Arlen scowled, but he nodded, turning to hold a hand out to Renna. She took it, holding tight to him even as they dissipated, as intimate as any connection of flesh. Linked, they slipped down a path to skate together.
Renna skated back to the tower, clumsily solidifying a few inches off the ground. Night after night of Drawing and skating had left her dizzy and drained of magic, insides weak and burning from conducting so much power.
The sudden drop twisted her ankle and sent her stumbling, but something caught her before she hit the ground. She tensed, ready to fight.
“Peace, sister,” Shanvah said. “It is only me.”
Renna shook her head, getting her feet under her and pushing away from the woman’s support. “Since when am I your sister?”
“Since we shed blood together in the tomb of Kaji,” Shanvah said. “We are spear sisters now.”
Her ankle throbbed painfully. Renna tried to heal it, but found she did not have the strength. She tried to Draw more power, but it made her whole body seem aflame. Easier to let the ankle throb.
Renna looked to the horizon. The sky was lightening, but dawn was still an hour away. She needed to feed before then, or she would be useless in the coming day. “That only till sunrise, when we go back to being enemies?”
Shanvah shrugged. “If the Shar’Dama Ka commands me to fight you, I will, Renna vah Harl, but it will not be as I would wish it. I see honor in you and the Par’chin, and I think Everam must have a plan for us.”
“Wish it was that simple,” Renna said.
“It is, and it isn’t,” Shanvah said. “Nothing on Ala is simple, or it would be as Heaven. Everam does not show his plan, but we know it is there.”
“Ay,” Renna agreed, though she did not agree at all. The woman was wasting time she needed to hunt, especially on a sore ankle. She drew her knife. “Gonna hunt a bit. Get my strength back.”
Shanvah nodded. “I will accompany you.”
“Core you will,” Renna snapped.
“You’re exhausted, sister,” Shanvah said. “There is safety in numbers.”
Renna shook her head. “Don’t need a sitter. You’d only slow me down.”
“But we …”
Shanvah’s aura blossomed with genuine hurt, and it made Renna angry. “We’re what? Spear sisters? You think that means a corespawned thing to me when I just spent a week trying to save lives you desert rats put out in the night?”
She grabbed at her vest, showing the deep crimson stains. “I’m covered in innocent blood because of your Shar’Dama Ka, Shanvah. Here, in the ripping night. So forgive me if I ent interested in having you at my back.”
She turned away sharply, storming off into the night without another word.
It was nearing dawn when Renna at last caught sight of her prey. The five of them had hunted the area around the tower down to nothing, and even as she ranged farther, many had already slipped back down to the Core’s embrace to shelter them from the sun.
She had been tracking this demon for several minutes, and saw she was just in time. The field demon had retreated into the shelter of deep grass for the moment of vulnerability when it began to dematerialize. Lesser drones could not do it as quickly as the elite demons—or she herself—and they might as well be asleep for all they could defend themselves when they were in the dissipation trance.
She saw its muscles relax as the trance began and pounced on its back, hooking an arm and her legs around the demon’s midsection as she rolled onto her back. The demon flailed and kicked helplessly as she drove her knife into its chest and pulled down sharply, laying its insides open.
Light began to peek over the horizon, the coreflesh beginning to smoke and sizzle. Desperate, Renna thrust her hands into the open wound, clawing free whatever meat she could find and cramming it into her mouth before the sun could burn it away.
There were several intense moments of messy mastication, and then a spark, as the ichor running down her chin caught fire. She cried out in surprise.
There was a sudden slash, a shining spearpoint cleaving the grass like a scythe. Shanvah stood there, spear raised to attack. But then she started, seeing the demon corpse.
Immediately she leapt back, bowing deeply. “Apologies for not heeding your request, sister, but I was concerned. When you cried out, I thought …”
She looked up. “But of course not. You are Renna vah Harl, and no demon can stand against …”
Her aura was lost in the rising sun, but Shanvah’s eyes told Renna enough. She knew.
“Shanvah, wait …” she began, but the woman turned and raced away.
