Page 12 of Kingdom of Ashes & Bone
We walked at a good pace for about ten minutes until the demon came to an abrupt halt. I only knew this because Zephyr stopped short, and I nearly ran into him. The creature whined and snarled at us.
“All right, it would actually really help me out if you could hold it at knifepoint while I took the chains off.”
Reluctantly, I took the blade back blindly, tentatively touching the edges to orient myself to where the point was. Wouldn’t it be a laugh if I accidentally stabbed Zephyr or myself in the darkness?
I shuffled forward nervously.
“Hold right there. Just be ready to swipe at it if you hear it lunge.”
Right. If I heard it lunge. Zephyr brushed past me, the clanking of chains confirming he was at least doing something. Zephyr swore and I pushed the blade forward a bit, hitting something soft and yielding. Terrified I’d stabbed him I pulled back, but the demon shrieked.
“There! Step back!”
As I did, I felt Zephyr go forward, and he must have shoved the demon hard. Its screams fell and descended, ringing out for a long time until they faded and I could no longer hear them.
“Was that … is there a …”
“Massive pit we toss all the demons into once they change? Yeah. The opening is a few feet in front of you, so don’t take any steps forward.”
Oh. Ok. Sure. No problem.
“Where is your hand? Don’t move it as I take the sword back.”
Fat chance of me making any movement until Zephyr told me to. Carefully, he took back control of the dagger and lightly pushed me back.
“All right, it’s safe. Just walk back with me.”
I grabbed his shoulder and dug my fingers into his muscles. My thoughts whirled as we walked. “You … you do that to every Noble you get down here?”
His shoulders tensed beneath my fingertips. “What else would you have me do? Usually we toss them in a few hours before the change is imminent. Sometimes we don’t have the calculations quite correct.”
Frantically my head shook back and forth, even though I knew he couldn’t see it. “That’s worse! That just means they’re still people when you chuck them into the pit! That’s awful!”
Zephyr stopped and this time I did run right into him, banging my nose hard into his shoulder blades. I felt him whip around and throw my hand away.
“What am I supposed to do, Mari? Tell me! What would you do in my place? If you have a better idea, I would do it in a heartbeat!”
My lips parted, but nothing came out. I didn’t have any better ideas. I just knew that this one wasn’t right. The desperation in his voice was genuine, and shame rose within me. Who was I to condemn him? He was doing the best he could.
“Zephyr. I’m sorry,” I whispered into the darkness.
If the sounds of his exaggerated and heavy footsteps were anything to go by, he whipped back around and stormed off. At a loss, I followed behind meekly. The cave shifted and protested as he opened the door. Wordlessly, I passed through the threshold, going straight to my tent without another word. I brushed his shoulder harder than necessary. He grabbed me, holding me still.
“Mari, I am sorry about your friend.”
My throat tightened. Damnit, I wouldn’t cry.
“This is … this is hard. Trust me. I understand.”
I nodded limply, breaking away from his grasp and ducking under my tent flap as though it were a physical shield from the world and me. Inside, I was numb.
The mud people still starved. An entire enclave of escaped women and their children lived below the kingdom like rats. Nobles came here to be trapped in the darkness for the rest of their lives, and the queen was still a raging bitch.
At least some things were consistent.
I fell face first onto my cot, burying my head in the small pillow and curling up in my blanket. Zephyr’s shadow lingered outside of the tent flap, and for once, I wasn’t sure what I wanted.
Should he come in? Should he go away? He was the reason my friend died … or was he? My thoughts were such a jumbled mess.
