“What is happening?”
“As…Dancing Wind once gave part of her heartsglass to bring back Blade that Soars…so do I give part of my heartsglass to bring back these daeva. It is like…knives…going through my soul.”
“You don’t need to do this,” I implored her. “There must be some other way.”
She laughed. “Did you think I would do this if there was?” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I will rest for a while and tell you more about the azi,” she said. “And then I will succeed. Or I will die trying. There is no middle ground.”
28
“What the hell are you doing here?” was how Kalen greeted us. We found the band of Deathseekers gathered near the lake’s edge, setting up camp. The sun glided across the water, sinking past the horizon and turning the sky into a menagerie of pinks and oranges. The creature was close; I could sense the alien presence in my mind grow stronger, though the sensation coming through from the other side of the bond was sluggish.
“We thought we could all use a vacation,” Polaire informed him glibly, sliding off her horse. I did the same, patting Chief lightly on the nose and digging into my pockets for a small piece of sugar. Being dead didn’t stop Chief from enjoying his share of sweets, and he munched on my offering with gusto.
“Do the elders know that you’re here?”
“Would that make any difference now?”
Kalen glared at us and then relaxed. “I suppose not.”
“Who’s in charge?” Zoya demanded.
“Ostry is. Gerrold died, and Nargal is in no shape to lead us anywhere.”
“Take us to him, then. We need to talk.”
“Well, hi there,” Ostry said as we approached the center of the camp. He had a bandage around one eye; five other Deathseekers displayed similar injuries. He grinned at me. “You’ve traveled a little farther out than the tearooms of the Willows, Lady Tea. I don’t mind the company, although this is not the best of circumstances. On the bright side, I see double of everything, and two of you look just as lovely as the one.”
“This doesn’t look good,” Fox said, surveying the rest of the wounded. “How many are indisposed?”
“A dozen brothers, and they’re the lucky ones. We’ve taken our most seriously injured to the town of Lizzet to recuperate. It’s a day’s ride away, so they should be safe.”
I caught a glimpse of his silver heartsglass, reading its pattern of erratic greens and yellows. “You need to lie down,” I told him.
“I’m fine. Alsron changed my bandages only an hour ago.”
“Bandages don’t do much for concussions. We’ll need to get you some ice and a clean cloth.”
“There are some fresh strips in my pack.” The Deathseeker’s fingers moved, and a small block of ice materialized on the ground beside him. “Will this help?”
“And I forbid you to draw runes for the next several days. Let someone else do it.”
“That might be harder to do, little lady.” He winced when I pressed the ice against his head at a spot that still looked swollen. “As long as that damned azi is out there, I make no guarantees. It’s taken out too many of my pals for me to relax.”
“We heard,” Fox said. “Do you know where it is now?”
Ostry gestured out at the lake. “As far as we could tell, it hibernates during the day and comes out at night. We don’t know if it’s still there or if it’s hunting somewhere else. But the sun’s setting, so I’d say you’re just in time to find out, which is unfortunate. How did you know we were here at Lake Strypnyk? We’d only figured out its location the night before, and we just dispatched a messenger a few hours ago.”
“We have our sources,” Polaire said mysteriously.
“Tea here seems confident she can take it on.” Zoya nodded at me. “I say she’s an idiot, but that’s an argument for another time, seeing that we have little choice.”
“What the hell are you girls doing here?” Alsron demanded, approaching the campfire with several other Deathseekers.
“Saving your derrière,” Polaire said sweetly. “Tea, will it sense you if you try to search for it?”
“I don’t think so.” The dragon was as used to my mind as I was to it by now, and my nearness caused no alarm, as far as I could tell.
“Do you know where it is?”
“It’s inside the lake.”
“That was quick,” Zoya remarked. “Did you know where it was all this time?”
“I’ve been looking for it before arriving at the Deathseekers’ camp.” I strove to keep my heartsglass serene, slowing down my breathing so I would not arouse further suspicions. Sometimes I forgot how perceptive Zoya was.
“Any ideas when it’s going to surface?” Zoya asked.
“I don’t know. I think I can goad it out if I have to.”
“It’s more likely to remain in the lake than venture out.” The man shrugged. “It’s only surfaced once, to our knowledge. You know what happened next.” He gestured at the line of wounded. “It attacked us somewhere between here and the village of Indt.”
“How did this happen?” Polaire demanded. “You’ve all faced down daeva before. I’m not saying we’ve never come away unscathed, but to hear of twenty other Deathseekers dead? This is the worst number of casualties that I’ve heard of!”
“Seems like it’s evolving, studying us. We were not as effective at the darashi oyun as you might think. We were barely able to protect ourselves, much less injure it.” From his position on the ground, Ostry grimaced. “Fire, hurricanes, quakes, as many arrows as we could put into its scaly hide. Heathal even tried to freeze it. All he got for his troubles was a spike through his heart. We couldn’t do much after that but grab the bodies of those who’d fallen and retreat while we still could. It fled, and we tracked it here—I suspect it doesn’t want to stray too far from the lake. It would be best if you girls returned to Ankyo. There isn’t much you can do here.”
Polaire shook her head. “We have to try. Tea, you’ll be the one facing it head-on. What do you want us to do?”
I rose to my feet. “I would need a handful of Deathseekers nearby just in case, the ones who aren’t injured. I want the others as far away as they possibly can be. I can feel it somewhere underneath those waters, and it feels like it’s hibernating. If I’m to seek it out, I want to wrest control before it’s fully awake.”
“There are six or seven of us with but a few minor scratches to our name,” Kalen said. “There’s a good chance you’ll have about as much success as we had even if you draw in the Dark. And if I were a betting man, I’d stake money that there’s a powerful Faceless out there, meddling.”
“Choices require risks,” Zoya said. “Start evacuating your wounded. They won’t want to be here when the fighting starts.”
“You’re going with them,” Polaire informed Ostry, who was trying to stand.
“I can fight,” the man protested.
“Spare me the heroics, Ostry. We’ve been in this long enough for me to see through your conneries when you start spouting them! Who’s next in command after you?”