My arm shot out, slashing upward, the razor-sharp push knife catching him in his chest and jaw. He fell back, screaming, clutching his face as blood spurted between his fingers. In the flash of chaos as soldiers leapt to help the king, I turned and ran for the wash.
“Fire!” he screamed. “Fire!”
I heard scrambling and shouts behind me.
“Get out of the way! Out of the way!” someone yelled.
Arrows whirred past. I heard the thunk! chink! whoosh! as they hit tree and stone, and purred past my ears.
I was about to jump into the wash, when the force of an explosion ripped through the air. I was thrown from my feet and sent rolling down the dry creek bed. Dirt and rocks sprayed all around me. Splinters of stone pierced my skin. Dust choked the air, and my ears rang with pain. I rolled to my feet and kept moving. I couldn’t see through the cloud of dust, but I knew the direction I needed to go.
Rocks crunched beneath my boots as I ran, the air still thick with dust, but once I was past the cloud, another volley of arrows screamed past me. I varied my steps like an unpredictable rabbit, then ran up the opposite side, out of the wash, and down an incline, finally out of their line of sight, but I was running so fast I couldn’t stop when I hit the embankment, and for a few seconds I was airborne, hoping I wouldn’t hit the tree straight in my path. I reached out, grabbing a branch that flung me in a new direction, narrowly missing a trunk, but then I hit the ground hard, tumbling out of control, the thick bed of slippery needles giving me nothing to grab hold of, rushing me downhill like a raging waterfall. I flailed, trying to find something to hold on to, and finally dug in my heel as I grabbed a sapling. My grip ripped its branches clean as it slowed my slide, and I came to a stop just before I reached the road below.
The cover of the trees had at least hidden my descent from the soldiers stationed on the road, but the soldiers above me were still in pursuit. Their arrows were blocked by the trees between us, but not for long. I had no choice but to make a run for the canyon that lay past the road. Screams and orders echoed all around me—including the voice of the king—and the soldiers below turned, weapons raised, looking into the trees for the source of the commotion. I threw a pinecone past them, hoping to divert their attention, if only for a second—that was all I needed—and I ran.
“There!” “Stop her!”
The road exploded beneath me, and I was in a free fall again, tumbling down the steep canyon embankment, but this time it was not trees in my path but rocks. I was pummeled, every bone banged and crushed, bouncing over rocky ground like an out-of-control rag doll, unable to stop, the ground punching me again, and again, until I finally fell over a ridge and landed on the stony shelf below. Everything went from loud and explosive to still. The sky swirled above me in shadowy reds. I felt wetness and warmth. Blood. It ran into my eyes, blinding me. I winced, lifting a shaky hand to swipe it away, and my breath caught. My shoulder. This time it was pain that blinded me.
Frustrated shouts rolled through the stony canyon again. “Where is she?”
“Where did she go?”
I was temporarily hidden from view by the tall ridge.
More shouts, and then Montegue, his voice blaring over the others. “Get down there!”
“Find her!”
And then a desperate “Out of my way! I’ll stop her!”
Did he plan to send a wall of fire blazing down the canyon to burn me to a crisp? His heart’s true desire.
But then I heard a scream. A loud, glorious scream that bounced off the stony canyon. It was the sound of thwarted dreams. The sound of fury and betrayal.
The king’s scream.
I teetered on the edge of consciousness, but I smiled.
He had found the gift I left for him, the very colorful eyestone I had tucked in his vest pocket. The eyestone that was about the same size as a magical vial.
My other hand painfully slid inch by inch across the stone to my side, feeling my pocket to see if it still held the king’s treasure. It was there.
Out of his hands. And I would make sure he never got it back.
 |
None of this was supposed to happen until later, not until we were on the way to Tor’s Watch to continue our search. I would slip silently into the shadows, then lead them on a wild chase far away from the graveyard. The next morning Paxton would meet me. Dinah changed that.
I knew I had to run. I had to go. But I couldn’t move. I had come down the steep canyon face the fast and hard way. Far above me, I heard them calling for ropes. It wouldn’t be long before his soldiers followed the slower way. I had to keep moving and lead them away from the graveyard and Lydia and Nash. But everything hurt so badly. My shoulder, my head, my hip.
When I tried to move, the world went white with pain again. I gasped for air.
I braced myself, digging my nails into my palms as I reached up and felt a knobby bump on my left shoulder where there shouldn’t be one. It was dislocated. I heard bits of rubble tumbling down the canyon face. They were coming. “You can do this, Kazi,” I whispered to myself. “You have to.” I had watched Natiya once, after she had fallen from a horse—
I pressed my right hand over my mouth, not allowing myself to scream, and turned my other palm upward. Slowly, I slid my injured arm over my head. Relax, let the muscles do the work. But between the pain and knowing soldiers were already scaling down the canyon, it was impossible to relax. I shook with pain. My good hand moved from my mouth to the hand that was now over my head, and I gently tugged on my wrist. You can do this. I tugged harder, the stony ledge spinning. I was afraid I might pass out. A
mewl escaped from my lips, light vibrating behind my eyes, and then there was a soft pop.
My held breath escaped in a hot, miserable gasp. It was back in.
The sky still bobbed above me. I took a deep breath, and then another, letting my lungs fill and my senses return, but there wasn’t time for more. I struggled to my feet, using only my right arm for leverage. I held my left arm snug against my ribs and stayed close to the ledge wall so I wouldn’t be seen from above, then looked out at the canyon for an escape.
The floor of the canyon was only about another twenty feet down. I planned my path. Once I was out in the open, I would have to move fast—if I could. My whole left side had taken the brunt of the fall. My leg ached too. I studied the shadows. It was closing in on noon, and there were few of them. But there were enough—trees, boulders, the wild growth of shrubs. I saw the line I would follow.
I pulled the vial from my pocket and stared at it. I had only seconds to decide. It imprints on whatever it touches. After all these months next to the king’s heart, could it serve anyone else’s desire but his? Could it serve mine? Temptation, reason, and fleeting seconds battled within me. But I didn’t know how to use the magic or even know if I could, and there was a good chance I would be recaptured. I couldn’t let it fall back into his hands. I surveyed the ledge wall and spotted a tiny crevice at the bottom. I tucked the vial inside, and a small lizard scurried out.
And then I ran.
I was spotted almost immediately.
More screams echoed from above. “Fire! Fire!”
He would never let me go, not just because of what I had stolen from him, but also because of what I had never truly given him.
“You are nothing!” he screamed. “Nothing without me! Do you hear me?
Nothing!”
I had almost reached the shadow I was aiming for when the canyon thundered with another bone-rattling explosion, a tree splintered into a thousand pieces, and I was thrown to the canyon floor.
