Page 72 of Unfinished

She saw the herd first, and although her body kept moving, it felt like she froze. They seemed deceptively far away, a writhing mass of bodies that surged forward like steel-gray smoke on the horizon, but she could already feel the ground tremble beneath the soles of her shoes. She looked back towards where she knew the meadow should be, relief flooding through her when a black feathered head rose from among the grass.

“Veesha!” she shouted, but the little girl didn’t look her way. She was staring out at thev’kelth, and even from that distance, Sienna saw her feathers snap to attention. “Move, Veesha! Come to me!”

It took several long, excruciating seconds before Veesha finally looked to her left. Her mouth moved, but Sienna couldn’t hear anything beneath the growing cacophony of the monstrous hoofbeats. She was still running, still making her way to Veesha, but her lungs burned and a sharp pain pierced her side.

Veesha was darting panicked glances from the herd to Sienna, and her wings started to flutter, but she wasn’t moving yet. “Come on, Veesha. Come to me! Your sire will be here soon. Hurry!”

She knew Veesha could hear her now, and she almost crumpled with relief when the child started moving. Thev’kelthwere getting closer, their features coming into focus. They were scaled, but nothing like the Xithilene. Large, thick, lozenge-shaped gray scales covered their bodies except for a scruffy ring of fur around their necks. They had small eyes and long snouts, great clawed feet, and long tails that thrashed behind them and ended in spiked, armored balls as they curved like whips through the air. It’d be easy to think they were the size of cows, but Sienna knew it was just an illusion. R’kash had written that the animals were nearly as tall as his shoulders. She and Veesha would stand no chance if they stood in their way.

R’kash would be there soon—she knew he’d come for them. She didn’t try to listen for the glider, knowing it’d be impossible to hear its quiet progress even without the herd thundering across the plains. She slowed down just enough to grab Veesha’s hand and turn around, and then they headed back towards the temple.

The herd was gaining on them. She thought they’d make it, but it’d be close. Just as she’d hoped, the temple glider was sailing through the air, flying low as R’kash steered towards them.

“Keep going! Be fast, Veesha. We’ll be safe soon, just keep running!”

It was getting harder to breathe, but Sienna ignored the discomfort. Veesha wasn’t moving fast enough, but she wasn’t sure she could carry the girl and go any quicker. A glance to the side had her blood running cold. The animals were close enough now that she could see the flare of their slitted nostrils as they pounded towards them. Thev’kelthdidn’t seem to recognize they were in their path. Sienna and Veesha might as well have been invisible to the massive creatures.

She urged Veesha forward, and they kept running. The glider lowered, almost touching the ground as R’kash sped towards them. She screamed when something smashed into the grass on her right. A fierce, snarling roar almost deafened her, half knocking her off her feet. She barely held onto Veesha as the girl’s wings flapped wildly, propelling her into the air. The v’kelth reared back onto their hind legs, shaking their heads angrily before they tumbled into each other and the herd split into two, the animals seemingly maddened by the horrible sound.

It only grew louder as more of the devices landed all around them. Sienna looked up, shocked to find they’d already reached R’kash amid all the chaos. He reached over the side of the glider, and Sienna grabbed Veesha around the waist and swung her towards him. R’kash pulled her down onto his lap.

“Get in, Sienna! Now!” His arm stretched out to grab her, too, and she scrambled into the aircraft while thev’kelthbugled and stomped.

The glider lifted with a lurch, but not before one of the beasts smacked the front windshield with its tail. The material held, not even showing a crack, but the glider shook under the impact. Another v’kelth rammed against the side, pushing them into a spin. R’kash struggled to control the glider, and Veesha screamed. Sienna grabbed the bottom of her seat and held on tight.

“Duck your head—keep Veesha down!” shouted R’kash.

Sienna reached for Veesha, and she held her as they cowered inside the glider, hoping to escape the reach of those deadly looking tails. Her heart was beating out of her chest, and the bone-chilling roars produced by the priests’ devices still echoed through the plains. She counted backwards from ten in her head, her eyes shut tight, and then she cautiously lifted her head and looked around.

They were high up in the sky, flying slowly now. R’kash’s hands shook at the controls, and his face was as stern and still as if it’d been carved from stone. Only when he turned to face her could she see how wrecked he looked. His eyes were wild, and he took a great, heaving breath when it seemed to get through to him that she and Veesha were safe. His exhale came shuddering out of him as he glanced towards the temple and reset his hands on the control panel to take them home.

The roaring noise faded as each device grew quiet. Sienna could still hear the muted thunder of the herd, but they were already passing the temple, blurring again until they were nothing more than a shadowed blot on the landscape.

Sienna held Veesha and waited to land.

They hit the ground with a jolt. R’kash’s hands still trembled as he set them on his lap. Jesthi held out his arms. “Hand me Veesha,” he told her gently.

Sienna slowly unlocked her arms and urged Veesha to stand. “It’s okay. Jesthi will help you out, and we’ll come right after you.” She watched as Jesthi lifted her and held her tight. The moment her feet touched the dirt, Faseeth and the others were embracing her in turn. Sienna pressed her face into her hands and just breathed.

“It’s all right, Sienna,” said R’kash. His warm hand cupped her shoulder, and he brought her close, pulling her against his chest and tucking her head beneath his chin. He rocked them as his rattle hummed low. “She’s unhurt—you’re safe. All will be well.”

The glider went completely silent, and R’kash helped her step over the side and keep her balance as her feet touched the ground. Now that it was all over, she couldn’t get her body to stay still. The rush of the breeze and snap of the grasses surrounding them seemed too loud, and her skin felt too raw. Everything was just too much.

“We’ll take her inside,” Jesthi said, his voice sounding like a low murmur beneath the pounding of her pulse.

R’kash’s arms wrapped around her again, and she let the steadiness of his heartbeat ground her. “We’ll join them soon. We’re safe now, just breathe,” he told her as he stroked her hair. When she finally felt like herself again, he kissed her forehead and sighed. “That was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. You were right last night. It’s time—we should be mated. I want to give you the claiming bite. I don’t want to wait a moment longer. There’s just one thing I need to tell you first, and I need you to promise to listen before you make a judgment.”

Sienna lifted her face and her brows drew together as she watched R’kash. “What is it?” she asked.

“I love you and admire you. I want you to stay at Evathi.” He stopped speaking and pressed his lips together as his jaw tightened. “I was not the one who wrote to you through the Mate Portal. Jesthi and my priests were the ones who courted you, but their words—I read them all. They were all true, and what they wrote expressed my thoughts more clearly than I could’ve ever communicated on my own. I was not the one who chose you at the beginning, but—”

Sienna shoved his chest and stepped back, not letting him finish. “Wait. What are you saying? You asked them to write to me on your behalf?” All of those secret thoughts she’d never revealed to anyone before flashed through her mind. Jesthi and the others had read all of that? She’d bared her soul to strangers?

“No. It was their idea. I—”

“Their idea!” Sienna turned and shook her head. She felt dizzy and hot, like the ground would rush up to meet her at any second. “What do you mean? You didn’t have anything to do with it? You agreed with their plan? What then?” She was shouting, but she didn’t care if thev’kelthheard her. Everything hurt too much for it to matter. R’kash had his grim mask on, but she didn’t have any desire to look behind it then. She was too furious to bother.

“I didn’t know until two days before you came to Xithilene, but I promise you, Sienna, that I—”

---