A sharp cry; a rattle of stones.
She jerked around to see Joden falling toward her.
Chapter Sixteen
Joden tried to focus on his footsteps, he truly did.
Amyu was right, this was not a walk through a wide expanse of grasses. Here he had to watch each step, and test the footing with care. Each stone, each root, each branch all seemed determined to cause him to stumble. For the first few hours he managed well enough.
But his thoughts were stampeding horses, running where they would, distracting him.
Where were his words?
His breath caught in his throat, and he swallowed hard not wanting Amyu to hear his grief. A Singer without words, without song, was not a Singer.
If he wasn’t a Singer, what was he?
Nothing. He wasnothing.
Joden stopped on the path, his heart heavy in his chest, his vision blurred as he faced the truth of that.
This place was so strange, with the trees that swayed in the breeze, clinging to the sides of the slope. The taste of the air itself was different and disorienting. Joden stood, breathing, trying to find comfort in the midst of strangeness.
Ahead, well, below him, Amyu paused on the path and looked back.
She was lovely in the sun, her brown hair caught by the breeze. Strong and determined to get him to Keir and Lara.
Keir…
Joden looked out, through the trees. He could see the stone walls of Water’s Fall in the distance. Amyu had said that Yers claimed Simus had betrayed them. Never. The Heart of the Plains would wither to dust first. But why couldn’t he remember…
“This is a hard part,” Amyu’s voice cut through his thoughts. “Let me help you.”
And she did, tucking herself in under his arm, taking some of his weight as they maneuvered past a fallen branch. She released him after that, walking ahead. For a time, Joden was able to focus and they made good progress down the slope.
But his galloping thoughts circled round, and round.
Why couldn’t he remember?
The fog around his thoughts continued as he trudged, slow and careful down the path.
“Watch this part,” Amyu said. “The way here is washed out and old—”
-the old paths-
Memory returned, and with it a cold wind that blew through his body, freezing his heart.
Was this the price? The cost the Ancients had warned of? What use was a Singer that could not sing of truths?
Blinded by pain, betrayed and angry, Joden took a step and his foot found emptiness. He lurched, swayed and… fell.
Amyu braced herselfto stop Joden’s fall, and instantly knew it was a mistake. But it happened so fast; one moment he was above her, the next knocking her feet out from under her. She was down and tumbling after Joden in a breath.
She’d fallen before on the Plains, tripped, stumbled, fallen from horses, tumbled to the grass but on firm, flat earth.
The mountainside was relentless and unforgiving. It knew only down.
She flailed as she fell, trying to catch herself against the rocks and brush as the mountain threw her with no regard to paths or obstacles.
