Page 102 of Blood of the Stars

“Lukai?” Kendalyhn called, her steely voice breaking them apart. “I sliced my finger cutting carrots. Could you come help?”

Aeliana lowered her dagger before finally getting it settled back in her belt.

“Let’s let Aeliana try.” He glanced between the two of them, oblivious to Aeliana’s panic.

“I’d rather wrap it up and let it heal naturally.” Kendalyhn’s eyes narrowed.

“Well, then, it must not be that deep of a cut. I’ll look at it after we finish training.” He turned his back on Kendalyhn, whose mouth hung open, then sliced his palm and held it out to Aeliana. “Again.”

The next morning, they saddled the horses amidst a chorus of pitiful howls from the winex in the forest.

“I thought they only lived in the rainforest,” Cyrus said. “I haven’t heard them since we left, and it’s been well over a month.”

Velden hummed his understanding. “They weren’t in the grasslands, and by the time we reached the woods, they had cycled through another life and aged enough that most had fallen silent. These ones are at their life’s end, their cries like an old man dying. They go through their entire life with the moon’s cycle, then they’re reborn again with the new moon. In a couple of days, you’ll hear them mewling like kittens.”

“How do they survive as newborns? Who takes care of them?” Aeliana imagined hundreds of miniature Felks lying on rocks like abandoned children.

“Half of them die for that exact reason.” Sylmar waved away her concern. “They breed like rabbits during the full moon and bury their eggs like turtles, doubling their population all over again just in time for the new moon. In one sense they’re immortal, but in another they’re expendable.”

Aeliana flinched at his harsh words, but no one else seemed bothered. She supposed that meant Felk was long gone, along with his pack. And wasn’t it just as well? He’d wanted to kill her. And yet… he’d spoken. Talking about winex like turtles and rabbits felt demeaning for such an intelligent creature.

The farther they traveled, the more the cries faded to whimpers, but Aeliana suspected it wasn’t because they gained distance from the creatures. Rain clouds had come in, the cool scattered showers likely to speed up the dying process for the winex that wouldn’t survive this cycle or make it to the next.

It seemed a cruel trick of nature, but would saving them be worse? Having twice as many around at the full moon would be twice as dangerous for humans and other potential prey.

“We’ll be there soon,” Lukai said as he rode beside her. “Warm baths and beds plus dry clothes for all of us thanks to the faithful Recreants. We all have friends in the city and family in the army. So many people will be eager to meet you. I can almost smell the fire they’ll have cooking for us.” His grin was contagious, and despite how overwhelming the introductions sounded, Aeliana couldn’t help looking forward to the image he’d given her. Her cloak kept her mostly dry, but her hands and face were chilled to the bone.

“I smell it, too,” Velden said.

“That’s because it’s just around the bend,” Sylmar confirmed from atop his horse behind them.

“We’ve heard that before,” Cyrus muttered from her left.

“I think I see smoke from Matrina’s cabin!” Kendalyhn urged her mare forward, and the horse complied, as if it knew there’d likely be endless grazing and even oats beyond the hill. The road they took from Valorian brought them in from the east, where a Recreant lived outside town and could connect them with the growing army.

Aeliana rolled her neck, which cracked, then stretched her aching limbs and pruney fingers. It would feel good to get off her horse and have a solid meal and a real bed for the night. A dry bed.

But when Kendalyhn reached the peak, she let out a sharp gasp, reining her mare in.

Moments later, Aeliana and the others crested the hill, several giving their own cries of dismay. The cabin just over the hill was a pile of smoldering ruins hissing from the rain’s touch. Beyond it, Islara spread out through the valley far past what Aeliana could see both in width and length.

The entire city had been razed.

CHAPTER 42

Amidst the sprinkling rain, Gaeren breathed in the scent of something smoky, like a campfire. Their proximity to Islara was almost palpable, and every new hint at civilization raised his spirits.

“Gaeren,” Riveran whispered.

Gaeren glanced up to where Riveran sat astride Maw, a few paces ahead of Gaeren and Skunk. But Riveran’s eyes were on Orra, a smile playing at the corner of his lips. Gaeren swiveled the other direction, turning Skunk so he could get a better look at Orra behind him.

She sat atop her horse, eyes closed, face tilted to the clouds, rain splashing on her face as she twisted the braid on her wrist. Her lips moved, the mutterings unintelligible. Gaeren swore under his breath.

“That’s five nights in a row you’ve gotten stuck with kitchen duty,” Riveran said, his voice rising with glee. “Want to go double or nothing? I’m willing to wager that tonight she’ll have some sort of vision that requires shoving her hands in the mud.”

“I swear you’re putting her up to this.” Gaeren couldn’t help smiling. After a day of forced rest, it had taken them a quarter moon to catch up, but they were in good spirits knowing Islara was around the corner. According to Orra, Daisy was within their reach at last.

Gaeren and Riveran had gotten used to Orra’s strange ways over the last few weeks—more so than they’d gotten used to each other. They both knew some things would always be unforgivable. Still, the humor they found in watching her antics had somehow reformed a tentative and fragile friendship between them.

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