Everyone was back in the yard by the time Renna made it back, standing in the shadow of the tower. Shanvah was on her knees, head on the ground. Shanjat was holding his spear.
Arlen and Jardir looked ready to fight again, this time once and for all.
All eyes turned to her as she approached. Shanvah leapt to her feet, spear pointed Renna’s way. “She is a servant of Nie!”
“Impossible,” Jardir said. “She stood with us against Alagai Ka himself.”
“She has been corrupted,” Shanvah said. “Before Everam, on my honor and hope of Heaven, I swear, Deliverer. With my own eyes I saw her feasting on the foul meat of the alagai.”
“Impossible,” Jardir said again, pointing to the rising sun. He and the others were still in semidarkness, but Renna stood fully in the light. “How could any servant of Nie stand in Everam radiance if …”
But then he turned sharply, looking at Arlen. He closed the distance between them in a second, grabbing Arlen’s hands as he probed deeper into his aura.
“It’s true,” Jardir whispered. “Everam preserve us, I trusted you, and all along, you served Nie.”
“Corespawn it, stop acting the ripping fool!” Arlen shouted.
“Why else would you profane your body with … !”
Arlen growled, shoving Jardir away so hard Shanjat had to leap out of the way to avoid being hit. Everyone tensed for battle, but Arlen held his ground, making no effort to continue the fight. “You have the stones to ask why?! Night, you think I wanted this?”
He pointed an angry finger at Jardir. “This is your doing, same as the ripping ink.”
“Now it is you being the fool, Par’chin,” Jardir said. “I did not force demon meat down your throat.”
“No, you and Shanjat and the others left me for dead in the corespawned desert,” Arlen snapped, “after beating me, robbing me, and trying to throw me to the demons for having the audacity to win the first night’s alagai’sharak in three thousand years.”
Shanvah looked to Shanjat, eyes wide. “Father, this cannot be true.”
The tip of Shanjat’s ready spear dipped as he turned to her. “It is true, daughter. We dishonored ourselves with what we had to do that night, but the Par’chin had stolen the Spear of Kaji, and could not be allowed to keep it.”
“You parse words worse than any khaffit in the bazaar,” Arlen spat. “No one had seen the spear in over three thousand years. Its power belongs to all humanity, and I brought it to Jardir honorably, to share with you.”
“The Sharum will be silent!” Jardir snapped, his gaze never leaving Arlen. “You parse words, too, Par’chin. None of this explains why you have eaten of this foul meat.”
“Don’t it?” Arlen said. “Said yourself there was no food in Anoch Sun. It was why your people violated that place worse than the mind demons when you came through. Didn’t have time to be respectful. You just wanted to loot the place.”
“I warn you, Par’chin …” Jardir began.
“Don’t deny it,” Arlen said. “Being Shar’Dama Ka means making the big decisions, ay? Then take responsibility for them.”
“I do,” Jardir said evenly.
“Me, too,” Arlen said. “I wanted the secrets of Anoch Sun as much as you did. When I stumbled back to the Oasis of Dawn and warded my flesh, I had enough food to escape the desert …”
“Or return to Anoch Sun,” Jardir finished.
Arlen nodded. “Spent a long time there, studying. Demons were the only thing to eat. Had to survive, I was to pass on what I learned.”
He raised a finger. “But I left the place just like I found it. Bet your people didn’t even notice I’d been there. So which of us is honoring Everam and battling Nie better?”
Jardir sneered. “Speak not of Everam and Nie, Par’chin. You believe in neither.”
“And still better at your religion than you!” Arlen said, crossing his arms.
“You ate alagai meat,” Jardir said. “Do you honestly think you can keep from being corrupted by it?”
Arlen laughed. “You’re such a ripping hypocrite! Your entire life, your rise to power, your conquest, all of it was dictated by alagai hora, and you talk to me of corruption? How in your twisted logic does the voice of Everam come from demon bones?”
Jardir pursed his lips. “I have often wondered that, myself, but their power cannot be denied.”
“Of course not,” Arlen said. “You can see the ripping magic.” He pointed to the spear. “The Spear of Kaji has a demon bone core. So does the crown.