, it snowed and snowed, then rain came and turned the world into slush as the winds howled through shrunken trees outside my cellar.
But it wasn’t the weather that prevented me from leaving. The real problem was the gates. All I needed was the crack of an opening so I could slip out, but the iron doors remained stolidly closed and locked.
Who do you think is going to come in and out of the fortress during this storm?Kiki posed.
Still, I didn’t give up, and on the third night, my patience was rewarded.
I was pounding my nettles, chipping off their jagged leaves and whittling off their fiery thorns, when the drums boomed.
At first I mistook the sound for thunder. But a rhythm emerged, making the walls shudder. I stopped to listen.
Three more beats. Silence. Then the drums started again, faster this time.
I sat up, my muscles tensing.Kiki, do you hear that?
Kiki leapt off my shoulder and squeezed through the bricks to peek outside.Torches are going up on the watchtowers. I don’t know what it means, but the guards are lowering the bridge over the river. Something’s happening.
