Page 12 of Of Steel and Scale

So, was this a new form of weapon from the Mareritt? Had their mages twisted life and created something bizarre and deadly? It would certainly explain the odd unnaturalness I’d felt before the connection had been so brutally severed.

If it were the Mareritt, though, why would they attack an out of the way settlement such as Eastmead? Why not Esan or Zephrine? Creatures capable of producing acidic dung would surely cause substantial damage to the thick walls protecting either city.

Then again, if the Marerittwerebehind the attack on Eastmead and the boat, why would this youth have collected the feather as a trophy? From what I understood of p’asazhis, their “treasures” were meant to be unusual or unexplained items from which stories could be spun.

I’d always found it hard to reconcile the image of Mareritten storytellers with the brutal reality of their warriors.

I pocketed the feather and untied the small water bottle. The liquid inside was tepid and had a somewhat sour, metallic taste, but right then, nothing had ever tasted so sweet. I resisted the urge to gulp it down, drinking only enough to ease the fire in my throat, then capped it again. I had to make it last, because who knew how long I’d be out here.

I rose and made my way back to the kayin. I wasn’t about to let its death go to waste—not when my hunger was so fierce it was a deep and never-ending ache. I moved back down to the beach, carefully burned away the feathers, then increased the heat of my flames to cook its flesh.

Dusk was settling in across the skies by the time I’d picked the last of its bones clean. I briefly thought about resting for the night, but the desire to get out of Mareritten lands was stronger.

I pushed to my feet and kept on walking. The moon was high overhead when I made yet another attempt at contacting either Veri or Desta. Static washed through my mind, and I closed my eyes, resisting the urge to give up. To collapse on the stony sand and just let the rising tide wash me away. Maybe it would have been better to have gone down with the boat than die by slow degrees from exhaustion and hunger....

Then, from out of the static, came a brief, very distant,I hear.

Desta, not Veri.

Tears spilled down my cheeks. Hope. There was yet hope of rescue.

Can you come?

Run free. Able.

Meaning Mom had let her loose in the vague hope that I was alive.Then come.

I had no idea if such an order would work. No idea if the magic that allowed this connection could also act as a type of locator beacon. It did with Veri, but she had the advantage of long sight and being able to fly over vast tracts of land to find me.

I turned and studied the ridgeline. The razor grass had finally given way to high sweeps of cliffs. I’d have to go up, because Desta would never get down.

I drank the last bit of metallic water but didn’t toss the bottle aside. Who knew, there might be a spring of some kind atop the cliffs.

I resolutely headed up the foreshore, angling toward what looked to be the easiest path up the crumbling, dangerous-looking cliff. Climbing was a long, slow, and arduous journey involving scraped hands, a number of slips, and plenty of cursing. By the time I finally crawled over the ridge, my hands were bloody, my body was locked in pain, and my head spun. I gulped in air and looked around. The landscape was a sea of rock and wind-twisted paperbark trees; while it offered patrolling Mareritt plenty of cover, it also had relief surging. I knew these lands. Or, at least, had done patrols through them. While I was a long way north of where I needed to be, this wilderness swept down to the bogs designating the end of Mareritten land and the start of Esan’s.

I was close,soclose, to safety.

But I was also exhausted. I had to sleep.Hadto.

I glanced around, looking for somewhere that was protected from both the weather and Mareritt gaze. I eventually settled on a tower of rock that had, via wind and eruption, formed a V-shaped cave. The wide, high entrance gave me a good view of the surrounding area while the deepness of the cave meant a casual glance by a passing Mareritt was unlikely to spot me.

I walked to the very back, stripped off my sword, and placed it across my knees once I sat down. While I was well aware that death too often preyed on the unwary, I could not deny exhaustion. Sleep caught me within minutes.

A velvety nose nudging my shoulder woke me who knew how many hours later.

Desta. Tears hit my eyes and spilled down my cheeks. I was safe. Or as safe as one could be when we were still in enemy territory.

I reached up and rubbed her nose. She snorted softly, her breathing hard and the scent of her sweat stinging the air. She’d run a long way to find me.

“You, my darling girl, can have carrots any time you damn well please from now on.”

She snorted and pushed my shoulder.Want now.

I laughed.Sorry, we have to get home first.

Then we go.

No. Rest first.

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