Shakily, my ankle screaming in protest, I took a step. Then another. Then, suddenly, I was running headlong across the ground, which sloped downward, toward the terrifying drop. I plowed into him, knocking him over.
We rolled together. I knew that the empty air was close, so close, but I was heedless of the danger. I had to stop him. Somehow, I had to. When finally the motion ceased, I was on top of him, pressing his shoulders to the ground.
“Kamzin,” he said.
I realized I was crying again. I couldn’t look at him. I fell sideways, and he rose, his fingers brushing my hair. I couldn’t stop him—I couldn’t even lift my head.
“For what it’s worth,” he murmured in my ear, “I’m sorry.”
“River, please—” But he was already turning away. He bent over the bones and seemed to run his hand over the skull without touching it. Something unreadable flitted across his face. Then he turned to Azar-at.
“Let’s end this.” He raised a hand over the bones and closed his eyes.
The bones seemed to flicker, small shadows flitting over them like birds. Then, to my horror, they began to move. The dead king seemed to raise himself into a half-sitting position, one arm darting out as if for balance. River raised his hand again, and the flickering, rippling apparition intensified. The shadow spread over River and the king, then spilled up into the sky, where it pooled and pulsed like a spreading wound.
The world shattered.
The ground heaved, pitching me sideways. I would have tumbled right off the cliff if my instincts hadn’t kicked in, causing me to slam my hand into the earth like the blade of an ax. The lid of the coffin slid down the slope and into the abyss of sky. The rumbling grew. Boulders shook loose from the mountain and tumbled into the sky, or rolled through the witch city, tearing its towers apart. My vision flickered; shadows darted everywhere, or perhaps the world had turned to shadow, I didn’t know. There came the distant roar of avalanche after avalanche. It was as if the mountain was tearing itself apart, and all I could do was wait for it to fall out from beneath me, and leave me adrift in the clouds.
Then, after what could have been seconds or hours, the mountain stopped roiling, and the shadows cleared enough for me to see. River was crouched on the snow, his hands pressed against his head.
He seemed to be muttering something, but the words were garbled and unintelligible. The air rippled around him, as if the shadows were descending upon his body, consuming him. He let out a cry of agony, and then another. I pressed my hands against my ears—even after the mountain’s terrible roar, this sound was so raw, so agonized, that I could not bear it.
Finally, River was silent, his breath hissing against the snow. Azar-at approached him and sniffed his head. He sat up slowly.
Are you all right?
“Yes.” River sounded dazed. The strange rippling was gone. He stared down at his hands, as if seeing them for the first time. He began to laugh. It was his old laugh—and yet it was different, a darker version of the same color.
You smell of the wilds now, Azar-at said. Of forests and lakes and open skies. Of rock and earth and valley.
“Thank you, my friend.” Though River sounded exhausted, he was smiling. I could no longer see any sign of injury—no blood or broken bone. He stroked the fire demon’s muzzle. “According to the terms we agreed to, our contract is dissolved. I have my rightful powers now. And so do the others.”
Azar-at nuzzled his hand. I will miss you.
“Strangely enough, given how you have gnawed away at my soul, I feel the same.” He gave the fire demon’s ears one last scratch. “Good-bye.”
Good-bye, my friend.
River stood. He seemed to have changed in a way that was impossible for me to describe. There was a lightness about him—a grace and otherness. Though he still looked the same, it was somehow starkly clear, in a way that had not been quite visible before, that he was not human.
“River?” The tears were drying on my face. I felt hollowed out, a frozen, empty vessel.
He looked at me only once. Then his gaze drifted past, and his eyes closed, his expression flooded with what could only be described as joy, pure as sunlight or rain. It happened suddenly, too sudden for human eyes to follow. One moment, River was there; the next, a black leopard stood in his place, its long fur ruffled in the wind, half shadow and half flesh.
The leopard shook itself. The sunlight made its coat gleam with fire and copper. It stretched, then set off at a run, heading toward the cliff’s edge. As if delighted by the sensation, it ran even faster. It leaped down the side of the mountain, its claws gripping effortlessly at the nearly sheer slopes. I followed it as far as I could, until it rounded the curve of the mountainside. Then, in a moment shorter than a breath, it was gone.
THIRTY-ONE
I SCRAMBLED BACK down the rock below the witch king’s grave, my knees wobbly, my breathing uneven. I was traveling too quickly; as I lifted my foot, my boot caught, and I lost my grip. I slid down the last few feet, scraping my palms, not even bothering to arrest my fall. I came to a stop finally, and lay there on my side. I had no desire to get up again. I turned my face into the snow, my shoulders heaving with my sobs.
I had gathered Ragtooth’s small body into my pack, unable to bear the thought of leaving him in that forsaken place. Now I clutched the pack to my chest, howling. My tears were for Ragtooth, but they were also for Lusha. For Tem. For my father. For myself. I had failed. And now we were all lost.
Finally, there were no tears left. My breath came in ragged pants as I stared blindly at the sky. I felt as if I could lie there until the snow and ice covered me, as it had covered Mingma’s broken body. Biter alighted on a rock nearby, croaking, but I paid him no notice.
Then something warm brushed the top of my head. Something with a long snout that seemed to exhale pure heat, almost too hot to bear. Slowly, I sat up and turned to face Azar-at.
The fire demon cocked its head at me. No help for sorrow, brave one, it said. Best to carry on. This is not a place for lingering.
I recoiled, my disgust so strong it was like a living thing twisting in my stomach. “Go away.”
It is over, the fire demon murmured. Nothing more to do here. Best to leave, help friends. Friends are waiting for you—
“Go away!” I screamed. My voice echoed off the mountainside, and came back to me in broken fragments.
Azar-at fell silent, but it did not leave my side. Warmth radiated from its body. I felt myself shivering as the feeling returned to my hands and face. I hadn’t noticed how chilled I was.
“Why are you here?” I said, every inch of me despising the creature. I wasn’t afraid anymore—let it kill me, see if I cared. Let it snatch me up in its jaws and break me as it had broken Ragtooth. “Did you stay to gloat?”
Gloat?
“The spell is broken,” I said. “The witches are free. Free to destroy the Empire, and everything in their path. Your plan worked.”